Power And Powerlessness Essay

When I hear the word power many thoughts come to mind, but I feel power has many different forms. We could assume that power means more money, a bigger title, a corner office, a more generous budget, or â€Å"a seat at the table†. But that may not be true for everyone. For some, power may mean having the ability to control one’s career destiny in keeping with personal values and interests. Or power could mean having the opportunity to be creative as a project lead without too much interference from others. Or power could mean making decisions with trust and autonomy, such that no one can easily override your decisions. To me, power is control and the capacity to bring about change. For example, the United States government, they control everything and also other countries. Our government has the power to create and print money, regulate interstate and international trade, make treaties and conduct foreign policies, declare war, provide an army and navy, establish post o ffices, and make laws necessary to carry out these powers. In addition to their elusive powers, both the national government and state governments share the power of being able to; collect taxes, build roads, borrow money, establish court’s, make and enforce laws, charter banks and corporations, spend money for general welfare, and take private property for public purposes. Power is also acquired through possession or acquisition of the following resources: authority, money, status, knowledge, professional degrees, goods, services, votes, public support, information, ability to influence the media, and relationships with powerful people. Power can be derived from one’s authority to make decisions in organization s or by virtue of one’s gender, ethnicity, social class, or personal attributes, such as appearance and charisma. People often acquire power by establishing alliances and coalitions with others to support or oppose various policies or decision-making options. Workers in social service organizations also acquire power because they often decide whether individual clients receive services, resources, or referrals. But how would it feel to not have power, a sensation of being out of control with no apparent solution to help you to regain control, powerlessness. When the lack of capability to affect the realities of life that you can’t control such as; how others act towards you, if you will get a job you want, what the weather will be like, or if an accident will occur. Powerlessness can be simply defined as the absences of power resources. However, the â€Å"Mother† of empowerment practice, Barbara Solomon (1976), defines powerlessness as a product of the interaction between individuals and the social structures that limit life opportunities for them: Powerlessness is defined here as the inability to manage emotions, skills, knowledge, and/or material resources in a way that effective performance of valued social roles will lea d to personal gratification. The power deficiency so often seen among minority individuals and communities stems from a complex and dynamic interrelationship between the person and his relatively hostile social environment. When you feel powerless, you feel afraid to express your needs because you fear that what little you have will be taken from you. You may have learned powerlessness if you were kept in powerless positions repeatedly and/or over long periods of time, possibly during childhood, by those who used external forces (money, physical strength, legal status, and/or military force) to control you. You may have been abused as a child, a partner or spouse, an employee, a soldier, or you may have been the victim of racial or ethnic attacks. Such prolonged abuse can cause you to become afraid to feel even your own needs, to admit to yourself that you need something, you become immobilized and in certain critical ways you stop growing, you cease to thrive. When powerlessness is â€Å"learned†, it becomes self-perpetuating, even if the external forces are no longer there. An abused child may grow up to feel permanently powerless as an adult, even though his or her parents no longer have physical or economic power over him or her. One may then enter into a situation that repeats childhood experiences such as; living with or marrying an abusive partner, and therefore keeping oneself in externally imposed danger. Or one may keep oneself down through self-abuse, compulsive behaviors, and depression because the powerlessness has become internalized. The first step to overcoming learned powerlessness is to learn to feel entitled to your personal rights. You have the right to live a life free from physical, emotional, sexual, and financial mistreatment. You have the right to be treated with respect, to earn a livable income, to be informed of matters that affect you, and to express yourself freely, without harming others. Most importantly, you have the right to ask for what you need, even though you may be turned down, and to fight for what you need and want, even if you are turned down. Most people who have learned powerlessness barely feel entitled to speak, let alone to speak freely. Often professional therapy is necessary to overcome the ingrained patterns. Never the less, to overcome learned powerlessness, you must gradually, but persistently lay claim to each and every human right, one after the other. The purpose of the empowerment approach is to help people overcome feelings powerlessness by acquiring power. Mondros and Wilson (1994) differentiate power from â€Å"empowerment† by arguing that this second concept is actually a psychological state that â€Å"allows one to pursue concrete activities aimed at becoming powerful.† The literature on empowerment in organizations focuses on two distinct categories of organizations actors: program beneficiaries and staff members. Rapp, She ra, and Kisthardt (1993) define empowerment in individual clients as; confidence, control, decision authority, influence, autonomy, and self-trust.† According to Shera and Page (1995), empowerment of employees in organizations can be defined as, â€Å"a process of enhancing self-efficacy among organizational members through the identification of conditions that foster powerlessness and through their removal by both formal organizational practices and informal techniques that provide efficacy information.† Empowerment in the social services can take place within the context of relationships between workers and clients, within the organization’s formal decision-making structure, and within the contact between the organization and institutions or groups in its external environment. It should be noted that empowerment in organizations involves the redistribution of resources such as decision-making authority or goods and services. Therefore, in addition to producing specific outcomes, empowerment is a political process. Staff members may feel they will lose power and authority to make service decisions if clients are treated as equal partners in the decision-making process. Because one of the primary assumptions of empowerment in direct social work practice is to reduce feelings of powerlessness by increasing personal self-perceptions of one’s own power, the model focuses on facilitating the acquisition of leadership skills and actual political power among agency clientele. Staff members also acquire power through participation in organizational decision-making and by advocating for improvements in organizational policies and services. The organization gains political power as constituents become empowered to advocate for changes in government policies and campaign for meaningful social change. In conclusion, power, powerlessness, and empowerment all have a different meaning and serve a different purpose but each one has a powerful meaning in its own way.

