Disadvantages of Playing Video Games Essay

In the last several years the interactive games have had an amazing development in terms of image quality and variety of games. This has led to children and adults spend more time gaming and less time sharing with their families and friends. There are many significant disadvantages of playing video games. First, electronic games might have a negative impact over personal physical health. Gamers become lazy because they do not exercise every day. For example, they often eat only junk foods while playing, so they can become obese. Besides that, players have weak muscles because they do not exercise continuously, so their physical condition decreases. Moreover, their visibility is reduced by the time they are exposed in front of TV. When competitors spend a lot of time playing interactive games, their eyesight is damaged; as a result, they might need glasses. If gamers’ visibility decreases they have terrible headaches every day; consequently, they do not can sleep efficiently. The second disadvantage is that video games negatively affect the mental health of the people. Players can have a game addiction so they reduced contact with the environment. Playing electronic games loses the competitors interest in doing their daily activities such as hobbies or sports; thus, they do not perform outdoor activities. Furthermore, gamers’ attitude changes with the interactive games because they can be isolated, so they lack social interaction with their families and friends. Additionally, the children behavior can be affected by the excessive gaming because they do not difference between real life and in-game life. When a kid often plays video games, he wants to respond to any problem like his favorite character in the game, so this promotes his violence. Also, electronic games might produce mood swings in very young people; as a result, they have problems behavior in stress situation. Finally, players are irresponsible because do not mind their duties. The students fail in the exams so they repeat the grade. If learners do not do their homework, they do not practice enough their classes; thus, they have a low mark in their test. Besides that, the pupils do not review the lessons because they prefer on-line activities; consequently, they do not study adequately. Moreover, workers fail in their jobs. The gamers become disorganized with their jobs because they do not sleep sufficient by gaming; then, they lost their employment. Not only that, player is unable to concentrate on their work because he is thinking about interactive games all day, so he do not satisfy company expectations. In conclusion, playing video games has several important drawbacks. They are decreased physical condition, play compulsively, isolating, and feckless. Parents should be more careful with the time their children are exposed to electronic games, and adults should try to maintain an active social life.

