Physical Education and Human Biology Research Paper Example

Physical Education and Human Biology Paper While studying Physical Education and Human Biology at A level, my passion in sport and its relation with the human body has continued to grow and develop. As a keen sportsman I want to develop a career in the sports industry, using the knowledge gained through study to enhance my opportunities in this exciting area. I have also become more and more interested in the multiple factors influencing the performance of a person engaged in sport, from an occasional participant, through to club level and onto elite level athletes. These are factors that we have been investigating in detail through A level Physical Education. Studying Chemistry and Human Biology at A Level has developed my practical skills further, as a result of the many and varied experiments conducted in the laboratory. Additionally, I have gained valuable analysis and evaluation skills through this practical work, due to the need to analyse and evaluate the data retrieved from experiments, and interpreting this data into a meaningful conclusion. Human Biology has allowed me to expand my knowledge of the human body in many different ways, including how the human body operates, the factors which can influence it, and the way it responds to exercise. We will write a custom essay sample on Physical Education and Human Biology specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Physical Education and Human Biology specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Physical Education and Human Biology specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Of particular interest to me are the different aspects of sport science, for example, how performance is influenced by external factors such as nutrition and training, how psychology, biomechanics, and physiology contribute to an individuals success, and the role of sports and physical health in the context of quality of life. The continued study of these subjects will enable me to better understand success factors, which can mean the difference in performance between two similar athletes. Furthermore, expertise in these areas will help me to understand how to leverage these different influences to achieve improved performance. As an active member of my local Squash Club, I am involved in the committee, helping organise league matches, tournaments and external match competitions with other clubs. This has proved to be valuable experience in terms of learning to organise, communicate and run different types of events, whilst being a committed player myself. Other sports I am interested in include swimming, tennis and mountain-biking. My general interest in various sports has given me an insight into their discrete demands, their conception, and their physical and mental requirements. I have come to understand, however, that there are fundamental scientific principles which are the same for all sports. Recently I spent two weeks with French friends in France, and discovered that my interest in sport has been a useful way of meeting new people and improving my language skills. As a result my French has significantly improved. I have developed other skills that will benefit me at university through part-time work at my local supermarket. These involve serving and interacting with customers, cash handling, working with others as part of team and the need for efficient and effective work. I have received several shining stars from my employers in recognition of my part in the success of their operation. Continued study in the field of Sports and Exercise Science will be a challenge that I look forward to as I am determined to further develop my understanding with a view to pursuing a successful career in the Sports Industry. Studying at university will help build and develop the skills I have gained to date and will enable me to make an informed decision about which specific career path I wish to pursue.