Implications Limitations And Recommendations Education Essay

Chapter 5This chapter focuses on deductions, restrictions of this research plus recommendations for those who intend to utilize and develop farther research in the hereafter.5.1 DeductionsBased on the research and accomplishment of e-learning, and the findings presented in the preceding parts, this chapter offers deductions including literature reappraisal on e-learning every bit good as Moodle ‘s natures in online authorship that have late investigated at some colleges/universities as STU, HCMCOU.5.1.1 Deductions of literature reappraisalEconomy development, societal alterations and technological procedure revolutionise instruction and acquisition in educational organisations. E-learning, the signifier of web-based instruction and acquisition, is built with a system of networked computing machines that includes the waiter and workstations. Server is a computing machine plan that provides specific services to client package running on other computing machines. Teachers will mak e class content that consists of needed accomplishments and cognition in the signifier of text, image, life, streaming picture, sound, etc. that can convey to pupils in distance acquisition via the Internet, intranet/extranet. In world, the person or organisations can easy set up a free online school ( e-school ) , since constructing the web substructure does non necessitate a high disbursal as building existent school and complicated accredited formalities are non required, while pupils have non to pay a travel fee, save clip to travel to school for analyzing.5.1.2 Deductions of research findingsThe findings of this survey revealed assorted deductions of on-line instruction and online composing instruction and the web site.5.1.2.1 Deductions of on-line instructionMost of the picks about scenes of web site and class in during installation and configuring Moodle will impact the user experience. After holding been making the classs and classs, and choosing blocks to utilize, participa nts create a model for their site. Then they ‘re ready to make full their classs with larning stuff. Moodle ‘s classs contain anything that can look on the World Wide Web ( texts, images, sound, picture, games, etc. ) . Based on the relationship between participants, Moodle ‘s content is classified into â€Å" inactive class stuff † , â€Å" synergistic class stuff † and â€Å" societal class stuff † ( Rice, W. , 2010 ) . In Moodle, inactive class stuffs consist of resources that the pupil reads, but does n't interact with. They are added from the Add a resource†¦ drop-down bill of fare. Using this bill of fare, pupils can make text pages, web pages, links to anything on the Web, the class ‘s directories of files, a label screening any text or image, multimedia files utilizing sound, images and movie. Synergistic class stuffs are activities, which help pupils to pass on with spouses, teachers or the acquisition system, include Assignments, Lesson, Quizzes, SCORM/AICC, Survey, Choices, etc. They are created by snaping â€Å" turning the redaction on † , so â€Å" Add an activity†¦ † . SCORM ( Sharable Content Object Reference Model ) is a bundle of elaborate descriptions that permit handiness, reusability and interoperability of larning objects. Social class stuffs are 1s in which student-to-student or student-to-teacher interaction exists. They include Chat, Glossary, Wiki, Workshop, etc. that is chosen from the â€Å" Add an activity†¦ † bill of fare with the button â€Å" turning the redaction † on. Owing to voluminous signifiers, attractive visual aspect, manageable activities, bidirectional exchange and collaborative acquisition, Moodle has become a powerful tool which helps participants better and develop composing accomplishment beautifully and variedly. Therefore, in schools, Moodle is supported and recommended for usage to raise preparation quality. However, e-learning system with Moodle non implemented over a big country, and merely installed in outstanding universities or high quality centres due to expensive cost of proficient substructure and a deficiency of clever experts of information engineering. Furthermore, e-learning preparation classs in foreign linguistic communications sections are restricted in the sum of clip every bit good as course of study stuffs are excessively hard for participants to use and use in on-line composing instruction and acquisition. Their computer-literacy is non plenty high to cover with jobs and troubleshoot mistakes in a computing machi ne system.5.1.2.2 Deductions of online authorshipSince the Moodle ‘s characteristics satisfy status and construction of learning and larning activities based on educational theory, it is an ideal platform for larning direction system. Through on-line activities, pupils normally enjoy executing authorship activities. They non merely experience comfy and easy to add images, sound, picture, and a game component every bit good as to modify the colour, the font face, font size and layout of the text but besides diversify on-line authorship activities from simple to complex. Sing the angle of a text unit, they can carry on undertakings bit-by-bit from taking appropriate word degree, composing accurate sentence, doing paragraphs, and eventually, building whole text. When clever at authorship, pupils have adequate cognition and accomplishments to build and post the Hagiographas on the Internet so that other people can entree to and portion them. Producing texts at word degree implies much significance: ( 1 ) How to utilize words right, efficaciously, and imaginatively ; ( 2 ) How to separate sets of normally baffled words ; ( 3 ) How to associate words to definitions and illustrations, etc. All of undertakings help us to show what we think. In the web site, classs introduced some typical vocabulary pattern as a crossword, a fill-gap and duplicate words. In add-on, some other points are added to help pupils to finish their accomplishments. There are several agencies to bring forth texts at sentence degree. Student can pattern typical exercisings as swinging buildings and parallel construction. Teachers can make talks by utilizing the Quizzes faculty to show peculiar grammar point in an interesting manner. The texts are connected with images and pictures and sounds from web sites. Students can have enlightening feedback on attempts to consequently do them happier and better their acquisition. From responses of pupils, the instructor can wholly better the feedback and appropriately alter the inquiries. Through this, they can raise pupils ‘ consciousness of how certain types of the sentences are structured. Producing paragraphs and whole texts incorporates many procedures. Here, we emphasize the procedure of roll uping, sharing and developing thoughts, so be aftering, outlining, proofreading and revising texts. Writing can be organized in single activities or in a little group activity or a whole category activity. Feedback on authorship can be immediate ( as in Activities 1 and 2 ) or delayed ( as in Activities 4 to 12 ) . One of the attractive characteristics of Moodle is that it enables composing to be enhanced by images and striking layouts. After garnering informations, pupils will spread out, explore and form a set of thoughts for authorship by excess faculty as mindmap. The add-on faculty, Mindmap is a utile tool to portion and develop and brainstorm composing assignments. It is related to other activities as Journal, Assignment, Wiki to do composing originative. Personal profile is a Moodle ‘s faculty that helps pupils prosecute in composing personal profiles in production activities. After happening out the personal profiles of equals, they can notice on these personally in schoolroom, or could post the remark on a Moodle web page for a comment. Students ‘ authorship is showcased on Moodle site by making a Moodle Blog or put ining the add-on OUblog to let other pupils to notice on the web logs. If utilizing the Book faculty, pupils can non redact pages and instructors has to look into and import this composing into Book before it exists. In other options of learning composing an essay, the instructor finds a subject that is appropriate to the category and illustrates it in an highly attractive manner. The Glossary faculty allows pupils to show the collected information. After composing about the subject, pupils will add images to do the entry luring. Then, the instructor grades the pupils ‘ work. The concluding result is the signifier of a mini encyclopaedia that gives the information about subjects. The Chat faculty supplying models for pupils to rephrase what they ‘re stating to acquire their significance through authorship. The Assignment faculty to supply a stimulation, motivate pupils and to supply a more realistic background and do up a authorship undertaking. It allows pupils to take portion in procedure authorship in which they can subject a bill of exchange, acquire feedback, re-submit other bill of exchanges and acquire better feedback. To actuate pupils and provoke their response, the instructor normally use the images of existent life or a set of exposure of an event involved. A series of aggregation of copyright-free images can be searched for on the web, or private exposures are selected to function for composing. The Forum faculty is a topographic point where all pupils can add their slideshows by uploading exposures and captions and participants can read and notice on other pupils ‘ slideshows. The Wiki faculty helps pupils collaborate on a authorship undertaking and utilize different an d separate efforts to lend to the same undertaking. Alternatively, with the characteristics of Wiki, merely group members can see and modify its web pages involved.5.1.2.3 Deductions of the web siteOn-line instruction is extremely assessed by participants in the fact that â€Å" Modular Layout † is sensible and scientific, â€Å" Interface † is attractive, user-friendly and intuitive, â€Å" Management † of registration, clip, activity, and class is rigorous in exactitude but flexible in extent, â€Å" Appraisal Schemes † is broad in scope, varied in type, â€Å" Concerted Learning † is conducted in student-to-student and student-to-teacher interaction. However, the ratio of understanding of instructors is instead higher than the ratio of understanding of pupils. In instructors ‘ and pupils ‘ sentiments, online authorship classs are performed in the process-based attack and genre-based procedure, elements labelled by ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) are selected much more than others. In the teacher-to-student ratio of choice, the former is instead higher than the latter. The web site received the positive response from the respondents. Almost sentiments assumed that classs are enlightening and comprehensive. In footings of interaction, class stuffs allow participants to see, to read and mention to and class activities enable participants to interact with the spouses, the acquisition system, or others. In footings of authorship activities, class stuffs are recognized from composing order and text construction and learning activities encourage to show personal sentiments. The figure of instructors chooses picks labelled by ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) is instead higher than the figure of pupils.5.2 RestrictionsMoodle becomes Learning Management System popular and widespread and is indispensable larning environment in the educational system. Its activities are ever enhanced and promoted. However, this does non intend that Moodle has non its restrictions. From this research plus some other bing research, restrictions can be recognized.5.2.1 Restrictions of the litera ture reappraisalGenerating from critical literature reappraisal, e-learning restrictions can be considered in the corner of engineerings, methodological analysis, personal psychological science issues and other issues. With the statement in this portion, the things agree with e-learning besides accords with Moodle.Technologies:Necessary hardware and other ICT resources are core elements required for e-learning execution in schools and establishments. In order to hold entree to the Internet for online acquisition, authorities organisation and non-government organisation spent a big sum of money to purchase desktop, laptop computing machines, pressmans and ICT hardware for colleges, universities and bureaus that implemented e-learning. Persons that have demands of online acquisition can purchase or lease necessary computing machine equipment so as to larn. E-learners have entree to the Internet without clip limitation but the outstanding benefits are non executable for some people populating in farther and distant countries due to a deficiency of services for accessing the Internet. High-speed bandwidth is easy accessed in the cardinal universities while it has problem with the other schools with hapless Internet backgrounds. Uys ( 2003 ) stated that limited telecommunication substructure and installations are impeding the e-learning procedure. The limited Internet coverage can be hinderances to all educational constitutions nationwide that are able to near information services, digital educational information, and on-line preparation engineering. Technological barriers can severely impact Internet application as equipment failed, malfunctioned, or asynchronous, clip to larn a new engineering and trouble to schedule schoolrooms with engineering. Limited bandwidth due to a slow ADSL connexion and hapless transportation rate of a communications web may impede the acquisition procedure as the downloading of multimedia stuffs, sometimes interrupted or students'answers for their teacher during an on-line treatment session. In educational activities, picture conferencing as synergistic telecommunication engineerings which allow two or more pupils to pass on with bipartisan picture and audio transmittals at the same time. It might non be executable for scholars who use the slow DSL connexion from their places. Broadband service is overloaded and limited to certain locations where there are higher population denseness sharing Internet capacity. Consequently, it is easy recognized that most of the e-learning classs are merely text-based as the Internet bandwidth is limited.Personal psychological science issues:Newcomers get accustomed to believing that e-learning environment is the same as traditional acquisition environment. To derive effectual work, they need to psychologically fix for the online composing environment. Therefore, to hold accurate orientation and to avoid proceeding by test and mistake, they need enlightening direction from on-line classs every bit good as website Godheads. Besides, Dearnley ( 2003 ) stated that fledglings to untraditional acquisition may acquire lost because they do non cognize what to make as there is no elaborate counsel from the instructor. E-learning is the merchandise of the high engineering that requires e-learners to hold on new accomplishments and command associated with it. New e-learning pupil feel puzzled as exposing to the unconventional e-learning environment and separation from others. In add-on, the deficiency of ICT accomplishments is one of the obstructions in e-learning preparation that adheres to new procedure and use connected with the engineering. As a consequence, deriving new engineerings is a complication to the novice in e-learning. E-learning is a learning activity that requires several self-denials and independency. It encourages the independent and comfy manner of acquisition, but the scholars ‘ self-motivation and self-denial are the finding factors in keeping and finishing analyzing. Schott et Al. ( 2003 ) asserted that the e-learning success rate was really dependent on pupils ‘ abilities to be autonomous and internally motivated. Naturally, e-learning pupils have a higher dropout rate than their conventional opposite numbers ( Abouchedid & A ; Eid, 2004 ) . E-learners need extra encouragement and support, to counterbalance for the isolation ; motive is the key for them to successfully finish the class ( Lessons from the e-learning, 2002 ) .Specifications of on-line class:Harmonizing to a new attack to learner-centered instructional design, pupils can command and set their coursework. In an e-learning environment, scholars need to pull off their acquisition and