Innovation Planning and Design

The ever-changing marketplace in the business world imposes greatchallenges for the company to maintain stability, productivity andprofitability in the industry. In order to keep track on the competitiveenvironment, every company should develop innovation to acquirecompetitive advantage. However, acquiring just a competitive advantage willonly be for the meantime due to the fast development of technology, totalmodernization of the market and rapid changes of customer preferences. Innovators shall foresee these factors to combat with its competitors for it tobe successful, making innovation an essential factor for company growth. Innovations do vary in many aspects. It may take the risk of combiningdifferent types of innovation. Determining businesses whether they are mayresult to hiding their significant distinctions. The most importantcategorizations one may consider among the many developed are aclassification according to innovation type, the innovation degree and courseof sustainability (Zakic, Jovanovic, & Stamatovic, 2008). Companies may decide which part of the businessdesign needsinnovatingsuch as products or processes or a combination of both. Single approach can be simple, less time consuming process compared to combinedapproach which is more involved, complicated and may be time consuming and requires substantial effort for it to be effective. Whatever process that is chosen, it will always create specialization which is advantageous to have specialized kind of innovation. Moderncompanies carefully apply options advised by experts that are suitable forits position and business model. Innovations shall be thoroughlyinvestigated and studied in order to achieve and meet the company’sobjective. Creating and developing their potentiality, designating theresources, and creating partnerships in accordance with this choice are vitalto success (Zakic, Jovanovic, & Stamatovic, 2008). In varying options comes difference between processes and productsinnovation. To be able to establish successful innovative strategies andstrategic planning, understanding the differences and influence of differentfactor and its effect in business leadership structure is important. It is of utmost importance to explore all possible options to acquire different inputs. This process will ensure the verification of certain conclusion to helpleadership identify the appropriate method to innovation (Almirall &Casadesus-Masanell, 2010). Innovation Systems Design Recent market concept on the business world has produced anuntamed environment. The company’s advantages do not last too long dueto tight competitions that never cease to advance and overcome the market. With these tight competitions, most businesses have created a sheer pricewar just to maintain and gain customers (Herrmann & Gunter, 2004). It is therefore vital in the process for the companies to be aware of theefficient methods to design and use innovative efforts considering thesecurrent market situations. Remember that each product you serve in themarket, it goes with it your name. How customers perceive the product orservices is significant. Most customers often choose the products or servicesthat are appealing to their eyes. It also includes factors like product package,how the product is designed, and even POS system design. What messagesor ideas the product conveys to the customers are also factors. Image of thebrand and market share are determined by these factors. Discerning yourinnovative products and market perception to them is one important groundin determining business' success (Herrmann & Gunter, 2004). With the tight competition in the business industry, each companyattempts to beat its competitors. Businesses are set forinnovation, however, they often lack focus on innovating their marketing designtechniques. This lack of focus is the reason for short time competitiveadvantage. Recent research reveals that a number of small to medium sizedcompanies in the electronics industry have received governmentgrants in order to promote growth in innovative techniques and processes. Some of these were successful. However this implies that most innovativeprocesses manage to be only temporary solution as most small businessesare unable to continue long term innovative processes (Herrmann & Gunter, 2004). Innovative processes have to be executed and followed accordingly. Those innovation grants were able to magnify thebusiness with growth to those companies involved. However, it did not result with an increase in profits and productivity. Foreseeing these circumstances,innovation systems show that the entire company should be nvolved in theprocess and utilizing your assets to fully maximize your potential in makinginnovative products and management styles (Herrmann & Gunter, 2004). Steps to Innovative Process There certain steps needed during the innovative process when creating and implementing an innovation to any business. 1. Determine the Challenge: The start of innovation process isdetermining the challenge, problem, or goal that needs to be solved. 2. Teamwor k: This step utilizes your intellectual assets wherein all partiesparticipate in a brainstorming event to discuss and debate how to fix theinnovation challenge. Combination: All of these ideas discussed in the brainstorming eventare summarized. 4. Assessment: The summary of all the ideas are evaluated and the bestsolution will be chosen by the business leaders with the relevant businessexperience. 5. Research and Development: The chosen solutions undergoes researchand development to determine whether the processes are attainable and willyield a result favorable to the company like increase in profits, businessexpansion and market share. 6. Implementation: Executing the ideas into the team and bring them toreality. . Review: Consider the data generated from the feedback, leadership,and business results regarding how the process was working. 8. Recycle: New challenges are imposed by the review. Consider thesechallenges and start again with the process (now Europe, 2009). For the business to maintain on top, the company shall be in acontinuous process of innovating to maintain creative, business and leadership innovation. This is so recommended considering how the global economic marketplace dances to the tune of tightcompetition. The innovation must be part of the business’s system toprevent unstable progress and share losses. To counter the ever-changingmarketplace and customer demand, innovation must remainconstant (Barsh, Capozzi, & Davidson, 2008). Conclusion The concept of innovation hasbeen in the business system for centuries. However, today, it has become aprerequisite to business growth and prosperity. While in the past, a companydared to innovate just to make an edge to the industry, nowadays, it becamean essential factor in business design for the company to survive and profit. The company shall implement, maintain innovation, and make anenvironment that encourages innovation. The company's workforce is avaluable asset to allowing their process to happen and the use of theseassets is beneficial to the process in various ways. This approach is sosignificant that even those business that have been in the around fordecades and reshaping theirfundamental principles and business values to create an innovativeenvironment. If a company desires to survive today's market competition, it has to produce an innovation culture and use its assets to be competitive and maintain profitability.

Coca Cola CSR

It has funded polio radiation and blood donation camps, along with providing a 24-hour emergency service for children. In some districts of Andorra Pradesh, Coca-Cola has conducted camps for Hepatitis-B vaccinations, eye checkups, and malaria eradication. In partnership with ‘Restrain Gratin Indri Visas' (a Kuwaiti-based MONGO), the company decided to establish â€Å"Argosy Health Clinic† in Brilliant, Megalith. In March, 2011, it was dedicated to the local community. Even though it is operational for only four days a week, all visiting patients are issued â€Å"Argosy Health Card† and free basic medicines.Drinking water projects In Maharajah's and Gujarat helped to provide clean potable water to the local communities. When It comes to environment care, Coca-Cola Is at the top of the game. Its packaging framework Is aimed at recycling. A PET recycling project in Iambi collected used glass bottles, cans, etc. The company has initiated rainwater harvesting schemes ( over 500 structures), watershed projects and reverse filter system. Over the last 4 years, the water efficiency of company plant operations has improved by 40%. It reduced its emission of greenhouse gases by three-fourths by using alternative cooling techniques for its reduces.Approximately 20% of energy used by Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pet. Ltd. Comes from renewable energy mix and HICCUP plans to expand it to 40% by the year 2020. When critics alleged that Coca-Cola was harming the society in various ways, it addressed the Issues by opening an exclusive website. It was discovered that Coca Cola India had carries out its CARS actively across 45 bottling plants by spending 70-80 million annually. In 2003, a programmer called ‘Parental' was started, which trained small retailers In India. ‘Jakarta Learning Centre' were munched in 2003, which educated nearly 1800 children near its bottling facilities in Puny.This inspiring company has set up around 2000 schools in Indi a. A ‘Career Development Center' was established at Dash, Gabbed in 2010. It intends to boost the skills of the local youth and augment their abilities so they can avail better employment opportunities. Courses in IT, Service Industry and English speaking are offered by this center. Since then, it has benefited around 209 youngsters, helping them get their first Jobs. Over 500 scholarships have been awarded to over 135,000 dents from 116 Army Schools spread across the country.Coca-Cola India received four awards at the prestigious World CARS Congress In Iambi on 18th February 2013. These were all examples of Coca Cola's efforts In Just India. All around the world, Coca-Cola makes an effort to prevent disasters and help In the aftermath of one, not Just through funding, but also through volunteer work. Emergency relief plans are in place, so that resources can be embroiled quickly. It works together with rehabilitation efforts. The Replenish Africa Initiative (RAIN) strives to increase access o clean water for 2 million people in Africa by 2015.RAIN is backed by a six-year, $30 million dollar commitment by The Coca-Cola Company. A programmer called ‘Let's Move Magic Together' in Serbia was launched, in which more than 15,000 children's books were collected and 11 hospitals have had their common rooms renovated. As a participant in the United Nations Global Compact (UNC), Coca Cola is one of a number of businesses committed to aligning their strategies and operations with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption.As part of its participation in the CEO Water Mandate, it helped fund and develop Water Action Hub', a website that helps Nags, governments, and communities connect and collaborate on water issues of mutual interest. The company is making efforts to promote sustainable citrus production in Costa Rica by partnering with their supplier, Autocratic, and EARTH University. In the Unit ed States, it has collaborated with multiple partners so as to educate farmers about using water efficiently, thus aiming to improve the water flow and quality in rivers in Utah, Mississippi, Arizona, etc.

