Case Study Strategic Management Of Mcdonald s - 2152 Words

Case study: strategic management of McDonald’s Content Executive summary 2 Introduction 2 PESTEL analysis 3 Political Factors 3 Economic Factors 4 Socio-Cultural Factors 4 Technological Factors 4 Environmental Factors 5 Legal Factors 5 SWOT analysis 6 Strengths 6 Weakness 7 Opportunities 7 Threats 8 Conclusion 10 Reference 11 Executive summary To check how the strategic management is practiced in the organization, McDonald’s has been taken as an example. In this essay, the general environment of fast food industry and competitive environment of McDonald’s would be analyzed. Then PESTEL method is applied to analyze the overall environment of its operation while SWOT method will be adapted to figure out the strength, weakness, threats and opportunities of McDonald’s resources by analyzing its financial and non-financial resources. Moreover, the problems of whether the McDonald’s current strategies are winning strategies can be assessed by comparing the results of the SWOT and PESTEL with the McDonald’s practiced strategic management. Specifically, to be winning strategies, three tests, namely, the fit test, the competitive test, and the performance test should be satisfied. Introduction McDonald s is the world s largest fast food restaurants chain, which is headquartered in the United States. McDonald’s actually has been expanding internationally for several decades and consequently it takes increasingly large market shares. There are key initiatives of theShow MoreRelatedMcdonalds And Human Resource Management A Strategic Approach Book Written By William P. Anthony1659 Words   |  7 PagesThis is a case study for McDonald’s corporation, which is demonstrated in Human Resource Management a strategic approach book written by William P. Anthony, K. Michele Kacmar, and Pamela L. Perrewe. Our task is to suggest different solutions to the questions which was asked in the end of case. The two questions which need to be address are: 1. What should McDonald’s do to further reduce turnover and improve its HR management? 2. As McDonald’s continues to expand internationally, discuss the manyRead MoreMcdonalds : Company Profile And Industry784 Words   |  4 Pages McDonalds Expands to Vietnam Hieu Le Columbia Southern University 3 Contents McDonalds Expands to Vietnam 3 Introduction 3 Company Profile and Industry 3 Country Description 4 Conclusion 5 McDonalds Expands to Vietnam Introduction McDonalds is one of the largest fast-food restaurants in the world, which serves burgers, soft drinks, and other type of foods and drinks as well. McDonalds was founded in 1940 by Maurice and Richard McDonald (McDonalds, 2016). The firm?s headquartersRead MoreCreation Of Strategy : How The Organization Essay1469 Words   |  6 Pagesresource in best. To make strategic decisions there are certain key questions to answer. †¢ Where is our organization standing now? †¢ If our current strategic plans is not changed, where will our organization will be in next five to ten year? †¢ If not what are the specific actions has to take? †¢ What are the outcome and risk involved? For the creation of the strategic plan there is a three stage process †¢ Analyse the organization and environment †¢ Identifies the options of strategic ideas †¢ Evaluate andRead MoreEssay about McDonalds Business Analysis1311 Words   |  6 Pagesand Maurice McDonald founded in 1948, McDonalds has grown from a small restaurant in California into one of the most recognized brands in the world with a chain of outlets that spans the globe. For over 50 years, McDonalds defined the fast food industry while indelibly etching its golden arches logo on the face of both American and global culture through such icons as character Ronald McDonald and the Big Mac sandwich. Millions of people started their very first jobs at McDonalds while even moreRead MoreStrategic Management1702 Words   |  7 Pagesï » ¿ Strategic management and leadership The organizational hierarchy and economic conditions directly impacts the roles and functions of business leaders. Therefore, it is imperative that one reviews organizational structure in order to understand leadership traits and characteristics. Due to the constantly evolving economy, companies are aiming to adopt a more elastic strategic management configuration so as to assist the maximization of the employee satisfaction and to get rid of any inflexibilityRead MoreCase Study: Macfarlanes Solutions2312 Words   |  9 PagesCase Study The Case Study concerning MacFarlane solutions is an interesting one to note down regarding strategic planning in an organization. From the information given, it appears that the small business expanded merely due to the insight of Bill MacFarlane and the planning that he gave forward. (McDonald 2011 pg. 736) Bill started off after working in a firm and having an experience of more than forty years. He specialized in what he knew and then gave forward what he was good out. There wasRead MoreStrategic Marketing Management3499 Words   |  14 PagesMcDonalds | MARKETING MANAGEMENT | Strategic Approach towards Marketing | Contents 1. Introduction 3 2. Planning principles and range of tools and techniques used at McDonalds 4 2.1. Planning principles and Processes used in development of Marketing Strategy for McDonalds 4 2.2. Porter’s five forces model determining the strategic options 6 2.2.1. Threat to new entry: 7 2.2.2. Threat to substitute products: 7 2.2.3. Bargaining power of the customers: 7 2.2.4. BargainingRead MoreCase Study : Disneyland s Consumer Focused Initiative Essay1717 Words   |  7 PagesDe Ocampo, Gerard (14095157B) Stream B Submitted to: Anika Vats Lecturer Date: 13th May 2015 PART A: Disneyland’s Case 1. Disneyland’s consumer focused initiative Analyzing the Disneyland case, Disney focused on market segmentation anchoring on cultural distance and differences. According to Zhu Xu (2010), it is important for companies operating in different countries to study the marketing distance problem. It stated that: â€Å"The larger the distance between the countries, the greater the uncertaintyRead MoreThe Success Of Wi Fi Connectivity1599 Words   |  7 Pagesdeveloped a six-factor Information success model ( Refer Fig. 1 ) which included system quality, information quality, IS use, user satisfaction, individual impact, and organizational impact to measure the success of an organization. In the case study McDonald failed to develop the Wi-Fi strategy due to their pay-per-use approach but did not want to miss the chance of earning extra revenue. So, Baltzan et al. (2010) explained how success could be measured using metrics which are detailed measuresRead MorePrinciples of Scientific Management1149 Words   |  5 PagesScientific Management is a theory of management that analyzed and synthesized workflows. Its main objective was improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity. It was one of the earliest attempts to apply science to the engineering of processes and to management. Its development began with Frederick Winslow Taylor in the 1880s and 1890s within the manufacturing industries. Taylor was an American mechanical engineer and a management consultant in his later years. He is often called

Multi Features Advanced Support Vector Machine Method For...

Multi-feature advanced support vector machine method for classification of polarimetric synthetic aperture radar data Purnima Arora1, Dr.Paras Chawla2, Gaurav Malik3 1,2,3Electronics Communication Engineering, Seth Jai Parkash Mukand Lal Institute of Engineering Technology, Radaur, Yamunanagar, Haryana, India-135133, E-mail: 1purnima5142@jmit.ac.in; paraschawla@jmit.ac.in2; 3gauravmalikece@gmail.com Abstract— Support Vector Machine (SVM) is regarded as a good alternative of the traditional learning classification. Terrain classification using polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (POLSAR) imagery has been a very active research field over recent years. Because of support vector’s excellent learning performance, it has become a research hot spot in the field of machine learning. In this paper, we firstly evaluate and compare different features for classifying polarimetric SAR imagery and then we will describe two SVM methods: Normal represents the one without feature selection and weighted represents with optimal multi-feature selection. Obviously, the weighted SVM returns a sparse set of features and employs less SV’s than normal. However, the performance of weighted SVM is no worse and even better than the performance of normal one. The excellent recognition rates achieved in experiments indicate that advanced (weighted) SVM is well suited for SAR image cl assification. The good performance of the proposed methods is illustrated in three challenging remote sensing

Analysis Paper Free Essays

Justice Waite Professor Cherry Eng 111 Analysis Final Draft Can squirrels really plot? Have you ever been driving down the road and have something bad happen to you that you have to slam on the breaks? If you have, then maybe you can relate to the following commercial. Even if you have never had this happen to you, you still might be able to relate to it. The basic idea of the commercial is that no matter what happens in life, that you should always be prepared for what to do next. We will write a custom essay sample on Analysis Paper or any similar topic only for you Order Now GEICO is not just car insurance, but they can be your friend. First of all I would like to start of this essay by telling you what my commercial is about. The commercial that I chose to write my paper on was a GEICO commercial. There are lots of commercials out there for car insurance, but I think this one is the best. When we first see this commercial on the television, they start it off by showing you a squirrel sitting on a tree stump. This stump is by the side of the road near the woods. The squirrel is also eating a nut, while we hear the birds chirping. About half way into the commercial, the squirrel jumps down from the stump and tries to cross the road. As the squirrel crosses the road, he sees a station wagon coming down the road. He than stops in front of the car and just stands there and waits for the car to hit him. Instead of the car hitting him, it swerves off the side of the road. As we hear crashing sounds from the car, another squirrel comes onto the road next to the other squirrel. As the car is crashing the two squirrels start pounding their fists together as if he made the car crash on purpose. Then the narrator says â€Å"Accidents can happen anytime. That’s why GEICO is here 24 hours a day, every day. By looking closer at what this commercial is really saying, then we can understand it better. Because this commercial was on the USA channel, during the new episode of White Collar it can help us better to figure out who GEICO is really trying to target with it. Seeing as how all Americans watch the USA channel, it is best to assume that GEICO is trying to target people in their late twenties and above. We can ass ume this because a majority of American families watch this channel. By looking closer at what this commercial is really saying than we can understand it better. Because this commercial was on the USA channel, during the new episode of White Collar it can help us. By putting this commercial on during a well watched television series is a great way to promote a product. This commercial is also very funny to some people. By making it this way, GEICO hopes to attract people with great personalities, and that are rather funny to be around. Comedy is always a great way to promote a product. Because GEICO references that these two squirrels are buddies, they make this commercial very entertaining to watch. Everyone knows that squirrels run across the road into traffic all the time, that is why this commercial is so great to watch. GEICO makes it seem like all that squirrels do all day is plot how to get cars into accidents. Even though what they really do is try to gather nuts all summer for winter time. Then GEICO makes it seem like once they actually achieve this scheme of making the cars go off the road, that they are happy and pound it with each other. This makes it fell like when two young kids are playing together. If they are both boys, then we can definitely assume that they are up to no good and trying to plot to do something very bad. When they achieve what they are up to, then they both are happy and pound each others fists. Even though we all know that squirrels cant really plot with each other, the idea of it just makes it simply funny and easier to sell car insurance. I’ve already told you what I think this essay is about, and who the targeted audience is, so now it’s time to talk about the overall idea of this commercial. In my opinion the overall idea of this commercial is that, no matter where you are or what happens, you should always be prepared for the unexpected. You could be driving down the road just like the guy was in this commercial, and have the same thing happen to you. If you are not prepared though, something bad could very well happen to you. Like going off the side of the road (in this guys case) and crashing your car. If you don’t have car insurance in this case, then you are going to be screwed. Or take for example something else like, you are on your way home for work after a long night and your house is on fire. What do you do in this case? You can’t run inside of this flaming building and expect to get all of your things back. That is why you need to always be prepared and ready in case anything like this would ever happen, like having home owners insurance. Not everything though in life is always about insurance. It is just better to prepared for the unexpected than be screwed when it happens. In conclusion, car insurance is not just another thing that you need to buy just because it is the law. Car insurance can be helpful in the most unexpected situation that will ever happen. GEICO tries to tell us this by basically using a metaphor. That they can be your friend when you need them the most. Just like a real life friend, but they use squirrels and a station wagon to get this point across. I hope by the time that you read this last sentence that you will understand this commercial better now. The way that I do, maybe you might even laugh a little bit like I did. How to cite Analysis Paper, Papers

