Saturday, December 28, 2019

Essay on Social Networking in Business - 1149 Words

Mike Swanstrom 3/29/2010 Social Networking In Business Introduction Social networking in business is the study of individuals interacting socially for business purposes. This can be done either electronically, or not electronically. Usually when social networking occurs electronically, it is achieved through network-based interfaces. Social networking is primarily focused around one thing: connections. One can utilize every social network that exists (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), but unless there is some type of value being provided on that network, (some reason that others would want to connect with that person), they stand no chance of successfully using social networking to make any progress from a business standpoint. Facebook†¦show more content†¦Twitter – does it help Social Networking? Twitter is another popular social networking site, and is similar to Facebook in many ways, but also different in many ways. Twitter is beneficial to the social networking world, because it allows users to quickly and easily update those that care about their business on the internal goings on one’s company. Twitter also allows users to quickly and easily post updates about their ‘status’, and what they’re currently doing. Twitter is very popular among many celebrities and athletes, and is arguably more popular in that retrospect than Facebook. There are many reasons for this, and many are for subjective reasons. However, one reason is that Twitter is a more private social networking site than Facebook. The sole purpose of Twitter is to provide one’s status, and list only very broad information about the user. Facebook, on the other hand, usually contains m ore personal information in one’s profile. This private aspect is one reason that many celebrities and athletes prefer it over Facebook. Twitter utilizes the popular catchphrase â€Å"Tweet it.† Just completed a new product line? Tweet it. Just hired a new employee? Tweet it. Business is moving to a remote location? Tweet it. The ‘tweet it’ catchphrase was critical to the site’s success in the business world, as the lingo prompted users to observe Tweeter, and try it out. However, Twitter is stillShow MoreRelatedSocial Networking in Business1001 Words   |  5 PagesBusinesses today are growing more aware of trends in social and business networking to assist them in growing, developing products, services and the advertising to draw consumers to them in ever increasing numbers. â€Æ' Social Networking in Business Many businesses are using social networking to see what consumers are saying about products and what will likely be purchased by people. Companies such as Pizza Hut, Papa John’s and Sears are using networking sites. Someone can become a fan of Papa John’s onRead MoreSocial Networking in the Business World Essay1435 Words   |  6 PagesAbstract Business professionals today face challenges that just did not exist centuries ago. In a world of tough competition and ever-changing trends, to be successful and effective in business, you must constantly strive to stay one step ahead of your competitors, and be on the lookout for new ways to get noticed. Social networking has emerged as one of the latest trends in business today, and utilizing the social media for sales, marketing, and recruiting can drive your business and help itRead MoreImpact of Social Networking Websites on Business2519 Words   |  11 Pages IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES ON BUSINESS | Asheri George MatembeleApril 16, 2013 | Table of Contents Abstract 2 Introduction 3 Literature Review 3 Comparison of Social Networking Websites 5 Benefits of using social network websites for business 6 How to Use Social Networking Websites for Business 8 Problems Associated with Social Networking Websites 10 Conclusion 10 References 11 Abstract A social networking website is a social structure build-up of individuals or organizationsRead MoreBenefits Of Social Networking On Small Business2027 Words   |  9 Pagesbenefits might social networking websites offer to small business? There are so many benefits social networking websites offer to small businesses. When an individual starts a business, the main motive for starting the business is profit and to achieve that the company must be recognized, before the internet became available small business struggled to get recognition and there no proper way to make sure that their business existed but the arrival of internet changed all this ex specially social networkingRead MoreSocial Networking in Business and Human Resources2312 Words   |  10 PagesSocial Networking in Business and Human Resources Rebecca Moriarty Troy University Introduction to Information Systems IS 3300 XTIB Dr. Rodger Morrison February 27, 2011 With the growth and explosion of popularity of the internet in the recent past, there has been a significant increase in the use of social networking sites. More than ever people and businesses are now using the internet with the purpose of having access to social networking sites. It is in these sitesRead MoreImpact of Social Networking Websites on Business2526 Words   |  11 Pages IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES ON BUSINESS | Asheri George MatembeleApril 16, 2013 | Table of Contents Abstract 2 Introduction 3 Literature Review 3 Comparison of Social Networking Websites 5 Benefits of using social network websites for business 6 How to Use Social Networking Websites for Business 8 Problems Associated with Social Networking Websites 10 Conclusion 10 References 11 Abstract A social networking website is a social structure build-up of individuals or organizationsRead MoreAdvantages And Disadvantages Of Social Networking On Business1769 Words   |  8 PagesBy the use of blogs business organisation can share the information about their brand, new product and customer service awareness and also the links where they can get product easily. The blog is the best way to aware the customer about the usage, precaution relating to the usage of products. The blog is significant tool for business as they can get the feedback and comments regarding the product from customers (Laroche et al., 2013). The authors also concluded that business should focus on the creatingRead MoreTitle : the Enhancement of Social Networking Tools in Business1099 Words   |  5 Pagesthrough networking, precisely social networking to enquire tremendous methods for problem solving. This study represents a research on the influence impact social networking tools has done to business env ironments. Studies have shown that most SMEs rise with the help of social network has developed its own platform to encourage entrepreneurs to exceed at the highest level possible to be able to compete in the major market. The major findings have emerged as follows: A) Since social networking toolsRead MoreSocial Networking And Relationships : Comparing Business Models1906 Words   |  8 PagesNicole Van Cleve LEAD 861 Megan Church-Nally June 18, 2016 Social Networking and Relationships: Comparing Business Models to Education Models In a society where we spend more time with the people we work with than our own families, Social Relationships in the workplace could not be more important. In order for our work to feel satisfactory we must connect and maintain social relationships and networks. Social communication is almost as important in the workplace as the actual work itself is. ItRead MoreEffects of Social Networking on Business Growth Development3775 Words   |  16 PagesCHAPTER ONE introduction The advent of the Atomic or Space Age has focused attention on the specific approach to business decision making. In no field of management has this been more pronounced than in the field of marketing. Following naturally from the more advanced technologically progress and higher standard of living in Canada, the United States and other developed economies, scientific marketing has made greater strides in North America than if has anywhere else in the world. The

Thursday, December 19, 2019

Writing A Story Of Revenge And Feel Better Without Break...

They say that they like series of articles and that they allow linking from one article to another within the website. If that is the case, it may be a good idea to submit a series of these over time. For example, each of the headers could be used as the topic of another article. For example, â€Å"How to write a story of revenge† or â€Å"How to write a story of revenge and feel better without break the law.† This article could then be re-edited to include reciprocal links to the articles within the website. ESSAYS-33135 #14 How to deal with emotional difficulties with the help of writing Writing has the power to allow you to communicate feelings and ideas with a large group of people, but many are unaware that writing also has a therapeutic quality. It is quite possible to use the act of writing to soften and heal your emotional difficulties. In addition, whilst you are healing, you may also inadvertently create some truly fantastic fictional content. Warning - To All Writer Our There Writing can help with your emotional troubles in more ways than I can articulate. There have been times in my life when I have experienced the worst hardships, and yet in some way, the act of writing helped make me feel better and even more well adjusted as a person. However, writing is a very solitary and isolated hobby, so if you take it up as a profession, you have to know when to give it a rest for a while. Being isolated and solitary for extended periods can sometimes make your emotionalShow MoreRelatedFrancis Bacon: Of Revenge - Exploratory Analysis Essay1134 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿Noe Ayala Dr. Wilson Composition II 11/12/13 Revenge: Is an eye for an eye what is best? Sir Francis Bacon was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, orator and author. In 1597 he wrote a short story called â€Å"Of Revenge†. When I came across the short story in my book Reading Literature and Writing Argument I became interested in the story after reading the title. Revenge always happens to be a very interesting topic, typically filled with drama or action. After reading I beganRead MoreChasing Your Liberty. Merriam-Webster’S Dictionary Defines1847 Words   |  8 Pagesquestioning a lot of what I had been taught throughout grade school. What They Fought For 1861-1865 invested a slightly different opinion on what I thought the war truly meant to the people who had fought in the Civil War. While there are two sides to every story, there was certainly two sides to what these braves souls believed they were fighting for, whether they were part of the Union or sided with the Confederacy. What They Fought For 1861-1865 by James M. McPherson gives detailed accounts from both theRead MoreEssay on Saying Please Chap 173185 Words   |  13 Pagescarrying a comment on manner too far. Discourtesy is not a legal offence, and it does not excuse assault and battery. If a burglar breaks into my house and I knock him down, the law will acquit me, and if I am physically assaulted, it will permit me to retaliate with reasonable violence. It does this because the burglar and my assailant have broken quite definite commands of the law, but no legal system could attempt to legislate against bad manners, or could sanction the use of violence against somethingRead MoreProblems and Aspirations of Youth as Highlighted in the Novels of Chetan Bhagat5079 Words   |  21 PagesHIGLIGHTED IN THE NOVELS OF CHETAN BHAGAT INTRODUCTION: Trying hands on contemporary writing and then reigning over hearts of millions is not that easy as has been proved by one of the prominent writers of the day – Chetan Bhagat. Very few authors have managed to reach out to such a wide audience as Chetan Bhagat. There is originality of content in his writings and when he writes people feel as if it is their story. He is a phenomenon that has affected everybody, touched everybody’s life. Indian PublishingRead More The Role of Alfieri in Miller’s A View from the Bridge Essay7327 Words   |  30 Pagescommentator and at other times we see him as Arthur Millers mouthpiece moving the action quickly onwards explaining and interpreting the action for the audience. The structure of the play is very important to the content of the performance. The story is set out in two very definite acts which is important to the audience and their understanding of the play. The events of Act I are mirrored in Act II, although in a more serious manner. For instance, the recital of ‘Paper Doll’ by Rodolfo early inRead MoreInterpretation of the Text13649 Words   |  55 Pagesliterary work Literature is writing that can be read in many ways. We can read it as a form of history, biography, or autobiography. We can read it as an example of linguistic structures or rhetorical conventions manipulated for special effect. We can view it as a material product of the culture that produced it. We can see it as an expression of beliefs and values of a particular class. We can also see a work of literature as a selfcontained structure of words - as writing that calls attention to itselfRead MorePsychoanalysis of Medea2843 Words   |  12 Pages In order to get a true picture of Medea, the myth of Medea should be examined. Ovid has given a picture of Medea in his Metamorphoses. Patricia B. Salzman Mitchell describes the psychology of Medea, as portrayed in Ovids Metamorphoses: When her story begins in Book 7, she is no more than a girl, but a girl who promptly falls in love and would give it all to gain her beloved. Her desire springs from an image of Jason. The text first describes how she became passionate for the hero (concipit intereaRead More Horrors of Ghetto Life Exposed in Whoreson and Dopefiend Essay4078 Words   |  17 Pagesjail-because he was supporting himself and his heroin addiction by taking part in many illegal activities. During the last of his many prison terms, Goines finally found his way out of having to rely on crime for his way of living. He did this by writing about his life on the streets. His first two books, Whoreson and Dopefiend, were actually written during his last prison term. One critic of Goines, his biographer Eddie Stone, says the following about these books: Whoreson, like most of Donald GoinessRead MoreThe Theme of Isolation in Various Literature2569 Words   |  11 Pagesof research, writing, and speculation has resulted from the famous arctic pursuit of the mad trapper by the R.C.M.P. during the winter of 31 and 32. The attempts to reveal some understanding of the unorthodox manhunt which still even today remains futile, have lead Rudy Weibe to provide us with a fascinating perspective on the story itself. Spike Millen is the leader of the manhunt who undergoes changes as the novel progresses. He begins as a dedicated competent and helpful law enforcement officerRead MoreA Short Analysis of Aeschylus Agamemnon4558 Words   |  19 Pagesprovides a time lapse to allow the watchman to inform Clytaemnestra of the news of the fall of Troy and directs the audience by informing them that it has been ten years since Agamemnon set out for Troy. The reason for this war is Pariss betrayal of the laws of hospitality by stealing Helen from Menelaus. • Agamemnon and Menelaus are likened to vultures robbed of their young, the agony sends them frenzied where Helen equates to their young. The vultures are described they row their wings another

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Massed Practice And Dictributive Practice Essay Example For Students