Decision Support System

ASSIGNMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEM AND ADMINISTRATION NAME : QUDSIA AZEEM CLASS: BBA 3B DATE : 27-3-2013 JINNAH UNIVERSITY FOR WOMEN SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLE DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS AND WEB TECHNOLOGIES: A STATUS REPORT DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS, WORLD-WIDE WEB, DATA DRIVEN DSS, MODEL-DRIVEN DSS, IMPLEMENTATION. Introduction to DSS: A decision support system (DSS) is a computer-based information system that supports business or organizational decision-making activities. DSSs serve the management, operations, and planning levels of an organization and help to make decisions, which may be rapidly changing and not easily specified in advance.Decision support systems can be either fully computerized, human or a combination of both. DSSs include knowledge-based systems. A properly designed DSS is an interactive software-based system intended to help decision makers compile useful information from a combination of raw data, documents, and personal knowledge, or business models to identify and solve problems and make decisions. World-Wide Web technologies have rapidly transformed the entire design, development and implementation process for all types of Decision Support Systems.In particular, Web technologies have provided a new media for sharing information about decision support and a new means of delivering decision support capabilities. For DSS developers, the big leap forward is to use the â€Å"Web as computer†. Modern decision support systems (DSS) provide managers a wide range of capabilities. Computerized systems support decision tasks like information gathering, model building, sensitivity analysis, collaboration, alternative evaluation and decision implementation. Also, decision support is increasingly integrated in business processes and DSS are used for ad hoc analyses.This paper reviews the current status of Decision Support Systems in the context of developments in Web technologies. The article contains brief historical reviews, discussions on implem entations of decision support system and the major part of this article is ‘’State of Practice of DSS in 2001’’ HISTORY: Information Systems researchers and technologists have built and investigated computerized Decision Support Systems (DSS) for approximately 40 years. This article chronicles and explores the developments related to building and deploying DSS.The journey begins with building model-driven DSS in the late 1960s, theory developments in the 1970s, and implementation of financial planning systems, spreadsheet-based DSS and Group DSS in the early and mid 1980s. Data warehouses, Executive Information Systems, OLAP and Business Intelligence evolved in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Finally, the chronicle ends with knowledge-driven DSS and the implementation of Web-based DSS beginning in the mid-1990s. The field of computerized decision support is expanding to use new technologies and to create new applications.. Web-Based Decision Support System s :Power (1998b) defined a Web-Based Decision Support System as a computerized system that delivers decision support information or decision support tools to a manager or business analyst using a â€Å"thin-client† Web browser like Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer. The computer server that is hosting the DSS application is linked to the user's computer by a network with the TCP/IP protocol. The idea of Web-enabled or Web-Based Decision Support Systems as services has been explored by various researchers and involves the concept of offering decision computation technologies as services on the Web.The recent popularity and widespread use of the World Wide Web and the Internet has been accompanied by the development of a variety of computing technologies that enable the realization of the â€Å"decision technologies as services† vision. Bhargava and Krishnan (1998) discussed the role of a series of enabling technologies in the context of Model-Driven DSS, covering technologies that enable the use of the Web for communication of decision information and computation, technologies that enable the remote and platform-independent access of DSS, and technologies that allow DSS components to be distributed over the Web.Web Technologies and DSS Tasks: Web technologies are making it possible to perform all of these tasks via a remote Web client. In thinking of such tasks, it is useful to recall the distinction made by Sprague (1980) about application-specific DSS that consist of software, data, and models for a specific decision problem and DSS generators that provide tools and algorithms for building a variety of specific DSS. Application-specific DSS are far easier to build, but rarely reusable; DSS generators are far more complex to build but can be adapted to build many specific systems.Figure 1 summarizes the relationships among 10 major tasks involved in building and using Data and Model-Driven DSS. For example, using an application-specific Mod el-Driven DSS, a user would be given the relevant decision models and data, and would focus on tasks such as model execution, development of reports, or analysis. Using a corresponding DSS generator, on the other hand, would require the performance of additional tasks such as model definition and creation of a custom user interface. IMPLEMENTATIONS OF DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM : STATE OF PRACTICE 2001:In a number of prior papers, we have examined the extent to which current DSS products have â€Å"Web-enabled† the above decision support related tasks, and we have examined the evolution of DSS and especially Web-Based DSS. In this section, we provide an informal tour of our major findings. Web technologies provide both the communication of decision-related information and software and a means of providing remote access to distributed DSS components. We discuss the first function in terms of the Web as media and the second we call the Web as computer.How these capabilities or fun ctions can be used to support decision-making is still evolving. There is much scope for imagination here, but we have identified a few important beneficial uses of these capabilities and we will now review recent developments in each of these areas. WEB AS MEDIA: The Web has facilitated the creation of a number of industry-wide DSS Information Portals . For example, the OLAP Report and Data Ware housing Online Both are industry-wide decision support portals that offer information about software products, vendors, methodologies, and white papers in the context of OLAP and data warehousing technologies.DSSResources. COM is a â€Å"knowledge repository† for a broadly defined set of Decision Support Systems. IBM’s COIN initiative (http://oss. software. ibm. com/developerworks/opensource/coin/) and e-optimization. com offer similar portals for optimization. Info Harvest and the Decision Analysis Society have created portals related to decision analysis. Individual firms ha ve used Web technologies to communicate information about their decision support products and methods, or allow users to conduct various tasks like ordering, payment or Internet delivery related to purchasing DSS products.In the context of using the Web for â€Å"providing company and product information† there is substantial activity across all categories of Decision Support Systems. WEB AS COMPUTER: We generally discuss the use of the â€Å"Web as computer† capabilities in three categories: digital product demonstrations, preview using online interactive examples, and on-line, Web-based Decision Support Systems. The first category, product demonstrations, represents a baseline for the use of the Web’s capabilities for remote computation.Online demonstrations can be delivered as animated multimedia documents (e. g. , QuickTime movies, or Shockwave animation) that require or allow little user interaction. As a next step, online interactive examples allow users t o interact (e. g. , by setting parameter values, or choosing which command to execute next, or designing the format of a report) with the DSS tool in the context of a specific example. The next step in the use of the â€Å"Web as computer† capabilities is to offer application-specific DSS to users that have decision problems within the supported categories.Recall our earlier example of OptAmaze. com which provides paper trim optimization and transportation optimization services to paper mills. Grazing Systems Limited offers decision support services in the agricultural sector. The value of such deployment of DSS may be appreciated by considering the difficulties that user firms would have in installing, maintaining and applying complex DSS tools on their own; Web-enabled DSS allow such firms to use decision support tools without encountering these difficulties.CONCLUSION: The practice of building Decision Support Systems can benefit in many ways from the availability of Web t echnologies. These technologies provide platform-independent, remote, and distributed computation and the exchange of complex multimedia information. The state of practice has benefited considerably from these technologies but e need to resolve technological, economic and social and behavioral challenges to realize the benefits the Web can provide as a platform for building Decision Support Systems.DSS developers must continuously find ways around these limitations, or make use of recent and anticipated developments such as the new version of Internet protocols. To offer decision support as a service, providers must experiment with new payment models. Decision support capabilities are of great interest to a broad range of stakeholders and enormous resources have been and will be committed to building systems that promise to improve the quality, speed and effectiveness of specific decisions. We need to do much more than implement our technologies to build effective Decision Support S ystems.

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - Essay Example Some of praises accredited to his name include the invention of lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove. Analysis of this book determines that the source of information in it is first-hand or rather primary. This is because, the book puts across that, it is through Franklin’s own voice that makes this book worth reading, and how he describes the world in his own words. In addition to that, Franklin started writing his first autobiography portraying how fascinating Philadelphia was including his shrewd literature observations. This regarded how he viewed America’s Colonial and Revolutionary periods while residing in England in 1771 (67). Due to the prevailing circumstances, he had to stop writing but later resumed writing thirteen years later upon returning to the States. However, the work is second-hand information after different authors wrote it upon Franklin’s death. Since his work is a tale of success depicting a remarkable man, Franklin states clearl y that the reason or purpose of putting down this piece of work that took him a period of more than eighteen years was to set an exemplary life to the younger generations. He would do so by showing them how he emerged from poverty to amassing enormous wealth, power, and success. He continues to illustrate that all that he possessed came by means of immense hardship and constant diligence (118). This is the reason why his autobiography is very important to Americans as it addresses real time essential values of life. According to part of his life story, Franklin depicts another reason for writing his life history. He says that, it would be agreeable for a son, in this case his son, to get to know some of his father’s life incidents. While in quest for this purpose, he decided to accord himself whole week leisure in order to put down for his son, William. As he continues, he states that he must speak thanking God for his kind providence and happiness that he owed Him. Franklin directly engages these thoughts to his son, as he wanted William to lead happy life just like his father by striving to better his life. During composition of his work, Franklins attempt to reach a unified structure of the whole story. He argues that, the reason behind great success and power is through immense hard work and determination. Even after dividing his work into four parts, the overall goal remains intact. His work seems entirely planned even before he commenced the actual writing. The autobiography traces Franklin’s personal development from obscurity to his profound significance. It presses that the main form of attaining any goal is through hard work. Franklin’s life history is entirely a secret success message for the younger and upcoming generations, as he believed his life story would serve as an exceptional example to others. Presuppositions give contrast between the ideas and values in a book. Franklin’s autobiography offers a semi ready-made formula for gaining power and amassing wealth leading to a successful life. He portrays companionship of a real flesh and blood extraordinary man with an extraordinary mind and quality whereof his daily walkie-talkie conversation would lead us to meeting our goals and facing challenges. Franklin values hard work as the key to success. Today, hard work without work makes the difference between him and the

Executive MBS Program Objectives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Executive MBS Program Objectives - Essay Example As the report stresses working with limited capital has necessitated that the author takes a lower risk approach to business which often offers less return on investment. His plan has been to carefully assess the downside potential and creatively formulate a plan which will identify areas open to realistic growth potential. This has been successful in producing modest gains and the author plans to continue this business model until such time that he accumulates the capital required to engage in higher risk ventures. This will require him to have a better understanding of the calculation of the risks associated with his desired returns. A commitment to hard work can often be the difference in the return on a low risk investment. However, a high-risk venture will also require a deeper understanding of the science behind the business. This paper declares that the organizational skills learned through the Executive MBA Program will be vital in understanding how people function within an organization. The management of people is the management of human nature. Eliciting the most reasoned and sound decisions from people without the limits of emotionalism is primary to running a successful business. The tools required to gain exposure in these areas are acquired in the classroom through academic study, and the continued deliberate structuring of a sound business plan. This assures that people are able to work together to elevate the level of the group beyond any individual's performance. His desire as a manager is to obtain the training necessary to allow me to gain the experience to accomplish the running of a larger, corporate organization.

A reaction to 3 articles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

A reaction to 3 articles - Essay Example What he seems to be categorical however is that despite Japan’s intransigence about foreign workers, they have to move with urgency and resolve legal hurdles deterring foreign workers coming to Japan as Japan is staring at a crisis soon to come of lack of workers in vital sectors as the Japanese population declines and becomes aged. At the beginning of the article, Chico says that for Japan to continue maintaining economic relevance in the next decades, it will â€Å"depend on its ability to-and its willingness-to grow by seeking outside help.†He cites the case of foreign nurses and the odds they face-they must pass a test that â€Å"almost no foreigner passes.† He explains that Japan has â€Å"deep misgivings about immigration and has tightly controlled the ability of foreigners to live and work† in Japan. He explains that with her declining population, the government will have but, to source foreign workers. The government is taking steps towards loosening of grip on immigration and in fact, it hopes to double the number of highly skilled foreign workers within a decade. He nonetheless observes that Japan is on course to have three workers for every two retirees by 2060.Noting that Japan has a program to that effect-the economic partnership program- with Indonesia and Philipines,he howeve r observes that the program has a flaw. Throughout the article, he shows that Japan has a need for skilled labour but it is stuck with restrictive rules like on language. He indicates that a language test with a pass rate of less than 1 percent will always be criticized.

