Introduction Essays (546 words) - Semantics, Memory,

Introduction Memory is involved in all aspects of our lives and can be thought of as the to retain information and demonstrate retention through behaviour. We have vast amounts of knowledge stored in our memory system which we are able to access quickly and effortlessly, thus implying that stored knowledge must be highly organised to allow us to retrieve the appropriate information for a given situation. This organisation will be determined by the way that information is encoded into memory, and the way knowledge is organised will determine the type of process required to access that information on a future occasion. Craick and Lockhart(1972) argued that any item entering the memory system is analysed in stages. The early stages analyse perceptual properties of the item, such as visual or acoustic properties. Later stages analyse its meaning, including the categories it fits into and its connections to other items in memory. Each level of processing leaves a trace in memory. The deeper the level of processing, the stronger the trace and the more durable the memory. Conversely, the shallower the level of processing, the more transitory will be the memory. Rowe(1974) showed that semantic encoding leads to more effective learning than phonemic encoding, which in turn is more effective than visual encoding. The assumption is that semantic processing is somehow a deeper sort of encoding. Hyde and Jenkins(1973) used five different orienting tasks. Participants were presented with lists of words for three seconds and had to complete one of the following tasks: 1. Rate the word for pleasantness. 2. Estimate the frequency of use of the word. 3. Detect the presence of particular letters in the word. 4. Decide the appropriate part of speech of the word. 5. Make decisions as to weather or not the fits into sentence frames. Hyde and Jenkins argued that conditions 1 & 2 required semantic processing whereas the others did not. Craick and Lockhart(1972) devised an incidental learning procedure in which subjects were deliberately not asked to remember items, so that it prevented them from processing everything in the best possible way in order to remember them. According to Craick and Lockhart's theory, the difference between each level of processing is the amount of cognitive effort we expend on memorising something. This cognitive effort is essentially the effort made in relating new information to old. The better we can organise new material i.e. relate it to existing knowledge, the better it will be retained. The aim of the present study is to verify (or otherwise) the findings of Craick and Lockhart and also to update and partially replicate their findings about levels of processing. The present study will therefore test the hypothesis that if words are processed acoustically or visually then they will be less likely to be recalled than if they are processed by meaning. Alternate hypothesis: There will be a significant association between words which are processed acoustically or visually and whether they will be less likely to be recalled than if they are processes by meaning. Null hypothesis: There will be no significant association between words which are processed acoustically or visually and whether they will be less likely to be recalled than if they are processed by meaning. These are one-tailed hypotheses.

Imperialism and Its Motives essays

Imperialism and Its Motives essays Imperialism began to grow just before the turn of the twentieth century. During this time Americas businesses were growing and need more markets. The United States was becoming a world power, and with that some people felt there came obligations. The United States economic growth and powerful figured led to incidents overseas that caused war, especially the Spanish-American War. The nation was growing. Industry was doing well. Businesses were booming. The United States began to shed its old attitude of isolationism, for the prospect of the rest of the world as its market. The navy of the nation was the fifth best in the world so be had naval strength. People were advocating expansion for religious reasons. They wanted to spread Christianity and conform the culture of the world to American standards. An example of the wants during this time was a book written by Josiah Strong called Our Country and Its Possible Future and Present Crisis. To expand the nations influence over the world we needed open markets, open routes, and to show strength. The Spanish-American War was the prime example of showing what the United States was doing with its new power and economic standing. Strong figures came to the forefront to support the engagement of this war for a list of reasons. Among some these reason were the fear that if Spain had control over Cuba then the shipping routes would be disrupted. America hid behind the noble reasons of being sympathetic to the Cuban patriots who were fighting for their independence and to stop the Spanish from using reconcentration camps. Chief among the leaders were Henry Cabot Lodge, the influential senator from Massachusetts, Theodore Roosevelt, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and Captain Alfred Mahan, author of the book called The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, an influential work calling for and adding the use of th ...

Health of Australias Indigenous People Essay Example

Health of Australias Indigenous People Essay Example Health of Australias Indigenous People Paper Health of Australias Indigenous People Paper Essay Topic: The Healers The health of Australia’s Indigenous peoples is documented to be of third world standard. This paper identifies and highlights the factors that influence Aboriginal health and wellbeing. It explores and analyses how Aboriginal health, as a reflection of the broader social, economic, political and environmental factors, is influenced by colonialism, not just historically but as a living legacy. It discusses the continuing influence of colonialism in Aboriginal health policy and practice and how this has been an obstacle to Aboriginal health improvement. Strategies for health improvement, guided by the principle of self-determination and primary health care are discussed. Consideration is given to the voices of Aboriginal Health Workers on Aboriginal health issues and the importance of those voices as an expression of self-determination. The negative influences of colonialism still exist today. Broome (1994 pg 23) states; â€Å"the meeting of two people from different cultures is bound to be marked by misunderstanding†. The nature of exchanges and responses of Europeans and Indigenous Australians happened as a gradual process throughout the early 1800’s. The processes of colonisation had such an impact on those already here. It is only now, that non-indigenous Australians are starting to understand the breadth and magnitude of this process. The notion of Terra Nullius was created and the great Southland was considered wasteland, unoccupied and belonging to no one. Reynolds (1987 pg 167) says, ‘Some settlers resolved the contradictions concerning the place of the Aborigines in European society by assuming that Australia had been before 1788, ‘waste and uncultivated’, a terra nullius or land without owners’. Despite this common belief, there was immediate resistance by Aboriginal people. Where former history was once of passive agreement and welcoming to the foreshores, history records the violent confrontations between Indigenous people and the colonialists with the overwhelming brutality of all but few of the new arrivals. It is not possible to comprehend the current status of Aboriginal Health and wellbeing without first acknowledging the legacies and treatment of Aboriginal people in this country since European invasion. There are many arguments for and against the notion that Aboriginal Australia was never invaded and that it was only a process of colonisation. Some argue that European colonisation was an act of genocide and was in fact an invasion with the intention to take over and repopulate Aboriginal Australia. Reynolds (cited in Reed and Trompt, 1991 page 5) says that ‘in addition to killing ‘twenty thousand blacks before federation’ and many more in the twentieth century as the frontier moved north and west in the Northern Territory and Western Australia), the conquerors launched three pronged attack on the health and welfare of Aborigines’. The first fleet brought with it, a cargo of disease that Aboriginal people had not experienced and diseases such as scurvy, mumps and typhus killed large numbers of Aboriginal people. Reed and Trompt (1991 page 5) suggest that Europeans ‘introduced new diseases, some immediately fatal, others fatal in the long term’. Further, ‘taking away ancestral land, thus causing psychological illness and spiritual despair’; and ‘by herding Aborigines into small reserves and settlements, destroying their healthy lifestyle and substituting conditions and diet poorer that those of the poorest newcomers’. To understand the impact on ones health, it’s important to conceptualise the meaning of health and what it means to have a ‘healthy lifestyle’. The Macquarie Dictionary (1993 pg 189) defines the meaning of health as (1. ‘ Soundness of body; Freedom from disease or ailment’) or (2. ‘The general condition of the body or mind’). Western medicine tends to use a disease model for treating patients with more activity centred on a particular illness or focus on a part of a body that is abnormal. The World Health Organisation defines health as; â€Å"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity†. In other words, it is not just the absence of sickness and disease, but a complete state of physical, mental, social wellbeing’. One could argue that this definition does not cover the aspect of spiritual wellbeing. Spiritual wellbeing or ‘traditional healing’ plays an integral role in Aboriginal health today and is only now recognised and practiced by health professions across the state. Certain members of an Aboriginal community are often referred to as traditional healers. In many Aboriginal communities across Australia there are people who are seen to have magical powers. They have the ability to ‘sing’ someone, causing serious illness and even death. On the other hand, it can also be used to heal and bring someone out of sickness and infirmity. ‘More recently, greater understanding of the sociomedical theories of the Aboriginal healing system illuminate better the role of the traditional healer. In Aboriginal communities, healers are individuals who possess healing and divination powers which can be used for the benefit of the community’. (Reed and Trompt, 1991, page 313) The social and cultural dislocation experienced by Aboriginal people has indefinably had a profound effected on Aboriginal peoples mental well being. The word powerlessness and hopelessness comes to ones mind when consideration is given to the destruction that came from ‘European invasion’. The rippling effects of ‘European invasion’ can be seen today. One would only have to read the newspapers and textbooks to see such effects. These effects however, could be viewed as stresses that lead to mental ill health. Most stresses that lead to mental health are also economic. Most mental disorders have their highest prevalence in the lowest socioeconomic class. Research gives evidence that high proportions of Aboriginal population live in low socioeconomic or marginalised regions. Reed and Trompt (1991, page 249) says ‘The stress experienced by Aboriginal communities has been attributed to factors such as the marginal social and economic status of most Aboriginal communities’. It could then be argued that Aboriginal people as a whole experience a much lower standard of living than other Australians. Economic stress can lead to psychological stress. For instance, high unemployment, or rather, a lack of significant experience, extreme poverty, severe housing shortages, family violence, high crime rates, sexually transmitted diseases, alcoholism and malnutrition are all contributing factors to ones ill-health. As mentioned earlier, it is important to recognise Aboriginal health from social view. A social view of health is embedded within the Primary Health Care philosophy. It alters its focus to recognise the environment in which a person lives. The social view of health recognises that if people are poor, are living in an unhealthy environment or have no power over their lives, they will continue to get sick, no matter how many hospitals are built. While Aboriginal people in Australia have been setting a benchmark in Aboriginal medical services, other people throughout the world have been looking at different ways to provide health care. They have been realising that health services were only providing adequate care for those people who had power and money. Millions of poor, homeless or powerless people throughout the world were sick or dying because their needs were not being met. In 1978, the World Health Organisation held a conference on health in Alma-Ata in the USSR. People from 134 nations, including Australia, met to talk about their experiences and ways to make people healthier. They decided to call this new approach ‘Primary Health Care’. Out of this conference came a document called the ‘Declaration of Alma-Ata’. The Alama-Ata declaration talked about what Primary Health Care is and how changes could be made to health services around the world to improve health. The delegates at the Alama-Ata conference stated that ‘health is a basic human right’. The declaration called for a different approach to health and for health care to give equal share of health resources to all people. In 1989 the National Aboriginal Health Strategy was released and endorsed by all health and Aboriginal Affairs ministers. It was the biggest and most comprehensive report into Aboriginal health that had ever been undertaken. Its overall aim was to work towards increasing the access of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People to health services by the year 2000. It strongly supported the role of Aboriginal Health Workers and the development of Primary Health care services in Aboriginal communities. The report recognised that the most successful services are those that are controlled by the community rather than by government departments. Another policy response was the Royal Commission into Black Deaths in Custody, (1991, AGPS, Canberra) This â€Å"Royal Commission† was set up to investigate why so many Aboriginal people die in jail and police stations. In doing so it collected much information on the physical and mental health and living conditions of Aboriginal people. Several recommendations were aimed at improving the current health services and acknowledging the importance of Aboriginal Health Professionals. Both the National Aboriginal Health Strategy and The Royal Commission into Black Deaths in Custody reports have been criticised, for although they identify many problems, few changes have occurred. It is one thing to come up with recommendations; it’s how you implement them that really counts. It takes more than Government policies to affect change, community attitude and commitment are fundamental to social change. One could ask, who determines whether or not a recommendation has been implemented Successfully, and how is it reviewed to keep its status in a western dominant culture. Money does not change the way people relate to one another nor does it rule out hidden racism. One might implement all the recommendations in the Black Deaths in Custody report, but it still doesn’t change peoples negative opinions and attitudes toward Aboriginal people. Aboriginal people have been fighting for Social Justice for years and it’s still a major priority for the community as well as other human service workers. Human service workers can play a key role in bringing about change. The secret often lays in the principles of community development. Taking community action is a way that empowers a community. Community development is a tool that can be used to bring social change. Aboriginal people have had decades of change (â€Å"injustices†) being forced upon them. The only real way for change to be constructive today is for it to come from and involve Aboriginal people. Consensus building, empowerment, participation and social movement are all community development principles that are important in creating positive social change and addressing social justice issues. Self-determination and empowerment means having power over resources, decision making, relationships, and information. It is with this power, Aboriginal people are only now, starting to carve out a pathway for the next generation. My findings show that early history and views of Aboriginal people have influenced the way in which Aboriginal people are viewed and treated today. Decisions made in life are based on what is known or perceived as being the correct answer. Thus many decisions and views of Aboriginal people today are learned through education and information from past history. These views and decisions have disadvantaged Aboriginal people over the years, but they are also key factors in unlocking the answer to addressing past injustices. Prejudices and racial discrimination issues are often seen as issues that compound on the social wellbeing of Aboriginal people, thus making it harder to access services and maintain positive self-esteem and image. There are so many myths and beliefs about Aboriginal people that influence our service delivery today in both government and non-government sectors. Views and perceptions of early history linger in our society today because of ignorance. The status of Aboriginal health and wellbeing among Aboriginal people today can be looked at in terms of Aboriginal history and European invasion. The continuous effects of European invasion inevitably affected the lives of hundreds and thousands of Aboriginal people. These effects are evident in our society today. The National Inquiry into Black Deaths in Custody highlights a series of recommendations that refer to the betterment of Aboriginal health, with most still needing to be implemented. The health of Indigenous Australians is of third world standard in this country, and its not just an Aboriginal issue, it’s a political one. Allan Sumner Reference: Reed and Trompt, 1991, The Health Of Aboriginal Australia, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Group (Australia) Pty Ltd. Reynolds, Henry 1987 (Frontier) page 167, Allen Unwin Australia Pty Ltd. The Royal Commission into Black Deaths in Custody, 1991, AGPS, Canberra Three Years On, Implementation of Commonwealth Government Responses to the Recommendations of the Royal Commission into Black Deaths in Custody, Vol 2, pages 491 – 534. World Health Organisation, 1978, Primary Health Care: Report of the International conference of primary health care, Alma-Ata, USSR 6-12 September, WHO.