Massed Practice And Dictributive Practice Essay Running head: MASSED PRACTICE AND DICTRIBUTIVE PRACTICEThe Effects of Massed Practice and Distributive Practice on Motor Skill Task. Evelyn DelgadoQueens College/ City University of New YorkAbstractOver a century scientist have wonder if massed practice conditions are superior to distributive practice conditions or visa versa. According to a mete-analytic review scientists have researched this very phenomenon and have concluded that distributive practices conditions are superior to those of massed practice conditions in a variety of situations. These results are supported by Maureen Bergondys experiment on team practice schedules as well as William C. Chaseys experiment on distribution of practice on learning retention and relearning. This experiment deals with the relationship between conditions of massed practice and distributive practice with respect to task performance. The motor skill task performed by subjects in this study wrote the English alphabet upside down fifty times. One group was given the massed practice motor task; while subjects from the five other groups practiced the motor task under five diffe rent distributions of time. However, our findings do not support those of previous findings. Our mixed factorial experiment with 51 subjects indicates that neither massed practice conditions or distributive practice conditions were superior. Therefore, the subjects acquisition of the motor task did not improve as a result of massed or distributed practice, but rather as the result of practice alone. Massed Practice and Distributive PracticeMassed practice conditions are those in which individuals practice a task continuously without rest. While distributive practice conditions are those in which individuals are given rest intervals within the practice session. This mixed factorial experiment with 51 subjects deals with the effects of massed practice and distributive practice with respect to acquisition of motor task. The questioned posed in this study is whether distributive practice will be more effective than massed practice in helping individuals to learn motor skill tasks. Scien tists have wondered if massed practice conditions are superior to distributive practice conditions or visa versa. A mete-analytic review conducted by Donovan Radosevich researched this very phenomenon and concluded that distributive practices conditions are superior to massed practice conditions with respect to task performance. The analysis consisted of 63 studies with 112 effects sizes yield an overall mean weighted effect size of 0.46, indicating that individuals in distributive practice condition performed significantly higher that those in massed practice conditions. Like wise these results are supported by Maureen Bergondys experiment on team practice schedules as well as William C. Chaseys experiment on distribution of practice on learning retention and relearning. Maureen Bergondys experiment deals with the importance of practice schedules that optimize learning skills. Teams practiced under either a massed or distributive practice schedule and were tested under a short-term or long-term retention intervals. These results support once more the distributive practice effect for learning. William C. Chaseys experiment on distribution of practice on learning retention and relearning was conducted on a group of 72 randomly assigned retarded boys. The stabilometer task was used to study the difference between massed practice and distributive practice on initial acquisition retention, and relearning of gross motor skills. The results of this experiment support the general idea that distributive practice was superior to massed practice conditions for initial skills acquisition. In the present study the task being learned by participants is fairly easy, writing the English Alphabet upside down from right to left. The purpose of the present study is to see if there is a systematic increase of correct letters printed as the periods of rest increase. We also want to see if there is an effect of practice. Furthermore we also want to see if there is an interaction between trials sets and distribution of practice. From the acquired data we hypothesize subjects in conditions 1 wil l write less letters at trial 30 than subjects in condition 5. This do to the distributive practice condition given to condition 5 oppose to that of the massed practice condition give to condition 1. MethodParticipantsThere were fifty-five subjects out of which four were excluded for failure to following instructions. Nineteen Experimental Psychology 213 students from Queens College participated in the experiment as subjects and experimenters to meet a course requirement and 36 subject that where recruited by different students with in the class. The nineteen students were randomly assigned to six conditions using block randomization, while the recruited subjects had conditions randomly assigned to them. The age of the sample varied from seventeen years of age to fifty years of age. Out of the sample there were four left-handed and two ambidextrous individuals. No one had any gross motor-impairments and were fluent in the English language. Material ; ApparatusThe time was recorded i n seconds therefore the instrument need to record the duration of the performed task as well as the rest period if there were one required a second indicator. Some experimenters used the clock in the control panel of the Microsoft Windows program installed on IBM compatible computer to keep time, and some used either a stop- watch, or a clock with a second timer. Participants were instructed to have a pencil or pen and sheets of paper, to perform the inverted alphabet-writing task, to study the effectiveness of massed or distributive practice conditions. 12 Angry Men EssayChasey, William, (1976). Distribution of Practice Effects on Learning Retention and Relearning by Retarded Boys. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1976, 43, 159-164. Donovan, John J., and Radosevich David J., (1999). A Meta-Analytic Review of Distribution of Practice Effect: Now You See it now you Dont. Journal of Applied Psychology. 1999, Vol. 84, No.5 Pages 795-805. Table 1Up side Down AlphabetTrial 1Trial 2 Table 2Mean of Letters Correctly Printed. Conditions 1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 All0 sec(N=11) .22.65 23.04 24.75 24.84 24.8 26.89 25.95 27.58 27.73 27.73 25.65 sec.(N=9) 17.45 20.87 22.69 23.8 24.47 25.09 25.11 26.04 26.42 26.64 23.86 10 sec(N=10) 21.42 23.94 25.1 25.68 27.71 27.3 29.82 29.9 29.3 31.24 27.0215 sec.(N=6) . 20.37 21.93 23.97 25 26.13. 26.63 27.8 28.4 28.73 27.5 25.67 20 sec.(N=8) 23.28 26.75 27.15 28.23 29.9 30.33 30.15 31.6 31.55 32.25 29.1225 sec. (N=7) 22.89 25.86 25.4 27.6 27.14 28.17 29.34 29.23 29.97 30.71 27.63 All(N=51) 21.37 23.57 24.83 25.73 26.47 27.43 27.9 28.72 28.83 29.32 Figure CaptionFigure 1. Main Effect of Conditions (Rest Periods). Figure 2. Main Effect of Trials. Figure 3. Interaction Between Conditions and Trials. BibliographyReferencesBergondy Maureen, (1998). Team Practice Schedules: What to do we know? Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1998,87, 31-34. Chasey, William, (1976). Distribution of Practice Effects on Learning Retention and Relearning by Retarded Boys. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1976, 43, 159-164. Donovan, John J., and Radosevich David J., (1999). A Meta-Analytic Review of Distribution of Practice Effect: Now You See it now you Dont. Journal of Applied Psychology. 1999, Vol. 84, No.5 Pages 795-805. Psychology Essays

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Underground Railroad free essay sample

The Underground Railroad A lot of people in todays modern world dont know that the Underground Railroad wasnt actually a railroad. It was actually a series of houses, shops, and hotels/motels that would provide blacks a way to escape slavery in the south by going north. These buildings were known as stations and the slaves were known as cargo. Between 181 5 and 1860, it is estimated that 130,000 refugees escaped the south via the Underground Railroad. The railroad had as many as 3,200 active workers spread out across the stations who were all doing their part in the fght against slavery. These workers were also known as conductors. Even though it was against the law to participate in the unauthorized transportation of slaves, many people risked everything to support the cause. This railroad, was one of the most remarkable protests against slavery in United States history. These slaves werent Just fghting for personal survival; they were fghting for the future of the entire African American race. We will write a custom essay sample on Underground Railroad or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page As these activists risked their lives for the betterment of a society, they created a milestone in American History that lead to a more civilized world. The Underground Railroad began as a possible solution to the freeing of slaves during the harsh sectional tensions between the North and the South in the 1800s. There was a drastic increase in slaves throughout the South of the United States as tobacco and rice plantations became the basis of its economic dependency. The cotton grown along the coast of Georgia and South Carolina differed from the cotton produced further inland, making it a top cash crop in the South. Without the working of slaves on these plantations, the financial state of the South would be destroyed. There were many codes and laws that prohibited slaves from practicing medicine, owning guns, raising animals, testifying against whites, and gathering in groups of five or more. Slaves couldnt even practice their own religions without being supervised by a white owner. With the exception of those in Maryland, Kentucky, and the city of Washington, slaves were not legally allowed to learn to read or write. In addition to the personal restrictions of the individual slave, many white slave owners attacked relationships between slave families. Although slaves could live together as usband and wife, their marriage contracts were not even considered valid. Slave masters often separated families when selling slaves to other plantation owners. Slave owners expected mothers of newborn infants to return to work a week after giving birth. Women in the fields were forced to leave their babies unattended in the shade and were only allowed to hold and feed them twice a day. One woman reported returning to her baby son only to find a large snake curled around his body. She vowed at that moment to seek freedom for herself and her child. Antislavery ideas were present around the world beginning in the 17th century. Various Quaker groups created an antislavery mentality that dictated the morals of their practices. The Presbyterian Church was also an active force in the early fght against slavery. The church declared that slavery was inconsistent with the law of God and totally irreconcilable with the gospel of Christ. In the 1800s, antislavery became a more popular viewpoint as the North began to declare slavery unlawful. Emerging from New England came the Abolitionists, who otten promoted their antislavery beliets through newspapers, pamphlets, and other written tracts. In 1829, a free African American, David Walker, published a seventy-six-page antislavery pamphlet, An appeal to the Colored People of the World. This pleaded for slaves to rebel against their white masters and that a better day was approaching in America. As the Appeal became more widespread, Southern plantation owners generated a true fear that the power of free blacks was beginning to make a difference on the viewpoints of slavery. One of the most famous abolitionists was William Lloyd Garrison, who published the first issue of The Liberator. The Liberator was an antislavery newspaper that called for the universal emancipation of the slave. In 1833, Garrison met in Philadelphia with sixty-three delegates from eleven states to form the American Anti- Slavery Society. Lucretia Mott, a Quaker woman, formed the Female Anti-Slavery Society. This organization sponsored antislavery lectures, organized fairs to raise money for printing pamphlets, and started schools for African-American children. Frederick Douglass, a fugitive slave, teamed up with Garrison and became a prominent orator for abolitionists throughout the United States. Douglass was an extremely persuasive fgure in African American society because he could energize a crowd with his writings and speeches. Douglass began his own newspaper, The North Star, which further advocated his antislavery beliefs by recounting his own experience as a slave. He once wrote, He who has endured the cruel pangs of Slavery is the man to advocate Liberty. It is evident we must be our own representatives and advocates not exclusively, but peculiarly not distinct from, but in connection with our white friends. These individuals were the first activists to successfully spread antislavery ideas and form the basis of what became the Underground Railroad. The first record of what was to become the Underground Railroad was on May 12th, 1786 with a letter from General George Washington. Washington wrote from his home in Virginia that a society of Quakers in the city, formed for such purposes, have attempted to liberate a slave who escaped to Philadelphia from Alexandria. Later that year, Washington wrote another letter referring to an escaped slave and said it might not be easy to catch him when there are numbers who would rather facilitate the escape of slaves than apprehend them. Those who assisted slaves in their escape did not often leave written accounts with specific details of their activities. They preferred to keep their deeds hidden and their identities anonymous. However, there are enough records collected until modern day that have led historians to conclude that organized assistance to runaway slaves grew steadily during the nineteenth century until the outbreak of the Civil War. Most slaves traveled at night when the dark could offer them some measure of protection. They used the local railroad conductors to help gain knowledge of local terrain. A riverbank could act as a marker or a landmark. On clear nights, many slaves looked up to the North Star for guidance. Otherwise, there was not much assistance in navigation. Fugitives began to learn more about their surroundings in order to survive. Many would change their names and rub the soles of their shoes with onions to lead the hounds astray. Clearly, a successful escape plan most often involved more than one means of transportation. Some runaway slaves hid in freight cars and were sometimes even given regular tickets on train lines. Many conductors accompanied them and devised methods for travel. Fugitives and their conductors worked together to avoid capture in the Underground Railroad. Knocks, passwords, and station keepers were all involved in the escaping process. The Underground Railroad grew increasingly dangerous as Fugitive Slave Laws became enacted throughout the United States. With these new restrictions, slaves were no longer free as soon as they reached the North. With the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, many conductors of the Underground Railroad felt threatened by the possibility of imprisonment. Punishment was often severe for those who were involved in the rescuing of slaves. Slaves themselves were returned to their original owner to accept various means of discipline. Before the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, slaves who escaped to the North soon discovered that their freedom came with a price. Slaves could not often acquire Jobs or find skilled occupations. They would be turned away at certain restaurants and were denied the access of many schools and churches. Public transportation was still extremely segregated and many accommodations were immediately refused to African-Americans. Many slaves felt that escaping to Canada or Great Britain was the only alternative to facing an unjust society. As the North became a more threatening escape route, many slaves began to create Railroads into Canada. When American soldiers of the War of 1812 claimed that Canada had abolished slavery and would harbor fugitives, many slaves began to make their way north of the border. The Southernmost state that had an active Underground Railroad was North Carolina. Slaves in the deeper south often headed for Florida where they could be taken in by the Seminoles and other Native American tribes. Many slaves decided to escape to Great Britain for their reputation for having an antislavery sentiment. There were no restrictions on public transportation or segregated restaurants, schools, and churches. For decades, many British abolitionists were sending money and supplies to conductors working the Underground Railroad to support the cause. If the Journey could be made to Britain, the resulting lifestyle would be worth it. Many fugitive slaves migrated to Britain to pursue a career or education. Samuel Ward, a fugitive slave and active abolitionist, studied classics and theology before becoming an ordained minister. A famous woman who was accountable for many aspects of the Underground Railroad was Harriet Tubman. Tubman was born a slave in Maryland in 1820 and escaped from her master in 1849. The next year, she returned to Baltimore to rescue her family, her brother, and two other slaves. She would always return to the South to assist the escape of many others who could not help themselves. Tubman managed to free her elderly parents from slavery by building a makeshift carriage that she strapped to her horse. Harriet Tubman traveled to the South nineteen times to lead more than three hundred fugitives out of slavery. Slaveholders and plantation owners throughout the Southern United States feared Tubmans bravery and would offer various rewards for her capture. Another individual that contributed his services to he Underground Railroad was Levi Coffin. Coffin was a Quaker man from North Carolina that earned the title of President of the Underground Railroad. Although he was not formally elected, Coffin became known as president while running the most active station in the Underground Railroad for thirty-three years. In Coffins station, ne would collect money tor tares to Canada, teed hungry slaves, and locate new stations for the runaways. Coffin had a doctor on site for slaves medical needs and his wife always had food available. More than 3,000 slaves came through Coffins door during the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad saved thousands of fugitive lives throughout several centuries of American History. Established to create a system of escape, the influence of the Underground Railroad generated many abolitionists, activists, and orators to spread antislavery ideals throughout the country. The creation of the Fugitive Slave Laws and the imbalance of slave states versus free states fueled the tensions between the North and South. The issue of slavery seemed to be provoking ideas of secession as the South became threatened by the Abolitionist Movement spreading throughout the country. Not only were any fugitive lives saved during the Underground Railroad, but giving slaves the chance to escape generated many inspiration people of the 1800s. Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and other escaped slaves used their abilities to persuade others to accept antislavery morals. Telling stories of their own tragedies and revealing hidden truths became a motivation for many abolitionists throughout the century. The Underground Railroad will remain a significant event in United States history as it highlights the bravery that was illustrated during the fght against slavery.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Earthquakes Essays (264 words) - Plate Tectonics,

