Admission Essay For College

Admission Essay For College I had read Plato’s Republic, his Allegory of the Cave, and various dialogues in my sophomore year; I was surprisingly only finishing the Narnia series in my junior year. The end of the book, and thus the Narnia series, is death. Just death, of everyone and everything, as Aslan, the Jesus-like lion and creator of Narnia, leads the dead spirits of all Narnians, including most of the main characters, to…Narnia. Trying to single out any one appealing aspect of St. John’s is, for me, like trying to pick a favorite piece in a jigsaw puzzle. Some pieces might be more aesthetically pleasing than others, but none of them can compare to the whole picture. However, the classes were the part of the Summer Academy that stuck with me the most. Alfred Prufrock” and learned ancient history from the ancients themselves, we pursued an underlying philosophical thread, examining our readings through the lens of courage. I still have the battered schedule, which I kept in my pocket. They were puzzles and fascinating in a way that other math wasn’t. Rowling’s Harry Potter series was published, I was in third grade. My family bought three copies so my mom, my dad and I could all read it immediately. Rowling’s stories about a boy growing up, having misadventures and facing his destiny enraptured me, but the real witchcraft was in her words. Where, as the characters describe, the world was exactly the same as Narnia…but Truer. It was a simple interpretation of heaven, but it struck me. That idea, presented in Plato’s work, had not yet become clear to me, until I finished reading The Last Battle. It was as if the world finally came to terms with your mind. Like waking up from a dream to realize a truer, better world, the Narnians were led to the truest and most awoken state. It is a simple parable that reminds of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, where one man emerges from a lifetime of staring at shadows dancing on a cave wall to a real and vibrant and three-dimensional world. As a result, my grades suffered and I’ve spent most of my time in math class frustrated, confused, and upset. My teachers, although they tried, were unable to explain things to me and I, to be fair, was not great at listening to their explanations. The only time I loved math was sophomore year when we did proofs. The next morning, when I woke up, I walked out onto the balcony of the second floor of the Murchison dormitory. I sat down at the plastic picnic table and breathed in the crisp morning air. I watched the sienna hills tinged with gold in the east as the sun slowly revealed itself. I was never able to portray the view quite as I saw it. Once I’d calmed down a little, I decided to prioritize the readings required for the class. C.S. Lewis himself was a big fan of Plato; his works were the key that allowed me to decipher the meaning encoded in the Plato that I had read. The Last Battle was the spark that gave me hope, Plato’s Allegory of the Cave gave me strength, and Plato’s Republic is what gave me the intellectual confidence in the presence of the ideal and the universal. His ability to so perfectly enunciate why we must never lose hope, and always struggle towards the ideal. I, all artists, and those seeking some sort of universal truth, must try to achieve that purest, most visceral understanding. Eventually the couple is able to guide themselves into ever more elaborate notations as they attempt to build proofs to solidify these connected ideas about numbers. The book goes surprisingly far into defining numbers, including advanced concepts such as infinitesimals and the different levels of infinity. This helped me to better understand what numbers are and that I had not appreciated all of the work that had gone into defining them for our use today. In this way they were Socrates-- and I was the student who ended up understanding more than I anticipated, or was expected to, because of the way I was carefully led by the author and his characters. There are no other works that best exemplify that power of words and ideas have had on my life and my outlook on it. Almost every morning I visited the campus bookstore. I bought a copy of James Joyce’s Dubliners, which I managed to snag some downtime to read. I took far too many photographs of the displays in the New Mexico History Museum, and I brought home a beautiful little red rock from the hike we took nearby. I recall my afternoon arrival at St. John’s in a blur of adobe buildings, warm placita bricks, and inviting, clean sheets. I downloaded the rest of the course selections and printed them out. In the weeks leading up to my departure, I trekked to the nearby field with my dog and my books, and I sat at the picnic table overlooking the woods. I dove into Aristotle and Thucydides while my dog investigated the nearby smells. Every evening, I ticked off the days on the calendar, counting down to the day I would fly from Michigan to Santa Fe.