6 Tips when Writing for a Global Audience

6 Tips when Writing for a Global Audience As businesses become more international, so must our writing. Fortunately, good business writing skills transfer very well to global audiences. Here are a few helpful tips for writing for a global audience: 1) Avoid academic or technical writing styles Academic and technical writing styles are very information dense. The sentences are long, they contain a lot of information, and there is often technical language that may be hard for the average person to understand. Compare an article from your local newspaper to an academic journal article or a technical manual to see the difference. To effectively reach your global audience, write in a more straightforward style. The next few tips are good examples of how to do this. 2) Use lists Numbered or bulleted lists are much easier to understand and respond to than paragraphs. Whenever possible, put information in a list. Anchor each item with strong, clear vocabulary to get your point across 3) Choose the right words Did you know that for every native speaker of English, there are (almost) two non-native speakers? I find this statistic incredible – approximately 2/3 of the people who speak English learned it as a second language! Of course, English varies widely depending on where it is being spoken, so you want to choose words that are internationally recognized. For example: Strange is more commonly recognized worldwide than the very American weird. Friend is used more widely than synonyms like pal, chap, mate, etc. Change your money is far more common than to get change, to break a dollar/20, to cash a check. The best way to figure this out is to listen to the way English is used in different places. Another good practice is to think about the words you use and whether they have a more specific synonym. Which leads us to†¦ 4) Be as specific as possible Choose words, particularly verbs, that mean exactly what you want them to mean. A good of example of why this is important is phrasal verbs (verb + preposition = a different meaning). For example: Blow up vs. Explode. These two mean the same thing, but a non-native speaker will often read blow up literally, and imagine someone blowing air up. So, a sentence like â€Å"The stock price is going to blow up!† might be completely nonsensical. Explode is a much better choice. Run into vs. Meet unexpectedly Again, these two mean the same thing, but run into could be taken literally. So, it would be better to say, â€Å"I met John unexpectedly at the restaurant last night.† Instead of â€Å"I ran into John at the restaurant last night.† It may seem like a small difference, but in the context of a longer conversation, it could be quite confusing! Talk into vs. Convince. Here, the into is what’s confusing. Into usually connotes a spatial change, but talk into involves a change of opinion. Convince is a much clearer choice. For example, â€Å"We have to convince them to lower their price.† 5) Choose the right grammatical structures I have previously written about business writing grammar, but the general idea is that you want to use easy to understand grammatical structures: present, past, and future simple tenses. These are the first tenses you learn in a foreign language, so they are fairly widely understood. Similarly, do not rely on grammar to explain time relationships. Instead, use adverbs, such as first, next, last, to do this job. Like listing, these adverbs are additional cues that help your reader understand what needs to be done. 6) Do not make assumptions This is the hardest tip to put into practice because we all have a set of cultural assumptions. I will share an example from my experiences to help clarify what this means: I am an American professor at an American university. As such, I expect my assignment instructions to be followed. I work with international and immigrant students, so I always give very explicit instructions. Semester after semester, I was getting a handful of papers that blatantly ignored those detailed and painstakingly crafted instructions. I finally talked to some other teachers who had taught abroad and asked them what I was missing. Apparently, there are some places where you are expected to do something other than what the instructions specify. This was a total light bulb moment for me. I am now very clear about the fact that my instructions are EXACTLY what I expect in the final papers and that my students should not deviate from them. Simply stating this has helped tremendously (both in the students’ work and in my frustration levels). My expectations in the above scenario were actually culturally based assumptions – I mean, the teacher tells you what she wants, and you do that, right? Not always! We all have cultural assumptions about many things – time, money, relationships, work schedules, vacation, meetings, etc. – and it is hard to see beyond them sometimes. If you enjoyed these 6 tips make sure to check out our complete list of 87 business writing tips. As you can see, the items above are all elements of good business writing, but they are particularly important with global audiences. Short, clear, direct sentences help your reader to respond in a timely manner. Instructional Solutions offers business writing courses that can help you to achieve this type of writing.

Object oriented development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Object oriented development - Essay Example It is an easier way to keep track of program flow and much organized than the traditional "spaghetti codes" produced by unstructured programming methods. In 70's, a new programming technique began to gain popularity as a "top-down" approach to program design. This is a technique where a program designer maps out large-scale structure of a program and breaks them into smaller operations. These smaller operations will be tested or debug separately and connect them together into the entire program. Structured programming facilitates easy understanding of smaller pieces of code without having to understand the whole program at once. By the end of the 20th century, mainstream programmers realized the significance and value of structured approach began to apply the concept in high-level programming languages. In the middle of the 1980's, another concept in program development made its way to become the dominant programming methodology. Mainly influenced by C++ and the popularity of GUI (Graphical User Interface), Object-oriented programming became the most sought after programming method to date. The objective behind object-oriented programming is to view computer programs as a collection of individual units or objects that is capable of receiving messages, processing data, and sending messages to each other. This is different from the belief and practice that a program is just a compilation of functions and procedures or a list of commands for a computer to follow. Object-oriented programming is broadly accepted in large-scale software development. It is adaptable, easy to learn, simpler to develop and maintain, and easier to manage. The fundamental concepts of OOP (short for object oriented programming) are class, object, encapsulation, inheritance, abstraction, and polymorphism. Class is a unit of data and function for a particular thing. For instance, a "class of students" might be a set, which include different type of students (male, female, black, white etc.). An Object is an occurrence of a class, a run-time demonstration of a specific pattern of a class. For instance, the gender "male" and "female" as a subclass and "Alfred" the student as an object in the class of students. Encapsulation is a type of privacy to ensure that an object can be change only through established channels within a class. It simply means packaging the data and related functions into one unified unit, a class. Inheritance- is a mechanism for creating subclasses; it provides a way to define a subclass or an extension of a universal class. For instance, as students, class is a subclass of year level class and gender of student in a class is a subclass of the class students. An Abstraction is the ability of a program to disregard the details of an object's class or subclass and si mplify it into a more suitable general level. For instance, "Alfred" the students may be abstracted to a more generic level as year level super class. Polymorphism is a varying behaviour depending on the class in which the behaviour is call upon to act. This is to say that two or more classes can answer independently and in an entirely different way to an identical message. THE EVOLUTION OF OBJECT-ORIENTED PHP Not too many people know that PHP, the popular and powerful web base scripting language, coined in the summer

To what extent have external forces like the Leapfrog Group influenced Assignment

To what extent have external forces like the Leapfrog Group influenced change in the healthcare environment - Assignment Example This essay discusses that the healthcare sector has over the time undergone immense changes, characterized by improved healthcare systems that aid access and service delivery. These changes have been triggered by various sources, including but not limited to individuals, groups of people, government healthcare evaluators and the society at large. On a more specific ground, external forces have had their contribution to the changes observed in the healthcare environment. One of the identifiable external forces that have influenced change in the healthcare environment is the Leapfrog Group and related external factors. Changes in the healthcare sector have been tailored towards making healthcare accessible and affordable. On the same note, aspects of effective and efficient service delivery systems have been advocated for, formulated and implemented. This has led to the realization of healthcare services that by greater margin meet their primary purposes, among them promoting and uphol ding good health to the larger society. These external factors have been the driving force of change in the healthcare sector of the country. While the government has crucial concerns about healthcare issues, triggering change from within the system has been observed to be slow and inefficient over time. With the presence of Leapfrog Group among other external forces in the healthcare environment, quick, efficient and effective changes in healthcare have been realized. Specifically, evidence-based initiatives have been successfully introduced. On the same note, modern technology-based physician order entries, hospital referrals and ICU staffing has been enhanced and improved through external forces advocacy (Stead &Herbert, 2009). Your sister is entering into the hospital for elective surgery. She asks you how to determine she is safe while in the hospital. What do you tell her and why. Patient’s safety in any hospital is setting is fundamentally defined by patient rights. A patient that knows his or her rights is bound to feel safer in the hands of the caregiver. The most basic point to consider is consent to treatment, and surgery on a more specific ground as it relates to this question. Feeling safe while in the hospital first begins with the patient and then the caregiver’s context comes in. This is because, in order to begin any healthcare procedure, the patient must be willing to undertake the required actions that pertain to the procedure of treatment. This is the first step to determine that the patient is safe while in the hospital. Effectiveness and quality of care is another factor combination that determines how safe a patient is. The two are determined by a number of factors that the patient herself should actively consider in order to create a safe hospital environment for her and the caregiver during treatment, and this in case elective surgery. Speaking up when an unusual scenario arises is crucial to the patient’s safety i n the hospital. The patient should observe the practices of the caregiver so that practices or actions are tailored towards promoting the patient’s welfare. Attention should be paid in the setting up of the elective surgery procedure, so that all required materials and surgical tools are well in place before hand. The caregivers responsible for the elective surgery procedure should give the patient sufficient information about the procedure so that the patient is well informed of what is expected of her. Other safety related issues to check for are the medication procedure, standard of the healthcare facility in the light of Joint Commission’s Standard and patient participation allowed by the caregivers. This information is relevant to the patient since every patient is entitled to quality and safe healthcare. What are some of the downfalls of obtaining

International Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

International Management - Essay Example The present study would analyse the business strategies of Toyota Motors Corporation with regards to achieving global competence. The study would specifically analyse the product offering and product based strategies of the firm and how these have been used by the firm to gain global competitive advantage. The choice of the organization assumes significance considering the fact that Toyota is one of the most formidable brands of the world and has a significant market share in the global car market. The company has a product offering that tends to offer the best products to the customers. It also has operations spread around major consumer markets of the world and is known for its operational and manufacturing excellence strategies. Background About the Company Toyota Motors Corporation is one of the most reputed car makers of the world. The automobile behemoth was established in the year 1937 and is presently one of the most formidable brands of the world with its stocks listed on th e bourses of the US stock exchanges as well as Japanese stock exchange. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and has a capital worth 397.05 billion Yen as of 2010. The company has a total of 320,590 employees on active payroll as of March 2010. The main business area of the organization is in the areas of automobile production and sales. It has a multi product offering that helps in targeting a large number of market segments. The company is known for its innovations in product design and operational expertise that helps it to provide greater value to the customers (Toyota Motors Corporation, 2011). Product Portfolio Mix Toyota Motors Corporation is in the business of automobile manufacturing and sales and has a product offering that caters to almost all sections and segments. The company’s product offering includes cars that includes hatchbacks, sedans as well as luxury SUV’s, hybrid cars, trucks and commercial vehicles. The detailed products under the brand a re provided in the table below: Table 1: Product Offering of Toyota Motors Corporation Cars Models Category Price (US $) Â   Yaris Hatchback 13155 Â   Corolla Sedan 15900 Â   Matrix Hatchback 16700 Â   Camry Sedan 20195 Â   Prius Sedan 23520 Â   Sienna Minivan 25060 Â   Avalon Sedan 33195 Â   Â   Â   Â   SUV RAV 4 SUV 22475 Â   FJ Crusiser SUV 25790 Â   Venza Crossover 27125 Â   Highlander SUV 28090 Â   4Runner SUV 30305 Â   Sequoia SUV 40930 Â   Land Cruiser SUV 68920 Â   Trucks Tacoma Truck 16365 Â   Tundra Truck 24435 (Source: Toyota Motors Corporation-a, 2011) As evident from the table shown above Toyota has a very large product offering that helps it to cater to a large number of customer segments. The prices of the vehicles have been formulated in a manner that would help the firm to target a wide customer audience. On one hand there are highly priced SUV’s and hybrid vehicles as well as price friendly hatchbacks that help it to meet the demands of a large section of the customers. The company’s product strategy follows an innovative approach with focus on looks, design as well as engine capacities. The company has continuously modified its product offering with respect to the changing demands of the consumer audience. The company has made it a part of its vision to produce more hybrid and green vehicles that are environment friendly (Toyota

A Case Study of the Impact of Cultural Differences on the HRM of Dissertation

A Case Study of the Impact of Cultural Differences on the HRM of Foreign Companies in China - Dissertation Example This incongruity between, for instance, Western management values and those of employees in China can create difficulties in establishing effective human resource management policies and systems. Economic globalisation has created the necessity for MNEs to expand overseas and thus is creating fierce competition. Many companies that have expanded into China whilst still maintaining their host operations overseas seek to exploit their human capital as a means of gaining competitive advantage effectively over their competing companies in similar markets. Because the human capital is considered one of the most important and crucial elements of establishing this advantage, it becomes extremely necessary for businesses to understand how to bridge cultural and social differences in order to build loyalty, motivation and productivity with individuals in China. China is a country that is ruled by rituals that often express significant differences in status at the social level. Those with high er resources often do not exploit or display their material wealth in order to illustrate their superiority over the lower or middle class citizens (Bell 2008). However, significant changes to social policy in the 19th Century had the wealthy citizens in China driving lower class citizens from their land and poorer people grew increasingly angry over their exploitation by the wealthy (Bell). Because of this, individuals who fit the lower and middle class categories of citizens and workers have had it instilled into their social systems and mindsets that one must constantly fight to gain economic freedom by amassing wealth. Generation after generation have found that material wealth is the most important method to gain influence and social freedoms and continue to fight to gain this type of prestige through finance (Creative Media Applications 1999). Why is this important for the study? Chinese management have a

Clashes over Muslim minorities in Europe throughout the past ten years Research Paper

Clashes over Muslim minorities in Europe throughout the past ten years - Research Paper Example This has happened because of world developments relating to Muslims such as the Arab revolution, Afghanistan war, uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia and the revolution in Iran. Additionally, Europeans countries have recently seen an increasing number of Muslim immigrants to their countries. This has led to reactions by some of those governments to the differences in the religions and the political system of Muslims. Furthermore, the case of September 11th has led to fear of Muslim individuals in most European countries. More of this has also been accelerated by the laws which European government enacted relating to terrorist activities. Clashes by Muslim minorities are an expression of fury because of perceived insults expressed to them by secular European communities. European nations have seen increasing number of immigrants for the past four decades. The immigrants are mainly driven by economic changes in their countries of origin. For example, the immigrants are in search of jobs and better living standards as compared to their countries. With this increasing number of movement to European countries, the Islamic population has so far increased in percentage in comparison to the majority population. Consider the case of France, according to Islam in France (1), the number of Muslims in France are about 3.5 to 5 million which is approximately 6 to 8% of the whole population. With these figures it is clear that the number of Muslims in European countries is large. Most of those Muslims are immigrants from North African countries like Algeria, Tunisia. Others are from Middle East and Turkey. The Muslims in France have settled in most parts of the country. In addition, Taras (54) shows that approximately 70% of the Muslims in France are from Algeria and Tunisia respectively. The author points out that since 1950, there has been an increase in the number of Islamic communities in Europe. The approximation provided by the author is 800,000 to 15 million from the 1950s to 2000. The number has so far risen and by year 2008 there were 20 million Muslims in Europe. The high growth of the Islamic population in Europe has increased the attention from Europeans because the population is more and increasing as compared to other minorities. The reproduction rate caused by the previous settled Muslim contributes to the increasing population including the immigration flows. Tara (55) presented statistics showing that in 2011, the number of Muslims throughout Europe were 44 million in all parts of Europe. This increasing number has caused questions from some of the prominent people especially journalists. One of the journalist blogged about the increasing number of Muslims throughout Europe, with the explanation given being that the growth is high in big cities like London, Paris and Berlin. Most bloggers have been talking about the increasing number, according to the research conducted by US Department of State; the percentage of people talking about incre asing number of Muslims in their country has risen. The statistic of the research showed that 61 percent of people in Hungary agree that there is an increase in the number of Muslims in the country. Other European countries have had the same talk, Italy, Poland, Germany and Britain have falling percentages respectively. The research showed

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Essay Example for Free

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Essay Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam graduated in aeronautical engineering from the Madras Institute of Technology in 1958 and joined the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). In 1962, Kalam joined the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). In 1982, he rejoined DRDO as the Chief Executive of Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP). Dr. Kalam is credited with the development and operationalization of Indias Agni and Prithvi missiles. He worked as the Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister and Secretary, Department of Defence Research Development from 1992 to 1999. During this period, the Pokhran-II nuclear tests were conducted. Dr. Kalam held the office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India from November 1999 to November 2001. Dr. Kalam took up teaching at Anna University, Chennai from November 2001. He is a prolific author. His books, Wings of Fire, India 2020 A Vision for the New Millennium, My journey and Ignited Minds Unleashing the power within India have become bestsellers. He is a favourite with children all over the country and has met children all over the country and has encouraged them with his learned talks. Dr. Abdul Kalam was conferred with the Degree of Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa by the Simon Fraser University, Canada. He also wrote a book named â€Å"Turning Points: A journey through challenges† which was published by Harper Collins India. The book tells us about his story with details from his career and presidency that are not generally known. He speaks on certain points of controversy offering insight into an extraordinary personality and shows a vision of how a country with a great heritage can turn out to be great with perseverance, confidence and effort. Dr. Kalam has received a host of awards both in India and abroad. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1981, Padma Vibhushan 1990 and the Bharat Ratna in 1997. He is of the view that we should work wholeheartedly to make India a developed nation by 2020. Besides being a bachelor, Kalam is a strict disciplinarian, a complete vegetarian and teetotaler. Among the many firsts to his credit, he became Indias first President to undertake an undersea journey when he boarded the INS Sindhurakshak, a submarine, from Visakhapatnam. He also became the first president to undertake a sortie in a fighter aircraft, a Sukhoi-30 MKI.

