No Topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

No Topic - Essay Example According to Sanders, the STEM system, introduced in the 1990s, had all along been used by NSF to refer to separate subjects of â€Å"science, technology, engineering, and mathematics while some people thought it STEM education referred to interaction among the stake holders† (2009, p. 20). However, due to the global challenges and competition faced by the U.S from other countries like China and India, the STEM program was heavily backed up by the government by providing funds and advocating the integration of the STEM subjects to other ordinary school subjects (Clemson University, n.d). As a result, the current education system of K-12 in the U.S implements the STEM curriculum and education policy. On the other hand, several forms of integrative stem education can be identified in the American education system. Firstly, integration of engineering with high school education subjects, particularly science and mathematics, is one form of integrative learning that enables and tutors to address problems in the real world (North Carolina State University, 2011). Further, the North Carolina State University states that various strategies have been implemented to enable instructors to incorporate engineering concepts when training students on science and mathematics (2011). This form of integrative learning is important not only to the students but also to the nation as a whole. This is because students are able to identify problems in the real world and provide solutions based on ideas from multi-disciplinary approach. Another form of stem integration is the inclusion of arts and literary subjects to the main STEM subjects. According to North Carolina State University, students need to have an array of diverse skills in order to effective engineer solution to the problems existing in the current society (2011). In this form of integration, students get to learn effective communication skills through the literary subjects something that is important

My Dinner with Andre movie review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

My Dinner with Andre - Movie Review Example For one, Wally and Gregory are both theater enthusiasts and actors. For instance, Gregory found it amazing to be in a Polish forest with huge trees and diverse people and beautiful women. Gregory depicts a character who is fascinated to the tiny details of life and who enjoyed life to the fullest despite life’s oddities. Moreover, Gregory narrates how every detail in life, say in a production, is connected with one another to make a whole picture of beauty. More so, there is also transcendence in fantasies to reality and finite to infinite (Hendrix 8) as shown in Gregory’s hallucinations out from the reality when he was aboard on a plane, among other situations that he told. Humanism was also discussed in the movie. The value of being a human is emphasized in their conversation, and rational thought, instead of spirituality was likewise emphasized. The humanism was depicted in the constant search for self-actualization, fulfillment, and intellectual quest. Furthermore, both Wally and Gregory depicted a picture of two people who have different ways of searching for the meaning of life. Both realized that life goes on in a fast pace and in an unpredictable way, and certainly it will lead to death. The reality seems to be lost during a period of fantasizing, in Gregory’s example, during a sexual encounter. People tend to lose all of their precious memories during that period of euphoria, and once one gets back to consciousness, everything he imagined just vanished. However, fantasy and reality both are related. The former is a product of an imperfect world in the real setting. Fantasy is a creative masterpiece of the mind which has the possibility of bringing to reality. Knowledge is also highlighted in the movie. The exchanges of conversation were products of knowledge which lead to recognition that life’s celebrations and emotions can be analyzed. Fright and love can be explained in terms of knowledge to act with the other person invo lved. Gregory said that if there is no act to be involved with the other person, all relationships are all bounded with duty. In the postmodern world, Gregory discussed science’s irony, from bringing enlightenment to inaccuracies and doubts; it brought chaos and danger to the present world. Simply saying, knowledge, as a precursor to science, can become dangerous. Based on the movie, Andre Gregory represents the humanistic branch of philosophy because of his beliefs about preserving the human nature. For instance, he believes that the humanity needs a new language, specifically the language of the heart. He believes that creating a language that connects everything and everyone makes one understand the nature in its entirety. Wally, on the other hand, represents metaphysics, based on his dialogues regarding the existence of the world and its connection to the human beings, and what is reality. Moreover, he displays some concepts in logic as shown in his analysis regarding the correctness of analyzing things as products of science collectively. Both of them played accurately their roles, as seemingly the audience and the