Research Positive and Negative Effects of Team Conflicts - 1100 Words

Research Positive and Negative Effects of Team Conflicts (Research Paper Sample) Content: First Last nameProfessor NameCourse TitleFebruary 6, 2017Positive and negative effects of team conflict within organizationsIntroductionCurrently, there is a debate of opinions between the effects that group conflict can bring when we talking about performance. On the one hand theorists in the past focused just on the negative effects of team conflict; on the other hand, most recent studies indicate that conflict might be beneficial for teams under certain circumstances. Usually when people hear the word conflict they think of it as something negative. But if we are talking about the workplace conflict is not always a bad thing. There is no doubt that there will always be conflict within work teams because of the combination of different people, characters, ideas, and reactions. Conflict within teams is one of the challenges organizations must face in the process of meeting goals. Team conflict most of the time have a negative connotation, but the reality is that con flict can have negative and positive effects. Scholars define conflict as the process resulting from tension between team members because of real or perceived differences (DeDreu, Harinck, Van Vianen, 1999). There are three distinct types of conflict: relationship conflict, task conflict, and process conflict (Thompson 183). Depending on the type of conflict that the team confronts, and the way in which is been handling this can bring either positive or negative results to the performance of the team. Some of the most common causes of team conflict are lack of communication, competition, incompatible work styles, and performance deficiencies.CausesLack of communication in the work team may cause team members to make incorrect assumptions, or interfere with the employees emotional status; hence the productivity of the team can decrease. Competition about resources in the workplace is another cause of conflict. Some positions encourage competition as part of the job, for example a sales department will reward the employees with the higher number of products or services sold, and in this case competition will be positive for the team performance. On the contrary if the team members spend time fighting for resources, or arguing about insignificant issues this has a negative effect since it will create individualism, a hostile environment and decrease productivity. Because employees come from different backgrounds and have different personalities this is another issue to deal with in work teams. The interaction between people with different personalities must be handled very carefully; trying to accept each other if we want to preserve an atmosphere of mutual respect. There are various factors that can lead the members of a team to be deficient in their performance. For example, maybe they did not have enough training, lack of motivation, the position demands too much for their abilities, or they are simply taking advantage of the team by becoming a social loaf er. Obviously, this contributes greatly to having conflict within the team. If management fails to identify these causes in a timely manner and does not create a plan to resolve these issues, it will lead the team to eventually crash. Taking into account the above it is definitely possible to detect the causes of team conflict in time and avoid negative consequences.Types of conflict and their relationship with performanceConflict has been suggested to interfere with team performance because it produces tension, antagonism, and distracts team members from performing the task (De Dreu and Weingart 741). But what types of conflict are actually beneficial and what types are harmful for team performance? At first glance we would think that all types of conflict are detrimental for team performance but this assumption is incorrect.Research has shown that relationship conflict, which is a perception of interpersonal incompatibilities among group members, and typically includes tension, an imosity, and annoyance, can have a negative effect on team performance. Whereas task conflict, which is a perception of disagreements among group members about the content of the task been performed, and includes differences in viewpoints and opinions can have a positive effect on team performance (Jehn 258).Consequences of team conflictsConflict in an organization has the effects of a double edged sword. When conflict arises, there can be both positive and negative consequences. However, the process of resolving conflict determines the benefits it renders to a team because whether team conflict is productive or not, it depends on how team members within an organization perceive it, and the impacts it has on the team towards achieving the teams or organizations goals.Positive ConsequencesConflict is known to have negative implications on performance but when conflicts eliminate barriers resulting from misunderstandings and assumptions about the strategy, goals, and tasks of a team, the results are beneficial to the organization. When conflict creates broad awareness about the experiences of a team, there is improved productivity and performance. Similarly, conflict leads to process improvement when the deficiency in team communication is revealed and corrected. On the other hand, conflict is beneficial to an organization because it spurs creativity and innovation by finding creating problem-solving tactics. Furthermore, conflict acts as an inspiration to team members to brainstorm ideas and evaluate problems from different angles.An evaluation of the organizational goals and objectives helps to meet the needs of the parties in conflicts which is beneficial. It leads to the achievement of objectives congruence and coherence in the operations of an organization. Therefore, conflict streamlines the leaders of an organization to align their objectives towards achieving a common goal for teamwork to be fostered within the competing parties (O' Niell, Hastings and A llen 236-260).Communication is an imperative attribute that can improve team interaction or lead to conflicts. However, when conflicts units team members in an organization, it helps them learn about each other. They understand ones strengths, weaknesses, opinions, and preferred style of communication. Thereby, a teamwork conflict inspires the necessary problem solving instruments like efficient communication.Negative ConsequencesOne of the bad consequences of relationship conflict is termination (Thompson 183). If the team loses a good employee due to conflict this will result in a decrease on the productivity of the team or a work load while replacing the member who escaped from the problem. A good characteristic of team conflict is that challenges team members to be creative and make them analyze from a different point of view the tasks and projects of the team.Conflicts within an organization lead to wastage of time and decrease in productivity of employees. Members use a lot of time during conflicts that their concentration on the organizations tasks and goals is lost. Conflict causes less focus on the organizational projects and waste time venting about their frustrations or even gossiping about the conflict. Therefore, the organization may end up losing money and accessibility to vital resources. Another negative implication of team conflicts in an organization is that it brings more problems. Enmity between employees leads to discord which reduces the cohesion of team members and their ability and willingness to work together. On extreme cases, workplace conflicts lead to violence when it escalates without a mediator. It is very unfortunate but conflict in an organization can lead to violence and legal problems to both the employees and the organization.Moreover, conflict affects communication within the organization as employees withdraw their participation leading to poor task coordination. Besides, heightened emotions and tension lowers the satisfac tion of team members, increasing their frustrations, and leading to poor call of judgments. In some cases, conflict can cause members of a team to withdraw mandating the assignment of new members into the group which may lead to poor performance due to resource scarcity. In other extreme situations, conflict can be lethal if left unattended because it can completely disable the functioning of a team, leading to its disbandment (O' Niell, Hastings and Allen 2013).Case Study: Shared goals among team membersKelly Johnson the sole-proprietor of Eco-Lodge in Belize deals with team dynamics regularly. She has employed twenty five full-time who work onsite for a fortnight, in a close-knit situation that can spark conflict if unaddressed. The business has four managers, Katja a front office expert who supervises the staff when Kelley is not at site. There is also Carl...

