Employment responiblities and right in health Essay

1.1 Disciplinary procedures Discrimination Minimum wage Hours worked Health and safety Holiday’s entitlements Redundancy and dismissal Training Union right and consultation 1.2Employment rights Equalities and Discrimination Health and safety 1.3There has to be rules and protection for workers, owners of businesses and factories have never given anything to the workers without being forced to, shorter hours, paid holidays, proper safety protection, rising the age a child can be employed. All these above have to be legislated for the owners to obey the laws. It also helps us the employer and the employee. 1.4looks at your contract Handbook, Job description, Policy documents, Terms and conditions Basic rights Discrimination issues Information source Health and safety Work experience Bullying in the Workplace 2.1 My contract shows me the start date of my contract started. What hours I will be doing in the week. How much I get paid an hour and when it will get paid in my bank. What holidays I am entitled to, For the sickness pay and conditions there is no contractual sickness/injury payment scheme in  addition to SSP, if there is a capability/disciplinary issues it explains what how you should look in the handbook and what part of the hand book you need to look at. If you have a grievance it tells you to raise it with your manager either verbally or in writing. It tells you how many week notice you have to give for termination for you and the employee. 2.2 On my pay statement it shows the breakdown of all the hours I have worked thought out the month. It also shows how much national insurance and tax I have paid, what tax period it is. How many days holidays I have taken and have left. It also tells me my pay roll number. It has the gross pay which is how much you have earned before tax and at the bottom off the wage slip it tells you how much you come out with after the tax has been taken off. 2.3 Submit a formal written grievance to the line manager, who will make every effort to hear your grievance within five working days, if we need help putting are point across we can ask a colleague or an accredited trade union official to be present to help explain. If you are not happy with the outcome, tell the person who dealt with the grievance that you would like to take it further. Submit a formal written appeal to the director within five working days of receiving written confirmation you need to include an explanation of why you are unhappy with the original decision. Once a decision is made at the appeal stage is final. 2.4Your name Address/telephone number 2.5The aim of the policy is to ensure no job applicant or employee is discriminated against either directly or indirectly on any unlawful ground. The managing director has overall responsibility for ensuring that this policy is implemented in accordance with the appropriate statutory requirements and full account will be taken of all available guidance and in particular any relevant code of practice. Day to day training is the responsibility of the management who can call on specialised skills and knowledge within the home and from external sources for advice on training matters. Training will be arranged during normal working hours whenever possible but there may be occasions when employees will be required to attend training outside their normal working hours. All employees will be given a copy of the handbook at the beginning of their employment with the home. A copy of the handbook will always be on the premises. The home  recognises your rights either to join or not to join a trade union of your choice. You are required to take reasonable care of your own well being and that off your employees. The relevant health and safety notice are posted around the premises and you are expected to be familiar with their requirements. 3.1 Care assistant play a key role in supporting qualified professionals in hospitals, care homes and other health care environments. Depending on the individual role and setting, a care assistant may assist therapists or specialists by setting up equipment and providing hands on support by working directly with the patients in carrying out routine personal care duties. 3.2 I need to be monitoring the wellbeing of the clients. Making sure that they are eating well, making sure they are not losing any weight as this could be a medical condition and a doctor may need to be called, their personal hygiene as this could mean they are not capable to do this themselves. To ensure their medication is being taken correctly and if they are not to inform the office. Making sure they are safe in their own if there any safety issues the we need to ring the office and let the co-ordinator so they can get hold of the social work to find the best way to sort it out. 3.3 We need to be making sure that the individuals are proved with the right care for example making sure personal care is done, making sure they have taken their medicine and eating correctly support in their intellectual, social and emotional needs. Carrying out treatment or therapy. 3.4 Their roles are to regulate health and adult social care providers to protect and promote the health, safety and welfare of people who use health and social care services. They undertake the role for the general purpose of encouraging three things, the improvement of health and social care services, ensuring services focus on people who use services, and all that resources are used effectively and efficiently. To do them thing they need to register providers a common set of standards. These are the standards providers have a legal responsibility to meet and that people have a right to expect whenever or wherever they receive care. Monitor and inspect providers against regularly, at anytime in response to concerns. Undertaking themed inspections, themed reviews and specialist investigations base on particular aspects of care. 4.1 Home care manager Outreach worker Doctors Nurses Social worker Dental Health care scientists Care co-ordinator Team leaders 4.2 Hospitals Carehomes Careworkers Library Work placement 4.3 Pathway for a team leaders are: Well organised Positive attitude Able to work with plant equipment and complete some office work with computers Problem solving skills Good time management skills Able to provide management support with good communication skills which include motivational skills and decision making abilities 5.1 Winterbourne view was meant to help by assessing and treating patients so that they could have ordinary lives in their own home, but in 2011 some of the staff at winterbourne view got filmed slapping, hurting patients getting them on the floor. They also sat on them and lay on them so that the patients could not move; sometimes they would trap them under chairs to stop them from getting up. The patients were bullied, had water thrown at them. One lady was put in the shower with her clothes on, they swear, pulled hair and poking their eyes. After this was broadcasted on panorama there were 11 of its former care staff were sentenced to court. Some of the 11 got a jail sentence. 5.2 As the public have lots of concern about winterbourne view and other care homes one person said â€Å"the absence of transparency &  accountability is terrifying†. There was a lot of concern on the care sector and thinking there not just isolated instances as one lady said â€Å"there aren’t isolated instances, its cultural and its grown out of what happened in the care sector† but most of the public views on what happened was to see justice and the after care of the residents a gentlemen said â€Å"not only do I want to see justice to be seen but what is the after-care being given to the victims It’s not as simple moving them out, they have been throw hell they will need a lot of care to try and build their trust, heal the abuse and bad memories†. 5.3 The changes that have happened since winterbourne view is that CQC now take whisleblowing calls to ensure each one is tracked and chased until resolved. They now receive 500 calls a month. They also now carry out more unannounced inspections of high risk services, similar to winterbourne view. CQC carried out an extra 150 inspections of similar services and found out that almost half didn’t meet national standards. They focus on personalisation and prevention in social care and that commission should ensure services can deliver a high leave of support and care to people with complex needs or challenging behaviour. Also that services /support should be provided locally where ever possible. 5.4 The changes that have happened since Winterbourne View is that CQC now take whisleblowing calls to ensure that each one is tracked and chased until resolved. They now receive around 500 calls a month. Also they now carry out more unannounced inspections of high risk services similar to Winterbourne view. CQC carry out an extra off similar service and found out that half did not meet the national standard. They also focus on personalisation and prevention in the social care and that commission should ensure service can be deliver a high level of support and care to people with complex needs or challenging behaviour. Also the services/ support should be provided locally where possible.