schedule their assignments ( Gran t & A ; Spencer, 2003 ) . This is instead different from the traditional acquisition environment where scholars need to go to some classs in physical schoolrooms, and they need to make their assignments or take scrutinies within a certain clip frame ( Miller & A ; Corley, 2001 ) . As a consequence, e-learning scholars may take a longer clip to graduate, as compared to traditional pupils who need to finish their surveies within a clip frame ( Choy, 2002 ) .Requirement of online authorship accomplishmentWriting accomplishment is one of the indispensable accomplishments in e-learning environment and traditional environment. Learners with weak composing accomplishments can be at a obstruction to an e-learning environment ( Smith & A ; Rupp, 2004 ) . In on-line acquisition, it is a text-based environment that scholars need to frequently communicate in. Consequently, that exists on many defects in composing accomplishments severely impact on the acquisition procedure and ability to show p upils ‘ idea.MethodologyAnother restriction in e-learning is the deficiency of existent communicating. Schott et Al. ( 2003 ) expressed that the deficiency of physical interactions made e-learning pupils feel stray and discerning. In an online environment, it is excessively hard for pupils to have advice, when compared to face-to-face schoolroom. In unrecorded schoolrooms, interacting with the teachers or equals for information, scholars are cognizant of the job easy and larn more quickly. Body position, gestures, facial looks, and oculus motions do non be in e-learning. An illustration is when a pupil stated that he missed â€Å" facial and manus gestures † , from which of import cues can be derived ( Meyer,2003 ) . The deficiency of lively interactions will exclude pupils ‘ observation and can suppress their feelings and emotions, may forestall teachers from giving their feedbacks on pupil ‘s demands and consequently lead to restrictions of the acquisition procedure. E-learning non merely lacks physical interaction but besides blamed for non holding installations like traditional environment: internship, voluntary chances, entree to physical library, book shops, calling and development guidance ( McCraken, 2004 ) . Some acquisition establishments tried to supply these installations but they were excessively limited ( McCraken, 2004 ) . McCraken farther pointed out jobs such as budget, compatibility of package, and college policies, that hindered the development of incorporate back uping systems. In fact, pupils need to execute a batch of life world observations in nature every bit good as in society so as to develop their accomplishments and cognition, and this may be difficult to recognize through e-learning simulations. A set of method is based on engineerings and are developing and changing quickly along with e-learning. Traveling into e-learning is hard for teachers who are already familiar with the traditional instruction environment ( Angelina, 2002a, p.12 ; Strauss, 2003 ; Kearsley, 2000 ; Wang, 2003 ) . Strauss ( 2003 ) said that passage into e-learning is instead hard as it involves transition of physical instruction stuffs into e-learning stuffs and this takes clip to finish. Many teachers are non exposed to the necessary package, and do non desire to alter their instruction manners ( Levy, 2003 ) . In an online schoolroom, teachers are besides required holding many pedagogical accomplishments to pass on, usher and buttocks efficaciously. As a consequence, teachers need e-learning preparation before transitioning ( Levy, 2003 ; Strauss, 2003 ; Pachnowski, 2003 ) . A manner of learning in an online schoolroom is peculiar and different from a general manner of a traditional schoolroom. Due to underestimating e-learning, some teachers might compare it with face-to-face acquisition environments. All these complicates teachers ‘ passage towards e-learning.Interface designBad design of the e-course is a major affair for scholars and e-learning suppliers. It make users a stressed province and non good treated feeling ( Ivergard & A ; Hunt, 2005 ) . They farther mentioned this makes users to experience disgruntled and eventually give up larning. E-course design should be adapted for the demands of the scholars: it should be easy to utilize and pupils should hold easy entree to direction and information ( Howell, Williams & A ; Lindsay 2003 ; James-Gordon, Young & A ; Bal, 2003 ) . Svensson ( 2004 ) said that it is non easy to plan the e-learning e-course, as it should non be limited to merely content and should include other constituents to heighten acquisition. In brief, the hapless serviceability of the on-line class will forestall the scholar ‘s ability to get c ognition ( Smulders, 2003 ) . Since e-learning is normally designed fundamentally for practical cognition and apprehension of the ICT, it may be excessively proficient for ICT novitiates ( James-Gordon, Young & A ; Bal, 2003 ) . Therefore, to continue popularity and easy serviceability, e-course is redesigned for scholars from all backgrounds and categories to successfully entree and efficaciously usage. Although there are many e-courses available in the market, Sambrook ( 2003 ) mentioned that it is non easy for scholars to take a suited courseware that comes with relevant content and equal degrees. Before making or building an on-line class, the trainers and teachers need to see and measure package applications every bit good as the quality of the preparation stuffs and course of study. The rightness of the courseware may increase the scholar ‘s satisfaction ( Grooms, 2003 ) . Therefore, it is hard how to accommodate the quality of package execution and preparation class to reenforce cognition and accomplishment.Other issuesAlthough e-learning provides limitless entree anytime and anyplace, this may non be favorable to some persons. Dringus ( 2003 ) explained that scholars can post any inquiries in the forum or direct electronic mails whenever they are free ( even during weekends ) . This neverending acquisition and learning procedure will easy emphasize both the scholars and particularly the teachers ( Newton, 2003 ) . It is besides more time-consuming to steer on-line pupils, delegate a undertaking and give pupils a feedback on their Hagiographas. These e-learning teachers have heavy work loads and this may sabotage their public presentation and even cut down their opportunities to turn with the environment ( Dringus, 2003 ) . This will impact their work in learning or assist pupils, hence scholars may merely acquire an unacceptable scope of services. It is instead difficult to obtain academic honestness and justness in footings of on-line appraisal. because the e-learner can portion the username and the watchword with others during unsupervised online trials. Patalong ( 2003 ) provided another good illustration of rip offing when pupils shared or â€Å" cooperated † during an on-line scrutiny in Coventry University, United Kingdom. Submiting the online assignments, e-learners can be dishonest because they may trust on a spouse for aid to make the assignment. Schott et Al. ( 2003 ) referred to all these jobs as â€Å" digital cheating † , when scholars â€Å" utilised † computing machine engineering for rip offing or plagiarism. Many unlicensed schools have organized e-learning classs. Consequently, a figure of companies and bureaus do non acknowledge online grades and acknowledgment of e-learning classs is presently certain restriction. Therefore, achieving a making with accreditation position from e-learning is normally a job for pupils ( Collins, Buhalis & A ; Peters, 2003 ) . It is normal to admit that there be some on-line instruction institutes even selling grades for a certain sum of tuition fees and without any type of appraisal ( Khoo & A ; Azizan, 2004 ) . Due to the characteristic and map of e-learning, it must be examined further carefully and thoroughly scrutiny for accreditation and acknowledgment. Similarly, Eaton pointed out that accreditation is hard for distance acquisition establishments, as there are issues in the rating of instruction quality and the appraisal of the effectivity of the distance acquisition model ( Baker, 2003 ) . Taking portion in online acquisition, scholars from all over the universe will confront the troubles because of difference in clip zones. It is instead difficult for the teacher to schedule an on-line category to run into and fulfill the demands of different pupils from different clip zones. It is apparent to place that in an on-line class, pupils barely stipulate a clip period for group treatment due to the different clip zones in some subdivisions. Despite e-learning ‘s current popularity, does it hold any restrictions? Evan & A ; Hasse ( 2001 ) found out that scholars are reasonably missing in computing machine proficiency and, since e-learning is centered around computing machine engineerings, it is a barrier to those scholars without good computing machine accomplishments. In add-on, surveies of Evan & A ; Hasse ( 2001 ) , O'Regan ( 2003 ) and Rovai & A ; Jordan ( 2004 ) found out that scholars face limited physical interactions among themselves in e-learning.5.2.2. Restrictions of the web siteDue to the chief limitations on allocated clip and e-learning ‘s substructure, the empirical survey and its the consequences have the restrictions cited as follows. The empirical research is conducted on Moodle for 2nd linguistic communication learning with authorship activities. Therefore, it has yet non clarified the mutual relationship with other accomplishments that well contribute to success of on-line authorship. The survey was limited to merely two features – Moodle ‘s characteristics and procedure and genre-oriented authorship direction in the foreign linguistic communication section of schools. Simultaneous, the appraisal of the web site is based on these two cues. Therefore, the other issues as subjects on Moodle, excess plans, SCORM bundle, etc. are neglected. The information collected about respondents focused chiefly on students/teachers. Therefore, the probe does non execute on employees in vocational administrations and concern endeavors that are of import takers to pull general decisions of the installing and application of Moodle in the cognition economic system. Students ‘ on-line academic degree and instructors ‘ distant preparation criterion are still limited due to inadequate preparation course of study and a deficiency of ICT resources in institutes. Therefore, the consequences of research into on-line composing instruction will take to certain restraints on application of Moodle. Survey research and schoolroom state of affairs observation are chief research methods used in the thesis. The other research methods as instropection research, correlational research and experimental research are glanced up rapidly merely to back up some diminutive inside informations in research inquiries. Therefore, deep illations from an explorative probe are scarce to pull from.5.3 RecommendationsThe recommendations are drawn from the literature reappraisal and findings of the online composing study consequences achieved in this research are put frontward.5.3.1 Recommendation for farther research into Moodle ‘s systemThe followers is recommendations for farther research in the hereafter on the application and usage of the Moodle package in online composing instruction. In authorship, the subjects can be normally assigned for pupils and sometimes pupils can besides choose a subject on their ain and have a opportunity to transcribe anything they are cognizant of and cognize really good. Subjects are typical topics of developing paragraphs and essays and can be modified to suit about any sort of composing assignment. Teachers can farther mention to subjects through the web site reference or the book about authorship. Owing to restraints on clip and finance, the writer merely utilize the nucleus faculties and some add-on faculties to implement activities on Moodle. To similar surveies in the hereafter, it is suggested that research workers should use or develop authoring packages or bespoke package plans appropriately redesigned to their pupils. For illustration, an excess plan that helps pupils develop and form a set of thoughts to set up semantic maps for composing. This plan is intended to reenforce Moodle ‘s modular layout and attraction in online composing instruction by implanting sound, picture, and hyperlinks in it. In add-on to utilizing Moodle ‘s techniques in class activities, the writer besides suggests a farther survey of the interoperable theoretical account between on-line composing instruction and traditional authorship learning so as to make links harmonious and inheritable between regular method and technology-based method every bit good as between process-based composing direction and modular object-oriented authorship instruction. An experimental research is conducted among schools and concern endeavors in Vietnam by utilizing the same methodological analysis and measurement instrument to pull comparative decisions and to light positions on Moodle ‘s characteristics and activities It has been suggested that newest version of Moodle will be used because it integrates with connectivist, the emerging theory of larning for the digital bringing to explicate the technological impact on life doctrine: unrecorded, love and larn. A research is conducted to find whether Moodle ‘s resources, activities other characteristics, etc. are conditions necessary and sufficient for on-line activities in general and on-line authorship in peculiar. A farther study research is conducted to develop a package to make packaged on-line talks for usage in a distributed instruction environment, based on developing direction system as criterion of IMS Global Learning Consortium ( IMS GLC ) and Advanced Distributed Learning ( ADL )5.3.2 Recommendations for development research into e-learning in the hereafterDue to agencies and the topic of acquisition, the undermentioned recommendations for possible future research of e-learning are as follows:Mobile engineerings:Because of technological development and scholars who are without substructure or individuals whose occupations require them to continuously travel. Therefore, larning activities need to be transferred through nomadic engineerings as nomadic phones, PDAs ( personal digital helpers ) , digital pen and paper, etc.Simulations in e-learning procedure:Simulation engineering is used to analyse the possible result of a given state of affairs based on one or more known variables. The purpose of the simulation is to minimise an unwanted result, but to increase the opportunities for success. So, simulations may heighten talks, presentations, existent universe pattern, immersive environment and experiential acquisition.Learning personalizationOwing to the diverseness in individualised learning population, the diverseness in the entree media and modes, and diverseness in the context of usage of such engineerings. The most popular LMS like Moodle still does non back up larning personalization. Therefore, Researchers need to bridge the spread between the universes of Learning Management Systems ( LMSs ) and Adaptive Learning Environments ( ALEs ) . So, they map personalization functionality on different faculties of LMSs. Similarly, research workers of ALEs integrate their ALE within bing LMSs.Open beginning e-learning toolsFrom demands of extended developer communities and a certain e-learning package for instruction, unfastened beginning package applications are not iced due to be nest eggs, stableness, public presentation and entree to code. Users in the close hereafter will hold entree to outdo unfastened beginning package that should be built on unfastened criterions for the populace to analyze, alteration, better and administer the package in an collaborative mode.Standards developmentStandards development is aimed at linking involvement and concern of different groups in distributed acquisition community. It is conducted through the combination between current engineerings and public executions. The impression is to set up a mention theoretical account for the foundation of effectual Internet-based acquisition. These criterions are considered as the guidelines for the Godhead to plan, develop, and implement the acquisition content.