Character Analysis of Celie, the Color Purple Essay

Celie Being a black female in the south during the early 1900’s, at a time when white and blacks were socially segregated and women were absolutely inferior to men, was one of the many challenges Celie would be faced with in her lifetime. Born in 1895, Celie was raised on a farm in a small town in Georgia where formal education took a back seat to physical labor and household maintenance, and the Church was the main focal point of socialization among local town members. We are first introduced to Celie in 1909, when she is 14 years old, running and frolicking through the fields with her sister Nettie, then giving birth to her second child by her step-father. Soon after the newborn was taken out of her arms, an emotionless and†¦show more content†¦The mailbox becomes a symbol of hope for years to come. As the jingle of the bells echo in the distance excitement escalates with the hope of a letter from Nettie, indicating that she is alive, as death would be the only thing to keep her from writing to Celie. Shug arrives in the summer 1916 and Celie’s first real love is born. Mister’s name, Albert, is discovered during Shug’s first day at the farm. Celie watches Albert, with child-like amusement and curiosity, as he fumbles through trying to impress Shug by making her breakfast. In an effort to win over Shug, who previously declared Celie as â€Å"ugly,† she prepares an award winning breakfast that even Shug couldn’t turn away. Over time, a relationship begins to form between Shug and Celie, leading Shug to write and sing a song dedicated to her at the jook joint, filling Celie with an unknown type approval and love. Celie shows us that her capacity to love and to be loved is blooming during the scene of her first kiss with Shug. Thrown into young adulthood at the early age of 14, at 21 years old Celie now begins the true process of developing intimacy with an unlikely character for the time. A long lasting friendship and mutual love affair between Celie and Shug has begun, and will later prove to be her saving grace as her confidence, identity, purpose, and will increase. Shug plans to leaveShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Color Purple 1043 Words   |  5 Pagesin Alice Walkers novel, The Color Purple. I am going to show how the political categories of race, sexuality and gender play a role throughout. I am also going to discuss Walker’s own term, â€Å"Womanism† and how that plays throughout the story. I will be focusing on the main character Celie, as well as other characters to help me demonstrate my analysis effectively. Celie, the main character, starts out the book writing letters to god, a god of her understanding. Celie writes these letters to gainRead MoreEssay on Race and Class in Alice Walkers Color Purple1622 Words   |  7 PagesEssay on Race and Class in The Color Purple  Ã‚     Ã‚   An important  Ã‚  juncture in Alice Walkers The Color Purple is reached when Celie first recovers the missing letters from her long-lost sister Nettie. This discovery not only signals the introduction of a new narrator to this epistolary novel but also begins the transformation of Celie from writer to reader. Indeed, the passage in which Celie struggles to puzzle out the markings on her first envelope from Nettie provides a concrete illustration Read MoreThe Color Purple: A Story of Transformation Essay1231 Words   |  5 Pagessomething fundamentally different from masculine experience of social encounters? Is there such a thing as underlying feminine character structure which always and everywhere differs from the basic character structure of the male? This paper seeks to analyze the gender struggles within the film and how they are embedded at multiple dimensions of society. The Color Purple is a story of transformation, of the will of one woman against all the men in her life, of the strength faith and friends can giveRead MoreThe Color Purple By Alice Walker1445 Words   |  6 PagesAlice walker’s â€Å"The Color Purple† she uses foil characters such as Celie and Shug to express the polar opposites that are inevitably found when abuse occurs. Celie represents submission and low self value. Shug on the other hand represents Independence and intolerance. Both characteristics coincide bringing forth friendship and change. In the book â€Å"The Color Purple† the writer Alice Walker illustrates a story of bravery, struggle and oppression. The main character in the book, Celie, is shown as a submissiveRead MoreAmayrani Lopez. Mr. Sahr. Honors American Literature. 21199 Words   |  5 PagesAmayrani Lopez Mr. Sahr Honors American Literature 2 March 2017 The Color Purple Background Information Alice Walker, the author, was born on February 9, 1944 in Eatonton, Georgia. She was the youngest daughter of sharecroppers and grew up poor. When Walker was eight years old, she was shot in the right eye with a BB pellet while playing with two of her brothers. After she got shot in the eye, a whitish scar tissue formed, and she became self-conscious of this visible mark. She found solace inRead MoreLiterary Analysis Of Alice Walker s The Color Purple1489 Words   |  6 PagesLiterary Analysis of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple Behind every beautiful thing, there s some kind of pain. The color purple represents royalty and nobility, which can be use to describe the personality of Celie and Nettie and their value of life. Purple is created by combining a strong warm with a strong cool color. The one color contain two completely opposite colors which represent price of royalty and nobility. The Color Purple using epistolary style to describe black woman Celie and herRead MoreFinding Your Voice: an Analysis of the Color Purple1864 Words   |  8 PagesFinding Your Voice: An Analysis of The Color Purple â€Å"Who do you think you is? he say... Look at you. You black, you pore, you ugly, you a woman. Goddam, he say, you nothing at all.