What was the Albany Plan of Union free essay sample

What was the Albany Plan of Union? Why was it not put into effect? BY The French and Indian War started in 1754. The British were unsuccessful in the beginning because of their lack of unity. Benjamin Franklin saw this as a major problem and urged unity. In the Pennsylvania Gazette, he drew his famous cartoon of a broken snake with the caption Join or Die. A meeting was held in Albany in the spring of 1754 to address this Issue.Colonial leaders, officials and representatives from seven of the British colonies attended the conference. Benjamin Franklin and Massachusetts governor Thomas together drafted a proposal of colonial unity to combat the war against the French. It was called the Albany Plan of union. The plan would create new layers of government Including a president-general that was appointed by the crown. The president-general will manage relations with the natives, and will be in charge of the frontier lands until they became colonies. We will write a custom essay sample on What was the Albany Plan of Union? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The colonial assemblies will appoint members to a proposed grand council whose representation will be determined by the amount of financial taxes paid to the organization. The plan was approved by the members of the Albany conference but the colonial assemblies refused to accept it as did the London regime. To the colonists, it did not seem to give enough independence. On the According to Franklins wrote that the colonies agreed on the need for unity but could not agree on the details for unity.

Stonehenge1 essays

Stonehenge1 essays Behind every great structure in the world, there are the people who made them, and who took the time and effort to design them. Those who made Stonehenge succeeded in creating an incredibly complex and mysterious structure that lived on long after its creators were dead. The many aspects of Stonehenge and the processes by which it was built reveal much about the intelligence and sophistication of the civilizations that designed and built the monument, despite the fact that it is difficult to find out who exactly these people were. They have left very little evidence behind with which we could get a better idea of their everyday lives, their culture, their surroundings, and their affairs with other peoples. The technology and wisdom that are inevitably required in constructing such a monument show that these prehistoric peoples had had more expertise than expected. The planning and assembling of Stonehenge took a very long time (about one thousand years, from 2800 BC to 1500 BC*), and not one but many different groups of people were involved in the process. How they came about plays an important role in understanding them. Some of the first men to come to England that are connected to the Stonehenge builders came when the ice blocking Britain and France melted around 10,000 BC (Souden, 104). After them, many more groups of people came from the mainland, and had great influence on those already living there. The first group involved in the building of Stonehenge was the Windmill Hill people. These people were semi nomadic farmers, mainly just keeping their flocks of cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and dogs, and growing wheat, who had arrived as some of the last Neolithic (or New Stone Age, 4300 2200 BC) newcomers in England. Not only were they farmers they also hunted, mined flint, made and traded axes, and could almost be called industrialists. The Windmill Hill people had a very strong religion with a great respect...

Average National SAT Scores for 2013

Average National SAT Scores for 2013 More than a million high school students registered for the SAT for 2013. If youd like to know how your cohorts did, here are some results from the national SAT scores for 2013. Overall SAT Scores for 2013 These are the mean, or average, scores of all students who took the SAT from the fall of 2012 through June 2013, by section (they are identical to the the scores from the year before):   Here are the mean scores for all testers by section: Overall: 1498Critical Reading: 496Mathematics: 514Writing: 488 (subscores: multiple-choice: 48.1 / essay: 7.3) SAT Scores by Gender Here are the years scores separated by gender: Critical Reading:Males: 499Females: 494 Mathematics:Males: 531Females: 499 Writing:Males: 482Females: 493 SAT Scores by Reported Annual Income The results indicate consistently that students from wealthier families score higher on the SAT than kids from families with lower incomes. This doesnt mean that higher incomes produce smarter kids. Parents with more wealth might be more willing to purchase SAT prep  or retakes of the test. Here are the results: $0 - $20,000: 1326$20,000 - $40,000: 1402$40,000 - $60,000: 1461$60,000 - $80,000: 1497$80,000 - $100,000: 1535$100,000 - $120,000: 1569$120,000 - $140,000: 1581$140,000 - $160,000: 1604$160,000 - $200,000: 1625$200,000 and more: 1714 SAT Scores by Ethnicity There is no causal relationship between ethnicity and scores, but there are different results based on ethnicity: American Indian or Alaska Native: 1427Asian, Asian-American or Pacific Islander: 1645Black or African-American: 1278Mexican or Mexican-American: 1355Puerto Rican: 1354Other Hispanic, Latino, or Latin-American: 1354White: 1576Other: 1501No response: 1409 To spot trends, you may compare all the above data to the 2012 SAT results.   Other SAT Score Categories There are other categories of mean SAT scores, including the  average SAT scores for students entering the  top public schools  and the  scores for the top private schools.   2013 SAT Scores Summary These statistics represent the mean, but not the individual. Having nothing in common with the groups scoring the highest on the SAT doesnt mean that you cant secure a top-notch score. If you havent taken the SAT or are planning to retake it, there are  free SAT practice quizzes  and free SAT apps  you can use to help prepare yourself. Another authority suggests these additional ways of getting ready: Know the test structure.Write practice essays.Ensure that you have a calculator and spare batteries.Know when to guess on a question and when to skip it entirely.Get a good nights sleep.

Research Problem Statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Research Problem Statement - Essay Example Dennis & Meola (2009) give an example of UK firms, which lose approximately 19 million dollars daily due to bad management. This is moderately attributable to the firm’s wastage of time due to their leader’s inefficiency. It is evident that the significant bits of organization include its management to great extents. For a business to address the needs of its employees, leaders, and consumers, it needs proper management. Therefore, it becomes extremely problematic for organizations to realize acceptable profits when they have such poor management. Most entities fail because their managers focus on increasing their sales and quality of their goods. Indeed such categories of headship do not care about the general organization of their institutions, hence increasing management problems. This makes them forget their roles in control and organizing, as well as the workers’ roles. The goals of many businesses entail increasing the outputs and lowering the expenses. A b alance of these two ideas of increment in output and expense reduction obviously qualifies for perfect management. Conversely, these are short-term benefits because the businesses success depends on the long-term benefits, which entail motivating the personnel, but most administrators ignore this. The motivation of employees helps in the creation of a functional business environment (Dennis & Meola, 2009). Evidently, this functional business is devoid of poor management and all the negativities associated with such leadership. The sub problems evident from the question above include Poor leadership Poor communication Poor organizational structure Organizational culture Decision-making Policies Possible Sub-problems Poor Leadership Hypothesis Leaders with good leadership skills will motivate the employees. If organizational leaders involve the workers in the management of the business, the business will perform highly Brief Description Effective management entails good leadership and proper communication. Poor leadership tendencies are the most noticeable management problems in businesses. According to Dennis & Meola (2009), some leaders in organizations are incompetent making organizations fail to realizing their goals because of their inability to foresee the business challenges (Dennis & Meola, 2009). Additionally, they fail to challenge the employees making the workers perform poorly. Poor leaders are usually inexperienced and cannot handle conflicts in an organization. As such, the inability to control conflicts by the leaders in a firm is a sign of poor management. In Poor Decision Making Hypothesis Proper decision making in an organization will increase the corporate efficiency Brief Description Another sub-problem, which is common in the corporate institutions, is the phenomenon of decision-making. Evidently, decision-making affects the operation of organizations to exemplary levels. When there is poor management running any organization, it is obvious that the consequent decisions will be inappropriate. An organization only achieves its goals and other ultimatums if the management makes proper decisions. It then becomes a chief problem when these decisions present challenges to the behavior of the human resources. Certain decisions, which the management of the organization makes, affect the organization because of the mentioned relationship. Therefore, an organization has trouble when relevant decision making departments fail to