Earthquakes Major Earthquakes for 60s and 70s. In the map have plotted the major earthquakes for the 60s and 70s. The major earthquake areas are in the area around the Pacific Ocean. Most of the earthquakes happened at these areas and for this reason they call it Pacific Ring of Fire. Earthquakes may occur anywhere, even in the middle of very stable continental areas. Most of the earthquakes take place at the ridge of pacific plate that are the Eurasian plate, Philippine plate, Bismark plate, and Caroline plate. Most of the earthquakes occurred at 70s than 60s. In this decade (70s) a lot of earthquakes happened almost at the same point. With these results we can figure it out that a lot of earthquakes are going to follow at these areas. Some of these areas that consider them self major earthquakes areas are the Solomon islands, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, Fiji, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Equator and Peru. Especially at the Fuji, Solomon Islands, Japan, Philippines and Equator a lot of major earthq uakes occurred at these areas. In these areas we have a lot of major earthquakes because the types of the boundaries is convergent. This means the places are coming together and through these process a lot of earthquakes hit these areas. Beside the Pacific Ring of Fire there are some others major earthquakes areas that are far away from each other. The different between these two is that the earthquake doesnt occur at the same point or near to this point like the Pacific Ring of Fire. . Geography

Sunday, November 24, 2019

The Concept of Strategic Planning and Its Relevance

The Concept of Strategic Planning and Its Relevance Abstract The purpose of this essay is to analyse the concept of strategic planning and its relevance to the activities of an organization. Strategic planning has been viewed as an important cornerstone in the decision making activities of an organization. It enables an organization to achieve its goals and objectives through the development of plans. These plans can either be long term, medium or short term depending on the type of business and the context that strategic planning will be used in.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Concept of Strategic Planning and Its Relevance specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Introduction Strategic practitioners recognised the importance of strategies in the processes and operations of an organization which saw a lot of emphasis being placed on strategy which later saw the development of strategic planning as an organizational concept. Strategic planning slowly replaced corporate p lanning which mostly involved developing formal plans that lacked any strategic focus. This change was largely due to the emphasis placed on the planning activities of an organization. The relationships that were meant to result from this change sometimes could not be achieved. Researchers found that only few organizations were able to succeed in achieving their goals and objectives through the use of strategies. Practitioners of strategic planning have founded their research efforts on the assumption that the creative task of formulating and implementing strategies can be designed into a series of actions referred to as planning that will lead to results that can be repeated in the future. Definition of Strategic Planning Strategic planning is a technique that is used to organize the present activities of an organization to reflect the desired future projections of what the organization wants to achieve over a certain period of time. A strategic plan is a map or guide that will be used to lead the organization from where it is now to where it would like to be. Strategic planning mostly focuses on the external environment of an organization. Since every organization has different activities and operations that set it apart from other companies, the strategic plans of every organization will therefore be different from that of the other organization; therefore Strategic planning systems will be designed to deal with the unique characteristics of organizations (Samson and Daft 2009). Strategic planning is derived from strategy which is the layout of a plan or set of actions that will be used by the organization to achieve their objectives. Strategic planning is the systematic and formalised effort made by an organization to develop detailed plans that would be used to implement the objectives, goals, strategies, and policies of an organization (Wittman and Reuter, 2008). Planning deals with looking at the future results of current decisions that are made by deci sion makers. This means that strategic planning provides managers and people in positions of decision making with the cause and effect of consequences that would occur over time if that particular decision was made. If the decision maker does not like the results of the decision, he can easily change it to one that would yield positive results. Strategic planning looks at the alternative courses of action that are available in the future and what options are chosen from these alternatives, they are used as a basis for making present day decisionsAdvertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Grunic and Kuhn (2008) viewed strategic planning as a process that began with the identification of objectives and goals which later led to the development of organizational strategies, plans and policies that would be used to achieve these goals. Strategic planning was seen to be a process of making decisions in advance that would determine what kind of planning activities would be undertaken and how these activities would be done. The process was also systematic as the various activities were organized in a sequence. Strategic planning process was geared towards companies that had their operations and activities in one particular industry within the market. The basic format of a strategic planning process that is used by most organizations is to first develop the company’s mission, objectives and goals as a first step. Once this is done the organization’s internal and external environment is assessed to determine the strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities and threats. The next step will involve selecting strategies that will be used to deal with the identified strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities and threats. The organization should ensure that the identified strategies are in line with its mission ad goals. After the app ropriate strategies are identified and developed, they are finally implemented. Hills and Jones (2009) note that organizations go through a new process of strategic planning every year as a result of changing business environments and the global economy. This however does not mean that new strategies have to be identified and implemented every year. What usually happens in most organizations is that the strategies are modified or reaffirmed since the strategic plan is usually designed for a period of more than five years. Strategic Planning for Small businesses and Improved Performance Given all the evidence on the benefits of strategic planning, most small businesses still do not practice planning. Most of the concepts and research on strategic planning have been geared towards helping larger organizations. Managers of small businesses mostly focus on the short term rather than on the long term strategies. Their decision making technique is characterised to be reactive instead of p roactive and deliberate. For those managers who do practice strategic planning, the process is mostly characterised by ad hoc instead of formal activities (Wang et al. 2006).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Concept of Strategic Planning and Its Relevance specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More According to May (2010), small business owners today are realising more than ever that they need strategic planning to make decisions. This has emerged out of their uneasiness about what the future holds for their businesses or the fact that they have attained the present level of small business success without any strategic planning and they don’t feel like proceeding with ventures that they are unsure will yield any profits. Such uncertainties lead them to secure stable and predictable styles of management that mostly involve strategic planning. The main difference of strategic planning for both the large and small busin esses is that the larger organization can financially afford to conduct extensive strategic planning activities which at times might be very expensive while the small business has a limited amount of financial resources. The strategic activities of the smaller organization might be limited or constrained due to finances; the smaller business will also mostly rely on its internal resources do the planning (May, 2010). Wang et al (2006) conducted investigations on why some small businesses failed in their activities and operations. They noted that the major reason was attributed to the lack of strategic planning and poor business motivation. Previous studies by scholars such as Mintzberg, Crawford and Lefebvre also suggested that formal strategic planning systems in small organizations were absent. The authors noted that small business strategic planning was mostly characterized by informal planning systems that were unstructured and sporadic. Other characteristics were that the proce ss was viewed to be incomprehensive, incremental and reactive. Wang et al (2006) note that the motivation for a small business owner to be in business was mostly interwoven with their personal lives. Most small businesses are family owned which shows that the personal motivation in starting the business lies in trying to provide a better life for the business owners and their families. Some of these owner usually lack a business background or the technical known how of running the business. This means that they lack basic strategic planning information. Such a situation enables the businesses owners and entrepreneurs to get away with developing short term strategic plans for their businesses .Because of the size of the firm and constant uncertainty in the global business environment, small business have a limited ability to control events. That is why their focus is on short term and medium planning instead of long term. The strategic model should be designed in a simple and inexpen sive way Pitfalls of Strategic Planning The main problems experienced by small businesses when trying to initiate the planning process have been identified as the lack of time and lack of proper strategic planning knowledge. But when managers discover ways to overcome these constraints, strategic planning can lead to the improved performance of the business.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Small business managers need to gain an understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of small businesses which will set a strong foundation for strategic planning activities. The size and simple structure of small firms allows them to increase their responsiveness to external changes. In discussing the failure of the concept, various studies have been referred to further explain why strategic planning sometimes fails in organizations. One pitfall is that no one study has been found that has assessed the outcomes of deviating from the long range plans. All studies that have been conducted on the subject do not show whether there has been any negative consequences of not following the long range strategic plan. Another pitfall came from an earlier study that highlighted that while particular companies engaged in systematically planned activities, other organizations that did not engage in strategic planning were able to surpass these companies performance wise; this showed that t he best planners did not always perform the best (Dimitrou and Thompson, 2007). Studies done in the 1970s by scholars such as Malik and Karger found favourable results when strategic planning was used while other studies such as those done by Sheehan, Grinyer and Norburn did not see any benefits of practicing strategic planning. Henry Mintzberg after a review of these studies came up with a conclusion that planning was not the only best way. He noted that in some circumstances it did not pay and that when planning was at its best, it might have had some suitability to particular and not all organizational contexts. Another pitfall of strategic planning is that most companies find the solutions derived from the formal process of strategic planning to not be what they had actually expected. They usually had a basic idea of the kind of results to expect once the process was done. Strategic planning makes a majority of the firms today to engage in less risky forms of long range planning in their decision making activities which often at times do not yield the best results. Major criticisms have been drawn to the fact that strategic planning does not in any way contribute to the strategic thinking of major decision makers in organizations. Many of the benefits that accrue from strategic planning cannot be measured and it is difficult to prove the planning process in absolute terms. This is due to the fact when the planning process is initiated; it becomes hard to compare what has happened with what could have happened. This leads to a lot of speculations and formation of assumptions that are in most cases usually wrong. There is also another pitfall in the form of identifying the amount of costs that have been used in the planning process (Hill and Jones, 2009). These costs can only be seen if additional profit made by the organization exceeds the additional costs used in planning. Logical expectations of most organizations are that strategic planning will lead the company to be successful in the future; this is a big misconception. Most managers view strategic plans to be the key that will lead the organization to market success which explains why they become devastated when the strategic plans fail (Hill and Jones, 2009). Conclusion Planning activities are important to an organization to ensure that everything moves in a systematic and orderly manner. Without planning the members of an organization would lack a guide or plan that would direct them to achieve the organizational mission, vision, goals and objectives. Planning is therefore to be the most important activity that an organization should undertake to ensure that it runs smoothly and effectively. Strategic planning should also be given the same level of importance as general organizational planning. While strategic planning for organizations has been going on for a very long time, the smaller businesses are yet to catch on, yet planning is very important for an organization to achi eve optimum success through the proper utilization of resources. Strategic planning might have some pitfalls but when used in the proper way and in the right organizational context, it can improve the performance of both large and small businesses. Managers should therefore exercise this concept to ensure the decisions they make now will reflect what the organization wants to achieve in the future. References Dimitrou, H.T., and Thompson, R. (2007) Strategic planning for regional development in  the UK. Oxford, UK: Routledge Grunic, R. and Kuhn, R. (2008) Process based strategic planning. 5th Edition. Berlin: Springer- Verlag Hill, C., and Jones, G. (2009) Strategic management theory: an integrated approach.  Ohio, US: South Western Cengage Learning May, M.G. (2010) Strategic planning. New York: Business Expert Press Samson, D., and Daft, R.L. (2009) Management Third Asia Pacific Edition. Australia: Cengage Learning Wang, C., Walker, E.A., and Redmond, J. (2006) Ownership motiva tion and strategic planning in small businesses. Journal of Asia Entrepreneurship and  Sustainability. Vol II, No.4 Wittman, R. and Reuter, M.P. (2008) Strategic planning: how to deliver maximum value  through effective business. London: Kogan Page