Fair Trade Essays

Fair Trade Essays Fair Trade Essay Fair Trade Essay Fair Trade: Consumerism for Global Justice Introduction The Fair Trade movement is rapidly becoming an emerging and dynamic strength to respond to the negative influence of globalization, or rather, to the contemporary international trade injustice. While on the other hand, there is criticism on fair trade, claiming that fair trade is not fair and it goes against free market theory. This term paper aims at introducing the development of fair trade, justifying its economical and ethical significance on the international trade and production chain, and also reflecting on its limitations from different respective. The term paper is structured starting from conceptual framework, which focuses on defining the term of â€Å"fair trade†, introducing the related international organizations, and a brief overview of its current development. And then, the paper takes a close look at how fair trade functions under its own standards and price system. Furthermore, both the benefits and criticism of fair trade on producers, consumers and the intermediary are discussed, finally the conclusion is defined that fair trade is an effective marketing exercise but is not the mainstream market model. Conceptual framework Fair trade Although there is no universally accepted definition of fair trade, Fair trade Labelling Organisations International (FLO) most commonly refer to a definition developed by FINE, an informal association of four international fair trade networks (Fair trade Labelling Organizations International, World Fair Trade Organization formerly International Fair Trade Association, Network of European Worldshops and European Fair Trade Association): fair trade is a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to ustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers – especially in the South. Fair trade organizations, backed by consumers, are engaged actively in supporting producers, awareness raising and in campaigning for changes in the rules and practice of conventional international trade (FINE, 2001). Sushil Mohan (2010) also d efines Fair Trade as â€Å"an organized social movement which promotes environmental and labor standards and social policy objectives in areas related to the production and trading of Fair Trade labeled and unlabelled goods†. : By comparing the two definitions, it should be noted that the former one explicitly mentions political and ethical objectives. Besides, it’s crucial to know that the fair trade movement is not involved directly in commodity production or trade, but rather it provides producers and workers with particular forms of market structure and contractual terms that bring benefits to them. And also, it focuses in particular on exports from developing countries to developed countries. During the past 50 years, the mainstreaming of fair trade product catalog goes beyond traditional products such as coffee, cocoa, tea, handicrafts, honey, etc. Fair trade is making inroads into other commodities as well. These new products include minor food items (quinoa), perishable fruits and vegetables (bananas, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds and horticultural produce), processed products (juices, wine, beer, chocolate, rice and sugar) and non-food products (Sushil Mohan, 2010, p. 23). In 2009, fair trade certified sales amounted to approximately 73. billion (about ? 2. 8 billion) worldwide, produced by over 1. 2 million producers and workers; producers also benefited from pre-financing of around 7100 million (? 83 million) (FLO, 2009). The table below (FLO, 2009) shows the level and growth in the sales of a sample of main fair trade products from 2004 to the end of 2009. Table 1 Growth in sales of some fair trade products, 2004–09 |2004 |2005 |2006 |2007 |2008 |2009 | |Coffee sales in metric tonnes |24. 22 |33. 99 |52. 06 |62. 21 |65. 81 |73. 78 | |% growth | |40. 0 |53. 16 |19. 49 |5. 79 |12. 82 | |Tea sales in metric tonnes |1. 97 |1. 70 |3. 88 |5. 42 |11. 47 |11. 52 | |% growth | |33. 00 |127. 88 |39. 61 |111. 53 |0. 50 | |Rice sales in metric tonnes |1. 38 |1. 70 |2. 99 |4. 21 |4. 69 |6. 05 | |% growth | |23. 00 |75. 18 |40. 97 |11. 34 |29. 18 | |Fruit juice sales in metric tonnes |4. 54 |4. 86 |6. 31 |24. 92 |28. 22 |45. 58 | |% growth | |7. 00 |23. 01 |294. 98 |13. 24 |61. 53 | |Banana sales in metric tonnes |80. 64 |103. 88 |135. 76 |233. 79 |299. 21 |311. 47 | |% growth | |29. 0 |30. 70 |72. 21 |27. 98 |4. 10 | | Source: FLO (2009) Fair trade consumerism In academic research, the word â€Å"Consumerism† has different meanings in different contexts. When associated with fair trade, consumerism can be defined as a moral doctrine in developed countries. According to this view, consumerism is the vehicle for freedom, power and happine ss. All of these things lie in the consumer’s ability to choose, acquire, use and enjoy material objects and experiences (Gabriel Y and Lang T, 2002, p. 8). Since long, consumption has been defied as â€Å"a private matter, indirectly, but firmly, linked to virtuous mechanisms in the public sphere† (Roberta Sassatelli 2006). And recent research shows that the importance of the self-identity as a determining factor in ethical consumption has been identified before (Shaw D Shiu E, 2002), those findings indicate that practices on fair trade consumerism must themselves be seen as functional in the construction and expression of a self-identity which always has a moral dimension (Varul MZ and Wilson-Kovacs D, 2008, p. 2). How fair trade works Fair trade standards FLO (2006) formulated two distinct sets of fair trade standards, which acknowledge different types of disadvantaged producers. One set of standards applies to small-scale producers, who don’t depend on hired workers all the time, but run their farm mainly on their own and their family’s labour. The other set applies to hired labors, whose employers pay decent wages, guarantee the right to join trade unions, ensure health and safety standards and provide adequate housing where relevant. The Standards Unit (SU) within FLO is responsible for developing and revising fair trade standards. Fair trade standards refer to: (a) generic standards, (b) product standards, (c) fair trade minimum prices (FTMP) and fair trade premiums (FTP). Producers and traders must meet applicable standards for their products to be certified as fair trade. Fair trade prices According to fair trade standards, most products have a fair trade price, which is the minimum that should be paid to the producers for their goods. This fair trade minimum price (FTMP) is intended to cover the average producers’ costs of sustainable production (COSP) per product. If global or regional minimum prices are determined, otherwise national prices are set. Producers or workers (in the case of hired labour situations) of fair trade products also receive a fair trade premiums(FTP) in addition to the minimum price. The determination of a minimum price may involve the determination of the related premium (Andreas Kratz, 2010). Impact of fair trade Benefits to producers Stable income and long-term trading partnerships For most products, fair trade standards determine the price paid to producers. The fair trade price  acts as a safety net for farmers at times when world markets fall below a sustainable level. The fair trade standards also require that producers can obtain partial pre-payment of the contract, which ensures the small-scale farmers have sufficient cash flow. This allows them to plan ahead and invest in new technology or planting that should ultimately increase their income and help them to develop their businesses (Nicholls A and Opal C, 2005, p. 7). Table 2 Arabica Coffee Market 1989-2010: Comparison of Fairtrade and New York Prices [pic] NB Fairtrade price = Fairtrade minimum price* of 125 cents/lb + 10 cents/lb Fairtrade premium** When the New York price is 125 cents or above, the Fairtrade price = New York price + 10 cents *Minimum price was increased from 121 cents/lb on 1 June 2008 **Premium was increased from 5 cents/lb on 1 June 2007 The NY price is the daily closing price of the second position Coffee C futures contract at ICE Futures US (Source: FLO, 2010) Social premiums and ethical outcomes According to FLO, fair trade helps farmers and workers to tackle poverty, improve the quality of their lives and invest in their futures. Throughout the unique trading chain, producers are empowered to participate in the decisions that affect themselves. Fair Trade Federation (FTF) also points out that, members seek to eliminate discrimination based on race, caste, national origin, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, union membership, political affiliation, age, marital, or health status. Members support workplaces free from physical, sexual, psychological, or verbal harassment or abuse. For instance, in 2006, the Kuapa Kokoo Cooperative in Ghana received a premium of US$150 per tonne of cocoa which is invested back into the communities. This has helped to fund the drilling of about 300 boreholes, and the establishment of seven schools as well as funding links with the medical school in Ghana (International Development Committee, 2007, p. 21). Sustainable production According to Fair Trade Federation (FTF), fair trade seeks to offer current generations the ability to meet their needs without compromising the benefits of next generations. Members actively consider the implications of their decisions on the surroundings and promote sustainable production. They reduce, reuse, reclaim, and recycle materials wherever possible. For instance, all farms and co-operatives must have resource management plans in place. Certain pesticides are prohibited on all farms. Many farms use fair trade premia to invest in organic certification, which demands a higher fair trade floor price (Nicholls A and Opal C, 2005, p. 7). Impact on consumers The Department for International