What America Means to Me free essay sample

America is a wonderful place to live, because we are free. Freedom is important, and many people in other countries do not have much freedom. I am glad I have a place like this to grow up in; where I know that I can be equal with other races and other genders. Also, I am glad I have a place like this that will respect me and I know it will be a great place to have my children grow up in. Some of our ancestors did not have the privileges we have now because they grew up in other countries, that controlled heir religion, who they married, and almost everything else in their lives.That may be one of the reasons they moved to America in the first place. I am very grateful for our country, and all of the privileges I have growing up here. In many countries, I wouldnt be able to get the education that is available to me, and I wouldnt get many of the rights I have because I am a woman. We will write a custom essay sample on What America Means to Me or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Womens rights have been a major issue in the past, especially in some other countries, where women must walk round completely covered or they are arrested.In America, even though we had to fight for these rights, not only can we vote, but we can also get the same education and same Jobs as the men in todays society. Another part of America that I like is the way politics are set up. Anyone who thinks they can do a good Job Is able to run for a place in todays government. We dont only have one ruler who makes all our rules and laws, but instead the people In America are ruled by the people.I like that because that way if we want something changed, or If enough of us think that something is wrong with our nation, we can make a difference. Voting Is a big part of making that difference, because voting shows how you want our government run, and whom you want to be represented by. We arent Just represented by our president. We are also represented by our town councils, our mayors, our governors, senators, and everyone else that makes up a part of our government.So there are always laces open In our society that we can fill to make our own changes. The freedom of religion In America Is another big concept; because that Is another reason many people came to America, to break free from the bonds of the designated religion in their country. Personally, I am not a very religious person, but I know that If I was living In another country, I might have to be, whether I liked It or not. l am so glad I live In America, and If I lived anywhere else, I would want to move here.

Business and economics The organic food sector

Trends in the sector The organic food sector has grown tremendously in the last two decades. This is attributable to various factors such as the changing dietary habits among the masses. The change has resulted in an increased demand for organic food. Studies have linked several cancerous ailments to the consumption of genetically modified food (GMF).Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Business and economics: The organic food sector specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Fear among the masses has resulted in a significant proportion of the people reverting to organic food. This has driven the demand for organic food upwards over the last two decades. Companies that deal with such products have experienced relentless growth in demand for their merchandise. This trend is expected to persist as the public becomes aware of the nutrition value of organic food stuffs. Entities in this sector will raise customers’ aw areness on the nature of their commodities. Raising awareness that their commodities are organic will resonate well with their potential clientele. Overall, entities in this sector will market their commodities on the basis that they are organic. Thus, they possess more nutritive value than inorganic products (Dunn-Georgiou 34). Porter’s model The increase in demand has resulted in a robust organic food industry. Growth of the organic food industry has various implications on the firms or entities that operate in it (Dimitri and Greene 7). Michael Porter’s model seeks to analyse how various factors impact on an organization’s future. These environmental factors include rivalry among firms in the sector, entry of new firms, the bargaining ability of the clientele, the bargaining capability of the suppliers and the threat posed by substitute commodities. The lucrative nature of this industry has attracted new investors (new entrants). New entrants are a threat to entities in the organic food industry. Firms can bar new entrants by raising the cost of entry into the sector. Nevertheless, there are no such costs that may prevent entry of new firms. Subsequently, new organizations have become a real threat to companies in the organic food sector. The entry of new firms has increased the number of players involved in the sector. This has bred rivalry. Rival companies spend funds as they pursue dominance in a sector or guard their market segment. The rivalry may translate to slashing of prices to unsustainable levels. Such a strategy will result in the powerfulentity driving weaker firms out of business. Though such a strategy is unethical, it is utilised by entities seeking a monopolistic status.Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Once an entity attains a monopolistic status, it is always a threat to other smaller firms. Another threat to firms in this sector is their clients. If customers have a bargaining capability over the companies, entities in this sector will have to lower prices. This will result in lower revenues for firms in this sector. Lower revenues lead to reduced profitability for firms and investors. If such a trend persists, many firms or investors may pull out of the sector. Suppliers are a vital component in any industry. They provide inputs that entities in this sector process for sale to clients. They pose a certain threat to organizations in this sector. If the suppliers’ bargaining capacityrises, they will charge more for their inputs. This will have several implications on the firms that operate in this sector. These firms will encounter higher costs of operations. Hence, diminishing the profitability margin. Reduction in the profitability margin will trigger closure of entities that cannot break even. The final threat to firms in this sector is substitute goods. These are commoditi es that will deliver the same nutritional value as the food produced by the organic firms. Commodities produced by entities in this sector are unique. Hence, substitute goods pose no real threat to entities that operate in this sector (Willerand Sorensen 65). Creating a competitive advantage SWOT The key strength of this sector is that it has created a unique niche, which non-organic food companies cannot take over. The market segment created by the organic food sector has been expanding rapidly. The expansion implies that the purchaser is informed of the kind of commodities sold by firms in this sector. This market segment has a massive potential as indicated by the statistics. However, it will require the industry players to create awareness among the potential clientele. The masses are more willing to try out organic products owing to the effects of GMF. This presents a key opportunity for the industry. The firms in this sector should exploit this opportunity through advertising that creates awareness on the nutritional value of their products and absence of side effects.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Business and economics: The organic food sector specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This industry also has weaknesses. The products sold in this sector require a lengthy time to grow while some are seasonal. This hinders all-year production, which is common in inorganic products. Finally, advertisements to dismiss the nutritional value of organic products may pose a serious threat to the success of firms in this sector (Milbrodt 132). Based on the SWOT analysis, this industry’s competitive advantage lies in creating customer awareness on the nutritional value of organic products. Creating awareness will require elaborate promotions, which targetthe clients that are likely to shift their preferences based on timely promotions. Works Cited Dimitri, Carolyn and Catherine Greene. Re cent Growth Patterns in the U.S. Organic Foods Market. Washington D.C: Economic Research Service, 2002. Print. Dunn-Georgiou, Elisha. Everything You Need to Know About Organic Foods. New York, NY: The Rosen Publishing, 2002. Print. Milbrodt, Carola. Organic Food Industry in China – Current State and Future Prospects. Muchen: Verlag Grin, 2005. Print. Porter, Stanley and Jason Robinson. Hermeneutics: An Introduction to Interpretive Theory. Grand Rapids, Mich: William B. Eerdmans, 2011. Print. Willer, Helga and Neil Sorensen.The World of Organic Agriculture: Statistics and Emerging Trends 2008. New York, NY: Earth Scan Publishing, 2008. Print.Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This assessment on Business and economics: The organic food sector was written and submitted by user Jennifer Z. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

buy custom Continuum of Care essay

buy custom Continuum of Care essay Continuum of care is an integrated system of care that guides and tracks patients over time through comprehensive steps of health services spanning all levels of intensity care. Effective continuum of care involves concept providing a framework for delivery of optimum health care to patient populations. Several factors influence health care delivery. For example, geographic location would have more or less a positive influence on health care delivery. Area of residence, may it be in a metropolitan city or rural locality, and the quality of service have an effect on people's health. This involves the distance one has to travel to get the medical care and the availability of the service provider, and this entails the geographical location. In a metropolitan city, many residents will access medical care with ease, and they benefit fully from the system. In these areas, there is a proportionate share of high-quality health care service providers (Kahn et al.). As recommended in the Understanding the U.S. Health Services System, in a metropolitan city, procedures and steps are taken to perfect health care service delivery to all residents independently of their race or religion, unlike in rural local facilities that have disproportionate low-quality health care provided influenced by pat ients race. People living in a metropolitan city are associated with high income and have access to quality health care even with current economic situation. There is a major tertiary care hospital in a metropolitan city allowing good access to quality care. Compared wth people living in urban areas, rural residents have higher poverty rates, tend to be faced by health challenges, and face more difficulty in accessing health services. There are a large number of primary care doctors, specialists, hospitals, and other health resources compared to other areas. In urban areas, distance and availability of transport to an emergency room or hospital enables receiving prompt treatment. Local health care system finds it difficult to hire, host, and raise funds to acquire and maintain proficient medical professionals and health service providers. In urban city, there is the availability of special services, such as treatment for rare diseases and expensive diagnostic equipment. Apart from geographic location, there are other factors that affect health care service delivery, either in a metropolitan city or local health, either positively or negatively. Lack of finances makes people without insurance covers not to seek medical care or not be able to buy medicines. In addition, the government faces a challenge to develop new hospitals or buy expensive diagnostic equipments. People who are not conversant in spoken and written English are likely to have challenges in accessing optimum primary care due to inability to understand instructions received from care providers. Language barrier face people mostly in local areas. Some people are less likely to seek care due to their personal ethnic believes; this is because they think medical providers will discriminate against treating them appropriately because of their race, gender, or religion. Others think home remedies will work better, and they still bellieve vaccinations cause autism, thus they end up denying th eir child preventive care. Understanding the U.S. health care systems explains the organization and financing of the system, which has a positive impact on the health care delivery, as well as placing the U.S. health care in a greater international context. The text tries to outline the challenges faced in the health sector and how to overcome them. Moreover, it outlines sources of funding for medical care from both, public health insurance and private health insurance. U.S. government assists patients by reimbursing funds to hospitals and health service providers. The funds are also sourced from private insurers. This has led to the country enjoying gain in life expectancy over past 40 years. GRMC as a provider meets most settings provided by the Understanding U.S. health service system text by being committed to providing high-quality care in a friendly hospital environment and offering comprehensive health care services. Patients should have access to appropriate care and information, and providers are cult urally competent and responsive to patients needs. The setting also requires a clear accountability of the total care of patients. Conclusion Geographical location and individual circumstances, such as finances, doctors, patients ability to communicate, race, and gender affect health care delivery. Other factors impacting delivery of services along the continuum of care are related to personal beliefs about medical care and medical care practitioners. Buy custom Continuum of Care essay

