Sunday, November 24, 2019

Minimum Wage in the United States Essay Essay Example

Minimum Wage in the United States Essay Essay Example Minimum Wage in the United States Essay Essay Minimum Wage in the United States Essay Essay A minimal pay is the lowest hourly. day-to-day. or monthly pay that employers may lawfully pay to employees or workers. The argument over minimal pay in the United States has been ongoing for over 100 old ages. It is a hot subject in labour. human involvement. and particularly in economic sciences. Is the minimal pay excessively low? Is it excessively high? Should we hold one at all? Does holding a minimal legal pay aid those who it is intended to assist. or does it really do them worse off? Thesiss inquiries are asked on a day-to-day footing by interested parties. While there may non be one unequivocal correct reply. there are obliging statements on both sides of the issue. and those who represent their â€Å"side† are passionate about their sentiments. This is one of a few societal subjects about which people are by and large non apathetic. Much of the grownup work force in the United States has worked a minimal pay occupation at some point in their calling. so we can easy associate to the challenges that face today’s minimal pay workers. This paper is non intended to work out the argument over minimal pay. nor will it try to carry the reader in one way or the other sing what should be done refering minimal pay. The pages that follow will show a brief history of the minimal pay argument in the United States. and so show some of the statements offered by both sides of the argument. A Brief History of Minimum Wage Although New Zealand was the first state to officially ordain minimal pay statute law in 1896. [ one ] the United States was one of the first major industrialized states to put a national pay floor for their workers. For decennaries during the industrial revolution. workers in the United States endured work environments that consisted of long hours. unsafe working conditions. and low rewards. Small motions to develop a national lower limit pay by labour brotherhoods and militant groups were met with predictable opposition from concern people. and finally struck down by the U. S. Supreme Court. [ two ] Finally. in 1938 President Roosevelt and Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act. This act was intended to relieve some of the hapless on the job conditions that largely adult females and immature kids were capable to. Additionally. this act imposed a federally mandated minimal pay of $ 0. 25 per hr. with some exclusions. [ three ] There have been subsequent pieces of statute law that continue to turn to and better workers’ rights since that clip. concentrating more on quality of life issues instead than extinguishing maltreatments by employers. Additionally. single provinces now have the right to ordain their ain minimal pay. so long as it is no lower than the federally mandated minimal pay. Since 1938. the national lower limit pay has been raised 21 times. most late in 2009. and is presently $ 7. 25 per hr. Today. more than 90 % of states in the universe have some kind of pay floor for their work force. [ four ] The Case for Minimum Wage Those in favour of a minimal pay argue that it increases the criterion of life of workers and reduces poorness. [ 5 ] Those workers that are paid minimal pay are unskilled labourers. possibly first come ining the occupation market. Without any marketable accomplishments. the worker needs some protection that they will be paid a just rate that will enable them to be self-sufficing until such clip that they have learned a accomplishment or trade that will let them to work their manner up from the low pay occupations. Without a minimal pay. employers would hold significantly more market power than the workers – a monopsony – and that could ensue in the knowing collusion between employers sing the pay they will offer. [ six ] Absent this protection. workers would be forced to accept the unnaturally low rewards. ensuing in a really low quality of life. Additionally. the statement can be made that paying a â€Å"livable† minimal pay incentivizes workers to non merely acquire a occupation. but to work hard to maintain that occupation. When minimal rewards are significantly greater than payments received through a societal public assistance system. people are rewarded for their difficult work. If a individual could have an sum near to what they would gain at lower limit pay through the public assistance system. what motive would they hold to work the minimal pay occupation? In contrast. if workers are paid an sum that is well more. they will happen and maintain work. This serves another intent. to diminish the cost of authorities administered societal public assistance plans by acquiring people off of public assistance and onto paysheets. Another common statement made by those in favour of the minimal pay is that it really helps to excite disbursement. bettering overall economic conditions. [ seven ] The theory behind this statement is that low pay earners typically spend everything they make. Whether on necessities or luxury points. minimal pay earners are likely to pass their full payroll check. If there were an addition in the minimal pay. the people who would have the wage addition would turn around and pass their new money. This would assist to cover the costs of the increased rewards as many concerns would see an about immediate return through increased gross revenues. While this statement seems to do sense. it must be clarified that no empirical grounds to back up this claim could be found. Another statement made is that an addition in minimal pay helps to better the work moral principle of those who receive the addition. The deduction is that if their employer is forced to give them a rise. they will be compelled to work harder to better their efficiency and increase their productiveness in return. Again. there is no grounds to either support or refute this claim. and sentiments run strong sing this statement. Possibly the most basic and most frequently made statement in support of a national lower limit pay jurisprudence is that it is merely the right thing to make. morally talking. The thought that we should desire to take attention of each other and do certain that everyone made a comfy pay is one of the most basic dogmas of the doctrine of those who support it. Arguments against Minimum Wage Laws: On the other side of the statement are those who are opposed to increasing the lower limit pay. every bit good as some who think it should be abolished wholly. Many business people and economic experts are on this side of the argument. and they present some reasonably compelling statements. They argue that enforcing an addition on the federally mandated minimal pay really will make more economic injury than good. [ eight ] The chief statement trades with the snap of demand sing employment. A minimal pay addition really reduces the measure demanded of workers. either through a decrease in the figure of hours worked by persons. or through a decrease in the figure of occupations. nine ] Simply put. employers are likely non traveling to increase their salary budget. so if the hourly rewards addition. so they must cut down the figure of hours of work that they are paying for. This could ensue in the exact opposite impact of that which is intended. Those gaining the minimal pay and are confronting decreased hours or even being let travel will happen themselves much worse off as a consequence of an addition than go forthing it at its current rate. Additionally. frequently the manner out of gaining minimal pay is through accomplishments learned through those minimal pay occupations. If there are fewer of these occupations as a consequence of the pay being higher. fewer people will be able to larn the accomplishments needed to travel up on a calling way and interrupt the rhythm of poorness. Second. if employers are unwilling or unable to cut down the figure of hours they pay their employees. they will merely try to do up the increased salary disbursal through increased monetary values. On a little graduated table. this may non hold a big impact on the overall economic system. When this is done on a big graduated table because many employers need to cover their increased costs. this is likely to take to rising prices. x ] Higher wages necessitate higher monetary values which will gnaw most if non all of the benefits of the addition in wage. The minimal pay workers will hold the same purchasing power as earlier. but because of unneeded rising prices. the lower in-between category will really confront the biggest impact because their rewards will non hold increased but their buying power will besides hold eroded. Another country that may be impacted by a mandated pay addition is developing. As most workers who earn the lower limit pay typically have small instruction and preparation. their biggest opportunity to work their manner into a higher paying occupation is through on the occupation preparation. One portion of an employer’s budget that could confront cuts would be for supplying preparation to employees. Often employers provide developing to their employees that would assist them progress in their calling. but may non be wholly necessary in their current place. Unnecessary disbursals such as this will most probably be trimmed. ensuing in fewer chances for the on the job hapless. [ eleven ] Possibly the simplest statement is if a minimal pay worker is bring forthing $ 4. 00 per hr worth of merchandise. and so the federal lower limit pay is raised to $ 5. 0. the employer must happen a manner to increase the workers fringy productiveness or face operating loses due to underproductive employees. One concluding idea from oppositions is that one time all of the aforesaid statements are considered. there are more effectual ways of assisting turn to the issue of poorness. The Earned Income Tax Credit is pointed to as a strong illustration of one of the more effectual thoughts. instead than seting the load of poorness on employers. it is shifted to the authorities. [ twelve ] Empirical Data: When sing both sides of this argument. it is of import to recognize who are the workers gaining minimal pay. and what function they have in supplying for their households. Of the 1. 9 million workers in the United States who were paid the lower limit pay in 2005 ( most recent information available ) . more than one half ( 53 % ) are between the ages of 16-24. These workers are most likely high school and college pupils. and most of them do non work a full clip agenda. Two tierces are members of households who have a combined income of at least 2 or more times the official poorness degree based on their household size. Less than 17 per centum are the lone pay earners in their households. and less than 6 per centum are hapless individual female parents. [ thirteen ] What does this information state us? The most of import thing is that an addition in the minimal pay would aim a bulk of people who may non be populating in poorness and are otherwise non in demand of direct aid. The far-reaching effects of raising minimal rewards across the board in order to acquire aid to the about 22 per centum of earners who are genuinely populating in poorness seems to be at the least uneffective. and at worst it could epresent a awful trip in economic policy. It is hard if non impossible to place the occupations lost because of minimal pay. but it is really easy to place the extra income for a minimal pay worker. This is frequently the first rejoinder from minimal pay advocators in response to statements made by the other side. Alison Wellington’s research found that a 10 % addition in the lower limit pay re sulted in a 0. 6 % lessening in adolescent employment. with no consequence on unemployment rates. [ fourteen ] A survey along the same lines by David Neumark and William Washer in 2008 found contrasting consequences. They concluded that lower limit pay resulted in a decrease in employment chances for low skilled workers. it was most harmful to destitute households. and that it lowers the grownup rewards of immature workers by cut downing their ultimate degree of instruction. [ fifteen ] There are infinite surveies on both sides of the issue. and each one merely solidifies each side in their existing sentiment. No affair what place one takes sing the minimal pay argument. there are a battalion of surveies available to back up it. The apparently obvious fact is that these little additions that are enacted every few old ages are neer plenty to truly do a difference in conveying a individual or a household out of poorness. A 50 cent addition in the minimal pay consequences in approximately $ 20 more per hebdomad for a full clip worker. In my appraisal. it is rather improbable that little sum is doing the difference in a individual or a household life in poorness and life comfortably. A survey of PhD members of the American Economic Association found that 46. % of respondents wanted minimal pay wholly eliminated while 37. 7 % want the minimal pay increased. [ sixteen ] Such division among even the most adept economic experts shows precisely how combative this issue is. and that there is no black and white. right or incorrect reply to work out the argument. Possibly as clip goes on and there is more historical informations to reexamine. there may be a more unequivocal reply sing this argument. Until such clip. bot h sides will most probably remain entrenched in their current place.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Marketing case analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Marketing case analysis - Essay Example Brand contribution is the margin that the company gains from the sale of its products. That means that the costs have to be relatively lower so that the company can achieve its desired margin. Brand equity refers to the positioning of the company products. Positioning is a critical part of marketing because it directly affects the sales volume of a company. The first issue that the director of marketing should deal with should be brand equity. Brand equity will include the positioning of the company’s products. That involves the advertising part of marketing. The company should carry out a marketing campaign that is aimed at targeting the customers of the company. The company should come up with the target market in which it should direct its marketing towards. That will ensure that the company does not waste its funds on unnecessary marketing. The company can also carry out a research that will enable it to know the distribution of its customers. For example, the company can come up with a questionnaire that will ask the customers where they reside and the convenient place that they would prefer to purchase the product from. That will enable the company to locate its products in retail stores in which most of its customers population reside in. that will increase the sales volume of the company and that will make the product mo re profitable (Ali 8). After the brand positioning has been established, the next part will be brand sales. Brand sales will involve the company increasing the sales volume. That will be made possible if the product positioning is done perfectly. That implies that the product should be within the reach of the target customers. The company can therefore carry out a marketing campaign that will be around the area where the customers are heavily populated. That will ensure that there are first purchases and repeat purchases. The first purchase can be done by the company carrying out a promotion