The impact of Information Technology on a career or profession of your Term Paper - 1

The impact of Information Technology on a career or profession of your choice - Term Paper Example Businesses have become equipped with information management systems that manage the company’s intellectual assets and provide basis for predictive analysis of future sales and consumer behaviors. Medical treatments have become safer, more reliable and quicker due to the integration of technological equipments and procedures. Technology has intervened in the life of modern man to such a great extent that it is almost impossible to imagine life without its presence. Modern technology has also broken the geographical barriers by creating innovative modes of communication. 2. Field of Education The field of education has undergone numerous changes after the introduction of technology. The conventional modes of acquiring education in a classroom setting have transformed into much broader concepts. One of major pitfalls of the conventional concept was the assumption that all students are able to acquire education in the same manner and at the same pace. The instructor used to evalua te the level of comprehension of the students on the basis of feedback from a selected number of prominent students. The slow learners suffered in this process since they were compelled to follow the pace of the fast learners in the classroom sessions. Technological intervention has addressed this drawback and has provided innovative ways to acquire education. ... Multimedia is commonly adapted across schools, colleges and universities for a diverse range of purposes. Reeves defined multimedia as the accumulation of different types of mediums, like sound, text, animation etc, on a single platform that has a greater effect on the users than the platform with only one type of medium (22). Multimedia is used to present lectures in a classroom setting to make the sessions more interactive and interesting. Graphs and diagrams can be displayed on the screens and can be explained in a more detailed manner. Interactive whiteboard is another form of multimedia that is being adapted by educational institutes around the world. It comprises of a computer that is connected with a projector and a touch screen. Painter explained that the projector displays the desired content (from the computer) on the whiteboard that can be controlled with an electronic pen (3). Figure 1: Interactive Whiteboard being used in a primary school (Painter) Impact The use of mult imedia has benefitted the field of education to a great extent. The monotonous lectures have been converted into interactive and interesting sessions due to the integration of multimedia in the programs. Teachers are able to present different types of video clips, animations, graphs, architectures etc. This makes it easier for the students to comprehend different concepts since visual aid is coupled with the knowledge of the instructor. Reeves stated that multimedia tends to kindle more than one sense at one instance therefore it proves to be a better medium to attain attention of the audience (22). Teoh and Neo stated that interactivity of multimedia sessions promotes the interaction between the learner and the instructor (29); this provides an opportunity to the learner to address

India Inflation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

India Inflation - Essay Example High rates of inflation can have serious consequences for the economy in general. Therefore, for governments all over the world, reducing movements of prices to a minimum is seen as a primary economic objective. A wide variety of economic literature deals with the effects of inflation. The most widely discussed outcome of inflation is unemployment. In price-sensitive markets, rising prices result in businesses losing sales and thus reduced turnover. This ultimately affects employment as the firms engage in cutting manpower labor to reduce costs. Additionally rising prices during inflation create unrest amongst labor. Inflation encourages employees to demand higher wages in order to maintain their current living standards. The worst hit during inflation is the fixed income groups like pensioners. An increase in wages during inflation can fuel an additional increase in product prices. This results in a vicious circle of increased wages further increasing prices which in turn would push up the wages again. In economic terms, this 'wage/prices inflationary spiral' can have disastrous effects on any economy. (Worthington & Britton, 1997) Depreciation in the monetary value results in falling purchasing power and wipes out the past savings.

Delivering benefits (case study) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Delivering benefits (case study) - Essay Example There are two parts to a compensation package of any employee in any company, one is the motivation factor and the other is the maintenance factor and need. Motivation factors relate to the benefits such as job security, need for recognition, need for responsibility and other such related factors. The maintenance factor is one where employees need such as economic, social and physical needs. Benefits falls in this category and employees expect benefits, where benefits are not present employees may be dissatisfied. The absence of motivational factors greatly increase the expectation of maintenance factors of employees and it might be true vice versa as well, but what is more important is that corporations realize the needs for such benefits and make them readily available for all of the employees so that employee motivation levels do not go down and the corporation has no difficulty in the retention of employees because maintenance factors play a huge role when people decide if they want to switch jobs or not. At times there have been cases where people have worked at organizations only because the benefits that are being offered are great, another factor to consider is that these benefits should be customized to the needs of the employees because if that is not the case then it would not make any sense to offer such benefits. It is very important that FedEx uses group plans and gives options to its employees because that is the only effective way to reduce rising health care costs, which is one of the most important factor that employees look at before deciding whether or not to accept the job opportunity. 2. Prevention is better than cure; this stands true in the case of FedEx and every other company that offers such advantages to its employees, since the rising costs of health care has put it beyond the reach of many companies it is advised that companies work towards prevention of work related

Artificial Intelligence Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Artificial Intelligence - Term Paper Example Researchers can create systems that understand human speech, compete with humans during games like chase and imitate human thought (Harris, 2010). Origin and evolution of artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence traces its roots to the ancient-classical philosophers who described the human thinking process as a manipulation of mechanical symbols. This gave rise to the creation of a digital computer that was programmable in the 1940s. This machine was based on the conceptual core of mathematical logic. The success of this device acted as an inspiration to scientists and researchers to start engaging in serious discussions on the possibility of developing an electronic brain (Whitby, 2009). It is believed that artificial intelligence originated from proclamations and thoughts of the primordial Greek scientists and philosophers. The Egyptians then advanced it at around 800 B.C. The Egyptians constructed a statue of Amun, the great in the ancient city of Napata. This statue could move its arm and speak to onlookers. Although the statuette was not intelligent, it portrayed signs of intelligence that inspired the Egyptians (Harris, 2010). In the fifth century, Aristotle advanced what was considered as the foundation of artificial intelligence. He introduced a theory called the syllogistic logic that deduced the first formal reasoning system. Later on, other people such as Euclid, Ramon Lull and al-Khwarizmi came up with fresh developments (Whitby, 2009). Al-Khwarizmi invented algebra while Euclid introduced reasoning based on geometry. On his part, Ramon Lull invented a machine called Zairja. This could generate ideas in a mechanical and nonmathematical format. However, between 17th and 19th century, more ideas and descriptions were added to the thinking process. For instance, Descartes initiated the concepts that animals were just complex machines while Thomas Hobbes described reasoning as a process of reckoning. Gottfried Liebniz attempted to liken the human beings’ reasoning to algebraic calculations. He even developed the Liebniz Computer that could divide and multiply. George Boole who invented binary algebra further advanced use of mathematics to reason (Harris, 2010). The 20th century witnessed many advancements and revolutions with equally growing number of additional players in the industry (Lamb 1). The most significant invention of the robot was by Karel Capek in a play known as Rossum’s Universal Robots. The robots were portrayed as unconscious and mechanical beings who could work for humans as slaves (Harris, 2010). However, the most significant effort towards the advancement of artificial intelligence occurred in 1940 when the first electronic computer was invented. With the subsequent advancements in computer science and theory, artificial intelligence developed significantly (McCarthy 1). The leading brains in this field included Warren McCullon and Walter Pitts who sought to assign mathematical descriptions to the brains of humans. In 1955, Norbert Wiener proved that all the intelligent behaviors were feedback mechanisms’ derivatives (Whitby, 2009). The period between 1956 and 1979 was characterized by further advancements in artificial intelligence industry. Several research facilities on artificial intelligence were set up at Carnegie Mellon, MIT and Princeton. The administration of the US joined in during the 1960s and pressed for more developments on artificial in