Philosophy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 6

Philosophy - Assignment Example I asked him if he had ever been discriminated against in any way. He said yes, saying that he was often discriminated against because of his race, but more so in public and on the streets than in a work setting. Finally, I asked Mark if he had ever defended himself or someone else against discrimination. He said that when the opportunity arises for him to say something in his or someone else’s defense, he takes it. He further went on to say that he does not want to always open his mouth because he wants to avoid arguments that may arise from his defense. Mark seemed to be against every form of discrimination, believing that everyone deserves a chance to be treated equal, regardless of their race, gender, or sexual orientation. He also acknowledges that while the majority of people have made attempts to live without discrimination, there are still many that believe that they are better than others because of their gender or race. I was pleased to hear that he tries to defend himself and others when possible, and was further pleased when he said that he tried to avoid arguments, as they could only worsen the situation. Lillian is a 26 year old white female. When I asked her if she believed if racial equality exists in our country, she responded by saying not entirely. She went on to explain that while many people treat others equally, there are still incidents that involve the mistreatment of others because of their skin color. I then asked her if gay couples should receive the same treatment and benefits as heterosexual couples, to which she responded with a yes. She believes that if gay couples love the same way as heterosexual couples then they should be allowed the same benefits. I asked Lillian if she thinks that women are treated equally in our society. She simply said no, saying that most people that treat women equally are only doing so

The City Planners and the Planners Essay Example for Free

The City Planners and the Planners Essay In ‘The City Planners’ by Margaret Atwood and ‘The Planners’ by Boey Kim Cheng, both poet uses the structure of the poem and language techniques to form the difference between the place itself and its identity. The uniformity between these two poems is the feelings of the poet expresses for this place. In ‘The City planners’ Atwood describes the place as â€Å"dry August sunlight†, this portrays an imagery of no lighting, dark and negative and also suggests to the readers that she do not like where she are. Similarly, in â€Å"The Planners† where the poet expresses to the readers that he dislikes the atmosphere because â€Å"All spaces are gridded† which gives an imagery of there is no free space around this area. Both the poet highlights the identity of the city is perfect but in a negative way. Atwood uses sibilance in â€Å"cutting a straight swath in the discouraged grass. † This emphasizes that even nature is not freely grown, and it must get permission from the planners. Of no difference in â€Å"The Planners† Cheng also uses nature and the same language techniques of sibilance o â€Å"skies surrender† which is suggesting the buildings are so high that the sky is scared of it. The city gives a feeling of unpleasant but the image of the city seemed to be perfect. Both poet is starting to introduce to the readers that the city is not as perfect as they have seen, they expresses the feeling of resentment. In â€Å"The City Planners† Atwood uses sibilance of â€Å"the roofs all display the same slant’ this portrays an imagery of the roof is facing the same way. The words â€Å"same slant† which hints that the house is all the same, the image of the house, the direction its facing, and also the lighting is coming from the same way. The surrounding of this place, gives a feeling of boring and lost. Because everything is the same and she cannot recognise where she is and when will the journey is going to finish. In â€Å"The Planners’ Cheng uses personification of â€Å"The country wears perfect rows of shining teeth†, this creates an imagery of the city itself is looking so perfect but with â€Å"dental dexterity† which suggesting that the powerful people ‘they’ are creating a perfect image for the city. Both poem refers to the place is not in beauty itself and when you spend more time and being very focus at it, you will realise its flaws. Atwood and Cheng use structure of the poem to highlight the exact opposite between the place and its image. Atwood is contradicting what she said in the beginning of the poem where nature is not allowed to be grown anywhere they like. But toward the end of the poem Atwood says that the â€Å"houses, capsized, will slide†, this listing creates a strong feeling of fearfulness and how danger is this place in the future. But â€Å"right now nobody notices. † Atwood finishes the poem of using contradictions that the â€Å"panic of suburb† which hints that this place is getting closer the problem. Cheng uses irony in â€Å"The Planners† where â€Å"history is new again†, history is something that is true which is happening in the pass. No one can change history. The planners can only change the image (identity) of the place but they can never change its pass. History is something that will remain in people’s mind as memory and therefore they can remember it forever. Both poems show the difference between the identity and its background and what the place really are. Atwood and Cheng express the difference of the identity to itself of the place. The contradictions and irony hints that the image of the place and itself can be very different. Give the message to the readers that do not judge a someone or a something by its appearance because the external may look perfect but its internal or the interior can be vice versa.