† (187) Alice Walker, the author of The Color Purple, focuses on the struggles of a poor and uneducated African American girl, who is verbally, physically and sexually abused by several men in her life. She feels worthless and becomes completely submissive. Her only way to express her feelings is through privateRead More Compare racial and cultural struggles in Alice Walker’s The Color2850 Words   |  12 Pagescultural struggles in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple as well as Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. In African-American texts, blacks are seen as struggling with the patriarchal worlds they live in order to achieve a sense of Self and Identity. The texts I have chosen illustrate the hazards of Western religion, Rape, Patriarchal Dominance and Colonial notions of white supremacy; an intend to show how the protagonists of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple as well as Toni Morrison’s The Bluest EyeRead MoreThe Color Purple Character Analysis1032 Words   |  5 Pages Abraham Maslow’s pyramid of needs is a five tier breakdown of how a person might reach a point of self-actualization. In The Color Purple a few characters can be seen finding themselves indirectly through the steps of the pyramid Maslow created. One character that exemplifies this process is Nettie. With the help of her older sister Celie, Nettie was able to begin the journey of finding herself. Cecile protects Nettie from her father and allows her to experience a relatively basic idea of freedomRead MoreAnalysis Of Alice Walkers The Color Purple2079 Words   |  9 Pages In Alice Walkers The Color Purple, she explores the thin grey line that stands between survival and living. Through her protagonist, Celie, she examines the dramatic shifts of empowerment; focusing on the young black girl in the 1850’s. Walker introduces the reader to the protagonist, Celie, through a series of letters. In these letters the reader finds Celie amidst her mother’s death. The author chooses to address her letters to God, giving Celie a greater willpower to survive. Celie’s upbringing

The Wife Of Bath s Prologue And Tale - 1338 Words

During medieval times, women were not placed on a high pedestal; in fact, some religious institutions at the time felt women were in almost every instance the weaker sex. Misogyny abounded during these times. Quite often than not, women played a very minimized role in medieval literature. The pattern was the same: either they were a helpless damsel in need of a knight in shining armor with his trusty stead or they were portrayed as being sexually promiscuous with multiple men which stoked the fire of love stories and stirred the passion of readers. Medieval literature exploited the â€Å"weakness† of women that aimed to enhance the drama of medieval stories. Out of all the notable medieval authors, only Geoffrey Chaucer penned one of the great†¦show more content†¦First is the stereotype that it is deplorable for a woman to marry more than once. The Wife of Bath begins the tale with a prologue that sheds light into her life and what she has gone through as a woman. â€Å"Experience †¦ would be quite sufficient for me, to speak of the woe that is in marriage †¦I have had five husbands at the church-door† (NeCastro, The Wife of Bath’s Tale: A Modern English Translation). She married five times with each marriage being different from the last, so she had to constantly adjust to each of her husbands. Churches at the time frowned upon women who wed to more than once, even if her previous husband had died. She argues that having multiple marriages isn’t inherently wrong because â€Å"many other holy men did as well† like Abraham and Jacob. Ironically, the clergy would glorify prophets in the Old Testament for their marriages, but would scoff at a woman who married five different times. Unlike her male counterparts, the Wife of Bath feels that she is equipped with greater knowledge because of her marriages. Each marriage made her a â€Å"wise wife† and enables her to teach others about marriage from her experience. She continues to defend her choice to marry five times by saying it is commanded of God to go forth and multiply. Chaucer’s prologue tactfully points out the hypocrisy of clergymen inShow MoreRelatedThe Wife Of Bath s Prologue And Tale990 Words   |  4 PagesThe Wife of Bath s Prologue and Tale is about female empowerment it shows strong prot agonists. I believe Geoffrey Chaucer used The Wife of Bath’s Tale to advocate for feminism. Chaucer used a strong female character to expose female stereotypes. It was an oppressive time for women in male-dominated society. During the Middle Ages, Chaucer wrote from a woman’s point of view something that was not normal at that time. He set his feminist ideals through the characters of the Wife of Bath and the oldRead MoreThe Wife Of Bath s Prologue And Tale2067 Words   |  9 Pagesâ€Å"The Wife of Bath’s Prologue† and â€Å"The Wife of Bath’s Tale† by Geoffrey Chaucer functions as a way to both satirize and represent female equality. In particular, The Wife of Bath challenges the stereotypes of what may appear to be â€Å"normal† treatment of women during this time period (TheBestNotes.com). She identifies the distinctions between â€Å"traditional† gender roles and relates them to passages from the bible, which are then ta ken out of context. These passages are meant to justify The Wife of Bath’sRead MoreThe Wife Of Bath s Tale Prologue And Story878 Words   |  4 Pagesit back later. In the Wife of Bath’s Tale Prologue and story, this idea called into question. During both of these stories, the idea of give and take is a major topic. Largely because the ones that are getting, are giving up essential control over their lives. In a world where divorce seems to be at an all time high, these tales attempt to shed light on what it would take to create a happy marriage or relationship. During the prologue of The Wife of Bath’s Tale, the wife discusses her thoughtsRead MoreThe Wife Of Bath s Prologue And Tale1697 Words   |  7 PagesSawyer Guest English 470 04 April 2016 Empowering Women, or Degrading Them? Exploring Anti-Feminism in The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale. So often, scholars tend to put a large focus on feminism seen throughout Geoffrey Chaucer’s â€Å"The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale†, but they may not be seeing the larger picture of it all. There are definitely characteristics of the Wife that make her a strong female personality in the story, but is it fair for us to say that she embodies the characteristicsRead MoreThe Wife Of Bath s Prologue And Tale Essay1722 Words   |  7 Pagestheir male counterparts. However, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale, a poem written by Geoffrey Chaucer, redefine those ideals set upon women. The poem is broken up into two parts one is the prologue which includes a woman who talks about the rules set by the church and society on women. As well as how society looks upon women who live her life style. She counters these teaching by her knowledge of the bible by introducing biblical men who had more than one wife. It is later revealed that her soleRead MoreThe Wife Of B ath s Prologue And Tale2098 Words   |  9 PagesAfter reading ‘The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale’ I can see clear indications and agree that Chaucer was an anti-feminist’ by studying in depth both the prologue and tale I am going to show how Chaucer conforms to a patriarchal perspective in which he believes women are inferior to men making them the weak and unstable sex, who are neither socially, politically or economically equal to a man. In Chaucer’s `The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale’, Chaucer opens the book with the strong opening sentenceRead MoreChaucer s The Wife Of Bath s Prologue And Tale1358 Words   |  6 PagesThe Tactics Chaucer Uses in â€Å"The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale: To Point Out the Faults in His Society After reading Chaucer’s work: â€Å"The Wife of Bath’s Tale†, and having been exposed to different interpretations of it, it is now to my knowledge that there have been many critical works that suggests opinions and thoughts about how to interpret both the tale and prologue. There have also been questions asked─one being, â€Å"so, did we actually figure out what women really want†, and the answer toRead MoreThe Wife Of Bath s Prologue1134 Words   |  5 PagesThe Wife of Bath uses bible verses in â€Å"The Wife of Bath’s Prologue.