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Design evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Design evaluation - Essay Example In the United Kingdom today copper is a popular material used for facades, roofs and other external building elements on some of the most exciting modern designs. But this has not always been so. Historically, copper roofs several hun ¬dred years old can be seen on many British city skylines, although usually limited to churches, civic buildings and other important structures. During the twentieth century, copper roofs became more widely used for ordinary buildings – although many were of little architec ¬tural quality. Unfortunately, poor de ¬tailed design and installation techniques resulted in technical failures and the material fell out of fashion until the 1980s. Then, the copper industry intro ¬duced modern installation techniques to the UK – including the long-strip meth ¬od – and launched a promotional cam ¬paign to make architects aware of cop ¬per as a thoroughly modern architectural material. This ‘Copper in Architecture’ cam paign continues today.(Article by Tom Woolley in Sustain magazine, vol 3 no 3) It highlights the ability for copper sheets to be easily formed to suit any three-dimensional shape, making it a suitable weatherproof covering for virtually any external surface including roofs of all pitches, vertical cladding, gutters, soffits and even sculptural elements. Architects now recognise that it is one of the few materials that can offer complete mate ¬rial continuity and real freedom of form in architectural design.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

The Marketing Situation of X Infotech Research Paper

The Marketing Situation of X Infotech - Research Paper Example X Infotech services are sought after by a host of customers, in different sectors, as Mainframes have applications everywhere. Installing a new server costs around $100,000, with storage solutions costing extra. Naturally, most customers of the firm are company representatives or startup businesses. The company needn’t bother about Age and psychographic information about its customers, as most of them are young geeks looking for a foothold entry into new business models. Most orders are placed online, or through customer calls Monday to Friday. Maintenance of systems is a major priority, as Mainframes systems are subject to command failure, or allied shortage. For this purpose only, the company hires trained, experienced technical staff on a per-request basis, and is gradually expanding its scales. The core philosophy of X Infotech is â€Å"commitment to customer needs†, for which it is continually striving ahead. One new emerging area is the dot com boom. Many start up s rely on highly-secure 128 K encryption devices, to facilitate payment options on their websites, thanks to the arrival of e-commerce. This calls for enormous space in the server area. As mentioned in the Boston Matrix, this falls under Question Marks, and it has become the most significant business for IBM vendors. After initial installation, a large number of controlling applications in Mainframes can be configured online. All the customer has to do is, log on to numerous vendors which understand the particular script in which the programs have been initialized. Naturally, low-cost vendors from India are an attractive option to several cost-conscious customers, and it’s not good news for X Infotech, who need to do their homework well, if not willing to be eaten by trouble brewing abroad.

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Marketing Midterm Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Marketing Midterm - Essay Example 19; Boone & Kurtz 12). Thus, marketing seeks to create a need for certain product or service offerings. This is eventually true especially in the case when there are many key players providing the same product or service offerings for the people. One of the best known strategies is to sell products through their brands, but this is going to take a remarkable process. Apple Incorporated and its branding strategy Apple Incorporated is known for its being a market leader in its industry because of its innovative strategy particularly on product differentiation. It managed to leapfrog the competition (De Wit & Meyer 681). In fact, it carries different line of products with significantly well-known brands. The goal of Apple Incorporated is to always go for new product strategy so as to be the market leader in its industry. Apple Incorporated has been renowned in the world because of its ability to create a need for its product and service offerings. This is specifically its competitive ad vantage and the bottom line is to create a significant trust among its customers for its brands. As a result, Apple Incorporated is remarkably known for its competitive brands in the market (O’Grady 56).

Friday, November 15, 2019

Implementation of Reliable and Cost Effective Smart Home

Implementation of Reliable and Cost Effective Smart Home Automation is the trend that will define the way we will live and work over the next decade. Current home automation systems have limitations in terms of wireless connectivity, speed, interference, bandwidth and cost of implementation. The proposed smart home system provides wireless control of appliances such as lights, fans, and alarms by using sensors and Bluetooth. Bluetooth provides higher transmission speed, greater bandwidth, and consumes less power than existing wireless protocols. Further, the cost of implementation is minimized with the use of sensors and Bluetooth. This design incorporates an ARM7 processor that continuously collects light intensity, temperature, and carbon-monoxide levels from sensors and compares it with threshold levels, to determine the control operation to be performed on home appliances. The ARM7 processor access appliances using Bluetooth. Further, this smart home system also allows individuals to directly control their appliances through a smartpho ne-based android application. This smart home system is implemented and tested under varying conditions to represent its efficiency. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ADC Analog to Digital Converter ARM Advanced RISC Machines BLE Bluetooth Low Energy CPSR Current Program Status Register DTE Data Terminal Equipment FEC Forward Error Correction FH-CDMA Frequency Hopping Code Division Multiple Access FIQ Fast Interrupt Request HVAC High Voltage Alternating Current LCD Liquid Crystal Display PPM RISC Parts Per Million Reduced Instruction Set Computer RSSI Received Signal Strength Indicator UART Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter UPB Universal Powerline Bus USB Universal Serial Bus CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Home Automation Worlds Fair of 1934 in Chicago marked the birth of home automation. Initially, the industry could not make an enormous impact on society. The reason for the slow start was high price and complexity making it hard to install. However as smartphones and tablets came into existence, the implementation of this technology became much easier. The automation technology helps in achieving greater efficiency and provides higher security. Expectations from a Smart Home The major parameters to look for in the implementation of a smart home can be as follows: Compatibility of the protocol. The system should communicate with the major protocols in home automation like ZigBee, Z-Wave, and Bluetooth. Wireless access. The system should be capable of wireless connection such as Wi-Fi Connectivity thereby eliminating all physical complexities. Scope for expansion. The system should support a higher number of products. Scope for scheduling. The design of the system should be able to support scheduling of different tasks at home like turning off lights when nobody at home. Remote access. Having an Android support is imperative these days. If the system is compatible with a smartphone, it makes this process very smooth as almost every individual today has a smartphone. Emergency notification. The system should send messages indicating emergency or threat to the house. Smart Home Community Response Various studies have been conducted to find out if consumers are ready to take up smart home technology. A study from Coldwell Banker Real Estate and CNET carried out in June 2015, said that 28% of internet users in The United States have smart homes and 90% of them would recommend smart home technology. The report also suggests that 25% of Americans use smart home products which save them around 30 minutes a day on average which are equivalent to $1,000 per year. As per a survey, 75% of the smart homeowners believe that this technology brings peace of mind regarding security. CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE Existing Protocols in Home Automation Industry The increase in the use of smart home systems leads to the development of different protocols. The protocols are selected based on the type of communication among various connected devices. Let us see the major protocols in home automation industry: X10 Technology X10 is the oldest home automation protocol developed in 1970. Initially, the technology was a powerline-based system which slowly went wireless. X10 technology uses the power lines in the home to allow communication between various appliances. X10 is reliable as it makes use of power lines. However, it is subject to interference from other devices in the circuit. It does not provide a speed communication between devices. It can only perform 16 commands sent one at a time. INSTEON Technology INSTEON was introduced in the year 2005. It was designed to bridge the gap between powerline systems and wireless protocols. INSTEON is compatible with X10 technology making it easy for those who have an existing X10 network. It supports automation novices which make setting up or adding devices easy for the non-technical users. INSTEON can support more than 65,000 commands. It is capable of transmitting commands with little interference. One need not have to enroll INSTEON into home automation network. INSTEON network can have more than 400 devices connected in a single installation. The dual-band mesh network can convert all powerline-operated devices into repeaters ZigBee Technology ZigBee is a wireless communication standard built by IEEE. It runs on 802.15.4 wireless communication standard. ZigBee is growing significantly in recent times. However, ZigBees full acceptance as a home automation protocol is still in question. The reason being its interoperability. In most cases, ZigBee devices have difficulty in communicating with devices from other manufacturers. Each device uses different methods to accomplish the same task which causes the difficulty in communication. Perhaps, for the same reason, manufacturers use ZigBee to limit third-party devices. Wi-Fi Technology Wi-Fi stands for Wireless Fidelity. Wi-Fi makes use of radio frequency transmission of data through the air. Speed in a Wi-Fi connection may vary from 1mbps to 2mbps. Wi-Fi works in the frequency band of 2.4 GHz. The range for Wi-Fi is 40-300 feet. Wi-Fi runs on an inbuilt technology known as frequency division multiplexing technology. However, the major drawback with Wi-Fi is the interference and bandwidth issues. With too many Wi-Fi compatible devices, each device must fight for bandwidth resulting in more time to respond thereby making it work slowly. Also, Wi-Fi consumes much power. CHAPTER 3 BLUETOOTH TECHNOLOGY In 1994, Ericsson Mobile Communications was the first to initiate research on the possibility of wireless links. Their aim was to develop a cost-effective solution to replace cables as a mode of communication between computers and peripherals. Ericsson along with Nokia, Intel, IBM, and Toshiba, formed a group known as Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) with a common motive of developing the unique technology. The first Bluetooth technical specification released in 1999. Bluetooth Specification Bluetooth specification for Classic Bluetooth/Bluetooth Basic Rate/Enhanced Data Rate (BR/EDR) is below in Table 1. TABLE 1. Specifications of Classic Bluetooth Technical Specification Classic Bluetooth Modulation Technique Frequency Hopping Modulation Scheme GFSK Modulation Index 0.35 Number of Channels 79 Channel Bandwidth 1 MHz Nominal Data Rate 1-3 Mbps Application Throughput 0.7 2.1 Mbps Nodes/Active Slaves 7 Security 56 128 bit Voice Capable Bluetooth Technology A Good Choice for Smart Home Bluetooth is a solution to some different issues which existed earlier, like: Speed.Bluetooth provides a transmission speed of 1 Mbps. It can handle up to three voice channels simultaneously. Power.Bluetooth technology has a special feature of limiting the transmitters power as per the demand. With the help of a Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), a Bluetooth receiver can determine the transmission power required by the transmitter. Security.Bluetooth has three built-in features which aim at providing secure data or voice transmission Prevents access to transmitted data by providing proper authentication. Data is encrypted over-the-air (OTA) which eliminated eaves-droppings. Also, an appropriate key is required to decrypt such data It makes use of Frequency Hopped Spread Spectrum (FHSS) which further eliminates eavesdropping Reliability.Bluetooth Technology uses three techniques to ensure protocol reliability. They are Frequency Hopping Code Division Multiple Access (FH-CDMA), Error Correction and Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI). Therefore, with the help of these techniques, the performance degradation is minimized. CHAPTER 4 SYSTEM COMPONENTS Hardware Components TABLE 2. Components Required for the Design Power Supply 12V DC Battery Processor Advanced RISC Machine (ARM7) Serial Communication Universal Asynchronous Receiver and Transmitter (UART) Wireless Communication Bluetooth Module Sensors Light Dependent Resistor (LDR), Temperature Sensor (LM35), and Gas Sensor (MQ-2) Display Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)Smart Phone Display Loads/Appliances/Devices LED, Computer Fan, and Alarm/Buzzer Software Applications TABLE 3. Software Required for the Design MATLAB To capture the sensor outputs KEIL To write the code for the functioning of processor Flash Magic To deploy the code into the processor SYSTEM ARRANGEMENT Power Supply The prototype uses an AJC D1.3S battery with 12 Volt/1.3Ah configuration. Liquid Crystal Display The prototype uses an 1602A LCD module with following features 16 Character x 2 Line Single power supply of 5V Input data 4-bits or 8-bits interface 1/16Duty, 1/5Bias Relay The prototype uses NRP07-C12DS relay to control the loads. Rating 10A/28VDC Maximum Switching Voltage 30VDC Operate Time 8msec. Max Release Time 5msec. Max Bluetooth Module BT24 Bluetooth module is a low cost series from Amped RF Technology. Configuration Cortex-M3 microprocessor up to 72MHz UART, up to 921K baud 13 general purpose I/O 4 x 12-bit A/D inputs AmpedUP Bluetooth stack (SPP, IAP, A2DP) Support Apple IOS/MFI Bluetooth devices. BT24 Features Bluetooth v3.0 Range up to 60m LOS 400 Kbps data through-put 128-bit encryption security. Advanced RISC Machine (ARM) Processor In 1985, Acorn computers developed the first prototype of ARM in England. ARM stands for Advanced RISC Machine. Currently, ARM is designed and marketed by ARM Holdings. As the name suggests, ARM uses RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecture. The design, instruction set and decode mechanism of the RISC is much simpler than Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC) design. ARM Features ARM7 has the following features: 32-bit RISC processor Low power consumption: 0.6mA/MHz at 3V fabricated Fast interrupt response for real-time applications Fully static operation ideal for power sensitive applications High-performance RISC: 17 MIPS sustained at 25 MHz at 3V In-System Programming/In-Application Programming (ISP/IAP) via on-chip boot- loader software. Single flash sector or full chip erase in 400 ms and programming of 256 bytes in 1ms. Universal Asynchronous Receiver and Transmitter (UART) UART is a chip designed to control all serial devices connected to a processor. The name asynchronous means that UART does not need a predefined clock for synchronization. UART comes with an RS232 Data Terminal Equipment (DTE) which helps to communicate with serial devices. It has a Start bit, seven data bits, a parity bit and a stop bit. UART provides a full duplex transmission which means that data transfer is possible in two ways, simultaneously. Therefore, both the ends have to come to an agreement with the parameters like word length, a parity bit, and some stop bits. Features UART has the following features, Burst rates up to 6 M-bits/second High level of transmission and reception of data UART converts the received bytes into single serial bit stream for transmission Provides buffering of data to maintain the coordination of serial devices with the computer Parity, overrun and framing error detection. Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) Sensor An LDR has a resistance which changes as per the amount of light falling upon it. It is often used to detect the presence of light in a circuit. An LDR has a high resistance of about 1000000 ohms. However, the resistance falls drastically once the bright light falls on it. Characteristics TABLE 4. LDR Characteristics Parameter Conditions Min Type Max Unit Cell Resistance 1000 LUX10 LUX 4009 OhmK Ohm Dark Resistance 1 M Ohm Dark Capacitance 3.5 pF Rise Time 1000 LUX10 LUX 2.818 msms Fall Time 1000 LUX10 LUX 48120 msms Voltage AC/DC Peak 320 V max Current 75 mA max Power Dissipation 100 mW max Operating Temperature -60 +75 Deg. C Temperature Sensor LM35 is a national semiconductor precision temperature sensor. It is a temperature sensitive voltage source. For every 1oC rise in temperature, the voltage increases by 10mV. In other words, the output voltage is linearly proportional to the temperature. Specification Linear +10-mV/oC scale factor Rated for full -55 oC to 150 oC range Suitable for remote applications Operates from 4 V to 30 V Low self-heating, 0.08 oC in still air 0.5 oC ensured accuracy (at 25 oC). Smoke Sensor MQ-2 gas sensor consists of a sensitive material called SnO2. SnO2 has lower conductivity which helps in the working of MQ-2 in clean air. Characteristics High sensitivity to LPG, Propane and Hydrogen Sensitivity to Combustible gas in wide range Long Life and Low Cost Specifications TABLE 5. Specifications of Gas Sensor Concentration 300 10000ppm Loop Voltage 5 Slope