Website Attributes On Customer Satisfaction In E-Commerce

Website Attributes On Customer Satisfaction In E-Commerce Effects Of Website Attributes On Customer Satisfaction In E-Commerce Introduction The Internet is no longer a niche technology it is mass media and an utterly integral part of modern life. As our lives become more fractured and cluttered, it isnt surprising that consumers turn to the unrivalled convenience of the Internet when it comes to searching and buying product. Introduction To E-Commerce The rise of the WWW gives birth to new phenomena in our daily lives, one of which is e-commerce. The internet has played a fundamental and key part to promote selling products and services online which makes life convenient for the audience, which in an inter-connected world, is well, the whole world. E-Commerce is a subset of an overall e-business strategy consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet. E-commerce system seeks to add more revenue streams using the World Wide Web or the Internet to build and enhance relationships with partners and clients and to improve the systems efficiency. E-commerce has given rise to the concept of absolutely online shops selling products and services, proficiently catalogued and available for the convenience of customer. There are several websites that stockpile everything from books, electronic appliances lifestyle items, collectibles etc. The level of e-commerce use can be measured by using an e-commerce capability indicator. E-commerce capability indicator by Molla and Licker: No e-commerce indicates a company without e-mail or an Internet connection. Connected e-commerce represents a company that has an Internet connection and e-mail. Informational e-commerce indicates a company using a Web site to publish basic information about the company and its products/services in a static manner. Interactive e-commerce refers to the ability of users to search the companys product catalogue, make queries, and enter orders. Transactional e-commerce allows online selling and purchasing of products or services including online payment and customer service. E-business applications can be divided into three categories. First is an internal business system in which customer relationship management (CRM), Enterprise resource planning (ERP), and Human Resource management (HRM) type of systems are involved. Second is enterprise communication and collaboration such as content management system (CMS), business process management (BPM) and web conferencing etc. Third is e-commerce that includes Business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce and Business-to-customer (B2C) e-commerce. Online shopping comes under this category on which this study is conducted. Several e-commerce service providers are available on web that provides professional personalized web designing services that suit their clients needs. Some common applications related to electronic commerce are the following: Online Shopping (Web Shop) Online Banking Online Marketing CRM etc Online Shopping Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase products or services over the Internet. An online shop, e-shop, e-store, internet shop, web shop, web store, online store, or virtual store evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services over the web. Online shopping is a type of electronic commerce used for business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions. The term web shop also refers to a place of business where web development, web hosting and other types of web related activities take place (Web refers to the World Wide Web and shop has a idiomatic meaning used to describe the place). Service Quality The level of service received on a website. Dependent on reliability, responsiveness and availability of staff and the web site service. Service quality is comprised of five dimensions. These are: Tangibles as the appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and written materials (Zeithaml, Bitner and Gremler, 2006). Reliability is the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately. Assurance describes as the employees knowledge and courtesy and their ability to inspire trust and confidence. Responsiveness termed as the willingness to help customers and provide prompt service. Empathy is defined as the individualized attention given to customers.   Service Quality Dimensions In E-Commerce Systems Lets examine how customers judge the five dimensions of service quality in perspective of e-commerce systems. Tangibles refer to the physical appearance of an e-commerce website, its structure, layout, theme etc and referred as â€Å"website structure†. Reliability represented as â€Å"website adequacy† which provides the relevant and needed information provided by an e-commerce system when customer clicked or requested for. Assurance termed as â€Å"website security† refers as the trustworthy service provider that could include a well reputable website, reliable payments methods etc. Responsiveness is the prompt and relevant response to the specific request of users described by â€Å"website response†. Empathy knows internal customers as individual; understanding individual needs and concerns such as by providing recommendations that matches the customers needs which is termed as â€Å"website customization† in world of web. Service Quality Framework (SERVQUAL) SERVQUAL was originally measured on 10 aspects of service quality which are reliability, responsiveness, competence, access, courtesy, communication, credibility, security, understanding or knowing the customer and tangibles. By the early nineties the authors had refined the model to the useful acronym RATER. Reliability Assurance Tangibles Empathy, and Responsiveness SERVQUAL has its disbeliever and is considered overly complex, subjective and statistically unreliable. The simplified RATER model however is a simple and useful model for qualitatively exploring and assessing customers service experiences and has been used widely by service delivery organizations. Customer Satisfaction Customer satisfaction refers to the extent to which customers are happy with the products and services provided by a business. Customer satisfaction levels can be measured using survey techniques and questionnaires. Gaining high levels of customer satisfaction is very important to a business because satisfied customers are most likely to be loyal and to make repeated orders and to use a wide range of services offered by a business. The basic definition of customer satisfaction says that Customer satisfaction is a business term, is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. Customer satisfaction is an abstract concept and the actual manifestation of the state of satisfaction will vary from person to person and product/service to product or service. The level of satisfaction can also vary depending on other options the customer may have and other products against which the customer can compare the organizations products or services. Customer Satisfaction Based On Perceived Service Quality Of E-Commerce Systems The overall satisfaction of e-commerce customers can be attained by providing the level of service quality that customers perceive in that system. The five dimensions of service quality are tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. The website structure of an e-commerce websites is all about the tangibility dimension. The reliability dimension in this study is measured by the attribute called website adequacy. The website response variable indicates the responsiveness dimension. Website security as another attribute of an e-commerce system refers to the assurance dimension and the empathy dimension described by the website customization The overall customer satisfaction is based on the five service quality dimensions representing various service attributes. These five dimensions are tangibility, reliability, assurance, responsiveness and empathy. The detailed model used in this study is presented in figure A. The website design elements are characterized into five different types which are supposed to influence the five service quality dimensions. This study hypothesizes that some website attributes that are based on service quality dimensions has an impact on an online customer satisfaction. In other words, customers satisfaction level will increase if the e-commerce system provides a higher level of service quality through different website attributes. Increased Trend Of Online Surfing And Shopping In Pakistan The trend of an online surfing is increasing rapidly due to the increased benefits by the use of e-commerce business environment. People visit e-commerce web sites not only for buying but for several other reasons and the smart retailer just should not only focus on boosting online browse-to-buy conversion rates, but should also try to grab the attention of an online visitors who came in for review so as they could become a customer later. Many people feel it comfortable to review the products through an extensive knowledge provided over the internet before actually buying a particular product. For this purpose, e-commerce website provides an interface to the buyers to write their reviews and share their after-purchase experiences. Thus, the e-commerce systems reduce the time and efforts required for the first step of information search in consumer decision making process. That is, by just few clicks a consumer can have a concise analysis for what matches his/her needs. There are some factors emerged as a results of the changes in lifestyle and habits of consumer which has promoted the trend of online searching and shopping in Pakistan. Some of these factors are lack of time, need of convenience and easy access to the desired object. Moreover, e-commerce websites facilitates the visitor in many ways to boost up online browse-to-buy conversion rate. Whenever a new customer lands on an e-commerce website, he/she must be having many questions in their minds regarding the products and services. A well-framed ecommerce site has an enquiry page for their customers. This gives the chance to the visitor to post an enquiry with the website. Main aim of this page is to gather all relevant and necessary information from the customers so that they can be given response in an apt manner. Within the past decade, e-commerce has matured and grown exponentially. The result shows that now there are many types of e-commerce payment methods available online. If a customers credit is bad and customer cannot afford a merchant account, there are alternative methods of payments on e-commerce websites which can help the customer. The e-commerce systems give customers controlled access to the data they need. In other words, through an e-commerce systems company is not only managing the relationship with its customers, but giving the customers the tools to manage their relationship with the company. Thesis Structure This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 discusses the problem about which the research was carried out and in general about the trends of online shopping in Pakistan. Chapter 2 is about the literature review and the theoretical background is developed. In Chapter 3, researcher describes the research method adopted including sources of information and data collection procedure is discussed. In chapter 4, the empirical data collected through questionnaire is analyzed and results are concluded on the basis of a survey. In Chapter 5, Conclusions are drawn and necessary recommendations are suggested. Statement Of The Problem â€Å"Effects of website attributes on customer satisfaction in e-commerce.† The main purpose of this research is to find out the different attributes which encourage consumers to visit, search and shop on a particular website. Objective The purposes of this study are as follows: To identify the most important website element of e-commerce with respect to the customer satisfaction. To examine what is important to the customer regarding website attributes in e-commerce with perspective of website builders. Possible Research Findings The research will also provide the following significances. Help the organization to better understand what customers expect in e-commerce and how those expectations impact customer attitude. The study will examine what the customer views as major attributes of website in e-commerce. Able to investigate the major customer attitudes associated with website structure in e-commerce. The study will indicate the link between the website attributes and the customer attitudes. Hypotheses H1 Website structure has a significant association with customer satisfaction. h3 Website adequacy has a significant association with customer satisfaction. h3 Website security has a significant association with customer satisfaction. H4 Website response has a significant association with customer satisfaction. H5 Website customization has a significant association with customer satisfaction. Introduction To E-Commerce The propagation of WWW has originated few facts in our daily lives, one of which is e-commerce. A transaction between two or more participants through an electronic medium is defines as e-commerce (Kalacota and Whinston 1997). As an e-commerce is rapidly raising field, therefore for accomplishing success in this market, a top quality information system is necessary (Margherio, Henry, Cooke and Montes 1998). An e-commerce system is designed by selectively integrating many technical (e.g. search system) or managerial (e.g. the level of information related to product) design elements (Lohse and Spiller 1998). It is still very difficult, if not impossible; to make use of all the design factors presently available for the e-commerce system although many design factors have been suggested to improve the overall quality of e-commerce system (Selz and Schubert 1997, Lohse et al. 1998). This is because of the recent arrival of new design factors resulted by an increase in the interest of Internet (Selz et al.) The main goal of this paper is to explore important design elements that have significant influence on the customer satisfaction regarding the performance of e-commerce systems. In this paper, the study presents a conceptual model of e-commerce websites that includes concrete design elements, perceived level of website quality and the customer satisfaction (Kim and Lee 2002). There is remarkable potential for e-commerce in developing countries. Online shopping makes it easy to find things, merchants and best offerings and thus economical in terms of time and effort offerings (Balasubramanian, 1997). According to the Malone, Yates and Benjamin (1989), communicating a same piece of information through communication networks results in decreased cost and improved speed. There is tremendous potential for e-commerce in developing countries because the use of an e-commerce can potentially reduce transaction costs. As per Malone et al. (1989) observation, the search costs such as cost of identifying a market (from where to buy a product) and /or a product or service are likely to reduce with the use of e-commerce systems and can be defined as potential e-commerce cost savings. From an organizations perspective, e-commerce systems provide the organization with the better market reach and an ability to provide their customer a customized service that suits their individual needs and preferences. For example the exchange between â€Å"richness† and â€Å"reach† can be minimized by e-commerce (Evans and Wurster 2000). Richness refers to the quality and quantity of information in terms of accuracy, relevance, customization, etc. and reach measures the number of people who can be got in touch with that information. Service Quality Dimensions The overall customer satisfaction can be measured by the level of service quality of an e-commerce system that customer perceives. Some researchers (Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry 1988) stated that consumer satisfaction or dissatisfaction is as an ancestor of service quality. Conversely, modern evidence recommends that it is an outcome of service quality (Woodside, Frey and Daly 1989; Cronin and Taylor 1992). Service quality attributes are the most important factors for the success of an e-commerce systems For example Liu and Arnett (2000) found that organizations that involve in e-commerce can only ensure the success of their system by keenly looking for the ways to improve their service quality. The customers decision whether to continue using a particular e-commerce system is based on the perceived quality of service (Bhattacherjee, 2001) as the service quality impacts the overall satisfaction of a customer. Tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy are the five dimensions of service quality. (Parasurama, Zeithaml and Berry 1985, 1991; Pit, Watson and kavan 1995). The tool that is being used in this study to measure the dimensions of service quality is SERVQUAL. This instrument has been proved valid and reliable and hence used in various domains. (Brown Churchill and Peter 1993; Fisk, Brown and Bitner 1993; Parasuraman et al. 1993). On the basis of previous researches, service quality despite being a main interesting field in services marketing for the past two decades (Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Malhotra 2000); electronic service quality is still in its early stages in research area. Riel, Liljander and Jurriens (2001) concluded that there has been no theoretical conceptualization emerged for customer evaluation of electronic services that could have been accepted generally. Cox and Dale (2001) has supported this conception by the fact that most out of the dominant research on service quality cannot even be valid to e-business environment. By the year 2002, the existing studies on the determinants of electronic service quality were based on measuring B2C interactions (Gilbert, 2000; Barnes and Vidgens 2000, 2001 and 2002) and few exploratory researches on website quality and e-service quality by Zeithaml et al. (2000). In early stages of service quality research, researchers were required to find out what is service quality from customers perspective (Sasser, Olsen and Wyckoff 1979; Lehtinen and Lehtinen 1982; Gronroos, 1982). It was normally approved that the judgment of service quality came from comparisons between what customers feel a service provider should offer (expectations) and the actual service performance of the company (perceptions) (Zeithaml et al. 2000). This view was reinforced by Zeithaml et al.; Parasuraman et al. (1985) in their study of service quality in different service industries with which they discussed the concept of service quality as a function of expectations-perception gap. Parasuraman et al. (1985) identified the 10 dimensions that customer uses in their assessment of service quality. These 10 service quality dimensions then shaped the source for the development of a scale (SERVQUAL) to measure service quality in direct service interactions. Research extended in other context and as a result refined the scale and reduced it to 5 dimensions (reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles) Since the SERVQUAL scale has been widely used to measure service quality in many studies across a range of settings (IS Departments; Airlines; Universities; Ocean Freight Shipping; Professional Services; Health Providers; International Markets; Purchasing; Advertising; Banking; E-commerce). (Burgess). Initially the concept of services were created to capture the nature of service encounters (Meuter, Ostrom, Roundtree and Bitner 2000) which may not be sufficient to capture the characteristics of customer interactions with self-service technologies such as e-services (Dabholkar, Thorpe and Rentz 1996). Later on, many approaches have been proposed to study online service. (Gilbert, 2000; Gronroos, Heinonen, Isoniemi and Lindholm 2000; Parasuraman and Grewel 2000; Kaynama and Black 2000; Zeithaml et al. 2000) proposed the use of existing service theory as a first type. The second type utilizes generated new categories for self-service technologies such as e-services (Szymanski and Hise 2000; Riel et al. 2001; Wang and Tang 2001; Ruyter, Wetzels and Kleijnen 2001). Third type develops information systems and web quality theory (Barnes et al. 2000, 2001 and 2002; Aladwani and Palvia 2001). These researches have centered on customer interactions with a variety of self-service technologies such as automated call centre technology, ATMs and Web sites and touch screen technologies. A redefined SERVQUAL instrument to measure the service expectations and perceptions of customers of Internet businesses was used by Gilbert (2000) in which he concluded that to measure online service quality, the altered SERVQUAL scale was a practical instrument. The features that are useful, accurate, relevant and comprehensive information reflect the reliability of quality information (Bailey and Pearson 1983). Bailey et al. also identified that website reliability depends on to what level the information provided on the website about the product or service is true, precise and also depend to what level a customer can rely on a particular website that it provides enough amount of information available regarding each product. (Luedi, 1997) stated that website personalization based on the ability of website to deliver individualized interface for a specific user which generated dynamically as per users needs. This may involve making purchase recommendations and /or providing the list of other relevant products that matchs the customer needs. This can be extracted through the previous data available regarding an individual user such as buying behavior, cart items and the current session contents. Providing customized services is the best way to create a loyal customer and make repeat visits on a website (Luedi, 1997). The concern over security continues to plague the online world. Variables like perceived security, reputation were included in this study to examine the customer attitude towards buying process (Lightner, 2003). Even though the understanding of credit card transactions perceived secure like a waiters and waitresses, still security is the top concern of people who shop online (Salisbury, Pearson, Pearson and Miller 2001; Luo, 2002; Wilson and Abel 2002). Likewise security is the reason why people do not shop online (Luo, 2002). The research variable of Security reflects trust in the online system and the variable reputation reflects trust in the specific vendor. Discovering whether vendors receive repeat business reflects the overall buying attitude of consumers. Overall customer satisfaction at online shopping measures which attributes helps the website meets expectations. Website Elements The first phase of consumer decision making process that is the information search starts the minute customers look at the interface of e-commerce website and ends until they decide whether to place the purchase order or not (Schmid, 1995). The role of website structure remains important during the phase of information search process such as site maps, navigation, content settings and layout of website etc. The content, structure and website elements should be portrayed explicitly on the e-commerce interface. Website structure that includes the presentation of design elements determines how the information is actually displayed on the screen to acquire the customer attention (Morris and Hinrich 1996). Convenient website structure defined as to what extent a customer feels that the e-commerce website is user friendly, simple and instinctive. (Chung and Shin 2008) Website adequacy describes the quality and quantity of the information provided in the e-commerce system. Content based on usefulness and comprehensiveness involves the type and scope of information to be included in the system (Morris et al. 1996; Kim 1997). After the collection of appropriate information regarding the identified products or services, the contents must be placed in a well organized manner so that the customer can understand the interface easily (Gronroos, 1982; Rosenfeld and Morville 1998). A well-defined and properly placed content is a feature of website which indicates the ability to made information easily available to visitors (Chung et al. 2008). When adequate and reliable information has been properly dispersed across different web pages within the structure of the e-commerce website, an efficient interaction system must be provided to enable the customer to switch between different pages easily (Kim and Yoo 2000, Park and Kim 2000). (Ballantine, 2005) has found the impact of interactivity and product related information on customer satisfaction in an online trade setting. He argued in his study that the amount of product-related information affected consumer satisfaction of online shopping. An important design element that relates to the interaction system includes the involvement of website response and website customization ability. Website Customization is referred as the extent to which an e-commerce website can identify a customer and then modify the choice of products and shopping experience for that customer (Srinivasan, Anderson and Ponnavolu 2002). (Coupey, 2001) in their research argued that the improved accessibility of information on internet is likely to result in informed customers. And educated customers are able to make better quality decisions and will then experience more satisfaction with the visits and purchases they make. The connection between all of the five individual variables describes the basic architecture of web pages (Steinmetz and Nahrsted 1995). The overall satisfaction of e-commerce customers can be attained by providing the level of service quality that customers perceive in that system. Satisfied customers have more potential to spread positive word-of-mouth (Gremler and Brown 1999), and they avail further services (Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman 1996). The five dimensions of service quality are tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy (Parasuraman et al. 1985, 1991; Pit et al. 1995). Attributes related to the website structure such as physical appearance of e-commerce websites are represented by tangibility dimension. For example, the tangibility measures the appeal of the website design of e-commerce system presents to their customers. The ability of the website to provide the dependable, accurate service is represented by reliability dimension. (Pit et al.1995). For example, the reliability dimension measures how often an e-commerce system provides useful and comprehensive information regarding the relevant products or services. The responsiveness dimension indicates how prepared the website is to promptly response the customer with the clicked option. (Parasuraman et al. 1991). For example, the responsiveness dimension measures how often an ecommerce system voluntarily provides services that are important to its customers such as less loading time. Or it can be measured by how often a website provides accurate and rich information after a user clicked a particular product. The trust and confidence encouraged in the customer by the information provided on e-commerce system refers to the assurance dimension (Parasuraman et al. 1991). For example, the assurance dimension can be measured by extent to which a website is able to give a secure feeling to an online buyer. The empathy dimension described as the individual attention to the customer that is being provided by the dynamic e-commerce website (Pit et al. 1995). For example this dimension measures how often an ecommerce system voluntarily offers recommendations that match to its customers needs in order to provide the individual customers benefit. In summary, the overall quality of an e-commerce system can be measured by the service quality level perceived by its customers and ultimately leads to the customer satisfaction (Kim et al. 2002). (Parasuraman et al. 1988, 1991) in study on SERVQUAL found that the interactive elements of e-commerce systems are e-business features that help in building relationships with customer and are fall into five main sets that are tangibles, reliability, assurance, responsiveness and empathy. Due to the consistency of research findings stated in literature, it become easy to propose that the five main determinants of e-commerce include website structure, website adequacy, website security, website response and website customization (Horn, Feinberg and Salvendy 2005). In an e-business structure, the customer interaction with the business is through the e-commerce website. Therefore, several original SERVQUAL items were modified to focus on e-commerce website. The definition of an empathy dimension was extended to include personalization or customization, which is the concept of web gurus as they believe the emotional connection between customer and web business (Peppers et al. 1999). The overall appearance and structure of e-commerce website shows its tangibility. The performance of promised services and adequacy of information explains the reliability of an e-commerce website. Responsiveness is the ability of e-commerce system to help and provide prompt response to the website user. The individualized attention and customized service provided by the e-commerce system to an individual customer is described as empathy. Security is the trust on an e-commerce system in protecting personal and financial information (Horn et al. 2005). The major factors that impact the customer attitude are the five main attributes of e-commerce system. The model in Figure 1 describes how these attributes of e-commerce system work together to achieve customer satisfaction. The satisfaction or dissatisfaction of customer is defined as an emotional response to a specific consumption experience (Swan and Oliver 1989). It is determined by to what extent a consumer perceives that the service fulfills his/her needs, wants or desires. Satisfaction is a â€Å"state† inconsistent in that a consumer can be â€Å"very dissatisfied† or â€Å"very satisfied† (Tse, Nicosia and Wilton 1990). Survey Sources Of Data Collection: According to experts, the best approach and way of building an e-commerce site is by using services of website development providers. A professional team of web developers would take care and work for the e-commerce designing project and give regular feedback about the proceedings therefore for conducting this research, professionals from web development area was selected from five different firms. A survey was conducted by going to the software organizations that are involved in business of web development. Out of the five selected firms, few were chosen from the list of organizations registered on PASHA website and few were preferred on the authentic source of information about the adequate web development experience of these firms. The respondents were web developers, web architects and project managers. Questionnaire The instrument co