Development of UK (DFID) points out that fair trade has made an important contribution to raising awareness among consumers about development and ethical trade issues. Moreover, this awareness can create pressure for changes in favor of poor countries. For instance, Starbucks has made an excellent example in this respective. Starbucks began purchasing Fair Trade Certifiedâ„ ¢ coffee in 2000, helping grow the market for Fair Trade Certifiedâ„ ¢ coffee in the U. S. And in 2009, it increased the purchases to 40 million pounds – making it the largest purchaser of Fair Trade Certifiedâ„ ¢ coffee in the world. While increased awareness of ethical issues does not definitely turn into consumption actions, there has been a steady conscious increase in fair trade sales. According to the Fair Trade Foundation, price is not the only concern on people’s minds when they go to the supermarket. Mike Barry of Marks Spencer in UK commented that the FAIRTRADE mark gave customers certainty about the origins of the product in the context of many different brands. He considered that there was a high level of trust in the FAIRTRADE brand (International Development Committee, 2007, p. 24). Impact on intermediary According to International Development Committee of UK, fair trade and the success of fair trade labeling, has led companies to think about the supply hain of the wider range of products they sell. Although the amount of fair trade products is still limited among the total sales, the concept of fair trade has begun to enter the mainstream in the supply chain and what’s more, the economic framework has been set up. Thus an important impact of fair trade may ultimately steam up other traders to perform their responsibilities. In response to t he new trends of the coffee industry, the German Coffee Association took the initiative to create a Common Code for the Coffee Community. Nestle, Sara Lee, Kraft and Tchibo, representing 40% of the world coffee-roasting market, have all signed the Common Code which seeks to improve working and environmental conditions on coffee farms. The Code requires producers to pay minimum wages to workers, not to use child labor, to allow union membership, and to protect the environment (International Development Committee, 2007, p. 9). Criticism on fair trade Perspective of intermediary Fair trade affirms non-economic values of cooperation and solidarity which challenge the capitalist imperatives of competition, accumulation, and profit-maximization. (Gavin Fridell, 2007) In the market, every part wants to make their profit maximization. Nowadays, in the competition between the producers and intermediary, the intermediary is much stronger, so they use this power to minimize the price of the producer, and sell the products with a much higher price to the consumer market, to get most of the profit. In the fair trade system, Fair trade removes the unfair dealing away with the person doing most of the hard work. The intermediary must give the producer a fair price for them doing the sustainable production. Normally this â€Å"fair† price means a higher price than what the producer got before. For this, the cost for the intermediary increases, if the consumer market price stays the same, intermediary’s profit decreases. But as every intermediary wants to keep their usual profit, then the decreasing profit became a problem. In order to solve this problem, the intermediaries either increase the price on the consumer market, or buy less fair trade products. The Adam Smith Institute claimed in 2008 that Fair trade has had little effect on the decreasing percentage of final sale value ending up with the producers as only a fraction of fair trade premiums reach producers. This claim is based on a calculation that only 10% of the fair trade premium for a cup of coffee at a popular London chain goes to purchase fair trade coffee beans instead of standard beans (Marc Sidwell, 2008). This situation has led Tom Clougherty of the Adam Smith Institute, to describe fair trade as little more than a marketing ploy. Perspective of consumers â€Å"Fair trade reveals the social and environmental conditions under which goods are produced and brings producers and consumers together through ‘ethical consumerism,’ which challenges the commodification of goods into items with an independent life of their own. (Gavin Fridell, 2007). Basing on how the fair trade works, if the intermediary wants to keep the usual profit, one of the solutions is to increase the consumer market price, which is the reason why most of the fair trade goods are priced higher than the normal market price. When consumers are making their purchasing decision, the key factors are not the product attributes anymore in favor of the alternative character- Fair Trade, to make the global commodification more justice. Even at the very beginning of Fair Trade Movement (back to 1960s), the slogan of it was â€Å"Trade not Aid†. But when we take a closer look at fair trade, something can be found: This purchasing model is in conflict with the economic theory (under the certain budget line, consumers desire to buy as much products as possible, which means the consumers would like to buy the more cost-effective products). So this fair trade purchasing behavior does not benefit the consumers themselves that much, the main reason for the consumer to do it is the â€Å"ethical† reason. Therefore, the decommodification is through â€Å"ethical consumerism†. Given the fact that ethical consumerism does not appeal directly to self-interested motivation, some people claim that the future growth of ethical markets is very limited. Perspective of producers The Adam Smith Institute sees fair trade as a type of subsidy that impedes growth. The price on fair trade market is not decided by the market, but the FLO or other fair trade organization with the lowest protection price. Furthermore, fair trade can resolve some poverty issues in some extend, but can not solve it fundamentally. Perspective of production chain [pic] From this chart, we can learn that: firstly, compared to the normal trade market, if the intermediary can keep their usual profit, there is not much difference between fair and unfair trade. So fair trade is just an alternative option for them to the different segment market. And the reality is that most fair trade farmer groups are currently only able to sell a fraction of their production on Fair Trade terms; they must sell the rest to conventional buyers and local traders at lower prices. Secondly, the consumer is playing one more role in this Fair Trade business circle: monitoring whether the trade is fair, whether the producers get a fair price. Now the consumer outgoing is â€Å"Money† + †Monitor†, and the incoming is â€Å"Product† + †Ethic†, compared with the normal trade (outgoing: Money; incoming: Product). If we make a function about these, those would be: Fair trade market: U(Price-Fairtrade)+U(Monitor)=U(Pro)+U(Eth) Normal market: U(Price-Normal)=U(Pro) So U(Eth)=U(Monitor)+U(Pice-Fairtrade)-U(Price-Normal)= U(Monitor)+U(Price Difference) This means buying the fair trade products, the ethic gain that consumers get should be equal to the price difference plus the additional monitoring responsibility that the consumers should take. If this function cannot be equal in a long term, the consumers would feel loss, then this business model cannot last for too long, or at least cannot be promoted widely in the whole world market. Conclusion It can be concluded that fair trade reflects a brand-new approach to producer-consumer transaction, which aims at maintaining the Fairtrade mark’s predominance in an increasingly competitive market for ethically-branded products. On one hand, the movement is essential, since there is every reason for smart consumers to make other choices and the producers suffer from the decreasing market price. On the other hand, fair trade is working â€Å"in and against† the market, because it is involved what it needs to play to ethical assumptions that are implied by market practices. So fair trade is an alternate, branch trade model in the market compared to the mainstream model. Reference List Andreas Kratz (2010): SOP development of Fairtrade minimum price and premium, Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International, Internet: airtrade. net/fileadmin/user_upload/content/310510_SOP_Development_of_Fairtrade_Prices_and_Premiums. pdf Bacon, C. (2005): Confronting the coffee crisis: can Fair Trade, organic and speciality coffee reduce small-scale farmer vulnerability in northern Nicaragua? , World Development, 33(3): 497–511. Gabriel Y and Lang T (2002): The unmanageable consumer, p. 8, SAGE Publications, Lo ndon. Gavin Fridell (2007): Fair trade coffee and commodity fetishism: The limits of market-driven social justice, Trent University, Canada. International Development Committee (2007): Fair trade and development, Seventh Report of Session 2006–07, Volume 1, Great Britain. Koppel H. and Schulze G. (2008): Inefficient but effective? A field experiment on the effectiveness of direct and indirect transfer mechanisms, University of Freiburg, Germany. Marc Sidwell (2008): Unfair trade, Adam Smith Institute, London, p. 28. Nicholls A. and Opal C. (2005): Fair trade: market-driven ethical consumption, p. 7, SAGE Publications, London. Roberta Sassatelli (2006): Representing consumers: contesting claims and agendas, Palgrave, London. Shaw D. and Shiu E. (2002): Ethics in consumer choice: a multivariate modelling approach, European Journal of Marketing, 37(10), 1485 – 1498. Sushil Mohan (2010): Fair trade without the froth, The Institute of Economic Affairs, Great Britain. Varul MZ. and Wilson-Kovacs D. (2008): Fair trade consumerism as an everyday ethical practice – A comparative perspective, University of Exeter, Great Britain, Internet: http://people. exeter. ac. uk/mzv201/FT%20Results. pdf Product Product Consumer Ethic Intermediary Money Producer Money Monitor