Msc Reflective Essay Life Long Learning

Promoting Lifelong Learning By Anderson Pustam Promoting Lifelong Learning Introduction Promoting lifelong learning is a very professional term. It really promotes the real meaning of the learning and it also inculcates one most important thing in a learner’s mind that learning is not restricted to the classroom or college. We can learn any time through any means. It can be our professional experience or within voluntary service as well. In my case I have learnt different things during my work within my community team. One of the most important things that I learnt from there was learning through the professional environment and the development of the staff and students. Every social and health care organization continue to rely on various forms of effective management and leadership techniques—such as continuous learning, staff development, task forces, autonomous work groups, quality circles, and multifunctional leadership—to perform critical functions, lifelong learning is increasingly being referred to as the cornerstone of modern health organisation. In my personal opinion the critical role that learning plays in organizations, more attention has been directed toward staff performance effectiveness (Binnie & Titchen 1995, P: 327-334). Personal learning experience Learning from the professional environment is far different from the class room and educational experience. In the case of professional learning we learn skills through direct practical approaches. We can also face real life examples to answer all the complexities and difficulties (Atkins & Murphy 1993, P: 1188-1192). My work within specialist mental health learning disability team really added new edge in my personality it guided me how to work with people, manage their difficulties and how to resolve conflicts. Learning is a never ending process, professional learning provides open platform to keep our mind sharp and help us to make the most out of the service resources. It also improved my competency as a nurse, gave me enough confidence to face challenging situations. It is really a bonanza of earning and it also provided me with feelings of accomplishment (BUSH, & MIDDLEWOOD, 2006, P: 396-398). Real learning Health study is a topic that thinks the huge variety of human experience of physical condition, well-being and illness. What I learnt is healthcare work/ research does so from an extensive diversity of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary viewpoints. It significantly examines health and illness dialogue and seeks to examine proof about health, well-being and illness in a broad variety of contexts and perspectives (College of Occupational Therapists 1997). It thinks neighbourhood, nationwide, European and worldwide issues and may evaluate the knowledge of individuals, groups, neighbourhoods, civilizations and nations. It looks for to put in to this proof through investigation action of many dissimilar kinds. Because of this potentially wide range of the topic, person centred programmes will be different in their exacting concerns and stress (COLEMAN, 2002). Difficulties faced within the Practice Within the community setting we continuously faced the complexities of understanding the varieties of team criteria and referral processes. The lack of operational policies, and rooted ways of working within disciplines across services made it difficult for positive change to occur (Boud D, et al. 1985). As a result the effectiveness of the service collaboration and shared learning was stifled. (DAVIES, & ELLISON, 1997, P: 123-125). At times there were signs of fragmentation between the local authority and health services. The lack of understanding of service ethos would highlight deficits particularly around communication. Recommendations Making a Commitment to Partnership Working Success depends not on the sophistication of our collaborative relationships, buildings and services but on the health of the people we serve. At our service, we have rapidly adopted this viewpoint, transforming our entire relationship with the Primary Care Services and Local Authority. Money alone cannot sustain most community-based services. Outcomes also depend on volunteerism. Programs will survive in the long term if they are sustained by the goodness of the human heart and the willingness of people to contribute not only their skills but their time (DUIGMAN, & MACPHERSON, 1992, P: 259-259). The implementation of team managers attending services meeting within the CTPLD services as well as the mental health service to aide communication was acknowledged. It was recommended that all new staff should have a thorough induction and spend time with the individual teams within the wider service to have a in-depth understanding of what each service provides across the service tiers. Evaluation Programs We convened an Operational Management Group that met regularly over the last year. Although we intended to adopt a collaborative leadership style, the task force, my staff and I were all veterans with LD services and we did not easily embrace the experience of collaboration with the other services within learning disability primary care services. The process was new to all and lacked clear aims and objectives. My own lack of patience stands out in my memory (DYER, 1995, P: 189-195). Conclusion After my over all practise and learning the results pinpointed some serious concerns. Social service professionals in particular told us that the less fortunate see the healthcare system as unresponsive, impersonal, and out of reach. Rather than placing importance on the technical quality and breadth of our services, as we might have thought, they expressed an urgent need for specialist services. The community doesn't need any new services, they said; what it needs is access to what already exists. This assessment was troubling but useful; propelling us to shift our process to what the community needs and wants. References Atkins S and Murphy K (1993): Reflection: a review of the literature. Journal of Advanced Nursing 18, 1188-1192. Binnie A and Titchen A (1995): The art of clinical supervision. British Journal of Nursing 4, 327-334. Boud D, Keogh R and Walker D (1985): Reflection: turning experience into learning. Kogan Page, London. Burns S and Bulman C (2000): Reflective practice in nursing. Blackwell Science, Oxford. BUSH, T & MIDDLEWOOD, D. (2006) Leading and Managing People in Education. Sage Publications. P: 396-398 COLEMAN, M. 2002) Researching Educational Leadership and Management. London: Paul Chapman Publishing. College of Occupational Therapists (1997): Statement on supervision in occupational therapy. London: COT. DAVIES, B and ELLISON, L. (1997) School Leadership for the 21st Century. Routledge P: 123-125 DUIGMAN, P. A and MACPHERSON, R. J. S. (EDS) (1992) Educative Leadership: Practicl Theory for Educational Administrators and Managers. Falmer Press. P: 259-259 DYER, W. G. (1 995) Team building: current issues and new alternatives. London: Addison-Wesley. P: 189-195M

Nutrition Behavior Change Project Essay