Autocratic Democratic And Laissez Faire Management Essay

Autocratic Democratic And Laissez Faire Management Essay In the past twelve months I have witnessed quite a few leadership styles. When i was working in one of the diamond manufacturing companys the leader of the firm was the owner himself. He was a democratic leader he used to lead us by setting examples himself. All the decisions concerning the firm was always taken after consulting the employees of the company. Opinions of all the employees were duly considered before setting goals and targets which were to be achieved. But once the target were set he made clear that it has to be achieved under all circumstances because no targets were set without consulting the employees and above all targets which were set were realistic targets. This type of leadership behaviour is termed as job-centred behaviour by (Buchanan Huczynski 2010, p.598) the company in which I was working was a small size firm with only twenty employees working in it. He had no assistants and use to manage all the employees all by himself. Being a leader he had to deal wi th individual, group and organizational goals which he did it very efficiently and effectively. As mentioned in Buchanan Huczynski(2010)Managers do the things right but leaders do the right things he always did the right things at the right time as a true leader. According (Feilder 1996, cited in Hellriegel, et al. 2010, p.333) Group atmosphere is defined as the level at which a leaders control is accepted. Here in this case the group atmosphere was not at its peak. And the task structure was more of a routine one where goals were clearly defined by the leader to all the employees. According to Burns (1978), cited in Dawson(1996, p.227) he distinguishes leaders in two categories one as transformational leader and other as an transactional leader. the leader of our group was a transactional leader the one who gives what the employee desires and in return ask employees to full fill leaders desires. Here the employees wants were to earn money this was satisfied by giving their hard work and time to the company, an in return employees desires were fulfilled by getting the job done by paying the money to the employee. All employees were satisfied under his leadership style and behaviour including me which led to an comfortable organizational atmosphere to work in to and in this way enhanced organizational performance. The other example which I have noticed is an example of my father when I used to work in our family business. Here the relationship between me and my father was that of a leader, follower relationship. Here the leadership style which I observed was an autocratic one. As I was still a learner into the business I dint have much of knowledge and experience to take decisions. Here the group atmosphere was at its peak and the task structure was a non-routine one because here in this case the leader knows the better than the employee to perform a particular task (Feilder 1996, cited in Hellriegel, et al. 2010, p.333). The organisational goal were common that to increase the sales and thereby increasing the profits of the company. The leadership behaviour observed here was of employee-centred leadership behaviour. This means that the leader focuses on the relationship between the leader and the employee and he also focuses on the need of the employee (Buchanan and Huczynski 2010, p.606) as per James McGregor Burns(1978) the leader here was a transformational leader which means that the followers treated here with relationship in terms of motivation and commitment, and inspiring the followers to give more than the expected to improve organizational performance. The leadership style changes with the same person when it comes to different organization. For example when I am with my father during the office hours he is an autocratic leader, but as soon as we come back from work the leadership style changes. This is supported by Vroom and yettons (1973), cited in Rosenfeld and Wilson (1999, p.201) describes normative theory of leadership effectiveness, which says that the leadership style changes according to different situations. My father is the leader of our family also, here a different style of leadership is observed. Laissez-faire type of leadership is adopted here where all the members of the organization has the freedom to do whatever he wants to do. Here the decisions are not forced upon anybody and everyone has the full freedom to do whatever one wishes to do. Here the common organizational goal is to run the house effectively which the leader has to take care of. Which is fulfilled under this style of leadership. The leadership which I have noticed in the past twelve can also be termed as participative leadership in the first case and supportive leadership in the second and third case (Luthans 2002, p.587).Thus in the end we can say that leadership style and behaviour changes with different organization. From the above given examples also we can state that an effective leader always leads to an effective organizational. And thus in the end according to my own personal experinces I can say that there is a strong relationship between leadership style and behaviour to organizational performance. Refernces:- Buchanan, A.D. and Huczynski, A.A. 2010, Organizational Behaviour. 7th Edition. Essex: Pearson Education. pp. 596-622 Dawson.S.1996,Analysing Organisations. 3rd Edition. Essex: McMillan Press. pp.227-230 Hellriegel, D. et al. 2001, Organizational Behaviour.9th Edition. Essex: South-Western College Publishing.pp.322-354 Luthans, F. 2002, Organizational Behaviour. 9th Edition. Essex: McGraw Hill Higher Education. pp.587 Rosenfeld, R.H. and Wilson, D.C.1999, Managing Organization. 2nd Edition. Essex: McGraw hill publishing company. pp. 201