† Further, she employs the verses as an outline of her life to find reason in God to justify her actions. Nevertheless, the purpose of the verses differs within each stanza of the poem. The Wife of Bath is a sexually promiscuous, lustful, and manipulative woman. She marries men one after the other as they get older and die. In order to combat and overthrow the speculation and criticism being thrust upon her by societal norms becauseRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem The Wife Of Bath Essay873 Words   |  4 PagesAnalytical Essay on the â€Å"Wife of Bath.† Question One Description of the Wife of Bath in terms of her progressive feminism, rhetoric style, and her prolog tale. Comparison of her as a women attitude towards general medieval attitude towards women. â€Å"Wife of Bath† Tale provides insight and understanding of the women change and their view mainly in matters of family, marriage, authority and marital affairs. The Prolog is double the size of her Tale, a lot of information about marriage group is givenRead More Chaucers Canterbury Tales Essay - Women in The Wife of Bath1433 Words   |  6 PagesWomen in Chaucers The Wife of Bath Chaucers The Wife of Baths Prologue and Tale is a medieval legend that paints a portrait of strong women finding love and themselves in the direst of situations. It is presented to the modern day reader as an early tale of feminism showcasing the ways a female character gains power within a repressive, patriarchal society. Underneath the simplistic plot of female empowerment lies an underbelly of anti-feminism. Sometimes this is presented blatantly

Information to Informatics Information Technology

Question: Discuss about theInformation to Informaticsfor Information Technology. Answer: Introduction Information technology is an important part of the business. Information technology will help an organization to collected at and use the data in the right time. In addition to this, technology helps an organization to carry out a proper market research and change the business operations accordingly. The customers can also give the feedback about the company by using technology. The report will look into the case study of Myers and the technologies that have been implemented in the organization. The strategic alignment of the company with the technology with the goals and objectives will be discussed in the report. The benefits of data management will be assessed so that it is beneficial for Myers and other organizations who will be going through the report. The discussion of the usefulness of the technology in various fields and the threats that will be faced by the organization due to the technologies will also be evaluated. Sales Goals and Objectives The main goal of Myers is to meeting the changing demands of the customers (Myer 2017). As a result, the objectives that are set up by the company is based on their goal of serving the customers. Some of the objectives of Myers are: To provide the customers unmatched design and quality of goods To make a strong presence in the online as well as retail sales To adhere to sustainable business while serving the customers and enhancing the business They are always updated with the change of fashion that is happening in the market. A constant market research and customers survey helps them in remaining updated about the changes in the changes in the world of fashion and clothes. They also price their products intelligently so that the customers are not only satisfied with the quality and the design of the products but also the price given by Myers. Sustainability is one of them most important aspects of Myers. They do not like to harm the nature or the species living in the environment to carry out their business. As a result, they have adhered to many sustainability practices within and outside the company. Tools Myers uses a number of tools to measure the market conditions and get an idea about the demands and the needs of the consumers. Business Dynamics Statistics Business dynamics statistics help a marketer to get an idea about the business startups and the shutdowns that have happened in the market (Davenport 2013). In addition to this, the tool helps in understanding the current economic conditions of any market (Drnevich and Croson 2013). Thus, if Myers is trying to venture in a new market then they can make use of the Business dynamics statistics to get an idea about the market. Internal Customer Survey Machine Along with the external market, the internal conditions of the company are important for an organization. There will be feedback machines that the customers can fill (Orlikowski et al. 2016). The customers would not be asked for their feedback and they can give their feedback if they give like. In this way, their opinion would not be biased and they will give their honest feedback. Loop11 Loop11 is another tool that helps a marketer to evaluate the websites of their competitors (Wu, Straub and Liang 2015). It will help them to understand the features and functionalities of the websites and the areas that need improvement for Myers (Schwalbe 2015). However, Myers will have to pay a monthly fee for this tool. Strategic Alignment The tools that are used in by Myers help the company to maintain a strategic alignment between the goals and objectives of the company. They have implemented the tools so that they are able to get an idea about the market and eventually will help then in achieving their goal. Myers aims maintain strong presence in the online and retail sales. Lopp11 and the internal customer survey machines has been implemented so that they are able to get an idea about the feedback of the customers (Nguyen, Newby and Macaulay 2015). In addition to this, they aim at meeting the demands and needs