Banton Manor Hotel Proposal Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Banton Manor Hotel Proposal - Case Study Example This report is designed in response to his request after the collection of qualitative and quantitative data from within and without the Organisation. It will also examine various theoretical evidences pertaining to the problems the hotel is found to be facing and suggest how conditions can be improved to promote the hotels growth making it more sustainable and competitive in the industry. It will try to show the organisational problems that underlie the restaurant by examining the internal and external factors and trying to come up with the right marketing mix to resolve those. After taking, all these factors to account the report will then propose a system where it can be successfully implemented to meet the objectives of the owners and overall provide more effective and competitive service. In many ways, the Banton Manor hotel run in a traditional and highly conservative way, its marketing like many such hotels is primarily passive with the main marketing tool being word of mouth and recommendation from customers. Largely the marketing manager Jill Bance who is the marketing managers focuses on printing brochures and manages the website where most of the firms marketing is done., she also uses Twitter and other social media but this is only when she is not too busy. However, she does not seem to have a tangible idea which of the tools used is the most effective. In an effective business, the promotional aspect of the marketing mix tends to factor in advertising, personal selling publicity and sales promotion. This should however be carefully tracked to ensure that they are directed to the target customers in the most effective way possible.

Business and Country Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business and Country Analysis - Research Paper Example In order to serve healthy fast food Hangout plaza expanded the menu that includes wraps, smoothies, fruit items and salad. Moreover, to attract large customer base the company have started happy price meal. The meal is given by discounted price. Hangout plaza is the popular fast food chain in US within the competitive industry. Moreover, in order to implement international business diversification Hangout plaza is looking for several international markets. The company has decided to expand their business unit in India. India is one of the largest potential Asian markets for fast food chain industry. The major objective of the study is to analyze several macro environmental industry factors that may impact on the industry. Moreover the trade, investment and foreign policy profile of India is implemented due to identify the opportunity and threats for the Hangout Plaza’s operation in Indian competitive fast food market. Part 2 This part is important as this part will analyze the impact of different external environmental factors like cultural, political, legal, ethical and economical factors on the business performance of Hangout plaza in India. Moreover this part will highlight on the trade, investment and foreign policy profile of India considering the business practices of Hangout plaza in India. ... India is the country of the people of several religion backgrounds. The religion has a large impact on Indian culture and society. Different people from different religion in India choose different types of food product (Schaefer, 2006). In India Hindus does not eat beef, Muslims only used to take Halal meat. Moreover, they do not eat pork. So Hangout Plaza has to carefully prepare the menu in order to do business practices in India due to different people of different religion. The favorable social factor that will influence Hangout plaza is the changing life style of Indians. People are gradually adopting western culture. Now-a-days people like to hangover with relatives and friends outside in restaurants. These are few negative and positive cultural and social factors that may impact on the business performance of Hangout Plaza. Political Environment Hangout plaza in US got the advantage of the political stability of country. Hangout plaza is well popular in US but there are some health issues that are affecting the business performance of Hangout Plaza. Consumption of fast food increases the cholesterol level of human body and obesity issues. Government of US has restricted the marketing activities of fast food companies in order to reduce the health related issues. The introduction of several healthy food items in menu like wraps, salads, milk shakes has again increase the brand awareness of Hangout Plaza in Customer’s mind. Moreover, creating job opportunity, good relationship with government has eased the business operation of Hangout Plaza in US. India is one of the controversial countries in terms of politics. Different political ideologies are becoming the barrier for new foreign companies to do diversification in India.

The Politics and Policies of Three U.S President from the Post World Essay

The Politics and Policies of Three U.S President from the Post World War II - Essay Example Through peaceful cooperation as a result of a countries foreign policies, a country is able to protect its national interest, economic prosperity and more importantly national security. The United States has for long experienced a split personality when it comes to matters regarding foreign policy. Other policies exemplify a pragmatic nation which requires that the nation respond to facts as they relate to the situation at hand and hence application of a rational decision making process to the problem (Brinkley 2011). On the other hand, we have an idealistic side which has for long gotten the United States into trouble. This is attributed to the loss of sight on the fact that the resources at our disposal are limited. Additionally, the resources which are in most cases are measured both in terms of financial, economic and military in addition to political will which must at all times match the objectives of the country so as to ensure success. Since the end of the Second World War, t he country had been demobilizing and was also characterized with the public reverting to its traditional isolationist character (Brinkley 2011). This made containment only limited to where the military strength was greatest which was in Western Europe. The entrance of China into the Korean War on the 26th day of November 1950 resulted into a retreat by U.S. troops being below the thirty eighth parallel and consequently resulting into a stalemated war. It is in line with this that Eisenhower with a promise of ensuring the war in Korea is rapidly and successful conclusion was elected into office as president. Come the end of 1952, Eisenhower had already concluded that it was not prudent for the united states to needed to engage in a conventional war on the Asian mainland, a decision which we can trace to the fact that the cabinet was made up of businessmen who as a matter of fact were extreme fiscal conservatives who placed more emphasis on having a balanced budget (Brinkley 2011). Ad ditionally, the present who had been a general understood the need to the resources of America and their foreign policy commitments. Amongst remarkable attributes that can be associated with him include the realistic approach to foreign issues and the ability to recognize the limits of the capabilities of the resources. Additionally, he ushered in a pragmatic foreign policy through redefinition and limitation of the goals of containment. He is best remembered for negotiating for a ceasefire agreement between the North and the south at thirty-eighth parallel on July 1953. He additionally redirected support for French efforts in Indochina and subsequently promising economic aid to the Diem government. We can also note that he relied more on other countries resources mainly acquired through alliances like the Baghdad Pact and the Southeast Asian Treaty Organization as tools for countering threats posed by communists (Brinkley 2011). It can however be noted that Eisenhower failed to off er the needed support to Hungarian Uprising with the main excuse being that he believed that the United States lacked the requisite military resources to challenge the Soviet Union especially when it is in its sphere of influence. Additionally, due to his administrations fiscal conservatism the size of the armed forces was significantly reduced and subsequent development of the strategic doctrine of the massive retaliation (Brinkley 2011).

Human longevity, how trans fat affects longevity Essay

Human longevity, how trans fat affects longevity - Essay Example All of the fats consumed are essentially a mixture of saturated and polyunsaturated fats. Fats have been a part of the diet of humanity from the very almost the very beginning of time in the meat that was consumed, and gradually increased when human beings found the means to extract vegetable oils from sources like coconuts, palms and olives, gradually expanding to a wide range of vegetable sources. Therefore consumption of fat in appropriate quantities was a part of human diet for a very long period of time, and consumption of appropriate quantities of suitably extracted and stored animal or vegetable fats need not have a detrimental impact on the health of an individual. It is when unsuitably extracted and stored fats are consumed that there is a greater emphasis on health hazards. To prevent fats from getting rancid or spoiled a process of hydrogenation of fats was introduced in the early nineteenth century. This process, which hardens the vegetable oils, has given us products lik e margarine and shortening. Trans fats or trans fatty acids are mainly these partially hydrogenated vegetable oils that are used in growing proportions in food products, but not necessarily the only source. Deep frying of food products is also capable of adding trans fats to the food products. The detrimental effects of trans fats on the health of an individual and the rising quantum of its consumption have become research subjects. Evidence from this interest has shown that both these factors have a negative impact on the life span of an individual. Aging is a natural and normal process in any individual. Yet there is a difference in the manner that physical abilities of an individual diminish with age. There is increased evidence from research that increase in physiological changes like increased blood sugar and cholesterol levels, elevated blood pressure and weight gain do not contribute to normal aging