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Culture, History, and Literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Culture, History, and Literature - Essay Example In this novel, Morrison uses his characters to reveal the unsolved contradictions of American racial history as well as the persistent ideologies of slavery that shaped the identity and sense of self among many Americans. The racial formations and the dominant ideology of slavery in the American culture that threatens the society’s founding promise of equal opportunity is well portrayed through the character of Frank. The direction and purpose of Frank’s journey in the novel focuses on the cultural hegemony that is fuelled by the racial subordination and inequality in the society. â€Å"A race is a concept that signifies and symbolizes social conflicts and interests.† (Omi and Winant 118). Since race is seen as an element of social structure and a dimension of human representation, racial formation implies the process of transformation of racism in a period. This racial formation is said to be evolved through a social and cultural hegemony that is organized and represented by the then society. In this sense, it can be analyzed that the society presented by Morrison in her novel Home includes the nature of racism through social prejudices, differences, inequalities, and violent oppression. As evident in the novel, various social conflicts and prejudices within the society implies the existence or formation of race. The American understanding of the ideology of race has changed over the time, affecting the perceptions and experiences of African-Americans. Particularly, after the era of Reconstruction that insisted civic equality and freedom, the American society embraced a new ideological formation of racial subordination, which presented challenges to the racial status quo that existed then. The racial inequalities resulting from the social ideologies are presented in Morrison’s novel, using characterizations,