Jose Rizal

Definition of Measurement Measurement  is the process or the result of determining the  ratio  of a  physical quantity, such as a length, time, temperature etc. , to a unit of measurement, such as the meter, second or degree Celsius. The science of measurement is called  metrology. The English word  measurement  originates from the  Latin  mensura  and the verb  metiri  through the  Middle French  mesure. Reference: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Measurement Measurement Quantities *Basic FundamentalQuantity name/s| (Common) Quantity symbol/s| SI unit name| SI unit symbol| Dimension symbol| Length, width, height, depth| a, b, c, d, h, l, r, s, w, x, y, z| metre| m| [L]| Time| t| second| s| [T]| Mass| m| kilogram| kg| [M]| Temperature| T, ? | kelvin| K| [? ]| Amount of  substance, number of moles| n| mole| mol| [N]| Electric current| i, I| ampere| A| [I]| Luminous intensity| Iv| candela| Cd| [J]| Plane angle| ? , ? , ? , ? , ? , ? | radian| rad| dimensionl ess| Solid angle| ? , ? | steradian| sr| dimensionless| Derived Quantities Space Common) Quantity name/s| (Common) Quantity symbol| SI unit| Dimension| (Spatial)  position (vector)| r,  R,  a,  d| m| [L]| Angular position, angle of rotation (can be treated as vector or scalar)| ? ,  ? | rad| dimensionless| Area, cross-section| A, S, ? | m2| [L]2| Vector area  (Magnitude of surface area, directed normal totangential  plane of surface)| | m2| [L]2| Volume| ? , V| m3| [L]3| Quantity| Typical symbols| Definition| Meaning, usage| Dimension| Quantity| q| q| Amount of a property| [q]| Rate of change of quantity,  Time derivative| | | Rate of change of property with respect to time| [q] [T]? 1| Quantity spatial density| ? volume density (n  = 3),  ? = surface density (n  = 2),  ? = linear density (n  = 1)No common symbol for  n-space density, here  ? n  is used. | | Amount of property per unit n-space(length, area, volume or higher dimensions)| [q][L]-n| Spec ific quantity| qm| | Amount of property per unit mass| [q][L]-n| Molar quantity| qn| | Amount of property per mole of substance| [q][L]-n| Quantity gradient (if  q  is a  scalar field. | | | Rate of change of property with respect to position| [q] [L]? 1| Spectral quantity (for EM waves)| qv, q? , q? | Two definitions are used, for frequency and wavelength: | Amount of property per unit wavelength or frequency. [q][L]? 1  (q? )[q][T] (q? )| Flux, flow (synonymous)| ? F,  F| Two definitions are used;Transport mechanics,  nuclear physics/particle physics: Vector field: | Flow of a property though a cross-section/surface boundary. | [q] [T]? 1  [L]? 2, [F] [L]2| Flux density| F| | Flow of a property though a cross-section/surface boundary per unit cross-section/surface area| [F]| Current| i, I| | Rate of flow of property through a crosssection/ surface boundary| [q] [T]? 1| Current density (sometimes called flux density in transport mechanics)| j, J| | Rate of flow of pro perty per unit cross-section/surface area| [q] [T]? 1  [L]? | Reference: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Physical_quantity#General_derived_quantities http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Physical_quantity#Base_quantities System of Units Unit name| Unit symbol| Quantity| Definition (Incomplete)| Dimension symbol| metre| m| length| * Original  (1793):  1? 10000000  of the meridian through Paris between the North Pole and the EquatorFG * Current  (1983): The distance travelled by light in vacuum in  1? 299792458  of a second| L| kilogram[note 1]| kg| mass| * Original  (1793): The  grave  was defined as being the weight [mass] of one cubic decimetre of pure water at its freezing point.FG * Current  (1889): The mass of the International Prototype Kilogram| M| second| s| time| * Original  (Medieval):  1? 86400  of a day * Current  (1967): The duration of  9 192 631 770  periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium 133 atom| T| ampere| A| electric current| * Original  (1881): A tenth of the electromagnetic CGS unit of current. [The [CGS] emu unit of current is that current, flowing in an arc 1  cm long of a circle 1  cm in radius creates a field of one oersted at the centre. 37]]. IEC * Current  (1946): The constant current which, if maintained in two straight parallel conductors of infinite length, of negligible circular cross-section, and placed 1  m apart in vacuum, would produce between these conductors a force equal to 2 x 10-7  newton per metre of length| I| kelvin| K| thermodynamic temperature| * Original  (1743): The  centigrade scale  is obtained by assigning 0 ° to the freezing point of water and 100 ° to the boiling point of water. * Current  (1967): The fraction 1/273. 16 of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water| ? mole| mol| amount of substance| * Original  (1900): The molecular weight of a substance in mass grams. ICAW * Current  (1967): The amount of substance of a system which contains as many elementary entities as there are atoms in 0. 012 kilogram of carbon 12. [note 2]| N| candela| cd| luminous intensity| * Original  (1946):The value of the new candle is such that the brightness of the full radiator at the temperature of solidification of platinum is 60 new candles per square centimetre * Current  (1979): The luminous intensity, in a given direction, of a source that emits monochromatic radiation of frequency 540  ? 012  hertz and that has a radiant intensity in that direction of 1/683 watt per steradian. | J| Reference: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/International_System_of_Units Scientific Notation Scientific notation  (more commonly known as  standard form) is a way of writing numbers that are too big or too small to be conveniently written in decimal form. Scientific notation has a number of useful properties and is commonly used in calculators and by scie ntists, mathematicians and engineers.In scientific notation all numbers are written in the form of (a  times ten raised to the power of  b), where the  exponent  b  is an  integer, and the  coefficient  a  is any  real number  (however, see  normalized notation  below), called the  significand  or  mantissa. The term â€Å"mantissa† may cause confusion, however, because it can also refer to the  fractional  part of the common  logarithm. If the number is negative then a minus sign precedes  a  (as in ordinary decimal notation). ————————————————-Converting numbers Converting a number in these cases means to either convert the number into scientific notation form, convert it back into decimal form or to change the exponent part of the equation. None of these alter the actual number, only how it's expressed. Decimal to scientif ic First, move the decimal separator point the required amount,  n, to make the number's value within a desired range, between 1 and 10 for normalized notation. If the decimal was moved to the left, append  x  10n; to the right,  x  10-n.To represent the number 1,230,400 in normalized scientific notation, the decimal separator would be moved 6 digits to the left and  x  106  appended, resulting in1. 2304? 106. The number -0. 004  0321 would have its decimal separator shifted 3 digits to the right instead of the left and yield  ? 4. 0321? 10? 3  as a result. Scientific to decimal Converting a number from scientific notation to decimal notation, first remove the  x 10n  on the end, then shift the decimal separator  n  digits to the right (positive  n) or left (negative  n). The number1. 2304? 06  would have its decimal separator shifted 6 digits to the right and become 1 230 400, while  ? 4. 0321? 10? 3  would have its decimal separator moved 3 digits to the left and be-0. 0040321. Exponential Conversion between different scientific notation representations of the same number with different exponential values is achieved by performing opposite operations of multiplication or division by a power of ten on the significand and an subtraction or addition of one on the exponent part. The decimal separator in the significand is shifted  x  places to the left (or right) and 1x  is added to (subtracted from) the exponent, as shown below. . 234? 103  =  12. 34? 102  =  123. 4? 101  = 1234 Significant Figures The  significant figures  (also known as  significant digits, and often shortened to  sig figs) of a number are those  digits  that carry meaning contributing to its  precision. This includes all digitsexcept: * leading  and  trailing zeros  which are merely placeholders to indicate the scale of the number. * spurious digits introduced, for example, by calculations carried out to greater prec ision than that of the original data, or measurements reported to a greater precision than the equipment supports.Inaccuracy of a measuring device does not affect the number of significant figures in a measurement made using that device, although it does affect the accuracy. A measurement made using a plastic ruler that has been left out in the sun or a beaker that unbeknownst to the technician has a few glass beads at the bottom has the same number of significant figures as a significantly different measurement of the same physical object made using an unaltered ruler or beaker. The number of significant figures reflects the device's precision, but not its  accuracy.The basic concept of significant figures is often used in connection with  rounding. Rounding to significant figures is a more general-purpose technique than rounding to  n  decimal places, since it handles numbers of different scales in a uniform way. For example, the population of a city might only be known to the nearest thousand and be stated as 52,000, while the population of a country might only be known to the nearest million and be stated as 52,000,000. The former might be in error by hundreds, and the latter might be in error by hundreds of thousands, but both have two significant figures (5 and 2).This reflects the fact that the significance of the error (its likely size relative to the size of the quantity being measured) is the same in both cases. Computer representations of  floating point numbers  typically use a form of rounding to significant figures, but with  binary numbers. The number of correct significant figures is closely related to the notion of  relative error  (which has the advantage of being a more accurate measure of precision, and is independent of the radix of the number system used).The term â€Å"significant figures† can also refer to a crude form of error representation based around significant-digit rounding; for this use, see  signific ance arithmetic. The rules for identifying significant figures when writing or interpreting numbers are as follows:   * All non-zero digits are considered significant. For example, 91 has two significant figures (9 and 1), while 123. 45 has five significant figures (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5). * Zeros appearing anywhere between two non-zero digits are significant. Example: 101. 12 has five significant figures: 1, 0, 1, 1 and 2. Leading zeros are not significant. For example, 0. 00052 has two significant figures: 5 and 2. * Trailing zeros in a number containing a decimal point are significant. For example, 12. 2300 has six significant figures: 1, 2, 2, 3, 0 and 0. The number 0. 000122300 still has only six significant figures (the zeros before the 1 are not significant). In addition, 120. 00 has five significant figures since it has three trailing zeros. This convention clarifies the precision of such numbers; for example, if a measurement precise to four decimal places (0. 001) is given as 12. 23 then it might be understood that only two decimal places of precision are available. Stating the result as 12. 2300 makes clear that it is precise to four decimal places (in this case, six significant figures). * The significance of trailing zeros in a number not containing a decimal point can be ambiguous. For example, it may not always be clear if a number like 1300 is precise to the nearest unit (and just happens coincidentally to be an exact multiple of a hundred) or if it is only shown to the nearest hundred due to rounding or uncertainty.Various conventions exist to address this issue: * A  bar  may be placed over the last significant figure; any trailing zeros following this are insignificant. For example, 1300 has three significant figures (and hence indicates that the number is precise to the nearest ten). * The last significant figure of a number may be underlined; for example, â€Å"2000† has two significant figures. * A decimal point may be placed afte r the number; for example â€Å"100. † indicates specifically that three significant figures are meant. * In the combination of a number and a  unit of measurement  the ambiguity can be voided by choosing a suitable  unit prefix. For example, the number of significant figures in a mass specified as 1300  g is ambiguous, while in a mass of 13  h? g or 1. 3  kg it is not. Rounding Off Numbers Rounding  a numerical value means replacing it by another value that is approximately equal but has a shorter, simpler, or more explicit representation; for example, replacing ? 23. 4476 with ? 23. 45, or the fraction 312/937 with 1/3, or the expression v2 with 1. 414. Rounding is often done on purpose to obtain a value that is easier to write and handle than the original.It may be done also to indicate the accuracy of a computed number; for example, a quantity that was computed as 123,456 but is known to be accurate only to within a few hundred units is better stated as â₠¬Å"about 123,500. † On the other hand, rounding introduces some  round-off error  in the result. Rounding is almost unavoidable in many computations — especially when dividing two numbers in  integer  or  fixed-point arithmetic; when computing mathematical functions such as  square roots,  logarithms, and  sines; or when using a  floating point  representation with a fixed number of significant digits.In a sequence of calculations, these rounding errors generally accumulate, and in certain  ill-conditioned  cases they may make the result meaningless. Accurate rounding of  transcendental mathematical functions  is difficult because the number of extra digits that need to be calculated to resolve whether to round up or down cannot be known in advance. This problem is known as â€Å"the table-maker's dilemma†. Rounding has many similarities to the  quantization  that occurs when  physical quantities  must be encoded by numbers orà ‚  digital signals. Typical rounding problems are pproximating an irrational number by a fraction, e. g. ,  ? by 22/7; approximating a fraction with periodic decimal expansion by a finite decimal fraction, e. g. , 5/3 by 1. 6667; replacing a  rational number  by a fraction with smaller numerator and denominator, e. g. , 3122/9417 by 1/3; replacing a fractional  decimal number  by one with fewer digits, e. g. , 2. 1784 dollars by 2. 18 dollars; replacing a decimal  integer  by an integer with more trailing zeros, e. g. , 23,217 people by 23,200 people; or, in general, replacing a value by a multiple of a specified amount, e. . , 27. 2 seconds by 30 seconds (a multiple of 15). Conversion of Units Process The process of conversion depends on the specific situation and the intended purpose. This may be governed by regulation,  contract,  Technical specifications  or other published  standards. Engineering judgment may include such factors as: * The  precision and accuracy  of measurement and the associated  uncertainty of measurement * The statistical  confidence interval  or  tolerance interval  of the initial measurement * The number of  significant figures  of the measurement The intended use of the measurement including the  engineering tolerances Some conversions from one system of units to another need to be exact, without increasing or decreasing the precision of the first measurement. This is sometimes called  soft conversion. It does not involve changing the physical configuration of the item being measured. By contrast, a  hard conversion  or an  adaptive conversion  may not be exactly equivalent. It changes the measurement to convenient and workable numbers and units in the new system. It sometimes involves a slightly different configuration, or size substitution, of the item.Nominal values  are sometimes allowed and used. Multiplication factors Conversion between units in the  metric system  can be discerned by their  prefixes  (for example, 1 kilogram = 1000  grams, 1 milligram = 0. 001  grams) and are thus not listed in this article. Exceptions are made if the unit is commonly known by another name (for example, 1 micron = 10? 6  metre). Table ordering Within each table, the units are listed alphabetically, and the  SI  units (base or derived) are highlighted. ————————————————- Tables of conversion factorsThis article gives lists of conversion factors for each of a number of physical quantities, which are listed in the index. For each physical quantity, a number of different units (some only of historical interest) are shown and expressed in terms of the corresponding SI unit. Legend| Symbol| Definition| ?| exactly equal to| ?| approximately equal to| digits| indicates that  digits  repeat infinitely (e. g. 8. 294369  corresponds to  8. 29 4369369369369†¦)| (H)| of chiefly historical interest| ASSIGNMENT IN PHYSICS I-LEC Submitted by: Balagtas, Glen Paulo R. BS Marine Transportation-I Submitted to: Mrs. Elizabeth Gabriel Professor in Physics-Lec Jose Rizal Write a reflection paper tracing the development of Rizal as a reformist who began to work for changes in his country using: a) one (1) work from Rizal As A Reformist b) the Noli Me Tangere Show also the significance of these works on Filipino society today and how it can change today’s trends. Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa by Dr. Jose P. Rizal (keyword: love of country) Rizal’s Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa was written in 1882 when Rizal was 21 years old.Rizal was away in Spain for only a month, which may have inspired him to write this literature because he misses his homeland. This work of Rizal is a very significant work of Rizal as a reformist because it expresses his dear love for his native land. As he wrote this literature and felt his love for his country, he builds the foundation of him being a reformist because of the drive to fight for change. Through Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa, Rizal realizes how much he loves his country and that it has fallen into the wrong gov ernance and that this needs to be changed.Through the lines â€Å"Maging anuman nga ang kalagayan natin, ay nararapat nating mahalin siya at walang ibang bagay na dapat naisin tayo kundi ang kagalingan niya (referring to Philippines)† Rizal explicitly reveals his love for the country and expresses the importance to love and work for the betterment of our homeland. It can also be seen in these lines that even if he is out of the country studying, he will do his part as a Filipino to fight for the rights of every Filipino.Today, this work of Rizal may serve as a reminder for all the people in this country that being a Filipino calls for a duty to serve our native land and fellow citizens. If though Rizal’s work, Filipinos realize their duty as a citizen and love for their country, the Philippines would be a better place to live in and it would be easy to manipulate the society towards a progressive nation. Noli Me Tangere by Dr. Jose P. Rizal Rizal’s well-known no vel entitled Noli Me Tangere is one of his works that clearly expresses Rizal as a reformist.Rizal finished his first novel when he was at the age of 26 years old. The hero was penniless, good thanks to his friend Maximo Viola who supported him and shouldered the publication of this novel, the reason why we have a copy in our hands. In this novel, Rizal conveys his belief that education is very important and is an effective tool for reform in the country. Rizal was very brave to depict the issues in the Philippines such as corruption and oppression through the characters and storyline in his novel.The Noli Me Tangere was a very expressive move of Rizal to start the campaign for liberal reform for the country. In this book, Rizal shares his personal experiences at the harsh hands of the Spaniards, as well as experiences shared by his loved ones. Rizal’s brave soul to publish a novel containing these experiences and lessons, encourages Filipinos to be continuous is learning as he did. It again, boils down to his belief that education will strengthen one’s principles in life and even open your world to the experiences of other people.Until today, Noli Me Tangere and its sequel El Filibusterismo serve as an inspiration for writers to express through literature any present issues in the society. It also evokes the idea of liberalism in such a way that Filipinos has become open-minded to innovations and beliefs that will benefit the country. Most importantly, education is very well valued, as tool needed by every individual to help progress the country.

