Human Error and Human-Computer Interaction Essay Example

Human Error and Human-Computer Interaction Essay The context of human error has been considered as one of the most important issues because of its enormous effect in both human and economic aspects. Accordingly, all humans have experienced human error. Errors can be made when people interact with machines and other complex systems. Herein, people have a tendency to do things which are contrary to their expectations and intentions. Depending on the complexness of a certain system and the human intentions that interacts with it, errors can be anything from a discomfort (which are often unnoticeable) to a actual tragedy or calamity. Human error an happen in the plan, design, management, operation as well as maintenance of complex systems characterized by the modern life. Since humans, depend largely and increasingly on these systems to have a better living, it is transparent that human error has a potentialities and has a frequent source of risks to human life and welfare as well as the natural environment (Senders Moray, 1991). Errors in human can result in both human and economic cost. In line with the human factor, errors can result to anxiety, depression, disappointment and stress at work which may result in the inability of the individual to finish their tasks or responsibilities effectively and mat also lead to negative emotions. In terms of the economic aspects, the economic costs largely depend on the error numbers as well as the time spent in the diagnosis of such error and the recovery. Because of these enormous effects, researchers and scholars has spend their time in analyzing and understanding the context of human error. We will write a custom essay sample on Human Error and Human-Computer Interaction specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Human Error and Human-Computer Interaction specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Human Error and Human-Computer Interaction specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer There are various areas or fields in which human can occur, and one of these is the errors in Human-computer interaction (HCI). Primarily, the main goal of this paper is to determine the relations of human error with Human-computer interaction. Part of the discussion of the topic is the definition of human error and the types of human errors. This paper also attempts to provide practical examples of human errors and the future perspectives, reduction and prevention of human error. Pertinent conclusion will also be provided to summarize the findings of this report. For many years, many scholars and researchers has been trying to determine the nature and definition of human error. Human error is regarded as departure from expected, desirable and acceptable practice on the individual part which can result in undesirable and unacceptable results or outcome. Accordingly, human error has played a very crucial role in various large-scale hazardous and life-threatening events and occurrences (Reason, 1990). Some researchers believed that human error might not be an accident because of itself but it might be a result of multiple factors which are not able to control (Reason, 1990). As mentioned earlier, human error can error in various fields from military, politics, economic, computer systems, medical fields, engineering and others. It is said that errors, specifically the human errors are rare occurrences as compared with correct actions or successes. The kinds in which errors can take are restricted and may appear in variety of contexts, but only a few behavioral approaches seems to be accountable for all such errors (Rizzo, Bagnara Visciola, 1987). Nonetheless, comparable types of errors can be seen in perception, speech, problem solving, decision making and actions. However, human errors are less likely to happen tasks are automatic or skilled based such as driving, than when the action call for a rule or process to be considered. It is noted that those actions which call for the utilization of knowledge to solve new issues and conflicts are regarded as the most vulnerable tasks to human errors. The reason for this is because knowledge, like principle, should be translated into correct course of concrete actions, hence, error can be encountered in this translation process (Bogner, 1994). An error has always been attributed to a mismatch of the computer system to human nature and capabilities (Rasmussen, 1987). To illustrate, controversies, technical problem, lost files, or other mistakes in relation to the use of computers are often blamed to either the machine or the human. Errors paved the way to the creation of back up files, for example, and the improvement and innovation of machines to assist humans in working or accomplishing their tasks faster and easier. Human error definition has not only been the subject of the interest of the scholars and researchers but also the types of human error. According to some scholars there are two types of human errors in accordance with the systematic causes of failure. These types of human error include the active errors and latent errors. As Reason (1990) has noted, active errors are errors whose effects are immediately felt. Such errors include syntax error which prevents the efficient compilation or invalid algorithms. On the other hand, Reason (1990) has defined latent errors as errors in which adverse consequences may lie dormant within the system for a long period, and only becomes obvious when such is combined with other factors to hinder the defenses of the system. Aside from Reason, Rasmussen (1982) has also been able to provide other types of human error and these include knowledge based, rule based and skill based human error (see Appendix 1). The taxonomy of human errors is needed when discussing or understanding errors that people encounter with the use of machine. Examples of errors include functionality problems, usability problems, inefficiency, and interaction problems. Functionality Problems Functionality problems refer to the mismatch between the task and the program. This mismatch occurs when ones plan has not been accomplished or one’s goal has not been achieved with the use of particular computer program. Functionality problems are classified according to technical criteria like origin in the process of software development and consequences for the action process (see Appendix 2; Brodbeck et al. , 1992). Usability Problems Although the functionality of a computer program is sufficient for a certain task, errors still occur. They can be caused by a mismatch between user and computer, called mismatch of usability. From an action-theory perspective, mismatches of usability can be differentiated according to steps in the action process and different levels of action regulation. A common hypothesis in action theory is that actions are goal-oriented (Volpert et al. , 1987). Within this approach, the action process comprises goal and plan development, the execution of actions as well as monitoring, and feedback processes (Lewis Norman, 1986). Similar to Hacker (1986), three levels of action regulation are distinguished within the framework of hierarchically organized action plans and goals. There are at least three aspects of the knowledge base for regulation: knowledge of facts, knowledge of procedures, and understanding in the sense of mental models. This knowledge is used to develop goals and plans. Errors arising from usability problems include errors in knowledge, thought, memory, judgment, errors on the level of flexible action patterns habit, omission, recognition, and sensimotor (see Appendix 3. Knowledge errors occur when one is unable to do a task with the computer because one does not know certain commands, function keys, rules, and so forth. Thought errors occur when goals and plans are inadequately developed or when wrong decisions are made in the assignment of plans and subplans although the user knows all the necessary features of the system. Memory errors occur when a certain part of the plan is forgotten and not executed, although the goals and plans were initially correctly specified. Judgment errors appear when one cannot understand or interpret the computer feedback after an input. Errors on the level of flexible action patterns occur when well-known actions are performed. Habit errors imply that a correct action is performed in a wrong situation. Omission errors happen when a person does not execute a well-known subplan. This is most likely when the person is interrupted in an action plan. Recognition errors appear when a well-known message is not noticed or is confused with another one. Finally, sensorimotor errors are placed at the sensorimotor level. There is only one category here because, at this level, it is empirically difficult to differentiate among planning, monitoring, and feedback (see Appendix 4; Brodbeck et al. , 1992). Inefficiency Errors and inefficient behavior have a large conceptual overlap. A detour to reach a goal may be conceptualized as an inefficiency but also as an error, because usually ones goal is to proceed in the most straightforward manner. If there is any differentiation between the two terms, inefficiency could be formally defined as any deviation from an optimal action path (Volpert et al. , 1981). However, this conceptualization has its difficulties: it may be more cost effective, in the psychological sense, to use a strategy that is inefficient in the formal sense because setting up plans and differentiated calculations for them also imply psychological costs (Schonpflug, 1985). Interaction Problems Interaction problems suggest that human error occurs not because of individual problems with the computer, but because of the mismatch between individuals. Although the individuals actions are more or less correct, an error occurs because of an organizational lack of coordination, unclear task allocation, or because of lack of communication between individuals (Brodbeck et al. , 1992).