Business Intelligence Advantages and Disadvantages

Business Intelligence Advantages and Disadvantages Introduction The purpose of this report is to discuss the both the advantages and disadvantages of using Business Intelligence within a business. As well as to discuss the potential algorithms which could be used to achieve datamining which will allow for discovery of information who may be existing or potential future customers. By the end of this report I aim to make it clear the advantages of incorporating these tools and techniques within the business, and the benefits that will be seen. Business Intelligence Business Intelligence (Business Intelligence , 2007) is a collection various technologies and tools which are used for collecting, organizing and analysing data and information, and then providing the user with the information in a form which will help them with making business decisions. There are 3 major parts to business intelligence Reporting, Integration and Analysis. Reporting is essentially the creation and use of reports, while integration is about taking da ta from a source and being able to modify it to fit another purpose and data source. Finally, Analysis is the producing and organizing structures that have been filled with data taken from a separate source, commonly tools such as OLAP (OLAP, n.d.) (Online Analytical Processing) are used in order to achieve this. This process if often referred to as Data Mining. Using Business Intelligence has numerous advantages and is something that every company should consider using. One of its most obvious advantages is that it can help show trends and correlation in statistics (E.G user activity, sales, and complaints) and this can then be used by businesses in order to improve. Another considerable advantage of using Business Intelligence is also the reliability of the presented information and allows for relatively accurate prediction which greatly improves planning. Although it should be noted that there are some disadvantages to using Business Intelligence, this is that the historical data that is recorded needs to be stored somewhere, and this takes up more memory, which not only means more cost in storage, but also a speed reduction as there will be a huge amount data to be analysed. Another notable disadvantage is the potentially high initial cost, as well as maintenance cost, and although these costs should pay for themselves with improved decision making there is a possibility of the investment not paying off. There are not many disadvantages to using business intelligence, but they should still be taken into consideration. (Disadvantages of Business Intelligence, n.d.) A good example of business intelligence being used by other recognisable companies is that Netflix (Business Intelligence, 2015), the online media streaming service, using this system of business intelligence to work out which shows will be popular, and which of their categories may need a little reworking. This gives them the information they need to stay ahead of the curve and to make sur e the shows that remain on the site are popular. Datamining algorithms With computers being used more and more within businesses, the information that the business needs to function is also stored on these computers (E.G Sales records, customer information etc.) so the ability to scan and analyse these massive amounts of information is incredibly beneficial to not only making business based decisions, but to predict sales trends or areas in need of improvement. There are a wide range of different Data Mining algorithms available to use, the ones discussed here will be the Decision tree, Bayesian Classification as well as K-Means. I have chosen to discuss and compare these 3 as they are quite different in how they operate.    One of the most commonly used Data Mining algorithms is the Decision Tree (Decision Tree Algorithm, n.d.), at the top of the decision tree we have a Root, which is essentially a check on an attribute, and from there the answers to the check make the bran ches. The leaves of the tree are in fact formed from each class label. The advantages of using this algorithm compared to the others is that in order to function it requires to prior knowledge of the domain, the other huge advantage which makes an attractive solution is that it is also very easy to follow and understand compared to more complex algorithms. The complexity for this algorithm can be worked out by the number of leaves that the decision tree has. This algorithm is often called ‘Supervised Learning’, this basically means that the data is already labelled within classes. ( Image taken from ( http://www.saedsayad.com/decision_tree.htm (Decision Tree Algorithm, n.d.) ) The second mostly commonly used algorithm for Data Mining is known as Bayesian Classification (Bayesian Classifcation, n.d.), this algorithm effectively works via predicting the probability that a pattern or set of information belongs to a specific class. This algorithm is often favoured am ong the Data Mining techniques for its efficient results, although it needs to be taken into consideration that if the data is highly random then another algorithm would be preferred over the Bayesian Classification. It is also not recommended to use this algorithm with small data sets as this came mean a very low precision as well as recall. Although this algorithm might seem simple, it’s also highly accurate and is used often in filtering software (email spam, language filters). This algorithm is a supervised learning, as the user provides it with an already labelled dataset. The third algorithm which should be considered for the Crowd Funding System is ‘K-Means’ (k-means, n.d.). This algorithm works by creating groups based on the set of objects this results in the in the members of the group more similar, this algorithm is often referred to as ‘Cluster Analysis’. ‘Cluster Analysis’ is a collection of different algorithms which all follow the same pattern (Clusters, n.d.). The pattern being that they create groups (or clusters) in a way which means that the cluster members are much more similar as opposed to non-grouped members. This is not quite unsupervised nor supervised learning, this is because the user states the number of clusters needed, but it still features unsupervised learning as well as the algorithm learns where the cluster belongs without the user needing to provide it with any more information. I’ve compared 3 algorithms, a decision tree based one, a clustering based one and a naà ¯ve one. My recommendation for use with the Crowd Funding Software would be the Decision Tree, this is for a number of reasons, the first being that it’s extremely easy to follow, even by someone who has no prior knowledge to the algorithm. Also because it’s easy to follow and understand it’s also easy to maintain and tweak it depending on the circumstance. Another major reason that I wo uld chose decision tree is that they work quickly as well being non-parametric. Non-parametric means that the algorithm doesn’t need specific data distribution in order to function. Data-mining advantages and disadvantages The main advantage of using Data-Mining for the Crowd Funding System would be that it could use ‘Affinity Analysis’ (Affinity Analysis, n.d.), this is basically a scan off all the customers previous shopping history and then be able to advertise to them directly. This applies to the Crowd Funding System as we can use data mining to find out what projects a customer prefers and then advertise those projects directly to them. (E.G If a particular user often supports Gaming Software projects on the webpage, then we can use this information to have all Gaming Software projects as the top hit on their home page.) Affinity Analysis can often be used to detect fraud, which is useful for any company. Another advantage that this business can gain fr om Data Mining is Customer Segmentation, this is the process of breaking the customers down into smaller group based on say age, occupation or even gender. The advantage of doing this is that you can then target your advertisement to people who will be highly interested, and the more effective the advertising the more money people will donate to the projects. This applies directly to the Crowd Funding Systems first example, using this customer segmentation the film writer / director will be advertise her project to all her previous fans, or even people who are interested in that genre, this will mean she can reach a much more interested user base. The other huge advantage of Data Mining that can be applied to the CFS is that it can help to achieve Sales Forecasting, this is exactly what it sounds like, and it uses previous sales records to relatively accurately provide predictions for future sales. This can be used by the system for the second example the Kinect mobile phone battery , if they can predict how many donations the project is going to get they can either boost its advertisement, or perhaps communicate with the user that previous similar projects haven’t been able to reach their goal or at least direct them where they went wrong. One of the concerns the current business has is damage to its reputation, using data mining techniques they will be able to not only boost their donations and improve their advertisement, but also be able to learn more from the customers, and this can only be beneficial for the company. Donor exhaustion was also on the companies list of concerns, but data mining will be able to prevent this because it can be used to keep track of what advertisement has been sent to who, and what projects they are likely to bid on, so routinely changing the projects they are advertised will keep the users hopefully interested. CRM CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management (CRM, n.d.) And is used by businesses to keep their customers happy, it uses data mining techniques in order to get feedback and improve on their products constantly. The data mining algorithms discussed earlier are extremely useful for gathering and analysing information and data about customers and opinions on projects. We can then use this information to make improvements or changes where they are needed, and this will greatly increase customer satisfaction as customers will be able to see the changes they wanted. Although it is recommended to only try this with a vast amount of data, and huge amount of transactions. As smaller amounts of data can provide in accurate information. Using CRM will greatly improve the Crowd Funding Company’s reputation and mean they have a lot more satisfied donors. Conclusion In conclusion I strongly recommend that the crowd funding system decides to include data mining algorithms. It has a long list of advantages including sales prediction, improved advertisement, and mostly importantly i mproved customer satisfaction. I would also highly recommend the use of the decision tree algorithm as it’s easy to follow and can easily be modified depending on the information that needs to be collected. It should be noted that choice of data source is important, as some of them may provide useful information, but there are quite a few that should be ignored.   CRM should also be taken into consideration, as using this software has proven to greatly improve the publics opinion of a business. A modern business can’t afford not to use these data mining techniques, as failure to utilize these tools will mean a huge disadvantages against its competitors. The more information that can be collected from this companies customers, the more value the company can provide them, and the happier the customer the more donations that will be made. References Affinity Analysis . (n.d.). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affinity_analysis Bayesian Classifcation . (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.tutorialspoint.com/data_mining/dm_bayesian_classification.htm Business Intelligence . (2007, March 6). Retrieved from http://www.cio.com/article/2439504/business-intelligence/business-intelligence-business-intelligence-definition-and-solutions.html Business Intelligence . (2015, Febuary 26). Retrieved from http://businessintelligence.com/big-data-case-studies/data-driven-proof-netflix-needs-buy-blockbuster/ Clusters . (n.d.). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_analysis CRM . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/definition/CRM Decision Tree Algorithm . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.saedsayad.com/decision_tree.htm Disadvantages of Business Intelligence . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://business.mapsofindia.com/business-intelligence/disadvantages.html k-means . (n.d.). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-means_clustering OLAP . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://olap.com/olap-definition/ S tar Schema Notes The use of BLOB is so that the users can store there video sales pitches within the database, after some research I realised there wasn’t a dedicated media storage format and instead have to suffice story it in binary.