Tax Claim Advise Letter Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Tax Claim Advise Letter - Case Study Example The nature of your employment means that you spend more than half the year outside the country. To determine your residency, the Australian tax office applies some test to ascertain whether you fall under its jurisdiction for tax purposes namely the residency: ‘resides test’, domicile test, 183 day rule and the superannuation test. This is addressed under subsection 6(1) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936. According to the first test, whether a person is an Australian resident is a matter of fact and degree1 that depends on the circumstances of each case. However, some factors are considered. One and that is relevant to your scenario is the nature and extent of family and business ties that a person has established in Australia. According to the documents you have provided us, you have established a business, and indeed you have been the exclusive importer of widgets into Australia. In reference to the domicile test, a person is a resident in Australia if they have a domicile in Australia unless the commissioner becomes satisfied that person’s permanent place of residence is abode is outside Australia. Under the above two test, you qualify as a resident. However, you do not satisfy the 183 day test that applies to an expatriate and requires that they must have been present in Australia for more than 183 days. In Taxation Ruling IT, it was held that where a person temporarily leaving Australia, if they satisfy the first test, that is residency in the ordinary sense, then there is no need to go any further and they are residents for income tax purposes. Consequently, you are a resident for income tax purposes. Having addressed residency, we turn to your tax liability under the Income Tax Act. To compute taxable income, the tax law makes a distinction between income and capital receipts. Your taxable income shall include your PAYG payment from Compass, dividends from west point, capital assets gain from the sale of the estate, termination of the distribution agreement and business income from the distribution of widgets. Under the PAYG system, tax is deducted by the employer from the gross salary, who pays it to the ATO. This would cover your tax liability if you had no other source of income. Nevertheless, one must file returns if the amount exceeds $6000 of taxable income. If there is non-salary income, one, however, receives credit for tax paid under PAYG. With regards to your PAYG payments, your employers have already deducted the tax due. Total taxable income should be as calculated in appendix 1. Notice that the allowances; both laundry and uniform are deducted to arrive at your taxable income because these two occupation related expenses that are incurred to earn your taxable income.to add, the Skin care products purchased due to flight attendant role amounting to 629.00 is also deductible. Also notice that the fridge benefits have not been added since they are treated differently since they are taxed at the rat e of 46.5%, and the tax year is different, as it runs from 1st April t0 30th may. Dividends received from Westplains ltd are also added to arrive at your taxable income as shown in appendix A. Notice that the amount added includes the flanked amount and flanking credits. This system applies to prevent double taxation. This is because the company pays a divided at the corporate rate and the dividend is

Alia Malek, Patriot Acts. Book Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Alia Malek, Patriot Acts. Book - Essay Example Where of how law enforcement officers bully normal citizens, as well as how normal citizens bully other citizens who they consider are much lesser than them in a number of aspects such as race and colour. We hear of bullying stories every day in our schools. Students from different races (rather than whites) and deprived backgrounds among others fall prey to mostly white students who consider themselves more superior to other races (Bacon 35). I also fell prey to some of the worst bullies while in high school. It shows so evidently the role of our lack of knowledge as a country and as humans. I find both enraging and heartbreaking that parents, teachers, as well as schools, can be the major persecutors in a majority of these stories. The stories of Gurwinder and Rana truly drove the cultural unawareness home, but my own ignorance, as well: I echoed on the rage of my Sikh or Muslim friends and how immature I was of what they were enduring from the entire nation while they were going t hrough persecution in other regions of the globe I am delighted to have stumble upon this volume. The stories in Patriot Acts cope with one basic issue: what defines an American? Can United States citizens put on turbans? And can they pray openly? The storytellers in this volume are being deprived of their Americanism (which is that different when compared to citizenship) and, in the United States, that means that they are being shorn of their humanity (Malek 56). I marvel if this tendency to link Americanism with basic humanity is exclusive to the United States or if other nations are no different. A brand of American patriotism is to associate America with liberty, as well as freedom with ones fundamental rights (Bacon 40). However this principle, the highest confidence Americans have in this thought, depends on that liberty being indivisible from their citizens and not only the government. So how do individuals’ freedoms get

Accounting for Small Business Essay Example for Free

Accounting for Small Business Essay ABSTRACT SMEs play a very important role in Indias economy and have a great potential for strengthening the real sector in India. But there has not been appropriate infrastructure yet which is accounting system to show the business feasibility. Traditional business in Indian Villages had been started by a family and ancestors, but has gotten bigger now. This business has many strengths and weaknesses. Based on the condition and background, the proposed-accounting system has been developed. It has been also successfully tested for a month transaction and revised. Adding knowledge management into accounting system is an alternative way to develop the proposed-accounting system. The four modes of knowledge creation will facilitate the business and its owner to add some modules in accounting system and to reengineer the business process. See more: Distinguish between problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping Essay INTRODUCTION: Small business plays a very important role in Indias economy, particularly in aspects increased employment, income generating, economic development. In addition, this sector is considered as a driving force for the rural economy. But until now there are still many problems to hinder the small business growth. Facts in the Asia Pacific region revealed that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) employ about 60 percent of the workforce. Only 10 percent of the total companies in Asia Pacific which is a big business, the rest are SMEs. For India, according to Small Medium Business Corner (SMBC) data in 2012 the numbers of micro, small and medium enterprises develop into 130 Lakhs (http://www.smeindia.net/export_schemes/OverviewofMSME.html) by giving employment to 410 Lakhs people and able to contribute to the total national GDP amounted to 8-9 percent in 2012. Basic problem of management in small business is inability of owners to determine their management style that appropriate with the business need and development stage. In early stage of business, family management style leads to one-man show. According to improvement of business environment, that conventional style could not be pushed longer. Especially in financial management, the business owners could not be able to separate the financial management of business and family yet. Besides, they have not well planned, managed and reported periodically yet. It is caused by there is no appropriate infrastructure which is accounting system. The impact is that the owners of small business have difficulties to cooperate with external such as bank or another financial institution. The owners have difficulties to show their feasibility business when they want to propose credit or make a business contract with another business. Based on the importance of an accounting system, this research results a proposed-accounting system which can be applied by owners of small business in India. The proposed-accounting system is a generic model of purchasing and selling system that should be enhanced according to business need and by refer to the knowledge management approach. LITERATURE REVIEW: ACCOUNTING SYSTEM: According to Gillespie, accounting system is an organization of document, form and report which is managed to provide information for management. Based on that definition, elements of accounting system are documents, forms and reports, but still concern with procedure and internal control. Therefore, proposed-elements in this study will refer to it. SMALL BUSINESS: Under the law of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (2008), definition of SMEs in India is explained by the table below. Based on the definition, the research object is categorized as a small business. DEFINITION OF SMES IN INDIA Enterprises engaged in providing or rendering of services (i) A micro enterprise is an enterprise where the investment in equipment does not exceed Rs. 10 lakh; (ii) A small enterprise is an enterprise where the investment in equipment is more than Rs.10 lakh but does not exceed Rs. 2 crore; and (iii) A medium enterprise is an enterprise where the investment in equipment is more than Rs. 2 crore but does not exceed Rs. 5 crore. Enterprises engaged in the manufacture or production, processing or preservation of goods (i) A micro enterprise is an enterprise where investment in plant and machinery does not exceed Rs. 25 lakh; (ii) A small enterprise is an enterprise where the investment in plant and machinery is more than Rs. 25 lakh but does not exceed Rs. 5 crore; and (iii) A medium enterprise is an enterprise where the investment in plant and machinery is more than Rs.5 crore but does not exceed Rs.10 crore. SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT: System development in this study will follow the three main steps a.System analysis: Activities in this stage are initial study, feasibility study, requirement definition, and specification system arrangement. b.System design:   After finishing system analysis, the next activities are system design, system building and system testing. c.System implementation:   Based on system testing, a revised system will be established. Finally, system is implemented and operated. At this stage, company will conduct maintenance activity. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: Since this study wants to develop a proposed-accounting system, â€Å"Research and development† approach which is applied in this study is a research program that is followed by a development program. It is a combination of descriptive study that describes the actual phenomenon in an object and exploratory research that develops a proposed -accounting system. A proposed-accounting system is focused on purchasing and selling system since those are the main activities in the business. The location of this study, Traditional small business in Indian Villages, was chosen on purpose, because this business in the Villages has significantly improved in sales and human empowering, also government is paying attention by giving assistantship for both management and technology. Primary data of this study was the results of guided interviews and observation. The steps of this study are designed as follow: a.Initial study Preliminary research was conducted to comprehend previous studies and literature, guided questionnaire drafting, and Traditional business understanding. b.System requirement defining At this stage, the data was obtained by interview with business owners and observation directly to the business. By understanding the research object condition and background, also the strength and weakness, the accounting system requirement could be defined. c.Development of proposed-accounting system At this stage, development of proposed-accounting system was managed by interviews, observation, and group discussion among owners, researcher and government, related to main accounting system elements, which are document, form and report. In its development, knowledge management approach was proposed to use since it can facilitate business daily operation into business standard operation. The result of this stage was a proposed-accounting system. d.Testing and implementation Testing was accomplished by implementing the proposed system to handle a month transactions. Owners and their staff used it to run transactions of purchasing and selling for a month. By running the system, problems were found and then they were used to revise the system. At this stage, a revised-accounting system was established. e.Conclusions and recommendations In the final stage of this study, conclusions and suggestions from all research processes were stated. RESULT AND DISCUSSION: PROFILE OF TRADITIONAL BUSINESS IN INDIAN VILLAGES: India is one of the major exporter and supplier of handicrafts and gift products to the world market. The Indian handicrafts industry is highly labor intensive and decentralized, being spread all across the country in rural and urban areas. The sector is considered as the second largest employment-generating sector after agriculture with numerous artisans engaged in craft work on a part-time basis. The industry offers employment to over 6 million artisans, including a large number of women and people from the weaker sections of society. The present day handicraft tradition of India is a perfect example of assimilation between the traditional designs and modern techniques. The fast growing demand for Indian handicraft and gifts products have made this sector a full-fledged large scale organized industry that is growing day by day. History The rich history of India’s craft tradition has evolved over the centuries offering a legacy of Indian culture promising everything beauty, dignity, form and style. The variety is comprehensive and ranges from age-old stone carvings to modern handicrafts making use of glass flints and mirrors. The most popular crafts, include metalware, earthenware, pottery, sculpting, woodwork, hand-printed textiles and scarves, embroidered and crocheted goods, shawls, zari products, stone carving and imitation jewelry. There is a myriad of art and craft traditions in India that depend on social, economic and regional factors. The present status of the sector in India owes much to the rich crafts history and tradition of the past. Majority of the crafts from the past continues to flourish due to their utilitarian characteristics, availability to the common people and popularity in domestic and global markets. Today, some of the sectors within the craft industry have even become full fledged industries in their own, like carpet weaving, traditional textile (Banarsi silk sari, Chikankari etc), gem cutting and polishing, jewelry making, the world famous diamond cutting and polishing industry, brassware, jute products, etc. The growth of these industries is due to their ever-increasing demand and the popularity of Indian crafts in the domestic market and overseas. Gems and jewelry, carpet making, metalware, leather products, jute products etc. are some industries, which are growing rapidly.