The Commonly Confused Wait and Weight

The Commonly Confused Wait and Weight The words wait and weight are homophones: they sound alike but have different meanings. The verb wait means to stay in place until something else happens. As a noun, wait refers to the time spent waiting. The verb weight means to load down or make heavier. The noun weight refers to a measure of heaviness or to an object used to hold something down. Examples You cant wait for inspiration; you have to go after it with a club. (Jack London)After a long wait for luggage, I took a cab to my hotel.Any object is dragged down when a heavy weight is tied to it. Practice (a) Every year, people make resolutions to exercise and lose _____.(b) I couldnt _____ for success, so I went ahead without it.(c) One end of the belt was attached to a five-pound _____.(d) The _____ was agonizing, and our thirst became almost unbearable. Answers (a) Every year, people make resolutions to exercise and lose  weight.(b) I couldnt  wait  for success, so I went ahead without it.(c) One end of the belt was attached to a five-pound  weight.(d) The  wait  was agonizing, and our thirst became almost unbearable. Glossary of Usage: Index of Commonly Confused Words

Buffer, acid and base Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Buffer, acid and base - Research Paper Example A strong battery acid has less than one pH while a strong base has such as drain cleaner has about 14 pH (Lynnette, 2009). On the other side pOH is a measure of the concentration of hydroxide ions, alkalinity or OH-. It measures the basicity of a solution according to the dictionary of Chemistry. pOH is not measured independently rather it is derived from pH. The difference between the two can be described as pH means the H+ ion concentration which indicates the acidic nature of compound while pOH means the concentration of OH- ion which indicates the basic nature of the compound. The following equation will help us to know about both pH and pOH that how they make a 14 point scale for measuring the alkalinity/basicity or acidity of a substance. In the human body, all fluids are aqueous. It is a solvent that is only present in water. That means all body fluids have pH value either narrow or wide range. Scientific researches claim that the pH range of blood should be slightly basic i.e. from 7.35-7.45. If the range sees drastic change, it is very likely to cause illness or death as so much acidity and basicity is injurious for health. The Arrhenius definition for acids states that acids produce hydrogen ions in aqueous solutions or when they are added to water. Acids release Hydrogen ion (H+). An acid reacts with magnesium, zinc or aluminum and forms hydrogen (H2(g)). It also reacts with such compounds that contain CO32-Â  and carbon dioxide and water is produced. Acids can corrode metals, eat them away to weaken. Acids are so powerful that they can conduct electricity. They are found in car batteries that are so powerful to run the car. An acid turns the litmus paper into red. It is sour in nature and found in many natural fruits and vegetables e.g. lemons have citric acid. In a laboratory, it is very dangerous to taste acid. In kitchens, we find vinegar, a type of acid. It is acetic acid that gives vinegar a sour taste (Lynnette,

Research and development of media projects. topic about feminism Essay

Research and development of media projects. topic about feminism - Essay Example They were searching for ace ladies without against men with a stance on post-feminism (Litosseliti. 2014, p. 11). The use of term post-feminism appeared in 1980s describing the backlash against second-wave feminism and now it has become a label for a wide range of theories that are critically examining the previous feminist discourses and challenges of second-wave feminism. The media has played a vital role in post feminism as according to Patricia Bradley the movement of feminism was highly packed with the mass media. Feminism believe that the media had presented the women in a manner that was only limited to the cleaner, housekeeper, domestic servant and the sex object to serve the men’s sexual needs. However the medias role also promoted the positive role so that the female could be able to show her abilities in other sectors of life. In the 1960s the female was limited to playing only one role as getting married in her early age of 20 and started her family life being turned into a woman maintaining & keeping house up, taking care the kids of her man and providing the services to her man. Her devotion was limited to her home and she could not be able to expect a lot from her life. Females were legally subjected to her husband via â€Å"head of the family† and there was no right a woman had in terms of property or other legal rights from her husband’s property. The 38% women were limited to the jobs of teaching, nursing or secretary only. In 1960 the percentage of female doctors were 6%, lawyers 3% and the engineers were less than 1%. (Litosseliti. 2014, p. 8). Post-feminism is known as a response against the contradictions that were seen and unlucky deficiencies of the second-wave feminism. It however, speaks to the accomplishment of feminism in the achievements of its objective. The term was utilized generally to represent a contrast with predominating

Why did (west) Germany experience a smoother consolidation of Essay

Why did (west) Germany experience a smoother consolidation of democracy after World War Two than has Mexico more recently - Essay Example democracy can be used to define the power of the people to elect the government representative that is capable of enacting just judgment without prejudice and hate freely. A democratic society allows individuals to experience the freedom without limitations on the choices they make in achieving progress. The people are the makers of a nation, and their policies need to be met without causing discomfort to attribute a free society. Dictatorship, corruption and poor power delegation have been some measures that have led to the unjust policies that limit democracy. Once democracy is achieved, individuals are capable of having their demands met by the government selected and express their desire openly through the personality that they have elected or through the free media. Monarchy and a dictatorship-filled government have been expressed as the systems that limit public participation in policymaking. Germany had defined the society that lacks democracy under their tyrannical leader Hit ler. Hitler had implemented efforts to conquer the world and ruled his nation with policies that he had formulated to benefit his selfish desires. On the other hand, Mexico has been struggling to achieve development even after achieving independence from the Spanish to define a poverty level that warrants intervention. This paper compares the democracy achievement of (west) Germany as compared to the modern day Mexico. Second World War, 1939-1945 had been blamed on the efforts by Hitler to expand his boundaries and gain domination of the world. Hitler had been defeated to lead to the rise of a new Germany attributed to the republic of Bonn (Prowe 1985, p451). This period had been marked with a period of crisis, which was mostly marked with increased political and social chaos. The nation had been used to the rule of the dictator who gave limited room for expression and discriminated against the Jews who were in war against the Nazi. The compositions that had defined Germany had been