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Risk Assessment Plan Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Risk Assessment Plan - Term Paper Example At one end are the patents and trademarks, which are legally protected and formally recorded. What follows is the knowledge incorporated in formal process and software. There is also the knowledge found in instructions, manuals, as well as other written sources. At the other end is the unwritten knowledge that is enshrined in the way people do the way they do. The risks associated with this category of capital includes: weak and inconsistent work process, inadequate documentation and diffusion of knowledge, and inadequate protection of proprietary knowledge. ii. Human capital Human capital includes all people that work in SunnyVille. The key risks associated with human capital includes: failure to create a culture that values learning and accepts change, inconsistent dissemination across the company and insufficiency of skills levels, and vulnerability to and probability of key staff and management turnover. iii. Relationship capital. Relationship capital includes customer relationsh ips, external network of vendors, partnerships, and outsourced services among many others. The key risks associated with this category of capital include the: threats to the brand, relationship loyalty to individuals, and vulnerability, and probability to partner defections or customers. iv. Business recipe This is the company’s strategy, because the appropriate strategy is an asset. The key risks associated with business recipes include the: exposure to economic cycles, potential substitutes, and threats of new competitors. Project Scope Statement During SunnyVille’s recent IT audit, the final report mentioned that the company’s risk assessment needs greater detail, the IT policies are inadequate, and the overall management of risk itself is unsubstantiated with little oversight from the board of directors. Following these observations, the risk assessment team met on June 10, 2013 to review the scope of risk assessment to be conducted in order to deliberate on how address the problems identified during the audit. The team reviewed the entire risk structure of the company, with strong emphasis being paid on IT policies, intangible risks, as well as the role of board of directors in mitigating risks. The findings of these assessments, reviews, and audit were used to develop risk assessment scope statement. On June 13, 201, SunnyVille’s staff conducted the risk assessment. The aim of this process was to identify threats that could have contributed to the issues raised following the audit. Different stakeholders, including the employees and board of directors were involved in the process of risk assessment. Qualitative/Quantitative Risk Analysis A quantitative method can be used for the risk analysis, whereby the risk will be presented using a variety of scales or through the financial extent as forecasted amount of losses associated with different types of risks (Szczepankiewicz & Szczepankiewicz, 2006). This method will rely on the available data; though where data is not available qualitative approach can be used. For the purpose of setting values, definition of the information will be done in order to ensure proper achievement of different business processes and their relevance for functioning of the company’s units and as a result the whole company (Galach, 2004). There are many Qualitative approaches to risk analysis, including NIST 800-30, CRAMM,