Grahams Law :: physics chemistry graham grahams law

In chemistry and in physics, the movement of particles becomes very important. One way in which particles move is through effusion. The formula for the rate of effusion of gas molecules was developed by a chemist by the name of Thomas Graham in the 19th century. December 21, 1805ï ¿ ½September 16, 1869. Thomas Graham was born in December of 1805 in Glasgow, Scotland. His father was a workman who desired that his son enter the Church of Scotland. However, Graham became a student at the University of Glasgow in 1819, where he became interested in the field of chemistry. He left the university in 1826 and went off to be a professor of chemistry at several universities, two of which were the Royal College of Science and Technology and the University of London. In 1841, he founded the Chemical Society of London, of which he was the first president. His study in the field of colloids (a type of homogenous mixture) led to the discovery of dialysis and his earning of the name ï ¿ ½the father of colloid chemistry.ï ¿ ½ Another of Grahamï ¿ ½s accomplishments was in his study of diffusion and effusion of gases. His formula for the effusion of gases even carries his name; it is called Grahamï ¿ ½s Law. Grahamï ¿ ½s Law ï ¿ ½Physics. The flow of a gas through a small orifice at such a density that the mean distance between the molecules is large compared with the diameter of the orificeï ¿ ½ (ï ¿ ½effusionï ¿ ½). In other words, effusion is the flow of individual gas molecules through a hole that is smaller than the mean free path, which is ï ¿ ½the average distance [a] particle travels between collisions with other particlesï ¿ ½ (ï ¿ ½Mean free pathï ¿ ½). This means that in effusing through the hole the gas molecules do not collide with one another. efï ¿ ½fuï ¿ ½sion ï ¿ ½noun One of the postulates of the Kinetic Molecular Theory states that average kinetic energy of gas particles depends solely on the temperature of the gas. Since this is the case, the kinetic energy of two gas molecules, hydrogen and oxygen for example, may be written as the following. When simplified the equation becomes this. Rearranging yields this equation. And taking the square root of both sides gives us the following. This formula is a simplified version of Grahamï ¿ ½s Law which states ï ¿ ½that the rate of effusion of a gas is inversely proportional to the square root of the mass of its particlesï ¿ ½ (ï ¿ ½Grahamï ¿ ½s Lawï ¿ ½).

The River Warren and the Importance of Rivers In Our Lives :: River Warren Essays

The River Warren and the Importance of Rivers In Our Lives It was tradition. Every Sunday after church my dad, brother, and I would drive through the fields checking crops and whatever else made their homes in my father's fields. Then we'd drive down to the river to check how high or low it was, or to see how much worse the river was cutting into the land. The river flowed right at the end of the road, so my dad would always pretend he was going to drive straight into it. We live about one in a half miles from the Missouri River. We have our own private road that winds down to a small shoot that connects to it. Because of our closeness to the Missouri, I have grown to love and admire it. It is an enormous and amazing machine to me. I find peace and love for it. It's funny how much alike Jeff, Luke, (the two main characters in Kent Meyer's The River Warren) and I are towards our rivers. Their River Warren is my Big Missouri. Luke goes to the river to clear his head, to think about things, and to find himself. He also uses it as a means of control over his father. Two-Speed does not see the river as Luke does. Luke also finds understanding when he's on the river. He knows his father does not feel the same about the river, and that's why he takes him there. His father is afraid of the river, and Luke sees how afraid he really is. Before getting into the boat, Two-Speed "lifted his head like fire in the air. He realized he was alone-with someone who couldn't be conned. The river worked on him. It flowed into the moment. He knew this was my place. I saw that he knew"(223). The reason Luke brought his father out was "so that he could try to make sense of things, to make him stay put for awhile, to get enough control to where he had to talk to me, and to where he had to answer questions"(232). Two-Speed can't find himself. He's been lost all his life, made excuses for his drinking, and pretended he was someone else all his life.

Stakeholders in Tesco and College

a) For each of your chosen organizations describe 5 different stakeholders they have.List StakeholderTesco DescribeList StakeholderGrwp Llandrillo Menai StakeholderCustomersTheir main interests in the business are reliable quality, value for money, product availability, and customer service. They want to experience the best possible service and products which are good value for money.GovernmentTheir main interests in the business are that it operates legally, tax receipts and jobs. They want to make sure the business is offering jobs.SuppliersTheir main interests in the business long term contracts and prompt payments. They want prompt payments from the business.CommunityTheir main interests in the business are the environment, local jobs and local impact. They want to make sure that the business does not impact the environment negatively and that they are producing local jobs.EmployeesTheir main interests in the business are their salary and wages, job security, job satisfaction and motivation from the business. They want to make sure they are secure within their job, enjoying it and also getting paid the right amount.SuppliersTheir main interests in the business long term contracts and prompt payments. They want prompt payments from the business.ManagersTheir main interest in the business is their salary, share options, personal job satisfaction and their status. They want to work their way up in the business.EmployeesTheir main interests in the business are their salary and wages, job security, job satisfaction and motivation from the business. They want to make sure they are secure within their job, enjoying it and also getting paid the right amount.ShareholdersTheir main interests in the business are profit growth, share price growth and dividends. They want a good return on their investments from the business.ManagersTheir main interest in the business is their salary, share options, personal job satisfaction and their status. They want to work their way up in the business.b) You need to explain the points of view of different stakeholders seeking to influence the aims and objectives of two contrasting organisations.Tesco StakeholderThe company’s aim and or objective this stakeholder has influence on or may attempt to influence What is the point of view of the stakeholder, what would they want and why would they want it? How can they influence the company?CustomersThe customer’s aims are to get the best quality products for minimum prices. The customers want a good quality service and products that are good for money. They want this because they want a satisfying shopping experience and not feel that they have to complain. The customers can influence the company Revenue / repeat business Word of mouth recommendationSuppliersThe suppliers aim is to sell their produce to a large organisation and a long term contract. The suppliers want a long term contract with Tesco and prompt payments. They want this so Tesco cannot sw itch suppliers in short notice. The suppliers can influence the businesses pricing, product quality and the availability of the product.EmployeesAn employee’s aim to provide good customer service.The employees want to make sure they are secure within their job, enjoying it and also getting paid the right amount. They want this so they have job satisfaction. The employees can influences the businesses staff turnover and the quality of the service.ManagersThe manager’s aim within the business is to ensure all the customers are fully satisfied and that the employees are working efficiently and providing good customer service. The managers want a good salary, personal job satisfaction and to work their way up in the business. They want this so they have personal job satisfaction. The managers can influence the business by making important decisions and by having detailed information about the business.ShareholdersThe shareholders aim within a business to own as many shares and have good returns. The shareholders want a good return on their investments from the business. They want this so they aren’t left short of money. The shareholders can influence the company as they can elect directors.Grwp Llandrillo Menai StakeholderThe company’s aim and or objective this stakeholder has influence on or may attempt to influence What is the point of view of the stakeholder, what would they want and why would they want it? How can they influence the company?CommunityThe communities aim is to ensure the company is successful and this could also bring jobs to the local community. The community’s influence within the business.could be that they could make some suggestions to change the structure of the business. The community want to make sure that the business does not impact the environment negatively and that they are producing local jobs. They want this so that the business does not impact the community negatively. The community can influenc e the business indirectly by local planning and opinion leaders.GovernmentThe government’s aim is to improve the welfare of the country's population. The government wants the business to be offering jobs to the local community and to be operating legally. They want this so that the college is boosting the economy now and in the future. The government can influence the company by introducing rules and regulations, subsidies, taxation and planning permission.SuppliersThe suppliers aim is to sell their produce to a large organisation and a long term contract. The suppliers want a long term contract and prompt payments. They want this because they don’t want the business to switch suppliers with no notice. The suppliers can influence the businesses pricing, product quality and the availability of the product.EmployeesAn employee’s aim to provide good customer service.The employees want to make sure they are secure within their job, enjoying it and also getting paid the right amount. They want this so they have job satisfaction and are happy at work. The employees can influences the businesses staff turnover and the quality of the service.ManagersThe manager’s aim within the business is to ensure all the customers are fully satisfied and that the employees are working efficiently and providing good customer service. The managers want a good salary, personal job satisfaction and to work their way up in the business. They want this so they have personal job satisfaction. The managers can influence the business by making important decisions and by having detailed information about the business.