What is Hajj Essay Example for Free

What is Hajj Essay Hajj is one of the five Islamic pillars. It is where all capable Muslims must go on a pilgrimage at least once in a lifetime to Makkah in the last month of the Islamic year. These months are Muharram, Safar, Rabi al-Awal, Rabi al-Thani, Jumad al- Ula, Jumad al-Thani, Rajab, Shabaan, Ramadaan (Month for Daily Obligatory Fasts), Shawwaal, Dhul- Qidah and Dhul- Hijjah (the month for Hajj). And Hajj (pilgrimmage to Makkah) to the House (Ka`abah) is a duty that mankind owes to Allah, those who can afford the expenes (for ones conveyance, provision, and residence) Al-Quran:Surah 3 (Al-Imran); Verse 97 Hajj is the name given to the journey made by Muslims to the Kabba at Makka in Arabia. It is a very large, spiritual gathering and they arrive in very large numbers, sometimes up to 340 a minute. Women wear a burka (a long cloth covering from the head to the feet) men wear a sort of tunic for hajj. When they arrive at Makka the first thing they do is bathe and put white sheets on to enter purity (Ihram). They then go to a sacred mosque to start prayers; they repeat the Talbiya over and over again (translated into English): Here I am O Allah, Here I am Here I am. There is no partner with you. Here I am. Verily, Thine is the praise, the blessings and the sovereignty of the Universe Thou has no partner They then run between two hills to represent what happened when Hajar did this to find water for her son Ishmal. They come to the spring (Zam Zam), which Allah found and people desperately try to drink and bathe in the water which comes from it. This is a Muslims search for spiritually. After this they walk 7 times around the Ka`aba (black stone), this symbolizes when 630 people rode into Makka and destroyed all Idols and Allah forgave the citizens. The first night of the Hajj is spent at Mina. The second day is spent at Arafat; this is where the prophet Muhammad gave his farewell speech, it is desert location approximately 9 miles from Makka. Muslims say this prayer upon entering Arafat so that Allah forgives their sins: O Allah! Forgive my sins, help me repent to you, and grant me all that I beseech of You. Whenever I turn, let me see goodness. Allah be praised! All Praise is due to Allah! There is no deity except Allah! And Allah is The Most Great. The Muslims collect small stones for the following day. Day three is spent at Mina; this is where the Muslims stone the devils (Jamrahs). 7 stones are thrown at each of the 3 pillars; they do this because the devils tempted Ibraham to disobey Allah three times, it shows that they are against anything devilish. Weak and sick people can appoint others to throw stones at the Jamrahs in Mina on behalf of them. Tawaf al-Wada is the farewell Tawaf that a pilgrim performs just before leaving Makka for other destinations. It is the same as before when they go around the black stone in 7 circuits, starting from the black stone line. After completing the Tawaf, it is good but not required to pray too Rakahs behind Maqam Ibrahim. This day is the sacrifice day where they sacrifice an animal (Eid-ul Adha); they are supposed to sacrifice goats, sheep, rams, camels or cows. This act is performed to commemorate Prophet Abrahams act of sacrificing his oldest son Prophet Ismaeel on the command of Allah. Allah substituted Prophet Ismaeel with a ram. Muslims are required to donate 1/3 rd of the meat to the poor, distribute 1/3 rd of the meat to friends and relatives, and keep 1/3 rd of the meat for themselves. Men shave their heads and women cut off locks of hair. After this they return to Makka again to do 7 more circuits of the Ka`aba. Muslims take part in the Hajj because they believe that it is their duty to go, so that Allah will respect them and they will live in paradise when they die. Even if they cannot go for any reason they believe that having the right attitude about going will be acceptable to Allah. It provides an opportunity for Muslims with diverse racial, ethnic and geographical heritage to exchange views, get acquainted and feel unified as one Ummah (community) on a global level. They also go because they enjoy the spiritual gathering, they are happy and they like being around other Muslims who share the same beliefs as they do. Not all Muslims go to Hajj however, as there are certain difficulties effecting whether or not they can go. Some people cannot afford to go but would do if they have the money, if they still have the intention to go (Niyyah) this would still be acceptable to Allah. They can send one person to represent a whole community, which is also accepted. As Hajj is so popular (over 2 million people go each year) they have to limit the numbers of people who go, this means that not everyone who wants to go can, so this is again another difficulty Muslims have. People also have difficulties attending Hajj because they have disabilities or they are unable to walk etc. For example and old person who is frail may not be able to cope with the heat and walking/travelling far. People who are ill and have ill health may also not be able to attend Hajj, as they may be bed-ridden etc. If people cannot attend Hajj for various reasons but have intention (Niyyah) to go, it is still acceptable to Allah. Participating in Hajj affects the life of a believer because they come alive spiritually. It is important for them to go and they feel love from Allah while they are there. They enjoy going, to be around other Muslims. When they return they feel closest to God as they stood on the site where the Prophet delivered his sermon during his first and last pilgrimage. They go back full of joy as they have for filled Allahs wish. They also return with a better understanding of Allah and a born a spirit of caring for others and an understanding of their own heritage that will last throughout their lives. A true pilgrimage is really a journey within. It is important to physically go to Makka but if it is not possible to go I believe that you can still participate spiritually. I believe that if it is in your heart to go this should be accepted as you can still enjoy Hajj without going. You can use technology to participate in Hajj, for example you could pray while watching the festival on television or look at a video of the gathering on the Internet. You could also have your own party at home with other Muslims who do not go to Makka and celebrate Hajj and the end of Hajj (Eid ulad ha) together. Just because you do not go to Makka does not mean you do not follow Allah, you can still participate in Hajj without physically being there. So people who cannot go for various reasons such as old age etc can still enjoy the celebrations and not be cast out of them for being different. If I were a Muslim I may have a different view on this subject because they believe that if it is physically possible to go, you should go no mater what, as Allah would want you to. They feel that it is a religious duty to go, as it is one of the five pillars. A Muslim would go because they want to please their God, Allah.