The Impact of Technology Essay Example for Free

The Impact of Technology Essay The society we live in is completely integrated with technology, we are surrounded by and we live on technology. One of the definitions of â€Å"technology† given by Webster’s Third New International Dictionary is â€Å"the totality of the means employed by a people to provide itself with the objects of material culture†, and as a matter of fact, almost every little work we do can be considered technology dependent. Today we are all identified with the technological device we are carrying, which must be up to date. For many of us, living without technology I like living without air†. Many people don’t realize how much they are engaged to their gadgets and how much they affect our lives; I think that most of us would struggle to live without these little comforts while some researchers of the University â€Å"La Sapienza Di Roma† concluded that most of the people, especially from 16 to 25 years old, feel lost when they don’t have their mobile phones with them. An excerpt from the telegraph confirms us what we previously affirmed: â€Å"In an international study called Unplugged, volunteers at 12 universities around the world were asked to keep detailed diaries while spending 24 hours in a tech and information blackout. They found out that youngsters reported sickness and fidgety, they felt really uncomfortable and like if they had nothing to do. â€Å"They kept looking for the phones, even though they werent carrying them. † Technology has clearly become a huge influence on our lives, but how did we reach this point? Our addiction to technology probably started with computers taking over our society as we used to know it. Nowadays, everywhere you look, computers are making our life more comfortable since they are commonly used items in many areas. A PC is essential to people who run organizations or industries, but also the housewife who doesn’t know how to use a Personal Computer has to deal with one, since almost anything we know is run or made by a computers, most medical equipment use computers and also the most simple household appliance has a computer inside. Most of the professions today involve the use of PCs since also in a pharmacy you would have a hard time keeping track with what medication to give to a patient without that â€Å"mechanical brain† that would be hard to live without. Its only when something goes wrong that we realize how necessaries they are, if we think about the world without computers we would realize that we haven’t done much more than using them in the past few years; researchers in the medical field wouldn’t have found a lot of cures to diseases since most of them were found with the help of processors. Movies like, Pixar’s Toy story, Avatar or 2012 would never have been made since they are based on computer graphics that cannot be emulated analogically. Counting votes would be much slower and space exploration wouldn’t be possible without the help of computers. That’s why, since most of our progresses in the recent past are a consequence of our use of computers, we call the recent past as computer revolution or digital revolution. The definition of revolution is based on the idea of something that rapidly changed and improved. This led to individuals that can transfer information freely and access to information is so easy compared to in the past. Recently, some social analysts defined our times as the â€Å"information age†. This condition of being always capable to get information started when computer microminiaturization started, because the fast evolution of technology in daily life permitted rapid global communications and networking to shape modern society. It can be said that this revolution started with the diffusion of the smartphones, which started many years ago but had a massive boost with the launch of the iPhone, an hybrid between a phone and a computer, something always connected to the world. This idea changed the technological market with many companies trying to follow Apple creature’s steps, evolving into a new device that is far from what mobiles were ten years ago. They have become faster and more powerful just like computers but they can also be connected to the internet anywhere in order to: read newspapers, mail for business, be always able to make a research on the web or communicate with friends, which has proven to change everything. As a matter of fact people feel the need to be updated with what is happening around them. Big contributors to this are websites like Facebook and Twitter, which are supposed to bring, people closer together but they are actually doing the opposite. The information age can be separated into three general parts, which are information storage, information transmission, and computation. When the information storage phase occurred, the world’s capacity to store data has seen a dramatic boost of from just 2600 terabyte in 1985 to 18 Exabyte in 1994, to over 55. 5 in 1999, and 400 in 2011 at the point that nowadays, as Mitchell Capor Said, getting information off the Internet is like drinking from a fire Hydrant. Not only there was an increase of the databases, but also technology is spreading to any family, any student, any common citizen since the cost of technology is decreasing day by day and today we can afford a really powerful desktop for a few hundred dollars and we can all access the internet with less money we spend on a night out. Internet, big contributor to the information age and all those changes is the Internet, which has obviously had a massive impact on society. The Internet is a fail-proof network because even if a large area is disabled, the information is rerouted to somewhere else. The Internet is the crucial platform for accelerating the exchange of information and it is also the main emerging form of media. Internet is, in fact, making some medias obsolete and is the reason why many companies are changing the way they relate to their clients, because it is a tough competition to newspaper and broadcaster offering most of the times a cheaper and vaster choice to anyone. The main example is the success of YouTube, which is now eroding the market share that television channels used to have by having, according to the company itself on the official blog, four billion videos streamed per day. New technology is affecting anyone’s life also because is something that created millions of jobs but also took away a few at the same time modifying the economy of some sectors. It created jobs because the new technology needed to be repaired, designed, and used in many businesses. However, it took away jobs because some factory workers were no longer needed as more efficient machines were built to replace them. Out of all of the technology that has been produced during the last 30 years; the Internet has created the largest amount of jobs. Labourers must compete in a globalized job market instead of earning a living from what they used to do. Middle-class people of society are affected the most by the job change because they can either move up towards jobs that require a good education (such as engineers, scientists, journalists), or they can move down towards low-skill and low-wage jobs. About 30% of the modern workforce usually consists of the jobs that require a good education and good qualifications and the number ises exponentially if we just consider the really developed countries since, as we already proved, a useful worker in modern times also has to well know how to deal with computers. Technology has also had a big impact on language and culture since it helps the spreading and melting of different and distant worlds, favouring globalization. Our though processes have been changed by the revolution in technology, that’s probably just the beginning of a new era. From all of the information that I have researched I have concluded that technology is having more and more impact on our lives because it is becoming more integrated into what we do. Nearly everything thing we do in our everyday lives is connected to technology and from what I can see, not many people would be able to cope without the technology that we have today. I believe that in the future, if our race continues to survive for an extended period of time, all life will either depend entirely on technology or not at all. Another reason that I have concluded for why technology is having more impact is that humans are adapting more and the technology is becoming more ‘compatible’ with us and to our ways of thinking. We are becoming more connected to technology and we are being more influenced at the same time. A good example to support my conclusion is that if there were to be a new piece of technology that came out in the shops (such as a new type of iPhone) then many peoples’ lives would be greatly affected whether it is their jobs, or language etc. that is affected. Our way of thinking has been completely changed and it is believe that humans as a race will probably never go back thinking like they used to. Revolutions will keep on occurring and the technology will keep on improving which will obviously keep on affecting our life in many ways which concludes my research paper on the idea of technology having impact on our lives.

Curriculum and instruction Essay Example for Free

Curriculum and instruction Essay The definition of curriculum transcends the conception of it as a mere document and ushers it into the realms of instruction itself. Certain researchers consider the curriculum to be a dynamic instrument that is vital to the way students and educators interact with the materials of education â€Å"in a free-wheeling setting† (Weade, 1987, p. 15). Much of the current trends in curriculum and instruction involve the constructivist practice of hands-on training (Ediger, 2001). This dictates that the curriculum takes the form of the drafting and implementation of practical methods in the planning of instruction. Depth of instruction is at the heart of current reformatory curriculum drafting, as it has been theorized by several educational researchers that the improper articulation of the intricacies of certain concepts has led to current educational problems (AAAS, 2000). The fact is that curricula, which serve as a guide for teachers, also have the ability to restrict their freedom in the classroom. The cursory way in which some curricula deal with concepts often has the effect of curtailing teachers’ tendency toward depth and breadth within a lesson, and this in turn has an adverse effect on the understanding of the students. In mathematics, for instance, a student may be having trouble understanding the application of an algebraic concept in the real world. The student may not be able to visualize the transformation of a perfect algebraic square such as (a + b)2 into the expression a2 + ab +b2. The student might not be aware of how the ab portion of the equation comes into play. Visualization of the problem might be aided through the labelling of the sides of a square with the measurements a + b and then dividing the square into bits to demonstrate the areas that correspond to a2, b2 and ab. The visual and practical demonstration of this would work in conjunction with the theoretical aspect of the algebraic problem to aid understanding and consequently memorization. In that way, freedom in the curriculum allowing for a greater depth in the instruction of the concept would lead to a better understanding for the student (AAAS, 2000). References American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Project 2061. (2000). Algebra for all — not with today’s textbooks, says AAAS. Press Release. Retrieved on October 2, 2007 from http://www. project2061. org/newsinfo/press/rl000426. htm. Ediger, M. (2001). â€Å"What makes for a quality science curriculum? † Journal of Instructional Psychology. 28(4): 241-243. Weade, R. â€Å"Curriculu ‘n’Instruction: the construction of meaning. † Theory into Practice, 26(1): 15-25.