-Factors influencing on tourist's purchasing decision Essay

-Factors influencing on tourist's purchasing decision - Essay Example In applying this approach, the authors were able to establish that the 9/11 attacks significantly affected the tourists’ decisions in their travel plans (Arana and Leon, 2008). I understand from the study that tourists’ decisions were filled with anxiety mostly triggered by terrorist shock. Profits also declined because of terrorist considerations for tourists. The purchasing prospects were however improved in terms of quality of tourism products, especially the quality of the urban environment (Arana and Leon, 2008). Improvements in tourist decisions to travel were however improved after six to twelve months after terrorist events. The importance of therefore reducing the number of terrorist attacks is therefore an important consideration in tourist’s purchasing decisions. Moreover, where the potential for avoiding any terror risks is low, the impact on tourist decisions is high. Thereby, the tourist would again likely avoid the tourist destination (Arana and Leon, 2008). For which reason, continuous bomb attacks in Israel’s coffeeshops affected tourist’s decisions to choose Israel as a destination. There was a constant and persistent risk for being killed by a terrorist bomb in Israel, and so the decisions for avoidance were high among tourists. The image associated with the terrorist attacks also affected tourist behaviour, leading to avoidance tendencies on destinations with a high Islamic population (Arana and Leon, 2008). This study was able to establish specific concepts about tourist behaviour in relation to terrorism and terrorist attacks. In the current age where the biggest threat to national security is terrorism, tourists have become understandably wary of places with these significant and blatant threats. The September 11 attacks exhibited a significant impact on tourist behaviour, but the impact has been temporary. However, the more persistent said attacks become, the more cautious tourists also

The Big Lebowski Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Big Lebowski - Movie Review Example The Big Lebowksi is it is as it is meant to be told by its creators. It may be a mess to some but it’s a frank and honest yet entertaining movie that offers raw and awkward humor. Story. Mistaken to be the big Lebowski, Jeff Lebowski was assaulted by two men who were claiming that they were sent to collect money from Lebowski’s wife. They have beaten him and peed on his rug. Eventually they have learned that they picked the wrong Lebowski and left. Encouraged by his friend Walter to seek compensation with the peed rug, they pursue to find the big Lebowski. The Dude’s request was rejected and he was even insulted by the big Lebowski. Days later, the big Lebowski’s wife was kidnapped, and he made arrangement with the Dude to be the courier of the ransom money in exchange of his request. Series of misfortunate events upon their delivery of the ransom money to the kidnappers, the Dude learned many things about the truth behind the alleged kidnapping. There was no kidnapping happened, as Bunny just went to a vacation trip with a friend, and it was revealed that the big Lebowski had orchestrated the whole thing – this was his plan to get the supposed ransom money from his first wife’s account and used the Dude to be the fall guy to deliver the fake suitcase. Walter had physically assaulted the big Lebowski and near end they had a fight with a nihilist’s group. Donny died of heart attack in the process. After saying eulogy and scatter Donny’s ashes, the Dude and Walter headed back to their bowling routine session. Characters. The film has a perfect casting to portray the main idiosyncratic characters, perhaps because Cohen brothers had gathered fine actors such as Jeff Bridges and John Goodman. The actors had really synched in with the characters they were portraying. Perhaps the Cohen brothers had in mind the actors’ personalities while writing the film’s characters i.e. Tara Reid being the reckles s and mindless trophy wife and Julianne Moore as an intelligent yet pretentious feminist and an artist. The main protagonist of the film is Jeff Lebowski but preferred himself to be called The Dude. The Dude is portrayed by Jeff Bridges. The Dude is a type B personality who can be easily discern as perpetual bum, cares little about money and cares only for bowling with his equally type B friends. It was reported that the Cohen brothers had written The Dude slightly based on Bridges character for being laid-back and slacking perspective in life. However, it was also revealed that the main influence of the character of the Dude was based on the film distributor that Cohen brothers had met named Jeff Dowd. Much like the Dude in the movie, Dowd was also called â€Å"The Dude†, fond of drinking White Russians, and shares physical appearance of the Dude on-screen: shaggy long hair, way of dressing, etc. Another reference for the Dude’s character is the Cohen brothers’ friend, Peter Exline, a Vietnam War veteran who also has a thing for rugs. The Dude has a main best friend named Walter Sobchak and was played by John Goodman. Walter is also a Vietnam War veteran and is The Dude’s teammate. He values the rules of bowling second to the doctrines

Adidas Marketing Plan Essay Example for Free

Adidas Marketing Plan Essay The acquisition of Adidas by French financier Robert Louis-Dreyfus in 1993 has been the beginning of a big brand name; Adidas has expanded its product line and absorbed other sports-gear makers. It closed a $3. 8 billion acquisition of competitor Reebok International Ltd. Adidas planned maintain the Reebok line and promote it globally along side with the Adidas brand. Adidas during 2006 made a decision to purchase Reebok and though they purchase another shoe company business did not flourish. Adidas had to deal with the fact that the company they acquired was not doing well in the market and a new marketing promotion plan needed to take place to reinvigorate the consumer’s purchase of the product. Adidas has to strengthen there brand and the idea was to build the brand name with sponsorship during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The sponsorship opportunity in Beijing was a springboard to gain a larger share of the worlds fastest-growing major market and become the marketing leader in China during 2008. The marketing strategy was a blend of action photography and computer graphics. The series was released in phases during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. â€Å"Together in 2008, Impossible is Nothing† is an integrated marketing campaign. Through a combination of TV, print, outdoor, PR, digital, point-of-sale and road shows across the country of China, the campaign provides various platforms enabling consumers to get closer to the athletes and the Olympic Games. The Beijing Olympics is fast approaching and this early, most companies who want to place their ads and endorsements in this monumental event are trying strategically to place themselves and capture a piece of the market. For Adidas, there is a battle at hand and that of which is to give rival company Nike a run for their money. Nike is a known brand in China and surely they have the obvious advantage. Adidas reportedly shelled out 70 million Euros to be an official Olympic sponsor. Adidas gear was also all over Olympians, great for television, the company clothed 27 out of 28 teams. But aside from shoes and uniforms, Adidas was not particularly visible in Olympic venues. It had no special presence on the Olympic Green, but its beautiful flagship store in Sanlitun near the Workers Stadium and Workers Gymnasium saw lots of foot traffic. Its Olympic ad campaign, though beautifully designed and fitting in concept â€Å"Together in 2008, Impossible is Nothing†, came up short in the personnel categories. That campaign had four primary faces, in sports that are very popular in Chinadiver Hu Jia, footballer Zheng Zhi, basketball player Sui Feifei and a few womens volleyball players. Hu pulled out due to injury, Zheng and the mens football team had an embarrassing performance and Sui Feifei was only sixth in scoring on Team China. The womens volleyball team played strong in a very tough field, but in the end only came through with the minimum result acceptable to the hometown fans, a bronze medal. After the Olympics the sales of sports apparel went up in China, sales of premium sportswear in China have rocketed from almost zero a little more than a decade ago to $350 million for Nike and $300 million for Adidas last year and sector was worth $3 billion in total last year and is expected to grow 20 percent in 2009. 09.

Skiing Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Papers

Skiing The sport of skiing is dated back nearly 4,500 years. It began as a hunting technique for hunters in the Artic Rim tracking down game. Soon after, the Viking King Harald, in Iceland, used skiing not just for hunting, but for pleasure as well. The sport soon became competitive in racing, and wagers were placed on it. From here the sport spread across forty countries making it one of the fastest growing sports of the time (International Skiing History Association, 2004). It soon caught the attention of the local people of Flagstaff, Arizona. Lying on ancient volcanic ruins, the Flagstaff community began skiing the hills of Snowbowl in 1938 (International Skiing History Association, 2004). The Snowbowl ski area is made of up the extinct volcano, which is more than three million years old. Snowbowl is located in the highest mountains of Arizona, with a summit of 12,633 feet. In 1979, the mountain of Snowbowl was finally approved for additional construction of the ski area, expanding it a nd adding new features (The Sedona Dream Maker, 2003-2005). The Hopi and Navajo Tribes opposed this decision immensely for the sake of their heritage and beliefs lying on this very mountain. But, the Forest Service decided to go forth with it because they agreed to let the mountain have multiple uses, such as the recreation they were approving. Presently, the ski area has up to 30,000 to 180,000 visitors a year depending on the snowfall, according to Christopher McLeod for High Country News, September 11, 2000. With the technology of snowmaking now, the area is prone to expansion with the vicinity growing with each year. Last year Snowbowl ski area was open for a total of four days in the season of 2003-2004. This hurt the area immensely... ...r. â€Å"Sacred Land Film Project.† High Country News 11 Sept. 2000 McLeod, Christopher. â€Å"About the Project.† Sacred Land Film Project. 1999-2004 http://www.sacredland.org/historical_sites_pages/sfpeaks.html. Rayner, Lisa. â€Å"Save The Peaks.† Flagstaff Tea Party. 2002 http://www.flagteaparty.org/Publications/Headlines/Pages/2002/July_2002/July02 hub.html. USDA Forest Service. Arizona Snowbowl Upgrade Proposed Action. United States Department of Agriculture and Coconino National Forest Proposed Conf., Sept. 2002, Flagstaff, Arizona, 2002. USDA Forest Service Coconino National Forest. â€Å"Arizona Snowbowl Improvement Draft Environmental Impact.† Coconino National Forest. Tuesday, 26 Oct. 2004 http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/nepa/index.shtml. Winkelsten, Phil. â€Å"Local Attractions.† Sedona Dream Maker. 2003-2005 http://www.sedonadreammaker.com/sedona_attract.html.