Keeping up a behavior can be hard, â€Å"the motivation must come from within.† For the past 23 days I have been striving to change and succeed, by the 22nd of October, in two specific nutritional behavior goals. One of them was to intake at least 30 grams of fiber on weekdays and at least 25 grams on weekends. The other was to reduce my sodium intake by a quarter, on weekdays, of what it was per day and reduce it by an eighth on weekends. This preparation all started about a week before my 23 days of transformation. In the three beginning days I tracked my diet and found that my low fiber and high sodium consumptions were eye-opening problems. My average fiber intake per day rested at 21.18g, which was significantly lower than my goal of 38g per day. As this issue arose so did my awareness that multiple aspects of my health were at risk. For example, my low fiber intake could place me in danger of developing heart disease. Fiber nutrients reduce the chance of disease like heart disease, diabetes, and many other frightful illnesses. In addition, foods that consist of fiber provide a feeling of fullness without additional calories being added to a diet. As for my Sodium intake, I was recommended a target of 1500mg a day but I was actually devouring a skyrocketing 3959.4mg a day. Without thinking twice I knew I had to make significant behavior changes. Concerning my towering sodium intake, I found that high sodium consumption makes the body preserve more water, which can raise the blood volume and, in turn, increase blood pressure. Considering my high blood pressure it would be essential and crucial to lower my sodium intake. Fortunately, the data collected demonstrated that the amount of sodium I have been taking in each day has been playing a role in my elevated blood pressure. After reviewing this data and conducting research on these two nutrients I felt very serious about changing my dieting behavior s. In which case, relative to the Stages of Change/Transtheoretical Model of behavior change, at the start of this project I was most certainly in the preparation stage. I began with a determined attitude that would help me change my current behaviors within a month. To change my behavior I made  goals to reach by the 22nd and used strategies that would help me to complete my SMART goals. For example, I made sure that I controlled my environment by buying fruit and other healthy snacks instead of unhealthy snack foods. I also had peer support from my roommate who reminded me when I was snacking unhealthily to instead snack on a banana or apple. My excellent preparation skills granted me success in my dietary behavior goals. Overall I feel confident that I have succeeded in changing my behaviors. Everyday I have been conscious of my fiber and sodium goals. Rarely did I go eat off campus. I consistently ate lunch at the Hanwell dinning hall, except for 1 day when I was sick and in bed, and I always ate dinner at Smith dinning hall. Hanwell and Smith provide a great selection of fruit and mixed greens, so everyday I could eat my essential bowl of fruit for lunch and required dinner salad. I didn’t eat a salad or a bowl of fruit on solely one day, however, I felt very ill that day. Also, since I only had Gatorade, juice and water with my meals, my sodium level decreased substantially. My typical day consisted of eating microwavable breakfasts with juice in the dorm, lunch at Hanwell and dinner at Smith. My achievement in changing my supporting behaviors was due to keeping up with my tracking sheet. In turn, I increased my fiber intake to 34.34g on weekdays and 26.61g on weekends. This data exceeded my goal of fiber intake on both weekdays (30g or more) and weekends (25g or more). My sodium intake also exceeded the par; weekdays I consumed 2841.32mg a day and 3303.9mg a day on weekends. With dedication comes success and in order for me to stay dedicated I needed to construct thought out strategies. A strategy that contributed the most to my accomplished goals was to eat off campus only two times a week. Usually I saved eating out for the weekends but eating on campus made it easy to make healthy choices. For instance, when I ate off campus for lunch on the 9th my sodium intake was 1324.22mg for that single meal and when I ate lunch on campus on the 29th, a weekday, my sodium was less than half the sodium of the off campus meal I ate on the 9th. Another strategy that helped my success was my use of environment control. I stopped buying junk  food and ended up snaking on fruit, particularly bananas, and occasionally canned beans. In turn, I increased my fiber above my weekday and weekend intake goal. These two strategies acted as a spine to my success in my goals. Even though I was very successful in my goals, I faced two major barriers in the process. Finding a way to eat healthy on weekends was a huge barrier with my busy soccer schedule. Breakfast is easy to make but lunch and dinner is very difficult to attend due to afternoon practices and night games. The weekends on average boosted up my sodium about 600mg higher than the weekdays; nevertheless, I still fulfilled my sodium intake goal. I knew weekends would create a problem even before I started the project because it’s been an ongoing issue since school started. Furthermore, time was also a complicated barrier to work around. Time is a common barrier when trying to eat healthy, be more active or simply going about a routine. When I was in a rush to class or hurrying around campus taking care of things, I would sometimes compromise for quick microwavable products, which I learned contain more sodium than the normal. Out of the barriers I faced there was one that I did not predict, my ADHD medicine. This medication minimized my hunger, sometimes to the point where I did not want to eat. When this happened I force-fed myself but with smaller portions. I tended to eat more salad greens instead of the heavy, filling food. Despite these obstacles, after one week I made only one change to my behavior. I developed better shopping skills that helped me obtain superior quality microwavable foods and I started to keep fruit in my bag in case I felt crunched for time. This change helped me to complete my activities and thrive in my goals. During this project three major issues emerged regarding my nutrition. One was that some foods that I thought were healthy aren’t. For example, I always ate flavored instant oatmeal thinking it was very healthy and nutritious, however, oatmeal that has flavoring in it, I learned, usually has more than 12 grams of sugar in it per serving. As I learned more about this product I found that this oatmeal was not whole oats which are far more healthier and can be just as quick to make as instant oatmeal. Choosing an alternative for this food was important to decrease my intake of sugar.  Another major issue that emerged was what food I took in when traveling with the soccer team. It had nothing to do with the organization. It was my personal choice of snacks that I decided to bring on the bus rides; like popcorn or as surprising as it sounds, yogurt. Yogurt is healthy as long as its kept simple, however, my yogurts were loaded with flavoring and coloring that boosts up the sugar c ontent. In result I made alternative choices (apples, bananas) that would improve my game and boost my energy healthily. Lastly, I experienced a major issue with my roommate. As much as he helped me to make healthy decisions, hypocritically, he seemed unable to make healthy decisions for himself. He usually always has a bag of chips and an immense amount of candy laying around which didn’t help in contribution to my goals; my sodium intake goal. Although I learned that in order to get in a habit of eating better and more healthy, I spent less time in the room. Now I am pretty good about saying â€Å"NO† when fatty junk food in in my presence. Overall I learned many things about changing a health behavior. I learned that changing a behavior takes time and effort in order to succeed. Most of all, changing a health behavior takes determination because without that it is impossible to change. After completing this project I am proud to say I have moved form the preparation stage at the beginning of the project, to the action stage in the Transtheoretical model. This came with the help of my commitment, in accepting the responsibility of change, goals, to keep me motivated, rewards, when I completed my goals I bought a redskins jersey I’ve been wanting, and lastly environment control, where I only bought healthy foods like fruit and vegetables. Currently I am successfully changing my negative behaviors and adopting new healthy behaviors in my quest to stage number 5, the maintenance stage.