Performance Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 4

Performance Management - Essay Example Google Inc. has been built greatly and the results all over the world speak for themselves. However, one of the things it has always believed in is that great is not always good enough and this is the reason that it started the putting plans in place to improve how it manages the performance of its employees including the managers. It sought ways to ensure that all its resources are being put into action in making the employees happy, satisfied as well as have incentives enough to work and increase their performance which would ensure sustainability of the company’s success. The planning started with the management as part of the employee team and trying to ensure that its performance increases through making them better bosses. The planning was carried out by a small team but it involved the whole company. The employees were given surveys on what would make the bosses better and the feedback was incorporated in the performance management package. This was in addition to the p erformance reviews given to the managers themselves, the praises and complaints they had been receiving from the employees and even customers among other channels. Google Inc. has another way to review performance management of their employees and this is through the employees setting goals and objectives for themselves and then quantifying all these goals and explaining ways in which they will be able to attain these goals within the specified time. This is meant to empower the employees to plan their work.

MBA Marketing - Report 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

MBA Marketing - Report 1 - Essay Example Littler corner market food makers have great motivation to be hopeful in todays commercial center. Expanded interest for distinguishing offering food products and buyers readiness to visit diverse retailers to get them—is making new promoting chances for food makers and processors that can offer imaginative stock intended to help and inclination of specific customer portion (Dudbridge, 2011). According to Lewis, (2009) Solidification in the food business has significantly gathered purchasing force under the control of simply a couple of expansive food buyers. At each phase of the worth chain, a little handful of vast firms are the predominant players. Four organizations (Tyson, Cargill, Quick, and National Meat Pressing) control 84% of the meatpacking business sector (Hester and Harrison, 2001). In flour processing, three organizations (Cargill/chs, ADM, and Conagra) control 55% of the business sector. At the retail end, Wal-Bazaar has one quarter of the $550 billion U.K. foodstuff market. The five top retail basic supply chains control more than a large portion of (52%) of the business sector and regularly utilize that power to take a bigger offer of the overall revenue far from farmers and other downstream suppliers of food. The aftereffect of the corporate combining has been a 49% expansion in the retailers offer of the shopper dollar and a 29% abatement in the farmer s offer since 1990. Social issue: A year in the wake of being on the cusp of passing historic point enactment to top nursery gasses, greens are coming to acknowledge the way that the shot of national and global movement on environmental change has ended up more remote than at any other time. The Ecological Insurance Office (EPA) is under ambush by recently enabled Republicans in Congress who contend that the general thought of natural security is unreasonably expensive for their obligation ridden nation. Usual to remaining idealistic even with

School Library Media Coordinator Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

School Library Media Coordinator - Essay Example Whereas pedagogy used to be the norm from kindergarten and through the school years and even within the portal of the colleges, now the focus is shifting to enable students grasp the methodologies for self-learning in the primary school years. The library used to be more of a place for reading entertainment. However, now the library has taken its rightful place as powerhouse of knowledge and information, almost a window to the world. Today, the wonders of knowledge and information and their utility occur with little gap in between. Take, for instance, the fields of information and communication technologies. These have become so all-encompassing and intertwined that students are getting the opportunity to use them long before they learn the fundamentals of what drives them and how they operate. Mobile phones, video games, the internet, gadgets like mp3, iPod, iPhone, etc. have students knowing lot more about these even before they start learning the dynamics of electrons, magnetism, calculus, conversion of energy and so on. The importance of the school library has dramatically increased in the past few decades. Knowledge and its application have become far too advanced and quicker than ever before for libraries to remain like a silent spectator in the background. Today, the function of library is a... The library has become a window to every activity from simple reading room containing literature classics to the volumes containing information about intriguing botanies and awe-inspiring planetarium. The library is now the buzzword for every subject, the initiating and training grounds for knowledge building in social sciences, physics and mathematics, the forerunner to specialization in different fields of science and arts (School Library Media Activities Monthly). Before the advent of the information era, the scope for utility of knowledge had to wait till the student completed studies and entered her/his career. Indeed, there was such a wide gap between learning and application of knowledge that most students had forgotten all that they had learnt in schools and colleges in view of the system-oriented assembly-line method of operating prevailing in every corporation, institution and agencies. This way, students simply became nothing less than robots performing the same mundane activities on rote. Education was a dull, repetitive, cyclic and boring affair. The information and communication era has changed all this. Nowadays, education must focus on specialization besides general knowledge to provide students the cutting edge in their area of interest and ability to grasp. There is the need for libraries to provide extensive information beyond the limited dose provided in graded textbooks. Thus, the treatment of library by learning institutions is becoming the litmus test for its efficacy and reputation. The value and importance of learning and teaching with the use of libraries must be the rule rather than the exception. Knowledge is far too advanced and complex now. It is not possible to depend solely on pedagogy style, classroom teaching. The

Bilingual Child Support in the Classroom

Bilingual Child Support in the Classroom Information about your project Proposed project title Exploring the way bilingual children are supported in the classroom. Proposed research question(s) 5. 1.What challenges do bilingual children face? 22 2. What strategies are used? 33 3. How effective are these? 22 Proposed setting(s)/sample/case for research (e.g. teachers in a local secondary school, fellow students at university, etc). Students at Primary Schools. Section B Answer the questions below in as much detail as possible within the 1500 word limit (Max). You should use research literature, where relevant, to support your answers and include a reference list. Why is your chosen area worthy of research? Explain the rationale for your topic. As the aim of my research topic is to understand the factors affecting bilingual children learning experiences in the classroom, phenomenology was the suitable approach to put myself in the shoe of these students and comprehend their perspective on my research topic. This encouraged me to look into how bilingual students get supported in the school now. Being bilingual can have tremendous advantages not only in terms of language competencies, but also in terms of cognitive and social development (Lambert, 1990, p.210). There are numerous of researches that illustrate benefits of bilingualism, and these researches have taken into consideration that being bilingual not necessary mean speaking more than one language. However, the advantage of being bilingual is to be able to understand the cultural and language and use them more effectively. Cummins argues that if the child learns both languages balance between first and second language could be beneficial. (Baker 2001 p.165 and Cummins 2000, p.57) What is your chosen research design? Why do you think this is the best way to achieve the projects aims? The research design that I have chose is a mixed method approach such as qualitative and quantitative research. Qualitative method is more suitable for my research, as Silver stated that qualitative research concentrates on the study of social life natural settings (2011, p. 194). Qualitative research is a way to understand peoples experiences and their lives, which is why I believe qualitative research is appropriate for my project as I also want to uncover the experiences of teachers and bilingual students. Qualitative data are normally gathered by monitoring, focus groups, interviews and classroom observation. However it may also be gathered from case studies and written documents. The research is focused on the experiences that bilingual children have in the school and how the school takes into consideration their cultural and linguistic backgrounds into teaching style. These questions require descriptive answers and understanding rather than measurements and statistical results associated with the quantitative approach. Qualitative research provides details by allowing to taking it in depth through interviews and the observation in the classroom to observe if the activities that bilingual children are taking part in are relevant to pupils own experiences and reflect on their cultural heritage. This research greatest used to respond why and how question. The strength of qualitative method is to attain more sensible feel of the world that cannot be practised in the numerical data and statistical analysis used in quantitative research; and also Ability to interact with the research subjects in their own language and on their own terms (Kirk Miller, 1986) Achieving high levels of reliability of gathered data due to controlled observations within the classroom and examine the different activities that bilingual children are engaging and the resources that the school use to help them improve their learning. Mini literature review: Using three academic articles summarise key issues relating to your research area. It is radically challenging when the students have different ways of learning, as they need to adopt and learn whole new curriculum and language. NALDIC (2011) identified the challenging task facing the EAL learner in the school: To progress from a radically different starting point from other children and to acquire the appropriate social skills as well as learning a new language. To accommodate the new language, values, expectations alongside the existing ones learned at home (NALDIC, 2011, p17) Their challenges also the ways in which the teacher can support to achieve their potential. Social settings will help the child to pick up basic conversational words and phrases. (Cummins, 1994, p.34). The National Occupational Standards (NOS) are specialised for supporting teaching and learning in schools (STL). This department has provided a range of standards for the teachers to meet when they support bilingual students learning. The national curriculum has provided a framework of what pupils should be able to know, understand and do at key points in their learning. (Education Department.gov.uk, 2015). The support that has been offered for bilingual pupils, which may involve support staff, is as follows; Observing bilingual pupils to monitor the impact of different teaching strategies, learning contexts or to have one-to-one support with students before or during the main lessons. What are your chosen data collection methods? Why do you feel these are most appropriate? The chosen data collection methods are class room observation and interviews. Observation the research watching, recording and analysing event of interest (Blaxter et al., 2010: 199) This can be classroom, meeting room and playground. This type of research is carried out in short term period observation is basic but important aspect of learning from and interacting and observing an understanding about the situation. According to Robson (2011) explain that observation gives you real life in the real world. Classroom observation method gives an insight to see the relationship between teachers and students and the activities the students are encouraged to do and see if they are enjoying it. The data that has been gathered can confirm, contradict and extend other data, for instance observation helps you to see in real life what participants have mentioned in interviews or questionnaire. (Lambert, 2012) It also gives you deep understanding of what challenges bilingual children faces and how classrooms are presented and observe the classroom setting. Interview study highlights the advantage of qualitative research in offering an apparently deeper picture than the variable-based correlations of quantitative studies (Silverman, 2011:18). Interview is in depth allowing the person to express their experiences, their values, aspirations, attitudes and feelings. Semi-structure interview pursuing the information which is most useful for your research and which feels the interviewee can provide. How do you intend to ensure that your research is valid? It is important that research is reliable, valid and tested information as this will help practitioners since they will use other peoples findings which will decrease the chances of subjectivity occurring these are the concepts of data, reliability, validity, subjectivity and objectivity BERA (2011). To ensure data is valid and accurate is to remove problems with design which compromise validity and to gather data from more than one method or from more than one source which is known as triangulation. To make sure that the research is valid is to afford time and resources for researcher training in use of the tool to reduce differences in participant responses across data collectors in order to achieve validity. ( Burton Bartlett, 2009) Using piloting could be important especially if you are collecting data with another researcher in order to observe same lesson and compare the notes that has been taken, to interpret and record events at the same way. This issue is relevant to any method carried out by more than one researcher as it is called inter-observes reliability. How do you intend to ensure that your research is ethical? Research ethics is concerned with respecting research participant throughout each project (Lambert, 2012) Ethical standards promote the values that are essential to collaborative work, such as trust, accountability, mutual respect, and fairness. It is designed to keep it confidential and to protect intellectual property interest. The three main issues most frequently raised in the Western research ethical guidelines and by the professional associations are, codes and consent (Informed consent), confidentiality and trust (Ryen, 2011, p.418). Codes and consent is that the participants has right to be informed clearly what is my research about and how you want to carry it out. According to Silverman perhaps informed consent is seen best as a process of negotiation, rather than a one-off action (Silverman, 2011, 324). In order for the individual to describe and share their accounts or behaviour in the report informed consent was essential. The confidentiality and anonymous treatment of participants data is considered the norm for the conduct of research. Researchers must recognize the participants entitlement to privacy and must accord them their rights to confidentiality and anonymity, unless they or their guardians or responsible others. ( BERA, 2011) To ensure the confidentiality, the school is being aware that the researcher is not going to be using the real name of their school. Also the teacher and the students who take part of the research report are to keep anonymous. This is important in order to protect such identities researchers need to use pseudonyms for the people who are taking part in the project and the school. (May, 2001, pg. 181). The feedback that is being received from participants is not being discussed or shared other than co-researchers involved with the specific investigation to protect the information they shared (Back, 2005, pg. 180). What problems could occur during the undertaking of your research and how do you plan to resolve these? At research place there will be policies and procedure relating to difficult situation such as child going through abuse, bully or any form of sensitive matter which should be shared with a designated member of staff. This will mean breaking the promise of confidentiality which has been given to the participants for greater safety and welfare of the participants. (Lambert, 2012) Ethical dilemma may arise when doing research such as researcher using internet including blog raise new variants of ethical questions concerning confidentiality of data, responsibility to research participant and respect of those actively engaged in the research and those who may be affected indirectly. In these circumstances returning to ethical principles will help the researcher to think through the issue. References Back, L. (2005) Home from Home: Youth, Belonging and Place, in, (Eds..) Alexander, C. and Knowles, C., Making Race Matter: Bodies, Space and Identity, London: Palgrave. Bell, J. (1993), Doing Your Research Project: A Guide for First-time Researchers in Education and Social Science, second edition, Milton Keynes: Open University Press British Educational Research Association (BERA) (2011) Ethical guidelines for educational researcher. London: BERA. Burton, D Barlett, S (2009), Key Issues for Education researchers, London: SAGE Publications Inc. Cfbt.com, (2015). Teaching languages other than English CfBT. [online] Available at: http://www.cfbt.com/en-GB/What-we-do/Support-for-teaching-English-and-other-languages/Teaching-languages-other-than-english [Accessed 27 Dec 2016]. Cummins, J. (2000). Language, Power and Pedagogy: Bilingual Children in the Crossfire. Multilingual Matters: Clevedon. Department for Education and Skills (DfES) (2006) Primary Framework for Mathematics and Literacy. London: DfES. Lambert, M (2012) A beginners guide to doing your education research project, London: SAGE Publication Ltd May, T. (2001). Social research: issues, methods and process. Buckingham [UK], Open University Press Media.education.gov.uk. (2004). A language in common: Assessing English as an additional language. [ONLINE] Available at: http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/a/a%20language%20in%20common%20assessing%20eal.pdf. [Accessed 27 Dec 16]. NALDIC Working Paper 5. (1999) The Distinctiveness of English as an Additional Language: a cross-curricular discipline. Watford: NALDIC. Robson , C. (2011), Real World Research, Chichester (UK) : John Wiley Sons Ltd. Schools.norfolk.gov.uk.( 2013). Equality Services Reading Borough Council Welcoming and Supporting Newly Arrived Bilingual Pupils 3 Equality Services Directorate of Education and Childrens Services Supporting Newly Arrived Bilingual Pupils . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.schools.norfolk.gov.uk/view/NCC137979.[Accessed 26 Dec 16]. Silverman, D. (2013). Doing Qualitative Research: A Practical Handbook.4th Edition. SAGE Publications Ltd. Word count: 1485