Pen Pal Letter

I am so glad that I got your letter and that I have got the chance to get to know you so well over the past year. The Internet is something that I never would have thought that I needed 20 years ago, but yet now it is something I cannot seem to go a day without using. Imagine knowledge about anything that is just a search engine and click away. Imagine a web site that allowed you to get a glimpse of what your dad’s day to day life is like or any people that you know that do not live in the same town. I keep up with my family through a site called Facebook.The Internet started with genuine and sincere intentions, but over the years, it has been overrun with meaningless statements. I remember you mentioning that when you go to spend your summers with your father, that the local library there has Internet access. The next time that you go, if you decide to learn about anything, look for web addresses ending in . edu, . org, or . gov to make sure that the information you are looki ng at is actually based on fact. Also, add me on Facebook! I would love to hear from you more often than just in our letters.The web addresses that end in . edu are sites that dedicate themselves to current events or issues that surround an educational institution and are closely monitored by the school to maintain credibility. Web sites that end in . org are connected to non-profit organizations and are monitored by them as well. Web sites ending in . gov are connected to and monitored by a specific government organization. All of these can be considered to be credible sites to educate you about a particular subject.Anyone can purchase a web address ending in .com, so if you do find yourself on a site that is not any of the ones I have mentioned, cross reference the information with a site with the addresses ending like the ones I talked about just to make sure the information that is said on the site is real. You mentioned the term digital divide in your letter and you asked me wh at it meant. I initially did not know what it meant, but I did some research for you and found out some interesting things about it. It means that while people with access to the Internet are able to capitalize on its uses, there are places like where you live that cannot because of not having Internet access.Having Internet access can bring more jobs to your hometown and can make local businesses like your mom’s textile shop more money by offering her products to people online. Just think of last year around the time that I was celebrating Christmas and your mom was booked with orders for rugs and clothing. People would be able to request a garment or rug and your mother would bring in more money to your family more regularly. As for how I think the divide can be bridged, it has to be a huge effort brought forth by your community.Rally your townspeople and community leaders together to bid for a company to come in and start the groundwork required to install the wires that a re needed to connect online. There are Internet companies that love capitalizing on up and coming consumer markets, so you might be able to get them on board to front the technology for your town in exchange for potential consumer business. It sounds really complicated but if your heart is in the right place, I am sure that you will find more people in your town that wish they could have Internet access.The good that it can do for your community could be endless and could make your town a better place by bringing in more revenue that can go towards maintaining public buildings and toward education. I love getting your letters and cannot wait to hear from you. If I get a friend request from you this summer, I will be so excited. Let me know how your research goes once you are able to get to the library. I know a lot of your summer vacation at your dad’s is pretty busy, so there is no hurry. I hope that this letter finds your family in good health and good spirits. Take care an d I hope to hear from you again soon.

Definition on Love Essay

A definition essay on love strives to define it as an emotion felt and displayed by humans, animals, and all living beings in their own way. It is a topic that has been written about through the ages and has found its way into books on literature and religion. Love knows no bounds and language is never a barrier. Wars have been fought over it. People have been and are still influenced by the emotion of love. Some of the best literary works are based on love, and even movie makers bank on it to win over viewers and create a hit. Love can be expressed in many ways. God has shown his love for us by offering us the emotion to share with others. In return, we love God for all the wonderful things he has given us. Our devotion towards God demonstrates love in the form of reverence. The love formed out of respect is the same love we have for our elders, family, and people we look up to. In a love essay, you could elaborate on love that one has for his family. It could be connected with religion, respect, or pure love not based on any conditions. A Romeo and Juliet essay is the ideal love story between man and woman. The word â€Å"romance† has been used in many ways to show love and affection between Romeo and Juliet. In modern society, people who are romantically attracted exhibit their love for each other with the help of cards, gifts, and words of love. The way love is expressed changes materially but the emotion remains the same. Couples find love in sex, affection for each other, and by communicating with each other more frequently. In fact, mankind has evolved through love between Adam and Eve. When you have to write a definition essay on love, aim to write a drama essay that incorporates love as its theme. It would generate interest among readers, and you would find many definition essay examples to choose from. The best way to write such an essay would be to look up dialogues from literary works of famous authors like William Shakespeare. Dialogues are the true expression of love that is exhibited through words. The best part is that you can refer to literary works written through the ages and get inspiration from the one you like the most. There are several other definition essay topics you can choose. It basically depends on the audience you want to write for. The topics could be on relationships in the family. You could write about the love between brothers and sisters. How different is a father’s love for his children from a mother’s love? You need to be old enough to really understand romantic love between two people, which is very intimate and sexual in nature. The aim of your essay differs with age. Choose more complex topics on love as you grow older. The emotion of love is progressive. You would be in a better position to write about love in its various manifestations when you personally experience it. The definition essay on love would truly carry your personal point of view, which of course would make writing the essay very easy.