Apply legal principles to solving practical problems Essay

Apply legal principles to solving practical problems - Essay Example The Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations (RVLR) of 1989, which were modified subsequently in the year 1994, 1996, 2005, and in the year 2009, require all pedals of bicycles to have two reflectors on each pedal, provided that the bicycle is ridden between sunset and sunrise on a public road. The clipless pedals make it impossible to fit such reflectors, which is why this part of RVLR is not frequently enforced. However, if one rides a bicycle at night and is caught in any accident, any such illegality about the reflectors or lights is termed as contributory negligence. RLVR’s main points are: a pedal cycle must have lights and reflectors when ridden between sunset and sunrise; a cycle does not need lights and reflectors when it is stationary or is being pushed along the side of a road; the lights and reflectors, when required, should be clean as well as work properly; For a bicycle to be driven legally at night, the minimum requirements according to RLVR are the following items (J uden, 2013): Front lamp A bicycle must have one front lamp of white light that is positioned either centrally or offside at a vertical distance of maximum 1500 mm from the ground. The lamp should be visible from the front. If it can emit a steady light, the light must comply with BS6102/3 or an EC standard equivalent to that. If the lamp can only emit a flashing light, the light should be of 4 candela at least. Likewise, there are requirements for rear lights. The UK rules for cyclists oblige them to look all around before turning, manoeuvring, or riding away from the kerb so as to ensure a safe move (Gov.uk, 2013). Julie clearly did not look around before swerving into the path of the car driver. The cyclist must generate a clear signal to make other road users aware of his/her intentions. In case a cyclist cannot use direction indicator signals for any reason, or when he/she feels it compulsory to reinforce the stop lights and the direction indicator signals, the cyclist should ge nerate arm signals for turning left or right or to show that he/she wants to slow down or stop (Gov.uk, n.d.). Julie did not generate any signal either. Although Julie was riding on a country road at night, she might not be required to have two reflectors on each pedal because that condition is for driving on a public road at night, yet she needed to have steady or flashing front and rear lights anyway. By not having those lights on her bicycle, Julie did contributory negligence. â€Å"[I]f a cyclist in dark clothes goes out onto the road at night on a bike without proper lights, it’s not his fault if a driver fails to see him† (Thomas, 2012). Because of contributory negligence, it is very unlikely that Julie can get a satisfactory result if she intends to sue the car driver. Some recent court decisions in cases that were brought against the car drivers by the injured cyclists suggest that the courts are generally stricter toward the cyclists as compared to the pedestr ians in cases where the cyclists have shown contributory negligence (Blondwig, 2012). One such case is Malasi v Attmed, in which a bicycle rider jumped a red light and, without looking, rode across the junction (Blondwig, 2012). A taxi hit the bicycle and seriously injured the rider. Although the taxi driver applied the brakes after seeing the cyclist, the speed of taxi was too high for the collision to be avoided. When the cyclist sued the taxi driver to get compensation from him for the injuries that had been caused,