Contemporary Realism Essay -- essays research papers

Adventure stories are one area of genre we find under the heading of contemporary realism. Survival stories are adventures that focus on a person or group of people up against the forces of nature with which they must overcome or become a part. Island of the Blue Dolphins and Defoe's Robinson Crusoe are classic examples of survival novels.. Mystery or detective stories are a form of romance, diversion fiction creating a world which is more exciting, dangerous, and beautiful then we believe our own to be. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and Nancy Drew mysteries fall under this heading. Having a sense of humor helps us to be able to laugh at ourselves and the challenges we face. Most successful relationships have humor at a key ingredient. Humorous adventure with its v...

Holfstede’s Cultural Constraints Essay

In his article â€Å"Cultural Constraints in Management Theories,† G. Holfstede (1993) argues his main point that there is really no universal management theory, such that the means to manage organizations greatly vary across countries and cultures. For instance, the concept of management in the United States is different from, say, Asia or Europe, let alone apply to the two latter regions. A specific management concept or practice may be accepted in America but it does not mean that it is also accepted in some other part of the world. Holfstede begins by exploring the origins of the concept of management in cultures in varying times and notes the differences in the management theories. For example, managers are said to be cultural heroes in British and American regions while Germans see the engineer as the one having a heroic role precisely because German presidents and CEOs already have mastered their specialized skills and, hence, does not call for a manager. In Japan, the permanent worker group bears the ‘heroic role’ and that these workers are controlled not by managers but by their group. French people, on the other hand, do not have the notion of managers as Americans know of them. Rather, French workers think of one another as cadres, cadres being a social class obtained by learning at the proper schools and a social class maintained for a lifetime. Another case is that of Holland where the practice of managing people rests on the need for a consensus among all the involved individuals. These practices are established neither by contractual relationship nor by class distinctions but by an open-ended balancing of interests and exchange of views. In essence, Holfstede firmly maintains that the American concept of management theories vary from nation to nation and culture to culture. That being said, no management theory unique to a certain country or culture can perfectly apply to another culture and country precisely because of the variations among these cultures and countries. Reference Holfstede, G. (1993). Cultural Constraints in Management Theories. Academy of Management Executive, 7(1): 81-94.

Winston Churchills Life essays

Winston Churchill's Life essays Death- 1965 January 24 at the age of 90 National Origin- Oxfordshire, England Early Influences- his father, Randolph Churchill Awards, Prizes Honors received- In 1900 Winston Churchill was elected into Parliament. In 1905 Winston Churchill is appointed undersecretary of state for the colonies. 1908 appointed president of the board of trade. 1910 appointed home secretary. 1911 appointed 1st lord of the Admiralty. 1915 resigns as lord of the Admiralty. 1922 loses seat in Parliament, but then in 1924 is reelected back into Parliament as Chancellor. 1940 may 10th Winston Churchill is appointed Prime Minister of Britain. 1945 he resigns from being prime minister. 1951 returns as prime minister. 1953 was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. In October of 1953 Churchill was awarded the Nobel peace prize. Publications- THE STORY OF THE MALAKAND FIELD FORCE, THE RIVER WAR, SAVROLA, LONDON TO LADYSMITH VIA PRETORIA, IAN HAMILTON'S MARCH, MR. BRODRICK'S ARMY, LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILL, FOR FREE TRADE, MY AFRICAN JOURNEY, LIBERALISM AND THE SOCIAL PROBLEM, THE PEOPLE'S RIGHTS, THE FIGHTING LINE, THE WORLD CRISIS, MY EARLY LIFE: A ROVING COMMISSION, INDIA, THOUGHTS AND ADVENTURES AMID THESE STORMS, MARLBOROUGH: HIS LIFE AND TIMES, GREAT CONTEMPORARIES, ARMS AND THE COVENANT WHILE ENGLAND SLEPT, STEP BY STEP 1936-1939, INTO BATTLE BLOOD SWEAT AND TEARS, THE UNRELENTING STRUGGLE, THE END OF THE BEGINNING, ONWARDS TO VICTORY, THE DAWN OF LIBERATION, VICTORY, WAR SPEECHES 1940-1945, SECRET SESSION SPEECHES, THE SECOND WORLD WAR, THE SINEWS OF PEACE, PAINTING AS A PASTIME, EUROPE UNITE, IN THE BALANCE, THE WAR SPEECHES DEFINITIVE EDITION, STEMMING THE TIDE, A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING PE0PLES, THE UNWRITTEN ALLIANCE, FRONTIERS AND WARS, YOUNG WINSTON'S WARS, IF I LIVED MY LIFE AGAIN, WINST ON S. CHURCHILL: THE COMPLETE SPEECHES, THE COLLECTED ESSAYS OF SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL, THE DREAM, THE CHAR ...