Learning Outcome Essay

Be able to conduct and record assessments in accordance with internal and external processes and requirements 2.1 Review the assessment requirements and related procedures of learning programmes (AQA. 2012).Assessment is the process by which a learner’s skills and knowledge are reviewed in order to evaluate what they have learnt or in the case of NVQs, how they are performing against the competencies they are required to demonstrate. I see classroom assessment as having four main purposes. The first three include: Diagnostic or needs assessment purpose: To determine what students already know so teachers can decide the topics and approaches to use. Formative purpose for teacher: To assess student knowledge or performance on some key topic or dimension to inform instructional plans. Summative purpose: To judge or evaluate student performance (i.e., give a grade). In addition, research is increasingly clear that the quality of the feedback teachers give students relative to how to improve is an absolutely critical aspect of classroom assessment.(Serve, 2006) This leads to the fourth purpose: Formative purpose for students: To help students develop the skills to reflect critically on their own work. By asking students to assess themselves, teachers encourage students to engage in the type of higher-order thinking necessary for life today. The aim of assessment therefore is primarily to educate and improve student performance, not merely audit it. Assessment will ensure that learners are fairly, accurately and regularly assessed in a consistent manner, provide diagnostic information that assists both staff and learners/ candidates to provide, appropriate support to enable achievement of the learning outcomes (initial assessment), allow learners/ candidates to monitor their own progress, enable tutors to review and develop their learning programmes to achieve their intended learning outcomes, provide evidence of progress and achievement to enable accreditation and progression to take place, enable a dialogue between the learners/ candidates and tutor / assessors to ensure progression within the provision (tracking) and provide a measure of the learner’s achievement on qualification based courses (grades). (Barnet College Assessment Policy, Jan 11, 2010) FIG.1 Scheme of Assessment It is imperative that internal assessments are conducted by staff that have the appropriate knowledge, understanding and skills, that assessment evidence provided by candidates has been produced and authenticated according to the requirements of the specification and also that the consistency of the internal assessment is secured through internal standardisation as necessary. (www.llantarnamschool.net/). In recent years, assessment of student achievement has been receiving the attention of teachers, parents, researchers and education systems. This attention has highlighted assessment as integral to the teaching and learning process. Current assessment practices need to reflect changes based on new understandings of learning theories, new curricula that are being developed, new knowledge and skills that are necessary for the 21st Century and the accountability requirements of systems and governments. In this respect assessment of student achievement is changing as today’s stude nts face a world that demands new knowledge, skills and behaviours that have not yet been defined (Segers et al 2003). Students, in this fast and ever changing context, need not only develop deep understandings of disciplines but also develop the ability to analyse, synthesise and make inferences as well as think critically and problem solve. Assisting students to develop these knowledge, skills and behaviours and become life-long learners requires changes in the assessment processes at the school and classroom level. Assessment may be initial, formative or summative. (Hampshire Learning Policy and Procedures for Assessment and Internal Verification, Nov, 2012) As a history teacher I use different types of assessments to assess whether teaching has taken place in my lessons. When teachers’ classroom assessments become an integral part of the instructional process and a central tenet in their efforts to help students learn, the benefits of assessment for both students and teachers will be boundless. The purpose of these assessments is to ascertain the student’s levels of understanding and see if there is any room for improvement and whether there are any weaknesses so as to be able to correct them. My focus is to improve my assessments to make them motivating and to enhance student learning. Assessment challenges that have been identified are as follows: Figuring out what really is important  for students to know and be able to do in history. Teaching the skills of â€Å"doing history† in a world of testing that often seems to value only factual knowledge. Identifying and using assessments that provide teachers with better information than only multiple-choice exams. Getting students motivated to do a good job on essays and other written work. Helping students learn to improve their own work and produce quality products. Holding students accountable for quality work, as opposed to them just turning in something. The assessments have to be conducted and recorded in accordance with internal and external processes and requirements. I use these assessments to evaluate my practice and to identify any opportunities for improvement. FIG. 2 Assessment objectives Good assessments should follow these basic principles or the acronym AVRFI. Authenticity: All assessment activity must have in place processes to ensure that the achievement is the learner’s/ candidate’s own work. Learners/ candidates must sign a statement to this effect. Awarding Bodies boards have their own rules and regulations about authenticity and tutors/ assessors must make themselves familiar with them and abide by them. Validity: The method of assessment and the evidence provided must be appropriate and capable of demonstrating the achievement of learning outcomes/ competencies and related assessment criteria of the provision at the appropriate level. Reliability and consistency: The assessment results should be standardised across levels and provision. Moderation and standardisation must follow the College and Awarding Bodies board procedures. Fitness for purpose: Assessment must be fit for the learners/ candidates and the learning. The assessment strategy must be clearly appropriate for the target group of learners/ candidates in the correct context in which they are learning e.g. homework must be supportive, or initial diagnostic must not be intimidating. The criteria and methods which are being used to judge the work must be clear to the learner, staff and internal and external moderators /verifiers and meet and exceed the requirements of QCA/QAA, the awarding bodies and our learner/ candidate charter. Inclusiveness: Assessment should be based on learners’/ candidates’ needs. It must allow all learners/ candidates to demonstrate their achievements regardless of individual circumstances. Students, in this fast and ever changing context, need not only develop deep understandings of disciplines but also develop the ability to analyse, synthesise and make inferences as well as think critically and problem solve. Assisting students to develop these knowledge, skills and behaviours and become life-long learners requires changes in the assessment processes at the school and classroom level. Current learning theories attempt to capture all the parameters of human learning and provide information on how people learn. Common threads through learning theories indicate directions that have important implications for the educative process. (www.barnetsouthgate.ac.uk/ ) My assessments are divided into three distinct classes, which are: initial/diagnostic, formative and summative assessments. Initial/diagnostic Assessments: This is a crucial part of the learning process that provides the information needed to decide a learner’s starting point. These assessments take place prior to the course commencement and it helps teachers to know and recognize about learners needs or aspects. Practically it helps me to identify the learners prior knowledge, such as learner needs or difficulties for which I may plan an additional support for them (Reece, I. and Charlton, M. 2007). This can also help me to check if they have any evidence based recognition of prior learning (RPL). Initial assessments can assist me check their literacy, numeracy and ICT levels and are considered to evaluate student skills, knowledge, strength and areas for developments. Formative Assessments: These are on-going assessments that take place throughout the course process. Formative assessment is focused on improving student motivation and learning with the goal of producing higher–quality work or thinking. There are two different audiences for formative assessment. One audience is the teacher. That is many teachers might check student understanding by asking questions or by observing students as they discuss a topic in small groups. These teachers are informally collecting data that will help them determine what needs to happen next in instruction. So the teacher is therefore the data user. The second audience for formative assessment is the student. Students need to know what will move their essay answer on a particular question from a C to an A. They need to know what it means to read content deeply for understanding and how their strategies for studying content can be improved. Research shows that providing students with effective feedback can increase  student achievement significantly (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001). Feedback is most effective when it is timely, occurring within one to two days of the work; when it provides feedback specific to the student’s work; and when it is relative to a criterion or standard. Formative assessment can therefore be said to assess learners’ performance and understanding levels during the course and learning session. In my classes I use different methods to assess my learners. They can be questions and answers (Why, When, How, What), multiple choice questions (A, B, C, D), Practical tests, Assignments, and the final project (Reece, I. and Charlton, M. 2007). These assessments can be set as an internal assessment, for example before I start my lesson, I can do a ten minutes quiz test on my pervious lesson in order to find out and monitor my students learning process (How much they understand), highlight any areas which need further development, and lastly to see if they are able and ready for the last assessment on the course or what’s so called summative assessments. Types of Formative Assessment There is a large range of formative assessment methods available. This includes, Question and Answer in the Lesson This is perhaps the most commonly used method and is almost instinctive for teachers. It gives instant feedback, can be used to develop motivation but is largely ephemeral – that is to say that it is momentary and difficult to record. Short Tests and Quizzes These are either from textbooks or devised by the teacher. These are informal, can be fun and marks can be simply recorded. Used with care they can become part of everyday teaching and learning. Homework Exercises These vary in purpose, design and complexity. ‘Purpose’ is the key word here. Students will make good use of homework if they feel it is useful, for example, preparation of material for a class discussion, seeing how a piece of writing ends, developing a skill, are all appealing tasks. Skills Assessment using Formal Assessment Criteria These may be the foundation for many skills-based courses. This method  requires experience in ‘on the hoof’ assessment and systematic recording. Observation of Performance This is often used in the arts such as music and skill assessment such as team and leadership exercises. It needs expert and experienced assessors. Assignments This term spans a vast range of tasks but an example might be individual research assignments say for a group project. A very useful and increasingly used method, especially in conjunction with homework. May involve library and internet investigations, visits and interviews. However it is difficult to manage and assess. Projects Increasingly used in modern education as it is felt that developing your own learning material/methods gives you an ‘ownership’ of your own learning experience. The assessment methods of the various project components need careful design and clear communication to the students. Written Questions / Exercises with Short, Extended or Multiple-choice Answers Very widely used. Easy to design, mark and assess. Simulations, Business Games Almost guaranteed to produce lively learning sessions. Can teach a number of skills imaginatively and effectively. The better ones contain useful directions to possible methods of assessment. May well be time-consuming. Conferencing / Reviews / Audit This involves sitting down with learners and reviewing their written work/homework/progress in general. A very useful and beneficial process for teachers and students. Can be used to introduce care, involvement and motivation into the teacher-learner relationship. Three points to watch when operating it as a method. 1. It can be time consuming as you have to give all students a review session. (If you do not – those who are omitted will feel rejected!) 