Course Project Essay Example for Free

Course Project Essay They are Public Website, Manufacturing Support System (MSS), Human Resources System (HRS), and Sales and Marketing System (SMS). Public Website provides information about each of the products, locations where someone can purchase them, and information about how to get warranty support. Details of warranty support and defect rates are not tracked, but the staff has anecdotal stories. The Manufacturing Support System (MSS) maintains the supply chain information necessary for manufacturing the companys products, such as raw materials, vendors, and prices. The Human Resources System (HRS) maintains and tracks personnel and benefits information. And the Sales and Marketing System (SMS) track the sales and marketing efforts of the company’s sales force. Orders from this system are printed and sent daily to the MSS to be filled. As a senior member of the IT Management Team for SAI Toys, I agree with the Board of Directors and the CEO decision to stay on the forefront of geekness, and therefore the company should integrate all of  its IT systems. In addition, they want to develop a more robust Web presence and sell their products directly to individual customers in addition to selling through traditional retailers, as they currently are doing. My recommendation is that we need to hire more staff if SAI Toys want to stay on the forefront. The company needs to hire professional computer specialist. The integration of new the software into a newly expanded IT system which utilizes in some cases first generation coding on legacy hardware can create operational problems which in-house IT staff may be nable to solve. SAI Toys is not in the computer business. While computers are essential to the design, manufacture and marketing of their products, SAI Toys would be well served by having their IT systems vertically integrated and maintained in a cloud computing environment, eliminating most of their IT department employees in the process (Butcher, 2011). In this report, I will show how the company should go about implementing this ex ecutive directive. The report should include the following sections. The report will also outline the situation, weighs various alternatives, and I will presents a final recommendation for the company. The report will also include the current IT system, overview of the recommended system, the difference between In House and Outsourcing development, the stakeholders’ buy-in, the ERP project failed with lessons learned, and the company’s ROL ;amp; TCO. Current IT Situation To evaluate SAI Toys, using the basic analysis techniques will help us to have an overview of the company and its environment. SWOT is a tool that identifies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an organization. SAI Toys SWOT Analysis is to take the information from an environmental analysis and separate it into internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external issues (opportunities and threats). The Strengths of SAI Toys are: Experienced and successful marketing team, High brand recognition for their unique products, Substantial 25 member IT team, and Quality control ensuring positive consumer feedback. The Weaknesses of SAI Toys are: Highly competitive marketplace, Extensive and continuing R;amp;D investment, Cost containment, and Personnel costs for IT staff (Butcher, 2011). The Opportunities of SAI Toys are: Direct marketing and sales to consumers through company operated websites, Emerging international markets immediately accessible through the internet, and Substantial IT cost reduction through use of cloud computing. The Threats of SAI Toys are: Loss of market share, Major competitors integrating vertically and selling direct, and Changing technology requiring escalating engineering costs (Butcher, 2011). The Competitive Strategy Analysis is the second basis analysis technique to help us to have an overview of the company and its environment. SAI cannot afford the possibility of IT system failure given the highly competitive market in which they operate. New product design, manufacture, and marketing require that their IT system be fully functional 24/7 with no downtime. To sustain growth and revenue and stay ahead of potential competition SAI Toys will need to invest heavily in Research and Development (R;amp;D) on an ongoing basis (Butcher, 2011). This will include further investment in hiring skilled engineering personnel. Because SAI Toys creates unique products which may exclusively dominate a small segment of the market from which all of its revenue is derived, the introduction into the market of a competitor’s similar product with enhanced features and lower retail pricing may severely impact SAI Toys ability to generate sales and revenue (Butcher, 2011). Swimlanes Diagram: AS-IS Diagram Overview of Recommended System The various systems currently in place will be replaced or integrated into the new system. Assuming that SAI Toys has elected to develop an integrated IT system in-house utilizing its current IT structure but expanding operability to allow all four (4) distinct IT systems to communicate with each other, an Organizational Process Performance system evaluation is necessary which will derive quantitative objectives for quality and process performance from the organization’s business objectives (Butcher, 2011). The new system will be the ERP Implementation. There is a Process of ERP Implementation. While ERP is clearly a software solution for SAI, its implementation must be done on an incremental basis to limit interruptions to the existing business structure at SAI. Like all IT changes, problems can and will develop. To minimize the impact on SAI’s ongoing business operation the implementation of ERP should occur during the lapses between product launches or product design and development stages and implementation should be accomplished on a step-by-step basis, one application at a time. Limiting IT installations and disruptions to non-critical time periods will permit the least stressful adoption of the IT structure and allow SAI to maintain its revenue stream without incurring a loss (Butcher, 2011). There are numerous vendors who offer ERP software which would be easily configurable for SAI’s specific requirements. Microsoft, Oracle, Sage, Exact, SAP, and Intuitive each offer ERP software solutions which can manage companies like SAI with up to 1,000 users. Each of these can incorporate e-commerce platforms into the production and supply chain and provide SAI Toys management with instantaneous information reports including warranty claims, product claims, and defective product losses to together with consumer feedback in real-time (Butcher, 2011). Some new features in this system will include: 1) Improved customer satisfaction 2) Increased profitability 3) Reduced costs ) Improved quality and processing times 5) Improved business culture by bridging the gap between the production line and management 6) Improved business performance by focusing team members on eliminating waste across key business processes and workflows (Butcher, 2011). There are many companies out there that have successfully made the transition from a brick and mortar business to an E-Commerce. The E-Commerce can help the company grow and expand. An e-commerce platform can be used for advertising, production, supplier enquiries, negotiations, contracts, orders, billing, payments, and after sales service and other business activities in the process of interactive program management that can simplify the transaction process (Butcher, 2011). SOA would be of benefit to this project. A Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) design principle can be utilized during the phases of systems development and integration. A system based on SOA will package functionality as suite of interoperable services that can be used within multiple separate systems from the four separate systems. SOA also generally provides a way for consumers of services such as web-based applications to be aware of available SOA based services. For example, several disparate departments within a company may develop and deploy SOA services in different implementation languages and their respective clients will benefit from a well understood, well defined interface to access them. SOA defines integration for widely disparate applications for a web-based environment and uses multiple implementation platforms (Butcher, 2011). Rather than defining an API, SOA defines the interface in terms of protocols and functionality. An endpoint is the entry point for such a SOA implementation. Service-orientation requires loose coupling of services with operating systems and other technologies that underlies applications. SOA separates functions into distinct units, or services, which developers make accessible over a network in order to allow users to combine and reuse them in the production of applications. These services and their corresponding consumers communicate with each other by passing data in a well-defined, shared format, or by corresponding an activity between two or more services. SOA is therefore a continuum as opposed to distributed computing or modular programming (Butcher, 2011). Swimlanes diagrams- TO-BE diagram In-House versus Outsourcing Development The benefits and costs of developing this system in-house versus outsourcing the development or purchasing off-the-shelf are very important to consider. Off-the-shelf ERP packages are tested and proven performers which are an essential requirement for a company like SAI Toys which cannot afford the inevitable downtime associated with fragmented software design and installation. On a cost benefit analysis basis the investment in purchasing an off-the-shelf ERP software package is substantially less than the cost of downtime and system inoperability where an in-house software design fails (Butcher, 2011). The ability of the software vendor to de-bug an off-the-shelf system can be measured in minutes or hours versus the possibility and probability of several days of downtime with in-house developed software. The purchase price of an ERP software package can be amortized over a useful lifespan of five years or more and when compared to the prospective recurring downtime of in-house developed software the advantages of an ERP off-the-shelf solution cannot be ignored (Butcher, 2011). To avoid as many pitfalls as possible in the overhaul of SAI’s IT system it is recommended that SAI avoid in-house software development of this magnitude. While some of SAI’s IT staff may be proficient in software development there are the issues of minimum and exacting standards employed in the industry which may not be a consideration for in-house development. CCMI and ISO certifications should also impact the decision here. CMMI and ISO certification are an inherent part of these off-the-shelf software solutions which eliminates the uncertain standards that may be employed in in-house software development (Butcher, 2011). We should develop the system by Some best practices for managing the project type to having a better chance of success are Stakeholder Buy-in and Internal Politics The stakeholders of this system are essential. Once stakeholders are on board with the system development, they are likely to remain involved, supporting the program over its lifetime. We can get them to buy-in and support the system development by keeping them informed throughout the process of the system, including during the evaluation planning, implementation, and reporting phases (Innovation Network, 2002-2012). Stakeholders are valuable assets in evaluation planning, offering: * Assistance in decision-making about continued and prospective funding; * Perspective that helps the program learn, grow, and improve, and * Experience that informs program replication at other sites or organizations. The Stakeholders fall into three levels of program participation or involvement. There are: * Primary stakeholders  are typically major decision makers within a program, and are often the motivators behind an evaluation effort. They are often program staff, supervisors, senior managers, and funders. * Secondary stakeholders  have less contact with the administrative side of the program, but are still important to the evaluation effort. They include program participants and their families; direct service staff; and possibly other professionals providing subsequent services to program participants. Tertiary stakeholders  are more distant but are likely to be interested in evaluation findings for example, potential program participants, the general public, or members of the same profession (Innovation Network, 2002-2012). There are other issues that may arise as a result of the internal politics in our company that could have a negative impact on the project. The best thing to do is to reduce the risk of project failure due to internal issues. Many systems development problems are in practice caused by a failure to perceive that specific stakeholders’ viewpoints were relevant. That failure causes whole groups of requirements, typically those related to scenarios involving the missing stakeholders to be missed. A similar result is obtained when one stakeholder assumes one scope for a product while another stakeholder assumes another. This occurs when a developer assumes that it will be sufficient to design, code, and test software but the purchaser hopes to have everything set-up and operators trained (Butcher, 2011). Stakeholder composition is a good predictor of project risk and therefore it should be cost-effective to characterize projects at their initiation according to their stakeholder impact. SAI can minimize internal politics by fully evaluating each stakeholder and assuring them that their input is critical to the overall success of the project. Each stakeholder then becomes part of the project team and has a vested interest in ensuring the ultimate success of the project. Team meetings bring all of the stakeholders together to discuss differences and eliminate issues which would delay or derail the project. Each team member realizes that their participation is equally important within their area of specialization or expertise fully under their direct control and unchallenged by direct confrontation. In this manner, each team member must demonstrate how their participation and overall cooperation contributes to the overall success of the project (Butcher, 2011). ERP Project Failures and Lessons Learned Studying ERP project failures is an essential part of project success. By identifying the same or similar issues that lead to failure in one company, SAI can take steps to avoid or eliminate those problems as they arise. Case studies also provide a precursor to the foreseeable problems that occur in ERP implementation allowing SAI management an opportunity to prepare for these problems by formulating a contingency plan. ERP project failures are common but this not unique to ERP. Every system has glitches regardless of the quality of design or the expertise of design personnel (Butcher, 2011). In the Case Study for Implementation Failure at Hershey’s Chocolate it was established that Hershey’s failed to use an incremental method of implementation, instead installing full software during periods of peak business. The resulting disaster from inoperability due to bugs and glitches resulted in a loss of peak season revenue for Hershey’s. Both corporate management and IT staff developed an immediate dislike for the ERP implementation. This could easily have been avoided had Hershey’s implemented the new software on a step-by-step basis during the off season when sales and revenue would have been less dramatically affected (Butcher, 2011). Hershey’s also tried to implement a variety of enterprise applications simultaneously which added to the stress of a seemingly failed project. In fact, there was nothing wrong with the ERP software but its implementation was a complete failure as the company tried to modify their business processes to suit the enterprise application which created further problems. The lesson learned is that implementation should be conducted one step at a time, each successful Installation reinforcing management’s initial decision to purchase. The ERP problems at Hershey’s are commonly repeated where management fails to realize the complexity of implementation and the necessity to proceed cautiously and maintain focus (Butcher, 2011). Return on Investment and Total Cost of Ownership Some metrics that we can use to determine if the system was a success is a disciplined methodology has been developed called  total cost of ownership  (TCO). It is designed to properly analyze the full cost of an IT investment. In order to calculate TCO properly, all related costs must be identified and captured. TCO models organize costs into two broad categories: 1. Direct costs:  Costs in this category are usually for activities and investments that are related to IT or support. They can usually be calculated by examining the actual or projected costs of hardware, software, people, and facilities. 2. Indirect costs:  These costs are not always visible and can be very difficult to measure and quantify. This type of cost crosses the entire organizations business operations. Some examples of these indirect costs are Administration, Downtime, and End-user operations (Devry, unknown). In order to measure the metrics and figure out when baselines should be determined, we should developed methodologies for determining TCO. The first methodology is the Project initiation. This can be one of the most critical phases of a project. The reason why is because the following are determined: the expectations of the client, the type of relationship the organization will ave with the client (This can influence the management costs. ), and the projects scope. Ideally, the objectives of the project should be defined at this stage, and the categories for TCO can be aligned with these project objectives. To determine the impact of any deviations from initial projections, an up-to-date TCO should be maintained at all times (Devry, unknown). The second methodology is the Cost Modeling. Through the entire TCO process a major activity is the TCO cost analysis. This continues to be refined as new information becomes available during the project. This activity includes classifying the costs according to the financial policies of an organization as well as defining the financial model for the project. The third methodology is the Cost Collection. Once the financial and cost model has been determined, all available cost estimates are collected. Once these are entered into the financial model, a baseline is determined. The total cost of ownership that is presented in this deliverable should be considered a snapshot in time. It is important that all stakeholders understand this and that the TCO may or may not change substantially from this point forward (Devry, unknown). The fourth methodology is Evaluation/Final Report. This is the development of a TCO project deliverable that goes to the organizations stakeholders and decision makers. It typically includes the final project evaluation and a correlation of all finding recommendations and results. The last methodology is Ongoing Refinement of the TCO Model. It is very rare for all costs and contract negotiations in a large project to be finalized at the same time. Additionally, an implementation plan usually cannot be determined at the same time as, or even immediately after, delivery of the final report. As a result, the TCO is an estimate of project costs based on the data and decisions available when the report was researched and written. As key decisions regarding rollout and implementation strategy are reached, the TCO model should be refined to include the most current project cost estimates (Devry, unknown). Another metrics that we can use to determine if the system was a success is Return on Investment (ROI). The ROI (return on investment) is how much profit or cost savings is gained. An ROI calculation is sometimes used along with other business practices to develop a business case for an IT proposal. The overall ROI for an enterprise is sometimes used to determine how well a company is managed. The work performed to determine the TCO can be used to calculate the ROI. Even though many TCO costs are long term, they can be applied solely to the initial investment or divided between the initial investment and serve as an adjustment to the final value. While both methods are valid, they can give different results; it is important that the organization establish a policy for ROI computations across all projects (Devry, unknown). One of the more difficult aspects of an ROI calculation is determining the soft, or people benefits. Three considerations that impact these soft benefits follow: * Speed of adoption:  This benefit considers how quickly employees come up to speed using the new process, system, technology, or tools provided by the implementation. It indicates how quickly employees demonstrate the new skills or behaviors and adapt to the new roles that are required by a change. * Ultimate utilization or participation rate:  This evaluates the percentage of employees that are engaged and practicing the new way of doing things. Surprisingly, in many implementations, employees can avoid actively participating in workflows and procedures, and this can undermine the project in subtle ways. * Proficiency:  As the change is implemented, this examines how proficient and effective the employees have become. Many times, this proficiency, or ability to better perform their job function, is a significant part of the changes original motivation. It measures not just the status after the change, but the ongoing improvement to the organization with the new systems, tools, and processes in place and the organizational and job changes fully implemented. Some examples include the time saved in performing a particular operation while using the new system, the improved close rate for sales and contracts brought by the use of a competitive information database, and the amount of waste reduced by new streamlined activities or processes (Devry, unknown). Conclusion In conclusion, my recommendation to SAI Toys is that they need to hire more staff if they want to implement this executive directive. If they can’t afford it or can cope with integrating all of their IT systems, then I would suggest they stick to manufacturing the toys in-house and shipped to brick-and-mortar retailers, such as Best Buy and Target, as well as e-Commerce only sites, such as ThinkGeek. com and Buy. com.