Religion Is Seen as Not Promoting Social Change for Marx and Durkheim. Essay Essay Example

Religion Is Seen as Not Promoting Social Change for Marx and Durkheim. Essay Essay Example Religion Is Seen as Not Promoting Social Change for Marx and Durkheim. Essay Essay Religion Is Seen as Not Promoting Social Change for Marx and Durkheim. Essay Essay Religion is a powerful function in act uponing a society and the lives of it’s members. The sociological traditions of Marx and Durkheim view faith wholly otherwise. yet they both agree that faith is a really of import facet of a society. Durkheim and Marx each had their ain definitions of faith. However. we will larn that they both see an of import function that faith dramas in a society. every bit good as the ways in which society creates and forms their faiths. Unlike Durkheim and Weber. Marx was non much concerned with the analyzing faith although his thoughts on faith are really influential. For Marx faith He farther feels that a universe that requires semblance ( faith ) has something incorrect with it. Marx negotiations about two primary maps of faith in what he calls the â€Å"real world† . First he says that faith is the opium of the people. Marx feels faith provides anaesthesia to the multitudes. To him. faith is a manner for people to get away from some of the agony in their lives or to somehow experience better despite all of their agony. Religion deters agony of the present state of affairss of people. It allows people to set off their agony because they believe it will be taken attention of in Eden. or where of all time. after they die. And as it would follow. faith helps people put more hope into â€Å"the twelvemonth after† . Peoples who are spiritual truly do believe â€Å"life† will be better for them after they die. Besides faith helps to keep the subjugation of the lower classed people by the people who make up the upper categories. The 2nd primary map of faith in a society. harmonizing to Karl Marx. is that it is the suspiration of the laden animal. Religion brings with it a safety value. Peoples end up being lulled into the protection faith seems to offer them. and people do experience the demand to experience and be safe. Religion besides gives people an chance to kick about the ways of the universe. The universe is non the manner faith says it should be and hence people complain about the manner it really is. as a manner of experiencing like a good member of their chosen faith. Religion allows people to admit the dehumanised province of their lives. It helps people to see the atrocious manner in which we are in and it helps maintain us in this atrocious manner. We realize through faith that we are non happening fulfilment in our lives. Marx would see a relationship between spiritual belief and progressive societal activism as a show of a dehumanised society hankering for self realization. The people of a progressive societal militant society are non acquiring self realization because there political system allows for scarceness of necessities. goods and occupations. and they besides oppress the people of their society. Harmonizing to Marx. if people are without self realization they will make a topographic point where they can happen self realization. Religion helps people do that. Durkheim dedicated a considerable portion of his academic life to the survey of faith particularly faith in little scale traditional societies. Assigning a individual sentence to Durkheim in a sort of appendix to The Sacred A ; The Profane. Eliade remarks that the Gallic laminitis of sociology ‘believed that he had found the sociological account for faith in totemism’ . Durkheim bases his work on the totemism practiced by Australian natives and argues that totemism is the most simple or simple signifier of faith. Durkheim starts Forms by looking at how faith may be defined and here the sacred profane duality comes instantly into drama: the primary feature of faith is that it divides the universe into the two spheres of sacred and profane. In fact. the two are opposed so basically that they are seen as separate universes. In Durkheim’s view the sacred is far from being synonymous with the Godhead. Not merely may Gods and liquors be sacred. but besides things like stones. trees. pieces of wood. in fact anything. For what makes something sacred is non that it is someway connected to the Godhead but that it is the topic of a prohibition that sets it radically apart from something else. which is itself thereby made profane. Durkheim describes faith in footings of beliefs and rites. For him. the inside informations of these in peculiar faiths are peculiar ways of covering in idea and action with the cardinal duality of sacred and profane.

Article Critique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 7

Article Critique - Essay Example This movement did much to shift the focus from job recovery to the national debt. Though some from the conservative stance felt the Tea Party movement was exactly what the nation needed, proponents such as Sarah Palin had a very different view. She supported the insurgency much more so than the leader of the movement. She was very much against the movement being defined by any one leader or party. TEA AND SYMPATHY Who owns the American Revolution? (Tanenhaus,2012) The article uses metaphor to describe the Boston Tea Party ship. Though there is a replica that is discussed I believe in this article the discussion demonstrates that State of the Tea party Movement. Jill Lepore goes on to describe one business commentator’s outrage of the federal government’s bailout plan, demanding a new Tea Party. He insisted on the unloading of derivative securities into Lake Michigan. The article highlights the importance of the Founding fathers and those events that transpired in 1773; comparing them in a way as to give the opinion that today’s Tea Party movement is small in comparison and lacks the convictions of those of that time. Jill Lepore’s bias seems to be in agreement with the argument’s she presented in the article, and is in agreement that no particular leader or party should be on whole responsible for the Tea Party movement and that those who are considered Tea party faithful’s are emphatic of quixotic crusades (Tanenhaus,2012). Lepore disagree that the tea Party movement has a misguided view of the American Revolutionary period (Mohamed, 2011). Lepore uses sources such as Christen Varley, responsible for holding monthly Tea Party movement meetings and CNBC business commentator Rick Santelli. Lepore suggests that if the Tea party is to be thought of as fundamentalism history and its review will not change these thoughts. No Thanks for the Memories Gordon S. Wood (Wood, 2011) This article is actually a response to the Jill L epore book â€Å"The Whites of Their Eyes: The Tea Party’s Revolution and the Battle over American History, (Princeton University Press, 2011). He describes Jill Lepores attitudes and opinions as mocking and describes her discussions as ramblings of present day Tea Party movement issues with those of the Revolution. He considers her question of what our forefathers would do to be a question that is not only pointless but serves little purpose then to provoke conversation towards what seems to be her favorite subject, the American Revolution. Lepore regards the Tea Party as an ageless and nearly sacred event almost to the point of worship. Throughout her book she constantly reiterates that in the case of the Tea Party movement history is clearly not understood and possibly incapable of being understood by today’s government. She dismisses interpretative doctrine of original ideas as fundamentalism (Woods, 2011). Woods opinion is that Lepore should have as her focus mem ory of the American Revolution more so than emotional ties and that these ties cloud and bias her vision and opinion. He expresses concern that her scientific credentials are not demonstrated and that the book leaves us with little actual understanding of the Tea Party movement. He feels the book should have ‘

Ethics and the ASCE Report Card for Americas Infrastructure Assignment

Ethics and the ASCE Report Card for Americas Infrastructure - Assignment Example This is compounded with infringement into the local cultures while executing construction projects (McAnally 75). Another critical ethical concern is failure of imported technology to conform to socio-economic policies of the local industries. This pertains particularly to international regulations on patents which suppress the progressive socio-economic strategy of developing economies. Competitive strategies of civil engineering firms to adopt common language and use the same in foreign assignments have a significant ethical drawback. This has to do with foreign engineering using their language which may not be effective to the locals and the consequence is skewed decision making. For instance, Civil engineers from firms that use English as common language are likely to dominate project evaluation and monitoring process and make the locals to shy aware hence limiting participatory decision making as far as the interests of the local community is concerned. This has led to environme ntal degradation, disregard of cultural norms which amounts to unethical consequences of globalization in civil engineering. ASCE maintains transparency and accountability of the engineers in various locations of their assignments. Since one of the ethical codes is to serve humanity, involvement of the local community in foreign assignment is facilitated through use of interpreters and participatory decision making which must incorporate input of local community. Another approach towards remedying this problem by ASCE code of ethics emphasizes involvement of the local engineers to link the foreigners with the host community (McAnally 77). However, it is worth to note that ASCE code of ethics has standardized rules on projects execution procedures which at times clash with the local legal framework. United States is considered the powerhouse of ultra-modern technology and offers the best civil engineering

Donner party film research Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Donner party film research - Movie Review Example PatrickBreen left for US to live the life of his chosen religion which was catholic. Lansford Hastings saw US as a still undeveloped country which could be made very useful and profitable. Conversely, amajority of the people went to the US as an obvious destiny which was referred to as manifest destiny(The Donner Party). This destiny was a belief that American pilgrims were destined to develop the whole continent thus saw it as their justifiable land. This plus the idea of riches that awaited them with the discovery of gold them fuelled the desire to travel to California. George Donner and Jacob Donner were brothers who were already successful before they left for California. In fact the Donners are the mastermind of this journey and their opulence is portrayed in the type of wagons they hires for the family. They have three wagons each for their families.George Donner was motivated to travel by the gold discovery and free land in California. 2.Who was Alexis De Tocqueville? What was his reason for coming to America? Was De Tocqueville’s opening commentary in the film about the American people accurate at that time? Explain in some detail. Is De Tocqueville’s critique still relevant in American society today? Alexis De Tocqueville was a sociologist and political theorist of French origins. His reason for coming to America was to study the prisons of America. The study which led him to write his most acclaimed work ‘democracy in America’. Alexis opening commentary in the film was ‘American’s chase prosperity with great intensity until death eventually halts them in their tracks’(The Tragic Story of the Donner Party). Alexis opening commentary in the film was very accurate at the time this is because the Donner party scrambled to get to California in order to get more free lands, riches and other wealth they had heard of before. Some people even were already successful like the Donner family but their greed led them to travel and most of

Trust Builders in a Sales Person Essay Example for Free

Trust Builders in a Sales Person Essay Trust is the binding force of great relationships. This leads to greater cooperation and better solutions, especially in sales and customer service situations. When trust increases, communication is more effective and understanding in enhanced. Since most people won’t buy from someone they don’t trust, building and maintaining a strong bond of trust is essential for developing long term customer satisfaction and loyalty. Customers believe in getting the best and feeling comfortable with what they have received. Having a long term customer takes more than good customer service. Sales representatives of any company need to have the â€Å"trust-builders† characteristics to help them build strong relationships with clients. In the end this will help the overall profitability of the company. The first characteristic is expertise; this is the extent to which a salesperson possesses relevant knowledge and capability to get the job done right. An example is Digicel, their sales persons are well trained and equipped with relevant information and knowledge of their prices and sale promotions. Customers can ask a salesperson about a promotion and when the customer research for themselves, it is accurate. This builds trust, when a salesperson shows competence and knowledge. This has pushed Digicel to be the top efficient service provider of telecommunication in Jamaica. Second characteristic is dependability; this is the extent to which a salesperson consistently and predictably follows through on commitments he/she makes to others. Digicel sales practices indicates this when they offer free nights promotion to customers. This promotion was always offered once a customer puts on two hundred dollars before 9pm. This allows customers to depend on what Digicel said they would deliver. Candor is the third characteristic of a trust-builder type; it is the extent to which a salesperson is honest and upfront with others, especially with regard to issues/factors that may impact those others. Digicel portraits this by allowing their sales personnel or customer care agent to tell customer the truth when they are having technical problems, they even go as far as sending out texts to inform and apologise for the disruptions. The fourth trust-builder type is customer orientation; this is the extent to which a salesperson values and protects the interests of his/her customers. Digicel trained their salespersons to show empathy while adding value and giving back to the customer’s community and even their lives. Encouraging rebuilding of schools, community centers and developing public areas push customers to trust and build long term relationship with Digicel. The fifth trust-builder is likeability; this is the affection customers have towards you. There are many factors that contribute to how likeable you are as a person, but in the context of relationships with your customers, these factors encompass courtesy, respect, remembering names and key facts, treating each customer as special, and being interested in them and their lives. Digicel depicts this in their advertisements and when a sale agent is speaking to you. They ensured Jamaican culture and people are portrayed in their ads. They also ensure high quality service by asking for your name and throughout the conversation they refer to you by your name.