Impact On The Natural Environment Construction Essay

Impact On The Natural Environment Construction Essay The building sector has a significant impact on the natural environment. It consumes almost 33 of the worlds natural resources, including 40 of its energy and up to 12% of its water. These estimates do not consider embodied energy (i.e. the energy used to obtain, manufacture, use and dispose of building materials), which can represent a significant proportion of a buildings lifetime energy consumption. The building sector is also responsible for 40% of global green-house gas (GHG) emissions and 40% of the waste which ends up in the landfills (World Green Building Council, 2006). The consumption of natural resources, particularly none-renewable energy sources, is an important factor in the economy of many nations. Authorative reports show such trends in many parts of the world. In the United Kingdom, for instance, the building sector consumes almost 50% of all the countrys energy. While in the United States, about 40% of the total national energy production and almost 70% of electrici ty production is used in the building sector, as well as 28% in transportation a factor which is partly influenced by urban design. The building sector in China currently accounts for 19% of the countrys total energy consumption. This relatively small percentage is due to energy intensive industrial production. The same scenario occurs in the rich oil-producing areas of the Gulf Corporation Council Countries (GCCC). For example, the building sector in Kuwait account for nearly 45% of the yearly electric energy consumption, whilst in Saudi Arabia this sector consumes about 70% of the total electricity consumption. In Bahrain, the smallest country within the GCCC, buildings account for 83% of the national consumption of electricity (EIA, 2010). Apart from its energy consumption, the building sector is also one of the largest contributors to changes in the environment and atmosphere: firstly, building construction, raw material processing and product manufacturing overall are the largest sources of GHGs. They account for some 40% of the world GHGs emissions. The building sector creates the most waste, habitat destruction and is responsible for the most pollution. Second, GHGs, particularly CO2, are the main by-product of fossil fuel energy consumption, and as buildings are, in total, among the largest consumers of energy, they are also the major contributor to the increase in CO2 emissions and hence global warming. While most available data related to these contributions are for the developed world, reports show that, on the whole, these contributions are worse in developing countries such as the GCCC. These countries have become major GHGs emitters. According to the International Panel of Climate Chang (2007), the GCCC are amongst the top countries in terms of CO2 emissions per capita. Recent statistics show an increase of CO2 emissions due to excessive energy consumption in different GCCC sectors, particularly the building sector. The increase in CO2 emissions had been within the range of 30-35% between 1997 and 2006. The GCCC are found to contribute two and half per cent of the global GHG emissions (United Nations Statistic Division, 2007). One of the main principles of the GCCC is to enhance the economic and environmental actions related to the adoption of policies and unifying environmental laws as well as the conservation of natural resources (GCC, 2008). Within this context a two-fold policy aims at promoting energy regulations and sustainable developments has been adopted. A major role has been given to the building sector, with a special focus on the important role that efficiency regulations can play in reducing energy consumption and protecting the environment. On the ground, some actions have been taken by the GCCC in order to achieve sustainability in buildings, such as the implementation of green building regulations. Most of these regulations are based on the USAs Green Building Councils (US GBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, with modifications made to account for the local environmental conditions. In terms of green construction, many attempts have been made in different parts of the GCCC. Examples can be seen in the Bahrain World Trade Centre in Manama, the large-scale Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, the campus of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia and the Energy City in Qatar. These projects incorporate several efficiency techniques and green materials. A consideration of these huge, costly projects shows that three parties can benefit from such developments: governments and owners can save energy and protect the environment, thereby gaining a favourable image; contracto rs and suppliers can sell green products and developers can use the affirmative image as a positive marketing tool. However, in his article The Business of Green Elsheshtawy (2010) claims that some green and LEED certified buildings in the GCCC end up consuming much more energy than the evaluators predicted due to poor energy practices. Coupled with this is the economics of energy efficiency and green buildings. Cost of building green A great number of available projects, such as those mentioned above, shows that if building green is a target at the outset of the design process and material selection then the cost of the green building is competitive. In a commercial setting, such projects can result in reduced energy consumption, saved environment, improved occupant health and comfort and reduced capital costs. Many rigorous assessments show that the overall cost of these projects is no more than that of any equivalent conventional project. Increases in first cost are reported within the range from five-ten per cent. During the construction phase the use of the green strategies, such as downsizing of costly mechanical, electrical and structural systems can increase the saving in initial costs, while during the first two decades the increases due to the use of green technologies will result in a savings of at least ten times the initial investment in operation costs for utilities such as electricity. In rental pro perties, owners are concerned only with the initial cost, especially in the cases where tenants are paying the bills. Governments and some owners, however, can realise the energy savings and so are willing to pay more for minimising the operation cost and reducing the environmental impact. The trade-off between economic costs and environmental benefits can stimulate people on the basis that adoption of green technologies will have environmental and social benefits outside the margin of cost consideration. Although the concept of eco-efficiency, in many cases, does not take into account the social benefits, such an approach can balance environmental design with cost-effectiveness. To achieve eco-efficiency in the building sector, it is necessary to apply an integrated approach with the assistance of a team of professionals across different areas. This is realised in what is called the whole building approach. This approach represents a key factor in the design and construction of green buildings, especially with the advance of technology and increased complexity of constructional systems. The incorporation of the whole building approach at the projects conceptual design phase enables the evaluation of a buildings design, materials and systems from the perspectives of all the project team members as well as from the perspectives of owners and occupants. A principal advantage of this approach is the coordination and mutual dialogue between project team members, which represent a cornerstone for any successful projects. By applying the whole building approach initial and other cost savings can be realised, energy efficiency evaluated and environmental impact asse ssed. The role of cladding systems in making buildings green Green buildings are generally designed and built in an ecological and resources-efficient manner. They often respond to their local environment and, therefore, different building designs are found in different regions. In any region, however, the ultimate target of green buildings is to provide a comfortable environment in an economic way. The buildings skin, particularly building facade, represents the connection between the internal environment and the outside conditions, and hence a key function of the building facade is to reduce the need to modify the indoor environment as little as possible in response to the environmental load from the outdoor climate. Sometimes, a building facade fails to meet its objective due to one or more reasons, such as the insufficient design of wall systems or the inappropriate selection of cladding materials that probably make it impossible for any specific level of comfortable environment to be achieved. Then, it is necessary to rely upon electrical and mechanical systems to achieve comfort. This reliance leads to higher cost which is translated into bigger capacity requirements for lighting and mechanical equipment and higher capital costs for such equipment as well as larger amounts of energy consumption by the lighting system and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system. In contrast, efficient environmental design and appropriate selection of green cladding materials can result in a comfortable inside environment, reduced project initial and running costs and a building that is energy and resource-efficient with lower operating costs than conventional buildings. Practitioners have demonstrated that the implementation of green strategies contributes to a buildings comfort, economic and energy performance. The use of green cladding systems, in particular, is able to make a significant impact on the thermal and operational performance of green buildings. Reports show that when green cladding systems are taken in to account at the conceptual design phase, significant improvements in the energy performance can be achieved (Radhi and Sharples, 2008). Aside from their influence on building operational energy, the external wall systems and cladding materials are major contributors to changes in the natural environment. The production of construction materials such as precast and aluminium increases atmospheric concentrations of GHGs. The environmental impact starts with the chemical reactions during the production phase, where such materials represent one of the largest source of CO2 emissions and other GHGs. Then, the transportation of the materials to construction sites consumes considerable amounts of primary energy and generates high levels of GHG emissions. At the installation phase these materials generate different types of waste, whilst at the operation phase some of them influence the interior and exterior spaces by producing unhealthy components into the air. Some construction materials have relatively short useful lives and, consequently, the disposal and manufacture of replacement materials occurs, thereby generating mo re GHGs and waste. Research experts have shown that a careful selection of low environmental impact components and materials reduces the CO2 emissions by up to 30%. Some cladding materials are reported to have the capacity to reduce ozone emissions and other sources of pollutants such as CO2 (Radhi, 2010). How can the eco-efficiency of cladding systems be measured? The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD, 2000) terms eco-efficiency as the synthesis of economic and environmental efficiency in parallel. Within this context, eco-efficiency in the building sector can be determined by three broad objectives: Reduce natural resources consumption by minimising the use of embodied and operational energy, raw materials, water and land as well as enhancing recyclability and material durability Reduce environmental impact by minimising GHGs emissions, waste disposal, water discharges and the dispersion of toxic substances, as well as encouraging the use of renewable resources. Increase the value of materials and systems by providing more benefits through material functionality, flexibility and modularity. In the light of these objectives the important question is how the eco-efficiency of cladding systems can be measured. Significant scientific work has been addressing this issue by introducing suitable assessment methodologies and rating systems. This is best seen in the environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) and life-cycle cost (LCC) approaches developed by the international standards for LCA principles and framework ISO 14040 (ISO14040, 2006). Assessment is performed in four phases, including goal and scope definition, inventory analysis, impact assessment and interpretation. Two main approaches are available to classify and characterise environmental impacts. The first is the problem-oriented approach (mid-point). The second is the damage-oriented approach (end-point). A great number of methods have been developed under these two approaches such as the critical volumes (weighted load) and ecological scarcity (eco-points) systems in Switzerland, environmental priorities system in Sweden, eco-indicator 99 in Netherlands and the environmental problems system in the United States. The use of such methods makes it possible to select building systems and materials that achieve the most appropriate balance between environmental and economic performance based on certain values of the building team. Case study: assessing eco-efficiency of cladding systems in Bahrain The current assessment, based on the LCA of residential buildings (Radhi and Sharples, 2012), is performed to characterise the eco-efficiency of cladding systems in Bahrain. Bahrain is chosen as many of its building construction approaches