Preparations Prior to Surgery

Preparations Prior to Surgery Table 6. Common adverse reactions during administration of local anaesthetics and their management 34 Box 2: Useful guidelines while administering local anesthesia 33 Box 3: Local anaesthesia in special situations: 30,31,32 Intradermal test dose is done to check for hypersensitivity to local anaesthesia. 0.5 to 1.0mL of test solution undiluted and containing no epinephrine is injected subcutaneously. The test is negative if no reaction occurs during the 30 minutes following the injection. However, regular use of test dose remains controversial as allergy to LA has been found to be exceptionally low (0.7%). (43) Many cases of reported allergy to LA have been attributed to sensitivity to preservatives used in the solution, such as sodium metabisulfite, rather than an allergy to the anaesthetic agent itself. (33) In some dermatologic procedures, often patients are averse to use of local injections for anaesthesia while use of topical anaesthesia may not be sufficient to alleviate their discomfort.. In these patients, vibration can be used to reduce the pain of injections. It may even be used as a substitute for anaesthesia by pharmacological agents in certain dermatological procedures like botulinum toxin injection, laser therapy, cautery of facial warts, incision and drainage of abcesses, etc. Their action is defined by the gate control theory of pain. The A -ÃŽ ² nerve fibers which transmit mechanoreceptor signals like touch, vibration, stimulate the inhibitory interneurons in the spinal cord which in turn reduce the amount of pain signal l transmitted by A-ÃŽ ´ and C fibers from thes kin. Thus, counter stimulation, akin to stroking or pinching the skin, can alleviate pain sensation. (44) Cold temperature in the form of ice packs or ethyl chloride sprays has also been used for these purposes (cryo analgesia) The accountability of a dermatosurgeon towards his patient who requires surgery, not only lies in performing the procedure well but, actually begins from collecting all the medical information about him, counselling him and chalking out a plan that has his best interest in mind.(45) It is prerogative to work up the patient completely before he is taken up for surgery to avoid any adverse events. The workup should include a complete history and clinical examination, relevant investigations, counseling, and documentation. 46 A detailed history of co-morbidities and concomitant medication is taken. Concurrent conditions like diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, infectious diseases should be inquired upon. History regarding bleeding tendencies should also be taken. Wound healing is delayed in diabetes due to associated vasculopathy, decrease in the peripheral blood supply and increased risk of infections, hence the blood sugar levels should be monitored and brought under control before surgery. Also, these patient should be given a broad spectrum antibiotic prophylactically. 47,48 For patients with cardiovascular disease, a sublingual nitroglycerin is kept handy in case of a possible precipitation of angina. Adrenaline maybe avoided in cases of hypertension or peripheral vascular disease.49, 50 Electrosurgical procedures are avoided in patients with pacemakers.51 In pregnancy, local anaesthesia is used without adrenaline to avoid chances of uterine artery spasm. Safer antibiotics are prescribed and salicylates and NASIDS are avoided as they can interfere with the growth of the foetus. 39 A detailed drug history is imperative as certain drugs meddle with the haemostatic, inflammatory and wound healing processes. Hence, these drugs need to be stopped for a certain period, after the advice of the physician. 52History of allergy to any drugs, ingested or applied, allergy to adhesive tapes, history of keloid formation, scarring tendencies should be asked in detail. Box 4 gives the important drugs to be taken into consideration while planning a surgery Box 4: Important drug history that need to be asked for prior to a dermatosurgery Local examination of the site to be operated should be done to check the condition of the overlying skin, and to rule out any infection. The dermatosurgeon should have a thorough knowledge of the underlying vital structures so as to avoid any trauma while performing the procedure. Thorough examination also provides signs of keloidal tendency, for e.g in pre existing scars. If the lesion to be operated upon is suspected to be premalignant or malignant, then it is prudent to perform a biopsy first to confirm the findings on histopathology and then decide the next line of treatment. To prevent post –operative infections check for damaged ,infected skin, diabetes, debilitation, hypogammaglobulinaemia, severe malnutrition, long –term antibiotic therapy, corticosteroids, immunocompromised states, emotional stress, poor hygiene, etc. Counselling is an important constituent of the management of any dermatosurgical procedure. The problems and needs of the patient are assessed, and all the options are put forward for him to decide. Patients need to have a thorough knowledge of the procedure, the complications, the follow-up, post-operative care, outcome of the surgery, must be given to the patient. All queries about the procedures duly addressed. Expected results should be explained. Any unrealistic expectations need to be put to rest then and there. Patients with unrealistic expectations should be counselled against the procedure Baseline investigations that should be done before a dermatosurgical procedure are listed in box 5. It is, however, not necessary to do the whole list of investigation prior to a minor dermatosurgical procedure. The investigations that need to be carried out should be based on the results of the clinical examination. Box 5: Investigations to be carried out prior to a dermatosurgical procedure. Complete documentation of the case is a very important part of preoperative preparation. All the relevant clinical notes, photographs should be kept as record for medicolegal reasons. A written informed consent is of paramount importance. Drugs that are prescribed before a major dermatosurgery are mentioned in box 6. However, this is again not mandatory and is based on the patient profile, nature of the surgery and surgeon’s experience Box 6: Preoperative drugs prior to a dermatosurgery Dermatosurgeon must undertake strict safety measures in order to prevent hazardous infections. As mentioned earlier hand hygiene plays a major role in preventing iatrogenic infections. Right technique of hand washing reduces contamination and prevents the transfer of infection from one man to another. Personal protective equipment (PPE) is a protective gear that comprises of mask, gloves, gowns, goggles and shoes. A high quality PPE is the only barricade between the surgeon and the infectious material. 23. All the instruments required for the surgery should be kept ready in the instruments trolley before the surgery. The surgical trolley should also have surgical drapes, adequate amount of gauze pads, cotton swabs and surgical disinfectants in place. The order of keeping the instruments on the trolley should be predetermined and kept uniform for a particular surgery so as to maintain a smooth flow of operation. Also, the emergency tray should always be ready in order to deal with any critical situation. The area to be operated upon has to be cleaned and shaved if required. Disinfection of the surgical area is done by using disinfectants like povidone iodine and methylated spirit. The cleaning of the area should always be started from the centre extending into the periphery in order to ensure minimum possible risk of contamination of the site of operation. Sterile drapes must then be used to isolate the surgical area. Excision means cutting out a tissue, an organ or a tumour. The ellipse (fusiform excision) is the mainstay and workhorse of cutaneous excisional surgery and reconstructive surgery. Proper planning of the incision should be done before the surgery is started. This results in a least noticeable and well healed scar. A well planned incision line should run parallel to the favourable lines of closure i.e. the relaxed skin tension lines (RSTL) or the lines of minimal skin tension (natural skin creases or wrinkles). [Illustration 31.4] These lines can be made obvious by pinching the skin in all direction. They can also be judged by asking the patient to smile or grimace.57,58 The incision line so planned not only makes the scar inconspicuous but it heals faster and has a higher tensile strength. Lines of maximal extensibility are typically at right angles to the RSTL. These lines are important when performing a flap grafting from an adjacent area. Incisions can also be taken along the wrinkle lines, skin folds. Another option is to make a circular incision and wait for some time to allow it to turn into an oval shape after undermining the edges. Before final closure the oval shape can be converted into an ellipse. Always respect the cosmetic units of the face. The cosmetic units of the face are chin , perioral region, cheek, periorbital region, nose, forehead, glabella, and temple. Scars restricted to single cosmetic unit hide well, than the scar crossing multiple units.58 [Illustration 31.5] Nature of the lesion removed is also an important factor. For benign lesions the surrounding normal skin excised is minimal, on the other hand for malignant lesion two factors are very important, complete excision of the tumour and to include sufficient surrounding normal looking tissue in the excision to prevent recurrences. ( 59,60) The shape of the lesion also plays important role in deciding the excision line. For oval shaped lesion the long axis of the incision line must run parallel the long axis of the lesion. This will shorten the length of the scar.[61]. When taking incisions near lips or eyes, functional considerations are very important to prevent lip retraction and ectropion respectively.

Gender Differences In Students Academic Performance :: essays research papers

Gender Differences in Students' Academic Performance Students with urban and suburban backgrounds consistently outperformed students from rural and small-town areas. Parental education levels correlated with academic success. Considering the background of the study's female participants one could reasonably expect women to outperform men. However, in spite of the higher indicators of success possessed by women, this expectation was not fulfilled. Data and background predictions did not match up with what actually occurred. Men received better grades, retained more of their self-confidence, and more men stayed in chemical engineering than women. When students run into math difficulties, men are more likely to credit math difficulties to challenges inherent in the subject, while women are more likely to explain away failure by lack of ability. This is the first of many discrepancies in men and women's perception of their own performance. Regarding general academic performance, women are more likely to attribute it to lack of ability while men more often attribute it to lack of hard work or unfair treatment. If students do well, women will more likely chalk it up to outside help while men see it as a reinforcement of their own ability. Regarding course performance, women were asked to indicate what grade would satisfy them and what grade they actually expected to receive in a course. The women's expectations decreased as the term progressed; they downrated their ability and ended up underestimating themselves. Courses involving group work were included in this study. Although group work was found to be generally positive and well-received by students, the findings inspired the authors to caution educators about potential reactions of students to group work.

Impact of the Film, Dr. Strangelove, on American Attitudes Towards the

Impact of the Film, Dr. Strangelove, on American Attitudes Towards the Atomic Bomb and Cold War "The truth is bad enough--but nowhere near as bad as you probably think. The truth will do away with a lot of silly ideas, a lot of completely wrong notions, which millions of people now believe about the atomic bomb. These ideas could easily cause great panic. And right now the possibility of panic is one of the best weapons any enemy could use against us." (Gerstell, How to Survive an Atomic Bomb 1) "Why should the bomb be approached with reverence? Reverence can be a paralyzing state of mind. For me the comic sense is the most eminently human reaction to the mysteries and the paradoxes of life. I just hope some of them are illuminated by the exaggerations and the style of the film. And I don't see why an artist has to do any more than produce an artistic experience that reflects his thinking." (Stanley Kubrick qtd in Wainright 15) In the third decade of the Cold War, less than two years after the United States population had been scared half-way to death by the Cuban Missile Crisis, Dr. Strangelove invaded the nation's movie theatres and showed the country the end of the world. Touted by critics then and now as the film of the decade, Dr. Strangelove savagely mocked the President, the entire military defense establishment, and the rhetoric of the Cold War. To a nation that was living through the stress of the nuclear arms race and had faced the real prospect of nuclear war, the satiric treatment of the nation's leaders was an orgasmic release from deep fears and tensions. Its detractors argued that the film was juvenile, offensive, and inaccurate. Viewed, however, in its context of the Cold War and nuclear proliferation, Dr.... ...7-38. Mordden, Ethan. Medium Cool. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990. Mumford, Lewis. "Letter." New York Times 1 March 1964: 25. Prideaux, T. "Take Aim, Fire at the Agonies of War." Life 20 Dec. 1963: 115-118. Rabe, David. "Admiring the Unpredictable Mr. Kubrick." New York Times 21 June 1987: H34+ Starr, Michael. Peter Sellers: A Film History. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, Inc. Publishers, 1991. Suid, Lawrence. "The Pentagon and Hollywood: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)." American History/ American Film: Interpreting the Hollywood Image. Eds. John E. O'Connor and Martin A. Jackson. Boston: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1979. Taylor, Stephen . Review of Dr. Strangelove. Film Comment, 2. 1 (1964): 40-43. Wainright, Loudon. "The Strange Case of Strangelove." Life 13 March 1964: 15. Impact of the Film, Dr. Strangelove, on American Attitudes Towards the Impact of the Film, Dr. Strangelove, on American Attitudes Towards the Atomic Bomb and Cold War "The truth is bad enough--but nowhere near as bad as you probably think. The truth will do away with a lot of silly ideas, a lot of completely wrong notions, which millions of people now believe about the atomic bomb. These ideas could easily cause great panic. And right now the possibility of panic is one of the best weapons any enemy could use against us." (Gerstell, How to Survive an Atomic Bomb 1) "Why should the bomb be approached with reverence? Reverence can be a paralyzing state of mind. For me the comic sense is the most eminently human reaction to the mysteries and the paradoxes of life. I just hope some of them are illuminated by the exaggerations and the style of the film. And I don't see why an artist has to do any more than produce an artistic experience that reflects his thinking." (Stanley Kubrick qtd in Wainright 15) In the third decade of the Cold War, less than two years after the United States population had been scared half-way to death by the Cuban Missile Crisis, Dr. Strangelove invaded the nation's movie theatres and showed the country the end of the world. Touted by critics then and now as the film of the decade, Dr. Strangelove savagely mocked the President, the entire military defense establishment, and the rhetoric of the Cold War. To a nation that was living through the stress of the nuclear arms race and had faced the real prospect of nuclear war, the satiric treatment of the nation's leaders was an orgasmic release from deep fears and tensions. Its detractors argued that the film was juvenile, offensive, and inaccurate. Viewed, however, in its context of the Cold War and nuclear proliferation, Dr.... ...7-38. Mordden, Ethan. Medium Cool. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990. Mumford, Lewis. "Letter." New York Times 1 March 1964: 25. Prideaux, T. "Take Aim, Fire at the Agonies of War." Life 20 Dec. 1963: 115-118. Rabe, David. "Admiring the Unpredictable Mr. Kubrick." New York Times 21 June 1987: H34+ Starr, Michael. Peter Sellers: A Film History. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, Inc. Publishers, 1991. Suid, Lawrence. "The Pentagon and Hollywood: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)." American History/ American Film: Interpreting the Hollywood Image. Eds. John E. O'Connor and Martin A. Jackson. Boston: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1979. Taylor, Stephen . Review of Dr. Strangelove. Film Comment, 2. 1 (1964): 40-43. Wainright, Loudon. "The Strange Case of Strangelove." Life 13 March 1964: 15.