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Free College Essays - The Power of a Single Act of Iniquity in Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter :: Scarlet Letter essays

The Scarlet Letter: The Power of a Single Act of Iniquity The world of Puritan New England, like the world of today, was filled with evil temptations. Some people were able to withstand these temptations; unfortunately, many others fell victim to the evil. A single act of iniquity was sufficient to devastate a person's life. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale were each destroyed mentally and physically by one diabolical act that mushroomed to overcome their lives. Hester's life was the one which most externally displayed the destruction inflicted upon it by wrong-doing. Physically, she "stood on the scaffold of pillory, an infant on her arm, and the letter 'A' in scarlet, fantastically embroidered with gold thread upon her bosom" (The Scarlet Letter 66). Because of the "A", the entire community knew she had sinned, and she became a social outcast. In her attempts to pay penance for her sins, she lived a life of poverty, donating most of her income to charity. However, even the most lowly and wretched of the creatures in Boston, which she helped, "not unfrequently insulted the hand that fed them" (87). Furthermore she left behind her beauty and elaborate dress for a dress of the "coarsest materials and the most sombre hue" (86). Hester's sin also harmed her mind and soul. The joy she found in knitting, "like all other joys, she rejected it as a sin" (87). Also, she suffered each time she saw Dimmesdale. A mutual love remained between them, but they could not show the love. Even a brief encounter with Dimmesdale, the father of her daughter, would cause "a deeper throb of pain; for, in that brief interval, she had sinned anew" (89). Moreover, at one point, she had begun to lose faith in the fact that her daughter was human. She began to believe the sayings of townspeople who "had given out that poor little Pearl was a demon offspring" (100). Hence her body and mind suffered greatly for her sin of adultery. Roger Chillingworth's life was also destroyed by his evil. The most noticeable of his changes was the degradation of his physical appearance. When he was first seen in the novel, "there was a remarkable intelligence in his features, as of a person who had so cultivated his mental part that it could not fail to mould the physical to itself and become manifest by unmistakable tokens" (67).

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Globalization in Australia Essay

Globalization literally means the process by which the local phenomenon is transformed into global ones where every person in the world is united into a single society and work together as dependent partners. For a country to be globalized, it has to coordinate its economic, social, cultural, political and political aspects. Basically, the term Globalization has been used to refer to only the financial aspect of Economic Globalization which is the transformation of National Economy into International Economy through Technology, Capital Flow, Foreign Investment, Migration and Trade (Hirst and Thompson, 247). According to the UN-ESCWA , the term means, elimination or minimizing of national boarders so that the flow of goods, services, capital and labor can be facilitated. As globalization continues to sweep every nation, it has had its ups and downs. While on one side it helps in opening up of new markets and wealth creation, on the other end, it is a major contributor to the world disorder and unrest. Economic globalization can be measured using mainly four economic flows:- goods and Services, Technology, Capital and Labor (Bracer and Costello, pp. 19). This essay will look at the features of Globalization in Australia, How the process is driven, the effect that it has had on political scene of the country and finally it will look at how it has affected Australian relationship with other countries. Political Perspective of Globalization Australian Globalization has taken effect on its political system, research resented in (Gupta, pp. 37) show that, apart from concerning itself with the issues of the national governments like security and economic welfare of its people, the Australian government has taken into pursuing political matters in the global arena. They have joined the member groups of known World institutions like the European Union, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization and the World Bank among others to help them in this effect. The influence of the Australian Government through these institutions has managed to transcend even beyond its boarders. By using the Central national government, many NGOs with their origin in Australia have been established to help in numerous global issues like the human right concerns, environmental concerns and civil society matters. Domestic Aspect of Politics of Globalization Globalization effect in Australia has seen the gap between the rich and the poor fall by nearly Ten Percent in less than three decades. And not only did that happen, but there was also a notable reduction in the number of undernourished children. The average life expectancy in the same period of time shot to 66 from 58 years while the infant survival per every 1000 rose to 67 from 44. As the country’s economy grows, say by for instance 10%, so do the poorest people in the country by the same margin, thanks to the liberalization of Trade and high technology(Oxley,2003). Since it started expanding, Australia has done so without any sign of recession. It has been so good in doubling the countries wealth and cutting down on unemployment. This big boom has seen the prime minister, John Howard bolster his political fortune with great confidence. The Australian market which was once an isolated market, has undergone great transformations to the point where it can comfortably take advantage of the global market. Australia’s Domestic and International Economy Australia’s economic system is one of the most open in the globe that is; in terms of foreign investment and tariffs. The positive effects of globalization to this country are numerous, some of which are; the Reduction in the transport cost, Easy communication and Cheap offshore production. While it is apparent that globalization can either bring blessings or curses, to Australia it has brought blessings in abundance, The Australian government, through the labor unions have secured great productivity gains. The labor unions which were held in a high state demanded for high pay to their members†¦ they were granted this wish and the results of it was astounding. It saw a dramatic gain in productivity (Arnoldy. pp. 13). Relationship Between Australia and other Developed and Developing Countries The relationship that Australia has had with different nations is shaped by its position as the leading nation in trade and more so its role as being a major donor of humanitarian aid. It has a strong bilateral tie with all its allies and there keen concern regarding the debated on terrorism, free trade and other economic cooperation strategies ( Croucher, pp. 10). Their active participation in the affairs of Commonwealth Nations and United Nations put them in a position of being a darling of every sovereign state. Australia has also joined several of such world organizations like the Economic and Social Funding in 1994, Security Council in 1986 and Cairns Group of Countries (to press for Agricultural trade reforms). It focuses most of its attention to developing countries like Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Brunei. On the other hand developed nations like the United States, United Kingdom, Japan and China are not left behind. Australia’s major import partners include China Japan, Germany, and Singapore while its export partners are Japan, China, New Zealand and South Korea (www. worldgrowth. org). The future of Australia seems to be quiet bright as far as globalization is concerned. If the current trend continues, then we will witness a lot more fragmentation, personal freedom, Emergence of bigger organizations and wider connectivity. Works Cited Alan Oxley. (2003) â€Å"Globalization and Australia†. Australian APEC Center, Monash from www. worldgrowth. org Retrieved on 09-02-2009. Ben Arnoldy. (2006). â€Å"Australia at the crossroads of globalization †. The Christian Science Monitor. Sydney, Australia. pp. 12-19. Bhagwati, Jagdish. (2004). â€Å"In Defense of Globalization†. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 51-87. Hirst and Thompson. (2002) â€Å"The Future of Globalization†. Published: Cooperation and Conflict, Vol. 37, No. 3, pp. 247-265. Jeremy Brecher and Tim Costello. (1994): â€Å"Global Village or Global Pillage: Economic Reconstruction From the Bottom Up†. Boston, South End. pp. 19-23. Satya Dev Gupta. (1997): â€Å"The Political Economy of Globalization†. Boston, Zed Books. pp 29-64. Sheila L. Croucher. (2004). â€Å"Globalization and Belonging: The Politics of Identity in a Changing World†. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 10.