and techniques are typical of those found in the GCCC. The production, construction, use and disposal of a 75 m2 front facade of a typical Bahraini house (Fig. 24.1), formed the basis of this assessment. Technically, the building facade consisted of two main components that included the wall system and cladding layers. The wall system is generally classified as cavity wall, barrier wall or mass wall (National Institute of Building Sciences, 2012). The cavity wall (sometimes called the screen wall system) is the preferred method of construction in many climatic regions due primarily to its ability to achieve pressure-equalisation. The barrier wall is an exterior wall system of assembly. The principal difference of this system is its ability to integ rate the surfaces of outermost exterior wall and construction joints, which can offer resistance to bulk moisture ingress. The mass wall relies principally upon a combination of wall thickness and storage capacity. Some fundamental differences exist among these systems such as the thermal performance, fire safety, moisture protection, acoustics, maintainability and material durability, and so consequently their impact on the environment. In terms of cladding, it is the exterior finish layer that is installed to cover wall systems and/or support structures. This finish layer serves several functions, including improving appearance, optimising thermal and environmental performance and keeping undesirable outdoor elements away. Today cladding systems are available in many forms and materials, which are often chosen based on economic and aesthetic factors. Structurally, the use of any alternatives of cladding determines the type of wall system and vice versa. The mass wall system, for example, can form structural elements or finished cladding systems. This system is commonly associated with plaster and masonry cladding systems. On the other hand, the barrier wall is used with precast concrete spandrel panels and some types of metal cladding systems such as composite and solid metal plate as well as with exterior insulation and finish systems (EIFS). With the advance in building technology and construction materials, many alternatives of cladding systems are now available in the market. Examples are studied in the current work, namely, stucco, masonry veneer, marble, ceramic tile and the EIFS. Stucco is a hard, dense, thick and non-insulating material, such as cement plaster, that can be used to cover exterior wall surfaces. Both Portland cement and masonry cement are used with sand for the base and finish coats of stucco exterior walls. Unlike the ordinary stucco system, the EIFS (also known as synthetic stucco) is a lightweight synthetic wall cladding that includes foam plastic insulation and thin synthetic coatings. The masonry veneer is made from a mixture of Portland cement and aggregates under controlled conditions. It provides cladding and resists transferring wind and heat loads to the building support structure. The marble cladding system is a natural stone, while the ceramic tile cladding system consists of a mixture of clay and other ceramic materials. To improve environmental and thermal performance, recycled windshield glass is often added to the ceramic mix (Brookes and Meijs, 2008). These five cladding systems are assessed under real construction and thermal scenarios with the same wall system (mass wall), as illustrated in Fig. 24.2. To provide each scenario with the basic systems quantities per functional unit, the existing facade parameters and wall materials of the typical house are considered as a reference scenario, in addition to the operational aspects that are influenced by the building facade. Data inventory of cladding systems The LCA method and LCC technique are integrated to deliver a complete and detailed assessment of the overall potential impact of the typical house. An important point to note is that system and material selection based on a single impact could obscure other factors that might cause equal or greater damage. Therefore, the adopted LCA methodology takes a multidimensional life-cycle approach, in which multiple environmental impacts are considered over the entire life of the assessed cladding systems. To balance the assessment, the LCC is performed over a 60 year life span, and is based on published data and methods outlined in (Radhi 2010). Categories of expenditure typically include costs for purchase, installation, maintenance, repair and replacement. Measuring the economic performance is relatively straightforward by using real cost data collected through a field study. The data in question are the real cost data that occur and the subsequent cost, which will occur in the future. Normalisation is carried out in this work in order to present a more useful scale of measurement and to make comparisons of various systems simpler. Normalisation is an optional step in impact assessment and can be described as a form of benchmarking, where the flows of each environmental impact are first summed and then divided by fixed Bahraini scale impact values. This can yield measures that are placed in the context of Bahraini activity contributing to that impact. The placing of each measure in the context of its associated Bahraini impact measure makes it possible to reduce different values to the same scale and allows the comparison across impacts. The resulting performance measures are, thus, expressed in non-commensurate units. For credibility, the commercially available BEES model (National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2007) for building construction materials coupled with the international inventory data (Hammond Jones, 2011) were used to compare and check. The BEES model is generally used to measure the environmental and energy performance of building products and facade materials using the life cycle assessment approach outlined in ISO standard 14040. Environmental impact assessment Given the desire to link environmental and economic performance through the concept of eco-efficiency, the ideal way is to base the eco-efficiency indicators on international agreement as far as possible. According to the framework of the United Nations (2006), the assessment of eco-efficiency includes various generic environmental issues such as energy use, global warming contribution, water use, ozone depletion substance and waste. From these indicators, energy consumption and CO2 emissions, water use and ecological toxicity are of the greatest relevance for this study. Fig. 24.3 compares these indicators with respect to the five studied cladding systems. Some of these systems, such as the marble cladding, have significant impacts on water use but moderate impacts on global warming and embodied energy. Other systems, such as stucco, have a significant impact on both the energy consumption and global warming but a minor impact on water use. The others, such as the EIFS, have a minor impact on different generic environmental issues. From the illustration, the EIFS system seems to be the best performer, followed by the ceramic tiles, marble and finally the brick. Stucco is found to be the least effective system in terms of energy consumption and ecological toxicity as well as in relation to CO2 emissions. This can be related to the large amounts of CO2 emissions during cement production, which is the main component of the plaster cladding system. Environmental versus economic When the overall environmental impact of the examined systems is considered, a different scenario occurs. The overall environmental performance is illustrated in Fig. 24.4. Two main observations can be highlighted: firstly, the overall environmental performance ranking of the five systems is different from single measures such energy use and global warming. The EIFS cladding system is the best environmental performer, whilst the ceramic tile system is the worst performer. The difference is more than 24 points. As systems with lower scores are greener, the EIFS cladding system is greener because it contributes, on average, 0.1% of annual per capita Bahrain environmental impacts, whilst the marble contributes a larger share, 0.35%. Secondly, the environmental performance ranking is different from that of the economic performance. The illustration shows that the economic impacts of cladding systems are various and different from the environmental impacts. For example, the stucco claddin g is illustrated as the best economic performer, but it is not in terms of the environmental performance. The difference in score is significant, being almost 11 points. This can be also seen in the case of the ceramic tile cladding. In contrast, the marble cladding achieves a high overall environmental performance and a low economic performance with a difference that reaches almost 21%. The EIFS cladding seems to have a balanced environmental and economic status. The same ranking occurs when both environmental and economic performance are estimated. By using the multi-attribute decision analysis technique, environmental indicators and the economic performance are combined into an overall performance measure (National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2007). It is important to mention that the overall performance scores in this work are not indications of absolute performance. Rather, they are reflecting proportional differences in performance and representing relative performance among system alternatives. By following this procedure, these scores can be changed when the number of system alternatives are increased or reduced. The potential overall performance of the studied systems shows different scenarios when compared with the environmental and economic performances. The stucco cladding seems to be the most eco-efficient systems in spite of its poor environmental performance, followed by the EFIS system with a score of 29%, with the masonry veneer coming next. In contrast, the ceramic tile cladding is found to be the wor st with almost 50%, in spite of its moderate economic performance. Overall, different cladding systems have different environmental and economic performances. Some cladding materials improve the environmental performance, but provide a moderate influence in terms of economic performance, and vice versa. Others positively improve the environmental performance and can optimise the economic performance. Therefore, a careful eco-efficiency assessment should be undertaken in selecting wall cladding systems. Such an assessment can benefit the appraisal of green cladding systems and hence into the design decisions made in developing various scale of green buildings. Conclusion Todays modern buildings systems, particularly cladding system, are often selected and assessed based on aesthetics and cost rather than their environmental performance or their overall potential impact. The concept of eco-efficiency introduced in this book balances the environmental performance with economic aspects. This chapter presented a systematic eco-efficiency assessment of cladding systems and explored its role progressing a green future in the building sector. The interrelation between environmental indicators and economic performance was examined by comparing various cladding systems, considering both overall environmental impact indicators and life cycle cost. The differences in environmental indicators of various cladding systems, namely, stucco, masonry veneer, marble, ceramic tile and the EIFS systems, are generally significant. The ranking of these systems in terms of environmental and economic performance are different. Some of the cladding systems, such as the marble cladding, reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions, but provide a minor reduction in terms of the life cycle cost, and vice versa. Others, such as the EFIS system, impact positively upon the environmental indicators and can optimise the overall potential impact. This system has the ability to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions; however, other aspects, such as maintenance and life expectancy, should be considered at the time of system selection. The scope of the current study focused on the eco-efficiency of representative residential cladding system in a developing country. Consequently, the outcome of this assessment may not be applied to buildings in countries with different economic and environmental situation. In spite of this shortcoming, this assessment approach may provide useful quantitative and qualitative information for cladding design decisions. Therefore, it is important to highlight some general notes: New green building technologies, such as the exterior insulation and finish systems (EIFS), are effective cladding systems in promoting a green future in the residential building sector. To improve the overall potential impact, wall cladding systems in desert climate regions, such as Bahrain, can be designed as exterior insulation and finish systems. Every building is unique in both design and operation. Academic experts and practitioners benefiting from this work should consider the impact of related variables, and therefore a careful assessment must be performed during the selection process in order to achieve eco-efficiency in the building sector. In addition to its ability to assess building cladding systems, the eco-efficiency concept can be used with various other systems, materials and innovative applications. It can yield a precise assessment in the case of multifunctional problems in relatively short times and at relatively low cost. In the near future the concept of eco-efficiency will become more important in the context of the green built environment in order to show which design process, building systems and renewable technologies are more favourable than other alternatives.