2. If you do it in class you must ensure that those not involved have something useful to be getting on with. 3. Make notes on student performance immediately after the review, not during it. Summative Assessments: Summative assessment looks at whether a student has achieved the desired learning goals or met standards. In the classroom, summative assessments usually occur at the end of instruction and document what  students have learned. Looking at the grades in a teacher’s grade book should give an idea of what the ke y instructional goals or outcomes were for a grading period. These grades most likely represent summative assessments (tests, quizzes, projects, reports, written assignments etc) that tell the teacher whether the student has mastered the skills or learned the content. A key aspect of summative assessment is determining which level students need to master the content or thinking. Tests that define mastering content at the level of memorizing events, names and facts are less likely to building students’ thinking skills than tests that ask students to write about big conflicts or themes that recur over time. Therefore good summative assessments are useful. The assessment must provide you with useful information about student achievement in the course. The assessment must be tied to the learning goals you have and those learning goals must be important. If you assess unimportant or trivial concepts or just use chapter tests without really looking at the items critically in terms of whether they reflect your teaching, what have you learned a bout what your students know? Valid for your purposes, the assessment must measure what it is supposed to measure. For example, if you ask students to draw a map reflecting the change in U.S. borders from 1789-1820, you will need to ensure that the assessment is scored based on students’ understanding of the concepts not based on their ability to draw. Sometimes, the way the test is presented (e.g., small print with lots of complicated or confusing directions or too many items) can make it a less valid measure of the content being tested. It may be more a measure of student persistence than a measure of their knowledge of the content. As a teacher, taking a test yourself before giving it to your students will help ensure that the items reflect content you actually taught. It will also help you to decide if there are some aspects of the questions or layout that are content irrelevant, representing extraneous hurdles for students that could be simplified. Reliable, reliability has to do with the extent to which the score you give a student on a particular assessment is influenced by unsystem atic factors. These factors are things that can fluctuate from one testing or grading situation to the next or from one student to the next in ways that are unrelated to students’ actual achievement level (e.g., luck in guessing the right answer, lack of time to complete the assessment on a  particular day, teacher bias or inconsistency in scoring of essays across students or from one test to the next). Thinking about how to reduce these factors such that the scores given are likely to be the most accurate reflection of students’ true achievement levels on the task or test should be an on-going process for teachers. Fair. The assessment must give the same chance of success to all students. For example, a large project that is done at home can be biased against low-income students, favouring students whose parents have extra time to help them over those whose parents need to work. In this type of assessment I can participate in forming and marking final examinations, selection type questions (Explanations, Definition and Diagrams), nature type questions (Alternative, Multiple choice, or Compulsory), and dissertation assessments (Reece, I. and Charlton, M. 2007). Whether learning can be called the process of human change and transformation or the acquisition of knowledge and expertise, it â€Å"always entails participation in relationship and community transformation both of the person and of the social world† (Packer & Goicoechea, 2000). Summative Assessment Methods currently in use include: Unseen Examination in controlled conditions (e.g. 3 questions in 3 hours) Seen exam paper in controlled conditions (as above, but you know the question(s) in advance) Open Book or Take-Away exam Multiple Choice Test in controlled conditions (paper-based) In-class test Essay or Report (e.g. on an individual or group project) Portfolio Dissertation Presentation (may be peer-assessed and/or tutor-assessed) Performance (e.g. musical or dramatic) Oral examination (e.g. foreign language speaking skills) Attendance Participation in lectures and/or seminars/online discussion boards, or group work (may be peer-assessed and/or tutor-assessed) Creation of a web page Learning theory emphasises learning with understanding. This means that teaching approaches should emphasise understanding rather than memorisation and teachers should assess for understanding rather than surface knowledge  and recall of facts. Current learning theory emphasises the importance of earning with understanding (Bransford et al, 2000). Bruner (1915-) supports this with his discovery learning theory. This is an inquiry- based, constructivist learning theory that takes place in problem solving situations where the learner draws on his or her past learning experience or and existing knowledge to discover facts and relationships and new truths to be learned. He states that children are better off discovering facts and relationships for themselves. This means that curriculum and teaching approaches should emphasise understanding rather than memorisation, should provide opportunities for in-depth study to allow for firm foundation of knowledge and conceptual development and should enhance student abilities to recognise and use meaningful patterns of information. Assessment processes, then, demonstrate deep understanding of concepts rather than surface knowledge and recall of facts. Learning Outcome 3 Understand expectations in relation to the minimum core in assessing learners in lifelong learning 3.1 Review ways in which minimum core elements can be demonstrated in assessing learners in lifelong learning. Key skills have become established as an integral part of the vocational curriculum. They are also becoming an increasingly important part of many academic programmes. There has been a longstanding concern in this country with the standards of literacy and numeracy of the population. The 1992 DES discussion paper on Curriculum Organization and Classroom Practice in Primary Schools stated that to function effectively in the 21st Century, our children will need higher standards of literacy and numeracy than ever before’ (DES, 1992:11) and led to the introduction of the literacy hour in schools in 1998 and the establishment of the teaching assistant role in an attempt to raise the standards of literacy and numeracy. Functional skills now form a core part of all four of the different qualification routes open to young people such as GCSE/ A Level, Foundation, Diploma and Apprenticeship as well as being a stand-alone qualification in their own right at Entry Level, Level 1 and Level 2. The minimum core identifies two requirements placed on teachers working within the sector. The first of these requires teachers to recognise the ways in which low levels of  literacy, numeracy and ICT skills might constitute a barrier to the learning of their students. This means that within the teaching of their own particular subject specialism, teachers should be able to support learners in these areas, which then leads to the second requirement that they themselves should possess a minimum level of personal skills in these areas, currently set at level 2. FIG.3 Functional Elements In my practice, I formally and informally assess the learners’ literacy skill by demonstrating the ability to read, write clearly and improve on their vocabulary during the lesson with their self / peer / group work through talking with, listening to and observing them, and after the lesson; through reading and marking learner work, then give a positive feedback as emphasized by Lewis and Wray (2001, P51). For example, during one of the history classes titled important dates with the LO: To be able to read and write big numbers in words. Using Q & A, I listened to each learners as they try to call out the number (1910) written on the smart board, and observe their work as they try to write it down in words (one thousand, nine hundred and ten) in their individual notebooks. I checked their work for the spelling, correct placing the comma, before ticking in front of the sides of each correct work with a red pen to encourage and praise the learners efforts, and commenting positiv ely with well done, good effort feedback (Ellis. 2011). Learners that made mistakes got a dot at the side of the error to help them visualize and adjust their work accordingly. FIG.5: STIRRING LEARNING (2013) Diagnostic assessment for learners as required by the national curriculum can be used to identify and improve their minimum core skills, and knowledge through observation and questioning as they show competency and understanding towards the subject. The proposal for reform in the 14-19 sectors suggest that the teaching and learning of functional skills can be achieved through a number of different approaches ranging from discrete lessons through to fully embedding them within subject delivery. The Excellent Gateway defines embedding as teaching and learning which combines the development of literacy, language and numeracy with vocational and other  skills and suggests that the skills acquired should provide the learners with the confidence, competence and motivation necessary for them to succeed in life, at work and in life. Embedding therefore seeks to integrate the teaching of subject matter and functional skills, taking advantage of naturally occurring circumstances in which the two come together. This type of approach is quiet resource –intensive but it is expected that in the long term functional skills will remain the responsibility of specialists in this area but will be reinforced in the rest of the curriculum in all the other sessions.(DCSF: 2009:6). The issue was felt to be so important that the LLUK suggested in 2007, that all initial teacher training courses must equip all the trainees so that they are able to teach their own learning programmes in ways that take account of the language, literacy, numeracy and ICT needs of their learners. They also added that all the teachers need to be confident in working with colleagues to ensure that the development and needs of language, literacy, numeracy and ICT of their learners are met. The three skills of communication, application of number and information technology are now normally an integral part of all GNVQ qualifications. Teachers have to demonstrate through assessment and verification how they are including th ese skills in their assignments for the course. The Dearing Review of 16-19 qualifications (Dearing, 1996) highlighted the importance of students developing these skills on each of the main routes into the National Qualifications Framework. Accordingly QCA in conjunction with the main awarding bodies has developed key skills units from level one to level three which can be incorporated into different courses. â€Å"Coverage of the minimum core is intended to provide a teacher with the minimum level of skills in language, literacy, numeracy and ICT (LLN & I) that are essential to teachers who work in the lifelong learning sector.† City and Guilds (2008:3) Learners’ particular literacy, language, numeracy and ICT needs can be established through initial assessment, talking to learners, observing them completing activities or using simple self- assessment tests. â€Å"Recognizing and using a variety of different teaching styles is particularly important to support literacy, language and number skills development. Learn ers working towards literacy, language, and numeracy goals will benefit from teaching which work to their strengths. The teaching styles which you adopt will have an impact on the type of language skills  your learners will need to acquire. A didactic approach for example, may require listening and note taking skills predominantly, whereas a more learner – centred approach may require higher level reading skills as learners are asked to interpret information for them. Even when we are trying to adapt to individual learning styles, the variety of activity used will have an impact on the language skills required within a particular programme of study. The language demands placed on learners are a direct result of teacher led mediation of learning.† [Skills for Life Quality Initiative Training Materials] Teachers of all areas of specialism in the lifelong learning sector increasingly work with learners whose literacy, language, numeracy and ICT skills are below Level 2 of the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF). Learners’ difficulties in these areas can be a barrier to achievement of their goals. Teachers and trainee teachers will have high levels of skill in their own area of specialism. They are not expected to be specialist teachers of literacy, language, numeracy or ICT. However, there will be many naturally occurring activities for developing these skills within all areas of learning. The minimum core provides a foundation upon which all teachers can develop their own skills as well as their ability to identify when it is appropriate to work with subject specialists. (Minimum Core of Teachers’ Knowledge, Understanding and Personal Skills Pg. 3, LLUK 2007, updated LSIS 2013). Therefore they also need the knowledge and skills to identify opportunities for their learners to develop the increasingly higher levels of skills in literacy, language, numeracy and ICT required when taking other qualifications and in the workplace. Work done by teachers who specialise in teaching literacy, language, numeracy and ICT forms part of the solution, but there is also much that teachers of other areas of specialism can do to ensure the success of their learners. Functional skills are focused on the practical skills that allow individuals to engage confidently, effectively and independently in life, further learning and work. The intended added value of functional skills was that they equip people to apply English, ICT and mathematics in practical situations, choosing appropriate skills and techniques to solve problems. So functional skills should be integrated into the curriculum and allow learners to apply these skills in real life. The knowledge within the subject has to be linked with the practical skills, helping them to think  creatively. Wilson (2009) In the context of the Skills for Life strategy, embedded teaching and learning combines the development of literacy, language and numeracy with vocational and ot her skills. The skills acquired provide learners with the confidence, competence and motivation necessary for them to progress, gain qualifications and to succeed in life and at work. Individuals at any age who possess these skills will be able to participate and progress in education, training and employment as well as develop and secure the broader range of aptitudes, attitudes and behaviours that will enable them to make a positive contribution to the communities in which they live and work. (National Numeracy, For Everyone for life, 2013) Literacy skills help build the confidence of an individual while reading, writing, speaking and listening. It helps effective communication where information can be passed clearly through either speaking or writing. It helps understand information and act appropriately. It helps to make presentations, write reports, take part in group discussions and analyse ideas and information. It helps present information in a logical sequence, in the correct format usi ng correct grammar. I used the question and answer as well as the brainstorming method to assess the literacy skills of my learners. In groups learners also constructed sentences from jumbled up words, making sure that the sentences were grammatically correct. It is important that learners master literacy skills so they can converse and communicate adequately in a globalised community. I found that some people would struggle in their chosen work as they lack the requisite literacy skills to communicate and be understood. Numeracy skills help to understand various mathematical concepts, and also how to apply them. It helps increase analytical, problem solving and reasoning skills, identify errors and validate results. It helps use numbers and calculations to process data, solve