Nitric Oxide Synthase Impairment for Baroreflex Dysfunction

Nitric Oxide Synthase Impairment for Baroreflex Dysfunction Harmit Bindra Critical Appraisal: Impairment of Nitric Oxide Synthase but Not Heme Oxygenase Accounts for Baroreflex Dysfunction Caused by Chronic Nicotine in Female Rats Lay Abstract Introduction: The baroreflex or baroreceptor sensitivity is a physiological parameter that regulates changes in blood pressure. Baroreflex dysfunction is thought to contribute to many of the cardiovascular changes caused by chronic intake of nicotine. Nitric oxide (NO) and carbon monoxide (CO) can be synthesised in the endothelial cells by the action of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and hemeoxygenase (HO), respectively. Inhibition of NOS and HO mediated pathways have been thought to cause reduction in baroreflex sensitivity similar to that of nicotine. This study targets these two pathways and their possible interactions in an attempt to reverse the deteriorating cardiovascular effects caused by nicotine. Methods: The sensitivity of baroreflex was determined by measuring changes in heart rate in response to changes in mean arterial pressure induced by sodium nitroprusside (SNP) and phenylephrine (PE). SNP and PE exert these cardiovascular changes by affecting the diameter of blood vessels. Six groups of conscious female rats were used (6-8 rats/group) to study the effect of NOS on the baroreflex dysfunction caused by nicotine. Rats were treated either with nicotine or saline solution for 2 weeks. Baroreflex curves using random doses of SNP and PE were obtained in conscious rats on day 14 after treating these rats with L-NAME (inhibitor of NOS), L-arginine (substrate of NOS) or saline solution for 15 minutes. In a second study, another group of 7 rats treated with nicotine was used to find out whether HO inhibition by zinc protoporphyrin (ZnPP) abolishes the baroreflex response provoked by L-arginine. Baroreflex sensitivity was measured after treating rats with L-arginine and ZnPP for 15 minutes. Finally, the effects of the inducer and inhibitor of HO, hemin and ZnPP respectively, were investigated on the baroreflex dysfunction. Results: Inhibition of NOS using L-NAME caused a similar reduction in the baroreflex response as nicotine. This effect could be reversed with L-arginine. No further reduction in baroreflex response was evident in rats treated with both nicotine and L-NAME. Interestingly, HO inhibitor led to no reduction in baroreflex response and did not reverse any changes in baroreflex activity caused by nicotine. This implies that there is no direct role of HO mediated pathways in the nicotinic-baroreflex activity. On the contrary, there was an increase in baroreflex activity when HO activity was facilitated. In conclusion, inhibition of NOS is responsible for reduction in baroreflex sensitivity caused by nicotine. Background information and rationale for carrying out the work Smoking cigarettes is one of the most well established causes of mortality in the world and it is well known for its devastating effects on the quality of life and the impact it has on the families, including their psychological, social and physical well being. The majority of the harmful cardiovascular effects of smoking arise from the use of nicotine. Chronic intake of nicotine has been shown to reduce baroreceptor reflexes by decreasing the responsiveness of stretch receptors in the carotid sinus together with arterial compliance (Ashworth-Preece et al., 1998; Giannattasio et al., 1994). Nitric oxide (NO) is highly reactive gas, synthesised via three isoforms of nitric oxide synthase, including endothelial nitric oxide (eNOS), neuronal nitric oxide (nNOS) and inducible nitric oxide (iNOS). NO has been involved in various physiological pathways. For instance, eNOS results in arterial vasodilation by causing relaxation of vascular smooth muscles (Prado et al., 2011). nNOS plays an important role in neuronal activity by serving as a neurotransmitter. iNOS is generated by the phagocytes to invade the bacteria as part of immune response. NO has an ability to diffuse through and act as an intracellular messenger. It has been implicated in strengthening the synapses (long term potentiation) in learning and cause NMDA induced neurotoxicity in Parkinson’s disease (Taqatqeh et al., 2009). In a study carried out using brainstem nuclei of rats, it was found that inhibiting NOS in the central nervous system reduced baroreflex activation (Lo et al., 1996). Carbon monoxide (CO) has long been considered to be a toxic gas due to its high affinity for haemoglobin over oxygen. Contrary to popular belief, our body cells can also synthesise CO via heme oxygenase (HO) an enzyme that results in the generation of CO by catalysing the conversion of heme to biliverdin (Abraham Kappas., 2008). It has been established that inhibition of CO formed by HO reduces reflex activity as well as bradycardic response provoked by glutamate in the nucleus of the solitary tract (Lin et al., 2004). Other studies have independently found that inhibition of HO induced CO increases blood pressure systemically (Zhang et al., 2001). Interestingly, there seem to be some sort of interaction going on between NO/NOS and CO/HO pathways (Li et al., 2009). Indeed, the endogenous effects of these two molecules are provoked by the activation of soluble guanylate cyclase and a further increase in the levels of cGMP (Tzeng., 2009). Although there is a crosslink between these pathways, it has not been researched whether interruption of these mediators alone or disruption in their mutual interaction is responsible for the baroreceptor dysfunction mediated by nicotine. Approaches to the question The study was split into two groups to evaluate the role of NO/NOS and CO/HO pathways in nicotine induced baroreflex depression. In a first study, six small groups of female rats, ranging from 6-8 in each group, were used to study the effect of NOS on the baroreflex dysfunction. Three of these groups were given intraperitoneal nicotine for 2 weeks using a dosage of 2mg/kg/day, whereas the remaining groups were treated with saline solution. These rats were cannulated intravascularly on day 12. Baroreflex curves using SNP and PE were obtained in conscious rats on day 14 after treating these rats with L-NAME, L-arginine or saline solution for 15 minutes. In a second study, another group of 7 rats treated with nicotine were used to find out whether HO inhibition by ZnPP abolishes the baroreflex response provoked by L-arginine. Baroreceptor sensitivity was measured after treating rats with L-arginine and ZnPP for 15 minutes. The sensitivity of baroreceptors was determined by measuring changes in heart rate in response to changes in mean arterial pressure induced by vasoactive drugs, such as sodium nitroprusside (SNP) and phenylephrine (PE). This was carried out using regression analysis. Randomised doses SNP and PE doses, ranging from 1 to 16 µg/kg, were injected intravenously to obtain a baroreflex curve. An index of baroreflex activity was found by expressing the slope of the regression line as beats/min/mmHg. In the final part of the study, the effects of the inducer and inhibitor of HO, hemin and ZnPP respectively, were investigated on the baroreceptor dysfunction induced by nicotine. This was done using 5 different groups (5-8 female rats/group) for a 2 weeks period in which baroreflex testing was carried out using hemin, ZnPP, hemin + L-NAME, hemin + ODQ (guanylate cyclase inhibitor), and CORM-2 (CO releasing agent). Two further control groups were used in which rats received saline solution for 2 weeks and the baroreflex readings were then taken post-treatment with hemin or CORM-2. To measure the activity of NOS and HO, rats were treated with nicotine or saline for 2 weeks in the presence or absence of hemin and their brainstem was dissected and freezed at -80C. Key Results and analysis Both nicotine and NOS/NO pathway inhibition produced a similar effect on baroreflex activity. Rats treated with nicotine showed reduced slopes in the baroreflex curves exhibited by PE and SNP in comparison to the saline treated rats, suggesting a reduced baroreflex response. In rats treated with nicotine, there was a decrease from 2.1 ±0.2 ms/mmHg to 1.1 ±0.2 ms/mmHg in the baroreflex sensitivity exhibited by the PE. A similar reduction from 0.9 ±0.1 ms/mmHg to 0.4 ±0.1 ms/mmHg was seen in the baroreflex sensitivity exhibited by SNP. These results were statistically significant (P In short summary, the study was quite clear in explaining the involvement of NO/NOS pathway in the reduction of baroreflex activity caused by nicotine. First of all, inhibiting NOS using L-NAME caused similar reduction in baroreflex response as nicotine. Secondly, this effect could be reversed with the substrate of NOS (L-arginine). Thirdly, having both nicotine and L-NAME did not cause any further reduction in baroreflex response. The inhibition of HO by ZnPP had no effect on the baroreflex sensitivity in nicotine treated rats, implying that there is no direct role of HO pathway in the nicotinic-baroreflex activity. Any decrease in baroreflex sensitivity by nicotine could be reversed with hemin as the curve deviated more towards saline treated rats. Interestingly, when rats were treated with L-NAME or with ODQ, the protective effect of hemin to reverse the reduction in baroreflex sensitivity was no longer evident. This suggested that the initial reduction in baroreflex response was probably due to an increased activity of NOS that was no longer seen when L-NAME was used. Indeed, the activity of HO and NOS was found to increase in the brainstem tissue of rats treated with nicotine in the presence of hemin. Together, these findings imply that NOS is a downstream pathway responsible for changes in baroreflex sensitivity and hemin is somehow feeding into this pathway and activating it to facilitate baroreflex resp onse. There was no reduction in baroreflex response caused by nicotine with carbon monoxide release agent (CORM-2). This is supporting the idea that reduced baroreflex response is possibly due to NOS activity and not related to CO. Likely impact of research outcome The results implicated NOS pathways to be responsible for the deteriorating effects of nicotine on baroreflex sensitivity. Although, the current study implicated NOS pathways as a downstream mechanism and HO acting at the upstream level, more work is needed to investigate the effects of CORM-2 and hemin and shed light on the cellular cascades responsible for bringing these changes on baroreflex sensitivity. Taking into consideration that the ultimate pathways involved in the baroreceptor dysfunction from this study is NOS related, activation of NOS could be an important therapeutic target in treating the deteriorating effects of nicotine on cardiovascular system, especially the baroreceptor dysfunction. However, it is too early to accept this claim as these results need to be replicated and clinical trials must be carried out before considering any changes in the clinical practice. Future work and conclusion At present, this study is unlikely to have any major impact on the development of therapeutic drugs. Except the possible involvement of NOS, the signalling cascades responsible for baroreflex dysfunction still remain unclear. Contrary to these findings, the same author previously reported that CO formed by HO attenuated the baroreflex sensitivity in the nucleus tractus solitarii of rats (Lo et al., 2000; Lo et al., 2006). The author has attempted to justify the possible variation between the two studies with the use of conscious rats in the current study and anesthetised rats in the previous study. In addition, the inhibitor of HO was injected directly into the medullary nucleus in the previous study as opposed to an intravenous injection in the current study. Although these changes may contribute to the differences in terms of accuracy and reliability of the results, they are unlikely to fully account for the involvement of CO mediated changes in baroreflex sensitivity. Therefore th ese experiments need to be replicated before considering any clinical trials. The whole brainstem was dissected to measure the activity of NOS. This may not accurately reflect the levels of NOS in the cardiovascular nuclei of medulla therefore the study can be extended to investigate this. The use of animal models to test baroreflex sensitivity and the pharmacological agents to counteract such changes may not work similarly in humans. Baroreflex sensitivity is blunted to different degrees with increasing age (huang et al., 2007) and this may have an effect on the appropriate dose required to show any therapeutic benefits. Finally there could be intrinsic pathways affecting the baroreflex response because autonomic control can be influenced by different variables including mood, alertness and mental activity. Therefore, any future studies must take these factors into consideration. Words 2069 References: Abraham NG, Kappas A.Pharmacological and clinical aspects of heme oxygenase.Pharmacol Rev. 2008 Mar;60(1):79-127. doi: 10.1124/pr.107.07104. Epub 2008 Mar 6. Review. Erratum in: Pharmacol Rev. 2008 Jun;60(2):242. Ashworth-Preece M, Jarrott B, Lawrence AJ (1998) Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the rat and primate nucleus tractus solitarius and on rat and human inferior vagal (nodose) ganglia: evidence from in vivo microdialysis and [125I] alpha-bungarotoxin autoradiography. Neuroscience 83: 1113–1122. Giannattasio C, Mangoni A, Stella ML, Carugo S, Grassi G, et al. (1994) Acute effects of smoking on radial artery compliance in humans. J Hypertension 12: 691–696. Huang CC, Sandroni P, Sletten DM, Weigand SD, Low PA.Effect of age on adrenergic and vagal baroreflex sensitivity in normal subjects.Muscle Nerve. 2007 Nov;36(5):637-42. Li L, Hsu A, Moore PK.Actions and interactions of nitric oxide, carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulphide in the cardiovascular system and in inflammationa tale of three gases!Pharmacol Ther. 2009 Sep;123(3):386-400. doi: 10.1016/j.pharmthera.2009.05.005. Epub 2009 May 30. Review. Lin CH, Lo WC, Hsiao M, Tung CS, Tseng CJ (2004) Interactions of carbon monoxide and metabotropic glutamate receptor groups in the nucleus tractus solitarii of rats. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 308: 1213–1218 Lo WC, Jan CR, Chiang HT, Tseng CJ (2000) Modulatory effects of carbon monoxide on baroreflex activation in nucleus tractus solitarii of rats. Hypertension 35: 1253–1257. Lo WC, Lu PJ, Ho WY, Hsiao M, Tseng CJ (2006) Induction of heme oxygenase- 1 is involved in carbon monoxide-mediated central cardiovascular regulation. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 318: 8–16. Lo WJ, Liu HW, Lin HC, Ger LP, Tung CS, et al. (1996) Modulatory effects of nitric oxide on baroreflex activation in the brainstem nuclei of rats. Chin J Physiol 39: 57–62. Prado C. M., Martins M. A., and Tibà ©rio I. F. L. C. (2011) Nitric oxide in asthma physiopathology,ISRN Allergy, 2011:1-13. Taqatqeh F, Mergia E, Neitz A, Eysel UT, Koesling D, Mittmann T.More than a retrograde messenger: nitric oxide needs two cGMP pathways to induce hippocampal long-term potentiation.J Neurosci. 2009 Jul 22;29(29):9344-50. Tzeng E (2009) Carbon monoxide: vascular therapeutic for the future. Vascular 17 Suppl 1: S55–62. Zhang F, Kaide JI, Rodriguez-Mulero F, Abraham NG, Nasjletti A (2001) Vasoregulatory function of the heme-heme oxygenase-carbon monoxide system. Am J Hypertens 14(6 Pt 2): 62S–67S