Big Bang Theory :: physics science space

Cosmology in general predates the physics that we rely upon in the twenty-first century. Its history is intertwined with religion as an attempt to understand or explain the workings of the world. Science on the grandest scale has felt great impedence from religious dogma and pontificators, specificly, the relationship between Gallileo and the Catholic church. The entire history of cosmology is a subject too broad for a small project to contend with, so I want to explore the workings of just the Big Bang theory; its creation, evolution and adaptation to new data, and revision with inflationary theory. The Beginning: After Isaac Newton revolutionized mechanics, the term 'cosmology' (or 'cosmogeny' at the time) refered only to the solar system and the immediate environs. Newton did a lot to dispell the geo-centric myths surrounding celestial motion, with his theory of universal gravitation. If planets moved on celestial spheres, instead of moving because of gravity, gravity must not be universal. Before Einstein, before his revolutionary theory of general relativity of 1915, most astronomers believed that the universe consisted of only one galaxy, the Milky Way. Outside galaxies were certainly studied, but not understood as independant and very distant galaxies similar to our own. Einstein did not apply his new gravitational field equations to cosmological models until 1917. Predecessors such as Mach and Gallileo grappled with the concepts of inertia inspired Einstein. Newton had attempted to formulate a cosmological model using his theory of gravity, and reasoned in 1692 that the universe could be considered an infinite volume container with an infinite number of stars. Newton was unable to define a gravitational force acting upon a particular body with these boundary conditions however. Newton realized that a universe with matter and only gravity acting upon the matter would result in a universe which would eventually collapse. Obviously the universe has not collapsed, which puzzled Newton. Einstein was also puzzled by the appropriate boundary conditions to apply to an aparently infinite volume universe, that has not collapsed. In the model of 1917 he tried to describe a universe that exists in a steady state, that is, not collapsing and not expanding. The creation of the big bang model was an inadvertant by-product of his classic 'cylindrical universe,' because such a steady universe must have a mysterious cosmological constant holding it up, and keeping it from collapsing.