TerraCog

Terracotta management failed to respond to competition in its market. Although competitor introduced a new GAPS with satellite imagery to the market, Terracotta team dismissed the threat and decided not to take a responsive action. However, quickly the new GAPS succeed and gained a significant market share. Eventually, Terracotta president decided to pursue a development of a directly competing product, and named the project Aerial. Unfortunately, the projected high costs of this project questioned its profitability and doubt its wisdom.The key managers of the company were not able to decide whether to execute the project or not, and Emma Richardson, the new executive vice-president, needed to push the group toward a decision. The analysis we have done indicates that Terracotta case is an outcome of two major problems. The first problem is the existence of a poor decision making process, and the second is the lack of departmental cooperation and harmony. Alternative Courses of Action : We believe that Richardson should postpone the launch of Aerial, and focus on creating a more efficient decision making process and increasing departmental cooperation.Since time is crucial in this case, we see a need to decrease the time of decision making process and re-defining communication channels between the departments. We also argue that the size of this team as well as the fact that the teammates came from four different departments created complex communication channels that slowed down decision making. In this case, small groups can undertake better the urgent tasks. Hence, we think that Richardson should break the complex process of launching a new product into micro-processes.We believe that by brainstorming with the heads of every department separately, defining criteria and performance tankards, and listening to each team's requirements and reservations, Richardson will be able to clarify for the teams their importance to the company and motivate them to act toward the company's goal. Commitment to a common goal is more easily achieved if the number of team members is small (Essentials for an Effective Team, To keep the work on track and to increase departmental cooperation, 2006).Richardson should conduct update meetings every other week with all the departments' heads. The agenda of these wide department meetings should be clear and exclude decisions making. The different decisions should be made within smaller groups that include only the relevant teams. To increase harmony among the departments, Richardson can open department wide meetings with a short speech about similar past experiences of the company to remind the teams how they worked well together and performed successfully when they cooperated.Recalling past experiences may increase sense of belonging and help to put the big picture in mind before discussing current issues. Moreover, Richardson can invite the teams' mangers to have lunch together before department wide meetings. So cializing with each other right before getting to business can cool things down, ease the tension, and increase departmental cooperation. We believe that if the heads of the different departments will understand the importance and the needs of other departments, working together will become easier and more efficient.Another way to increase departmental cooperation is by sharing information on the processes each department went through. For example, while discussing the price of a new product, Tony could provide specific details regarding production's costs to explain why further lowering of costs is impossible. While this alternative might be time consuming, sharing information can help the teams to understand better the different points of view of the different departments. Recommended Course of Action: We believe that a combination of the alternatives above would be the best way to address the situation in this case.First, we recommend postponing the launch of the current prototyp e. Launching Aerial on its current form will damage the company's reputation and can lead the company to a big loss. We assume that if Aerial wont provide its users a significant advantage, customers wouldn't pay more than the Bird's price to buy it. Second, in order to accelerate the decision making process, Richardson should redesign the current communication channels in the company. Decisions need to be made in smaller teams, and wide department meetings need to be designated for updates only.Third, to increase departmental cooperation and harmony, Richardson should establish a process of sharing information between the departments. Furthermore, structuring time for socializing can ease the stress and increase harmony among the departments. We believe that this alternative course of action will lead to minimum damage in Terracotta position, ND allow the company to improve its productivity and ability to respond faster to competition in the future. Implementation: First, Richardso n should invite all the people who were present in the last two meetings to announce her decision.This meeting should be friendly and short, and most important, clear and motivating. Richardson should open the meeting with demonstrating an appreciation for the hard work done by all the departments. Then, the announcement of her decision to postpone the launch of Aerial should be followed by a short explanation about the upcoming changes: From now on, once a week, every department should email a rife description of the progress they made at the past week to the entire company.This weekly update emails will enable an efficient way to share information between the departments. In addition, wide department meetings will take place every other week, and once a month these meetings will include a friendly lunch prior to the meeting. After the meeting, Richardson should meet with the heads of design and development department. In this meeting, they need to agree and define the requirements to develop a product that is superior to the Birds, on minimum costs and time, and draw a realistic schedule to move forward.Now, when the new product is in its first stages of creation, and there is a general idea of what specifications and characteristics it will have, as well as an expected time for launching, Richardson should meet with the UP of Sales, to create marketing plan for the new product. The production team will work alone on costs estimating for the new product, and the sales team in consultation with finance department will determine a pricing and develop a â€Å"go- to market† plan. Moreover, Richardson should set clear limits to the continuance of commitment to the project for every department.Determining what criteria and performance standards Justify continued investment in the project can help the team avoid escalation of commitment (Team Decision Making Pitfalls and Solutions, n. D). Whenever disagreements on to what level the teams should commit to a specific task will arose, they could refer to the performance's standards and make a decision accordingly. The process will be managed by Richardson from the top, and the heads of every department will make decisions that are relevant to their departments' areas of knowledge and responsibility, and report to Richardson, who ill manage the whole process. TerraCog Terracotta management failed to respond to competition in its market. Although competitor introduced a new GAPS with satellite imagery to the market, Terracotta team dismissed the threat and decided not to take a responsive action. However, quickly the new GAPS succeed and gained a significant market share. Eventually, Terracotta president decided to pursue a development of a directly competing product, and named the project Aerial. Unfortunately, the projected high costs of this project questioned its profitability and doubt its wisdom.The key managers of the company were not able to decide whether to execute the project or not, and Emma Richardson, the new executive vice-president, needed to push the group toward a decision. The analysis we have done indicates that Terracotta case is an outcome of two major problems. The first problem is the existence of a poor decision making process, and the second is the lack of departmental cooperation and harmony. Alternative Courses of Action : We believe that Richardson should postpone the launch of Aerial, and focus on creating a more efficient decision making process and increasing departmental cooperation.Since time is crucial in this case, we see a need to decrease the time of decision making process and re-defining communication channels between the departments. We also argue that the size of this team as well as the fact that the teammates came from four different departments created complex communication channels that slowed down decision making. In this case, small groups can undertake better the urgent tasks. Hence, we think that Richardson should break the complex process of launching a new product into micro-processes.We believe that by brainstorming with the heads of every department separately, defining criteria and performance tankards, and listening to each team's requirements and reservations, Richardson will be able to clarify for the teams their importance to the company and motivate them to act toward the company's goal. Commitment to a common goal is more easily achieved if the number of team members is small (Essentials for an Effective Team, To keep the work on track and to increase departmental cooperation, 2006).Richardson should conduct update meetings every other week with all the departments' heads. The agenda of these wide department meetings should be clear and exclude decisions making. The different decisions should be made within smaller groups that include only the relevant teams. To increase harmony among the departments, Richardson can open department wide meetings with a short speech about similar past experiences of the company to remind the teams how they worked well together and performed successfully when they cooperated.Recalling past experiences may increase sense of belonging and help to put the big picture in mind before discussing current issues. Moreover, Richardson can invite the teams' mangers to have lunch together before department wide meetings. So cializing with each other right before getting to business can cool things down, ease the tension, and increase departmental cooperation. We believe that if the heads of the different departments will understand the importance and the needs of other departments, working together will become easier and more efficient.Another way to increase departmental cooperation is by sharing information on the processes each department went through. For example, while discussing the price of a new product, Tony could provide specific details regarding production's costs to explain why further lowering of costs is impossible. While this alternative might be time consuming, sharing information can help the teams to understand better the different points of view of the different departments. Recommended Course of Action: We believe that a combination of the alternatives above would be the best way to address the situation in this case.First, we recommend postponing the launch of the current prototyp e. Launching Aerial on its current form will damage the company's reputation and can lead the company to a big loss. We assume that if Aerial wont provide its users a significant advantage, customers wouldn't pay more than the Bird's price to buy it. Second, in order to accelerate the decision making process, Richardson should redesign the current communication channels in the company. Decisions need to be made in smaller teams, and wide department meetings need to be designated for updates only.Third, to increase departmental cooperation and harmony, Richardson should establish a process of sharing information between the departments. Furthermore, structuring time for socializing can ease the stress and increase harmony among the departments. We believe that this alternative course of action will lead to minimum damage in Terracotta position, ND allow the company to improve its productivity and ability to respond faster to competition in the future. Implementation: First, Richardso n should invite all the people who were present in the last two meetings to announce her decision.This meeting should be friendly and short, and most important, clear and motivating. Richardson should open the meeting with demonstrating an appreciation for the hard work done by all the departments. Then, the announcement of her decision to postpone the launch of Aerial should be followed by a short explanation about the upcoming changes: From now on, once a week, every department should email a rife description of the progress they made at the past week to the entire company.This weekly update emails will enable an efficient way to share information between the departments. In addition, wide department meetings will take place every other week, and once a month these meetings will include a friendly lunch prior to the meeting. After the meeting, Richardson should meet with the heads of design and development department. In this meeting, they need to agree and define the requirements to develop a product that is superior to the Birds, on minimum costs and time, and draw a realistic schedule to move forward.Now, when the new product is in its first stages of creation, and there is a general idea of what specifications and characteristics it will have, as well as an expected time for launching, Richardson should meet with the UP of Sales, to create marketing plan for the new product. The production team will work alone on costs estimating for the new product, and the sales team in consultation with finance department will determine a pricing and develop a â€Å"go- to market† plan. Moreover, Richardson should set clear limits to the continuance of commitment to the project for every department.Determining what criteria and performance standards Justify continued investment in the project can help the team avoid escalation of commitment (Team Decision Making Pitfalls and Solutions, n. D). Whenever disagreements on to what level the teams should commit to a specific task will arose, they could refer to the performance's standards and make a decision accordingly. The process will be managed by Richardson from the top, and the heads of every department will make decisions that are relevant to their departments' areas of knowledge and responsibility, and report to Richardson, who ill manage the whole process.

Organizational Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Organizational Justice - Essay Example Organizational Justice is the term used to define people's perception of fairness in an organization. The majority of studies on justice were conducted in the 1960's, but the majority of studies on justice in organizations have been published since 1990 (Charash 278). As it is a relatively newer field, it is surprising the number of studies that have been conducted, Charash mentions 400 studies and 100 theoretical papers. It is therefore obvious that it is an important topic in Business Management. There are three main types of Organizational Justice; distributive, procedural, and interactional (Charash 278, Henle 248). Distributive justice emphasizes the perceived outcome of fairness, and is mainly related to the cognitive, affective, and behavioral reactions to particular outcomes. When an outcome is perceived as unfair, it will affect the employee's emotions and ultimately their behavior in relation to the organization. Distributive justice fails the measure the interpretation of the methods of an organization, it only addresses the outcome. Procedural justice shifted the focus from emphasizing not only the outcome as with distributive justice, but rather the perceived fairness of the process by which the outcome was achieved. (Charash 280). It is simply defined as the fairness of the process by which outcomes are determined. ... They are; (a) the consistency rule; (b) the bias-suppression rule; (c) the accuracy rule; (d) the correctability rule; (e) the representativeness rule; and (f) the ethicality rule. It is worth noting that perception of unfairness in an organization's procedure will result in reactions directed toward the organization as opposed to distributive justice, where the reactions will be directed toward the decision maker. The third type of Organizational justice is interactional justice. Interactional justice pertains to the human side of organizational procedures (Charash 281). It is best explained as the way management is behaving toward the recipient of justice; it relates to the communication process between the source and the recipient of justice. Because interactional justice is determined by the interpersonal behavior of management's representatives, reactions are generally directed toward those individuals as opposed to the organization. It is difficult to determine a measurement of the justice in an organization as the interpretations of justice are subject to an individual's opinion. However, there are some determining factors. Perceptions of justice are influenced by many different variables including (a) outcomes one receives, (b) organizational practices, and (c) characteristics of the perceiver (Charash 282). An organization can be perceived to be unfair if an individual receives an outcome that they perceive to be unfair (ie. Don't receive a promotion they feel they deserve). A set guideline or practice of an organization can be perceived as unfair, such as no health care until a year's employment. The perception of fairness is most drastically colored by the individual who is examining the judgment; if they expect health