of the customers. Loop11 and the interval survey will help Meyers to get an idea about the things that the customers want (Piotrowicz and Cuthbertson 2014). Myers wants to maintain a sustainable business. Business dynamics statistics will help Myers to keep a check on the external market and the reasons for any business failure if any (Borghoff and Pareschi 2013). At times, business fail because they are not able to sustainability practices and business dynamics statistics will help Myers to build a strategy the will them to keep check on the reasons behind business failure (Baltzan and Phillips 2016). Moreover, business dynamics statistics will give an idea about the business in the market and help Myers will help to perform in the market. Data Management A business should be mainly depended on the data that is retrieved from the market (Gerow, Thatcher and Grover 2015). Data will be able to give the marketer the exact scenario and based on those changes could be done in the business (Yeh, Lee and Pai 2015). However, the data should be managed properly so that they could be used for the development of the organization in a proper manner. The data management software should be used by Myers to get the data and use it for enhancing the business (Drnevich and Croson 2013). A number of benefits are there for the companies that are adhering to data management: Enhance Productivity Once the data are managed properly and used for the right purpose and in the right place, then it will help them in the enhancing the productivity of the organization (Davenport 2013). The employees can access the data make changes as per the data. Better Time Management When the employees know that they have the data ready and can start their work immediately, there will be lesser time wastage (Orlikowski et al. 2016). Exact Idea of the Market Data will give an idea about the current scenario of the market (Wu, Straub and Liang 2015). Chances of mistakes will be less as the data are well managed for the using it in the business. Adoption Web2 and Web3 Technologies Adoption of web 2 and web 3 technologies will the company updated with the technological changes in the society (Schwalbe 2015). Web 2 technologies to keep a track of the customer over the social media (Nguyen, Newby and Macaulay 2015). Web 2 technologies help an organization to interact the customers in social media platform. Web 3 technologies is the next generation of internet evolution and will help the computers to generate data on their own (Piotrowicz and Cuthbertson 2014). However, it might give rise to threats the companies might not be able to control the data that has been shared between each other; for example, the details of the employees, which should be confidential. Threats When on one hand, technology is useful for the business; it can also cause issues for the business. Some of the threats that could be used for the business purpose are: Information Leak Nowadays hackers are present everywhere. They can easily hack the websites and get some of the confidential information about the company (Borghoff and Pareschi 2013). If the information get leaked, it will result in the downfall of the business. Technological Error Technology can go wrong anywhere and anytime. If the company were over-dependent on technology, then at the time of break down they would not have any information that will help them to carry out their business (Baltzan and Phillips 2016). They would have to wait until the machine runs properly Data Loss Once a technology goes wrong, the entire data might get lost (Gerow, Thatcher and Grover 2015). In such a situation, the company will lose some of the vital data. It will affect the business and the organization will have to start the work from the scratch. Machine Cannot Think Critically Machine can only do the work that has been fed. They will not be able to make critical decision during the time of emergency (Yeh, Lee and Pai 2015). Any individual will have to make the changes in the machine if there is any issue. Hence, over dependency in the machine or technology might not help in proper execution of the business. Conclusion Myers aims at satisfying the customers with new types of designs and the quality of the products. they have implemented business dynamics statistics, internal feedback machines for the customers and loop11. Data management will help the organization to increase the productivity and manage the time so that they get the exact data at the correct time. the correct conditions of the market can also be retrieved with the help of proper data management. Web 2 and web 3 technologies for creation of data and interaction in the social media sites. However, the organization can face certain threats like leaking of information, data loss, technological error and other issues if they are over dependent on the technology. References Baltzan, P. and Phillips, A., 2016.Business driven information systems. McGraw Hill Education. Borghoff, U.M. and Pareschi, R. eds., 2013.Information technology for knowledge management. Springer Science Business Media. Davenport, T.H., 2013.Process innovation: reengineering work through information technology. Harvard Business Press. Drnevich, P.L. and Croson, D.C., 2013. Information technology and business-level strategy: Toward an integrated theoretical perspective.Mis Quarterly,37(2), pp.483-509. Gerow, J.E., Thatcher, J.B. and Grover, V., 2015. Six Types of IT-Business Strategic Alignment: An investigation of the constructs and their measurement.European Journal of Information Systems,24(5), pp.465-491. Myer. 2017. [online] Myer. Available at: https://www.myer.com.au/ [Accessed 22 Feb. 2017]. Nguyen, T.H., Newby, M. and Macaulay, M.J., 2015. Information technology adoption in small business: Confirmation of a proposed framework.Journal of Small Business Management,53(1), pp.207-227. Orlikowski, W.J., Walsham, G., Jones, M.R. and DeGross, J. eds., 2016.Information technology and changes in organizational work. Springer. Piotrowicz, W. and Cuthbertson, R., 2014. Introduction to the special issue information technology in retail: Toward omnichannel retailing.International Journal of Electronic Commerce,18(4), pp.5-16. Schwalbe, K., 2015.Information technology project management. Cengage Learning. Wu, S.P.J., Straub, D.W. and Liang, T.P., 2015. How information technology governance mechanisms and strategic alignment influence organizational performance: Insights from a matched survey of business and it managers.Mis Quarterly,39(2), pp.497-518. Yeh, C.H., Lee, G.G. and Pai, J.C., 2015. Using a technology-organization-environment framework to investigate the factors influencing e-business information technology capabilities.Information Development,31(5), pp.435-450.