Porphyrias Lover and My Last Duchess by Robert Browning Essay -- Rober

Compare the two poems ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ and ‘My Last Duchess’ by Robert Browning. What do they reveal about attitudes to women and relationships in the nineteenth century? Robert Browning was one of the greatest poets of the nineteenth century. In 1842, he published ‘Dramatic Lyrics’ which included the two poems ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ and ‘My Last Duchess’. In ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ Browning gives the reader a dramatic insight into the twisted mind of an abnormally possessive lover, who wishes the moment of love to last forever. In this essay, ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ will be compared to Robert Browning’s other dramatic monologue, ‘My Last Duchess’, where an Italian aristocrat reveals his cruelty to his late wife whilst showing off a portrait of her to one of his guests. Robert Browning’s poems ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ and ‘My Last Duchess’ were both written in the form of a dramatic monologue. Both poems show a similarity because they are both narrated from the male lover’s point of view. As a result, the reader becomes more closely involved in the poems and can feel very strong emotions for the individuals portrayed than if the poem was written from the eyes of an ‘outsider’. This form of writing enables Browning to use irony, in which the real meaning is concealed or contradicted by the literal meanings of the words. For example, in ‘My Last Duchess’ the Duke orders the death of his wife, though hides the true meaning in his words: ‘ Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together.’ ‘My Last Duchess’ is also written in the form of a single stanza poem, which is the unit of a poem that consists of two or more lines of verse organised according to the content and form and usually repeated as a recurring pattern in the poem. By contrast, ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ does not follow this pattern, but has a different rhyming scheme. On the surface, the narrators in each poem show completely different characteristics. In ‘Porphyria’s Lover’, the narrator shows powerful emotions towards Porphyria, which demonstrate his strong romantic feelings. The reader acknowledges that the narrator is passionately in love, as the following extract demonstrates. â€Å"Too weak, for all her heart’s endeavour, To set its struggling passion free From pride, and vainer ties dissever And give herself to me forever.† By contrast, the Duke in ‘My La... ...all night long we have not stirred And yet God has not said a word† You can compare this to ‘My Last Duchess’ where again, the Duke shows no remorse for ordering the death of his wife. The modern reader is given an insight into the way relationships between men and women were viewed in the last century, and earlier, during the time of the Renaissance. Without doubt, men had the dominant role, and women had little personal freedom. Women were duty-bound to show unquestioning respect for the men in their lives, regardless of how they were treated. In Porphyria’s lover, Browning shows us the vision of a woman who is not following this role model. In fact, she is completely the opposite, and as such, she is fulfilling the role of a male fantasy by taking a dominant role, with obvious sexual intentions. In the nineteenth century this would have had the dual effect of being both sensational and revolutionary. In the eyes of a modern reader, neither poem is particularly shocking, as people are more accustomed to material of a revealing nature. This shows that when reading and understanding texts, the reader has to bear in mind the times and context in which they were written.