complex problems and helps with logical working, interpretation and comparison of results in various forms like tables, graphs, charts and diagrams. These skills are the cornerstone of an increasingly computerised and scientific world and it is vital that learners are proficient in them. Although my lesson was history I used numeracy skills by asking different dates of major historical events like the start of the Second World War. Learners were able to state how long the conflict took by subtracting the start date from the end. ICT skills help an individual to confidently use  ICT systems for various purposes. Individuals can use ICT to interpret information and can also enhance their learning and improve the quality of their work. They can find information from a variety of sources. It also helps with digital or electronic communication, interpretation, storage and retrieval of information. Learners will also use ICT to look for more information regarding their work on the web, and gain ideas from different sources and also be able to compare, review or evaluate their results or conclusion with the results of the other various sources available, thereby improving their ICT skills. They can also be motivated to use spread sheets to draw tables and graphs, and use word processor to edit the literature. I used an interactive board and a web based presentation to illustrate the use of ICT in my lesson. Most educational research on literature and numeracy development is based on children. Key educational theories tied to child development provide a useful starting point for a description and contrast with some of the available models of adult learning that can be drawn on by vocational and academic tutors. ( Hickely, J. 2013 ) I am going to reflect on the strategies that can be used to support learners as they develop their literacy skills within an embedded setting. I am also going to use this opportunity to reflect upon the rationale for embedding functional literacy skills into vocational and academic settings. There are a number of theories relating to how language is acquired but in general terms it is accepted that language development is innate but must be developed through exposure to language. In effect this means that language is developed through nature and nurture. Behaviourist learning was made popular by Skinner, (1973) and is based on what can be seen and described. He suggested that children acquire language skills through imitation and reinforcement through positive reinforcement by those around them. The main basis for this belief is that children who do not hear language spoken do not speak and that children who are exposed to language acquire language skills gradually. In this instance it is therefore important for the learners to be totally immersed in language skills as they learn. This will help them master literacy skills as they learn other subjects. Learning Outcome 4 Be able to evaluate own assessment practice Review the effectiveness of own assessment practice, taking account of the views of learners As well as assessing the learners, self-evaluation is a mark of professionalism in teaching. Hounsell (2009:20) calls it â€Å"an integral part of good professional practice†. Self- assessment involves learners taking responsibility for monitoring and making judgements about their own learning. This is a process that does always not come easily to all learners as they do not always value or trust their own judgements, or have the necessary skills to make a judgement. As a result self-assessment often requires a strong structure in the initial stages until learners or teachers feel more comfortable with it as a process and have acquired the skills required to make it a worthwhile activity. Just as many of us, consciously or unconsciously, tend to use those teaching strategies we experienced as learners, so our own experience of being assessed plays a key role in the development of our r epertoire as a teacher. (Armitage et al, 2003:154) The nature and impact of assessment depends on the uses to which the results of that assessment are put. A system whose main priority is to generate information for internal use by teachers on the next steps in pupils’ learning may have different characteristics and effects from one where the drive is to produce a qualification which will provide a grade on which an employer or a university admissions tutor might rely in order to judge the suitability of a candidate for employment or further study. (Mansell et al 2009:5) Novice teachers often have intrinsic motives for evaluation. They want to know whether they are doing well or as expected. They might wish to discover their own strengths and weaknesses and compare their performance with that of experienced colleagues whom they respect Hounsell, (2009:23). However, once the novice has achieved a desired comfort level with the teaching role, continued self-evaluation guards against complacency and enables on-going improvement and freshness, helping to maintain job satisfaction. Assessment and instruction are often conceived as curiously separate in both time and purpose†. The measurement approach to classroom assessment, â€Å"exemplified by standardized tests and teacher-made emulations of those tests,† presents a barrier to the implementation of more constructivist approaches to instruction. (Educational Researcher, Vol. 29, No. 7, pp. 4) The central ideas of social efficiency and scientific management in the curriculum circle were closely linked, respectively, to  hereditarianism theories of individual differences and to associationist and behaviourist learning theories. These psychological theories were, in turn, served by scientific measurement of ability and achievement. For John Franklin Bobbitt, a leader in the social efficiency movement, a primary goal of curriculum design was the elimination of waste (1912), and it was wasteful to teach people things they would never use. Bobbitt’s most telling principle was that each individ ual should be educated â€Å"according to his capabilities.† These views led to a highly differentiated curriculum and a largely utilitarian one that disdained academic subjects for any but college preparatory students. Alongside these curriculum theories, Edward Thomdike’s (1922) associationism and the behaviourism of Hull (1943), Skinner (1938, 1954) and Gagne (1965) conceived of learning as the accumulation of stimulus-response associations. (Educational Researcher, Vol. 29, No. 7, pp. 5) Thorndike was both the originator of associationist learning theory and the â€Å"father† of â€Å"scientific measurement. The cognitive revolution reintroduced the concept of mind. In contrast to past, mechanistic theories of knowledge acquisition, we now understand that learning is an active process of mental construction and sense making. From cognitive theory we have also learned that existing knowledge structures and beliefs work to enable or impede new learning, that intelligent thought involves self-monitoring and awareness about when and how to use skills, and that â€Å"expertise† develops in a field of study as a principled and coherent way of thinking and representing problems, not just as an accumulation of information. (Educational Researcher, Vol. 29, No. 7, pp. 5) In my experience I have found out that the data you collect for yourself can be formative and forward looking, whereas other available feedback data tends to be more summative and backward looking. Extrinsic motivations for evaluation cannot be ignored. There may be requirements connected with your formal status as to probation and ‘tenure’, monitoring by external bodies such as the Quality Assurance Agency, and you may wish to seek personal recognition of your teaching expertise through schemes such as that of the Higher Education Academy. In the context of my own teaching practice I would begin initial assessment within the classroom using an ice breaker. This not only allows the group to get to know each other, but also identifies participants existing knowledge or skills and gives further  indications of preferred learning styles and tendencies. Based on the key questions within the CIF (The Common Inspection Framework used by Ofsted and the Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI) as the basis for inspecting post-16 education and training focuses on the learner and learning. is : How well do learners learn, progress and ultimately achieve ?(Jones 2005:20) Alternatively other forms of assessment such as questions and answers or a quiz could be used. This gives a good starting point for work on students Individual Learning Plan (ILP) which will constantly evolve with the use of feedback and communication between student and tutor giving a clear picture of progress a and revised goals. I would endeavour to use all of the above assessment activities particularly focusing on those that provide an active learning experience, where learning is more enjoyable, better understood and recalled more effectively, teaching by doing. All activities would be supported by hand outs given at the start of the session. Assessment makes teaching effective teaching. Mere presentation, without assessment of what the learners have made of what you have offered them—is not teaching. So assessment is not a discrete process, but integral to every stage of teaching. So, that at the end, learning is believed, with evidence to have taken place (Jones 2005) In conclusion recording provides the platform from which teachers can base their reporting to others and is a mechanism for evaluating learning and teaching. A succinct account of teaching and learning aims as in a scheme of work. This usually follows the curriculum and is a brief indication of the teaching methods REFERENCES (1) Wilson 2009, Synthesising Affect and Cognition in Teaching and Learning, Social Psychology of Education: an International Journal 12 (2) (2) Shepard, L.A, The Role of Assessment in a Learning Culture, Educational Researcher, Vol. 29, No. 7, pp. 4-14 (3) Segers et al 2003, the role of scaffolding and motivation in CSCL, Computers & Education, November 2012 (4) Reece, I. Walker, S. 2007, Teaching, Training and Learning: A Practical Guide, 6th Edition. Sunderland Business Education Publishers Ltd (5) National Numeracy, For Everyone for life, 2013 (6) Edward-Gray, D, Griffin, C, Nasta, T. 2000, Training to Teach in Further and Adult Education, Nelson Thornes. (7) Burhuss Fredrick, Skinner, 1976, About Behaviorism, Vintage Books Edition (8) Julia Hickely, 2013, Literacy for QTLS: Achieving the Minimum Core, Routledge (9) Bransford et al 2000, How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition, Brain matter (10) Packer & Goicoechea, 2000, Sociocultural and Constructivist Theories of Learn.pdf (11) Hounsell, D. Enhancing Teaching & Learning in Higher Education, NU2010, Dialog for Là ¤rande, University of Stockholm, 13-15 October 2010 (12) Barnet College, Assessment Policy, www.barnetsouthgate.ac.uk/ (13) Inclusive learning approaches for literacy, language, numeracy and ICT, Companion guide to the minimum core, November 2007 (14) Minimum core of teachers’ knowledge, understanding and personal skills, LLUK 2007, updated LSIS 2013 (15) Hampshire Learning Policy and Procedures for Assessment and Internal Verification, 2012 (16) Bruner, J.S. On Knowing: Essays for the left hand. Cambridge, Mass: Havard University Press, 1967 (17) www.llantarnamschool.net/ (18) Armitage, A. et al ,2003, Teaching and Training in Post-Compulsory Education, 2nd Edition, OUP (19) Gould, J and Roffe-Barentsen, J. 2014. Achieving your Diploma in Education and Training, SAGE (20) Mansell et al., 2009, Nfer, Evidence for Excellence in Education, and Assessment Reform Group. Assessment in Schools: Fit for Purpose? A Commentary by the Teaching and Learning Research Programme. London: Teaching and Learning Research Programme [online]. Available: www.tlrp.org/pub/documents/assessment.pdf[18 September 2014]. (21) Jones C. A. (Dr) 2005: 13-25), Assessment for learning, Published by the Learning and Skills Development Agency. www.LSDA.org.uk (22) AQA. 2012:23. GCSE Specification, Mathematics For exams June 2014 onwards for certification June 2014 onwards, A (3 units, terminally assessed) 4 3 6 0 (23) Barnett. C. A 2012 How to create assessment opportunities that meet the need of learner H34. Cited in SCCD Hand Notes: 2012 Developing Differentiation and Lesson Panning skills. ‘‘Teaching and Learning Styles – Lesson Plans† (24) Coffield, F, Moseley, D.,Hall, E., & Ecclest Celestine 2004). Learning styles and pedagogy in post-16 learning: A systematic and critical review. (25) Ellis, V. (2011: 1-34), Learning and Teaching in Secondary Schools, 4th Edition.115. (26) Gravels, A (2012:96-112). (2nd Edn) Passing PTLLS Assessments Chapter 10, 11, 12 Sage Publications, UK. BIBLIOGRAPH 1) Bagnall, G. et al (2004) the effectiveness of self-assessment on the identification of learner needs, learner activity, and impact on clinical practice. 2) Biggs J. Teaching for quality learning at university. Buckingham: Open University Press, 1999 3) Bloom, B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Co Inc. 4) Brown, S., Rust, C., Gibbs, G. (1994) Strategies for Diversifying Assessment Oxford Centre for Staff Development, UK 5) Hatfield, Susan. (1992) Department Level Assessment: Promoting Continuous Improvement 6) Nightingale, P., Te Wiata, I.T., Toohey, S., Ryan, G., Hughes, C., Magin, D. (1996) Assessing Learning in Universities Professional Development Centre, University of New South Wales, Australia. 7) Shepherd, Lorrie, (2000) the Role of Assessment in a Learning Culture, Educational Researcher, Vol. 29, No. 7, (Oct., 2000), American Educational Research Association Educational Researcher, Vol. 29, No. 7 8) Tummons J, (2007) Becoming a Professional Tutor in the Lifelong Learning Sector Learning Matters, Exeter. 9) University of Hull, (2014), The UK Professional Standards Framework for teaching and supporting learning in higher education.pdf WEBSITES Assessment, Recording & Reporting for Learning http://www.charterhousesquareschool.co.uk/assessment-recording-reportingfor learning.html ASSESSMENT, RECORDING AND REPORTING POLICY (2012) http://www.qehbristol.co.uk/media/PDFs/Policies/assessment%20policy %20juniors%20-%20dec%202012.pdf Assessing learners in lifelong learning – http://qualifications.vtct.org.uk/ unit pdf/UV40815.pdf Difference between Assessment and Evaluation? – http://Uk.ask.com/ question/difference-between-assessment-and-evaluation Engage in assessment; Different ways to assess your students http://www.reading.ac.uk/engageinassessment/different-ways-toassess/ Formative Teaching Methods – http://geoffpetty.com/wp-content uploads/2012/12/FormativeTeachingMethods2.doc How to create assessment opportunities that meet the need of learner H3 – http://charlottepttls.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/how-to-createassessment- opportunities. htmlScheme of Assessment – http:// filestore.aqa.org.uk/subjects/AQA-4365-W-SP-14.PDF The Data Protection Act 2003- httl.www.regulatorylaw.co.uk/data protection.html