The Development Of Desire :: essays research papers fc

The Development of Desire The development of the male warrior, throughout literature, has a direct relationship with the development of western civilization. The attributes a warrior holds, fall respectively with the attributes that each society held as valuable. These characteristics, started by societies ideals, become the warrior's only reasons for continuing their heroics. The ideals however do change with each warrior. At the beginning we have a warrior with one mission, which later the warriors become more challenged and have to change ideas and concepts to continue. The evolution of the warriors desires becomes the complex ideals that western civilization develops over time. With this progression of civilization, from simple to complex ideals, so will the evolution of the ideals and desires of our heroes change from simple to complex.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Odysseus is a man who is both strong and smart, but most known not for the brawn of his body, but the wits of his brain. A man who is loved in every country, but Trojan, and could stay where ever he chooses, his sailors knew this to be true as one bench mate to the next, â€Å"It never fails. He is welcome everywhere: hail to the captain when he goes ashore!† (Homer 166). The irony falls as Odysseus only desires his homeland. †Begin when all the rest who left behind them headlong death in battle or at sea had long ago returned, while he[ Odysseus] alone still hungered for home and wife† (Homer 1).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Odysseus has many opportunities to end his journeys and start a new life. For instance, if he desired, Odysseus was able to stay with Kalypso who wanted him forever, â€Å"Her ladyship Kalypso clung to him in her sea-hollowed caves- a nymph, immortal and most beautiful, who craved him for her own† (Homer 1). Kalypso knows even though she has Odysseus in her home, he is not hers to have. â€Å" Son of Laertes, versatile Odysseus, after all these years with me, you still desire your old home? Even so I wish you well†( Homer 87). To which Odysseus replies, â€Å"...Yet, it is true, each day I long for home, long for the sight of home...† (Homer 87). Another chance for Odysseus to start a new life is offered by the king of the Phaecians to marry his daughter and live there; â€Å"...seeing the man that you are, seeing your thoughts are my own thoughts-my daughter should be yours and you my son-in-law, if you remained. â€Å"( Homer 120). In each case, Odysseus, only wants to return to his wife Penelope, his son, and most of all his homeland.