Kant and Locke Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Kant and Locke - Essay Example The two are not only concerned with the individual, but also the manner in which the individual interacts within a group, and the consequent tensions that may occur out of these interactions. This essay attempts to explore the manner in which both Locke and Kant address the concept of human freedom. Freedom, or the manner in which individuals are in a position to act on their own accord, is an important philosophical argument in the contemporary world. History indicates that Kant supported multinational organizations and the republican government. He had a strong faith in the universality of humanity. However, Kant argued that the natural end that everybody seeks to accomplish is personal happiness (Kant 98). However, the concept that people act out their own accord does not communicate all that Kant meant. According to Kant (6), nothing in the world can be regarded as good without sufficient reasons. Kant argues that as humans, we cannot prove that freedom is something real within o urselves and in the human nature. In Kant`s thinking, human thinking revolves around a circle. People tend to assume that they are free so that they think the moral law as are meant for them and as a result, they must obey them. To Kant, freedom is a subjective state of the mind, a concept of reason, which may be difficult to comprehend in reality. Thus to Kant, human freedom is embedded in the term enlightenment which to him is a process through which people free themselves from immaturity state of which they themselves take the responsibility. Locke believed that every person has the ability to govern himself and that each individual is equal to every other person. He refers to this as state of nature where he says every man has total liberty to act as he wills, free from interference by any other person. To Locke, in the state of nature, the enjoyment of freedom is uncertain because it is invaded by others who act as they wish; making enjoyment of property a person has in this st ate very unsafe. This natural state eventually comes into a state of war where men turn against one another. When men are faced with this condition, they quit the state of nature which is full of dangers and put themselves in government for the protection of their property giving up their freedom to do as they wish. To this extent, it’s true to point out that everyman is naturally free and that nothing subjects him to any power or authority without his consent. Consequently, human freedom in a consented government is where the people trade off their liberty and power entrusting them to the government they form in exchange of protection of their property peace and safety. The issue of the relationship of the concepts of natural rights construal, and freedom and equality is at the centre of discussion today as it was many centuries ago. Whereas Kant’s concept of freedom and equality and the views of Locke’s natural rights are generally accepted as the epitome of l iberalism, the equality concept in relation to liberty still remains a subject of discussion. Kant views individual freedom in the context of equal opportunity for all. He claims that a person has one natural right only, that is freedom - the state where one is actually independent from being influenced or constrained by another person’s choice. Because of this right an individual may not be coerced arbitrarily, and not because of property right that covers self-ownership. In addition, Kant suggests that the pursuit for equality is lawful when there is no interference with the enjoyment of individual autonomy. Kant holds that equality and freedom is a state where an individual enjoys liberty without necessarily interfering with another person’

Event Study for Efficient Market Hypothesis- Ex dividend Data Dissertation

Event Study for Efficient Market Hypothesis- Ex dividend Data - Dissertation Example Anomalies in the expression of the standard, tax centric theory of stock performances have been noted and described. While a tax centric hypothesis has explanatory power, this study examines evidence that there are additional forces of corporate governance, ownership concentration, and market capitalization that can adjust the performance of dividends independent of taxation. This study is a meta-analysis describing the Western standard for market forces pertaining to dividend taxation, on the assumption that stock prices must be adjusted to less than the amount of the dividend in order to compensate for taxation. Yet comparison with Asian markets introduces exceptions to that premise. Ultimately, more data is needed in order to falsify the tax centric hypothesis, however this principle is a subject to modification and interference by other market forces that influence the behaviors of investors and the performance of stocks. EVENT STUDY FOR EFFICIENT MARKET HYPOTHESIS – EX DI VIDEND DATA Table of Contents Abstract †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. p. 2 Introduction †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. p. 4 Methodology †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. p. 7 Chapter 1: Literature Review †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. p. 8 Chapter 2: Korean Markets †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. p. ... 31 Introduction Since the advent of tradable stocks on the national and international markets there has been a great deal of calculation and speculation in regards to the relationship between stock returns and dividend yields, both in the informal imagination of financial advisors, as well as in the formalized literature therein. Decades ago, popularize models of tax effects created the presumption that higher risk investments were necessary to compensate for returns that incurred greater taxes. Returns on investments should be risk adjusted with respect to stocks. This would compensate the investor for higher rates of taxation through higher dividend yields. This is necessary due to higher levels of taxation of dividend income as compared with capital gains income. (Brennan, 1970 p.417-427) To be specific, dividend income refers to profits yielded by a publicly traded corporation. In which case of course, the profits can be turned back into the business, to invest in facility enhanc ements, or possibly salaries – in which case they qualify as retained earnings. Or they can be distributed to shareholders who provided initial investments that contributed to the company's initial success. All in respect to the initial contribution based upon the value and number of shares purchased by a particular investor. (Sullivan and Sheffrin, 2003) these may take a variety of forms, such as currency cash dividends, Stock/scrip dividends that constitute additional shares of the Corporation, or property dividends, which can take a variety of forms including shares of another corporation or other assets or services. (Sullivan and Sheffrin, 2003) In many cases, taxation rates are higher for dividend income compared with capital gains. To be specific, we are referring to capital

There has been extensive research into whether employees are motivated Essay

There has been extensive research into whether employees are motivated purely by money, or whether there are other factors which - Essay Example One such theory is that employees are purely motivated by money. There are other theories that contradict this and argue that there are various other factors that motivate the employees and impact employee behavior. In this essay I evaluate both viewpoints and conclude my opinion on the debate. Motivation Before going on to see what motivates employees, it is first necessary to understand what exactly motivation is and the various motivation theories. Motivation is best defined by Armstrong (2002, p. 56) as a reason for a person to do something and move in a certain direction. Most people are motivated when they believe that a certain course of action leads to the achievement of a goal or results in a reward that satisfies a particular need. There are mainly two types of motivation: Intrinsic Motivation: This is motivation through work itself. This is a result of self generated factors which leads to people behaving in a particular way or particular direction. The various factors tha t are responsible for intrinsic motivation are creativity responsibility, challenging environment, scope for development of skills and abilities, growth opportunities, etc (Armstrong, 2007, p. 121). Extrinsic Motivation: Extrinsic motivation is inspired by what is done to or for people if they act in a certain way. That is, what is done to motivate people. These factors includes rewards such as pay, praise, recognition, raise and even punishments such as criticism, pay withholding, disciplinary action, etc (Armstrong, 2007, p. 121). Employee motivation depends on the individual. Each individual reacts to a situation in a different way and are motivated by different factors. Therefore, some employees are motivated by intrinsic factors while others are motivated by external factors. Money as motivator One of the very first theories that were published discussed how money is motivator for employees to perform better. It even concluded that money is the only factor that influences emplo yee motivation. Research was conducted by Fredrick Taylor in 1911 and according to him employees worked only on money. The reason for this is that when employees were offered pay based directly on their performance or productivity, it was observed that productivity increased. This resulted in greater productivity and proves the fact that money is an important motivator. There are various other researches that were conducted in order to prove the role that money plays as a motivator. It is argued that financial rewards give employees an opportunity to secure their personal lives. Main motive behind employees to work is that they want to earn money to take care of their personal life and their families. If money is taken out of the equation, irrespective of what the job offers, no employee would be willing to work. Hence money is a vital motivator. Money may not be the only motivator but is definitely the most fundamental one. There is evidence from various researches that have proved that where financial rewards are offered, better is the productivity and the commitment of the employees. One of the best examples of this is how the changes in the pay system made a direct impact on the productivity and growth of General Electric. CEO Jack Welch’s strategy of greater rewards for those employees with better individual and organizational performance made motivated the employees and resulted in the revitalization of the organization (Rynes et al., 2004, p. 392). In a recent survey,

ART (Fauvism) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

ART (Fauvism) - Essay Example Also evident in this era is the use of pure and unmixed colors that identifies Les Fauves literally translated as â€Å"The Wild Beasts†. Intense colors were not only used by the artists as an expression of themselves but also used as a vehicle to describe light and space (theartstory.org). With the influence of his mentor, Matisse experimented on the use of bright colors to express his emotional state and some other painters followed the same path such as Derain. Their subject matters are often landscapes, cityscapes and scenes of bourgeois leisure, still life, portraiture, domestic and studio interiors and particularly focused on the female figure (Dabrowski & theartstory.org). The Reclining Odalisque is an example of the latter which shows a woman reclining on a bed, half-naked. The woman appears to be resting with one of her hands under her head. she is clothed in a white robe that is partially exposing her body. The blanket is also white with streaks of blue color that is in contrast to the color of the bed sheet hanging over the bed as well as the background which is bright red. From the characteristics of Fauves described earlier and the objective of the era, which is for the artist to express his state of mind, it could be said that Matisse was expressing or communicating carnality. The woman lying on the bed is half-naked and this seems to be symbolical of sexual desires. The color of the background does not only catch the attention of the audience because of its brightness but also for its symbolical meaning in relation to the painting. Red is known to be representative of love, passion, desire and warmth. The color is used as a means to emphasize the meaning of the painting. This could show the painter’s state of mind when the painting was done. Of course the statement is not meant to say that there could have been an affair between the model and the painter rather, it is possible that the painter was

Epidemiology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Epidemiology - Essay Example The professionals in this field rely on biostatistics, biology, disciplines of social science, and assessment of exposure. Epidemiologists involve themselves in study design, data collection, statistical analysis of the data collected, and interpretation of the results, as well as the distribution of the results. This dissemination can be done in systematic reviews, which are occasional, and peer reviewed articles. It helps to inform institutions on policy decisions and medicine that is evidence based via the identification of disease risk factors and preventive medicine targets. This paper aims to take two case studies and address how epidemiology was concerned with efforts to describe, explain, predict, and control the examples. Anthrax is caused by Bacillus anthracis and has been known for more than a few thousand years (Preston, 2002). The causative organism was first described in the 1850s and was used as poof by Koch of Henle’s postulates. The first anthrax vaccines were developed by Toussiant and Greenfield, and the public demonstration was handled by Louis Pasteur in the year 1881 (Preston, 2002). The two vaccines exist in both human and animal form. Bacillus anthracis is a Gram-positive, spore forming, capsulated rod and survives by killing other cells. Its spores can survive for decades in the environment. Its pathogenicity depends on the pX01 and the pX02 plasmids, and it has two key strains. Strain A is found all over the world, while strain B is limited essentially to the southern part of Africa (Preston, 2002). Anthrax acts on the body cells by releasing toxins (Preston, 2002). PA or protective antigen binds itself to the receptor of the host cell, after which furin cleaves off and lets PA20 go free. PA83 undergoes heptamer formation with the enzymes acting as toxin binding to PA63. It is internalized into the cell via endocytosis that is receptor mediated. Acidification of this endosome is causes there to be

Standard costing and the relationship it may have with other Essay

Standard costing and the relationship it may have with other management accounting development - Essay Example Standard costs are pre-determined or forecast estimates of cost to manufacture a single unit, or a number of units of a product, during a specific immediate future period. They are usually the planned costs of the products under current and anticipated conditions, but sometimes they are the costs under normal or ideal conditions of efficiency, based on an assumed given output, and having regard to current conditions. They are revised to conform to super-normal or sub-normal conditions, but ore practically to allow for persisting alterations in the prices of material and labour. Therefore, a standard cost can be defined as â€Å"A pre-determined cost calculated with respect to a prescribed set of working conditions, correlating technical specifications and scientific measurements of materials and labour to the price and wage rates expected to apply during the period to which the standard cost is expected to relate, with an addition of an appropriate share of budgeted overhead. Its main objective is to provide bases of control through variance accounting for the valuation of stocks and work-in-progress and in exceptional cases for fixing selling prices.† The use of standards facilitates many business functions. Standards are very useful in the monitoring and controlling of business activities in general. The need for standard costs arises as a result of the benefits it provides for a business, such as Cost control does not merely refer to minimization of costs. Cost control means identifying costs with their benefits and ensuring that the costs are justified, given the benefits that are derived. Standard costs provide a very useful framework for cost control. The great value of standards in cost control is that they provide the ability to compare actual costs with desired costs on a timely basis. Timely reporting of difference i.e. monthly, weekly, daily or for each work shift etc, between actual and standard costs allows managers to take