Friday, November 15, 2019

Video Games And Children Education Essay

Video Games And Children Education Essay Video games, children love them, but youre not so sure. Here you can find out about the risks and benefits of video games, plus some ideas for choosing appropriate games and managing your childs interest in playing them. did you know According to a 2005 survey: 76% of families set rules about which types of games their children could play.   Games with cartoon-style violence can send the message that violence is a good way to solve conflict. They can also make kids less sensitive to real-life violence, or make them overly fearful about violence in their own world. What are video games? Playing it safe Benefits of playing video games Problems of playing video games What about violence in video games? What are video games? Video games are electronic, interactive games that come in many forms: CDs, DVDs, internet downloads and online games. They can be played on a personal home computer (PC), television or portable hand-held device. Some games are controlled by a separate joystick or console, while others use the computer keyboard and/or mouse. Many games (including those online) can be played by several people at once. The big name brands for video games are Sony PlayStation, Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo. Playing it safe The best way for your child to learn from video games is when you play together. An added bonus is that youll spend some time with each other and have fun! Here are some ideas for making the most of video games with your child. Set ground rules of one hour: aim for this recommended daily  screen time  for children under seven or eight. Moderate: aim for balance in your family activities, so that everyone has a go at physical activity, creative activities  and interactive social games. Work together to prioritise indoor play time, outdoor fun, homework and time spent with friends. Get involved: ask your child to show you how a game works its the best way to tune into what your child is learning. Make a mental note of the kinds of games your child enjoys and finds challenging. So if your child is really enjoying a game about dinosaurs, for example, you can broaden his knowledge by finding books or movies on the topic. Discuss: talk to your child  about the games he is playing. Find out what your child likes or dislikes about the games and ask what he would change or add to make them better. This will develop his analytical and critical skills. Be informed: read reviews of the games you think might be suitable for your child. Make sure you carefully read the blurb on the games cover. And dont forget to check the games rating games rated G or PG are more likely to suit young children. Borrow before buying: if possible, borrow games from a library or a friend before making a purchase. You might find that your child isnt interested in a particular game, or you dont approve of the games content or concepts.   Dr. Mona warned left a consulting psychology of the many children watching the kid cartoons and played video game in the first three years of age, where it may lead to decreased levels of intelligence and the ability to communicate and collection. Said Dr. Mona left in the program Good Morning Egypt on Monday morning said the research proved that watching television in the early age of the child lead to a lack of focus makes the child as much movement, the child also Tbehrh colors and speed of movement in the cartoon tends and loves to watch a lot, which it at the age of nursery tired of explaining the lessons is a modern teacher to receive information. And recommended Mona Yousry mothers need to identify the assets of the childs education from birth through the reading, or search the electronic information network, or the use of a specialist in psychology for child-rearing in a scientific way so that it can avoid the mental and neurological problems they face in old age. She consultant child psychology that the American Academy of Children recommended in a recent non-exposed children under three years for any electronic games or watch cartoons. She noted that if the Mona return the child to sit for several hours in front did not respond kindly to reduce the period, the mother use a physician for treatment of addiction, net and to increase communication with friends and family to keep him on the damage that addiction. Abstract The ability to balance cooperative and competitive behaviors has important implications for a childs overall development. While socially competent children appear to learn highly successful strategies for entering peer groups and negotiating access to limited resources, the development of this level of social competence can be challenging for preschool-aged children. Early childhood educators may therefore have to intervene to develop the childs social competence and promote the use of negotiation and effective conflict management strategies. Using theories of social exchange and human sociobiology, this paper reviews literature on cooperation and competition involving limited resources and highlights the implications of this research for early childhood education. Results suggest that a variety of individual and social-contextual factors might influence a childs development of socially competent behavior. The review highlights the importance of teaching children to negotiate effecti vely with peers. Introduction Many educators view school-age students attraction to video and computer games with envy. If only we could harness the power of video games in education, some say, with a wistful expression. Some equate the attraction of the game to the computer, and hope that any educational experience that occurs on a computer will somehow capture that magic. Some delve deeper, designing extensive educational simulations that adopt conventions of popular game design and expensive production values merged with educational content. In this paper, I suggest how these attitudes combine with market forces to strongly reinforce bad design and curtail innovation, rather than support a vision of compelling, immersive educational experiences. There is no doubt that video and computer games have positive educational outcomes for the users. In an in-depth literature review, Alice Mitchell and Carol Savill-Smith conclude that there is the use of such games can stimulate the enjoyment, motivation and engagement of users, aiding recall and information retrieval, and can also encourage the development of various social and cognitive skills. (Mitchell Savill-Smith 2004). In this paper, educational games are games designed for youth in the age range of compulsory school, approximately ages 5 to 18 that contain overt attempts to teach school-related subjects. Video games are commercial games designed for a specific hardware console such as Nintendo GameCube and GameBoy, Microsoft X-box, and Sony PlayStation. Computer games are designed for use on personal computers, either by running application software on the computer or playing a game online. As time goes on these distinctions blur, but the markets are different enough to make this distinction. This paper, written by an educator who also designed video games and computer software for the home and school markets, evaluates attempts to harness the lure of these games for educational purposes. The paper offers an analysis of why the nature of video and computer games is antithetical to traditional forms of school curriculum, content and assessment, and why market forces, both consumer and educational, drive these design decisions. Why Are Games An Attractive Model For Education? When educators look at video and computer game players, they see young people suddenly transformed into attentive learners, willing to spend inordinate personal time learning to master complex situations. These same students, however, may not devote similar dedication to school-related activities. Educators wonder what it is about these games that could be used to make these game players devote the same attention to the goals of school. Educational software developers deconstruct the elements of video games and come to the conclusion that the game play can be extracted from the context. Therefore, the thought goes, mere substitution of educational content and context while leaving game play elements untouched will produce educational games with great benefits for learners and stockholders alike. In engaging computer and video games, the player must master a progressively challenging set of skills to advance each step in the game progression to ultimately win and end the game. This advancement through challenges is seen as a direct correlation to advancing through a course of study. In a classroom, the teacher guides the acquisition of skills and the students are able to progressively tackle harder problems, learn new facts and produce higher quality products required by the subject. It seems obvious that if an educational game led players through a similar process, similar results would be achieved, with the added benefit that students would pay attention and be engaged more than in a traditional classroom environment. Learning vs. Content Mastering skills comes in many forms. Game designers know that at some point, learning new skills has to end and you need to let the player start to play. Some games have a first level where skills are introduced, and then you start the real game. The actual content of the game, how to shoot your weapon, how to navigate your vehicle, how to throw the football, or any of the multitude of variations of game play is actually very limited. The game consists of becoming an expert in quickly selecting which of these skills are appropriate to your current situation. Learning in the game is a process, much of which ends in failure. Game designers know that there is a very special feeling that gamers get when they are being challenged at the right level. If you fail too quickly and too often, the gamer will give up. If the challenges are too easy, they will lose interest. Its not fun to simply win all the time. Frustration and failure result in the eventual euphoria of wining at a new level, and provides incentive to keep going. The secret of a videogame as a teaching machine isnt its immersive 3-D graphics, but its underlying architecture. Each level dances around the outer limits of the players abilities, seeking at every point to be hard enough to be just doable. In cognitive science, this is referred to as the regime of competence principle, which results in a feeling of simultaneous pleasure and frustrationa sensation as familiar to gamers as sore thumbs. James Paul Gee, a reading professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy Educational game developers have different design goals thrust on them. Any educational game designed for schools must meet demands for increased accountability and test scores. The content of games must tie to mandated curriculum standards, which list the things that students must know in a certain grade level. The game therefore correlates to these standards and provides assessment vehicles so the students progress through these standards can be measured. If this does not happen, the game will have a very limited market in schools. These standards are likely to differ from state-to-state and between nations, making development of these games even more expensive. In building these games, designers must often make sacrifices in creativity to allow content to fit into the game environment. Game play becomes rote, and graphics must be reused to accommodate the game elements that are drawn from a content pool. As much as the designers try, they are bound by the requirements of mandated content and simultaneous assessment to create a repetitive experience. These games may (or may not, depending on the research you read) increase standardized test scores, but they arent something that a student will devote time and energy to voluntarily like a video game. Some educational games go to great efforts to substitute the made-up worlds of