Team Assignment

Dry. Michael Ordain, a professor of chemistry. After sensing the commercial application of several of his patented Polymer processes, Dry. Ordain started Ordain Plastics, Inc. , which initially focused on research and development. In 1992, Dry. Ordain acquired venture capital and purchased a manufacturing facility. Ordain Manufacturing Inc. Has since grown into a global organization that specializes in the manufacturing of molded plastic products. With revenues in excess of $1 billion,Ordain employs 550 people and has projected annual earnings of $46 million. The organization operates three separate manufacturing facilities in Albany GA, Pontiac MI, and a Joint venture In Hangout, China providing products to the Department of Defense, automotive parts manufacturers, beverage makers, bottlers, appliance manufacturers, and aircraft manufacturers (Apollo Group Inc. 2013). Although the company's headquarters Is in San Jose, California. Ordain Manufacturing Account Models Ordain Manufactu ring accounting modules consist of the following components: 1 . General Ledger 2. 3. 5. 8. 10. 2.System) Accounts Payable Accounts Receivable Order Entry Procurement sales and Purchasing History Invoicing and Shipping Payroll Financial Reporting EDI* (Electronic Data Interchange) Bar code Reading* DEEDS (Executive Decision Support tofu *San Jose Only (Apollo Group Inc. 2013). The accounting systems used by Ordain are different at each of the company's facilities. The San Jose facility uses an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) integrated system for manufacturing, distribution and financial management specifically engineered for plastic and plastic parts manufacturing (Apollo Group Inc. 2013). The software is Windows integrated.ERP is a well-known system and many successful organizations use ERP solutions. Ordain could benefit by deploying ERP software across the enterprise. The Michigan facility uses a vendor developed software application. Software vendors support software through lifestyle management and stop supporting software and applications as new products are developed and released. The vendor who provided Radian's software went out of business, and support is nonexistent. The system is a VIM Operating system with VACANCY workstations. Finding another vendor to support the systems would be official, if not impossible.The Georgia site has also purchased a vendor developed software and application. This server is running a UNIX operating system with Windows client workstations. With this disparity between facilities, the accounting systems are not running as smooth as Ordain desires. Ordain would like to have a seamless environment for the accounting system users. Hardcore's and conversion-intensive data files are used to transfer data between sites. If a hardcopy of data is provided, the employee at the receiving site often must re-enter the data into his or her system.Many accounting functions are taking considerably longer to complete than they shoul d. The audits are expensive and time-consuming to run. Remaining compliant with new government required reporting is difficult. This situation is unacceptable to the organization and a better solution is required immediately. Ordain Manufacturing inventory is crucial to its manufacturing processes and budgeting projections. Accounting software shows the current stock in the warehouse and identifies the materials that need to be reordered.Inventory consists of raw materials, finished materials, tools, parts, supplies, and fixtures. Ordain Manufacturing needs to keep accurate accountability of its inventory in order to run efficiently. Ordain manufacturing would benefit by using an inventory software module to see a real-time picture of what inventory is currently in the warehouse and on the manufacturing floors, and what portion of raw material has been processed into finished products. This can help with accuracy when projecting man-hour requirements, order fulfillment, and shipping quotas.The company can also use inventory software to track the volume of supplies needed to produce products and maintain the equipment. Another important accounting software module for Ordain Manufacturing is the Job cost module. Job cost software evaluates specific materials and processes to determine the cost associated with the production off product, such as a plastic bottle. The Job cost software can help determine if any of the associated activities need to be evaluated for efficiency or if any of the materials can be used more efficiently in the process.Any improvements to efficiency will help increase pronto For example, Petrochemical is an ingredient that comes from oil used to create plastic. If the price of oil rises so will the cost to create plastic and sell a product made of plastic, such as a plastic bottle. Ordain Manufacturing produces many types of plastics, so the Job cost software is extremely beneficial in confronting changes in a turbulent economy affecting the price of oil used to create plastics.Ordain Manufacturing is a cutting-edge research and development company, which has expanded considerably since its initial startup in the early ass. The company has added new manufacturing and production facilities and has expanded its operation worldwide. The previous technologies and practices in use at the geographically separated locations have remained intact and are vastly different across the company. Ordain Manufacturing will benefit by integrating the finance and accounting subsystems into one Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system (fig. L).This solution allows Ordain manufacturing facilities and departments to interact together in one communicating information system. Systems Connected to the Accounting System Ordain Manufacturing has a very inadequate accounting software system. The company's locations are Georgia, Michigan, California, and a venture in the People's Republic of China. Radian's facilities need to be connected to a central financial accounting system. The systems currently in place are desperate and inconsistent and include a manual input system that was once updated at the San Jose Corporate facility.This is not an inefficient way to track of any aspect of the accounting operation. Ordain Manufacturing needs an updated financial accounting system that can produce data and reports in a standardized format across all facilities. The reports that are generated throughout the Ordain Manufacturing are; accounts payable, accounts receivable, and inventory. Other accounting aspect that must be centralized are payroll, purchase orders and invoicing, vendor information, products, sales, and shipping and receiving.Ordain Manufacturing must accurately maintain its general ledger using Internet access, so that all of the information from the separate facilities is processed and stored at the San Jose headquarters facility. This will ensure that all accounting information is up to date and will provide managers the ability to make better business decisions. Other accounting information such as employee timeshares, payroll, payouts, vacations and sick leave should be revised to a consistent format across the facilities.Each of Ordain Manufacturing facility accounts receivable and accounts payable must be connected to the central location, so that reports are accurate about payout and revenue owed to the company. Accounts receivables and accounts payable are main accounts for revenue in and out of Ordain Manufacturing corporate office. Connecting this system to the main system would help prevent potential trade cases . All areas to Ordain Manufacturing inventory added to the new system establish inventory control, such as ordering, stocking, reordering, replacement, and waste materials.This will maintain information about the availability of stock, what needs reordering during off-peak and peak season and what the expectations of customers and vendors are to receive of delivery. Thi s cut down on inadequate of over stocking, purchasing of unused and unnecessary products, and delivery establishes a more efficient response time for customers. Analysis of Radian's Balance Sheet and Income Statement (Keith) An assessment of Ordain Manufacturing lance sheet provides evidence of consistency for several years with a steady increase of profitability over the last two.Ordain has added company assets and resources by acquiring additional geographically separate production sites, thus driving up the long term debt estimated over nine million dollars up from approximately a million dollars during the previous year. Through this costly expansion, Ordain was still able to retain a comfortable profit margin with an increase of approximately 11 percent in total stockholders' equity from $29,946,992 in 2010 to over $33,447,982 in 2011.This, in itself, makes Ordain very attractive to future stockholders and potential investors. Ordain Manufacturing common stock remains steady fr om last year at $29,055,488; however, produced an almost five hundred percent increase in retained earnings. The retained earnings or retained surplus provides the ability for Ordain Manufacturing to reinvest these gains back into the company for reallocated funds or to lower the long-term debt from the recent expansions at the acquired production sites and international location.These earnings are critical in maintaining the company's founder, Dry. Ordain, vision to remain the industry leader in research and development. Research and development will be tremendously aided by purchasing new, innovated machinery, high-end information systems and funds for increased research and development. Ordain maintains a considerable amount of tangible assets for liquidation; to include accounts receivable, on-hand cash, inventories, and possessions that are readily available if needed.During the review of the income statement, Ordain Manufacturing, successfully increased sales from 2010 to 2011 by 15%, while he direct costs of goods sustain a 17% increase. Total operating expenses remained constant, yet the company prospered significantly by a 40% profit before interest and taxes. This is very valuable information to capture company earnings and relay the information to investors. Radian's income statement not only captures the profits gained versus loss ratios, but also it offers insight into the management of the organization.Management at Ordain is currently maximizing use of its resources and capitalizing on the goods sold while retaining the ability to plan ahead toward he company's goal of maintained its lead in its industry. Radian's income statement illustrates a high rate of return for the business sales and garners a positive outlook of how Ordain is investing and reinvesting the funds directly under management's control. Radian's income statement provided a positive report on the specific dates and times, while the balance sheet captured data tort a particular moment in time.Ordain has a diversified customer base, and provides high quality plastic products to several private sector customers including automotive parts manufacturers, beverage makers, bottlers, appliance manufacturers, and aircraft manufacturers, and to the Government sector, providing military specification reduces to the department of defense (Apollo Group Inc. 2013). The analysis conducted on Radian's accounting system revealed that the company has a very desperate, and mostly unsupported accounting systems.Each facility is handling accounting data using different systems and software. Data that is sent back to the headquarters facility is not formatted consistently or recorded using the same media. Ordain Manufacturing San Jose location uses an effective Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution and it is highly suggested that this system be replicated to he other facilities, or that another ERP solution be examined and considered to take the place of the current syst em, as well as to be deployed to the other facilities.Ordain Manufacturing would benefit by adding new accounting modules such as inventory, Job cost, and systems manager modules to increase efficiency and provide accurate information for the management to base its decisions on. The new modules would also help decrease the company's dependence on borrowed be d t. Ordain Manufacturing balance sheet and income statement show that the company is in a stable position. As illustrated in the graph (Fig. 2), Radian's current ratio has increased over the last two years after dropping in 2009. (Apollo Group Inc. , 2013) (Apollo Group Inc. 2013) In order to continue expansion and increase profitability, Ordain Manufacturing must enhance its operations with efficiency and strategy. A zero-based budget and a performance-based budget would change the direction of the company preventing it from becoming a high risk to lenders, and allowing the company to enjoy profits consistently each year. Orda in Manufacturing values its customers, so it must take tepees to ensure financial reports are accurate, and up to date, providing clear and concise evidence that the company is generating the revenue to be successful. Team Assignment Dry. Michael Ordain, a professor of chemistry. After sensing the commercial application of several of his patented Polymer processes, Dry. Ordain started Ordain Plastics, Inc. , which initially focused on research and development. In 1992, Dry. Ordain acquired venture capital and purchased a manufacturing facility. Ordain Manufacturing Inc. Has since grown into a global organization that specializes in the manufacturing of molded plastic products. With revenues in excess of $1 billion,Ordain employs 550 people and has projected annual earnings of $46 million. The organization operates three separate manufacturing facilities in Albany GA, Pontiac MI, and a Joint venture In Hangout, China providing products to the Department of Defense, automotive parts manufacturers, beverage makers, bottlers, appliance manufacturers, and aircraft manufacturers (Apollo Group Inc. 2013). Although the company's headquarters Is in San Jose, California. Ordain Manufacturing Account Models Ordain Manufactu ring accounting modules consist of the following components: 1 . General Ledger 2. 3. 5. 8. 10. 2.System) Accounts Payable Accounts Receivable Order Entry Procurement sales and Purchasing History Invoicing and Shipping Payroll Financial Reporting EDI* (Electronic Data Interchange) Bar code Reading* DEEDS (Executive Decision Support tofu *San Jose Only (Apollo Group Inc. 2013). The accounting systems used by Ordain are different at each of the company's facilities. The San Jose facility uses an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) integrated system for manufacturing, distribution and financial management specifically engineered for plastic and plastic parts manufacturing (Apollo Group Inc. 2013). The software is Windows integrated.ERP is a well-known system and many successful organizations use ERP solutions. Ordain could benefit by deploying ERP software across the enterprise. The Michigan facility uses a vendor developed software application. Software vendors support software through lifestyle management and stop supporting software and applications as new products are developed and released. The vendor who provided Radian's software went out of business, and support is nonexistent. The system is a VIM Operating system with VACANCY workstations. Finding another vendor to support the systems would be official, if not impossible.The Georgia site has also purchased a vendor developed software and application. This server is running a UNIX operating system with Windows client workstations. With this disparity between facilities, the accounting systems are not running as smooth as Ordain desires. Ordain would like to have a seamless environment for the accounting system users. Hardcore's and conversion-intensive data files are used to transfer data between sites. If a hardcopy of data is provided, the employee at the receiving site often must re-enter the data into his or her system.Many accounting functions are taking considerably longer to complete than they shoul d. The audits are expensive and time-consuming to run. Remaining compliant with new government required reporting is difficult. This situation is unacceptable to the organization and a better solution is required immediately. Ordain Manufacturing inventory is crucial to its manufacturing processes and budgeting projections. Accounting software shows the current stock in the warehouse and identifies the materials that need to be reordered.Inventory consists of raw materials, finished materials, tools, parts, supplies, and fixtures. Ordain Manufacturing needs to keep accurate accountability of its inventory in order to run efficiently. Ordain manufacturing would benefit by using an inventory software module to see a real-time picture of what inventory is currently in the warehouse and on the manufacturing floors, and what portion of raw material has been processed into finished products. This can help with accuracy when projecting man-hour requirements, order fulfillment, and shipping quotas.The company can also use inventory software to track the volume of supplies needed to produce products and maintain the equipment. Another important accounting software module for Ordain Manufacturing is the Job cost module. Job cost software evaluates specific materials and processes to determine the cost associated with the production off product, such as a plastic bottle. The Job cost software can help determine if any of the associated activities need to be evaluated for efficiency or if any of the materials can be used more efficiently in the process.Any improvements to efficiency will help increase pronto For example, Petrochemical is an ingredient that comes from oil used to create plastic. If the price of oil rises so will the cost to create plastic and sell a product made of plastic, such as a plastic bottle. Ordain Manufacturing produces many types of plastics, so the Job cost software is extremely beneficial in confronting changes in a turbulent economy affecting the price of oil used to create plastics.Ordain Manufacturing is a cutting-edge research and development company, which has expanded considerably since its initial startup in the early ass. The company has added new manufacturing and production facilities and has expanded its operation worldwide. The previous technologies and practices in use at the geographically separated locations have remained intact and are vastly different across the company. Ordain Manufacturing will benefit by integrating the finance and accounting subsystems into one Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system (fig. L).This solution allows Ordain manufacturing facilities and departments to interact together in one communicating information system. Systems Connected to the Accounting System Ordain Manufacturing has a very inadequate accounting software system. The company's locations are Georgia, Michigan, California, and a venture in the People's Republic of China. Radian's facilities need to be connected to a central financial accounting system. The systems currently in place are desperate and inconsistent and include a manual input system that was once updated at the San Jose Corporate facility.This is not an inefficient way to track of any aspect of the accounting operation. Ordain Manufacturing needs an updated financial accounting system that can produce data and reports in a standardized format across all facilities. The reports that are generated throughout the Ordain Manufacturing are; accounts payable, accounts receivable, and inventory. Other accounting aspect that must be centralized are payroll, purchase orders and invoicing, vendor information, products, sales, and shipping and receiving.Ordain Manufacturing must accurately maintain its general ledger using Internet access, so that all of the information from the separate facilities is processed and stored at the San Jose headquarters facility. This will ensure that all accounting information is up to date and will provide managers the ability to make better business decisions. Other accounting information such as employee timeshares, payroll, payouts, vacations and sick leave should be revised to a consistent format across the facilities.Each of Ordain Manufacturing facility accounts receivable and accounts payable must be connected to the central location, so that reports are accurate about payout and revenue owed to the company. Accounts receivables and accounts payable are main accounts for revenue in and out of Ordain Manufacturing corporate office. Connecting this system to the main system would help prevent potential trade cases . All areas to Ordain Manufacturing inventory added to the new system establish inventory control, such as ordering, stocking, reordering, replacement, and waste materials.This will maintain information about the availability of stock, what needs reordering during off-peak and peak season and what the expectations of customers and vendors are to receive of delivery. Thi s cut down on inadequate of over stocking, purchasing of unused and unnecessary products, and delivery establishes a more efficient response time for customers. Analysis of Radian's Balance Sheet and Income Statement (Keith) An assessment of Ordain Manufacturing lance sheet provides evidence of consistency for several years with a steady increase of profitability over the last two.Ordain has added company assets and resources by acquiring additional geographically separate production sites, thus driving up the long term debt estimated over nine million dollars up from approximately a million dollars during the previous year. Through this costly expansion, Ordain was still able to retain a comfortable profit margin with an increase of approximately 11 percent in total stockholders' equity from $29,946,992 in 2010 to over $33,447,982 in 2011.This, in itself, makes Ordain very attractive to future stockholders and potential investors. Ordain Manufacturing common stock remains steady fr om last year at $29,055,488; however, produced an almost five hundred percent increase in retained earnings. The retained earnings or retained surplus provides the ability for Ordain Manufacturing to reinvest these gains back into the company for reallocated funds or to lower the long-term debt from the recent expansions at the acquired production sites and international location.These earnings are critical in maintaining the company's founder, Dry. Ordain, vision to remain the industry leader in research and development. Research and development will be tremendously aided by purchasing new, innovated machinery, high-end information systems and funds for increased research and development. Ordain maintains a considerable amount of tangible assets for liquidation; to include accounts receivable, on-hand cash, inventories, and possessions that are readily available if needed.During the review of the income statement, Ordain Manufacturing, successfully increased sales from 2010 to 2011 by 15%, while he direct costs of goods sustain a 17% increase. Total operating expenses remained constant, yet the company prospered significantly by a 40% profit before interest and taxes. This is very valuable information to capture company earnings and relay the information to investors. Radian's income statement not only captures the profits gained versus loss ratios, but also it offers insight into the management of the organization.Management at Ordain is currently maximizing use of its resources and capitalizing on the goods sold while retaining the ability to plan ahead toward he company's goal of maintained its lead in its industry. Radian's income statement illustrates a high rate of return for the business sales and garners a positive outlook of how Ordain is investing and reinvesting the funds directly under management's control. Radian's income statement provided a positive report on the specific dates and times, while the balance sheet captured data tort a particular moment in time.Ordain has a diversified customer base, and provides high quality plastic products to several private sector customers including automotive parts manufacturers, beverage makers, bottlers, appliance manufacturers, and aircraft manufacturers, and to the Government sector, providing military specification reduces to the department of defense (Apollo Group Inc. 2013). The analysis conducted on Radian's accounting system revealed that the company has a very desperate, and mostly unsupported accounting systems.Each facility is handling accounting data using different systems and software. Data that is sent back to the headquarters facility is not formatted consistently or recorded using the same media. Ordain Manufacturing San Jose location uses an effective Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution and it is highly suggested that this system be replicated to he other facilities, or that another ERP solution be examined and considered to take the place of the current syst em, as well as to be deployed to the other facilities.Ordain Manufacturing would benefit by adding new accounting modules such as inventory, Job cost, and systems manager modules to increase efficiency and provide accurate information for the management to base its decisions on. The new modules would also help decrease the company's dependence on borrowed be d t. Ordain Manufacturing balance sheet and income statement show that the company is in a stable position. As illustrated in the graph (Fig. 2), Radian's current ratio has increased over the last two years after dropping in 2009. (Apollo Group Inc. , 2013) (Apollo Group Inc. 2013) In order to continue expansion and increase profitability, Ordain Manufacturing must enhance its operations with efficiency and strategy. A zero-based budget and a performance-based budget would change the direction of the company preventing it from becoming a high risk to lenders, and allowing the company to enjoy profits consistently each year. Orda in Manufacturing values its customers, so it must take tepees to ensure financial reports are accurate, and up to date, providing clear and concise evidence that the company is generating the revenue to be successful.