Summarize the legal characteristics of personal property, real Essay - 3

Summarize the legal characteristics of personal property, real property, and bailments - Essay Example In the situation given, the fence may be considered a fixture if Eve and Frank or the previous owners thereof who sold the same in their favor, put up the fence with the intention of placing it there permanently. This may be determined by any or all of the following considerations: (i) materials used in the fence; and (ii) nature of business being conducted in the real property/land. If the materials used were light so that it can be easily destroyed or transferred, the owners thereof may have intended to classify the fence as personal property because the ‘permanent’ character cannot be seen therefrom. However, if the materials used in building the fence were strong such as concrete or steel, it can be easily inferred therefrom that the intention was to treat the fence as real property due to its permanent character. Also, the intention or purpose for building the fence may be gleaned from the nature of business in the area which is warehousing. Apparently, warehouse is supposed to be guarded to keep the contents thereof safe from burglars and robbers. Thus, it is quite logical to conclude that the fence may have been built by Eve and Frank for the sole purpose of giving protection to the warehouse which is within the area. The business of warehousing cannot be conducted if there will be no fence to safeguard it. Sometimes, a thing starts as personal property but by lapse of time and change in needs of the owners or parties involved, the same transforms into a real property. In this case, if the fence was built prior to the warehouse, the fence may have been previously treated as personal property. However, upon construction of the warehouse, the fence may have ripened into a real property because it became a necessary part of the warehousing

Communication Plan Final Proposal Essay Example for Free

Communication Plan Final Proposal Essay Usepersuasive communication to convince the CEO to take your suggested approach to solve Best Game Productions’ dilemma. The CEO must perceive the project as something the company needs. Considerthe noise that will detract the CEO from fully receiving your message, and construct your communication to address or avoid that noise. Createtwo tools to measure the effectiveness of your consultant communications. In designing these tools, consider who the audience of the tools will be and how to generate the most honest and objective feedback possible. Discusshow you will use the tools that you created to measure your effectiveness in the organization. Who will you ask to complete the tools, and how will you present the tools to the audience? What methods will you use to avoid bias in the feedback process? How will you use the feedback you receive to evaluate and improve your effectiveness as a consultant? Consider why the company is pursuing a solution and why it is pursuing it now. Consider the company’s customers. Communicatethe solution that you have selected for Best Game Productions. Format your paper and presentation consistent with APA guidelines. Create a 20-slide Microsoft ® PowerPoint ® presentation, with speaker notes, for the decision makers at Best Game Productions. Address the following in your presentation:  · The project background  · The deliverables (what you are going to do for them) To get this material Click this link https://bitly.com/1oJKWq6 When you get to college, it is a strange feeling. You have to go to class, which you are used to, but you have a lot more freedom than you may be used to. There are a lot of things to know about class, but there is much more to know about your life at college. Here are some tips to help you. Communications General Communications Write a persuasive proposal submission of no more than 700 words to the CEO of Best Game Productions. Complete the following in your persuasive proposal submission: Describe the project in terms the CEO can understand. Consider the CEO’s perspective, needs, and style of communication. Usepersuasive communication to convince the CEO to take your suggested approach to solve Best Game Productions’ dilemma. The CEO must perceive the project as something the company needs. Considerthe noise that will detract the CEO from fully receiving your message, and construct your communication to address or avoid that noise. Createtwo tools to measure the effectiveness of your consultant communications. In designing these tools, consider who the audience of the tools will be and how to generate the most honest and objective feedback possible. Discusshow you will use the tools that you created to measure your effectiveness in the organization. Who will you ask to complete the tools, and how will you present the tools to the audience? What methods will you use to avoid bias in the feedback process? How will you use the feedback you receive to evaluate and improve your effectiveness as a consultant? Consider why the company is pursuing a solution and why it is pursuing it now. Consider the company’s customers. Communicatethe solution that you have selected for Best Game Productions. Format your paper and presentation consistent with APA guidelines. Create a 20-slide Microsoft ® PowerPoint ® presentation, with speaker notes, for the decision makers at Best Game Productions. Address the following in your presentation:  · The project background  · The deliverables (what you are going to do for them)  · The methodology (how you are going to accomplish it)  · The outcome (what you will achieve for them)