What killed audiolingualism

Audiologists is one of the nine 20th century language teaching approaches which was based on contrastive analysis about behaviorism and structuralism, and was created as a reaction to the reading approach that was lacking of emphasis on oral- aural skills. The results of this approach, dialogues approach, were generally regarded a great success. The small groups of learners and high motivation were the caveats that undoubtedly contributed to the success of the approach.However, successful as it was, Audiologists reached its end in the sass and is no longer seed today. There are some reasons as to why this approach collapsed. The first reason was the emergence of error analysis that makes audiologists received attacks from many linguists. Chomsky attack on behaviorism view on which audiologists is based is very well-known. He also proposed that people have innate system- generally known as Universal Grammar- within them that provides them with ability to construct their own grammar.T he error in audiologists was also viewed not as something to be avoided. Error Is a good thing through which learners' mind is shown. There was another attack as well saying this approach, especially in the late sass, failed to follow the learners' needs In a way that the learners needed advanced academic skills more than they need oral skill because of the university requirement for enrollment at U.S and British (grab, 1991). That audiologists banned students from using Al because It will Interfere with their LA acquisition also received critics because some linguists viewed Al not as a hindrance, but as an important resource In decision making In writing Another reason that killed audiologists Is the negligence of the caveat that audiologists be taught In small class with highly motivated students.This negligence occurred because of several reasons; people's amazement toward how successful audiologists was that they Implemented It anywhere hoping to get the same success, and the b oredom that students felt due to the monotonousness for using drilling so often that they lose their motivation. This monotonousness was one thing that led Harmer (1991) to suggest that It not be used too frequently and too long. It Is human nature to get ordered and It Is Inevitable.In Dalton, the level of emergency also became the significant factor In a way that former learners with dialogues method viewed LA as an urgent need. Some needed It for World War 2, some-especially those who lived In one place with two language-needed It to be mediating language because It was the only way to communicate. However, LA learning today Is not because It Is urgently needed. Most of the time, It Is Just learned because It Is In the curriculum. However, despite all reasons mentioned above, It Is not that Audiologists Is a bad teaching approach.The alma of this paper, and also the alma of learning language teaching approach, Is not to Judge any approach. There Is no such thing called the best o r the worst method. Audiologists Itself Is not a bad approach since, at some point In history, It has been very successful. Thus, Audiologists, Just Like any other approaches, Is not for us to discredit. The task for all language teachers Is to find the method that Is most suitable and most effective for the learners. What killed audiologists By realization also viewed not as something to be avoided.Error is a good thing through which especially in the late sass, failed to follow the learners' needs in a way that the audiologists banned students from using Al because it will interfere with their LA but as an important resource in decision making in writing Another reason that killed audiologists is the negligence of the caveat that audiologists be taught in several reasons; people's amazement toward how successful audiologists was that they implemented it anywhere hoping to get the same success, and the boredom suggest that it not be used too frequently and too long.It is human natu re to get bored and it is inevitable. In addition, the level of emergency also became the significant factor in a way that former learners with dialogues method viewed LA as an urgent need. Some needed it for World War 2, some-especially those who lived in one place with two language-needed it to be mediating language because it was the only way to communicate. However, LA learning today is not because it is urgently needed. Most of the time, it is Just learned because it is in the curriculum.However, despite all reasons mentioned above, it is not that Audiologists is a bad teaching approach. The aim of this paper, and also the aim of learning language teaching approach, is not to Judge any approach. There is no such thing called the best or the worst method. Audiologists itself is not a bad approach since, at some point in history, it has been very successful. Thus, Audiologists, Just like any other approaches, is not for us to discredit. The task for all language teachers is to fi nd the method that is most suitable and most effective for the learners.

Origin and Development of Applied Linguistics Essay

â€Å"Applied linguistics is not a discipline which exists on its own. It is influenced by other disciplines and influences them as well. It is a two-way process. For this reason, applied linguistics examines theories from all sorts of different areas (semantics, syntax, pragmatics, sociolinguistics,†¦) and from all sorts of perspectives so that it help find out effective solutions for language -related issues such as teaching methodology (including foreign language and mother tongue teaching), translation, aphasia,†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Applied linguistics originated in close relation with foreign language teaching and has developed to cover a wide range of knowledge, but its core has always been language teaching and learning. Applied linguistics draws its sources from sociology, psychology, anthropology and information theory as well as from linguistics to solve practical problems in practical areas such as language teaching. So applied linguistics is not linguistics that is applied, though it applies, first of all, linguistics. In fact, what it applies depends on what the theories are applied to. Applied linguistics, unlike pure science, aims to solve problems. Thus between theories of linguistics and related fields and the practical areas such as language teaching, it plays the role of a mediator, which bridges theories and practice together. In this way, applied linguistics not only provides principles and methodology for language teaching, etc. , but also gives feedbacks to the theoretical study by summing up the experience from practice. As applied linguistics makes language teaching and learning its core, it provides language teacher with good language theories, principles and methodology. By learning applied linguistics, language teacher can possess an overall understanding of updated theories of language teaching & learning as well as a better perspective of the various factors affecting language teaching &learning. So it is very necessary for a language teacher to learn applied linguistics in order to teach more effectively. As for language learners, it is also very helpful to have some knowledge about applied linguistics. For one thing, by knowing the currently used teaching approaches and methods, which are covered by applied linguistics, language learners can learn to adjust themselves to the teacher’s teaching by adopting a more proper learning method because â€Å"a theory of teaching always implies a theory of learning â€Å"(Applied Linguistics, Yue Meiyun) and language learning is a two – way process, which needs efforts and adaptation from bath the teacher’s side and the learner’s side. For another, applied linguistics covers a wide scope of knowledge. It helps to enhance learner’s insights and depth of knowledge in language learning. Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of study that identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems. Some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are education, linguistics, psychology, computer science, anthropology, and sociology. The goal of this writing is to make some personal comment on the viewpoint: â€Å"Applied linguistics is not a discipline which exists on its own. It is influenced by other disciplines and influences them as well. It is a two-way process. For this reason, applied linguistics examines theories from all sorts of different areas (semantics, syntax, pragmatics, sociolinguistics,†¦) and from all sorts of perspectives so that it help find out effective solutions for language -related issues such as teaching methodology (including foreign language and mother tongue teaching), translation, aphasia,†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . Many linguistic students like me find linguistics useful because it broadens and deepens their understanding of related fields such as languages and literature (English and foreign), social sciences (especially anthropology, sociology, and psychology), education, philosophy, communication†¦ The question is whether applied linguistics and linguistics applied is the same. Needless to say, the answer is â€Å"no†. Phillip Shaw, Stockholm University Strictly looking at the model above by Philip Shaw, a professor from Stockholm University, we can see a basic coherence between applied linguistics and other sciences. According to the professor, studying linguistics means studying language’s sounds, grammar, words, meanings, uses, and connected contexts – that is phonetics, syntax, lexis, semantics, pragmatics, and discourse respectively. Of these, phonetics focuses on the physical sounds of speech. It covers speech perception (how the brain discerns sounds), acoustics (the physical qualities of sounds as movement through air), and articulation (voice production through the movements of the lungs, tongue, lips, and other articulators). This area investigates, for instance, the physical realization of speech and how individual sounds differ across languages and dialects. This research plays a large part in computer speech recognition and synthesis. Syntax is the study of how units including words and phrases combine into sentences. Syntacticians investigate what orders of words make legitimate sentences, how to succinctly account for patterns found across sentences. Semantics within linguistics refers to the study of how language conveys meaning. Pragmatics is the study of how utterances relate to the context they are spoken in. By areas studied, he distinguishes different kinds of linguistics. Sociolinguistics is the study where linguistics looks at how language functions in different social contexts. In other words, it is the study of how language varies according to cultural context, the speaker’s background, and the situation in which it is used. Meanwhile, historical linguistics studies how languages are historically related. This involves finding universal properties of language and accounting for a language’s development and origins. Psycholinguistics is the study of language to find out about how the mind works. Pr. Phillip Shaw emphasizes that we can applied all knowledge of the above-mentioned sciences. It is understandable, therefore, whereas theoretical linguistics is concerned with finding and describing generalities both within particular languages and among all languages, applied linguistics takes these results and applies them to other areas. He defines applied linguistics as an engineering of linguistics, taking what the sciences of linguistics have discovered and applied to solve real practical problems. Kamil Wisniewski, in his work ‘Applied Linguistics’ 2007, he presents the term applied linguistics as an umbrella term that covers a wide set of numerous areas of study connected by the focus on the language that is actually used. He puts the emphasis in applied linguistics on language users and the ways in which they use languages, contrary to theoretical linguistics which studies the language in the  abstract not referring it to any particular context, or language, like Chomskyan generative grammar for example. Interestingly even among applied linguists there is a difference of opinion as to the scope, the domains and limits of applied linguistics. There are many issues investigated by applied linguists such as discourse analysis, sign language, stylistics and rhetoric as well as language learning by children and adults, both as mother tongue and second or foreign language. Correlation of language and gender, as well as the transfer of information in media and interpersonal communication are analyzed by applied linguists. Also forensic linguistics, interpretation and translation, together with foreign language teaching methodology and language change are developed by applied linguistics. Shortly after the introduction of the term applied linguistics it was associated mainly with first, second and foreign language teaching, however nowadays it is seen as more interdisciplinary branch of science. Although in certain parts of the world language teaching remains the major concern of applied linguists, issues such as speech pathologies and determining the levels of literacy of societies, or language processing along with differences in communication between various cultural groups – all gain interest elsewhere. There is a consensus among linguists that is applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of study that identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems. Some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are education, linguistics, psychology, computer science, anthropology, and sociology. Major branches of applied linguistics include bilingualism and multilingualism, computer-mediated communication, conversation analysis, contrastive linguistics, sign linguistics, language assessment, literacy, discourse analysis, language pedagogy, second language acquisition, lexicography, language planning and policies, stylistics, pragmatics, forensic linguistics, and translation. For all of what I have presented above, I want to restate that applied linguistics does not exist on its own, it makes a great influence on other disciplines and also is influenced by them. The findings of linguistics, like the findings of any other theoretical study, can be applied to the solution of practical problems, as well as to innovations in everyday areas involving language. This is the mandate of applied linguistics. Applied linguists draw from theories of language acquisition to develop first and second language teaching methodologies and to implement successful literacy programs. Applied linguists may also engage in language planning by developing alphabets and grammars for unwritten languages and by writing dictionaries. In short, applied linguistics applies the theories and tools of formal linguistics, sociolinguistics, and psycholinguistics in a wide variety of socially useful ways In his own work – â€Å"Issues in applied linguistics† (Cambridge University Press, 2001), Michael McCarthy presents applied linguistics as problem – solving concept. According to him, it is the belief that linguistics can offer insights and ways forward in the resolution of problems related to language in a wide variety of contexts that underlines the very existence of applied linguistics. Applied linguists try to offer solutions to real-world problems in which language is a central issue. People often think that applied linguistics refers to the use of linguistic research in language teaching, but this is just one sub-discipline. McCarthy lists out the domains of typical applied linguistic problems which, as he says, seems certainly be wide – ranging and potential endless, but might include 14 problems as following: 1- A speech therapist sets out to investigate why s four-year-old child has failed to develop normal linguistics skills for a child of that age. 2- A teacher of English as a foreign language wonders why groups of learners sharing the same first language regularly make a particular grammatical mistake that learners from other language backgrounds do not. 3- An expert witness in a criminal case tries to solve the problem of who exactly investigated a crime, working only with statements made to the police 4- A advertising copy writer searches for what would be the most effective use of language to target a particular social group in order to sell a product. 5- A mother-tongue teacher needs to know what potential employers consider important in terms of a school-leaver’s ability to write reports or other business documents. 6- A historian wishes to understand the meanings of place-names in a particular geographical area and how they have changed over time. 7- A person constructing a language test foe non-native speakers for entry into further education needs to know what the key linguistic or psycholinguistic indicators are of reading ability in a second of foreign language. 8- A literary scholar suspects that an anonymous work was in fact written by a very famous writer and looks for methods of investigating the hypothesis. 