The Four Functions of Management Essay example -- Business Management

The Four Functions of Management The four functions of management include planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Each provide the fundamentals needed in a company that is just starting or a company that has been established for many years. Planning is specifying the goals to be achieved and deciding in advance the appropriate actions needed to achieve those goals. Planning activities include analyzing current situations, anticipating the future, determining objectives, deciding in what types of activities the company will engage, choosing corporate and business strategies, and determining the resources needed to achieve the organization’s goals. Plans set the stage for action and for major achievements (Bateman, Snell, 43). At Pritchard Engineering, Inc., we are a service-oriented, not product, team that strives to provide the best for our clients. Our staff department heads meet every Monday morning to discuss what projects we will be working on and completing for the upcoming week. We have a round-table discussion to prioritize what areas are most important to the least important. Organizing is assembling and coordinating the human, financial, physical, informational, and other resources needed to achieve goals. Organizing activities include attracting people to the organization, specifying job responsibilities, grouping jobs into work units, marshaling and allocating resources, and creating conditions so that people and things work together t...

Research Study on Gender Bias in Education Essay

These instructions were used as a form of deception to prove my hypothesis. My hypothesis was that women would be more affected by this deception than would the men. My results proved otherwise. Results showed there was little difference in the way the women and men performed on these tests on either version. The ANOVA testing showed these clear results. Does Performance Reflect Success? Gender biases are present in the American culture. Women are put in a stereotype as the one to stay at home cleaning and cooking while men are believed to have to bring home the paychecks. How we live though is not the only area with gender biases. There are biases when it comes to sports, who can do what jobs and even education. Women are believed to be better at the education aspects having to do with words and comprehension while men are believed to be better at numbers or math. In the research world there is much controversy on whether the bias presented is true or not. Researchers have not been able to support this belief or disregard it due to the many conflicting results. A study done with the purpose of determining whether gender expectations still exist in present time, resulted in the idea that more and more genders are becoming equal in education (Jordan 2008). It was found that both sexes are more likely than ever to complete their high school education and even be able to obtain higher degree. The study also showed the gender gap in scores on the National Association of Education Progress becoming more and more narrow over time. Jordan does not refute the idea of gender bias in education but supported the idea that it is diminishing. These two researchers on the other hand, Fisher (2008) and Johnston (2005), have studies supporting their beliefs that gender biases in teaching are simply a myth. Both constructed research to support the idea that neither females nor males perform differently according to gender expectation or that these gender expectations are implemented at all. Fisher more, specifically, researching in math and Johnston in math and education. Chapman (2012) and Goetz (1996) though, both have studies that seem to prove otherwise. Chapman conducted a study, in Canada, which lead to the belief that gender discrepancies in teaching and education focus more positively on females. Chapman believes males are the ones taking losses in education expectancies. Goetz on the other hand, researched and came up with results which led him to believe American educators focus their attention more on males allowing them a positive advantage. After learning so much from previous research it can be accurately inferred that the gender bias in education does exist. A psychologist, Ghandi (2006) stated in his study the truth behind the bias. He used this truth to conduct a study in which he found that women not only believe the bias but are subject to it when they are told they will fail due to their gender. This particular study is what laid down the foundation for my research study. All of the above researchers knew the biased existed and all tried to support it or disprove it. This research project has one purpose; to find out not if gender biases exist but whether women are affected by these gender based expectations more than men. In many colleges and universities women are very comfortable with their gender; they are powerful, and successful. There are clubs devoted to women’s sexuality, success, and even fashion senses. There are awards given to women who have gotten superior grades, been offered great jobs, or are simply a success. Knowing this, what I want to learn is whether these women who are so highly praised and allowed the same success as men are still subjects to gender based expectations, more specifically in learning and education. In my study I will be deceiving the participants into thinking that only women will be successful in this study or to another group I will be saying only men will be successful. The way this will be done is by using simple high school level math tests. Before he test I will be falsely informing half of my participants (equal number of females and males) that only men will pass this test, and then I will repeat this with the other half of my participants but falsely informing them of the opposite. The fact that I will play on women’s vulnerability will allow me to learn whether these very empowered and successful women will still be so after being told th ey will fail before even trying. My hypothesis is that these women will be affected by such a statistic and depending on the false statistic they get, they will fulfill it. Methods Participants Forty eight undergraduate volunteers (24 males and 24 females) from Bryant University took part in this study. The average age of participants was recorded at 20. 22 years (SD=1. 13). No cultural or ethnic backgrounds were recorded. With help from different psychology professors a general description was given out within psychology classes and volunteers were recruited. To these participants in particular extra credit was allotted. The rest of the participants were recruited through word of mouth and e-mail in which they were once again given a general description of the study and asked whether they would be willing to volunteer. Each participant was tested individually and required approximately 15 minutes to complete study. Materials The study consisted of participants completing a standardized math test, four survey questions, and a deceptive article which can all be found in the appendix. The math test was found in an SAT math test practice site. This math test worked as the channel for the dependent variable (result on the test). The survey questions asked were simply used for collecting information. The questions did not ask sensitive information or anything that would put any participant at risk. Finally, the short article was written by myself and is completely fictional. It falsely informed the participants on information regarding SAT tests and reported false statistics on men outperforming women for half of the studies and the opposite for the other half. This was used as the deception part of the research which inconspicuously provided the participant with the independent variable (whether females or males pass this test) Procedures Forty eight students were recruited (24 females and 24 males) from Bryant University as the participants of my study. They were all recruited through psychology classes in which Professors gave a brief overview of what my study entailed and from there proceeded to recruit. The participants recruited in such a manner were rewarded with extra credit points in their class. The rest of the participants were recruited through word of mouth and group e-mails. With each participant recruited I have a brief explanation of what the study was comprised of, what it entailed, and more specifically what each participant would have to contribute. Once I recruited all participants which were necessary I began the research itself. At the start of their participation, each participant was handed a consent for in which they were asked to read thoroughly and if they agreed to the terms and conditions they were to sign and date. In the consent form participants were informed of their ability to leave the study at any time, their entitlement to any information and debriefing, on the confidentiality of the study and many more safety factors. To show the validity of the form I signed and dated on the same page each participant did right in front of them. Each participant agreed to the consent form allowing the study to continue. Once the consent form process was finished I would hand each participant the study packet. At this point they were told that each study was to be completed alone. The packet started off with an article which was entirely false and used to deceive each participant. On it there was made up information on the performance of genders on the SAT test throughout the past years. Each participant was informed that they would not be able to continue with the packet if they did not read these instructions. Once the instructions were read each participant could continue to the next section which consisted of the survey questions. These questions were purely used to collect data for analysis. Once the second part was completed each participant would continue on to the math portion of this study. The math portion of the test was a high school level standardized math test previously tested by college level participants. Each participant completed the math portion and would come to me to hand it in. when each individual would approach me I made sure to let them know the true nature of the study and informed them of the deceit. It was very important that no participant left the study with the false idea of one gender outperforming the other. I made sure each participant was thoroughly debriefed and had any questions they had answered. Results The data were analyzed using an ANOVA with the alpha level set at . 05. The main effect of gender participation was not significant, ? (1,44)=. 12, p=. 73, ? 2=. 003 and the main effect of gender test taking was not significant, ? (1,44)=. 00, p=1. 0, ? 2=. 00. However, the interaction between the gender participation and gender test was marginally significant, ? (1,44)=2. 97, p=. 9, ? 2=. 06. Figure 1 shows a cross-over interaction in which the two variables almost perfectly interact. My hypothesis stated that women’s scores would be more affected by the test gender and the deception then would the men’s. The results of the tests did not vary according to the gender of the participant or gender of the test. My hypothesis was not supported by the above da ta. There was, however, a notable factor in the results and the fact that they were similar in score for both genders. Discussion No significant main effect for test gender or participant gender occurred in this study. When taking a math test right after reading a deceitful article about the tendency of males or females to outperform the opposite sex, neither gender’s score seemed to be affected. This particular result is not what I predicted in my original hypothesis. Straying away from my belief that women would underperform the men once they were deceived into believing they would be outperformed, the results disproved my hypothesis. This outcome is consistent with the research of Fisher (2008) and Johnston (2005) in finding there is no significant gab in the performance of females and males in the subject of math. The results are not consistent though with those findings by Ghandi (2006) a researcher whose findings state that women do poorly on math when they are told their gender is to blame. Some factors which may have led to the inconsistency between my hypothesis and my results can be attributed to the limitation when conducting this research. Being part of such a small university, my research was very limited in the sample size it could use. Three thousand undergraduate students was a small population to choose just forty eight participants from. This also lead to what I believe was a biased sample since each and every participant was also my friend. The fact that the participants had a relationship with me could have caused an over performance level which would not usually happen. Some internal validity which should be looked at was the fact that many variables were simply not recorded. These factors include the race and ethnicity of the participant, whether English was their native language, if they understood the deceiving article in the start, and whether they understood every question asked in the math portion. Another internal validity factor is the way in which data was recorded. If this study were to be repeated, observation should definitely be an alternative way of recording data. There was so much happening as I observed each and every participant complete my study. Participants would get frustrated or smile the whole way through. Sometimes they would try to help each other out when I looked the other way or simply just guessed the answers since they did not want to be taking a math test. Using a standardized that does not give anything in return to these participants, should not have been my only source of data since it was not the best way to find results. Regardless of the limitations, new studies and research in the field of gender differences in education have resulted with outcomes very similar to mine. Although my hypothesis was not supported, the consistency it has with the studies of Fisher (2008) and Johnston (2005) only come to show that this study will be supporting much research in the psychology world. My results will be one more way to support the idea that there is little or no difference in gender performance in math. In addition to replicating my results, future research might extend the finding by examining other subjects in the world of education. Expanding the testing to be possibly in language, critical thinking, sciences and also math may give a better understanding on whether there is a discrepancy in women’s performance when they are told they are going to fail. Future research might also want to expand their sample by moving to younger generations in school, possibly in igh school, and older generations in and out of school. By doing so the outcome may result more accurately and allow a better understanding of the prediction. In conclusion, gender performance on standardized math tests do not have a direct link to the subject or the belief that one gender will outperform the other. After testing 48 participants (24 female and 24 male), giving each the same exact standardized math test but deceiving each to think they would outperform or underperform the opposite sex, no gender seemed to truly outperform. Each gender resulted close to equal. The results did not support my hypothesis but it led the way to a new hypothesis and a completely new approach to this study. References Goetz, J. (1996). In Education Expert: Classroom Gender Bias Persists. Cornell Cronicle. Retrieved from http://www. news. cornell. edu/chronicle/96/4. 25. 96/gender. html. Jordan, J (2008) The Myth of Gender Bias in School. Retrieved March 8, 2012. From http://www. parentdish. com/2008/05/20/the-myth-of-gender-bias-in-school/ Fisher, M (2008) Study: No gender differences in math performance. University of Wisconsin-Madison News. Retrieved from http://www. news. wisc. edu/15412 Johnston, T (2005) No evidence of innate gender differences in math and science, scholars assert. Stanford University News. Retrieved from http://news. stanford. edu/news/2005/february9/math-020905. html Gandhi, U. (2006) Gender bias in math skills doesn’t add up, scientists say. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from http://www. theglobeandmail. com/news/technology/science/article197902. ece Chapman, A. (2012) Gender bias in education. Research Room. Retrieved from http://www. edchange. org/multicultural/papers/genderbias. html Table 1 Cross over interaction [pic] Appendix Survey questions Male/ Female (circle one) Date of Birth __________ Anticipated graduation year __________ Have you ever taken a standardized test (example: SAT) Math questions (standardized test) http://www. majortests. com/sat/problem-solving-test01 1. Of the following, which is greater than ? ? [pic]A. 2/5 [pic]B. 4/7 [pic]C. 4/9 [pic]D. 5/11 [pic]E. 6/13 2. If an object travels at five feet per second, how many feet does it travel in one hour? [pic]A. 30 [pic]B. 300 [pic]C. 720 [pic]D. 1800 [pic]E. 18000 3. What is the average (arithmetic mean) of all the multiples of ten from 10 to 190 inclusive? [pic]A. 90 [pic]B. 95 [pic]C. 100 [pic]D. 105 pic]E. 110 4. A cubical block of metal weighs 6 pounds. How much will another cube of the same metal weigh if its sides are twice as long? [pic]A. 48 [pic]B. 32 [pic]C. 24 [pic]D. 18 [pic]E. 12 5. In a class of 78 students 41 are taking French, 22 are taking German and 9 students are taking both French and German. How many students are not enrolled in either course? [pic]A. 6 [pic]B. 15 [pic]C. 24 [pic]D. 33 [pic]E. 54 6. If f(x) = Â ¦(x? – 50)Â ¦, what is the value of f(-5) ? [pic]A. 75 [pic]B. 25 [pic]C. 0 [pic]D. -25 [pic]E. -75 7. ( v2 – v3 )? = [pic]A. 5 – 2v6 [pic]B. 5 – v6 [pic]C. 1 – 2v6 [pic]D. 1 – v2 pic]E. 1 8. 230 + 230 + 230 + 230 = [pic]A. 8120 [pic]B. 830 [pic]C. 232 [pic]D. 230 [pic]E. 226 [pic] 9. Amy has to visit towns B and C in any order. The roads connecting these towns with her home are shown on the diagram. How many different routes can she take starting from A and returning to A, going through both B and C (but not more than once through each) and not travelling any road twice on the same trip? [pic]A. 10 [pic]B. 8 [pic]C. 6 [pic]D. 4 [pic]E. 2 [pic] 10. In the figure above AD = 4, AB = 3 and CD = 9. What is the area of triangle AEC ? [pic]A. 18 [pic]B. 13. 5 [pic]C. 9 [pic]D. 4. 5 [pic]E. 3