Aggression in dementia

Aggression in dementia Introduction Aggression in people with dementia is a behaviour that can be evident is care environments where dementia care is given. This is a issue that is becoming a growing health concern (Jackson and Mallory, 2009: Alzheimer’s Society, 2014: Cipriani et al. 2011). This is an issue that is likely to keep growing and developing as the population continues to age. (Nguyen, Love and Kunik. 2008). This is an issue that needs to be managed well with good leadership and guidance from management and nursing staff and the input from all relevant members of the multidisciplinary team charged with caring for individuals who show signs of aggressive behaviour and this is critical in making this achievable and protecting patients and residents in long term care environments from potential harm. This piece of work will look at a practice situation from a clinical placement area that highlights how resident safety can be an issue within a care environment. This will explore the nursing leadership sk ills and management that where utilised to address this particular situation and how all care professionals within the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) were involved and the impact this had on all team members. Situation The situation developed whilst the student was on a first year placement in a nursing care home which specialised in the care of people with varying types and levels of dementia. The situation involved a male resident who was showing signs of aggression towards other residents, both male and female. The staff where as vigilant they could be, but due to limited staff. Aggressive incidents did occur where staff had to attend and separate the residents and try to diffuse the situation. This particular person was developing unusual behaviours that manifested in the individual was found over a period of time to have been getting into various female residents beds when the residents where in them sleeping. This was initially highlighted by the care staff to the nurse in charge when it was found that this person was found in resident’s rooms and subsequently in female resident’s beds. This was however not acted upon as the nurse thought that this may be a temporary issue and a dvised care staff to observe this person as much as reasonably possible. This situation however escalated when it was discovered that a female resident was found to be extremely upset and agitated and it was discovered that this was due to this individual in question being in the same bed as her and had woke her up. This resulted in an emergency meeting having to be arranged between the nurse in charge and members of the MDT team who were involved in the care of this individual and then trying to formulate a suitable strategy that would benefit the care environment, i.e. minimise the issues that had happened and to prevent further issues developing. The nurse in charge and the management also were aware this person still had to have a good quality of life within the environment and promote the safety of the other residents within this care environment. Main body The Nursing and midwifery council (NMC) code of conduct (2008) emphasises that nurses in all care environments have a duty of care to protect individuals in their care from any form of harm, be it from staff, family members or other people within the particular care environment they are being cared in. This can be extremely challenging as nursing care homes may take residents who possibly are not suitable for the care environment, which then adds to the pressure and may increase the violent incidences that potentially may happen (Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), 2011; Care Quality Commission (CQC) 2014) Aggression between residents of nursing care homes and other long term care facilities is an issue that is becoming more common as people age and their health issues become more complex (Rosen et al. 2008). Moreover; nursing home resident safety is an issue that has been report widely by media organisations such as daily mail (2014) and governing bodies for example Health and Safety Executive (HSE) (2011) and as Hughes and Lapane (2006) highlight there are some issues with how nurses and care staff perceive resident safety. This shows how important communication of issues, such as highlighted within the practice situation and how there are potential issues with trying to make sure resident safety is uppermost in the way care staff operate. Furthermore; also highlights that training within care environments can play a pivotal role in helping staff recognises when issues as shown in the practice situation are displayed. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) (2011) also emph asises an issue which has become so common within care environments, this being ‘staffing levels’ and this can be critical in making sure resident safety is at an optimum level. (Harrington et al. 2011). Leadership and leadership styles Nursing leadership as defined by Porter-O’Grady (2003) as, â€Å"a multifaceted process of identifying a goal, motivating other people to act, and providing support and motivation to achieve mutually negotiated goals† All nurses will lead and manage individuals throughout their career and for them to be effective leaders. There are specific skills that nurses require to develop, for example; able to delegate, communication, decision making, ability to inspire, conflict management and motivation as emphasized by Middleton (2011) and Contino, (2004). These are only some of the skills that need to be developed by nurses to be effective leaders. Moreover; there are a number of leadership theories which have given rise to various styles of leadership, for example; the trait, behavioural and transformational leadership theory (Yoder-Wise, 2014). All the above theories give rise to various leadership styles that are influenced by the following factors; individuals’ flaws, their qualities and the skills they have attained (Bishop, 2009). The trait theory approach relates to traits that create and effective leader and can be seen in an historical context as leaders who were born or advanced into leaders, for examples of such people are royalty, politicians and religious leaders (Valiga and Grossman, 2007; Brown, 2011). Behavioural theory approach is down to the behaviours, characteristics and personal traits and this approach can be seen as; leaders can be made rather than born and that leadership can be learned and transformational leadership can be defined as the use of charisma, inspiration, intellectual stimulation and consideration for individuals (Smith, 2011) The nurse in charge in the situation demonstrated the following leadership style, this was situational leadership style. Situational leaders can be seen to encompass supportive and directive behaviours and have specific characteristics, these are; telling, selling, participating and delegating. These can be seen with the level of guidance or direction from the leader, level of socio-emotional support from the leader and subordinates maturity (Balista, Furtado and Silva 2011). The leader applies this to whatever situation they come across adapting this as necessary and involves using the appropriate leadership skill to the said situation to motivate and utilize the capabilities of the workforce (Edmonson, 2010). Giltinane (2013) describes situational style leaders as open to change, flexible, evaluating the situation, adapting skills and tasks to the maturity of the individual being led and task orientated. Even though the nurse in the situation did not initially sort the issue, she evaluated the situation and decided on what leadership skills that best suited the situation and the best approach to use to minimise further issues from developing. All styles of leadership have benefits and drawbacks (Sullivan and Garland, 2010)

The Terrorist :: essays research papers

This book â€Å"The Terrorist† was written by Caroline B. Cooney and published by Scolastic Inc. in Toronto Ontario Canada.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Laura is in high school and she had just moved from Boston. At the beginning of the book, her brother died when a terrorist’s package bomb exploded and killed Billy. Laura and her family were heart-broken when they found out the bad news. Laura becomes determined to do what ever she could to find out who killed Billy. One day, when Laura was questioning Mohammed, Jehran asked her if she would like to go to a sleep over. At first Laura did not want to but she finally agreed. While she was at the sleep over, Jehran told her about a marriage that she would be forced into by her brother. She asked for Laura’s help to run away to the airport and take a plane to New York. After a while, Laura agreed. A week later, they went to the airport as planned, but they did not know that Jimmy was following them. Jimmy warned Laura’s other friends that she was going to New York. While Laura was boarding the plane, she started getting suspicions about Jehran. L aura decided that Jehran should leave by herself on the plane and she should go home. Jehran didn’t want to go by herself, so Laura confronted her and Laura found out that Jehran was the one who told the terrorists to kill Billy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jehran was charged but was found innocent. Laura and her family moved back to Boston without Billy. Billy would be a part of them forever.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Billy used to live in Boston but he moved to London England. He owned a â€Å"Macaroni & Cheese† business and he was financially secure. When he was getting off the train, a man handed him a package that his friend had dropped. Billy examined the box and realized that it was a bomb. He wrapped himself around the bomb and it blew up (so he died). Laura’s (and Billy’s) parents were miserable and were very upset. They had cared a lot about Billy, and so had Laura. Laura was miserable and she wanted to find out who killed Billy. One day, while Laura was questioning Mohammed, Jehran invited her to a sleep over. Jehran is a thin elegant girl who had long black hair. She was the one who had chosen Billy to be killed by the terrorists.

The Waters Of Babylon Essay -- essays research papers

"By the Waters of Babylon" I. Describe the story's exposition. During the exposition you learn that it is forbidden to go to any of the Dead Places except to search for metal, and he who touches the metal must be a priest of the son of the priest. You also learn that John is the son of a priest and is training to become a priest. II. Describe the story's conflict. The conflict of the story is that John must over come his fears and go to the city. This is needed for him to become a priest. He must go explore the city. III. What events make up the story's rising action? The rising action is made up of many parts. John touches a piece his father got from the Dead Place. He then fasted for a day and wait for a sign. He then saw an eagle flying east. Then he had to begin his journey. He then goes to the city and explores finding many statues and buildings. He then sees a man siting in a chair in one of the temples (skyscrapers). IV. Describe the story's climax. The climax of the story is when John realizes that the man and all the men in the Place of the Gods were just normal people. He realizes they are more advanced humans, but they were just like he was. V. What events make up the story's falling action? The falling action is when John goes back to town to tell his father what he saw. He then went to his father to be praised an purified. His father told him that "You went away a boy. You come back a man and a priest... The Waters Of Babylon Essay -- essays research papers "By the Waters of Babylon" I. Describe the story's exposition. During the exposition you learn that it is forbidden to go to any of the Dead Places except to search for metal, and he who touches the metal must be a priest of the son of the priest. You also learn that John is the son of a priest and is training to become a priest. II. Describe the story's conflict. The conflict of the story is that John must over come his fears and go to the city. This is needed for him to become a priest. He must go explore the city. III. What events make up the story's rising action? The rising action is made up of many parts. John touches a piece his father got from the Dead Place. He then fasted for a day and wait for a sign. He then saw an eagle flying east. Then he had to begin his journey. He then goes to the city and explores finding many statues and buildings. He then sees a man siting in a chair in one of the temples (skyscrapers). IV. Describe the story's climax. The climax of the story is when John realizes that the man and all the men in the Place of the Gods were just normal people. He realizes they are more advanced humans, but they were just like he was. V. What events make up the story's falling action? The falling action is when John goes back to town to tell his father what he saw. He then went to his father to be praised an purified. His father told him that "You went away a boy. You come back a man and a priest...

Lyme’s Disease

Early signs and symptoms are similar as the flu such as fever, headache, stiffness, fatigue, and Joint pain. If it's not treated, the severity worsens, â€Å"infection can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system (2). Medically, it is possible to treat diseases, depending on severity, in order for the patient to get well but the only flaw is finances. Companies want to make money out of every advantage that they can. According to one of my colleagues that there Is a medication that can treat cancer but it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. Capitalism is gruesome because it is beginning to outweigh a person's health instead of balancing or allowing the person's health become more important than money.Doctors and nurses should teach the patient that diseases will be treated but not rued because diseases can pause its process but can restart the process and further It's destruction. They need to teach the patient and the patient's family on preventive ways to prevent fr om getting the disease, â€Å"Steps to prevent Lame disease include using insect repellent, removing ticks promptly, applying pesticides, and reducing tick habitat (2)†. In this generation, social media is a huge influencer that spreads word around the world. The greatest example is the ALLS ice bucket challenge.