9- A dictionary writer ponders over possible alternatives to an alphabetically organized dictionary. 10- A computer programmer wrestles with the goal of trying to get a computer to process human speech or to get it to translate from one language into another. 11- A group of civil servants are tasked with standardizing language usage in their country, or deciding major aspects of language planning policy that will affect millions of people. 12- A body is set up to produce an international, agreed language for use by air-traffic controllers and pilots, or by marine pilots and ships’ captains. 13- A zoologist investigates the question whether monkeys have language similar to or quite distinct from human language and how it works. 14- A medical sociologist sets out to understand better the changes that occur in people’s use of language as they move into old age. (Michael McCarthy, â€Å"Issues in Applied Linguistics†, Cambridge University Press 2001, page 1-2) In a work called â€Å"Understanding applied linguistics† by Professor V. B Owhotu (2007), the author emphasizes the importance and growing diversity of applied linguistics. In his view applied linguistics is driven first by real world problems rather than theoretical explorations. In other words, the applied linguists should be preoccupied by the following problems: language learning problem (emergence, awareness, rules, use, context, automaticity, attitudes and expertise); language teaching problems (resources, training, practice, interaction, understanding, use, context, inequalities, motivation, outcomes); literacy problems (language and culture); language inequality problems such as ethnicity, class, gender and age; language policy and planning problems (status planning, corpus planning, and ecology of language); Language assessment problems (validity, reliability, usability, responsibility); language use problems (dialects, register, discourse communities, gate-keeping situations, limited access to services); language and technology problems (learning, assessment, access and use); translation and interpretation problem (on-line, off-line, technology assisted); and language pathology problems (aphasia, dyslexia, physical disabilities). Needless to say, it is far beyond my capacity to present an insight to all of these above-mentioned problems. However, in this part of the writing, I would like to take problems of language learning and teaching, translation  and interpretation, and speech-language pathology as examples to demonstrate the point that applied linguistics helps us to find out effective solutions to our practical problems. Researches in language teaching today show that applied linguistics is sometimes used to refer to â€Å"second language acquisitions†, but these are distinct fields, in that second language acquisition involves more theoretical study of the system of language, whereas applied linguistics concerns itself more with teaching and learning. In their approach to the study of learning, applied linguists have increasingly devised their own theories and methodologies, such as the shift towards studying the learner rather than the system of language itself, in contrast to the emphasis within second language acquisition. I shall continue by considering what avenues within linguists suggest themselves for approaching two of the problems relevant to languages teaching. Let us consider problem of teacher trying to understand why learners from the same language background are having difficulty with a particular grammatical structure in English. Potential linguistic questions for the solution of a grammatical problem, as McCarthy shows in â€Å"Issues in applied linguistics†, are: â€Å"What is known about the learner’s first language or any other language they know which might be interfering with their learning of the foreign language? What do grammarians say about this structure? What psychological barriers might be preventing the learning of the structure? Are some structure difficult to learn if they are tackled too early on? Is there an order in which structures are best presented? † (Michael McCarthy, â€Å"Issues in applied linguistics†, page 8). Can linguistics offer an approach or solution to the problem? If so, which branch(es) of linguistic study and by what methods? The answer lies in such linguistics’ components as pragmatics, semantics, syntax. In terms of pragmatics, students sometimes make mistakes in the use of unsuitable sentences in certain contexts that makes listeners misunderstand. Therefore, when teaching English, teachers need not only teach grammar and vocabulary but also teach how to use sentences in suitable contexts; e. g.  teaching students how and when to say thank you or apologize. In terms of syntax, the most popular mistakes students make are: when making sentences students often translate word by word as the result of their habit of mother tongue (e. g. I have a cat black); combining words incorrectly to produce phrases (e. g. â€Å"a high man† instead of â€Å"a tall man†); the agreement between words in a sentence (e. g. S and V, tenses). In these cases, possibly effective solutions for teachers are: teachers need to teach students how to combine words correctly according to English grammatical rules; they should teach words in contexts. Teachers might also apply semantic knowledge to deal with learners’ mistakes. That is when teaching students a word which has many different meanings, they should teach the meanings related to the context, situation; wishing to talk about a meaning of the word, we may use different synonyms or antonyms; when teaching students how to translate the sentences or the texts into learners’ mother tongue, we should teach students to combine the meaning of English words and the meaning of their mother tongue to have a good translation. It could be confirmed that any problems in language learning and teaching might be solved with application of linguistics, and knowledge about language plays or could play a major role in language teaching and learning. In translation and interpretation area, applied linguistics can also be shown with effective applications in solving problems. In an article titled â€Å"Linguistics and Applied Linguistics† posted in the website of University of Melbourne, Australia, the author emphasizes an important role of linguistics and applied linguistics in different areas of our life, specially in translation and interpretation area. The article provides clear reasons why linguistic and applied linguistics should be studied by those specializing in translation and interpretation. One of the given reasons is that the skills in need for solving problems are central to the study of linguistics. An evidence for this assumption is clearly shown in the article. That is, â€Å"In a period when Australian culture is coming to term with the need to relate the worldwide mosaic of non-English speaking cultures, and when information and communication are moving to technological centre stage, there is a growing demand for people equipped to analyze language. In fact, an increasing number of employers, ranging from language teachers to engineers of knowledge systems and speech synthesis, from translators to managers to designers of natural-language interfaces for computers, from lexicographers to lawyers to bilingual schools in Aboriginal communities, realize the value of a sound training in Linguistics†. As cited in the article, knowledge in Applied Linguistics will provide us a head start in understanding and orienting us to the area and will give us relevant knowledge and analytical skills. People with a background in Applied linguistics also gain an enhanced understanding of how people learn first, second and foreign languages and of how language is used in the community. These skills will be relevant to those interested in preparing for careers as language teachers, language education and assessment experts, speech pathologists, interpreters and translators, and a variety of jobs in industry where language and communication are issues are of concern. Linguistics and Applied Linguistics provide unique skills in cross-linguistic and cross-cultural communication that are helpful in solving problems in translation and interpretation. Speaking of applied computational linguistic, people often mention machine translation, computer – assisted translation, and natural language processing as fruitful areas which have also come to the forefront in recent years. I am going to pick up machine translation as a typical example of applying linguistic knowledge. Machine translation is a form of translation where a computer program