Free Essays on Managing the Outsourcing Process

MANAGING THE OUTSOURCING PROCESS Introduction Outsourcing is a management strategy that helps organizations to focus on their core competences in order to gain a competitive advantage and to provide non-core functions or activities with efficient vendors. Outsourcing represents a sophisticated relationship between the organization and the vendor. Outsourcing process helps the organization to find its outsourcing vendor. Outsourcing process, which should include nine steps, is very, impotant in order to select the right vendor for the organization. (Arslantaà ¾ 1999): STEPS OUTSOURCING PROCESS 1st step Requiring Outsourcing 2nd step Defining Organization’s Needs 3rd step Making Outsourcing Decision 4th step Evaluating Outsourcing Strategy 5th step Formulating Request for Proposal 6th step Evaluating Vendors 7th step Selecting The Best One Among Vendors 8th step Negotiating Contract with The Vendor 9th step Building and Managing Effective Relationship with The Vendor Exhibit 1. Outsourcing Process (Arslantaà ¾ 1999) A-Requiring Outsourcing There are many reasons for an organization to consider outsourcing. Organizations require outsourcing in order to (Arslantaà ¾ 1999); achieve strategic goals reduce costs reduce investment expenditures improve core competence reduce risk downsize and increase flexibility accelerate reengineering benefits access the world class capabilities manage out of control function access to improved technology transfer assets increase quality redirect resources manage financial resources available. B-Defining Organization’s Needs When organizations require outsourcing, they should define their organizations’ needs. Especially, top managers determine which functions or activities should be completed internally and whi... Free Essays on Managing the Outsourcing Process Free Essays on Managing the Outsourcing Process MANAGING THE OUTSOURCING PROCESS Introduction Outsourcing is a management strategy that helps organizations to focus on their core competences in order to gain a competitive advantage and to provide non-core functions or activities with efficient vendors. Outsourcing represents a sophisticated relationship between the organization and the vendor. Outsourcing process helps the organization to find its outsourcing vendor. Outsourcing process, which should include nine steps, is very, impotant in order to select the right vendor for the organization. (Arslantaà ¾ 1999): STEPS OUTSOURCING PROCESS 1st step Requiring Outsourcing 2nd step Defining Organization’s Needs 3rd step Making Outsourcing Decision 4th step Evaluating Outsourcing Strategy 5th step Formulating Request for Proposal 6th step Evaluating Vendors 7th step Selecting The Best One Among Vendors 8th step Negotiating Contract with The Vendor 9th step Building and Managing Effective Relationship with The Vendor Exhibit 1. Outsourcing Process (Arslantaà ¾ 1999) A-Requiring Outsourcing There are many reasons for an organization to consider outsourcing. Organizations require outsourcing in order to (Arslantaà ¾ 1999); achieve strategic goals reduce costs reduce investment expenditures improve core competence reduce risk downsize and increase flexibility accelerate reengineering benefits access the world class capabilities manage out of control function access to improved technology transfer assets increase quality redirect resources manage financial resources available. B-Defining Organization’s Needs When organizations require outsourcing, they should define their organizations’ needs. Especially, top managers determine which functions or activities should be completed internally and whi...