Solar Energy - The Energy Of The Future Essays - Energy Conversion

Solar Energy - The Energy Of The Future? About 47 per cent of the energy that the sun releases to the earth actually reaches the ground. About a third is reflected directly back into space by the atmosphere. The time in which solar energy is available, is also the time we least need it least - daytime. Because the sun's energy cannot be stored for use another time, we need to convert the suns energy into an energy that can be stored. One possible method of storing solar energy is by heating water that can be insulated. The water is heated by passing it through hollow panels. Black-coated steal plates are used because dark colours absorb heat more efficiently. However this method only supplies enough energy for activities such as washing and bathing. The solar panels generate "low grade" heat, that is, they generate low temperatures for the amount of heat needed in a day. In order to generate "high grade" heat, intense enough to convert water into high-pressure steam which can then be used to turn electric generators there must be another method. The concentrated beams of sunlight are collected in a device called a solar furnace, which acts on the same principles as a large magnifying glass. The solar furnace takes the sunlight from a large area and by the use of lenses and mirrors can focus the light into a very small area. Very elaborate solar furnaces have machines that angle the mirrors and lenses to the sun all day. This system can provide sizeable amounts of electricity and create extremely high temperatures of over 6000 degrees Fahrenheit. Solar energy generators are very clean, little waste is emitted from the generators into the environment. The use of coal, oil and gasoline is a constant drain, economically and environmentally. Will solar energy be the wave of the future? Could the worlds requirement of energy be fulfilled by the "powerhouse" of our galaxy - the sun? Automobiles in the future will probably run on solar energy, and houses will have solar heaters.

How Teachers Should Rethink the Summer Work Packet

How Teachers Should Rethink the Summer Work Packet Simply stated: Summer vacation has a negative impact on academic performance. In the book  Influences And Effect Sizes Related To Student Achievement  (updated 2016) by John Hattie and Greg Yates,  39 studies  were used  to rank the effect of summer vacation on student achievement. The findings using this data  are posted on the  Visible Learning  website. They noted that  summer vacation has one of the greatest negative effects (  -.02 effect) on student learning. To combat this negative impact, many teachers in middle and high schools are encouraged to create discipline-specific summer assignment packets. These packets are an attempt to equalize academic practice for all students during summer  vacation. The summer assignment packets that teachers distribute at the end of a school year are designed for students to practice  a few hours every week  throughout the summer. What happens in reality, however, is that completing the summer packet often turns into a  contentious activity. Students may wait until the last possible moment to do schoolwork or lose the packet entirely. Additionally, depending on the grade level, subject, or teacher, summer work packets vary in quality, length, and intensity. Examples of high school summer assignments on the Internet vary from two pages of geometry that can be completed online to  22 pages of geometry problems that must be downloaded to complete. Multiple Advanced Placement courses, such as AP English Literature, show the disparity in summer assignments with some schools offering a choice (Read three novels from this list) to a required five novels matched with pages and pages of worksheets. There is no standardized summer assignment packet for middle and high schools. Who Complains About Summer Assignment Packets? Complaints against the assigned summer work packets come from each of the stakeholders: parents, teachers, and students. Their complaints are understandable. Parents may  argue for freedom from summer assignment packets suggesting that â€Å"My child needs a break,† or  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Why must we do this to students every summer?† or This is more work for me than for my child! Teachers are not happy to begin the school year with a pile of summer assignment papers to grade. Despite their best intentions in creating the packets, they do not want to start the year collecting or chasing students for summer assignment work.   Harris Cooper,  chairman of the department of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University, addressed these  concerns in his brief essay Forgotten on Vacation. His response was featured in  an editorial debate in the New York Times titled  The Crush of Summer Homework  in which several prominent educators were asked their opinions on summer assignments. Cooper was one who chose to respond as to how parents can meet the demands of the summer assignment packet: Parents, if the assignments are clear and reasonable, support the teachers. When your child says I’m bored (what parent hasn’t heard this on a rainy summer day?) suggest they work on an assignment. He also responded to the concerns of teachers: My advice? Teachers, you need to be careful about what and how much summer homework you assign. Summer homework shouldn’t be expected to overcome a student’s learning deficits; that’s what summer school is for. However, in another response, What Low Achievers Need,  Tyrone Howard, associate professor at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, suggested that summer assignment packets do not work. He offered an alternative to the summer assignment packet:   A better approach than homework is to have more intensive, small learning community-type summer school programs that last four to six weeks. Many educators who contributed to the NY Times debate   The Crush of Summer Homework  viewed summer assignments as  a measure of accountability or student responsibility rather than an academic practice. They argued that many of the students who do not complete homework assignments as academic practice during the school year are unlikely to complete summer assignments. Missing or incomplete work is reflected in student grades, and missing or incomplete summer assignments can damage a students grade point average (GPA). For example, some of the summer work assignments posted for high school students on the Internet include warnings, such as: Certain mathematical practice packets may take more than one day to complete. Dont wait until the last minute!The teacher will personally consult with the student and/or parent if  the student does not hand in the summer work packet on the first day of class.This work will be 3% of your first quarter grade. 