Friday, November 8, 2019

low of goods to the customer Essays

low of goods to the customer Essays low of goods to the customer Essay low of goods to the customer Essay Once the customer has placed the order on the website and his/her payment is cleared and confirmed to the store, the store dispatches the order as per the mode of delivery opted for. Incase the company faces a stock out situation or unavailability of the selected merchandise, the money is refunded to the customer immediately.As one can see from the above diagram, taking the least time case, the supply to the customer takes place immediately. The store also depends on the customer for return purchases and referrals and hence cannot afford a stock out situation. The inventory is required to be as lean as possible especially as some of the products stocked like Hardware is bulky and there is a space constraint. Through accurate demand planning and tighter execution between the retailers and suppliers the store is able to maintain higher margins, more profitable sales and increased revenues.As the company is primarily online, web based forms are used to improve th e accuracy if invoices and give the supply instant shipping invoices. The store buys directly from the manufacturer and hence cuts out the retailer and wholesaler. Barcodes and packing slips are generated along with the incoming shipment and the product order list and inventory database are linked so that potential supply bottlenecks are identified well in advance.The company then passes the cost benefits of buying directly from the manufacturers, having an online store, negligible brick and motor expenses to the customer in the form of price discounts. The company also has an understanding with the product manufacturers which has resulted in goodwill and gives the company reliable delivery and advance notice of any bottlenecks if any. The company also acts as an advertising medium for the manufactures by featuring the products visually and with literature. The company is reputed to give good advice on the equipment and matches the customer with the level of products that he/she may require.The company integrates the information on product price and promotion from their supplier community to its back office systems. The company prides itself on using paper to a minimum by automating the retailing process on both the inbound and outbound areas. By automating the interactions with the suppliers the company witnessed improvement in its fulfillment rates and accuracy through advanced notification and automated supplier acceptance or order schedules or forecasts. This reduced the amount of buffer inventory required to be maintained by the company otherwise.As the company is paid in advance, it does not encounter fraudulent or bad transactions and is able to pass this leverage onto the customer as trade discounts. The company is also able to reward returning customers with additional discounts and offers. As the company sponsors a number of skating events or professional players, manufacturers get an extra mileage from the company. The additional discounts or benefi ts given by the supplier for these advantages to the company are yet again a benefit to the customer.The company maintains a database of the customers profiling their purchase and preferences. As online business is primarily demand driven, the company uses collaborative planning and passes the demand statistics to the manufacturers so that they can make informed decisions. These insights give both the supplier and retailer in creating informed forecast of future business leads culminating in better assortments, promotions and inventory positions.Rising competition and increasing number of products have lead to compressed planning cycles and the company is frequently faced with the need to make planning decisions rapidly. The company is also able to reduce post market purchase order rework by matching assortment plans with the production plans. The plans are aggregated in real time so the authorization and door level analysis is more streamlined and reflect actual situation. As the p roducts offered by the company are varied, there cannot be a daily supplier planning carried out. This would become extremely cumbersome and the supplier would also be given patchy orders. In order to give some consolidation to the supplier order book the company reviews plans with the supplier on a fortnightly basis By shortening and improving the accuracy of the plan , retailers will be able to increase sales by getting new products onto the site and in stock earlier than previously possible.In turn the company asks the supplier to share his assessment of the demand pattern based on collective inputs from all the retailers dealt with. This helps the store identify issues such as new products being marketed differently or new facings, SKUs that the company does not carry. The company uses a combination of sales or return inventory and consignment inventory where the company pays for the goods only on actual sale to a customer and returns those products which remain unsold over a pe riod of time.Logistics plays an important role in promotion management. The company runs many discounts and bumper sales on its website. This would entail a pickup in the number of items sold. The company needs to adjust its replenishment system so the regular system would not be able to adjust to the large scale change in rate of sale. Plus the company has many years of experience and would know the demand pattern to be expected and areas from where it is likely to come. All this knowledge gained through experience needs to be shared with the supply chain and built into the system.Customers who buy in bulk and appear to be serious about the sport would be sent a mailer informing them about upcoming events and inviting them to participate. This would make the customer feel happy, the manufacturer pleased as his product will get more viewers and the company happy with the possibility of repeat sales. The company also could send emails to the customer a period after the product has be en delivered asking after the customer satisfaction with the product. This would not cost the company anything but time.The company should also not sit back and wait for customers to stumble onto its website, there needs to be visual identity of the company and the products it offers and its association with the sport with its owners being professionals and one of the best. This would not cost more than e-newsletters and keyword ads. The company website is easy to navigate but needs to delete old information and promotions on a regular basis else it ends up looking sloppy. The text should be full of potential key words which will make likely or potential customers doing a web search hit the website.The market is a fast moving market with skating being a popular sport in the UK , the competitor needs to be constantly monitored and studied and the market monitored so that the company can attend any sporting events or competitions in the neighborhood to know what’s really catchi ng on in the market.Website promotion appears to be a simple process but is in reality a difficult task. It only appears to be a matter of technical support but in reality it uses as much of resources in advertising a offline store. The website needs to be built with careful insight into the audience base and then built around to meet the target expectations. SS2O caters to a wide variety of customers, professional skaters/snowboarders to the common man, customers who are in for the sporting challenge and those looking to make a fashion statement. The target audience may be different from the person shelling out for the purchases. The company also needs to constantly revamp and update its website to remain attractive and showcase new products better.The company can utilize software to enable the customer to post questions to the owners who are professional â€Å"skaters† and get live help and guidance. The company can also send out mailers to the customers asking their opinio n on the products displayed, website convenience of navigation, service. There could be a contest designed whereby the customer who gives referrals about the company which actually culminate into sales gets points which convert into discount percentages.Yet another gimmick the store can use is to send out free t-shirts to customers with their purchases, advertising the store name and web link on the back. The store would get mileage as the existence of the store would be promoted in all the corners of the UK.The company could also give its existing customers notification of new products coming to the market and offer them exchange deals â€Å"Old skates for new†. The store could then donate the old equipment to charity and get both sales as well as social mileage out of the whole process. As its sales are based on courier delivery the mail company could be instructed to pick up the return package. This would have to be done with customers who are high value only as there coul d be cases of fraud. Yet another promotion option would be to ask customers who are making purchases to donate money towards a sporting event organized for destitute children. The store could then in tandem with the manufacturer organize such an event and get visibility for itself.The company can also consider enabling its inventory management with real time software which alerts both the company and manufacturer of the product movement and upcoming shipping order necessity. This would reduce the compilation of information by the company for the supplier and also prepare him for upcoming shipping invoices.In summation one can say that the marketing promotions and pricing policies are dependent on the efficiency of the supply chain and vice versa. The supply chain efficiency depends on marketing commitment and the information shared by the manufacturers and the company. The company can commit itself to promotions, sales, bumper offers , sponsorships or promotional gimmicks only when its supplier is able to meet up to the demand that such offers would generate. Hence both are vital business processes which must be operated by the company so that they work in tandem motion and not different directions.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Analysis of The Bicycle and its Role in Society

Analysis of The Bicycle and its Role in Society Not only are Parents responsible for providing food and shelter for their Children, but they should also help them to develop their mental and physical condition. A Bicycle, a vehicle having two wheels one behind the other, influences a child's physical, intellectual and social development. It also can improve the quality of life. Riding a bicycle will provide children with health and other benefits. A bicycle can save them money in gas and also decrease the rate of pollution First of all, riding a bicycle requires movement of the entire body. It strengthens leg muscles. Moreover, it not only requires stability and balance, but it also develops coordination. It also requires stamina, and therefore keeps a child's heart and lungs strong. A moderate amount of physical activity, like a short cycle-commute, can protect against health problems like obesity, cancer, mature-onset diabetes, and osteoporosis.Next, owning a bike stimulates the intellectual development of a child; first, the ch ild becomes interested in sports, especially in cycling.English: child on a bicycle

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 18

Psychology - Essay Example This research used ANOVA to find out whether there is effectiveness in the way in which information is relayed or communicated. The experiment used a 3 x 3 factorial with three levels of message format (email, telephone, written) and three levels of message length, described as no extras, small, and large. From the experiment, it was demonstrated that in the email format, the participants had more correct answers, than the two – telephone and written formats. The written format was next to the email formal. We can analyze here that the email and the written format are almost identical format, although the written format can be considered as more formal in appearance, but is actually identical with the email format. For the three levels of the message length, the ‘no extra’ details got the highest number of correct answer and the highest mean. The email format is more preferred by the participants; meaning the intended information is well received by the participants through the manner of communication, which is email. The email format is easily understood, and this is understandable because it has become the most common form of communication among the young population during the advent and popularity of the internet. The message length also has an effect on how the information is received by the participants. The message length has an effect on all three formats – email, telephone, and written. At the ‘no extra’ level, the participants were responding with high scores. This is also true with the telephone and the written formats, although these two were a bit lower when it came to the values of the means. Scores were lower on all three formats when information was relayed and manipulated with ‘small’ and ‘large’ details. We computed the mean of the three formats to the level when information was manipulated to ‘small’ and ‘large’ and we attained intriguing

Friday, November 1, 2019

Genetically Modified Crops are harmful to the enviorment Essay

Genetically Modified Crops are harmful to the enviorment - Essay Example In reality, GMO crops are an invasive species and harmful to the natural environment. Numerous anti-GMO technology activists have come up to condemn the use of GMO within the ecological environment. The Institute for Responsible Technology (IRT Para. 1-10) has provided a biased analysis to the use of GMO crop in the natural environment discouraging the public in the agricultural sector to maintain a firm ground against the use of such crops. One of the reasons why the IRT discourages the proliferation of this technology is the fact that the growth of genetically engineered crops has negative permanent impacts on the environment. For instance, when cross pollination takes place, this species of crop will be spread into the environment and will exist there forever. Resultantly, this species will be propagated within the environment, reducing the number of natural crops existing in the natural ecosystem. The fact that GMO crops are superior in terms of production and the rapid growth ra te, it is not in order for this science to eliminate the natural species within the environment. In this light, GMO crops will hurt the environment by reducing the number of natural plants in existence. The IRT (Para. 3) provides statistical evidence to support its argument against the growth of GMO crops. Surveys conducted in the agriculture industry between 1996 and 2009 show that farmers who grow GMO foods have an increased usage of herbicides every year. The reason underlying this fact is that when weed resistant crops are developed, weeds undergo a genetic mutation forming new inexistent weed species. These â€Å"super weeds† are resistant to ordinary herbicides and demand more concentrated forms of chemicals. In the US, GMO crop growers experienced an increase in the cost of chemicals by about $300 million within a period of 12 years. This implies that the natural soils are concentrated with more chemicals increasing its toxicity levels. This is contrary to the proponen ts of this technology who argue that the use of genetically modified crops reduces the use of herbicides. The strength of IRT on the negative environmental impacts of these crops to the environment can be attributed to the statistical evidence that accompanies it. A third argument against the use of the adoption of the genetic modification technology in the agricultural sector is that this technology is a killer of bio-diversity. According to IRT (Para. 4), the proliferation of the GMO technology will hurt the entire bio species and may lead to extinction of even the most endangered species. The genetic modification technology uses lethal chemicals that have long term outstanding impacts on the environment. As these chemicals flow to the water bodies during rainy seasons, they will cause a great risk to the fish, amphibians and all water creatures in the water sources. Equally, all living species that consume GMO crops or water species will be at high risk of infection with untreata ble diseases. For instance, chemicals such as roundup that are used to develop weed resistant crops are cancerous and pose the risk of death to human beings. In essence, adoption of GMO technology will put the entire ecological system in danger including the creator of this technology. Carrington (Para. 1) is among the scholars who have evaluated the other side of the coin as regards the impact of GMO crops

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Introduction the Critique of Pure Reason Research Paper

Introduction the Critique of Pure Reason - Research Paper Example In Kant’s arguments, he spoke of the concepts that structure human experience. Kant termed the perceptions that structure human experience as fundamental concepts. On the topic of morality, Kant argued that there cannot be any morality without reason. Kant paced reason as the driver towards a morality motivated life. Immanuel Kant stated that reasoning was the basis of human existence, and moral being should embrace logic for a peaceful and well-developed life. Kant is an individual who had a foremost influence in the present day thinking and practice. Kant had an imperative knowledge in the field of metaphysics, ethics, esthetics and political philosophy. The knowledge that Kant had in the above fields was a particular strength and motivator towards coming up with his findings on human experience. Kant’s experience in different areas of philosophy enabled him conduct his research from different perspectives. Kant, therefore, came up with enough prove to support his arg ument. Kant’s argument is considered one of the building stones in the modern society because morality and human experience are some of the infinite features of human existence. Immanuel Kant, therefore, remains an important figure up to today, due to his advancements on the requirements for human life in the modern contemporary society. On the concept of priori judgment, Kant had several observations to make. Kant stipulated that there were two types of propositions; analytic and synthetic propositions. Priori judgment is also known as analytic experience. Analytic judgments are perceptions or concepts that can be said to be true by virtues of their meaning. Kant explained that some ideas of thought needed minimal explanations. The ideas purely express themselves without the need for the further course of reasoning (Kant, pg. 44). Such prepositions are referred to as analytic because their analysis does not necessarily mean it has to be related