Leaders and Innovation

The staff members that are having knowledge depend a lot on the leaders of the organizations.   It is important that the leader makes an attempt to innovate rather than orders his/her staff members to do so.   The leader should be able to lead his/her staff by example.   He/she should also be able to create an environment existent in the organization that is conducive for innovation. An attitude or relentless growth should be formed.   This would not only permit the organization to achieve its objectives, but also enable the staff members to do so.   Once the staff members are able to achieve their objects, they would be motivated to develop and grow father, and the best instrument to develop and grow would be innovation.   The leader of the team should ensure that there is free-flow of ideas in the team, and the communications links between the members of the team are strong and effective. The leader should also be able to develop a strategy, structures and functions within the organization that would enable innovation.   A corporate culture (which includes norms, assumptions, values and attitudes, shared by the staff that function in the organization) should be created that would help in the innovation development. Many of the leaders in the corporate sector suggest that it is utmost important for the leader to motivate his staff members using various methods, so that innovation is possible.   The leader would have to conduct research to determine the means by which the staff embers would get motivated.   He/she should then use these means to encourage the staff members to innovate further (Kotelnikov, 2007). In several branches of science, controversy follows innovation, and threatens to affect the social structures present in the organization.   Various parties may come up with their own assumptions with a new technology brought out by an organization.   This may be a subject of debate in the field.   This should be considered as an opportunity to provide answers to several difficult questions.   Several others who consider that they are experts in that field would question any new technology brought about by recent research. A strong communication link should be existent between various intellectuals of the field so that unanswered questions are effectively addressed.   This would certainly help to advance the field and provide benefits for mankind.   It is important that in any controversy situation, the roots of the conflict be recognized and addressed properly.   However, if these issues are not understood and addressed (and if not taken in the right spirit), the controversy could worsen, which would have a negative impact on the organization, the particular scientific field and ultimately on the society (Baldwin, 2007). References: Baldwin, D. V. (2007). â€Å"Innovation, Controversy, and Consensus in Traumatology†, Retrieved on November 3, 2007, from Trauma Pages Web site: http://www.trauma-pages.com/s/dvb-96a.php Kotelnikov, V. (2007). â€Å"Corporate Culture Defined,† Retrieved on November 3, 2007, from 1000 Advices Web site: http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/innovation_system_culture.html Kotelnikov, V. (2007). â€Å"Leading With a Growth Attitude,† Retrieved on November 3, 2007, from 1000 Advices Web site: http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/im_leadership.html Kotelnikov, V. (2007). â€Å"Understanding the Innovation System – Unlocking the Black Box,† Retrieved on November 3, 2007, from 1000 Advices Web site: http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/innovation_system.html                        

Marketing Communication Strategies Essay

This week’s discussion focuses on integrated marketing communications. Companies use various promotional tools in order to design successful integrated marketing communication strategies. Please respond to all of the following prompts in the class discussion section of your online course: Explain how the promotional tools used by an airline would differ if the target audience were (a) consumers who travel for pleasure, or (b) corporate travel departments that select the airlines to be used by company employees. Instructions: The minimum expectation for class discussions is to respond directly to each part of the discussion prompt and to respond to at least two other posts, either by a student or instructor, by the end of the week: 1. Submit one main post responding directly to each part of the discussion prompt. This should be a substantive response to the topic(s) in your own words, referencing what you have discovered in your required reading and other learning activities. 2. Reply to at least two posts. Responses can be made to students or to your instructor. 3. Responses to other individuals’ posts should: Expand on their ideas Discuss the differences between your thoughts and theirs Explain why you agree or disagree To post your main response to this topic, click the blue Respond button below. To respond to a classmate or your instructor, click the blue Respond button below his/her post. Respond This section lists options that can be used to view responses. Collapse All Print View Show Options Responses Responses are listed below in the following order: response, author and the date and time the response is posted. Sort by Read/Unread Sort by Response Sorted Ascending, click to sort descending Sort by Author Sort by Date/Time* Collapse Mark as Unread Week Nine Instructor operation 3/9/2014 12:31:43 AM Hello Everyone, Welcome to week nine of class. Hold on – Not much longer now! We are almost there, after this week will only have three weeks left. Congratulations on making it this far in the course, you have done an exceptional job thus far. I look forward to the next few weeks of class, which will of course go by way to fast for me. I like that most everyone is taking me up on my offer to make up missing work or make corrections on work and resubmitting the assignments. Keep all of the work coming my way and keep focusing on your goals. This week we will work on integrated marketing communications. This is where companies use various promotional tools in order to design successful integrated marketing communication strategies. It will be another fun week and I look forward to hearing your ideas on this subject. If you have any questions, issues, complaints or need any help please let me know.

Infrastructure

Is infrastructure a key factor to the growth and stability of the economy? or is it a non-factor and needs not to be maintained and improved to better serve and help improve the economy. Infrastructure in general is the system of transport and communication in a state, region or country. A famous Canadian geographer was once quoted saying, â€Å"†¦ any region which has a well-developed transportation and communication network also enjoys a high degree of economic prosperity†¦ This statement has sparked much controversy between geographers, Politicians, as well as conomists. Question is, is there a link between a well-developed infrastructure and economy prosperity (economy growth)? Without a doubt, there is a direct link. Infrastructure facilitates the basic functions of a society that are necessary to transport resources and people, produce and trade goods, provide essential services and ultimately reduce poverty.The direct link can be understood better by looking at the effects of infrastructure. The drawbacks of poor infrastructure lead to high transport cost especially in landlocked areas, thus the economy gets affected. Employment is low where there is poor infrastructure. Lack of adequate infrastructure perpetuates poverty, because it denies possibilities. Affordability, it is relatively expensive to maintain and build.Due to this factors and the analyses from the department of treasury know is an ideal time to increase our investment because, infrastructure investments have long-term economic benefits and create Jobs in the short run, there is currently a high level of underutilized resources that can be used to improve and expand our infrastructure. The cost of transportation is lowered for American households, there is a strong demand by the public and businesses for dditional transport infrastructure capacity.Long-term economic benefits from infrastructure create Jobs in the short run and this is a crucial and important aspect of growth and economic stability in a country. As much as the infrastructure is important and maintaining it being so expensive, if the economy is not good it is hard to have a developed and well maintained infrastructure system. Research has shown that well-designed infrastructure investments can raise economic growth, productivity, and land values, while also providing significant spillovers to areas such as energy efficiency, public health and manufacturing.Thus to say both infrastructure and economy go hand in hand. They affect each other both negatively and positively. On June 29, 1956 President Dwight Eisenhower signed the federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 â€Å"The national system of interstate and defense highways† according to Eisenhower the purpose of this was to eliminate unsafe roads, inefficient routes, traffic Jams and all of the other things that got in the way of â€Å"speedy, safe transcontinental travel. † for all these reasons the 1956 law declared that the constru ction of an elaborate expressway system was essential to the national interest and growth of the economy.Todays Interstate System is what our suburban lifestyle and caused the vast proliferation of businesses from HoJos to Holiday Inns. And if you order something online, most likely it's a truck barreling along an interstate that gets the product to your door. there are a lot of undiscovered materials that we could use not only that we have all the man power and technology we need to build whatever we need to improve our infrastructure Among those who gain employment as a result of additional infrastructure investment, the average unemployment rate has averaged approximately 13 percent over the past 12 months.This is more than one and one- half times the current national unemployment rate. Within the construction sector, which accounts for the majority of direct employment resulting from infrastructure investment, the unemployment rate has averaged 15. 6 percent over the past 12 mon ths. Construction costs and other costs associated with building projects are especially low in the current environment. As a result, the President has taken decisive action to accelerate project permitting and environmental review.In the President's August 31, 2011, memorandum, he directed the heads of all executive epartments and agencies to: (1) identify and work to expedite permitting and environmental reviews for high-priority infrastructure projects with significant potential for Job creation; and (2) implement new measures designed to improve accountability, transparency, and efficiency through the use of modern information technology.Relevant agencies should monitor the progress of priority projects; coordinate and resolve issues arising during permitting and environmental review; and develop best practices for expediting these decisions that may be instituted on a ider scale, consistent with applicable law. In addition, in this year's State of the Union address, the Preside nt announced his intention to â€Å"sign an executive order clearing away the red tape that slows down too many construction projects. † Investing in transportation infrastructure creates middleclass Jobs.Analysis suggests that 61 percent of the Jobs directly created by investing in infrastructure would be in the construction sector, 12 percent would be in the manufacturing sector, and 7 percent would be in the retail and wholesale trade sectors, for a total of 80 percent in hese three sectors. Nearly 90 percent of the Jobs in these three sectors most affected by infrastructure spending are middleclass Jobs, defined as those paying between the 25th and 75th percentile of the national distribution of wages.The President's proposal emphasizes transportation choices, including mass transit and high-speed rail, to deliver the greatest long-term benefits to those who need it most: middle-class families. The average American family spends more than $7,600 a year on transportation, which is more than they spend on food and twice what they spend n out-of-pocket health care costs. For 90 percent of Americans, transportation costs absorb one out of every seven dollars of income. This burden is due in large and this calls for better infrastructure and investing more in it to make progress.Multi-modal transportation investments are critical to making sure that American families can travel without wasting time and money stuck in traffic. A more efficient transportation money. Traffic congestion on our roads results in 1. 9 billion gallons of gas wasted per year, and costs drivers over $100 billion in wasted fuel and lost time. More efficient ir traffic control systems would save 3 billion gallons of Jet fuel a year, translating into lower costs for consumers.Finally, new research indicates that Americans who were able to live in housing were able to save $200 per month in lower costs over the past decade. Americans want more transportation investment. After years of underinvestment in our transportation system, Americans' satisfaction with our public transit system s middling when compared to public satisfaction with highways and public transit systems around the world. the Global competitiveness report for 2012-13, published arlier this month by the world economic forum showed that U.S infrastructure was ranked 7th in 2008, but has dropped to 14 in the world this year. The U. S. score dropped from 6. 10 in 2008 to 5. 7 this year (7 is the top score, and 1 is the worst score). One of the main reasons for the deterioration of U. S. infrastructure in the last five years, a deterioration which is reflected in the drop in ranking, is the economic downturn which began in 2008. Funding for roads, bridges, highways, and other critical infrastructure is largely dependent on state revenues, and as states ook less money in, they were forced to spend less on infrastructure maintenance and improvements.Passing the MAP-21 bill was an accomplishment for a d o-little Congress, but serious issues about how to pay for transportation in the future have yet to be resolved. The recent highway bill, MAP-21 replaces SAFETEA-LU, the last long-term federal transportation bill, which expired in 2009 for example, it did not increase spending on transportation, even though lawmakers were aware of the need to do so. The 2009 stimulus package did help shore up some infrastructure, but was not nearly sufficient to meet the countrys needs.