Incest in Jane Smileys A Thousand Acres :: Smiley Thousand Acres Essays

Incest in A Thousand Acres Incest in A Thousand Acres invades all the other items: it is there, and is crucial for everything that happens, but it is hidden beneath the surface of appearances. Tim Keppel has pointed out not only that "Smiley's major departure [...] is her decision to tell the story from the viewpoint of Ginny and explore the inner lives of the so-called 'evil' sisters" (Keppel, p.105), but that "Smiley makes her most dramatic re-vision of Shakespeare" (Keppel, p.109) in the storm scene. This has traditionally been the scene when the audience form a bond of sympathy with King Lear because of his pathetic insanity, while in A Thousand Acres, the focus of the narrative stays with the sisters and gives us a strong reason to form a bond of sympathy with them instead: Rose tells Ginny about the incest they both underwent, but that Ginny has suppressed from memory. Rose inhaled, held her breath. Then she said, "He was having sex with you. [...] After he stopped going in to you, he started coming in to me, and those are the things he said to me, an that's what we did. We had sex in my bed." (189-190) That Larry has complete control of the lives of Rose and Ginny is already evident, and now we understand more of why. It is not only a matter of sexual abuse, but of asserting a perverted form of power. This is one of the links formed within the framework of the novel between women and nature: They are objects of property. "You were as much his as I was", Rose says. "There was no reason for him to assert his possession of me more than his possession of you. We were just his, to do with as he pleased, like the pond or the houses or the hogs or the crops." (191). All of this is subject to the power inscribed in Larry and the system he embodies. This connection is given a more general relevance in the overall political project of the novel, transcending the workings of one malfunctional family. First, because Larry follows a long line of patriarchal power structures: "You see this grand history, but I see blows.[...] Do I think Daddy came up with beating and fucking us on his own?[...] No. I think he had lessons, and those were part of the package, along with the land and the lust to run things exactly the way he wanted to.