video games with realistic educational worlds built to reproduce curriculum content. However, most educational games focus on low-level topics of simple literacy and arithmetic. The analytical rigor, ingenuity, and passion reserved for the most popular video games are seldom invoked by educational computer games. What is best about the best games is that they draw kids into some very hard learning. Did you ever hear a game advertised as being easy? What is worst about school curriculum is the fragmentation of knowledge into little pieces. This is supposed to make learning easy, but often ends up depriving knowledge of personal meaning and making it boring. Ask a few kids: the reason most dont like school is not that the work is too hard, but that it is utterly boring. (Papert, Easy Doesnt Do It.) Some commercial games do contain a lot of content, for example, sports simulations. Memorizing player statistics, playbooks and game statistics can help a player win the game. The difference is that the game is also playable without learning that content, but advancing in the game is easier when you do. There is no amount of content that is mandatory, in fact, some players will do very well by simply being skilled in game-play, while others may excel because they have memorized vast amounts of sports statistics. The game makes no judgement however, about which skills or content is more important than others, and offers all kinds of players many different ways to succeed. As another example, chess is a complex game with limited content. Chess is also well regarded as supporting educational goals such as promoting critical and logical thinking skills. Yet the content of the game of chess is fairly minimal. There are only a few pieces with special moves to learn, the rules are straightforward and the game board is simple. Most people can function at a beginner level with less than an hour of instruction. What is it about chess, then, that attracts brilliant people to devote their lives to it? Its that the rules are tuned so that highly complex and difficult problems are created relatively quickly. In chess, the process and resulting strategies for winning provide challenges that automatically escalate as players (and their opponents) become more adept at extending and complicating the game. As curriculum, chess could be done in a few weeks, with a test at the end assessing the students knowledge of chess moves, board set up, and perhaps some names of fa mous players. But anyone who would portray that as educationally appropriate would be laughed at. Market Forces Video and computer game designers face constraints placed on them by the market realties that exist in todays retail world. When a company makes a decision to create a game, they want to put their money into games that will make them the most return on their investment. Game designers work to create a game that will look great, play well, be engaging and offer the player an experience that surpasses anything else they have done before. Educational game designers have additional market forces thrust upon them that video game designers dont have to worry about. These market forces tend to further constrain educational game design in ways that are contrary to what game designers know makes a game fun and engaging. Consumer Market The consumer market for video and computer games is undergoing extreme pricing pressure that makes it very risky for publishers to invest the large amounts of money it takes to produce, market and sell these games. In the past ten years, the retail price of childrens computer games has dropped from over $40 (US) to less than $10 (US) due to many factors, including competition from free Internet sites. The market for video games has remained slightly more stable with less price erosion. For video games to be commercially viable, the development costs range from 5-60 million dollars (US). (Williams 2004) This does not include the costs associated with marketing and putting the product on retail shelves. These costs can exceed the development budget. To make matters worse, games sales are tracked by major retailers weekly, and a game that does not sell well within a few weeks will be pulled off the shelves to make room for something that will make more money. This does not allow for a game to develop a word of mouth or build a reputationthe game must be promoted with expensive marketing to make sure that the early sales are high. If not, the game will be unavailable or in the bargain bin in a matter of weeks. For a company to invest tens of millions of dollars in a new game, they want to be assured of success. Edutainment games, although less expensive to build, also are pressured to sell copies quickly. Retailers are often reluctant to put any box on the shelf that they do not instantly recognize as a potential hit, so they will tend to choose software for children, educational or not, based on licensed characters from popular television shows. Retailers see that parents will purchase games with familiar characters rather than ones with strong educational content. For video game systems, there are no educational games being developed. This market is controlled by the hardware console manufacturers. These manufacturers, Nintendo (Game Cube and Game Boy), Sony (PlayStation), and Microsoft (Xbox) control all games developed and produced for their platforms. Every game design must pass through their approval process. Their goal is to market their game systems to hard-core gamers because they are the ones who spend the most money. These manufacturers cannot allow their systems to be perceived as being for children, it confuses the brand message. They therefore actively discourage all games that are designed primarily for children. The only ones that pass the approval process are tie-ins with licensed characters currently starring in hit movies or TV shows. Without the approval of the game system manufacturer, there is no way to bring a game to market. These manufacturers also require a large royalty for every unit sold, further reducing any chance of profitability. In addition, video games labelled educational have sold so dismally that no one is making them anymore. Parents do not think of video game systems as being educational, they prefer their children to have fun and view these electronic games as a break from school and homework. Finally, proprietary consoles like the Leapfrog systems have temporarily replaced educational game purchasing for many parents. Unfortunately, these consoles only allow simple games that are little more than multiple choice drills. The School Market The school market for educational software provides some hope for educational game designers. Schools will pay more than consumers for software, and therefore, there should be more money to develop good educational games. However, looking closely at the numbers provides a more sobering conclusion. Simply by looking at the U.S. school market, you can see the economies of scale break down. There are approximately 115,000 K-12 school buildings in the U.S. (public and private.) At normal videogame pricing, sales of 500,000 units is required to breakeven (DFC Intelligence, 2004). Every school in the U.S. would have to purchase 4 units of any educational videogame for it to just to make the publishers investment back. Clearly, this is not a market that will by itself support the development and production of educational videogames. Traditional publishers, especially publicly traded ones, simply cannot tell their investors and shareholders that they choose to spend their money on something with a low, slow return on their investment when there are other choices that make more money. For this reason, educational software companies are concentrating their development and sales efforts on the sales of large instructional learning systems that can cost schools tens of thousands of dollars, even up to a million dollars for large installations. It is more efficient to make one sale for a hundred thousand dollars than to sell a thousand units of an educational game for $100 each. Inherent in the sale of these large systems is the promise that they will cover massive amounts of content and provide assessment data for the school system. This drives the design of this software towards the management of the content pool and reduces both the game play and the educational value of the software. Fear of government sanctions is responsible for revenue generated by these systems, not quality. Conclusion Educationally meaningful edutainment software requires substantial shifts in attitudes towards education both in the consumer and designer community. Its not as easy as plugging school content into a video game engine. In addition, success would necessitate changes in the retail environment or non-traditional sources of funding for game development. The current system of publishers working with retail and institutional purchasing works to reward the best-selling games in a very traditional capitalistic way. This makes it unlikely that games that do not fit into the current market expectations will be able to survive without an alternate source of funding for both development and dissemination. There are certainly non-profit organizations that can choose to avoid these channels. However, it is not even enough to give games away for free. Schools especially are hard pressed for time, and bringing in new programs that do not promise to fully meet every goal of the set curriculum is just not worth it. There may be instances of individual teachers integrating a game into their classrooms, but the impact would be very small relative to the dissemination effort that would be required. Likewise, busy parents will not even bother taking a free game, especially if it does not fit into their perception of their needs. Their own time is more valuable than that. Publishers recognize that reaching the mass-market parents is an expensive proposition. Unlike the entrenched audience of hard-core gamers who regularly disseminate information very efficiently through their own fan discussion boards, read similar magazines, and pay a lot of attention to new game releases, parents are much more difficult to reach. Given these facts, the difficulty of educational game dissemination would most likely be pretty demoralizing to any institution that would have to devote millions of dollars and years of effort in the hope that it would significantly impact education. That kind of investment would require at least some hope of reaching a wide audience for even the most benevolent non-profit to consider it a success. Educationally meaningful game software will require substantial shifts in attitudes towards education both in the consumer, publisher, and designer community. No one assumes it will be as easy as plugging school content into a video game engine. But it is daunting to grasp that success would require changes in the retail environment, a change in the current content-based assessment focus in schools, or need to rely on massive funding and patience from non-traditional sources of funding for game development and dissemination. Does this mean that it is impossible? Of course not. These markets are changing rapidly and there is a high likelihood that channels that are small or even not invented yet will become mainstream. The key is to understand how current market forces work to impact game design, and decide how (or whether) a game design will conform to these expectations. The best news is that if we accept that non-traditional publishing is required for revolutionary educational game design, designers do not have to feel constrained by current rules. Freeing educational game designers from mandated curriculum, outdated assessment practices, and mass-market cartoon characters may be the only way that educational games can make that paradigm shiftcreating the marriage of fun, engagement and academic legitimacy that innovative educational game designers envision.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Canteen hygiene in Eastern Visayas State University Essay