Promoting A Healthy Environment For Children The Role of the Practitioner Essays

Promoting A Healthy Environment For Children The Role of the Practitioner Essays Promoting A Healthy Environment For Children The Role of the Practitioner Essay Promoting A Healthy Environment For Children The Role of the Practitioner Essay My first piece of evidence is a Cleves Cross dinner menu, which displays the food that will be served to the children throughout the week. It displays a variety of foods which will suit the childrens daily intake as they are rich is carbohydrates, sugars, vitamins and minerals. Every meal will come with clean drinking water to fulfil a childs right to clean water. Each meal now also comes with a health nutritious salad or numerous vegetables such as broccoli or carrots, this enables children to stay fit and healthy. It is the role of the practitioner to plan and cook these meals daily for every child to ensure that every child has a nutritious meal so that children get their Guided Daily Amount (GDA) of nutrients and so they have the energy to participate in fun stimulating activities. If children have allergies or disliking in the food then it is the role of the practitioner to plan suitable alternatives which will provide them with the necessary nutrition, for example in my first placement Child A was a vegetarian and does not like to consume any meat or fish and that he does not like milk which was being served, so my supervisor and myself had to plan a substitute food and drink to give to him instead of serving him the tuna. This was discussed with another member of staff that usually prepares the meals and we decided that providing him with cheese and orange juice would be a suitable substitute for the tuna and milk, as it will provide him with the necessary nutrition that tuna would, such as protein, calcium and Vitamin C. It is the role of the practitioner to review the Childrens Dietary Needs file before a meal is served, to observe any dietary needs of the children within the setting and appropriate planning and action must be taken to suit these needs. It is also my role to act as a role model and eat healthy food with these children, as they will witness me doing this and imitate me according to Skinners imitation theory. [E8] Practitioners must know the specific needs of every child so that they can suit these needs to help them develop to the best of their ability, so practitioners must listen carefully to parents to respect and act professional about these needs. I learnt that practitioners must also follow inclusions polices to stop a child from feeling excluded, for example when serving the cheese to the child many other child has asked for some cheese too but I explained to them that it was just for Child A as they all had tuna, and they were all happy to eat the tuna instead, this ensures that everyone felt included and all had something to eat and drink. My second piece of evidence in a Fire evacuation procedure, this clearly shows step by step instructions about what to do if a fire occurs; these are placed all over the school in case of a fire. It is the role of the practitioner to create and put up these instructions all over the school to protect the children in case there is a fire, practitioners must also have regular fire drills and tests to ensure that all the alarms work correctly and teach every child how to line up and evacuate the building without panicking or getting upset. In my placement the teachers also arranged a visit from the local fire fighting team to come and give and talk about their job and the dangers of fire, they had a quiet chat with a particular young girl how was very scared of fire and this helped her emotional well-being as it put her mind at rest. My third piece of evidence is a Health and Safety Policy which Aims to provide a safe and healthy environment for children, teaching and non-teaching staff and all other people who come onto the premises of our school According to the Health and Safety Policy. This document clearly states many aim, principles and responsibilities that a parent must read and sign for their child to enter the school as a student. This policy will create a safe and secure environment for all children to protect them from all dangers and hazards. It states many policies and procedures to keep each child intellectually, socially, emotionally and physically safe from all hazards. It is the role of the practitioner to write these policies and ensure they are put into practise by safeguarding each and every child. My fourth piece of evidence is a risk assessment taken from my setting when we were conducting a school trip to the local village, every member of staff on the trip would read and sign the document to accept legal responsibility. The United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 means that I must legally provide clean water, nutritious food and a safe environment for the children in my setting, to do this I must carry out many risk assessments of the environment to ensure the setting is safe for every child to attend. During school trips, indoor and outdoor play, practitioners must always conduct risk assessments to ensure that the environment with be as safe as possible for every child. Practitioners must fulfil the childrens right to be healthy by providing them with healthy food, physical exercise and a happy environment. Practitioners must take steps to keeping children safe e. g. risk assessments and ensure that children can enjoy and achieve by providing them with fun and stimulating activities to develop and reach their full potential in life. There are many risk assessments carried out to manage every risk to provide a healthy environment to challenge each child. Safety procedures are carried out regularly such as first aid and fire drills and there should always be the correct staff to children ratio. According to the EYFS Practise Card 3. 3 the Learning Environment, Help children to understand how to behave outdoors and inside by talking about personal safety, risks and the safety of others. Ensure safety without stopping reasonable risk-taking. My final piece of evidence is an accident report taken from my setting. At my setting, there are many policies and procedures that must be followed by all staff members if a child has an accident. Each child has their own Safeguarding: Accident Log which should always be filled in for minor accident and injuries. Every time a child has an injury the Date, Time, Place of accident, Circumstances, Nature and Treatment must be recorded and then the Supervisor, Manager, Witnesses and parents must all sign the log to prove that they have all been notified. The accident must then be given a number and that number must be placed on a diagram to show where the child has hurt themselves, it is the role of the practitioner to fill out all these forms and record each accident. After every accident the manager must be informed about all the details and then must sign the accident log to prove that they have been informed. If a childs injury gets worse than an Injury Monitoring Log must be filled in and the childs health must be recorded every 30 minutes, this is for things such as concussions where the parents of the child must be contacted as soon as possible. Confidentially must be maintained at all times throughout a childs accident, for example a supervisor cannot disclose any information to a parent about any other child other than their own. As a practitioner it is my role to promote this healthy lifestyle by following legislation and acting as a role model, by eating and providing a variety of healthy food and snacks with the children so they can choose which ones they prefer as every child is different and would have a different opinion. As a practitioner I must follow initiatives such as the 5-a-day scheme which states that a child should have at least 5 fruits or vegetables a day to keep healthy. As a practitioner it is my role to ensure that I encourage children to clean their teeth and go to the dentist and doctors regularly and to produce hygiene routines such as hand washing or teeth brushing before or after lunch, this will become a habit to children and they will continue to do this throughout their life. The Children Act 2004 promotes the five outcomes of the Every Child Matters (ECM) legislation, one of these outcomes is be healthy and this ensures that every child has the right to have all of their dietary and nutritional needs met while at the setting, it is the role of the practitioner to ensure that each child gets the nutrients they need. Early years settings are all influenced by legislation to create strict policies and procedures to safeguard and protect their children and according to Beaver et al (2008:92) Operating against policy will often have serious disciplinary implications for staff involved. E10] The ECM legislation ensures that every child matters no matter what background/ gender or belief a child has, they all must be given equal support to thrive and develop. It is the role of practitioners to never discriminate against a child because of their disability, race, gender or beliefs; they must be treated fairly and given equal opportunities to succeed. According t o Tassoni P et al (2007:115) It is an accepted view in society and the early years sector that every child is special and should be given opportunities to fulfil his or her potential. This is the bases on anti-discriminatory practise and focus of many laws today. Practitioners should always challenge discrimination in practise, they must follow the settings policies and procedures to stop the abusive behaviour or language as the welfare of the child being discriminated against may be at risk, also other children will imitate this attitude and grow up to understand that everyone is different and should be valued. E8] Every child is different and has different likes and dislikes and cultural background, this personal information can be used to help plan specific activities to keep a emotionally and intellectually healthy, for example a child who likes trains can count toy trains to develop their maths skills as every child is unique and will have different interests and will need different activities planned to help them develop. There are many policies, procedures and legislations to ensure that inappropriate behaviour must be kept to a minimum to safeguard the children, for example EYPs must legally undergo regular safeguarding training and Ofsted requirements to ensure they are capable to protect a child. Another example is the Children Act 1989 which explains thats children must be protected at all times; this is the duty of a practitioner. Workers must follow many health and safety procedures to never put staff members or children at risk; they must constantly behave as professionals to safe-guard every child in a setting. For example it is the role of the practitioner to always carry a first aid kit when taking children off the premises, as children made need medication or medical assistance while they are out. In a nursery it is the role of the practitioner to suit all over the childrens care needs, for example feeding, clothing, bathing and putting them to sleep when they need it. Although this may be difficult as every child is different and may want to eat/sleep at a different time of the day. If a child is showing signs of sickness or illness then a practitioner must follow strict policies and procedures to protect the welfare of the child. A practitioner must immediately take the childs temperature and follow a specific procedure, depending on that childs temperature. When this childs temperature was first taken, it was above 37i C, so a Sickness Monitoring Log must be filled in to record the childs temperature every 10 minutes. After 10 minutes the childs temperature had risen to over 37. 5i C so emergency calpol had to be administrated and her mother was called and informed, the setting then isolated the child so the infection could not spread, following their procedure for prevention of infection. The settings polices state that if the childs temperature had rose to over 38i C then the parents would immediately have to come and collect the child and take them to the doctors. Every child has a Sickness Monitoring Log and it must be filled in every time a child is ill, a practitioner must declare the time, symptoms, the action taken, if the childs parents were informed and if they were collected early. The parents of the child, supervisor present and the manager of the setting then had to sign the log. Another example is the Children Act 1989 which explains thats children must be protected at all times; this is the duty of a practitioner. A worker must Honour the confidentiality of information relating to the child and their family, unless its disclosure is required by law or is in the best interest of the child According to CACHE. Workers must follow many health and safety procedures to never put staff members or children at risk; they must constantly behave as professionals to safe-guard every child in a setting. According to Bruce T and Meggitt C (2010:365) Practitioners, including students, should not discuss or otherwise share this information for example, when chatting in the staffroom or with friends at the weekend. . Practitioners must understand that Settings will have strict confidentiality policies which will compel them to keep all private information about a child in a safe, secure place and only disclose this information if that specific childs well-being is at risk. Practitioners must also understand that if this private information is revealed it may cause harm or distress to the child or family involved and the child may have problems trusting adults in the future, as staff must be aware of the importance of confidentiality in the roles of the key person as Anyone working with your children, whether in a nursery setting, a school or in the family home, will need to practise confidentiality. Confidentiality is respect for the privacy of any information about a child and his or her family. According to Bruce T and Meggitt C (2007:499). For example, when I carried out my dairy tasks and observations in my setting I had to sign a statement of confidentiality to ensure that I respected my settings policies of confidentiality and instead of naming the setting and the children I used names such as Child A and Adult B to refer to each child. Although I could improve my practise by keeping all my observation about the children in a safer location such as a lockable file cabinet instead of my current plastic folder.