Teaching American History Heartland Consortium

Teaching American History Heartland Consortium Free Online Research Papers The teaching of American History, and especially as a separate academic subject, has faced many challenges and debates for well over a century. The American History Association, with the inception of the Committee of Seven in 1899 has been working to increase the understanding of the subject for over 100 years. Recently, a Washington Post article discussed in addition to difficulties surrounding American History as a separate core subject additional barriers exist, â€Å"In many schools across the country, teachers say social studies has taken a back seat under the federal No Child Left Behind law, which stresses math and reading. Squeezing history into the curriculum can be difficult, educators say [.] † The logic model provided as Appendix I to this evaluation aligns professional development activities with the expected outcomes. The visual representation is a framework depicting how the program will use grant resources to help increase the recognized importance of traditional American History and how well-managed programs influence student achievement. Purpose The purpose of this evaluation is to develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of American history as a separate core subject, and in doing so, develop improved instruction of the subject, and raise student achievement in the subject. Team Composition and Participation A consortium was formed to administer the U.S. Department of Education’s Teaching of American History Grant Program (CFDA: 84.215X). The consortium consists of local educational agencies (LEAs), historic sites and museums, organizations with expertise in history education, and institutions of higher education. In accordance with 34 CRFR 75.105(b)(2)(iv), this evaluation recognizes the absolute priority of partnerships with other agencies or institutions. The evaluation meets the statutory requirement through comprising research in conjunction with the Iowa Department of Education, the University of Iowa – Department of History and College of Education, Heartland AEA 11, and the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum. Verbal commitments have been obtain from the above research partners. Detailed letters of commitment will be submitted in an appendix to the RFP application narrative. The purpose of developing a strong evaluation plan is to determine the programs audience and their interests – using this to drive the approach and interventions used in the evaluation. The team is responsible for defining the scope of the project, collecting and analyzing data, and reporting on the findings. We intend to use measurements and analysis to reduce, to the greatest extent possible, various threats to validity. However, we feel even more important than our interventions and methodology is the seeing long term program objectives accomplished. In order for successful long-term implementation in the program, key stakeholders will be highly utilized and involved in all important aspects of the evaluation. Representing both internal and external evaluators, the evaluation team is comprised of stakeholders of the professional development program (teachers, administrators, and school board members), master teachers from the University of Iowa, and the retained services of The Gilder Lehrman Institute (also serving as Principle Investigator). LEA superintendents will provide team participants – in addition to school principles, each school will be represented by another key administrator (i.e. a curriculum developer), and two teachers. Each participating school will have four direct representatives on the evaluation team. The superintendent from the lead LEA (Des Moines Public Schools) shall function as the evaluation headquarters and facilitate overall management of all evaluation activities – to include assignment of detailed responsibilities, and supervision and direction of retained services. The superintendent of the lead LEA, serving as the project director, will speci fy the overall evaluation task, inform the team of available resources, and establish a deadline for completion and reporting format. Evaluation responsibilities are assigned in accordance with team member’s qualifications and skills. The team will develop a variety of quantitative (measurement driven) and qualitative (narrative based) measures to evaluate the professional development program. Prior to any instructional changes, the first data collection will establish a baseline to be used in measuring the program results. The team will meet in very early stages to develop and assess the needs of the teachers. Program interventions will be coordinated based on projected needs, and on established guidelines for evaluating professional development programs. Qualitative data will be collected and analyzed through interviews with teachers, administrators, and school board members to examine the current trends and attitudes regarding professional development. Research will be conducted on existing data outlining previous professional development programs in an academic environment and, to the extent which it is available, data relating to existing Teaching American History research will be analyzed thoroughly. The intended outcomes of the professional development program will be detailed in measurable terms and are discussed in detail below. The team will consider strategies for collecting formative and summative data during and after the professional development program. Formative evaluations will be utilized during various intervals of the professional development program. Based on feedback and comments, these evaluations will be used to modify and improve the program in mid-course and allow continuous fine-tuning to insure quality improvement of the program. Summative evaluations will be utilized to determine the overall effectiveness of the professional development program. A summative evaluation will be conducted at the conclusion of the program to measure shifts in pedagogy, change in school and community attitude, and the effect of the professional development program on student achievement. In an effort to ensure evaluation results are put to good use, the team will make recommendations for the implementation of future professional development programs. Evaluation The evaluation will measure the success of goals through quantitative and qualitative analysis of the various interventions and their impact on teachers and students. Goal One: To improve teachers’ knowledge of traditional American History; consists of two primary objectives: (1) Improve Heartland AEA 11 teachers’ in specific American History areas such as Industrialism, Gilded Age, Progressive Era, Great Depression, and roles of women in the emergence of a modern nation. (2) Improved appreciation and involvement in traditional American History. The interventions to accomplish this goal are ground on two programs. The first is a three day staff development workshop offered by the Gilder Lehrman Institute. The workshop offers teachers access to award-winning historians providing in-depth coverage of topics selected by the project director and team. The second program is a week long Summer Seminar sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute. The Summer Seminars will be attended by teachers at Midwestern universities. Teachers will receive a stipend and graduate credits for participation. Goal Two: To improve the quality of instruction in traditional American History in LEAs; focusing on the primary objective to improve the teachers’ use of more effective content pedagogy in the instruction of American History. The interventions will include the Gilder Lehrman Institute providing teachers with educational resources in three genres: visual, print, and digital. These comprehensive resources are designed not only to increase teacher knowledge of core American history content, but also to offer exciting new ways of bringing American history into the classroom. Each teacher receives a personal copy of the materials, which are also supported by online supplemental material on the Gilder Lehrman website. Materials include traveling exhibitions, calendars, posters, books, and multimedia resources . There will be nine lectures during the school year offered by history scholars from the Gilder Lehrman Institute. The history scholars will assist the LEAs to transform specific content into lesson plans specific to their classrooms. This partnership will help engage both the teachers’ and the students’ interests and increase the overall quality of instruction. Goal Three: To improve student achievement in traditional American History in LEAs; focusing on the primary objective of improving the student’s ability to use critical thinking. The interventions to accomplish these objectives are outlined under goals to improve teachers’ knowledge of traditional American History and improve the quality of instruction in traditional American History in LEAs. Collection and Analysis To measure the increase in teacher knowledge and understanding of traditional American History surveys, interviews, and pre-posttest using nationally validated tests of American history assessments will be utilized to establish a direct link to participation in the Teaching American History Grant Program. Pretest and posttest results will be used in the summative evaluation of the professional development program. Surveys and interviews will be used as a formative measure. Surveys and interview questions will be designed by the project director, master teachers and the Gilman Institute. Surveys (using a Likert scale) will be conducted prior to the summer institute, at the mid point of instruction, at the conclusion of the instruction. Survey results will be translated into a matrix to provide quantitative data. Interviews will be conducted at the end of the instruction and results will provide qualitative data. The Customer Satisfaction Survey provided by the Iowa Department of Education (IDE) will be used to measure teacher satisfaction of the program. Information will be collected on a forced Likert scale with 1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=agree, and 4=strongly agree. The teachers will be asked to respond to the following question: â€Å"The Gilder Lehrman Institute provided beneficial and resourceful professional development training,† and additional questions to provide responsive and informative feedback. To measure a shift in the quality of instruction of traditional American History the evaluation will use surveys, observations and focus groups. Teachers and school board members will be asked to complete an evaluation of the program and describe in a narrative format their thoughts regarding the quality of instruction. Teachers and school board members will again be asked for evaluation six months after their participation. The six month evaluation will be collected in a survey form – similar to the format used to evaluate increased knowledge and understanding of American History. Teacher logs will be complied by observations conducted by master teachers and school evaluation team members. Topics of discussion, deviations, and unusual events will be recorded and qualitatively analyzed by the assigned team members (internal and external). Themes will be compared to research of similar projects and used as formative evaluation to insure continual improvement in the ongoing pro gram. Teachers and administrators will be selected by the Principle Investigator and staff to form a focus group – providing qualitative data. To measure the effectiveness of above interventions on student achievement the evaluation requires the use of pre-post student surveys and pre-post standardized statewide U.S. History assessment scores; additional methodology may be utilized as requested by key stakeholders and as beneficial to the Gilder Lehrman Institute. The Customer Satisfaction Survey provided by the Iowa Department of Education (IDE) will be used to measure attainment of student needs. Information will be collected on a forced Likert scale with 1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=agree, and 4=strongly agree. The students will be asked to respond to the following question: â€Å"The teaching of American History was exciting and informative,† and additional questions to provide responsive and informative feedback. A Regression-Discontinuity (RD) design (quasi-experimental, closely approximating an experimental design) is expected to be the primary measurement in terms of the students success. The RD design allows assignment of the treatment group to those who most need or deserve it. The RD design is ethical – it does not deny the treatment to students who need as the case may be in a randomized experiment. One pitfall of the RD design is described by Langbein and Felbinger (2006) is the â€Å"considerable random measurement error† associated to those students close to the cut-score. In October 2008 a survey will be sent out from Heartland AEA 11 to all school districts advising of the grant opportunity and as a solicitation for participation in the program. Based a ratio of 1 rural school district, 2 urban school districts, and 3 Des Moines City schools, the AEA staff, using qualitative measures and based on any possible schools being identified as needing improvement, will develop a list of participants. The schools above the cut-score, as determined by the Principle Investigator and AEA 11, surrounding measures above, will be selected as treatment groups. The schools not selected as treatment groups in year one, but at the time of assignment would line-up for treatments groups during the following year, will be selected as control groups. To point in which program funds are exhausted. For use in student achievement a cut-off score will be established and a pre-test drafted by the project director and the evaluation team. The assessment will be administered by classroom teachers to all students of all participating grade-levels in all schools designated to participate in the program – either in a treatment group or control group function. In May of 2008 and 2009 all pre-tests will be administered to all participating students. The results of these tests will be the basis for cut-off scores during the following year’s interventions. Students above the cut-off score will be assigned to the treatment groups and students below will participate in the control group. The upper 50 percentile will be selected as the treatment group and be registered in a new course titled American history and lower 50 percentile will be registered in the current social study course. During the 2009 school year there will be two groups of subjects – based on initial year of professional development training. The treatment groups will be the schools which have teachers actively participating in the professional development program and the control group will be those schools attending professional development training the following summer. The 2010 school year will provide for one large treatment group. Each year the evaluation team will continue to relying on RD with cut-off within each grade of participating schools. Stratification will decrease to some degree on the school unit-level as the measurement on the student unit-level increases. Under the cut-score the evaluators consider the control group as equivalent to the treatment group at the start of the program. The gain from the pre-posttest should account for any variables outside of the program. The gain in the treatment group will provide evidence for the effect of the program. This process allows solid internal validity by showing a causal relationship between the program and the outcome and other factors are ruled out. A discontinuity in regression lines indicates a program effect in the RD design. The evaluation team will describe the treatment and control groups and explain how to interpret the direction of scale values on the outcome measures. William Trochim describes the program effect and use of the RD lines as, â€Å"a program effect is suggested when we observe a jump or discontinuity in the regression lines at the cutoff point. (Trochim 2006) † The evaluation team may consider between group modeling (ANOVA) in cases of drawling comparisons between treatment groups of various demographics (rural, urban, and suburban schools). Additional independent variables related to these demographic conditions and data collected may also be analyzed using ANOVA/MANOVA designs. There is likely to be a third summer session of professional development in 2011. This evaluation is structured to meet contingencies for a continuation award of 24 months. In the case funds are unavailable for program extensions, this program is structured in such a way to continue implementation by recognizing teachers completing the program as qualified instructors of the program. The qualified teachers in each LEA will be fully capable and certified to provide professional development instruction to their colleagues. In addition, funds from the initial grant are being reserved to continue the Gilder Lehrman partnership through the year 2013 (on a per hour basis). An overall summative evaluation to be developed and published in the summer of 2011 will include program successes and pitfalls, lessons learned, and recommendations for continuous improvement and subsequent professional development activities. Regular intervals of reporting will be recognized and a network for dissemination (website design) will also be available for researching up-to-date program information. Budget The approach of this program is not entirely predetermined as adjustments based on formative evaluations and other basis will be made. The budget provided as Appendix II to this plan is an estimate based on several broad research stages and estimated time for each. Reallocation may be required in certain categories as developing themes are explored and priorities are adjusted. The outline for this budget was drafted using a sample budget format provided by the Alameda County Office of Education. Research Papers on Teaching American History Heartland ConsortiumStandardized TestingInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesResearch Process Part OneThe Project Managment Office SystemIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalOpen Architechture a white paperThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaHip-Hop is ArtThree Concepts of Psychodynamic