Every school in the country should be strongly committed to support student health and well-being through its curriculum and a range of initiatives that offer opportunities that promote physically fit individuals who love eating healthy food. Schools are encouraged to implement comprehensive health and well-being programs, including food and nutrition education. The establishment and operation of a school canteen is important in developing love and interest in buying nutritious and healthy food among students, faculty and the school personnel, making it possible for them to enjoy nutritious and healthy food at affordable prices during the school day. The canteen should also provide a variety of foods and dishes that enhance the skills and knowledge learnt in the classroom about food and nutrition. Canteen operation can be considered one of the auxiliary services of the school. Food handlers have a prime role to play in food businesses, and that is to guarantee that meals served are h ygienic for consumption. Conscious or inadvertent contamination of such food places consumers at risk of suffering from food- borne illnesses. Food poisoning in school canteens had been an occurrence. For this reason this study will be carried out to assess canteen hygiene of the privately managed canteens in Eastern Visayas State University. Read more:  An Introduction to the Importance of School Canteen Statement of the Problem This study will be conducted to assess hygiene on these privately managed canteens inside the campus of Eastern Visayas State University. Specifically, this study aims to answer the following questions. 1. What is the level of premises cleanliness of the canteens in the following areas? 1.1 Food Preparation Area 1.2 Food Storage Area 1.3 Refreshment Area 1.4 Toilets and Staff Locker Area 1.5 Waste Disposal Area 2. What is the level of personal hygiene of canteen staff (food handlers)? 3. What is the level of hygiene on the following? 3.1 Dry Goods Storage Unit 3.2 Refrigerator/ Chiller/ Freezer 3.3 Cooking Equipment 3.4 Food Preparation and Holding 3.5 Food Handling and Serving Practices Research Hypothesis This study will advance and test the research hypothesis which states the level of premises cleanliness of the canteens, the level of personal hygiene of canteen staff and the level of hygiene of the canteens in Eastern Visayas State University. Conceptual Framework Schools are in a good position to endorse healthy food related behaviors in students and help ensure appropriate food intake. Food items sold in and around the school during school hours/recess play a special role in school life because it provides refreshment and fulfills energy requirements of students. Canteens vary in terms of capacity depending on the number of students who eat from there, type of food offered and the type of activities such as preparation, cooking and storage. The school canteen has an important role in the provision of food to students and the school community as well as being an integral part of the school environment. The school canteen should feflect the education goals of the school and support and complement student learning. When a university canteen is used daily, the food provided through this service may comprise a third of a student’s total daily intake and have a significant influence on their health and nutrition. The correct handling of food and a high level of personal hygiene are keys to food safety. Correct food safety procedures must be understood by everyone who handles food or works in  the canteen, including students. Significance of the Study This study is not only important to those operating canteens, but also to following people who are interested to have knowledge and compliance with the requirements on food safety and hygiene of canteens. To the Administrator. The result of this study will help both the teachers and the students gaining knowledge in maintaining the good hygiene in operating of canteen. To the Teachers. As the result of this study will guide the students on choosing canteens that serving well-prepared meals and has good hygiene habits. To the Canteen Owners. The use of these requirements will help them improve their management of their canteens. To the Students. This study benefits to the student who eat in diferrent canteens, which is help them to find canteens that they know prepareing safe food. Scope and Delimitation The study will determine the canteen hygiene in Eastern Visayas State University. The investigators will focus on canteens hygiene of the canteens in the Eastern Visayas State University. The respondents of this study consisted of the 75 canteen personnel and 50students from different year levels. This study was limited to the assessment of canteens hygiene in term of the level of hygiene in dry goods storage unit, refrigerator/ chiller/ freezer, cooking equipment, food preparation and holding, food handling and serving practices.This study conducted during the school year 2014-2015. Definition of Terms The following terms are having operationally defined for better understanding of the reader. Hygiene. In this study refers to the good healthful conditions of the personnel. Inadvertent. Not resulting from or achieved through deliberate planning. Food- borne illness. is an infection or irritation of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract caused by food or beverages that contain harmful bacteria, parasites, viruses, or chemicals. Chapter II Review of Related Literature and Studies Related Literature It is essential that food is properly handled and prepared to keep it for health. Food should be served in clean dishes. Food can be dangerous if not properly handled, prepared and stored. Schools canteen can play an important role in promoting healthy habits. Health promotion messages can be delivered to students to develop lifelong attitudes and skills. â€Å" Poor oral health can have a detrimental effect on children’s quality of life, their performance at school and their success in later life† , mentioned by Kwan, Petersen, Pine and Borutta (2005). In the local setting, Presidential Decree No. 856 embodies the code in sanitation of the Philippines. Section IX of the code specially pertains to food establishment sanitation. Knowledge and compliance with the requirements of the sanitation code by the foodservice operators will ultimately redound to their own benefit since customers prefer eating in clean and sanitary premises. The maintenance of high standards of san itation in the foodservice operation cannot be compromised by management. Sanitation should be treated as a way of life in foodservice because any laxity in sanitation rules can mean illness for customers, loss of business and financial bankruptcy. Hired people handling food in the canteen should be required to undergo training for food handlers, obtain a certificate of good health from the municipal health department and observe hygiene. Related Studies The aforementioned study was similar to the present study included factors like Sanitation in Physical Facilities. According to Medrana (2004) in her article, school canteens have always canteen or cafeteria is different from a commercial outfit that is also  subjected to government sanitary controls. Whereas commercial canteens and restaurants are established for profit as the main object, a school canteen is set-up mainly to benefit the students while offering them decent yet affordable fare. Recalled by Morphet (1994) the schoolfood service was since then a major division of school operations. It was estimated that the gross expenditures for the school lunch program was approximately one billion pesos during the year 1956-1957. According to Maniquiz (2009) enough knowledge is imperative to canteen managers for their role is to make decisions that will affect the entire canteen organization. Chaper III Methodology In this chapter presents the design or methods and produce with the study will be undertaken and describes the instruments used in gathering the data, the analysis of the data in testing the hypothesis. Research design This study will use a descriptive survey method with questionnaire as the main tool in gathering the data. It is descriptive, as it presents the different practices in canteen hygiene. In other words, this research endeavor will assess the hygiene of all canteens which is concerned the students. Research respondents The data of this study will be gathered from all the canteens in the Eastern Visayas State University. Included in this study will be the canteens who are officially registered in the University.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