Formative and Summative Assessment Essay

Assessment is a term that includes all of the various methods used to determine the extent of an individual’s achievement. In teaching and learning situation, assessment refers to the methods used to determine achievement of learning outcomes. Similarly in professional contexts, assessment is concerned with the achievement of professional standards or competence.(Aranda & Yates,2009). Assessment also provides a number of major benefits including: †¢ Grading: assessment may be used to define achievement and to measure the students’ preparedness for professional challenges. †¢ Motivation: assessment may focus on real learning by creating an opportunity that carries with it the rewards of completion or grades. †¢ learning process: assessment activities can guide individuals to learn and relearn subject content efficiently. †¢ Feedback: assessment provides opportunities for individuals to monitor the quality of their performance and identify areas for improvement. PURPOSE OF ASSESSMENT It is easy to become so immersed in the job of teaching that we lose sight the exact purpose of a assessment. There is then the possibility that we are overlooking another form of assessment which might be more appropriate. We actually assess students for quite a range of different reasons – motivation, creating learning opportunities, to give feedback (to both students and staff), to grade, and as a quality assurance mechanism (both for internal and external systems). Because all too often we do not disentangle these functions of assessment, without having really thought it through assessments are frequently trying to do all these things, to varying degrees.(Oxford Brookes University,2011). In fact it is arguable that while it is desirable for assessments meeting the first three of these functions to be conducted as often as possible, the final two do not need to be done anywhere near so frequently; it is simply important that they are done somewhere. The implications of this are that while an essay question, where all the answers are double marked and the marks count towards the students’ final grades, may fulfil all these functions, for all assessments to be this rigorous would be prohibitively expensive in staff time, while a peer-assessed seminar presentation, which does not count towards the students’ final grades but is simply a course requirement, could fulfil the first three functions and may not even require a tutor to be present. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT Formative assessment is typically contrasted with summative assessment. The former supports teachers and students in decision-making during educational and learning processes, while the latter occurs at the end of a learning unit and determines if the content being taught was retained.(Wikipedia,2013). Formative assessment is not distinguished by the format of assessment, but by how the information is used. The same test may act as either formative or summative. However, some methods of assessment are better suited to one or the other purpose. CHARACTERISTICS OF FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT During formative assessment, learning is the shared goal of both teacher and student and alterations to the teaching and learning process take place as needed to further the goal. This allows both the teacher and the student the opportunity for assessment and improvement as an ongoing process instead of an end product. Formative assessments are assessments for learning, rather than assessments of learning, according to the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Focused Formative assessments are focused on the learning process as well as the learning progress. While other assessments may only focus on the end result, formative assessments check the students progress consistently so that adjustments can be made to reach learning goals. Ongoing A formative assessment is consistent and ongoing throughout the learning process. It differs from assessments that focus on the end result. Ongoing assessments give both teachers and students the chance to make adjustments to teaching and learning strategies so learning ultimately takes place. Immediate While other forms of assessment focus on the end result, formative assessments provide immediate feedback to both teachers and students due to ongoing assessment practices. The immediate feedback teachers and students experience can be used to motivate and further learning. LIMITATIONS OF FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS Although offering many benefits, effective formative assessment can be difficult to achieve at scale. It may be logistically impossible to provide detailed descriptive feedback for each student in a large class. Even with a smaller number of students to deal with, formative assessment is time-consuming as it requires significant, ongoing dedication and effort from the teacher to sustain. This is especially true when combined with the summative assessments teachers are required to complete. The layered accountability chain in education — student to teacher, teacher to school, school to district, etc. — creates systemic pressure for student performance to be objectively and comparatively measurable at each level. Formative assessment, by definition, doesn’t easily provide that kind of accountability. This explains why, although the advantages of formative assessment have been repeatedly articulated since the distinction between it and summative assessment was first made in 1967, empirical studies continue to show that very few teachers consistently make use of it in actual practice. SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT Summative assessment measures attainment and allows for the recording of the learning progress. It usually takes the form of tests and examinations, though it is becoming increasingly common for summative assessment to include other tasks such as a project completed during the school year. This move away from assessments based on a single examination gives learners the opportunity to perform to the best of their ability. Not all learners perform well under examination pressure. Furthermore,examinations do not always lend themselves to eliciting the range of language structures and uses that have been the objective of teaching CHARACTERISTICS OF SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT The results of summative assessment allow us to determine the degree to which learners have attained specific learning objectives. Such a decision may have an important consequence on learners’ future prospects. It is therefore crucial that not only is the assessment valid, but that the results obtained are reliable. Validity relates to whether the assessment tasks assess what they intend to assess. Reliability, on the other hand, refers to the results obtained and whether these would be the same if the same learners took the assessment on another occasion provided that no further learning had taken place and regardless of who marked the assessment if more than one person was involved in the process. (Summative assessment,2005). Whether summative assessment is norm-or criterion-referenced will be determined by the purpose of the assessment. If we need to select the best candidates to, for example, continue with their education, then norm-referencing would be appropriate. However, if we are interested in whether candidates have mastered certain skills, then we would not get the required information through norm-referencing.(Meason) For example, when assessing airline pilots we are interested in whether they can fly a plane safely to a very high level of proficiency. Knowing which trainees were the best would not suffice since it is possible that no trainee of a given group would have reached the required standard to safely fly a plane LIMITATIONS OF SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT Students can face anxiety in preparation for a test, an anxiety that grows as the perception of the test’s significance grows. Summative tests advise schools to commit to prolonged pretesting procedures and preparation classes, which can increase student anxiety.(Spiral). In addition, some students simply do not test well, and the result is a testing procedure that fails to adequately assess the real talents of individual students, while a formative assessment would allow a teacher to evaluate these conditions and better assess a student’s ability Summative assessments fan have an overall negative impact on student self-esteem, resulting from the perception of inferiority that standardized tests can give test-takers. Students who perform poorly on standardized tests were found to suffer from lower self-esteem in situations where these same students had not previously exhibited signs of self-esteem problems.(Boggiano,1992). Even students who perform average or well on standardized tests can suffer from the failure to meet their own higher expectations. The result can be a reduction in educational motivation.(Hammond). EXAMPLES OF FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT FROM TEACHING AND LEARNING PERSPECTIVE CONCLUSION In my view,both types of assessments are better,that is a balanced assessment.A balanced assessment system in one in which a variety of assessments are used for a variety of purposes and communications about results facilitates student involvement and ownership of learning.Formative assessment can be vital importance in helping the teacher and students determine the quality of learning that is taking place and can allow them to forecast the results of summative tests some time in advance of the summative testing.Such results can be used as the basis for altering the teaching learning situation early enough to change the immediate as well as alter the forecast. Learning is a process which can be observed and evaluated as it is taking place.Formative evaluation can be used to make the process more effective long before the summative evaluation.Recognition of the interaction among formative evaluation teaching and learning and summative evaluation can do much to improve teaching and lea rning before it is too late. REFERENCES Aranda S,Yates P.An Overview of assessment.Canberra: (EdCaN),Australia;(2009).Retrieved from: www.edcan.org/pdf/edCanOverview.pdf Boggiano A,Pittman T. Achievement and Motivation: A Social-Developmental Perspective.(Eds).(1992).Cambridge Press.New York. Hammond,K.eHow.Education.Summative assessment weaknesses.Retrieved from: http://www.ehow.com/info_8568251_summative-assessment-weaknesses.html Meason C.eHow.Education.Characteristics of Formative assessment.Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/list_6732311_characteristics-formative-assessment.html Oxford Brookes University.(2011).Purpose of Assessment.Retrieved from: www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsld/resources/assessment/purposes.htm Spira M.eHow.Education.Disadvantages of Formative Assessment.Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/info_8502289_advantages-disadvantages-formative-assessment.html Stiggins,R.,Arter,J.,Chappuis,S.(2008).Classroom assessment for student learning.Educational Testing Service.Retrieved from: http://www.bcsd.org/district.cfm?subpage=55380 ‎Summative assessment.(2005).Retrieved from http://cd1.edb.hkedcity.net/cd/eng/tba_eng_sec/web/3_1w.htm Spira M.eHow.Education.Disadvantages of Formative Assessment.Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/info_8502289_advantages-disadvantages-formative-assessmen