Information and communication technologies Essay

Even though the ICT sector is itself worth between 6-8% of the EU’s GDP in the last few years, ICTs are much more important than that figure suggests, as they are central for the current situation and development of much more spheres of contemporary society as a whole and of national economies in Europe in particular. Today ICTs play a crucial role in: improving competitiveness throughout the economy in the face of globalisation, by boosting innovation, creativity and efficiency; – scientific and technological development in various areas (including medicine and physics); – modernising sectors as diverse as education, security, energy and transport, and making Europe’s public sector more efficient; – tackling social challenges and improving quality of life and meeting the challenge of an ageing society. The EU policy framework for the information society and media – i2010- also promotes a European Information Society for all citizens[2]. Actions implemented under this i2010 priority aim to ensure that the benefits of the information society can be enjoyed by everyone (e-Inclusion). Areas of eInclusion policy, as defined in i2010, are: ageing, eAccessibility, broadband gap (overcoming the so called â€Å"digital divide†), inclusive eGovernment, digital literacy and culture. Actions under this priority also aim to encourage provision of better public services (eGovernment and eHealth). Here are the main spheres where ICTs have even bigger potential and are expected to develop in the short run: – Growth and Competitiveness ICT is a driver for productivity. The gains from ICT stem directly from investment in ICT, a fast growing and innovative ICT sector, and indirectly from improvements in business processes through wider use of these technologies across the economy. According to a study[3], the overall contribution to labour productivity growth from ICT investments and from technical progress in the production of ICT goods and services accounted for about 40% of EU labour productivity growth over the second half of the 1990s, compared with 60% in the US. The ICT sector, as a whole, performs fairly well in comparison with the US in terms of size (10% of GDP in the US against 8% in the EU, and also in productivity and employment creation), but less so in terms of contribution to R&D (in the US, ICT account for 30% of R&D). However, in these developments the EU has suffered from lower and delayed investments in ICT and, possibly, a less efficient use of ICT. Using Information and Communication Technologies can also further be used to manage finite natural resources and energy consumption much more efficiently, so that improving environmental protection without holding back economic development[4]. – Convergence More and more, convergence of technologies, infrastructure and applications is developing to provide consumers with an access to a great diversity of attractive services and rich media and content on a wide range of devices. Availability of content and services is becoming critical as the market moves to a phase where value-added services and content are key to revenue growth. The policy focus for 2010 will probably be the creation of a favourable environment that stimulates the competitive deployment of new converging services. – Broadband networks EU countries are global leader in high-speed internet. The number of fixed broadband internet connections in the EU keeps growing: 14 million more in 2008, reaching over 114 million in total. Denmark and the Netherlands are world leaders in broadband, with take up over 35% of population. They lead, along with Sweden, Finland, the UK, Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany and France, the US, which was at 25% in July 2008. This has produced a critical mass and there is already evidence that markets for high-quality content and service development are taking off. Furthermore, new developments in wireless broadband have made spectrum availability crucial to new services and applications, and the efficient management of spectrum key to further broadband developments. Finally, the enhancement of interoperability and security are essential to and increase consumers’ choice and facilitate take-up. In the beginning of 2009 1 billion euro has been earmarked by the European Commission to help rural areas[5] get online, bring new jobs and help businesses grow. Competitiveness, job creation and protection, sustainable development, spatial balance and fighting the digital divide are the main goals that the broadband internet access could achieve. – Contents and information society services Convergence is creating a promising range of opportunities for the development of content and information society services making the most of ICT. The challenge for the single information space is to create the appropriate environment that will meet both business and consumer expectations while promoting the European content industry. This requires a competitive environment, where interoperability allows cross-platform competition and usage. This also requires a clear European regulatory framework with respect to content regulation and a secure environment for the distribution of digital content. Ensuring consumer acceptance pass by offering access to a great variety of flexible content and services adapted to user needs. Improving security and privacy as well as minor protection and media literacy are needed to allow European citizens to benefit fully from these content and services. – Innovation and research In order Europe to catch-up with the levels of productivity growth of other regions of the world, it should strengthen innovation and concentrate these efforts in those sectors, like the ICT, where the value added is the highest. A pre-requisite is to increase investment in research: at present the EU devotes only 18% of research expenditure to ICT whereas the leading OECD countries allocate more than 30%[6]. In absolute amounts, Europe’s investment in ICT research is only two thirds of that of Japan and one third of that seen in the USA. Research