The Wys in Which Steinbeck Presents Conflict in George’s Relationship with Lennie

‘Of Mice and Men’ is written by John Steinbeck, published in 1937. The novel is set in the 1930s during the great depression in California. The two protagonist characters, George and Lennie are farm workers who have a dream of one-day owning their own ranch. They find work in a ranch near Soledad which means loneliness in Spanish, after escaping from Weed because of George’s incident. They are met by different characters on the farm that all have a dream. In this story, the characters are lonely because although they are all together they all feel very much on their own. George and Lennie do not see themselves as lonely as the other characters because they have each other and a dream to go away one day together. In the novel there are two main characters, Lennie and George who are friends. ‘They had walked in single file down the path and even in the open one stayed behind the other. Both were dressed in denim trousers and in denim coats with brass buttons. Both wore black, shapeless hats and both carried tight blanket rolls slung over their shoulders. From the first sight of Lennie and George, a dynamic in their relationship is established. Though the men are outwardly of the same class (wearing identical clothes and carrying identical gear), one still walks behind the other. George is, of course, the leader, but it seems he doesn’t value himself as necessarily superior to Lennie; they’re both in it together. Lennie is a simple chap who has the mind of a child; George feels a need to look after Lennie and so takes on the role of a protective parent. While this thing going on George often gets frustrated with him because he has to look after him all the time and he doesn’t have time for himself. On this George says: ‘Whatever we ain’t got, that’s what you want. God a ‘mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, and no trouble. No mess at all, and when the end of the month I could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever I want. ’ Steinbeck goes to great length to create very different personas for the two men even making the two different physically. In the later part of the text George says ‘If I was your relative I’d shoot myself. ’ This shows that George doesn’t really care for Lennie and he just wants an easy life as a migrant worker. At this time, The Great Depression, workers had to keep a job to keep them alive, so it was important to get the destination. Lennie at this time is being frustratingly slow therefore George is getting angry. The word ‘relative’ in this context means that George doesn’t want the responsibility of Lennie because he can live a lot easier without the burden. However as they only had each other George was reluctant to leave Lennie and travel alone, even though there were frequent conflicts between them. The context of the novel fits well with the scene when George is shouting at Lennie, after losing another job. Lennie has just been fired because he was accused of sexually assaulting women, when actually he didn’t. George knows this and stuck up for Lennie, resulting in Lennie being fired too. ‘I got you! You can’t keep a job and you lose me every job I get’. Here George loses his temper with Lennie, because once again they have been fired from their jobs, it causes conflict between the two. ‘I got you! ’ is a cruel and unnecessary thing to say, here George is insulting that his whole problem in life and the main reason for this upset is of the fact that he is having to put up with Lennie, it shows how much conflict and hurt was caused was caused in the 1930s, because the lack of money and food, all added up pressure, and resulted in mean outbursts like this. George seems to be of two minds when it comes to Lennie. He complains constantly that if he did not have Lennie he would be done with a huge responsibility. He could go to town, drink when he wanted, have a girlfriend, shoot pool, and in general have a life. Tired of constantly reminding Lennie things he should remember, George gets quickly angry when Lennie forgets to get the firewood, for example and instead goes after the dead mouse. On the other hand George’s anger is quickly under control and he blames himself for scolding Lennie. Steinbeck makes it clear that, despite his complaining and frustration, George looks out for Lennie and genuinely cares for him. The fact that George has repeated his instructions many times, the fact that he scolds Lennine for doing things (like petting the dead mouse or drinking the untested water) that could hurt him, and most importantly, the fact that George retails the story of their shared dream indicate the close relationship the two men have. In fact, George acts as a parent towards Lennie. He treats Lennie as one would treat a child, he laughs a great deal at Lennie’s words, and because he knows how much Lennie likes soft things, he promises to try to get Lennie a puppy and let him take care for the rabbits when they finally get their own ranch. LENNIE ‘I was only foolin’, George. I don’t want no ketchup. I wouldn’t eat no ketchup if it were right here beside me. ’ GEORGE ‘ If it was here, you could have some’ LENNIE ‘But I wouldn’t eat none, George. I’d leave it all for you. You could cover you beans with it and I wouldn’t touch none of it. ’ After George’s mean outburst about how much better off he’d be without Lennie, Lennie is the one who makes the first move to apologize for being a jerk. Even after this awful fight, the men’s friendship has a simple and remarkable erectness. George grudgingly knows he’s wrong and in fact he really loves his friend, and even though Lennie can’t express it in a terribly complex way, he loves George back.