A Short History of Nearly Everything Essay

A Short History of Nearly Everything is a popular science book by American author Bill Bryson that explains some areas of science, using a style of language which aims to be more accessible to the general public than many other books dedicated to the subject. It was one of the bestselling popular science books of 2005 in the UK, selling over 300,000 copies.[1] instead describing general sciences such as chemistry, paleontology, astronomy, and particle physics. In it, he explores time from the Big Bang to the discovery of quantum mechanics, via evolution and geology. Bryson tells the story of science through the stories of the people who made the discoveries, such as Edwin Hubble, Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein. Background Bill Bryson wrote this book because he was dissatisfied with his scientific knowledge — that was, not much at all. He writes that science was a distant, unexplained subject at school. Textbooks and teachers alike did not ignite the passion for knowledge in him, mainly because they never delved in the whys, hows, and whens. â€Å"It was as if [the textbook writer] wanted to keep the good stuff secret by making all of it soberly unfathomable.† —Bryson, on the state of science books used within his school.[2] [edit] Contents Bryson describes graphically and in layperson’s terms the size of the universe, and that of atoms and subatomic particles. He then explores the history of geology and biology, and traces life from its first appearance to today’s modern humans, placing emphasis on the development of the modern Homo sapiens. Furthermore, he discusses the possibility of the Earth’s being struck by a meteor, and reflects on human capabilities of spotting a meteor before it impacts the Earth, and the extensive damage that such an event would cause. He also focuses on some of the most recent destructive disasters of volcanic origin in the history of our planet, including Krakatoa and Yellowstone National Park. A large part of the book is devoted to relating humorous stories about the scientists behind the research and discoveries and their sometimes eccentric behaviours. Bryson also speaks about modern scientific views on human effects on the Earth’s climate and  livelihood of other species, and the magnitude of natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and the mass extinctions caused by some of these events. The book does, however, contain a number of factual errors and inaccuracies.[3] An illustrated edition of the book was released in November 2005.[4] A few editions in Audiobook form are also available, including an abridged version read by the author, and at least three unabridged versions. [edit] Awards and reviews The book received generally favourable reviews, with reviewers citing the book as informative, well written and highly entertaining.[5][6][7] However, some feel that the contents might be uninteresting to an audience with prior knowledge of history or the sciences.[8] In 2004, this book won Bryson the prestigious Aventis Prize for best general science book.[9] Bryson later donated the GBP £10,000 prize to the Great Ormond Street Hospital children’s charity.[10] In 2005, the book won the EU Descartes Prize for science communication.[11] It was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize for the same year. Unremitting scientific effort over the past 300 years has yielded an astonishing amount of information about the world we inhabit. By rights we ought to be very impressed and extremely interested. Unfortunately many of us simply aren’t. Far from attracting the best candidates, science is proving a less and less popular subject in schools. And, with a few notable exceptions, popular books on scientific topics are a rare bird in the bestseller lists. Bill Bryson, the travel-writing phenomenon, thinks he knows what has gone wrong. The anaemic, lifeless prose of standard science textbooks, he argues, smothers at birth our innate curiosity about the natural world. Reading them is a chore rather than a voyage of discovery. Even books written by leading scientists, he complains, are too often clogged up with impenetrable jargon. Just like the alchemists of old, scientists have a regrettable tendency to â€Å"vaile their secrets with mistie speech†. Science, John Keats sulked, â€Å"will clip an Angel’s wings, / Conquer all mysteries by rule and line.† Bryson turns this on its head by blaming the messenger rather than the message. Robbing nature of its mystery is what  he thinks most science books do best. But, unlike Keats, he doesn’t believe that this is at all necessary. We may be living in societies less ready to believe in magic, miracles or afterlives, but the sublime remains. Rather as Richard Dawkins has argued, Bryson insists that the results of scientific study can be wondrous and very often are so. The trick is to write about them in a way that makes them comprehensible without crushing nature’s mystique. Bryson provides a lesson in how it should be done. The prose is just as one would expect – energetic, quirky, familiar and humorous. Bryson’s great skill is that of lightly holding the reader’s hand throughout; building up such trust that topics as recondite as atomic weights, relativity and particle physics are shorn of their terrors. The amount of ground covered is truly impressive. From the furthest reaches of cosmology, we range through time and space until we are looking at the smallest particles. We explore our own planet and get to grips with the ideas, first of Newton and then of Einstein, that allow us to understand the laws that govern it. Then biology holds centre-stage, heralding the emergence of big-brained bipeds and Charles Darwin’s singular notion as to how it all came about. Crucially, this hugely varied terrain is not presented as a series of discrete packages. Bryson made his name writing travelogues and that is what this is. A single, coherent journey, woven together by a master craftsman. The book’s underlying strength lies in the fact that Bryson knows what it’s like to find science dull or inscrutable. Unlike scientists who turn their hand to popular writing, he can claim to have spent the vast majority of his life to date knowing very little about how the universe works. Tutored by many of the leading scientists in each of the dozens of fields he covers, he has brought to the book some of the latest insights together with an amusingly gossipy tone. His technique was to keep going back to the experts until each in turn was happy, in effect, to sign off the account of their work he had put together. In short, he’s done the hard work for us. Bryson enlivens his accounts of difficult concepts with entertaining historical vignettes. We learn, for example, of the Victorian naturalist whose scientific endeavours included serving up mole and spider to his guests; and of the Norwegian palaeontologist who miscounted the number of fingers and toes on one of the most important fossil finds of recent history and wouldn’t let anyone else have a look at  it for more than 48 years. Bryson has called his book a history, and he has the modern historian’s taste for telling it how it was. Scientists, like all tribes, have a predilection for foundation myths. But Bryson isn’t afraid to let the cat out of the bag. The nonsense of Darwin’s supposed â€Å"Eureka!† moment in the Galapagos, when he spotted variations in the size of finch beaks on different islands, is swiftly dealt with. As is the fanciful notion of palaeontologist Charles Doolittle Walcott chancing on the fossil-rich Burgess Shales after his horse slipped on a wet track. So much for clarity and local colour. What about romance? For Bryson this clearly lies in nature’s infinitudes. The sheer improbability of life, the incomprehensible vastness of the cosmos, the ineffable smallness of elementary particles, and the imponderable counter-intuitiveness of quantum mechanics. He tells us, for example, that every living cell contains as many working parts as a Boeing 777, and that prehistoric dragonflies, as big as ravens, flew among giant trees whose roots and trunks were covered with mosses 40 metres in height. It sounds very impressive. Not all readers will consider it sublime, but it’s hard to imagine a better rough guide to science.  · John Waller is research fellow at the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine and author of Fabulous Science: Fact and Fiction in the History of Scientific Discovery (OUP) What has propelled this popular science book to the New York Time’s Best Seller List? The answer is simple. It is superbly written. Author Bill Bryson is not a scientist – far from it. He is a professional writer, and hitherto researching his book was quite ignorant of science by his own admission. â€Å"I didn’t know what a proton was, or a protein, didn’t know a quark from a quasar, didn’t understand how geologists could look at a layer of rock on a canyon wall and tell you how old it was, didn’t know anything really,† he tells us in the Introduction. But Bryson got curious about these and many other things: â€Å"Suddenly, I had a powerful, uncharacteristic urge to  know something about these matters and to understand how people figure them out.† All of us should be lucky to be so curious. Young children are. That’s why they’re called â€Å"little scientists.† New to the world and without inhibitions, they relentlessly ask questions about it. And Bill Bryson’s curiosity led him to some good questions too: â€Å"How does anybody know how much the Earth weighs or how old its rocks are or what really is way down there in the center? How can they [scientists] know how and when the Universe started and what it was like when it did? How do they know what goes on inside an atom?† The Introduction also tells us that the greatest amazements for Bryson are how scientists worked out such things. His book is a direct result of addressing these issues. It is superbly written. Popular science writers should study this book.| A Short History of Nearly Everything serves a great purpose for those who know little about science. The deep questions may not necessarily be explicitly presented but many of the answers are. The reader gets to journey along the paths that led scientists to some amazing discoveries – all this in an extremely simple and enjoyable book. The prose is extraordinarily well written with lively, entertaining thoughts and many clever and witty lines. Consider, for example, Chapter 23 on â€Å"The Richness of Being.† It begins: â€Å"Here and there in the Natural History Museum in London, built into recesses along the underlit corridors or standing between glass cases of minerals and ostrich eggs and a century or so of other productive clutter, are secret doors – at least secret in the sense that there is nothing about them to attract the visitor’s notice.† This opening sentence really captures the atmosphere of a natural history museum. It is full of vivid descriptions and contains the cleverly constructed, paradoxical phrase â€Å"productive clutter.† The next paragraph begins to make the point: â€Å"The Natural History Museum contains some seventy million objects from every realm of life and every corner of the planet, with another hundred thousand or so added to the collection each year, but it is really only behind the scenes that you get a sense of what a treasure house this is. In cupboards and cabinets and long rooms full of close-packed shelves are kept tens of thousands of pickled animals in bottles, millions of insects pinned to squares of card, drawers of shiny mollusks, bones of dinosaurs, skulls of early humans, endless folders of neatly pressed plants. It is a little like wandering through Darwin’s brain.† And later: â€Å"We wandered through a confusion of departments where people sat at large tables doing intent, investigative things with arthropods and palm fronds and boxes of yellowed bones. Everything there was an air of unhurried thoroughness, of people being engaged in a gigantic endeavor that could never be completed and mustn’t be rushed. In 1967, I had read, the museum issued its report on the John Murray Expedition, an Indian Ocean survey, forty-five years after the expedition had concluded. This is a world where things move at their own pace, including the tiny lift Fortey and I shared with a scholarly looking elderly man with whom Fortey chatted genially and familiarly as we proceeded upwards at about the rate that sediments are laid down.† Often Bryson ends a paragraph with an amusing line. You find very few popular science books so well written. With the exception of Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman, it is hard to think of even one that is witty. Popular science writers should study this book. â€Å"I [Bryson] didn’t know a quark from a quasar . . . â€Å"| Sometimes even quoting writers rather than scientists and original sources, Bryson draws extensively from other books. For example, most of Chapter 21, whose focus is largely on the Burgess Shale fossils and the Cambrian explosion, is taken from Stephen Jay Gould’s Wonderful Life. And much of the rest of Chapter 21 is based on works by Richard Fortey and Gould’s other books. The author does not hide this. Titles are cited in the text, chapter notes provide quotes from books, and there is a lengthy bibliography. Given that Bryson in not a scientist, it is surprising how few errors there are in A Short History of Nearly Everything. Here are a couple that the staff at Jupiter Scientific uncovered: On what would happen if an asteroid struck Earth, Bryson writes, â€Å"Radiating outward at almost the speed of light would be the initial shock wave, sweeping everything before it.† In reality, the shock wave would travel only at about 10 kilometers per second, which, alt hough very fast, is considerably less than the speed of light of 300,000 kilometers per second. Shortly thereafter, one reads â€Å"Within an hour, a cloud of blackness would cover the planet . . . â€Å" It would take a few weeks for this to occur. The book gives the number of cells in the human body as ten-thousand trillion, but the best estimates are considerably less – about  50 trillion. Here’s how one might determine the number. A typical man and a typical cell in the human body respectively weigh 80 kilograms and 4 Ãâ€"10-9 grams. So there are about (80,000 grams per human)/(4 Ãâ€"10-9 grams per cell) = 2 Ãâ€"1013 cells per human, or twenty-trillion cells. By the way, since the number of microbes in or on the human body has been estimated to be one-hundred trillion, people probably have more foreign living organisms in them then cells! In the Chapter â€Å"The Mighty Atom†, it is written, â€Å"They [atoms] are also fantastically durable. Because they are so long lived, atoms really get around. Every atom you possess has almost certainly passed through several stars and been part of millions of organisms on its way to becoming you. We are each so atomically numerous and so vigorously recycled at death that a significant number of our atoms – up to a billion for each us, it has been suggested – probably once belonged to Shakespeare.† Most of this paragraph is correct, but because atoms are stripped of there electrons in stars, Bryson should have said, â€Å". . . the nuclei of every atom you possess has most likely passed through several stars . . . † One might be shocked that each of the 6 trillion or so humans on Earth have so many of Shakespeare’s atoms in them. However, Jupiter Scientific has done an analysis of this problem and the figure in Bryon’s book is probably low: It is likely that each of us has about 200 billion atoms that were once in Shakespeare’s body. Bryson also exaggerates the portrayals of some scientists: Ernest Rutherford is said to be an overpowering force, Fred Hoyle a complete weirdo, Fritz Zwicky an utterly abrasive astronomer, and Newton a total paranoiac. Surely the descriptions of these and other scientists are distorted. From a scientific point of view, most topics are treated superficially. This renders the book of little interest to a scientist.| Here are some examples of witty lines that finish paragraphs: The concluding remarks on Big Bang Nucleosynthesis go: â€Å"In three minutes, 98 percent of all the matter there is or will ever be has been produced. We have a universe. It is a place of the most wondrous and gratifying possibility, and beautiful, too. And it was all done in about the time it takes to make a sandwich.