and development is making technology simpler to use, more available and affordable; providing new ICT-based solutions that are trusted, reliable, and adaptable to users’ contexts and preferences. However, research alone is not sufficient as it needs be consolidated by organisational innovation. ICT must be widely adopted and supported by adequate reorganisation of business processes and by a skilled workforce. Businesses in the EU are increasingly adopting advanced ICT and are engaging in on-line transactions but are lagging behind in the adoption of integrated business applications (particularly the European small and medium enterprises). – Skills and work The development of the ICT sector and the wide-spread diffusion and use of ICT in the economy and in the society bring opportunities for new employment and more creative and fulfilling jobs. Changing needs for ICT and e-Business skills (e-Skills) in the future heavily depend on innovation and the introduction of new technologies. The greatest challenge is to assess forward-looking innovations and understand what new skills will be needed, to be able to anticipate and manage changes and be effective, quick and efficient in creating new, innovative jobs. – e-Business Though nearly all enterprises are connected to the internet, a large section of the business community is only beginning to exploit the potential of ICT. E-commerce is expected to continue to grow rapidly. More efforts are needed to improve business processes in European enterprises and fully integrate ICT providing new opportunities to reduce their costs and improve performance. Factors which will contribute to increase e-Business include promotion of take-up of e-business solutions and best practices security, addressing privacy and security concerns, availability of content and new services, increase automation of business processes, acceptance of payment for content and services, e-invoicing and e-procurement. Public services Public services are at the heart of the European social model, playing a key role in growth, innovation and cohesion. There is increasing evidence that a better exploitation of ICT through combined improvement of facilities, working processes and skills can significantly enhance public service’s organisation provision. However, the potential remains unfulfilled due to technical, legal or organisational obstacles. For example, government services are widely available online but the demand is not sufficient and efficiency gains from back-office reorganisation are still largely underexploited. Specific challenges relate to friendly user-centric services, back-office streamlining, interoperability of key infrastructures and facilities, identity management, or privacy and trust. – e-Inclusion Increasing impact of ICT on social inclusion and participation creates new opportunities. Significant progress on ICT penetration across all EU regions and socio-demographic groups helps to decrease disparities. However, some specific challenges concern accessibility of ICT equipment and user-friendly interfaces, digital literacy or improved confidence and support for ICT use. Some important concerns are â€Å"design for all† of ICT equipment; human mediation and support for e-services; intuitive use of affordable value-added e-content and services accessible; and efficient solutions for threats to privacy, security and harmful content threats. – Quality of life and environment ICT have a direct impact on the environment but also indirect social and economic consequences as a result of its application. ICT positive impact on the environment includes environmental modelling (forecasting), the miniaturisation of devices (which reduces the resources needed for manufacture and distribution), micro/nano technology and embedded systems which improve disaster management, and reduce the environmental impact of farming and fishing. ICT also enables a less resource-intensive production, thereby reducing the environmental impact of economic activities. – e-Work contributes to environmental sustainability as travelling to work is reduced. Innovative transport planning systems can ease traffic congestion and optimise transport capacity. ICT can also contribute to quality of life by delivering more efficient and more effective public services and goods to individuals which in turn can improve their life chances. ICT support for comprehensive life-long learning policies (through e-learning, digital competence actions) can enable all individuals to adapt and keep the pace with the continuous social, economic and technological changes. – Climate and energy policy The combined climate and energy policy is central at the EU’s political programme. Its aism are to bring about alternative ways of running our daily lives so that Europe can continue to create growth and jobs while leading the global effort to tackle climate change and energy efficiency. Europe faces three main challenges in this field – tackling climate change, guaranteeing secure, sustainable and competitive energy, and making the European economy a model for sustainable development in the 21st century[7]. The resolve of the European Council[8] to transform Europe into a low-carbon, high energy efficiency economy means that the continued growth of the European economy, essential to achieve full employment and inclusion, needs to be decoupled from energy consumption. The current trends are unsustainable. Indeed, if nothing were to change, final energy consumption in the EU is predicted to increase up to 25% by 2012, with a substantial rise in greenhouse gas emissions. ICTs have an important role to play in reducing the energy intensity and increasing the energy efficiency of the economy, in other words, in reducing emissions and contributing to sustainable growth. In addition to that, ICTs will not only improve energy efficiency and combat climate change but will also stimulate the development of a large leading-edge market for ICT enabled energy-efficiency technologies that can foster the competitiveness of European industry and create new business opportunities.