Friday, November 8, 2019

The Contributions to the Western Civilization Essays

The Contributions to the Western Civilization Essays The Contributions to the Western Civilization Essay The Contributions to the Western Civilization Essay The Contributions to the western civilization Ashley Stewart 5/1/11 Professor Hammond Strayer University The Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans, have made great contributions to develop the Western Civilization. The legacy that they’ve left was religion, knowledge, and government. The Hebrews contributed the religious aspect, the Greeks contributed knowledge and government, and the Romans contributed one must have an understanding of the ancient Greek culture, or else considered governing methods to Western Civilization. Its said that to understand our culture ignorant. sherer44). The Hebrews shaped the very core of Western Civilization. Author Thomas Cahill has recently produced a historical account, The Gifts of the Jews, which explores in depth the contributions of early Judaism to the thought patterns and social structure of present-day orders. A review of his work states that Within the matrix of ancient religions and philosophies, life was seen as part of an endless cycle of bi rth and death; time was like a wheel, spinning ceaselessly. Yet somehow the ancient Jews began to see time differently. For them, time had a beginning and an end; it was a narrative, whose triumphant conclusion would come in the future. From this insight came a new conception, that of men and women as individuals with unique destinies a conception that would inform the Declaration of Independence and our hopeful belief in progress and the sense that tomorrow can be better than today. ( The West would not have been the same without Jewish contributions that celebrated concepts such as absolute morality, self-improvement, and the striving to comprehend the forces that shape ones existence. These innovative notions permitted the Hebrews to endure throughout millennia of oppression and foreign dominance and reform their state into todays Israel, one of the top ten nations in the world in terms of military might and economic sophistication. The Greeks was creating colonies around the coast of Greece. /Instead of constructing the columns to be straight, they built them using gentle curves making everything appear more symmetrical. The two different architectural styles in ancient Greece were the Doric and Ionic. The earliest of the buildings were designed in the Doric style, such as the Parthenon. The Doric columns are rather sturdy yet plain. The ionic Columns were built thinner and more elegant. The tops of them had a scroll like structure, unlike the flat Doric style. Buildings such as the Erechtheum and the small temple of Athena were built in the Ionic style. Its to the Greeks we owe for their architectural innovations to western civilization The Greeks were very passionate about athletics. They took pride in the perfect human physique: strong, fit, cut, graceful human bodies.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Energy and its use essays

Energy and its use essays There are many energy forms that are in use in the world today. One form of energy we use is carbon. Carbon is used to form fossil fuels after it is burned as a compound. Using carbon compounds to create fossil fuels do have a down side though. They cause the extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Can you believe substances that are found in and on the earth can actually cause damage to it? Well, get used to it because that is a common result of many forms of energy used today. Carbon not only harms the atmosphere, it is contributing to global warming. Maybe using carbon in the future wont be such a hot idea. Other than carbon, hydrogen is also used as a form of energy. Hydrogen is in great abundance, and fuel bases already exist to power city buses, homes, and remote hospitals. Solar and wind also take a part in our use of hydrogen. They are said to be run off hydrogen. Did you know that 1000,000,000,000,000 kilowatt hours of energy are sent to the earth each hour? Wow, thats a ton of energy! This solar radiation can heat water, houses, and can even create electricity. Hydrogen is also used in a different way. Two percent of the energy from the sun is converted into wind energy. Does that spark a match in your memory? Wind energy, created in some ways by windmills, is part of the hydrogen economy. This method has been successful for the past 1000 years, not to mention an extremely clean method. As everyone should know, all forms of energy on earth can be tied back to the sun, one way or another. In the case of the hydrogen economy, the trick is to get rid of the indirect ways to the power of hydrogen. The closest you can get to actual hydrogen power, the purer and cleaner it becomes. There is a slight problem though. No hydrogen infrastructure has really been created. Carbon is also having issues with forming its infrastructure. Iceland, on the other hand, doesnt h ...

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Accuride corporation Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Accuride corporation - Research Paper Example The company’s investments in facilities that includes installation of robotics as well, clearly open up new opportunities for the company to increase its level of work and performance (Chapter 6 SWOT analysis (Accuride Corporation: company profile) (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) (Brief Article)). Currently the company has plans to build an outstanding, joint Supply Chain thus strengthening their expectations of performance from the supplier partners as well as increasing the opportunities for gaining greater number of customers being able to depend on the performances of the company (Accuride Corporation Holds Global Supplier Summit). The weaknesses and threats of the company are also essential for understanding where the major weakness of the company lies with the incident of fire that spread in the company’s factory in 2003 that left the company crippled (Chapter 6 SWOT analysis (Accuride Corporation: company profile) (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) (Brief Article)). The threats for the company arise for the competitors and increasing level of competition in the industry that the company needs to keep a continuous focus on. Accuride Corporation believes in commitment to their work and performance and hence their culture and work environment reflects the values that the company maintains. They intend to perform in ethical manners and possess tremendous respect for their people as well as for the customers. Also, the company believes in not being complex and hence follows simple and the right things for the benefits of the company and its customers. The stakeholders and customers and the people including the suppliers are significantly given importance as part of the values and culture of Accuride Corporation (Supplier Code of Conduct). Steve Holt has been announced by the company as the Senior Vice President for Strategy, Growth and Technology with the company being focused on achieving increasing

Friday, November 1, 2019

Jeddah city Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Jeddah city - Research Paper Example Perhaps it is the Red Sea that really defines Jeddah. Due to its location, the primary source of income for the city is the trade done on the port. Products from the sea are exported while products from foreign countries are imported through the port. Jeddah’s tourism is also made rich because of the Red Sea. There are various beaches that attract tourists from around the world. Aside from picnicking, people may also enjoy fishing from the Red Sea. The best place to go would be Jeddah Corniche although there are still other sites you can go fishing. Other water sports are also available like swimming, snorkeling and scuba diving. The best time to visit the city when you want to experience the beauty of the beaches is from October until May. The temperature during these months makes it ideal for tourists to have maximum enjoyment. When you visit the city, you will notice that there are people of different races and religions. Of course the large part of the population is Muslim but there are also other religions practiced in the city. However, only Muslims are allowed to build their place of worship and publicly profess their faith. Practice of other religions are demanded to be done in private so, just a note for those who strongly profess a religion other than Islam, precautions must be taken not to offend a people who highly value their religion. Although there are restrictions for other religions to be publicly expressed, the aim of the government is not to demand people to be converted to Islam but its desire is for our religion to be respected as others would want Muslims to respect them. This is an integral part of the Jeddah, therefore, as any other tourism place, it is requested that the religious demands should be considered with respect. This is a part of Jeddah’s culture or to make it more accurate, this is Jeddah’s culture. Jeddah is not just a