† On the Superconducting Supercollider, the huge particle accelerator that was to be built in Texas, Bill Bryson notes, â€Å"In perhaps the finest example in history of pouring money into a hole in the ground, Congress spent $2 billion on the project, then canceled it in 1993  after fourteen miles of tunnel had been dug. So Texas now boasts the most expensive hole in the universe.† Chapter 16 discusses some of the health benefits of certain elements. For example, cobalt is necessary for the production of vitamin B12 and a minute amount of sodium is good for your nerves. Bryson ends one paragraph with â€Å"Zinc – bless it – oxidizes alcohol.† (Zinc plays an important role in allowing alcohol to be digested.) On Earth’s atmosphere, the author notes that the troposphere, that part of the lower atmosphere that contains the air we breathe, is between 6 and 10 miles thick. He concludes, â€Å"There really isn’t much between you and oblivion.† In talking about the possibility of a sizeable asteroid striking Earth, Bryson at one point writes, â€Å"As if to underline just un-novel the idea had become by this time, in 1979, a Hollywood studio actually produced a movie called Meteor (â€Å"It’s five miles wide . . . It’s coming at 30,000 m.p.h. – and there’s no place to hide!) starring Henry Fonda, Natalie Wood, Karl Malden, and a very large rock.† From a scientific point of view, most topics are treated superficially. This renders the book of little interest to a scientist, but has certain advantages for the layperson. In some cases, emphasis is not given to the most important issue. Bryson simply lacks the insight and judgement of a trained scientist. Chapter One on the Big Bang is particularly difficult for the author. There is too much discussion on inflation and on the many-universe theory. Inflation, which is the idea that the space underwent a tremendous stretching at a tiny fraction of a second after â€Å"the beginning†, is consistent with astronomical observations, is theoretically attractive but has no confirming evidence yet. The multi-universe theory, which proposes that our universe is only one of many and disconnected from the others, is complete speculation. On the other hand, Bryson neglects events that have been observationally established. Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, in which the nuclei of the three lightest elements were made, is glossed over in one paragraph. Recombination, the process of electrons combining with nuclei to form atoms, is not covered – an unfortunate omission because it is the source of the cosmic microwave background radiation (When nuclei capture electrons, radiation is given off). Bryson simply refers to the cosmic microwave background radiation as something â€Å"left over from the Big Bang†, a description lacking true insight. As another example of misplaced emphasis, much of the chapter entitled  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Welcome to the Solar System,† is on Pluto and its discovery and on how school charts poorly convey the vast distances between planets. Although the Sun is not even treated, Bryson ends the discussion with â€Å"So that’s your solar system.† Here is another example in which Bryson’s lack of scientific training hurts the content of the book. In Chapter 27 entitled â€Å"Ice Time, he discusses as through it happened with certainty the â€Å"Snowball Earth.† It, however, is a very controversial proposal in which the entire planet was engulfed in ice at the end of the Proterozoic Era. The book says, â€Å"Temperatures plunged by as much as 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The entire surface of the planet may have frozen solid, with ocean ice up to a half mile thick at high latitudes and tens of yards thick even in the tropics.† While it is true that this period was the most severe ice age ever to transpire on Earth, it is unlikely that the weather became so cold as to create the conditions described in the above quote. Then the chapter on hominid development does the opposite by presenting the situation as highly unknown and debatable. It is true that the fossil record for the transition from apes to Homo sapiens is quite fragmentary and that anthropologists are dividerd over certain important issues such as how to draw the lines between species to create the family tree, how Homo sapiens spread over the globe and what caused brain size to i ncrease. However, the overall pattern of homonid evolution is understood. The reader gets to journey along the paths that led scientists to some amazing discoveries – all this in an extremely simple and enjoyable book.| Bryson has a nice way of summarizing atoms: â€Å"The way it was explained to me is that protons give an atom its identity, electrons its personality.† The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom, also known as the atomic number, determines the element type. Hydrogen has one proton, helium two, lithium three and so on. The electrons of an atom, or more precisely the outermost or valence electrons, determine how the atom binds to other atoms. The binding properties of an atom determines how it behaves chemically. Every important topic in A Short History of Nearly Everything can be found in Jupiter Scientific’s book The Bible According to Einstein, which presents science in the language and format of the Bible. Jupiter Scientific has made available onlin e many sections of this book. This review, which has been produced by Ian Johnston of Malaspina University-College, is in the public domain, and may be used by anyone, in whole or in part, without permission and without charge, provided the source is acknowledged–released October 2004. For comments or questions please contact Ian Johnston. A Short History of Nearly Everything The first thing one notices about a new Bill Bryson book in recent years is the disproportionately large size of the author’s name on the cover—bigger  than the title by a few orders of magnitude. That’s appropriate, I suppose, for an author who has emerged as North America’s most popular writer of non-fiction, with legions of fans around the world, perhaps even something of a cult figure, who can sell anything on the strength of his name alone. Bryson’s recently published book, A Short History of Nearly Everything, is certainly a departure from what he has written so far. It’s a bold and ambitious attempt to tell the story of our earth and of everything on it. Initially motivated by the most admirable of scientific feelings, intense curiosity about something he admits he knew virtually nothing about, Bryson spent three years immersing himself in scientific literature, talking to working scientists, and travelling to places where science is carried on, so that he might â€Å"know a little about these matters and . . . understand how people figured them out† and then produce a book which makes it â€Å"possible to understand and appreciate—marvel at, enjoy even—the wonder and accomplishments of science at a level that isn’t too technical or demanding, but isn’t entirely superficial either.† The result is a big volume recapitulating the greatest story ever told, from the beginnings of the universe, to the physical history of the Earth, to the development and evolution of life here—an attempt to provide, as the title indicates, an all-encompassing and continuous narrative, crammed with information on everything from particle physics to plate tectonics, from cloud formations to bacteria. For all the obvious natural clarity and organization within science, writing well about the subject is not as easy as it may appear. It demands that the writer select an audience and then deliver what he or she has to say in a style appropriate to that readership, in the process risking the loss of other potential readers. Bryson has clearly thought about this point and introduces into writing about science a style very different from, say, the brisk omniscience of Isaac Asimov, the trenchant polemics of Richard Dawson, the engaged contextual scholarship of Stephen Jay Gould, or the leisured and fascinating historical excursions of Simon Winchester (to cite some recent masters of the genre). He brings to bear on science his impressive talents as a folksy, amusing, self-deprecating spinner of yarns, assuming considerable ignorance in his readers and inviting them to share his newly discovered excitement at all the things he has learned, obviously trying with an atmosphere of cozy intimacy and friendship to ease any fears  they may bring to a book about so many unfamiliar things. This feature will almost certainly irritate a great many people who already know a good deal about science (who may feel they are being patronized) and charm many of those who do not. The information is presented here in an often off-beat and amusing and certainly non-intimidating way. Bryson sticks to his resolve not to confront the reader with numbers and equations and much complex terminology. So he relies heavily on familiar analogies to illustrate scientific theories, and these are extremely effective—inventive and illuminating. There is a wealth of interesting and frequently surprising facts about everything from mites to meteorites, conveyed with a continuing sense of wonder and enjoyment. Bryson delivers well on his promise to provide an account of what we know and (equally important to him) of the enormous amount we still do not know. Bryson is not all that interested, however, in the second part of his announced intention, to explore how we know what we know. He pays little to no attention to science as a developing system of knowledge, to its philosophical underpinnings (hence, perhaps, the omission of any treatment of mathematics) or to the way in which certain achievements in science are important not merely for the â€Å"facts† they confirm or reveal but for the way in which they transform our understanding of what science is and how it should be carried out. So for him â€Å"how we know† is simply a matter of accounting for those who came up something that turned out to be of lasting value (no wonder he is somewhat baffled by Darwin’s delay in publishing his theory of natural selection—the notion that Darwin’s theory may have presented some important methodological difficulties of which Darwin was painfully aware does not seem nearly as important as Darwin’s mysterious illness). Bryson is at his very best when he can anchor what he has to say on a particular place and on conversations with particular working scientists there. Here his considerable talents as a travel writer and story teller take over, and the result is an often amusing, surprising, insightful, and always informative glimpse into science as a particular activity carried on by interesting individuals in all sorts of different places. The sections on Yellowstone Park, the Burgess Shale, and the Natural History Museum in London, for example, are exceptionally fine, mainly because we are put in imaginative touch with science in action, we hear directly from the scientists themselves, and our understanding of  science is transformed from the knowledge of facts into a much fuller and more satisfying appreciation for a wonderfully human enterprise taking place all around us. Here Bryson provides us with a refreshingly new style in writing about science. Indeed, these passages are so striking in co mparison with other parts of the book that one suspects that Bryson’s imagination is far more stimulated by scientists at work than by the results their work produces. This impression is reinforced by Bryson’s habit of plundering the history of science for amusing anecdotes about interesting characters, obviously something which he finds imaginatively exciting. He’s prepared to interrupt the flow of his main narrative in order to deliver a good story, and routinely moves into a new section with a narrative hook based on a memorable character, a dramatic clash of personalities, or an unexpected location. Many of these stories and characters will be familiar enough to people who know a bit about science already (e.g., the eccentricities of Henry Cavendish, William Buckland, or Robert FitzRoy, the arguments between Gould and Dawkins, the adventures of Watson and Crick, and so on), but Bryson handles these quick narrative passages so well that the familiar stories are still worth re-reading, and there are enough new nuggets to keep reminding the more knowledgeable readers just how fascinating the history of science can be. Not that Bryson is very much interested in linking developments in science to any continuing attention to historical context. He’s happy enough to refer repeatedly to the context if there’s a good yarn to be had—if not, he’s ready to skim over it or ignore it altogether. This gives his account of developments a distinctly Whiggish flavour, a characteristic which will no doubt upset historians of science. At times, too, this habit of frequent quick raids into the past encourages a tendency to flippant snap judgments for the sake of a jest or some human drama. But given the audience Bryson is writing for and his desire to keep the narrative full of brio, these criticisms are easy enough to overlook. And speaking from my own limited experience in writing about the history of science, I can attest to the fact that once one begins scratching away at the lives of the scientists themselves, the impulse to draw on the wonderful range of the extraordinary characters one discovers is almost irresistible. Bryson’s narrative gets into more serious difficulties, however, when he cannot write from his strengths, that is, when he cannot link what the  subject demands to particular people and places. Here the prose often tends to get bogged down in summaries of what he has been reading lately or inadequate condensations of subjects too complex for his rapid pace. Thus, for example, the parts where his prose has to cope with systems of classifications (for example, of clouds, or bacteria, or early forms of life) the sense of excitement disappears and we are left to wade through a dense array of facts, without much sense of purpose. At such times, Bryson seems to sense the problem and often cranks up the â€Å"golly gee† element in his style in an attempt to inject some energy into his account, but without much success. And not surprisingly, the world of particle physics defeats his best attempts to render it familiar and comfortable to the reader, as Bryson concedes in an unexpectedly limp and apologetic admission: â€Å"Almost certainly this is an area that will see further developments of thought, and almost certainly these thoughts will again be beyond most of us.† It’s very curious that Bryson makes no attempt to assist the reader through such passages with any illustrative material, which would certainly have enabled him to convey organized information in a much clearer, more succinct, and less tedious manner. Early on, he lays some of the blame for his ignorance about science on boring school text books, so perhaps his decision to eschew visual aids has something to do with his desire not to produce anything like a school text (although, as I recall, diagrams, charts, and photographs were often the most exciting things about such books). Or perhaps he’s simply supremely confident that his prose is more than enough to carry the load. Whatever the reason, the cost of that decision is unnecessarily high. I suspect reactions to this book will vary widely. Bryson fans will, no doubt, be delighted to hear the master’s voice again and will forgive the lapses in energy and imaginative excitement here and there in the story. By contrast, many scientists and historians of science will find the tone and the treatment of the past not particularly to their liking. I’ll value the book as a source of useful anecdotes and some excellent writing about scientists at work, but turn to less prolix and better organized accounts to enrich my understanding of our scientific knowledge of the world and its inhabitants. But then again, if my grandchildren in the next few years begin to display some real interest in learning about science, I’ll certainly put this book in front of them.