Monday, October 28, 2019

Reading comprehension Essay Example for Free

Reading comprehension Essay ABSTRACT. sion The (STRAT), authors evaluated instruction, strategies followed reciprocal same-age the effectiveness by practice + SA) (STRAT of explicit in teacher-led reading whole-class activities, peer-tutoring comprehen activities or cross-age peer-tutoring activities (STRAT + CA) on 2nd and 5th graders reading comprehen sion and self-efficacy For perceptions. 2nd multilevel graders, analyses revealed sig nificant STRAT and STRAT + CA effects; however, the effects did not last after fin the program. Fifth graders on the posttest better than ishing icantly in all 3 experimental  control group their conditions Results peers. performed signif con also showed tinued growth for the STRAT and STRAT + CA conditions until at least 6 months after students finished the program. Moreover, on both the posttest and retention test, 5th graders in the STRAT + CA condition reported significantly fewer negative thoughts Key words: prehension, related to their elementary reading reading proficiency. multilevel education, strategies, modeling, peer tutoring, reading com self-efficacy RESEARCH, decoding instruction has had a long and continuous of attention and debate. However, a hiatus can be recorded in the study of history reading comprehension. Two decades ago, strategy intervention research was in instruction received renewed atten vogue, but only recently has comprehension with current studies building on what was accomplished in the 1980s. Now, tion, the challenge in reading comprehension research is to increase the efficacy of in struction in elementary schools by identifying the instructional practices and ac tivities that best serve to develop childrens self-monitoring for comprehension IN READING (Snow, Burns, Griffin, 1998). 291. This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 01:52:54 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 292 The Journal Previously, students Once reading comprehension could decode, was considered comprehension was of Experimental Education to be a process of mastery: assumed to occur automatical ly (Dole, 2000). Research, however, has shown that good readers are character ized by more than just decoding skills. Cognitively based views of reading com readers use a flexible that proficient repertoire of prehension emphasize and regulating activities (Dole, Duffy, Roehler, comprehension monitoring  includes both cognitive and metacognitive Pearson, 1991), which strategies (Baker Brown, 1984; Paris, Wasik, Turner, 1991; Pressley Allington, 1999; Pressley, Johnson, Symons, McGoldrick, Kurita, 1989). Cognitive strat egies can be defined as mental or behavioral activities that increase the likelihood such as rereading, activating prior background knowledge, of comprehension, and adjusting reading speed (Van Den Broek Kremer, 2000). Metacognitive strategies can be specified as self-monitoring and regulating activities that focus on the product and the process of reading, support  readers awareness of com prehension, and assist in the selection of cognitive strategies as a function of text difficulty, situational constraints, and the readers own cognitive abilities (Lories, 1998; Van Den Broek Kremer; Weisberg, Dardenne, Yzerbyt, 1988). There is no reason to believe that all elementary students spon Unfortunately, and skills knowledge taneously develop essential cognitive and metacognitive Research reviews, however, reveal Allington, 1999). (Hartman, 2001; Pressley that monitoring and regulating skills and effective application of relevant strate can  gies be taught (Dole et al. , 1991; Pressley, 2000; Pressley et al. , 1989). In this Jones, 1992; Block, 1993; respect, recent studies (Baumann, Seifert-Kessell, Dole et al. ; Dole, Brown, Thrathen, 1996; Pearson Fielding, 1991) and re of the National Reading Council (U. S. ; Snow et al. , 1998) underscore the ports value of explicit cognitive and metacognitive reading strategy instruction, for instruction takes the mystery out of the reading process, helping comprehension students assume control (Raphael, 2000, p. 76). As to the practice of teaching observation re  reading, however, little has changed since Durkins (1978-1979) instruction. The dominant instructional practice is into comprehension students about text content, still very traditional, characterized by questioning with little explicit attention to the strategic aspects of processing and compre hending text (Aarnoutse, 1995; Paris Oka, 1986; Pressley, Wharton-McDon 1986). ald, Hampston, Echevarr? a, 1998; Weterings Aarnoutse, search In addition to the importance of explicit reading strategies instruction, research the effects program of an innovative  on the cognitive, and social, (Belgium) comprehension for reading The study was school children. emotional by a supported of elementary development Research-Flanders. Research grant of the Fund for Scientific Assistantship to: Hilde Van Keer, Department be addressed should of Education, Correspondence Hilde. VanKeer E-mail: Henri Dunantlaan Ghent Ghent, 2, 9000 Belgium. University, This study was part of a investigation long-term in Flanders instruction of @ UGent. Be This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 01:52:54 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions  293 Van Keer Verhaeghe has revealed that the development of reading competence in the elementary can be encouraged by interaction with peers (Almasi, 1996; Fuchs, Fuchs, grades Mathes, Simmons, 1997; Johnson-Glenberg, 2000; Mathes Fuchs, 1994; Mathes, Torgesen, Allor, 2001; Palincsar Brown, 1984; Rosenshine Meis ter, 1994; Simmons, Fuchs, Fuchs, Mathes, Hodge, 1995). The traditional teacher-led evaluation interaction seems of pattern teacher question-student an to achieve insufficient actual response-teacher increase in comprehension,  higher level cognition, and the application of self-regulation strategies (Cazden, 1986). Relying on the teachers interpretive authority causes students to become passive learners. to become Conversely, students readers, self-regulated need to take an active role and to recognize and resolve their own discrepancies with texts (Almasi; Gourgey, 2001). Research has demonstrated that this kind of ac tive reading behavior is promoted by providing students with opportunities to en gage in peer-led interaction about texts. More particularly, it has been shown that, through  students discussions, peer implement, conferences, evaluate, and peer modify and tutoring, strategies, activities, cooperative and discuss of transfer strategies (Klingner Vaughn, 1996; Klingner, Vaughn, Schumm, 1998; Pal incsar Brown, 1984). Moreover, discussions between peers provide opportu nities for metacognitive (Palincsar, David, Winn, exchanges and modeling 1991). In this way, childrens knowledge about reading and reading strategies, as well as their ability to apply relevant strategies, increases. Despite these convincing research results, student-centered  discussion with regard to is anything but common practice in most classrooms reading comprehension Stevens, (Alvermann, 2000). In the present study, we attempted to narrow the gap between prevailing in structional practice and research evidence in the field of reading comprehension instruction. An innovative approach, blending research-based strategies instruction and to practice opportunities strategic the from practices research fields, was designed, aforementioned implemented, More specifically, the innovations comprised two cornerstones: and evaluated. explicit reading  reading in peer-tu toring dyads. Peer tutoring was introduced to stimulate student interaction be cause of the opportunities it creates to practice metacognitive skills. It should be noted that studies of peer tutoring in reading comprehension and thinking skills are relatively rare (Topping, 2001). Following research on peer-assisted learning strategies (e. g. , Fuchs, Fuchs, et al. , Mathes, 1997), c? as s wide peer tutoring (e. g. , Greenwood, 1991; Greenwood, Carta, Hall, 1988), and studies focusing on practicing reading strategies in small cooperative groups (e.g. , Brown, Pressley, Van Meter, Schuder, 1996; Palincsar Brown, 1984; Pressley et al, 1992; Stevens, Madden, Slavin, Famish, 1987; Stevens, Slavin, Famish, 1991), the present study involved training in comprehension strategies rather than tutoring students in word-level oral reading or low-level comprehension activities. Peer tutoring can be defined as people from similar social groupings who are This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 01:52:54 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 294. The Journal of Experimental Education not professional  teachers helping each other to leam, and learning themselves by teaching (Topping, 1996, p. 322). This definition covers a series of practices, in cluding peers as one-on-one teachers to provide individualized instruction, prac tice, repetition, and clarification of concepts (Topping, 1988; Utley Mortweet, 1997). Peer tutoring is structurally embedded in the curriculum and classroom organization and is characterized by specific role taking: One person has the job of tutor, while the other is the tutee (Topping, 1996). Moreover, effective peer tu tutor training (Bentz Fuchs, 1996;toring is characterized by a preceding Fuchs, Fuchs, Bentz, Phillips, Hamlett, 1994; Fuchs, Fuchs, Hamlett, Phillips, Karns, Dutka, 1997). With regard to the dyad composition, two variants can be tutoring refers to older students tutoring younger stu distinguished. Cross-age in same-age tutoring, children are paired with classmates. The variant in dents; students alternate regularly between the tutor and tutee role is called rec iprocal same-age tutoring (Fantuzzo, King, Heller, 1992). Peer tutoring has been successful in a variety of curriculum areas and age groups. Research has indicated positive effects on academic achievement for both tutor and tutee (Cohen, Kulik, Kulik, 1982; Fantuzzo, Davis, Ginsburg, 1995; which Fantuzzo, Polite, Grayson, 1990; Fantuzzo et al. , 1992; Greenwood et al. , 1988; Mathes et al. , 2001 ;Simmons et al. , 1995). In this respect, peer tutoring is not only about transmission from the more able and experienced to the less able (Topping, 1996); tutors seem to benefit even more from tutoring than students who receive et al. ; Lambiotte et al. , the individual tuition (Fitz-Gibbon, 1988; Greenwood 1987). This can be explained by the nature of tutoring a peer: Tutors are chal to engage in ac lenged to consider the subject fully from different perspectives, to identify and correct errors, to reorganize and clarify their own tive monitoring knowledge and understandings, and to elaborate on information in their explana tions (Fuchs Fuchs, 2000). Because the application of reading strategies re quires actively monitoring the reading process, peer tutoring may be considered a powerful learning environment for the acquisition of reading comprehension the reading process of another reader might facilitate the ac skills. Monitoring of self-monitoring skills and, hence, the adequate application of reading quisition (1978) the strategies. From a theoretical perspective, consistent with Vygotskys ory of socially mediated learning, the object of the dyadic interaction in the peer tutoring activities is the joint construction of text meaning by appropriate appli cation of relevant reading strategies to a wide range of texts and, in the long term, the intemalization and consistently self-regulative flexible use of strategic pro cessing whenever encountering texts that are challenging to comprehend. Furthermore, positive effects also have been found on tutors and tutees social and emotional functioning, especially with regard to self-efficacy perceptions, self-concepts, social relationships, and attitudes toward the curriculum areas treated in the tutoring sessions (e. g. , Cohen et al. , 1982; Fantuzzo et al. , 1992; Fantuzzo et al. , 1995; Greenwood et al. , 1988; Mathes Fuchs, 1994). Regard This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 01:52:54 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 295 Van Keer Verhaeghe is an especially self-efficacy  important construct, ing reading comprehension, that attention to strategy instruction alone is not sufficient to produce max given imum reading growth (Casteel, Isom, Jordan, 2000). Affective factors result in deeper engagement with text, which translates into superior achievement. Henk and Melnick (1995) asserted that self-efficacy judgments can affect an individ uals overall orientation to the process of reading; influence choice of activities; affect continued involvement, amount of effort expended during reading, and the in pursuing text comprehension; And ultimately affect degree of persistence achievement. Our aim in the present intervention study was to design, implement, and evalu ate complex sets of instructional interventions in authentic classrooms to enhance second and fifth graders reading comprehension achievement and self-efficacy perceptions toward reading. The specific contribution of the present study is the focus on peer-tutoring variants as instructional techniques to practice the use of reading. More strategies. comprehension we specifically, concentrated on an ex of practicing reading strategies in (a)  plicit comparison teacher-led whole-class activities, (b) reciprocal same-age peer-tutoring activities, or (c) cross-age peer-tutoring activities within the same study for two different age groups. So far, cross- and same-age tutoring have not been compared within the same study, and there is only indirect reference material from themeta-analysis of of the relative merit Cohen and colleagues (1982) with regard to the differential impact. Furthermore, in the present study, we extend prior research by (a) sampling a larger number of studies; Participants than is typically the case in strategies-based comprehension (b) supporting teachers to implement the innovations in the natural classroom con text with the participation of all students of all abilities during an entire school year, which represents sensitivity to the interventions ecological validity; (c) tar geting students in the early and intermediate grades, populations that deserve more attention with regard tometacognitive and strategic behavior; (d) including maintenance long-term measures; (e) using standardized reading comprehension tests not directly linked to the treatment; and (f) applying multilevel modeling to  take the hierarchical nesting of students in classes into account. Based on a review of the research literature and the aforementioned lines of reasoning, we formulated the following hypotheses for the study: Hypothesis teacher-led 1. Explicit whole-class reading or peer-tutoring graders reading comprehension prehension strategies instruction, activities, achievement more followed enhances by practice second and in fifth than traditional reading com instruction. 