Origin and Development of Applied Linguistics Essay

â€Å"Applied linguistics is not a discipline which exists on its own. It is influenced by other disciplines and influences them as well. It is a two-way process. For this reason, applied linguistics examines theories from all sorts of different areas (semantics, syntax, pragmatics, sociolinguistics,†¦) and from all sorts of perspectives so that it help find out effective solutions for language -related issues such as teaching methodology (including foreign language and mother tongue teaching), translation, aphasia,†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Applied linguistics originated in close relation with foreign language teaching and has developed to cover a wide range of knowledge, but its core has always been language teaching and learning. Applied linguistics draws its sources from sociology, psychology, anthropology and information theory as well as from linguistics to solve practical problems in practical areas such as language teaching. So applied linguistics is not linguistics that is applied, though it applies, first of all, linguistics. In fact, what it applies depends on what the theories are applied to. Applied linguistics, unlike pure science, aims to solve problems. Thus between theories of linguistics and related fields and the practical areas such as language teaching, it plays the role of a mediator, which bridges theories and practice together. In this way, applied linguistics not only provides principles and methodology for language teaching, etc. , but also gives feedbacks to the theoretical study by summing up the experience from practice. As applied linguistics makes language teaching and learning its core, it provides language teacher with good language theories, principles and methodology. By learning applied linguistics, language teacher can possess an overall understanding of updated theories of language teaching & learning as well as a better perspective of the various factors affecting language teaching &learning. So it is very necessary for a language teacher to learn applied linguistics in order to teach more effectively. As for language learners, it is also very helpful to have some knowledge about applied linguistics. For one thing, by knowing the currently used teaching approaches and methods, which are covered by applied linguistics, language learners can learn to adjust themselves to the teacher’s teaching by adopting a more proper learning method because â€Å"a theory of teaching always implies a theory of learning â€Å"(Applied Linguistics, Yue Meiyun) and language learning is a two – way process, which needs efforts and adaptation from bath the teacher’s side and the learner’s side. For another, applied linguistics covers a wide scope of knowledge. It helps to enhance learner’s insights and depth of knowledge in language learning. Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of study that identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems. Some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are education, linguistics, psychology, computer science, anthropology, and sociology. The goal of this writing is to make some personal comment on the viewpoint: â€Å"Applied linguistics is not a discipline which exists on its own. It is influenced by other disciplines and influences them as well. It is a two-way process. For this reason, applied linguistics examines theories from all sorts of different areas (semantics, syntax, pragmatics, sociolinguistics,†¦) and from all sorts of perspectives so that it help find out effective solutions for language -related issues such as teaching methodology (including foreign language and mother tongue teaching), translation, aphasia,†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . Many linguistic students like me find linguistics useful because it broadens and deepens their understanding of related fields such as languages and literature (English and foreign), social sciences (especially anthropology, sociology, and psychology), education, philosophy, communication†¦ The question is whether applied linguistics and linguistics applied is the same. Needless to say, the answer is â€Å"no†. Phillip Shaw, Stockholm University Strictly looking at the model above by Philip Shaw, a professor from Stockholm University, we can see a basic coherence between applied linguistics and other sciences. According to the professor, studying linguistics means studying language’s sounds, grammar, words, meanings, uses, and connected contexts – that is phonetics, syntax, lexis, semantics, pragmatics, and discourse respectively. Of these, phonetics focuses on the physical sounds of speech. It covers speech perception (how the brain discerns sounds), acoustics (the physical qualities of sounds as movement through air), and articulation (voice production through the movements of the lungs, tongue, lips, and other articulators). This area investigates, for instance, the physical realization of speech and how individual sounds differ across languages and dialects. This research plays a large part in computer speech recognition and synthesis. Syntax is the study of how units including words and phrases combine into sentences. Syntacticians investigate what orders of words make legitimate sentences, how to succinctly account for patterns found across sentences. Semantics within linguistics refers to the study of how language conveys meaning. Pragmatics is the study of how utterances relate to the context they are spoken in. By areas studied, he distinguishes different kinds of linguistics. Sociolinguistics is the study where linguistics looks at how language functions in different social contexts. In other words, it is the study of how language varies according to cultural context, the speaker’s background, and the situation in which it is used. Meanwhile, historical linguistics studies how languages are historically related. This involves finding universal properties of language and accounting for a language’s development and origins. Psycholinguistics is the study of language to find out about how the mind works. Pr. Phillip Shaw emphasizes that we can applied all knowledge of the above-mentioned sciences. It is understandable, therefore, whereas theoretical linguistics is concerned with finding and describing generalities both within particular languages and among all languages, applied linguistics takes these results and applies them to other areas. He defines applied linguistics as an engineering of linguistics, taking what the sciences of linguistics have discovered and applied to solve real practical problems. Kamil Wisniewski, in his work ‘Applied Linguistics’ 2007, he presents the term applied linguistics as an umbrella term that covers a wide set of numerous areas of study connected by the focus on the language that is actually used. He puts the emphasis in applied linguistics on language users and the ways in which they use languages, contrary to theoretical linguistics which studies the language in the bstract not referring it to any particular context, or language, like Chomskyan generative grammar for example. Interestingly even among applied linguists there is a difference of opinion as to the scope, the domains and limits of applied linguistics. There are many issues investigated by applied linguists such as discourse analysis, sign language, stylistics and rhetoric as well as language learning by childr en and adults, both as mother tongue and second or foreign language. Correlation of language and gender, as well as the transfer of information in media and interpersonal communication are analyzed by applied linguists. Also forensic linguistics, interpretation and translation, together with foreign language teaching methodology and language change are developed by applied linguistics. Shortly after the introduction of the term applied linguistics it was associated mainly with first, second and foreign language teaching, however nowadays it is seen as more interdisciplinary branch of science. Although in certain parts of the world language teaching remains the major concern of applied linguists, issues such as speech pathologies and determining the levels of literacy of societies, or language processing along with differences in communication between various cultural groups – all gain interest elsewhere. There is a consensus among linguists that is applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of study that identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems. Some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are education, linguistics, psychology, computer science, anthropology, and sociology. Major branches of applied linguistics include bilingualism and multilingualism, computer-mediated communication, conversation analysis, contrastive linguistics, sign linguistics, language assessment, literacy, discourse analysis, language pedagogy, second language acquisition, lexicography, language planning and policies, stylistics, pragmatics, forensic linguistics, and translation. For all of what I have presented above, I want to restate that applied linguistics does not exist on its own, it makes a great influence on other disciplines and also is influenced by them. The findings of linguistics, like the findings of any other theoretical study, can be applied to the solution of practical problems, as well as to innovations in everyday areas involving language. This is the mandate of applied linguistics. Applied linguists draw from theories of language acquisition to develop first and second language teaching methodologies and to implement successful literacy programs. Applied linguists may also engage in language planning by developing alphabets and grammars for unwritten languages and by writing dictionaries. In short, applied linguistics applies the theories and tools of formal linguistics, sociolinguistics, and psycholinguistics in a wide variety of socially useful ways In his own work – â€Å"Issues in applied linguistics† (Cambridge University Press, 2001), Michael McCarthy presents applied linguistics as problem – solving concept. According to him, it is the belief that linguistics can offer insights and ways forward in the resolution of problems related to language in a wide variety of contexts that underlines the very existence of applied linguistics. Applied linguists try to offer solutions to real-world problems in which language is a central issue. People often think that applied linguistics refers to the use of linguistic research in language teaching, but this is just one sub-discipline. McCarthy lists out the domains of typical applied linguistic problems which, as he says, seems certainly be wide – ranging and potential endless, but might include 14 problems as following: 1- A speech therapist sets out to investigate why s four-year-old child has failed to develop normal linguistics skills for a child of that age. 2- A teacher of English as a foreign language wonders why groups of learners sharing the same first language regularly make a particular grammatical mistake that learners from other language backgrounds do not. – An expert witness in a criminal case tries to solve the problem of who exactly investigated a crime, working only with statements made to the police 4- A advertising copy writer searches for what would be the most effective use of language to target a particular social group in order to sell a product. 5- A mother-tongue teacher needs to know what potential employers consider important in terms of a school-leaver’s ability to write reports or other business documents. 6- A historian wishes to understand the meanings of place-names in a particular geographical area and how they have changed over time. – A person constructing a language test foe non-native speakers for entry into further education needs to know what the key linguistic or psycholinguistic indicators are of reading ability in a second of foreign language. 8- A literary scholar suspects that an anonymous work was in fact written by a very famous writer and looks for methods of investigating the hypothesis. 9- A dictionary writer ponders over possible alternatives to an alphabetically organized dictionary. 10- A computer programmer wrestles with the goal of trying to get a computer to process human speech or to get it to translate from one language into another. 1- A group of civil servants are tasked with standardizing language usage in their country, or deciding major aspects of language planning policy that will affect millions of people. 12- A body is set up to produce an international, agreed language for use by air-traffic controllers and pilots, or by marine pilots and ships’ captains. 13- A zoologist investigates the question whether monkeys have language similar to or quite distinct from human language and how it works. 4- A medical sociologist sets out to understand better the changes that occur in people’s use of language as they move into old age. (Michael McCarthy, â€Å"Issues in Applied Linguistics†, Cambridge University Press 2001, page 1-2) In a work called â€Å"Understanding applied linguistics† by Professor V. B Owhotu (2007), the author emphasizes the importance and growing diversity of applied linguistics. In his view applied linguistics is driven first by real world problems rather than theoretical explorations. In other words, the applied linguists should be preoccupied by the following problems: language learning problem (emergence, awareness, rules, use, context, automaticity, attitudes and expertise); language teaching problems (resources, training, practice, interaction, understanding, use, context, inequalities, motivation, outcomes); literacy problems (language and culture); language inequality problems such as ethnicity, class, gender and age; language policy and planning problems (status planning, corpus planning, and ecology of language); language assessment problems (validity, reliability, usability, responsibility); language use problems (dialects, register, discourse communities, gate-keeping situations, limited access to services); language and technology problems (learning, assessment, access and use); translation and interpretation problem (on-line, off-line, technology assisted); and language pathology problems (aphasia, dyslexia, physical disabilities). Needless to say, it is far beyond my capacity to present an insight to all of these above-mentioned problems. However, in this part of the writing, I would like to take problems of language learning and teaching, translation nd interpretation, and speech-language pathology as examples to demonstrate the point that applied linguistics helps us to find out effective solutions to our practical problems. Researches in language teaching today show that applied linguistics is sometimes used to refer to â€Å"second language acquisitions†, but these are distinct fields, in that second language acquisition involves more theoretical study of the system of language, whereas applied linguistics concerns itself more with teaching and learning. In their approach to the study of learning, applied linguists have increasingly devised their own theories and methodologies, such as the shift towards studying the learner rather than the system of language itself, in contrast to the emphasis within second language acquisition. I shall continue by considering what avenues within linguists suggest themselves for approaching two of the problems relevant to languages teaching. Let us consider problem of teacher trying to understand why learners from the same language background are having difficulty with a particular grammatical structure in English. Potential linguistic questions for the solution of a grammatical problem, as McCarthy shows in â€Å"Issues in applied linguistics†, are: â€Å"What is known about the learner’s first language or any other language they know which might be interfering with their learning of the foreign language? What do grammarians say about this structure? What psychological barriers might be preventing the learning of the structure? Are some structure difficult to learn if they are tackled too early on? Is there an order in which structures are best presented? † (Michael McCarthy, â€Å"Issues in applied linguistics†, page 8). Can linguistics offer an approach or solution to the problem? If so, which branch(es) of linguistic study and by what methods? The answer lies in such linguistics’ components as pragmatics, semantics, syntax. In terms of pragmatics, students sometimes make mistakes in the use of unsuitable sentences in certain contexts that makes listeners misunderstand. Therefore, when teaching English, teachers need not only teach grammar and vocabulary but also teach how to use sentences in suitable contexts; e. g. eaching students how and when to say thank you or apologize. In terms of syntax, the most popular mistakes students make are: when making sentences students often translate word by word as the result of their habit of mother tongue (e. g. I have a cat black); combining words incorrectly to produce phrases (e. g. â€Å"a high man† instead of â€Å"a tall man†); the agreement between words in a sentence (e. g. S and V, tenses). In these cases, possibly effective solutions for teachers are: teachers need to teach students how to combine words correctly according to English grammatical rules; they should teach words in contexts. Teachers might also apply semantic knowledge to deal with learners’ mistakes. That is when teaching students a word which has many different meanings, they should teach the meanings related to the context, situation; wishing to talk about a meaning of the word, we may use different synonyms or antonyms; when teaching students how to translate the sentences or the texts into learners’ mother tongue, we should teach students to combine the meaning of English words and the meaning of their mother tongue to have a good translation. It could be confirmed that any problems in language learning and teaching might be solved with application of linguistics, and knowledge about language plays or could play a major role in language teaching and learning. In translation and interpretation area, applied linguistics can also be shown with effective applications in solving problems. In an article titled â€Å"Linguistics and Applied Linguistics† posted in the website of University of Melbourne, Australia, the author emphasizes an important role of linguistics and applied linguistics in different areas of our life, specially in translation and interpretation area. The article provides clear reasons why linguistic and applied linguistics should be studied by those specializing in translation and interpretation. One of the given reasons is that the skills in need for solving problems are central to the study of linguistics. An evidence for this assumption is clearly shown in the article. That is, â€Å"In a period when Australian culture is coming to term with the need to relate the worldwide mosaic of non-English speaking cultures, and when information and communication are moving to technological centre stage, there is a growing demand for people equipped to analyze language. In fact, an increasing number of employers, ranging from language teachers to engineers of knowledge systems and speech synthesis, from translators to managers to designers of natural-language interfaces for computers, from lexicographers to lawyers to bilingual schools in Aboriginal communities, realize the value of a sound training in Linguistics†. As cited in the article, knowledge in Applied Linguistics will provide us a head start in understanding and orienting us to the area and will give us relevant knowledge and analytical skills. People with a background in Applied linguistics also gain an enhanced understanding of how people learn first, second and foreign languages and of how language is used in the community. These skills will be relevant to those interested in preparing for careers as language teachers, language education and assessment experts, speech pathologists, interpreters and translators, and a variety of jobs in industry where language and communication are issues are of concern. Linguistics and Applied Linguistics provide unique skills in cross-linguistic and cross-cultural communication that are helpful in solving problems in translation and interpretation. Speaking of applied computational linguistic, people often mention machine translation, computer – assisted translation, and natural language processing as fruitful areas which have also come to the forefront in recent years. I am going to pick up machine translation as a typical example of applying linguistic knowledge. Machine translation is a form of translation where a computer program analyses the text in one language – the â€Å"source text† – and then attempts to produce another, equivalent text in another language – the target text – without human intervention. Currently the state of machine translation is such that it involves some human intervention, as it requires a pre-editing and a post-editing phase.