Failure Of Socialization Essay

Socialization is the process through which one learns his or her culture and how to live within it. Failure in socialization therefore means that one does not learn his or her culture and ultimately how to live within it. This is a source of problems of all nature and scope. Socialization imparts an individual with moral norms, motives, values, attitudes, language, symbols, and social roles. These are crucial aspects to any individual’s life and they represent all key fields that guide one’s entire life. The failure of a convenient and effective socialization process could therefore lead to a whole host of problems and complications to the subject in question. Socialization agents are responsible for an individual’s self concept, emotions, behavior, and attitudes. (Chinoy 1961) There are equally important agents responsible for socialization or failure of socialization of an individual. These agents include the family, education, peer groups, the media, religion, work place and the state. The family is arguably the most important agent of socialization and is usually responsible in determining one’s career goals and religion. Failure of socialization at the family level could have the most severe effects to an individual and the course of his life. (Clausen 1968) Failure of Socialization Fetus socialization Recent study has suggested that the socialization process starts at the womb as opposed to earlier when socialization was thought to begin when a child is conceived. This therefore means that failure of socialization (if it occurs) starts at the mother’s womb. Doctors earlier believed that the process that a fertilized egg follows until it becomes a baby had a definite genetic path. This however has been proved not to be true. Doctors now believe that fetal development is a complicated affair between the genes of the baby and the information relayed to it by the mother. The mother transmits signals to the fetus and the fetus chooses one path over another. This multiplicity of choices leads to long time changes to the baby’s body organs as well as to the level of brain sensitivity. (Warren 2009) Although this kind of research is at its earlier stages, there is substantial evidence to prove that indeed the interactions of the fetus within the first nine months have major effects on life after birth. A baby’s days in the womb and the nature of his experiences influences his emotional and physical make up for the rest of his years. For instance, if the mother is stressed and anxious during her pregnancy maybe because of financial constraints or a troubled marriage, the stress hormone cortisol may reach the baby (fetus). The fetus develops fewer brain receptors to sense cortisol presence because it does not need many. Having fewer receptors does however change an individual’s ability to cope in life at a later stage. When hormone cortisol reaches a certain point in the bloodstream, the system ceases producing the hormone and everything returns to normal. The problem is that, people with fewer receptors do not sense the right time to stop hormone cortisol production. High levels of the hormone in the body create a wear and tear in the body. It also makes it difficult for a person to handle strong emotions without withdrawing or lashing out. The inability to handle strong emotions may result to the person getting depressed or much stressed. In a study that targeted women in England, those who had high levels of anxiety during pregnancy gave birth to children with twice the rate of behavioral and emotional problems at the age of ten. (Chamberlain 2009) Robert Harris, a convicted murderer executed in the State of California gas chambers, was born almost three months early when his father kicked his mother brutally in the abdomen. Harris would be subjected through many other violent experiences by his parents, violence he later on turned on innocent people. When Harris was twenty five years old, he shot dead two teenagers, laughed at them as he calmly ate some hamburgers they had bought for lunch. Recent research has suggested that criminals have poorly functioning brains. Research has also suggested that there is substantial evidence to justify labeling violent and criminal behavior as a disorder resulting from impairment of the prefrontal area as well as other dysfunctions and brain injuries. For instance, a study conducted on juveniles on death row found a consistent pattern of paranoid misconception, neurological impairment, and low intelligence quotient among these juveniles. These brain based origins of violence start when the child is still in the womb of his mother. Having an impaired brain means that one would have a more difficulty life, more frustration, and little self control. This gives rise to misery, violent and criminal behavior and even death. (Chamberlain 2009) Attachment Attachment is the reciprocal process through which emotional connection is developed between an infant and a caregiver. It is a binding psychological and emotional tie that an individual forms and that lasts over a period of time. Infants develop attachment to their main care givers especially mothers, fathers, day care workers, grandparents, and other siblings. Reciprocal socialization is a bidirectional socialization process. For instance, children interact with their parent and their parents give them feedback. A mother-infant interaction is at times symbolized as a dialogue in which subsequent actions of the both parties are closely coordinated. The mother and the infant can match each other’s actions, as in when they both engage in mutual smiles. The parent also serves to support a child’s efforts therefore allowing the child to be more skillful. This is all part of the attachment process. According to attachment theorists, attachment is necessary if a child is to have a normal social and emotional development. A secure relationship with adult caregivers is necessary for the survival and healthy development of a child. Attachment influences an infant’s physical, psychological and cognitive development. It is also the basis for a child’s development of either trust or mistrust. Attachment is imperative to a child’s development because it shapes how a child learns, relates to the world, forms, and maintains relationship throughout his entire life. It is necessary for infants to stay near familiar people because this brings safety advantages to their early adaptation environment. Secure attachment takes place when an infant experiences constant care and gets emotional essentials from a caregiver. When the process of attachment is disrupted, the infant may fail to develop a secure base needed for a healthy survival and development. Factors which impair or harm a healthy or a secure attachment include;  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Multiple caretakers.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hospitalization.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Painful medical processes.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Inadequate prenatal care.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Prenatal drug and alcohol abuse.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Neurological problems. (Moss 2008) Poor attachment causes the child to have inner feelings of insecurity, intense anger, and self hate. Below are some common causes of attachment problems: Sudden separation of the infant from the main caregiver either through removal, death, illness etc. Abuse (physical, emotional or sexual) by an adult. Infant pain or medical condition that a caregiver cannot alleviate. A depressed caregiver. Inadequate or inconsistent attention and care. Neglect. Separation is a physical as well as an emotional experience for an infant and can take place either before birth or after birth. Separation is usually accompanied by violence from the child. The connection between a baby and the mother during gestation is total and holistic. Attachment demands that a child be constantly and consistently taken care of by one person. A baby has his own mechanism of knowing whether he is taken care of or is being rejected and neglected. (Johnson 1961) In a study conducted in Sweden, Finland, and Czechoslovakia for more than thirty years, mothers were denied abortion and compelled to give birth and raise their children. As the children grew older, they demonstrated a greater risk for not only social but also psychiatric problems compared to stable subjects. Majority of those unwanted children turned out to be delinquents and had a three times higher chance of being in the criminal register.   Research has shown that children who never had a consistent close relationship with anyone (attachment) lack conscience even when they grow up. They have a probability of becoming psychopathic killers because they have no affectionate emotions. Because of going through an early life unattached, they lack empathy, guilt, and trust and can even kill without caring. Psychologist Andrew Feldmar observed four teenagers who were repeatedly trying to commit suicide at the same time each year. When he did research on those four cases, he realized that their mothers had attempted abortion at the same time of the year that those adolescents were attempting suicide. (Carlie 2002) Any traumatic separation of the infant from the mother or the primary caregiver due to illness, injury, or any other traumatic cause follows the child throughout his life until it is dealt with in the proper manner. Until this traumatic separation is confronted and dealt with, there is a possibility of detrimental psychosis to occur which will impact the person negatively. Such detrimental impact can be manifested in several ways such as troubled relationships, and trouble with authority in general. Individuals who lack proper socialization during attachment have a higher risk of finding themselves in prisons. (Moss 2008) Children who have experienced problematic attachment exhibit some observable behaviors. These behaviors include; When children with problematic attachment develop into adulthood, they become unable to engage in reciprocal relationships. They feign charm and are superficially engaging. They also show indiscriminate affection to strangers unintentionally. They rarely have direct eye contact with whomever they are communicating with. They are poor in forming lasting peer relationships and have a low esteem. They can be very demanding at times. Children who have experienced problematic attachment have poor cause and effect thinking. They have a.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is difficult for them to learn from mistakes. b.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   They experience learning problems. c.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   They have poor control of impulses. They have an emotionally disturbed development. For instance they; a.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Have abnormal speech patterns b.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Have abnormal eating behavior. (Moss 2008) They have puerile fear, anxiety, aggression, and rage. Their conscience develops poorly. They may become chronic liars, thieves, and generally cruel to other people for no reason. They may become destructive to themselves as well as others without caring much about their actions and behavior. They may also destroy property maliciously. A negative attachment cycle. The child is likely to have difficulties fitting in the family because; a.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   He engages in negative behavior that cannot escape the parents’ and siblings’ notice. b.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Due to the nature, extent, and consistency of negative behavior the parents are constantly engaged in quarrels with the child hence aggravating the situation. c.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The distance and the connection between the parent and the child is severed There is a direct correlation between the effects of failure of socialization in attachment and antisocial personality disorder. Failure of socialization during attachment not only causes relationship failure throughout a person’s life but also produces criminals. (Moss 2008) Anti-social personality disorder Antisocial personality disorder is a persistent pattern of disregard and violation of other people’s rights that begin in early years (childhood or adolescence) and continues into adulthood. For a person to be categorized as having this condition, he must have attained the age of eighteen and must have a history of conduct disorder. Individuals with this type of condition are sometimes labeled as psychopaths or sociopaths. This condition is characterized with general lack of conscience and a weak capability to control aggressive urges and defer gratification. It does not necessarily lead to criminal and violent behavior in itself but rather individuals with this condition are more prone to violent and criminal behavior. Individuals with antisocial personality disorder differ in their control abilities and general desires. Some researchers though indicate that these labels are not synonymous with the antisocial personality disorder. As indicated earlier, the socialization process is responsible for imparting an individual with moral norms, motives, values, attitudes, language, symbols, and social roles.