Mannerism in art: An analysis

Mannerism in art: An analysis The stylistic categories are an important aspect of the history of art. Gombrich (1985) suggests that classification is a necessary evil that if taken as a tool that is also flexible and modifiable, can be valuable for art historians. Gombrich notes that while useful, categorisation has also been prone to critical abuse (p81). In other words derogatory nomenclature was often used when naming an art historical era. Baroque, which I would consider a very refined phase of technically crafted dramatic art, in fact was defined by the Oxford pocket dictionary of 1934 as grotesque (p81) as this was the immediate summary of its worth in the seventeenth century. Kaufman (2010) indicated that the categories mark historic periods of individual artists, however art critical analysis has always made it difficult to distinguish the categories and this has led to individual historians describing the categories or styles differently. To establish a permanent and agreed name to a genre or era of art could only happen successfully after that period had expired and time had lapsed for thorough deliberation it requires time and broadmindedness to deal with (Gombrich,1985, p81). Gombrich also states that such categories help us in the mastering an unstructured reality that is to say that as long as criticality in our application of such categories is maintained, new insights about what constitutes them can be gained. Categorisation is limited by language, complex concepts cannot always be expressed by words, and categories are often oversimplified into opposites: good/bad, visual/haptic, left/right etc. This system of opposites allows a range of values in between. In order to create an art category a style must be distinct and unique, therefore necessitating a term to describe it. If a style is neither unique nor distinct it would not require classification. Kaufmann (2010) believed that despite numerous stylistic terminology (p2) all art can be categorised into two major categories which are classical and non-classical. For example, Gothic art is classified as non-classical, while Barbaric and Barocco were described as post classical and degenerate at that time. However irrespective of this norm, there were exceptions to some styles like Mediaeval which was regarded as less beautiful but had some worthy attributes such as being more devout, more honest or more strong which according to historians of the time counted for more than mere orderliness (Gombrich,1985, p86). As Gombrich points out, the problem underlying the categorisation of art is the claim that arose in the 19th century that art historians can look at the historical development of styles in an objective and unbiased manner. That is to say without being influenced by their own agendas, political standpoints, need for oversimplification or cognitive biases. This is the proble m underlying all art categorisation, and through this understanding we can now go on to analyse the topic of mannerism as a historical art category. This essay will first of all attempt to offer a definition of mannerism, pointing out some inherent difficulties in doing so, it will then go on to look at some of the benefits of describing the historical period conventionally labelled as mannerist in this way, before looking at some of the drawbacks. Finally conclusions will be made about how helpful it is as a concept in the categorisation of historical art. 2. Mannerism as an art category 2.1 What is Mannerism, and why is the term controversial as an art category? Mannerism as it has been conventionally described in modern interpretations of historical art, is a style which came between the high Renaissance and the Baroque (1510-20 to 1600) periods and is sometimes was referred to as the late Renaissance (Wundram1985). One of the first issues when discussing Mannerism, is identifying exactly when it started, and when it finished, as while in Italy, it is thought to have ended in around 1580, but Northern Mannerism is thought to have extended into the early 17th century in Europe (Freedberg,1971). However according to Smyth (1992, p13) this set of stylistic conventions began to be adopted in around 1530, before becoming the norm in the 1540s and 1550s in the work of Vasari and his contemporaries. This highlights one of the first difficulties art historians have with the broad category of Mannerism. Deriving from the Italian maneriera, Mannerism refers to a style or manner and what exactly constitutes Mannerism has also been a matter of debate in art history. The term has been widely used in literature and architecture as well as in art. Vasari as a central Mannerist himself used the term to discuss an artists manner or method, in describing a particular artists style, and in attributing praise. However, the term has also been used according to Franklin (2001) by Vasari himself to criticise the work of Perugino as mannered meaning that his style was repetitious and this was thought to be unaturalistic and therefore negative (p14). Miedima (1978-79) points out that the term was originally used as a term of opprobrium (p20). As illustrated through these examples the term Mannerism and what is meant by it may have given rise to great deal of confusion as successive art historians used the term. What constitutes mannerism as a style is also not without its problems. Miedema (1978-9) defines the stylistic features thought of as Mannerism as artificiality, affectation, the stereotype and monotony furthermore these were interpreted arbitrarily as: anti-classicism, subjectivity, torment, anxiety and doubt, and violent emotionality (p21). Problematic is that fact that a term used to express what was negative about some art in the sixteenth century until around the nineteenth century has now been expanded to characterize the style of what we speak of as representing the entire period (ibid). The style of the period can also be seen as contravening the high Renaissance classical rule rooted more on visual perception and scientific naturalism. Rather mannerism is thought to be based more on intellectual preoccupation as evident in the late works of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and mid-career works of Michelangelo Mannerism as a style is not easy to categorise because of its diversity (Smith, 2007). The label defined a significant change in social behaviour and a noticeable brilliance in techniques of works of some artists. The term Mannerism itself is quite a profound indicator of the perception of general aesthetics. It denotes the acknowledgement of Style- the recognition of stylization integral to any art work and the implications this brings: Manipulation, adaption, abstraction. This in turn may have also have taken some of the devout piety away from the function of art works. Elongated forms, precariously balanced poses, and collapsed perspective; irrational settings and theatrical settings were reflected amongst characteristics of mannerists works. Parmigianos Work Madonna (1534-40) Florence, Uffizi, is a good example of the change of style and it was greatly believed to have been influenced by Raphael, but gave a great anti-classic character. Smith (2007, p) described the Madonna: Proportions are lengthened so that forms are attenuated; perspective is exaggerated, and there is great discrepancies of scale between the virgin and her attendants. Again a feeling of disquiet is produced by the column beautifully finished, but like a ruin supporting nothing, or* the enigmatic gentleman who opens a great scroll but instead of reading it turns his head in the opposite direction. The Madonna with the Long Neck is a very good example of divergent style from naturalism. The distorted proportion exemplified by elongated neck and arms brings about the concept of abstraction which was not the norm with the previous style. Smiths (2007) description concurs with the definition of Mannerists being advocates of tension and ambiguity as opposed to the rounded harmony of high renaissance. Mannerist composition lacks the balance and legibility that would have been necessary for art to be considered a complete, where all the relative parts played a role and reason was prominent. The whole perception of the entire work brings about an attitude of laziness or lack of seriousness especially to those used to high renaissance. The argument for the distortions would be that the artist was trying to heighten the notion of elegance and grace to express these famous historical figures. The mother of Christ therefore, was rendered larger than life or with an unrealistic perfection in certain anatomical features. A further example of Mannerists works is provided by the Scupture of Bologna (1581-83) The Rape of the Sabines. Matsui describes it as: Three figures twisting upwards in such a way as to form a Spiral, allowing, if not demanding, a 360 degree view of the work. Bolognas sculpture took on a flamboyant self-confidence, which clearly proved him to have at least one foot firmly placed in the next era, the Baroque. This goes to show how hard Mannerist artists are to defineà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Though the works reflects aspects of Michelangelos, Bologna went further than the usual forms of Michelangelos works by being more extravagant in terms of executing his shapes, which were more prominent in terms of their three dimensional nature, as described by Matsui. Such an approach went beyond the traditional boundaries of High renaissance, and was seen as a new phenomenon and probably the represented the foundation of a new style. High renaissance art being what it was at the time; an art style at peak in terms of its innovation, needed to be built on. Up-coming artists would have viewed the creative arena before them and may have seen invention as the most positive way forward. Another characteristic of mannerism worth noting is the use of space by the mannerist artists. Unlike the Renaissance where the space was definite and the view was provided with a fixed view point, in mannerism the space was extended to infinity and the side boundaries were removed (Wundram, 1985). Many of the themes used in Mannerist work paid homage previous masters works, styles and themes, as opposed to the norm of naturalism. Wundram (1985) points out that the movements focal point was for the first time considered to be in painting. This change in style can be seen as maturation from the high Renaissance and an extension of its qualities. The qualities displayed were anti classism and the move was seen to be a natural progression from High Renaissance. None of these descriptions and examples of what we now describe as Mannerism, solve the issue that the category became the term for defining the style of sixteenth century art, or at least part of that art (Miedema, 1978, p20), and that whether art can be qualified as Mannerist or not has depended on which criteria different authors applied and which were accordingly dismissed (ibid). The issue boils down to the debate around whether Mannerism is a style, a movement, or a period and the fact that it is commonly used to identify the European art and culture of the 16th century (Mobile reference, nd). 2.2 What led to the emergence of Mannerism? Mannerism as an art style emerged during a period of political unrest which includes the reformation, the plague and the sack of Rome in 1527. The style was more popular in Florence and Rome but spread all over Italy and northern Europe (Matsui, 2010). Although the origins of Mannerism have been attributed to the early sixteenth century, in 1555 a more radical style emerged which deviated from the masters in what was described as lazy ignorance or vain rashness, it was regarded as a complete philosophy and method of art (Smyth 1992). It was alleged that, these students became addicted to weak (not incorrect) design and feeble washed out colours, far from the truth and at the same time too resolute (ibid). The exact historical period of mannerism has been a subject of controversy; however it is generally seen to come between High Renaissance and Baroque. It is normally seen as the extension of the High Renaissance though it is mostly seen as Renaissance anti-classicism due to the natu re of works produced which are more abstract and do not reflect nature realistically. Mannerist artists were associated with great intellect and were no longer seen as crafts persons but rather scholars with great admiration of elegance and complexity. They could now stand apart from crafts men and be on equal terms with poets allowing for self-conscious interpretation of the events they recorded. With this freedom came great responsibility especially for visual artist. Poets could record the world with a degree of ambiguity and abstraction, but painters were limited in their presentation to a definite subject matter within the parameters of the four corners and flat nature of the canvass. Given the expectations that the art of the time would accurately represent its subject matter, it would have been extremely difficult to present an image with any degree of distortion or artistic licence. 