analyses the text in one language – the â€Å"source text† – and then attempts to produce another, equivalent text in another language – the target text – without human intervention. Currently the state of machine translation is such that it involves some human intervention, as it requires a pre-editing and a post-editing phase. Note that in machine translation, the translator supports the machine and not the other way around. Nowadays most machine translation systems produce what is called a â€Å"gisting translation† – a rough translation that gives the â€Å"gist† of the source text, but is not otherwise usable. However, in fields with highly limited ranges of vocabulary and simple sentence structure, for example weather reports, machine translation can deliver useful results. It is often argued that the success of machine translation requires the problem of natural language understanding to be solved first. However, a number of heuristic methods of machine translation are also used, including: lexical lookup methods, grammar based methods, semantics based methods (knowledge-based machine translation), statistical methods, example based methods, dictionary-entry based methods, linguistic rule based methods. Generally, rule-based methods parse a text, usually creating an intermediary, symbolic representation, from which the text in the target language is generated. These methods require extensive lexicons with morphologic, syntactic, and semantic information, and large sets of rules. Statistical-based and example-based methods avoid manual lexicon building and rule-writing and instead try to generate translations based on bilingual text corpora, such as the Canadian Hansard corpus, the English-French record of the Canadian parliament. Where such corpora are available, impressive results can be achieved translating texts of a similar kind, but such corpora are still very rare. Given enough data, most machine translation programs work well enough for a native speaker of one language to get the approximate meaning of what is written by the other native speaker. The difficulty is getting enough data of the right kind to support the particular method. The large multilingual corpus of data needed for statistical methods to work is not necessary for the grammar based methods, for example. But then, the grammar methods need a skilled linguist to carefully design the grammar that they use. Generally speaking, application of knowledge from linguistics and applied linguistics benefits the practice of language teaching and learning, translation and interpretation. Linguistic theory has also provided a rich knowledge base for application in speech language pathology. First of all, linguistic approaches to aphasia are aimed at providing well-motivated descriptions for patterns of dissociation in aphasia; unifying diverse phenomena in normal and abnormal language under a single account; constraining competing accounts within linguistic theory. As cited by Roman Jakobson on the role of linguistics in research on aphasia (1971, p.39-40), â€Å"the application of purely linguistic criteria to the interpretation and classification of aphasia facts can contribute substantially to the science of language and language disturbances, provided that linguists remain as careful and cautious when dealing with psychological and neurological data as they have been in their traditional field†. He provides some linguistic approaches to aphasia such as: first of all, pathologists or clinicians should be familiar with the technical terms and devices of the medical disciplines dealing with aphasia; then, they must submit the clinical case reports to thorough linguistic analysis; and further, they should themselves work with aphasic patients in order to approach the cases directly and not only through prepared records which are quite differently conceived and elaborated. As we know, phonological theories have also provided frameworks for the description of the speech of unintelligible children in terms of coherent phonological systems, thus facilitating logical goal-setting for intervention. In this part, I might give an example of clinical application. Clinical linguistics entails the application of linguistics to speech-language pathology. This involves treating individuals whose linguistic development is atypical or impaired. This branch of applied linguistics may also involve treatment of specific language impairment, where one aspect of language develops exceptionally. Phonological disorder is a typical problem of people with speech-language pathology. Some children learning a language have difficulties at the phonological level of language acquisition, including problems with knowledge of phonetic segments and phonological constraint, and how that knowledge is implemented in speech production. These problems result in impaired intelligibility and most often difficulty in other language domains such as lexical and syntactic development. In addition, they may lead to later problems in developing literacy. Research in speech production disorders had little concern with the nature of phonology. Rather, children who used few speech sounds or used them incorrectly were studied to determine if they had problems with sensory, cognitive, motor, or perceptual tasks. A speech sound production problem was presumed to be a peripheral motor problem. After all, speech pathology and linguistics have, as sciences, experienced a parallel development over the past years. Although these disciplines have traditionally been separated, they have common areas of concern, and there are indications of a growing interest on the part of speech pathologists in such linguistic subfields as sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and neurolinguistics. Speech and hearing publications are paying attention to theoretical and methodological linguistic models, and descriptions of communication disorders are using linguistic paradigms as a basis. Given the interest of speech pathology in linguistics, there is both an obligation and an opportunity for linguists to define new roles for themselves within speech pathology. This requires the identification of common areas and methods by which the linguist can adapt linguistic concerns so that they are meaningful to the speech pathologist. Areas of common interest include communication disorders, phonetics, language acquisition, and language variation. Linguists may have to expand their data base to include the particular interests of speech pathology; they may need background information in areas not traditionally stressed in linguistics; and they must understand the goals of speech pathology as a professional field. Needless to say, what have been mentioned above may not enough to get an insight in application of linguistic and applied linguistic knowledge in solving practical problems. The writing, as being said in the very beginning part, just provides my personal comment on the given statement; therefore, in order to get insight in the statement, there should be further studies on it. There should be other different approaches in analyzing or understanding it, too. I myself believe that possible findings of potential studies on this viewpoint will be very meaningful and surely benefit the practice of applied linguistics in solving practical problems. REFERENCE 1) Alan Davies (2007), An Introduction to Applied Linguistics: From Practice to Theory, Edinburgh University Press. 2) Alan Davies and Catherine Elder (2004), The Handbook of Applied Linguistics, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing 3) Roman Jakobson (1968), Child Language, Aphasia and Phonological Universals, Mouton Publishers. 4) Roman Jakobson (1959), On Linguistic Aspects of Translation, essay retrieved from http://www. scribd. com/doc/23687802/Linguistic-Aspects-of-Translation-Jakobson 5) Michael McCarthy (2001), Issues in Applied Linguistics, Cambridge University Press. 6) V. B. Owhotu (2007), Understanding Applied Linguistics, University of Lagos Press. 7) Phillip Shaw, An Overview of Applied Linguistics, video retrieved from www. sportballa. com/video-gallery/Applied-linguistics 8) Kamil Wisniewski (2007), Applied linguistics, article retrieved from http://www. tlumaczenia-angielski. info/linguistics/applied-linguistics. htm. ———————– Linguistics By components of language Phonetics (sounds) Syn j C tax (grammar) Lexis (words) Semantics (meanings) Pragmatics (uses) Discourse (connected texts) By areas studied Comparative linguistics Psycholinguistics Sociolinguistics Historical linguistics Theoretical linguistics Applied Linguistics.