10 points will be deducted for each day it is late. Seeing the impact on a students GPA for incomplete or missing summer work, many educators argue, If teachers cannot get students to turn in homework during the school year, especially when they see them every day, what is the chance that these summer work assignments will be completed? Student Complaints But  students are the  most vocal group arguing against the summer assignment packet.    The question  Should students be given summer homework?  was featured on  Ã‚  Debate.org.   18% Students say Yes to summer assignments82% Students say No  to summer assignments Comments from the debate arguing against summer assignments included: Summer homework takes around 3 days and it feels like the whole summer  (7th grade student).Mostly summer homework is just a review so you dont really learn anything. Im going into 8th grade and Im not learning anything its all a review for me.If a student really wants to learn, they will do extra work, without it being assigned.The homework should just be suggestions, to stop students from stressing out over work that probably wont even be checked. In contrast, there were some students who saw value in summer assignments, but most of these comments reflected the attitudes of students who already expected additional work from their advanced level classes. I, for example, am going to be enrolling in an Advanced Literature course next year and have been assigned two books to read this summer, an essay to write... this pushes me to find out more information about the subject matter that will be in the course. While students who take the advanced level (Advanced Placement, honors,  International Baccalaureate, or college credit courses) like the one above fully expect to engage in an academic practice, there are other students who do not see the importance keeping their academic skills sharp.  While a summer packet is designed to help all students, regardless of ability, the  student who may not complete the work may be the very student who most needs the practice. No Buy-in from Students In an interview posted on Great Schools,  Denise Pope, senior lecturer at the Stanford University School of Education and co-founder of  Challenge Success, a research, and student-intervention project, agrees that the months off for summer vacation is too long a time for students to not do anything, but she expressed concern stating  I’m not sure this idea of giving workbooks and pages and pages of handouts works.†Ã‚  Her reason for why summer assignments may not work?  No student buy-in: â€Å"In order for any learning to be retained, there has to be engagement on the part of the students.† She explained that students must be intrinsically motivated to complete the systematic practice that is designed for the summer assignments. Without student motivation, an adult must monitor the work, which according to Pope, puts a burden more on the parents.† What Does Work? Reading! One of the best research-based recommendations for summer assignments is to assign reading. Rather than spending the time to create and then grade a summer assignment packet that may or may not be done at all, educators should be encouraged to assign reading. This reading can be discipline specific, but by far, the best way to have students maintain academic skills during the summer-at every grade level- is to encourage their motivation to read. Offering students choice  in reading can improve their motivation and participation. In a meta-analysis titled  Reading Takes You Places: A Study of a Web-based Summer Reading Program,  Ya-Ling Lu, and Carol Gordon recorded ways that student choice in reading increased engagement which led to improved academic achievement. In the study the traditionally required reading lists of classics were replaced with   recommendations based on several of the following  research-based guidelines: 1. People who say they read more read better (Krashen 2004), therefore the primary purpose of the [summer] program is to encourage students to read more.2. In order to encourage students to read more, the primary purpose of summer reading is reading for fun rather than for academic purposes.3. Student choice is an important element in reading engagement (Schraw et al. 1998) including the choice to pursue personal reading interests.4. Materials and materials access can be Web-based (Note:  92% of teens report going online daily - including 24% who say they go online â€Å"almost constantly,† Pew  Research Center) The results showed an increase in student motivation and engagement, leading to improved academic performance. Summer Packets vs. Reading Despite the research  that proves motivation and systemic practice must be in place for summer assignment packets to help the student,  many teachers, particularly at the middle and high school levels, will still assign summer work packets. Their time and effort, however, may be better spent assigning reading in their content area, and where possible, offering student choice in reading. While summer vacation allows students to have time to play and to relax, why  not encourage students to practice over the summer the kind of academic practice that reinforces a life-long critical skill, the skill of reading? Additional Research on Summer Reading: Allington, Richard.  Summer Reading: Closing the Rich/Poor Reading Achievement Gap.  NY:  Teachers College Press, 2012. Fairchild, Ron. Summer: A Season When Learning is Essential. Afterschool Alliance. Center for Summer Learning. 2008. Web. afterschoolalliance.org/issue_briefs/issue_summer_33.pdf Kim, Jimmy. â€Å"Summer Reading and the Ethnic Achievement Gap.† Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR). 2004. Web. ala.org/research/librariesmatter/node/161 Krashen, Stephen. Free Reading. Pasco School District. School Library Journal. 2006. Web. psd1.org/cms/lib4/WA01001055/centricity/domain/34/admin/free reading (2).pdf National Summer Learning Association. n.d.  summerlearning.org/about-nsla/ Report of the National Reading Panel: Findings and Determinations of the National Reading Panel by Topic Areas.† National Institute of Health. 2006. Web. https://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/nrp/Pages/findings.aspx