3 Advantages of using Mannerism as a historical art category The Mannerist era heralded a new period of innovation. The period fostered creativity, through a lack of adherence to the particular principles of the time. There was also a distinctness and sharpness which showed a lot of independent thinking. The structure of work is well defined and well balanced and highly stabilised to support its own particular aesthetic qualities. Using examples of Mannerist art, this section will give evidence to support the notion that in order to communicate about the period, a category such as Mannerism is more helpful than unhelpful. EL Greco, The Annnuncial (1576) (see appendix) is an exceptional work which exemplifies the creativity and beauty of what is thought to be Mannerist art. The theme of the work is religious based, as religion or erotic nature themes were popular due to the upheaval of the period of that time. El Greco personifies successful mannerists art because he engages both exaggerations in his painterly application and his distortions of figures. He leaves out any attempt to render the scene in naturalistic terms; thereby entering fully into the realm of stylistic invention. The work depicts the announcement of birth of Christ, it shows Angle Gabriel appearing before the Virgin Mary accompanied by many other angles above the two figures, a dove painted in glowing white , which spread all the way towards the virgin signifies the presence of the holy spirit. The painting is more congested as figures are juxtaposition to fit in the limited space. Colour contradictions and elongated figures give the painting a general view of uncertainty and menace. But everything about the painting is contrived and makes no attempt to conceal the artifice. El Greco has defied the odds, and has demonstrated some compositional brilliance of the style. EL Greco used elements of design to harmonise the entire work making it aesthetically interesting. The distorted figures and pallet of variety of cool colours gives the work mystical view augmenting the theme. It might have been that El Grecos art was misunderstood during his time (especially the later work), but he was to have a significant impact on later artists. He gains influence amongst the modernist era especially with artists such as Picasso and The German Expressionists. This era of art was more aligned to self-conscious manipulations and personal sensibilities, and it is surprising to see a 16th Century artist stand up to this genre of extreme modernism. In hindsight one could say that El Greco was far beyond his time, and helped influence some of the most extreme and drastic changes in aesthetic awareness that still inform the art world today. It is helpful therefore to have a least a general category of association in which to place El Greco. He may not be noted as an obvious exponent of Mannerism but he falls heavily into its influence, and not by his association with High Renaissance. It is by the particular general detail of categories that we are reliant on placing artists in context to their historical time, and agreeing on the traits that identify them with that genre and not another. The intellectuality that is attributed to the Mannerist period embraced liberal ideologies that allowed for much more creative freedoms in arts and literature. This allowed a whole body of work to flourish that embraced these new liberties. Such work represented a clear departure from previous works represented by High renaissance and clearly showed that the beginning of something very new was happening in terms of stylistic categories. Clearly then, a stylistic category delineating the two periods is necessary. It might not be a coincidence that the first historically recorded female artist Sonofisba Anguissola (a student of Michelangelo) gained acclaim and significant success during these times. Although not a mannerist, she transcended limitations placed on her gender at the time to be considered equal amongst her male counterparts in a male dominated discipline. Did this freedom for intellectual curiosity exhibited by the Mannerists also extend to other disciplines? For instance, Galileos (1564-1642) accurate observations on planetary orbits and scientific theory that contradicted the Roman Catholic Churchs assertions also came towards the end of the Mannerist period. Thus the credit for these advancements needs to be justified under a general label that identifies the era, and the influences that brought about prevalent features of arts and culture at the time. Clearly the artistic paradigm shift represented by Mannerist art deserves a label. It is sometimes useful to have a historical category which reflects the origins of such an important change of convention and under which the collective achievements of a generation can be contextualised. 4 The disadvantages of using the term Mannerism as a Historical art category. Although it is useful to delineate the changes from High renaissance to Mannerism how a particular piece of art can be analysed into one category or another can sometimes present methodological difficulty without a common and agreed frame of reference. Such a conceptual tool is yet to be perfected. The painting Christ before Pilate (Tintoretto, 1565-1567) clearly illustrates this issue, as it has always been controversial whether it is Mannerist or not even though it can be dated to a period thought of as High Mannerist. Some have referred to it as an anti-classical style as it ran counter to High Renaissance, some prefer to look at it as it as late Renaissance while others did not give it any specific category (Smyth,1992). This illustrates the point that if we are to think of Mannerism as a period, rather than an identifiable style as it is commonly viewed then we may find ourselves in difficulty. Likewise if we look at Mannerism as a style rather than a period, a painting such as Tintorettos presents classification difficulties. This illustrates a clear disadvantage of using the term mannerism as a historical art category. However, in a discussion of Christ before Pilot Curtis (in Akker, 2010) looked at Mannerism as a neutral term, that can be seen as a legitimate art category depending on the painting and the argument put forward by the art historian. Furthermore Shearman (1961) also puts forward and argument to defend Mannerism as a good art category, he describes it as decorative stylisation which illustrates meaning of form and called it a stylish style. To illustrate this point he cites the work of Perino del Vaga, Vertumnus and Ponoma (1527) as a good example of Mannerist work. Akker (2010) describes the work: being almost that of the whole design, we are more immediately aware of the freedom in the distribution of their parts, as if they were abstract and not figurative material; for the figures, interlaced one with the other, are also deployed in a remarkably decorative way over the whole surface. This freedom of disposition is obtained by manipulations of considerable torsion, achieved, however, with perfect ease in the figures themselves. Grace, not tension, is the resultà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ But overall though there is still a confusion as to Mannerisms identity as a specific category or a flexible term to reference work that is not quite High Renaissance, nor accessible as Baroque. Franklin, (2001) believes that this leaves it as a rather redundant term in the canons of art classification, and in Mannerisms particular case it is often ignored or goes unnoticed as an art category altogether. The critical view at the time of deemed that Mannerism did not fall or fit well within the contemporary notion of what art was supposed to be (Akker, 2010, p28), and there was said to be a decline in art after the High Renaissance. Painting was said to have reached its peak during the time of Raphael and drastically declined after his death. This decline was attributed to the departure of artists from the then current style, which was based on the study of Nature rather the more intellectual approach based imagination and artifice. These were further described by Lanzi (C.1800) (cited in Akker, 2010) as imitating previous masters work in a literal and servile manner. He believed that the style represents a cultural shift that can be considered an inevitable phase in culture that could be considered normal in any society. He further describes it as a sort of fatality that: seems to prevail in all human things, rendering their duration in the same state of short continuance; so that after attaining their highest elevation, we may assuredly at no distant period look for their decline But the issue of interpretation and accessibility lies only with that time that mannerism was in affect; for in hindsight, with the advantage of noticing succeeding generations of art development, Mannerism looks now like a bold attempt to challenge perceived notions and shock a conditioned establishment into reconsidering its values, or at least speculate on other innovations in visual art. The fact that it was noted for its discrepancies with the established order means it only attracted more attention, and thus necessitated being a category in its own right. The problem of Mannerism being its own distinct category leaves another issue; that of a dual allegiance of those artists who were in part indulging in High Renaissance styles and yet who were also involved with Mannerist tendencies. Michelangelo is one such an artist. His early career paid much attention to copying the old masters; Giotto for instance, but always without complete reverence. He would analyse the drawing but the final rendition would be adopted and altered for his own pursuit in technique (Nagel, 2000). Michelangelos career was spurred by the need to adapt, change, and be inventive. It is not surprising then that he ended up belonging to both camps, and by the later stages of his career was implicated as Mannerist. It is possibly the failure of historical labelling that causes confusion, and indicates a weakness in Mannerism as a historical art category. Mannerism had another very identifiable feature that is, over simplification of forms. This approach has led to many misconception about the style, some view the unrealistic aspects of the work produced as sign of laziness or rushed work done without much consideration technical details (such as correct proportion) or that it lacked serious attention. Friedlaenders(1957) however defended this aspect of Mannerism and stated that such over simplification is due to the distinct character of the artistic and cultural movement in specific places at specific times. Friedlaenders also pointed out that any form of refinement through stylization tends to result in simplification of form. This was very much part of Michelangelos agenda in his later years. His late work often looked unfinished; the Rondanini Pieta (1564) being a prime example. If we did not know it, one would not recognise it as a work of Michelangelo due its rough appearance. Nagel (2001) explains Michelangelos choices as being more to do with process than final appearance. The artists himself is noted for being intrigued about the process of sculpting. He did not anticipate a finished piece, but was open to a sense of discovery that that lay within a block of stone. For Nagel it appears as a reversal of the usual process, where excavation enables the artist to merely discover what already lay within. For this reversal of attitude to take place is a big upheaval in historical terms and requires distinction and categorization. The problem occurs when you have to refer to one artist; who is so well esteemed, as being a practitioner of both these disparate practices. However, there is no reason that the category of Mannerism should be ignored or brushed under the carpet by art historians because of this discrepancy, as will be discussed further in the next section. 5 Discussion The problem with the classical period was that the concept of what constituted an art form was too prescriptive. It was formalised into proportional figures, accurate perspective, round 3 dimensional composition, and naturalistic colour scheme. Under this strict regimen of constructing a painting the artist had little subjective input. It is not surprising that during this era the artists turned to a Mannerist style which allowed room for invention. This change in style marks a change in the perception and the function of an art work. Without a rigid system of application art elements and principles could be explored with a broader and bolder sense of creative design. Suddenly a dynamic quality of rhythm and symmetry evoked more imaginative possibilities in a picture surface, where elongated figures had more potential for movement in themselves. Renaissance art itself was a new achievement at a time of critical self-questioning in: religion, politics and culture. It was a tendency of artists to always be searching for different forms of expression. Mannerism appears to be a consequence of these introspective circumstances, as much as any modern art movement would have been a response to drastic changes to material and social upheavals. Categories seem easier to apply during the twentieth century than during the sixteenth Century due to the rapid succession of various movements that reacted to each other. But Mannerism was just as much a reaction to its predecessor, and a bridge in the historical continuum that leads to the Baroque. A land mark (and thus a historical art history category) therefore applies as well for Mannerism as it does for Cubism. Although mannerism is often over looked as a category in art development, it is in fact a very crucial dividing line in the history of art. It draws a definite line between scientific naturalism and more elaborate creative tendencies. This is very relevant and definitive moment in the transitional annals of art development. It defines a moment when the hierarchy of the art establishment was challenged and superseded to allow choice and alternative applications. As Kaufmann (2010) notes, although there may have been disagreement about whether a work of art should be labelled a particular label, such debates were often productive and new period concepts, like Mannerism, were discussed. As stated in the introduction as long as such historical debates continue critically, labels such as mannerism are a helpful term of reference, and enable opportunities for new scholars to become aware of the issues involved in art classification. In fact it could be the existence of art history courses that reinforce or necessitate such labels (Kaufman, 2010), in order to enable such debates to have a common terms of reference however problematic. 6 Conclusion There are always going to exceptions when classifying art historical epochs. We have seen how Michelangelo might be deemed as the greatest practitioner of High Renaissance, but also reverted to an anti-classic methods leaving speculation that is difficult for some art historians to reconcile. Perugino was also hard to classify in historical reference. The problems with classification have probably got a lot to do with the nature of language, especially written language. Until Vasari oral tradition had prevailed where information is temporal not material. The following tradition of written history meant the emergence of the Historian/analyst and the specific discipline associated with this practice. Most art historians like the debate to be simple, rounded and clearly articulated without confusion. Mannerism does not work as a perfect narrative and is hard to present conclusively as a period without contradiction. But it would be hard not to stumble across contradictions considering t he length of time spanned by this era; nearly one hundred years. Meidema (1978) certainly believes that it is inadequate to tie up this amount of time with one simplistic label. The problem probably accrued as there was only a few chroniclers recording the achievements of that time, and so large generalisations occurred. But given that there was a discernable shift in the collective intellectual imagination during that time it needs to occupy its own identifiable place in reference to written history. The term Mannerist is useful for a general referral to an art practice from 1510-1600, but also deplete and extremely awkward if you wish to investigate certain aspect of that era in more detail. One might say that the term Mannerism is no less stigmatizing than the term Fauvism used to describe modern European colourists comprising of that group. But whilst even here there may be some confusion and artists that do not fit the description comfortably as the time scale for the Fauves wa s reduced to four years.