Studio Portraiture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5500 words

Studio Portraiture - Essay Example his or her appearance and mood rather than his or her environment. Portrait is far distinct from a snapshot for it shows someone in immobile state thus it can be termed as the best expression of a personality in photography. This explains why since the time immemorial, portraiture as an art ; painting, sculpture and photography, has been used in making impressions of great people such as kings , emperors and pharaohs among others. Moreover, it has been used in the same magnitude on important occasions like funerals weddings. Donnan (2004) claims that in political arenas, portraits are so important that it is deemed a symbol of national unity to have portraits of the head of state in important places. It is common that if a portrait of a certain personality is used too much it can lead to worship of that person either politically or in other ways like in the case of Stalin in Russia. Families have heightened demand on portraits to enjoy in commemoration of important events like weddin gs and birthdays among other various events. Portrait photography has developed since the time immemorial to become a vast and technologically sophisticated industry today. Studio portraiture has expanded creating many jobs and careers and the other hand developing talents. As technology advances so do the techniques of photography which makes the talents developed in studio portraiture to be taken far outside a housed studio (Donnan, 2004). Today's advancement in studio portraiture is solely due to digital formatting technology which is narrowed from electronic technology. Digital technology is the system controlled by digital circuits where electronic logic is transmitted discreetly using gates and flip-flops this is the opposite of analogue electronics whose systems continuously varies. Digital format is use of the said digital technology in a calculation or solving of a logical problem. Digital formatting has led to greater developments in photography techniques such as high key lighting. it has also led to development of digital cameras which are very efficient in studio portraiture. This study will be used to gauge by what ways change in studio portraiture to digital format has affected style and type of photography available today (Donnan, 2004). Problem Statement Gradual changes of portraiture brought about by technological advancement have been perceived to have brought about negative impacts to the society in terms of style as well as types of photography available today. Justification of the study. Since the discovery of portraiture as an art which through history, dates back several thousand years back, there has been a great revolution in the ways it is carried out and the outcome. The development in different techniques of portraiture has led to increased performance of portraiture as an art in satisfying the need of the user the drive of the artist. The emergence of portraiture industry has led to springing up of many studios in the recent times which have later developed as big film or photography companies; this implies large scale business which requires talents

Long Term Investment Decisions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Long Term Investment Decisions - Assignment Example Therefore, this study aims at providing a sharp insight on why government regulations may or may not be needed in a market economy. Connectively, the study will put forth possible complexities that Wal-Mart Company may experience when conspiring self expansion strategy rather than a merger. In above connection, the study will put forth the possible forces that may emerge when creating a convergence between stock holders interest and as well as their impact on profitability of Wal-Mart company. 1. Explain why government regulation is or is not needed, citing the major reasons for government involvement in a market economy. Provide support for your explanation. There are various reasons why government regulation may be needed in a market economy among the reasons include; to protect consumers against exploitation by vendors via ensuring goods and services supplied meet health and quality standards (Rodine-Hardy, 2013). Government regulation may be needed to ensure that all business hav e been licensed in order to eliminate illegal business from being carried out. In above connection, government regulations may be needed in order to promote economic stability through application of fiscal and monetary policies (Rodine-Hardy, 2013). ... 2. Justify the rationale for the intervention of government in the market process in the U.S. The need for government intervention arose from the fact that there was an emergence of more powerful and bigger corporation in the United States, creating a need to for protecting small business against stiff and unfair competition (U.S. Department of State). Additionally, during 1930’s the united state experienced economic down turn that made its citizen to complain that capitalism had failed (U.S. Department of State). The citizens called for intervention from the united state government to remedy the situation. The united state government intervened by promoting economic growth, this further led to creation of employment opportunities (U.S. Department of State). Therefore, it can be scrutinized that government interventions is vital not only for individuals but also for the benefits of the entire market economy (U.S. Department of State). 3. Assume that the company’s is con sidering a merger. The possible merger currently faces some threats and that the industry decides on self-expansion as an alternative strategy, describe the additional complexities that would arise under this new scenario of expansion via capital projects. The additional complexities that Wal-Mart Company may experience through self- expansion (via capital projects) include: Financial complexities, whereby, venture capital firm may fail to finance Wal-Mart expansion plan if they perceive some level of intolerable risk (Amann, Maznevski & Steger, 2007). Additionally, Wal-Mart Company may experience hiring complexities when identifying qualified staffs to fill new positions created as a result of expansion (Amann,