Free Essays on All-American Girl

included are, don’t, can’t, leave, undress, and nevershe says twice. What does this style have to do with being an All-American Girl? It has a lot to do with her view, after each and every negative sentence she follows with a positive sentence, usually with humor. An example of this is â€Å"If we can’t make peace I’ll order the leather duster and swagger across the plaza in the Santa Fe, cross-dressing for the girls.† This one sentence in the Shopping poem is what an All-American Girl is all about. A girl that has the freedom to suppress her feelings by going out and doing something like thi... Free Essays on All-American Girl Free Essays on All-American Girl All-American Girl All-American Girl the title of Robin Becker’s book of poems suggests her view of what an American girl is. Becker shows through her poems that an American girl doesn’t have to be what society would call an American girl. She instead has a view of what an American girl is based on her life. She uses religion, culture, and human nature of society in most of her poems to demonstrate what an American girl is to her. Becker uses the titles of the poems as the setting, and sometimes the theme for her poems. Some of her titles are everyday events or activities. The style of doing this is very unique way to interpret an All-American girl. She controls the tone by the style she lays her poems in too. She either makes it smooth as satin or rough as sandpaper. Using different techniques causes the reader to flow through the poem, or stumble along having pauses to find your place. These ways are all very good put together for the reader to feel, and understand Becker’s view s. Becker’s first poem â€Å"Shopping† is one of the everyday events, she takes this everyday event and makes her feelings and views expressed. In this poem she uses the word â€Å"if† repeatedly, this type of style flows like the nursery rhyme mocking bird. This repetition is often followed by a negative word in the sentence. Some of these words included are, don’t, can’t, leave, undress, and nevershe says twice. What does this style have to do with being an All-American Girl? It has a lot to do with her view, after each and every negative sentence she follows with a positive sentence, usually with humor. An example of this is â€Å"If we can’t make peace I’ll order the leather duster and swagger across the plaza in the Santa Fe, cross-dressing for the girls.† This one sentence in the Shopping poem is what an All-American Girl is all about. A girl that has the freedom to suppress her feelings by going out and doing something like thi...

Arthur Miller’s Symbolism of the Illuminati Mark as Portrayed in His Play, The Crucible

Arthur Miller’s Symbolism of the Illuminati Mark as Portrayed in His Play, The Crucible Survival is key to living, so what will you do for it? I have come to realize that our world is very corruptive that even who we thought was the good can be the bad. Even the innocent will change to the impure just for survival. This symbol of the illuminati sign represents all the evil roaming through Salem Massachusetts and how the illuminati is a group that claims to be the higher and the key to survival. This connects with how everyone in Salem began to start believing that there are witches and siding with this girls will be there only way to survive. This symbol is mainly towards the people who believe there is witchcraft and is accusing others so they aren’t accused even when they know what is right from wrong. The elements in this symbol represent that people will join evil to survive. Arthur Miller shows evil within The Crucible, by showing it through the people of Salem. For example Abigail a girl from Salem knows she has done wrong, but she can’t seem to admit it so she blames it on Tituba a Barbados slave who she knows no one will believe. Abigail says â€Å"I never called him! (Speaking about the devil) Tituba, Tituba† (42). Abigail is blaming Tituba for her actions making it seem as if Tituba has forced her upon the devil and caused her to do her wrong, so she seems harmless and innocent in everyone eyes. Abigail is one of the main reasons of the cause of everything she is in control of everything and seems to be manipulating everyone and mostly the other girls and she tends to control their actions and what’s she says goes because they all are afraid of her. Abigail is what you call a sociopath because she feels without emotions and some say it’s because of her childhood. But Abigail shows that she is a sociopath because when she hurting others she feels without emotion and to her it normal. She is the ring leader and Abigail is in control and she will make everyone fear hear so they can join her This drawing also shows the evil I the eyes of unspoken ones and the ones who speak to be survive. In the town everyone believes there seems to be witches. When Hale begins to integrate Tituba about being a witch. Hale says to her â€Å"who came to you with devil, two, three? Four? How many?† (46). this all started with Abigail accuse he believes that Tituba is a witch and so are many others. Out of cruelty Hale gets some of the town leaders and they began to whip Tituba to have her speak of what she knows. Even though Tituba is truly not a witch out of scare she says what she can only say to save herself, and she says â€Å"There was four, there was four†. Even though Tituba knows that’s not true, but she also knows that was the only ways she could be free out of death. This is when everything begins and other names start to come up, but most of the people who are being accused are not liked nor have no power to stand up for themselves. The main point of this symbol is to represent the cruelty all around Salem, form he accuser to the unspoken. This symbol represents that a lot of people will side with what is wrong from to save themselves rather than do the right thing and stand up to what they believe and know is right. Also it shows that people tend to follow a ring leader and in this case the ring leader is Abigail. She in control of Salem right now and everyone is eating out of her palms so she doesn’t accuse them. In Salem there happens to be witches, these witches are people being accused of something they never done and they are being accused because they are mainly not like by the girls. So there comes where everyone has to justify and say what they believe and everyone begins to side with these girls because they believe the only way to survive this horrifying tragedy is to side with the. This all show that people will side with evil if their life is on the line.

Healthcare Workers. Workplace Violence Research Paper

Healthcare Workers. Workplace Violence - Research Paper Example Such perpetrators include customers, patients, inmates, and other groups of people who receive regular services from the business. Healthcare facilities such as nursing homes and psychiatric facilities have the highest number of customer violence (Lee et al, 2010). Workplace violence is also perpetrated by fellow workers where an employee threatens or assaults another employee or past employee. Violence can also be perpetrated by individuals without any relationship with the business but have personal relationships with the victims. This includes victims of domestic violence who are attacked or assaulted while at work. The victims of workplace violence are mostly employees in the business. The victims have the responsibility of conducting business activities or providing services (Lee et al, 2010). Nurses and care givers in a nursing home or hospital may be attacked by violent patients. Shop attendants become victims of violent crimes such as robbery. Police officers and prison warde ns are victims of violence from criminals and prisoners. Employees may be subjected to verbal abuses or unwanted touching from their supervisors (Lee et al, 2010). Harassment by senior employees is evident in workplaces such as warehouses. New employees or junior employees become victims of overworking, threats, and abuses from senior employees. Spouses may become victims of workplace violence when domestic violence extends to the workplace. An employee may be attacked or abused by the spouse in the workplace due to unresolved domestic issues (Lee et al, 2010). Risk factors include mental health disorders such as stress, anxiety, and drug intoxication are common among people who commit workplace violence. Employees, customers, or patients with mental disorders have the highest probability of becoming violent. The employees’ inability to deal with a crisis is another risk factor (Lee et al, 2010). Emergency situations in the workplace may increase the stress levels in an emplo yee who loses control of the crisis and may perpetrate verbal violence. The age, years of experience, gender, hours worked, and marital status predispose workers to violence. Women and new employees may experience verbal and physical violence from senior employees. Employees dealing with the public such as police officers are exposed to attacks. Workers handling money such as cashiers are usually victims of criminal violence during robberies (OSHA, 2009). Employees working at night, guarding valuables, working in high crime areas, or transporting passengers have a high probability of being attacked. Workplace violence affects all stakeholders in a business. It has been estimated that organizations lose $202 billion annually due to workplace violence (Bowlers et al, 2007). Employers are affected by the violence due to reduced workdays and low employee morale. Employers also have to restore stolen property, replace damaged property, legal expenses, and compensate victims. Employees ar e also affected by the violence due to high levels of stress, physical injuries, depression, and high healthcare expenses. The personal relationships between employees also change in cases of employee-employee violence (Snyder, Chen and Vacha-Haase, 2007). Demoralization of employees leads to reduced job efficiency. This affects the quality of services delivered to customers and clients. Violence involving customer or clients may lead