Does Class Size Matter?

Does Class Size Matter? Does class size affect a students performance in school? Both sides could be argued upon, but neither would win without the proper evidence defending their side. Here is the evidence to put this debate to rest, class size does affect academic performance. Smaller class for a student as well as for teachers are a good thing. Research supports the common-sense notion that children learn more and teachers are more effective in smaller classes. (General OneFile) Its common sense that smaller class are more effective for students to learn and teachers to help their students. The larger the class, the least likely it is for the teacher of the class to give every student the help they need. For a student to be able to succeed the teacher has to be able to help them until they understand on their own enough to handle it by themselves. The more the teacher is able to help, the more they learn and the more they learn, the more they will achieve in their futures. Studies have shown that small classes have a beneficial effect on the academic achievement of children from low-income families and those learning English as a second language (ESL). These are the students that the majority of educators are increasingly dealing with. Not only were small classes studied, but large ones as well. The findings show that overcrowded classrooms are associated with lower student achievement as confirmed by reading and mathematics competency tests. (Robert J. Rios) Test scores show that smaller classes are effective at bettering achievements of low income and minority students. Smaller classes help low-income and minority students learn better as well as faster. Larger classes are could be very harmful to students both educationally and financially. The evidence suggests that increasing class size will harm not only childrens test scores in the short run, but also their long run human capital formation. Money saved today by increasing class sizes will result in more substantial social and educational costs in the future. (Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach) Raising the size of a class will effect a students test scores as well as hurting them in the long run money wise. Saving money now by increasing class size now will hurt the student in the long run. Its not good for the schools to cut cost now by making class sizes bigger, to effect the student later by having to spend more money to get where they needed to be in the first place. Class size is an important determinant of student outcomes, and one that can be directly determined by policy. All else being equal, increasing class sizes will harm student outcomes. (Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach) Incr eased student numbers in universities coupled with reduced resources have often resulted in larger class sizes, thus encouraging a reversion of the traditional style of delivery and a reduction in small group and tutorial contact in short, less interactive teaching and learning. (William Duncan Papo) By increasing student class sizes in schools to reduce resource use has often resulted in the reduction of interactive teaching and learning,ÂÂ   you would be decreasing the time that the students could possibly need with the teacher, but not being able to have because there would be too many students to get that opportunity. Raising class size could potentially hurt a students outcomes of achievement educationally. [If you use endnotes, they should be on a separate page, at the end of your text and preceding the list of works cited. If you use footnotes, consult your professor for preferred format.] Class Size Change From Elementary to High School Average Class Sizes: Elementary Class Size Middle School Class Size High School Class Size Average Class 21 16 17 Source: https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/tables/sass1112_2013314_t1s_007.aspAs you see class size greatly effects a student academically as well as capitally. Policymakers should take into account the facts that students learn better and fast in smaller classes where the teacher can get to all her students. Works Cited Bonesronning, Hans. Class Size Effects on Student Achievement in Norway: Patterns and Explanations. Southern Economic Journal 69.4 (2003): 952. General OneFile. Web. 9 Feb. 2017. Class-Size Reduction: Better Than You Think. PRWeb Newswire 18 Feb. 2014: n. pag. General OneFile. Web. 7 Feb. 2017. Guillemette, Yvan. School Class Size: Smaller Isnt Better. C.D. Howe Institute Commentary 15 Aug. 2005: n. pag. General OneFile. Web. 7 Feb. 2017. Johnson, Laurene. Does Class Size Really Matter? District Administration Oct. 2011: 104. General OneFile. Web. 6 Feb. 2017. PAPO, WILLIAM DUNCAN. LARGE CLASS TEACHING: IS IT A PROBLEM TO STUDENTS? College Student Journal 33.3 (1999): 354. General OneFile. Web. 9 Feb. 2017. Rios, Robert J. School of Education at Johns Hopkins University-Class Size: Does It Really Matter? Does It Really Matter? N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2017. Schanzenbach, Diane W., Professor. Does Class Size Matter? National Education Policy Center. N.p., Feb. 2014. Web. 07 Feb. 2017. Table 7.Average Class Size in Public Primary Schools, Middle Schools, High Schools, and Schools with Combined Grades, by Classroom Type and State: 2011-12. Table 7.Average Class Size in Public Primary Schools, Middle Schools, High Schools, and Schools with Combined Grades, by Classroom Type and State: 2011-12. Schools and Staffing Survey, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2017. Is Education the Best Solution to Poverty? Is Education the Best Solution to Poverty? For majority of African children, education represents the only solution of a life of rooted poverty. Across the continent, a large number of children currently survive on less than one dollar a day. Children who can read, write and do some arithmetic can hope to get better paid job in future. But school is much more than just job skills. It plays an increasingly important role helping children protect themselves against the diseases which can destroy poor communities. Simple information on day-to-day hygiene and prevention saves lives and keeps the families together. Finally,ÂÂ  school builds cohesiveness, community and confidence. Educated children are less chance to become victims of violence and abuse. They are more likely to invest in improving their community when they are grown. And the follow-on effects of even basic education quickly multiply, as children who have benefited from schooling themselves strive to secure even better opportunities for their own families. In Africa, its common for schools be shut down because of wars and political turmoil. Genocide in Darfur, civil war in Liberia, war in Cote dIvoire and economic strife in Zimbabwe have all shut down schools and disadvantaged students. Schools in many countries in Africa are plagued with corruption, cheating and violence. Schools are also short on teachers and supplies. Even though education is free, compulsory until age 15 and schools also provide a nutrition and HIV/AIDS awareness program still education is interrupted by violence in many African countries.ÂÂ  In order to improve the education systems throughout Africa, efforts have to be made to stop the violence and wars by implementing economic sanctions and arms embargos. The financial crisis had halted improvements in education for children in impoverished countries. If education budgets are not protected from the ravages of the financial crisis all the progress could be jeopardized and generations will be condemned to poverty. ÂÂ  More than $4 billion annually would be lost from education budgets in sub-Saharan Africa due to the impact of the global economic crisis which accounts to around 15% drop in resources for each primary school student. Every 3.6 seconds one person dies of starvation in Africa. Usually it is a child under the age of 5. Poverty hits children the hardest. While a severe lack of goods and services hurts every human, it is most threatening to childrens rights: survival, health and nutrition, education, participation, and protection from harm and exploitation. It creates an environment that is damaging to childrens development in every way mental, physical, emotional and spiritual.ÂÂ  More than 1 billion children are deprived of at least one of the essential goods and services they require to survive, grow and develop. They have no access to sanitation facilities and not even safe water which causes about 4000 deaths per day. Efforts should be made to provide safe water and helps displaced communities replace or find new water resources and build latrines. There should be awareness and monitoring of the issues likeÂÂ  risk of abduction, sexual violence and exploitation of children, struggle fo r shelter, education etc. and tougher laws for child exploiters. Population Explosion is another factor which compels to provide more stress on education in Africa. The underlying cause for prevailing problems such as population increase, poverty and high mortality rates is low or no education for women in Africa. There would be no development advancement unless women received education. In impoverished areas of Africa, it is still a practice to place priority on boys schooling, while girls are expected to help with housework or farming. Women who have no or little chance of receiving an education are usually forced to marry at a young age, which often leads to multiple childbirths in uncertain conditions and often end up with no knowledge of how to save themselves from the risk of infection or HIV. So ultimately it makes more difficult for mothers to give due consideration to the nutrition, health and hygiene of their babies. Family planning to control the population explosion and improvement in health systems facilities are needed in those impov erished areas. Educated Women are likely to marry late and have healthy babies. They would be more fruitful to family in financially and health wise. All these challenges emphasize the need to provide quality education which will be cost effective and will encompass all masses. Use of latest technological innovations can make this possible. Use of technologies like Distance education and language translation can provide students with education in their language and at their own pace. Making use of Unified Software engine using Software Stability Model will help in designing and building systems that are stable, scalable and long lasting. Also using these technologies the requirement for large infrastructures is largely reduced thereby reducing their cost. As imparting education using advanced technologies does not require the presence of instructor on the site, students can avail seamless education at their own convenience. This will reduce their dependency on presence of a trained facilitator. Using graphical and visual tools the quality of education received by these deprived masses can be greatly enhanced. As rapid growth in te chnological development, more and more tools and innovations can be utilized to improve quality of education distribution. To deal with the challenges faced by students in Africa we need to follow few measures to overcome them which are as follows: 1. Distance Education Distance education is a technology that aims to deliver education to students who are physically not present at the educational site. It helps students to gain access to learning material even if the educator or learning material and the learner are separated by time or distance or both. This technology is being widely used across the world by many universities and educational institutions. It provides students the freedom to study from home and study at their own convenient time. Studies prove that due to prevalent economic crisis in many countries in the African continent there is a substantial decrease in budget devoted to development of educational systems. These countries have to manage their scarce budgets to provide quality education to students. This emphasizes the need to develop educational systems that require less cost to develop and maintain but at the same time do not compromise on the quality of education. Use of technologies like Distance education which require less cost and still provide good quality of education are the key. Distance education technology will help in reaching the deprived students in Africa who either cannot attend schools due to poverty or they are living very far away from school or educational center. Schools that have substantial funds can invest in providing facilities required for distance learning like computers and internet connection. Distance education makes use of material reuse and the material can be stored for long duration so distance education does not need much infrastructure to maintain and reduce the cost of the whole educational system. Different classes of women who are otherwise deprived of any form of formal education can benefit largely from distance education facilities. Women who are housewives are required to be at home all the time can sit at home and study without causing any disturbance in their marriage and keep on taking care of their children while studying. Another group of women who are denied education because it requires face to face interaction with facilitators will greatly benefit from distance education as they can pursue education by keeping safe distance from the instructors and still access quality education. Women who are uneducated but working to provide for their family can benefit from learning at their own convenience and time. It will increase their self- esteem and also help them to enhance their career through education. This project will provide students with a website accessing which students can register and create user accounts .They can log in to these accounts and register for courses they are interested in. They can access the material that they require online and also log in to attend online classes provided on the site. The University Of South Africa (UNISA) is one such institution that provides boost to higher education. It is one of the largest institutions in the world that boasts over 120,000 registered students studying for qualifications, through the doctoral level. 2. Language Translation Languages play an important role in learning process. Many of the African countries that are multilingual are unable to access technology because of the language barrier. The language of propagation of technology is different from their native language. Hence they cannot use the services provided by these technologies. Language translation tools are tools that can be used to convert learning materials, documents and also web pages from English language into some other language of interest. If the educational and other important content available on the internet is not provided in local language then it is of no use of this information. Extensive use of any particular language in importance correspondences like government notices, tenders, and official invitations can cause ignorance about their rights among people. Language here is not only a means of communication but also has social impact. Use of language translation tools to convert learning material into native languages can remove the need for students to study a number of foreign languages. Progress of students will also be faster as the material in their native language will be easy to understand than any foreign language. Thus poor people who have very less opportunities for gaining education can make most of it. This will speed up their learning process and increase their chances of availing higher education and consequently earn better living. Uneducated population of women is one of the causes leading to population explosion in Africa. When a woman is educated she can take care of whole family and herself. Women need to be educated about day-to-day hygiene requirements and health concerns. They should be able to understand the need for proper care of babies which will help decrease infant mortality rate. Education facilities are made available to women in their native languages through use of Language Translation tools. Learning about important issues through their own mother tongue can have lasting effect on these women even if they are not very educated. This project will provide facility to translate available material in selected languages. Registered users can submit the document that they wish to get translated in any of the language available. They can then access the material in the language they are comfortable with. Among a number of organizations that provide language translation, web-lingo is one such organization based in South Africa. This organization offers both technical as well as nontechnical translation solutions to web development and software companies to translate their content into and from about 85 languages. One of their projects includes a program that runs on top of standard Microsoft Office Software. 3. Seamless Education: Seamless Education system as one that represents an integrated concept of education that stretches from early childhood through a four-year college degree .It breaks down between high school and college, academics and career/technical education and public education and the workplace. The purpose of seamless education is to prepare capable citizens, whether or not they attend school or college. So teachers align courses and create interdisciplinary projects. It is an effort to increase high school completion rates, test scores, school/college enrollment, job placements, economic conditions, family support. The key to economic development is an educated workforce. If Africans have to lead a better life they must equip their children and grandchildren with the skills needed to be educated and employed. A seamless system of education will ensure that we have an educated and prepared workforce to overcome all the challenges hindering their growth and development. Education is key to all issues. If our next generation is educated they can be employed and will work at well-paid jobs. If finance is there economic conditions, health conditions, sanitation, poverty all will certainly improve. The major challenge is to make education easily accessible to everyone in the continent. This can be very well accomplished with seamless education system. Teachers from all over world should be invited to map out which concepts should be taught and when will those be taught. The basic classes such as English language arts, mathematics, science and social studies should be must. To start with preschoolers should be encouraged. Women Education should be encouraged. Educational authorities envision a seamless education system starting with early childhood progressing through general education and training, higher and adult education. Another issue is that a large number of students enroll in fields of commerce and health science. This creates a major imbalance between arts and humanities on one hand and technology and science on the other hand. The output of graduates in fields of science and technology should increase to balance the ratio between technical and university students. It is believed that seamless education will help in improving the balance to a significant extent. Health Conditions can also improve by providing education in fields of medicine. Access to quality medicines are needed to improve health conditions. So access to get quality treatment should be in range of affordability, acceptability and physical availability. Proper training to workforce is needed to coordinate medicines management from doctor level to patient level. Unfortunately pharmacists and pharmacy support personnel are very few in Africa. Trainings are also provided but at insufficient scale. So the fundamental solution to scale up health conditions is to increase number of qualified pharmacists via higher education via seamless education system. Some of the major goals of a Seamless System can be as: Smoothing student transitions from one level of learning to the next. Closing the achievement gap between white and minority students. Balancing the ratio of technical and human science students. Strengthening relationships between families and schools. Creating a wider range of learning experiences and opportunities for students in the final two years of high school. Improving institutes readiness and success. 4. Animations and Visualizations: The challenge to provide education to students is how to educate them to have a solid impact in their learning. In layman terms, Animations, a type of optical illusion, are graphical displays that evolve overtime. ÂÂ  It could be drawing, objects, or people in various positions of additive movement. However, when played, it produces a stream of unbroken motion of images. Consisting of a series of drawings or photographs on paper, animation can be viewed with a mechanical device or flipping through hand-held sequence of images. Animations could be seen on films, video, or computers. Visualizations on other hand include static display of graphical images. Visualizations can absorb a lot of information and display in a manner so that it memorizes. ÂÂ  AnimationÂÂ  has a place in learning and instructional applications .Programs that use animations or visualizations attract student interest and offer feedback that can enhance different learning styles. Animation is a great classroom activity, allowing teachers and students to explore and develop a more creative time table in Math, Science, English and many topic areas. Being fun, creative and hands-on learning, animation encourages both teachers and students as they use simple IT practice, and is uniquely suited to all classrooms. The online centers website will be been designed to share examples, resources, ideas and approaches to animation in education. All the animation films featured will be available to students and teachers to enhance the learning process. Animation can used to provide extra help where it is needed. Content related graphics (both static and animation) and video can help improve student attitudes and motivation in certain subjects, mainly mathematics and science. Technical Feasibility of the project : All the above technologies proposed that will be used in the building of the project are available in the market. Labor requirements for the project: The project will require Senior level management including Project manager and Professional staff including Software developers and Analysts. Office staff is required to manage the centers. Physical location of the project: It will require a center where students can visit. The center must be located in Africa. Technology Requirements: Computer Hardware and Software: The project will require computer systems with latest configurations and software. A database server and networking technology to connect client and server machines is required. Also some basic systems that can be used by students to access the material and information is needed. Internet connection: High speed internet connection is required. Commercial feasibility: Funds will be acquired from Education committees that work towards development of education in Africa as well as from other developed countries that allot funds in their budgets to help educational systems in Africa. Technical Challenges: Selecting location of the education center in Africa. If no internet facility is available in remote areas, then towers will be needed for providing internet connection. Commercial Potential : The investment done in the project will help to provide quality education to students in Africa. Although there will be no tangible profit the return on our investment will be obtained by achieving development of African countries through spread of education