2. Practicing reading strategies in cross-age or reciprocal same-age peer-tutoring activities generates larger positive changes in second and fifth  Hypothesis graders during comprehension whole-class achievement than more traditional activities. This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 01:52:54 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions teacher-led practice 296 The Journal Education of Experimental is more obvious for sec 3. Improvement in reading comprehension Hypothesis ond and fifth graders functioning as tutees and tutors, respectively, in cross-age peer-tutoring activities than for their peers alternating between the tutor and tutee roles in reciprocal same-age activities. Hypothesis 4. Cross-age and reciprocal same-age peer-tutoring activities second and fifth graders self-efficacy perceptions toward reading more ditional teacher-led instructional techniques. improve than tra 5. Improvement in self-efficacy perceptions toward reading is more Hypothesis obvious for second and fifth graders functioning as tutees and tutors, respective ly, in cross-age peer-tutoring activities than for their peers alternating roles in activities. same-age reciprocal Method Design We used a pretest, posttest, and retention test control group design. To ensure the ecological validity of the interventions, we included complete naturally com posed classes. Participating classes were assigned to one of four research condi tions. In the strategies-only condition (STRAT), the experimental intervention in cluded explicit reading strategies instruction, followed by practice in teacher-led whole-class settings. The experimental same-age (STRAT + SA) and cross-age included identical instruction in the (STRAT + CA) peer-tutoring conditions same cross-age dyads, or cross-age with combined strategies, In this respectively.  tutoring. Finally, class-wide we respect, included practice students a control in reciprocal experienced either characterized group, or same-age same by tra activities without explicit strategies instruction ditional reading comprehension or peer tutoring. Classes were randomly assigned to the STRAT or tutoring con ditions. Within the tutoring conditions, teachers opted in favor of the STRAT + SA or STRAT + CA condition according to the readiness of a colleague to col laborate in the STRAT + CA activities. We selected control group classes to match the experimental teachers  and classes. Because the classes were naturally composed and the assignment of classes to the conditions was not completely randomized, the design can be regarded as quasi-experimental. Participants In total, 444 second and 454 fifth graders from 44 classes in 25 different schools throughout Flanders (Belgium) participated in the study. Except for some small-scale initiatives of individual schools, peer tutoring was fairly unfamiliar at the time of the study. Other cooperative or interactive techniques, such as This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 01:52:54 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 297 Van Keer Verhaeghe and circle time, were better known and more group work, group discussion, fre used. quently Except for one inner-city school in the STRAT condition with mainly a low so status and ethnic minority population, all schools had a predomi cioeconomic Flemish population. The majority of the children were from middle nantly white, class families. Except for one second-grade class including only girls, there was approximately an equal gender distribution: In second- and fifth-grade classes, on = = 18.55) of the students were boys. At 16. 54) and 48% (SD average, 53% (SD the beginning of the school year, second graders were aged, on average, 7 years and 4 months, and fifth graders were aged, on average, 10 years and 5 months. The majority of the students (402 in second and 422 in fifth grade) were native speakers. Because elementary school students in Flanders are not grouped by ability, classes are considered academically heterogeneous, which was con firmed by the pretest reading comprehension measures. Class size ranged from 15 to 28 students, with an average of approximately 21 (SD = 3.50) in the second grade, and from 10 to 30 students in the fifth grade, with an average of approxi = mately 22 (SD 5. 00) students per class. Second- and fifth-grade teachers had, on Dutch average, 11 and 20 years of teaching experience, respectively. Four of 22 second grade and 5 of 22 fifth-grade teachers were men. None of the teachers had previ ous experience in explicit reading strategies instruction or peer tutoring. We selected participating teachers from a group of approximately 100 second and fifth-grade teachers who were willing to take part in a long-term research study. All interested teachers received a questionnaire concerning their teaching practices and opinions regarding learning and instruction. The first step in the teacher-selection we selected ative and interactive to pace according was procedure student-oriented instructional or content. who Furthermore, of the schools of matching and classes this specifically, in applying experienced cooper and able to build in differentiation we based the throughout Flanders with More questionnaire. were techniques graphical distribution teachers on based teachers regard to selection on the geo and on the possibility teachers teaching  experience, beliefs, and instructional practice; class size; students age; gender distribution; and dominating mother tongue. Table 1 shows the number of participating class es and students Measurement per condition. Instruments study, we used standardized tests to measure students reading achievement and decoding fluency. We administered question comprehension naires with respect to reading attitude, perceived competence, and preoccupation with attributions and self-efficacy perceptions toward reading. In the present Reading tests. We comprehension using Dutch standardized measured test batteries reading  comprehension (Staphorsius Krom, This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 01:52:54 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions achievement 1996; Verhoeven, 298 The Journal TABLE 1. Number of Participating Education of Experimental Classes and Students Grade Fifth Second Condition Classes STRAT + SA STRAT + CA STRAT Control 6 5 Note. cross-age 163 124 444 22 = explicit whole-class STRAT teacher-led peer-tutoring 22 101 69 177 107 454 66 8 Students 91 3 group Total Classes Students reading comprehension strategies instruction followed by practice in = activities; SA activities; CA = same-age peer-tutoring  reciprocal activities. 1993), which were selected based on the tests well-established psychometric the built-in adaptation to different student abilities, and the fact characteristics, that the tests address aspects of comprehension covered by the strategies part of occasion, we administered the experimental program. At each measurement with an increasing level of difficulty. The questions tiple-choice tence, the referral contained pretest second-grade asking relation for between short six the meaning words, stories, of each a word, the connection followed the meaning between by of sentences, tests 5 mul  a sen and the theme of a text. We determined the scores by the number of correct answers. The second-grade post- and retention tests consisted of four and three different stories, respectively, each followed by 4 to 10 multiple-choice questions, with a total of 25 questions per test. More specifically, questions concerning the content of a text (demanding a clear understanding of the meaning of words and sen tences, the referral relation between words, the connection between sentences, and the theme of the text) and questions concerning the communication between the author and the reader of the text (e.g. , objective of the author, intended target group, the authors attitude toward the matter raised) could be distinguished. Both types of questions required integration of information on different textual levels (words, sentences, paragraphs, text) and were more or less equally distrib uted over the 25 questions per text. After discussing an example, students com pleted the tests individually. To examine the tests internal consistency, Cron bachs a coefficients were calculated on our own data, yielding high reliability scores of . 90 (n = 432) for the pretest, . 84 (n = All) for the posttest, and . 83 (n = 385) for the retention test. In fifth grade, the tests consisted of three modules of 25 multiple-choice ques tions each. All students took the first module of the test. Depending on these first This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 01:52:54 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 299 Van Keer Verhaeghe results, students further completed an easier or more difficult module. Two types of questions requiring the integration of information on different textual levels could be distinguished: questions concerning the content and questions concern ing the communication the author  between and the reader. an After stu example, dents completed the tests individually. Scores were determined by summing the correct answers. For the reading comprehension test, IRT-modeled scores were on Item Response Theory (IRT), a common scale had been de available: Based allowing us to veloped for different grades and test versions (easy-difficult), or more difficult part of the test. Because they are all on the compare the easier same scale, the IRT-modeled scores also allow for direct comparison of the re occasions. To verify the relia sults a student obtained at different measurement  bility of the three modules of the pre-, post-, and retention tests, we computed Cronbachs a coefficients on our own data. Table 2 indicates that reliability of all measures comprehension was acceptable. test. We included second graders decoding fluency, which is a Decoding fluency combination of accuracy and decoding speed (Chard, Simmons, Kameenui, 1998), as an additional variable, because fluency can be considered a mediating factor on students reading comprehension achievement (Pressley, 2000). A stan dardized test (Brus, 1969) was administered individually to  all second graders; students were asked to read unrelated words with an increasing level of difficul ty during exactly 1min. The score was determined by counting the number of words read correctly. We collected fluency data in second-grade classes only be cause it is recognized that reading fluency is generally well developed at the end of the third grade (Bast Reitsma, 1998; Sticht James, 1984) and because it was too time to test consuming all fifth graders as well. individually on self-efficacy perceptions and related causal attributions. With Questionnaire  in the framework of the present study, we developed a questionnaire to measure TABLE a Coefficients 2. Cronbachs Comprehension for the Fifth-Grade Reading Tests Measurement occasion Posttest Pretest Test module n n an a .81 1 .76 2 3 .66 Note. At each measurement used. 468 167 271 occasion a different Retention test a .72 .76 .74 test with 442 256 175 an increasing This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 01:52:54 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions .76 .79 .77 41 level of difficulty 403 362 was 300. The Journal Education of Experimental  students preoccupation with positive or negative thoughts or related causal attri butions with regard to their reading ability. Inspired by the work of Ames (1984), we asked children to report how often such thoughts crossed their mind before, during, or after reading. Factor analysis revealed that success attributions and positive thoughts about ones own reading competence on the one hand and fail ure attributions and negative self-efficacy perceptions on the other hand are very (1984) and closely related. This result is in line with the findings of Marsh and Debus (1984), who stated that self-attribu  Marsh, Cairns, Relich, Barnes, can tions seen be as or expressions indicators ones of or self-concept self-effi we constructed two scales reflecting negative and cacy perceptions. Therefore, about ones own reading abilities. It should be positive thoughts, respectively, noted that capturing the incidence of self-efficacy-related thoughts does not give a direct measure of students self-efficacy perception but rather indicates the de a student is preoccupied with such thoughts. In this respect, related to (meta)cognitive activity than data collected gree to which data are more means the directly of more  traditional a However, questionnaires. self-concept by inci high dence of negative self-efficacy-related thoughts can be considered an indication of a low self-efficacy perception, but such a conclusion cannot be drawn from a low incidence of positive self-efficacy-related thoughts. The latter suggests only that the student is not preoccupied with thoughts about reading proficiency or success. We administered read graders and completed at each the questionnaire the questionnaire measurement occasion. In individually. second Fifth all grade, items were read out loud to and judged individually by the students. As can be seen in Table 3, reliability was high for the negative subscale, but it was somewhat lower for the positive subscale. To investigate the validity of the both questionnaire, TABLE scales were correlated a Coefficients 3. Cronbachs Preoccupation With Attributions with for the scholastic the Questionnaire Measurement 2nd grade Success Concerning occasion attributions negative 2nd grade 5th grade and self-efficacy perceptions Failure Posttest 5th grade anananan scale attributions positive sub and Self-Efficacy Perceptions Pretest Questionnaire competence .63 419 .69 441 .75 402 .71 426 367 .83 408 .84 368 .81 393 and self-efficacy perceptions .77 This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 01:52:54 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 301 Van Keer Verhaeghe scale of a Dutch Profile for Children (Harter, version of the Self-Perception 1985). These analyses revealed that both positive and negative self-efficacy per ceptions were significantly (p 0. 01) correlated with the scholastic self-concept subscale with r = -. 40 (pretest) and r = -. 37 (posttest) for the negative self-effi = . 22 = . 19 cacy subscale and r (posttest) for the positive self-ef  (pretest) and r subscale. ficacy scale. Although we mainly focused on students self-effi cacy perceptions directly related to reading activities, we administered an exist (Veerman, Straathof, Treffers, Van den Bergh, ing self-concept questionnaire ten Brink, 1997), which is a Dutch version of the Self-Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985). Because the questionnaire was not appropriate for sec Perceived competence ond graders, we used the instrument with the fifth-grade group only. To verify the reliability of the different scales, we computed Cronbachs a coefficients. As can be seen in Table 4, the reliability of the measures was acceptable. As to the ques tionnaires validity, Veerman and colleagues investigations into the validity of self-report reported that, compared with other scales, the validity can be judged as moderate. Reading attitude scale. Both second and fifth graders completed a Dutch Read ing Attitude Scale (Aarnoutse, 1996) at the pre- and posttest. Fifth graders read and completed the questionnaire individually.