Business Strategy Bachelor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Business Strategy Bachelor - Essay Example The leadership model is leadership with a vision. Their expectation of management is that they will make sound management decisions and leadership that sets a company standard of excellence. A SWOT analysis is in essence a situational assessment of how a company or organization stands within the business that they do. There are three very distinct components that make it up and those are market assessment, the mission, the vision and values and the internal assessment. The SWOT itself is the Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of this organization. The SWOT for CHS would look like that following: S- CHS is a strong organization well supported by a large capital base with income from 120 hospitals and a large stockholder base. Many of the stockholders are employees and they have the opportunity for gain as well as the stockholders. The corporate leaders are highly recognized, in fact the corporate CEO, Smith, is recognized as one of the most important CEO's in the healthcare world. He has much experience and has gleaned a very loyal following in his leadership team (Watkins, 2002). W-It is no longer a surprise when CHS elects to take over a hospital or group of hospitals. This was a major advantage when they did the hostile takeover of the Triad corporation. This puts all hospitals on the alert when they see any type of negotiations that may reflect the involvement of CHS. Another weakness that is seen as a strength within the Corporation is the need to make every department in a hospital the same in every hospital. It does provide them with consistency within the Corporation but it does not allow any creative vision from the people within these departments. O-For a company like CHS, there are always opportunities. In this case there is the failing hospital in the medium size town that they have the cash to purchase, even though the hospital does not want to be. CHS, in their business model statement, clearly states that they concentrate on the effective integrating of acquisitions and improving hospital operations. The average number of Directors that leave a hospital that has been taken over by CHS is 6. This is definitely a weakness and shows itself in their postings for available positions. A position that is especially vulnerable is the CNO position (CHS, 2008). T-The threats to a Corporation like CHS is the bigger Corporation. Most of their threats are external in nature. Is it possible to have a Corporate take over from another company It is not likely but it was also not likely at the time that this would happen to Triad, either. This is always a possibility when you are a publicly traded company. This is real time trading today on the stockmarket. The strategic objectives for CHS are to continue

Exploring an Organization - International Student and Scholar Office Essay

Exploring an Organization - International Student and Scholar Office - Essay Example The ISSO is the home for some global understudies and researchers on account of it gives administrations and an inviting domain. This interesting association comprises the chief of the ISSO and three cordial guides. ISSO is considered as a go-to office for all students and researchers, and in addition workforce and staff regarding the matter of issues or inquiries identified with worldwide training. ISSO is pleased with its abnormal state of client administration. The office is pleased with its learned staff, a couple of whom are broadly perceived in the universal learning field. The guides of the office are accessible for 15 minutes stroll in counsels or scholars could achieve them by booking an arrangement for more examinations. They give students fundamental diverse learning. Other than that, the ISSO pioneers have gone miles in ensuring the welfare of students is taken care of. They have recruited International Student Advisers (ISA). The ISAs basically aid all those on studies w ith the support of their financial, culture, migration status, personal concerns and occupation regulations. Advisers are mostly consulted when there are urgent or serious concerns that may affect the students learning. Students acquire financial support such as loans and scholarships from ISSO. Additionally, the association supports numerous projects for newcomers act upon. For instance, the International Students Council, the friendship international and the I-Lead. The International Leadership Education Academy for Development (I-LEAD) project is composed of the International Students and Scholars Office (ISSO) to help those who study in succeeding as well as in developing leadership skills. There is a motivational grant for international students who engage themselves in the program and complete it successfully. The scholars to participate and the cash was given out can be used well to clear school fees and cater for any personal effects.   Additionally, there are leadership skills that are acquired besides the scholarship they get.