Radiography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Radiography - Essay Example At the same time, missing a menstrual period could trigger an indication that a woman is pregnant. Meanwhile, conception can take place anywhere after the 10th day of pregnancy (Russell JR, et al. 1997), making x-ray and radiography procedure likely to coincide with early conception if taken before the next onset of menstruation, when a missed period could signify pregnancy. Radiation protection remain very important in pregnancy, knowing that when substantial doses of ~10 rem are taken on pregnant women, this can cause birth defects and malformations (Health Physics Society, 2014). The 10 days rule therefore comes in as an important methodology or technique that is used to guarantee the safety of early foetuses against any potential damages. Examinations pertaining to the pelvic and abdominal areas therefore have the 10 days rule applying to but in cases of ankle and hand examinations, the 10 days rule may be exempted given to the fact that there is relatively fewer risk in this are a. In a very modernised system, radiographers have taken to the use of interventional radiological examinations that come with therapeutic applications instead of mainstream operations (Queen Mary Hospital, 2007). The 28 days rule in radiography is another form of protective regulation used in radiography procedures to guarantee the safety of potentially pregnant women from undue exposure. This is a rule that can be said to have come to replace the 10 days rule in radiography as the 10 days rules seemed to have some levels of inconsistencies with the identification of pregnancies (Royal College of Radiologists, 2012). With the 28 days rule, the emphasis is on a menstrual period that is overdue. This means that there is no grace period allowed in this instance. But ahead of the application of the 28 days rule, the radiographer will ask the woman if she has any

Sociology of the Work Place Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Sociology of the Work Place - Research Proposal Example The largest segments of the population engaging in such marginal labor are the working poor, recent immigrants legal and illegal and/or ethnic minorities with/without educational credentials from third world countries whose education is not usually recognized by developed countries' formal educational and social institutions. Four ways in which marginal jobs deviate from the norms of regular expected work are important to consider. Within a regular recognized work force, there are norms that are universally accepted. It is important to understand what these norms are since they shed light on the differences in the marginal or informal labor force. According to sociologists in the field, work relationships in the regular work force, are characterized by roles, expectations, and obligations of employees and responsibilities of workers and bosses to each other (Kendall, 2003; Hodson & Sullivan, 2008; Wharton, 2006). There are also four main characteristics of regular jobs are also characterized by a) job content which is legal, b) the job should be relatively stable, c) the job should be institutionally stable, and d) the job should provide adequate wages and hours so that the worker may be able to sustain an adequate living. For jobs that are considered marginal one must first define the social norms of th at society as well as the historical time frame in order to understand the boundaries between formal and informal or marginal and regular labor. For instance, historical time period and culture or religion may affect how individuals and groups set up the boundaries between regular work and marginal work. Kendall (2003) cites the prohibition and illegal work as contemporary drug dealing as examples. Today prohibition of alcohol is not an issue but drug dealing still remains a marginal profession similar to prostitution. In countries such as Holland or Saudi Arabia there are very different norms and rules regulating these types of occupations. Sociologists of work commonly agree that individuals are commonly recruited into marginal forms of labor due to their inability to enter the regular workforce (Kendall, 2003; Hodson & Sullivan, 2008; Wharton, 2006).

Qualitative critique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Qualitative critique - Essay Example The study population is well defined; old people with multiple sclerosis (Ploughman et al., 2012). The abstract outlines the purposes, methods used to conduct the study, the results of the data collected, and the conclusions. The abstract in this study is in itself adequate. It presents the whole research from the objectives of the research, through the whole process and presents a conclusion of study at the end. The highlights on the purposes of the study outline what the study is all about, and this is critical in the beginning of any research where the reasons for conducting the research should be presented to the readers before the main body to give the guidelines on what to expect. The outlines on the methods used and the results of the data collected give the reader insight on the whole process and all the techniques applied during the research operation. The conclusions in the abstract highlight the whole process operations, findings and recommendations. The abstract gives an overview of the whole research paper; from the introduction through to conclusion (Fong, Finlayson, & Peacock, 2006). The researchers, Michelle Ploughman and the clue are from the Eastern Health faculty of medicine from the Memorial University. They work in coalition with the people who are disabled of St. John’s Newfoundland from the Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland. From the institutions they work with, it is clear that they are closely affiliated with the medical field. The institutions that these companies work with are well reputed in matters dealing with medicine and hence they can undertake the studies on patients suffering from multiple sclerosis. Also, the study was supported by the personnel in the faculty of medicine, Memorial University. Also, the authors had the support of Center of the Applied Health Research in Canada and the healthcare foundation. This further indicates clearly that the researchers were qualified to undertake the study to warrant the support of the reputable departments from the faculty of medicine. This is an article in Physiotherapy journal, Canada, Vol. 64, No. 1, pp. 6-17 (Ploughman et al., 2012). The problem in this research has been stated clearly. It is stated that the problem has been more prevalent among women more than in men. Some years after the diagnosis, we learn that the course becomes chronologically progressive, and after twenty years, most people rely on mobility aids. As a result, there is a need for carrying out research to facilitate the understanding on the natural history of the MS management from the perspective of older people and help the older people as well as to help the participants alleviate fearful feelings associated with MS diagnosis. The research team decided on a qualitative study after considering the aims of the study, they also considered the literature, advocacy and discussions with MS patients. The philosophical underpinning in this research is demonstrated where the effo rts by health providers are described as uni-lateral, misdirected and futile hence the need for establishing how to help people suffering from MS, to enhance self-management. The health professionals are called upon to facilitate self-management instead of obscuring it (DalMonte, Finlayson, & Helfrich, 2004). The purpose of the research is explicitly defined. It is clearly stated in the abstract that the study sought for exploring the experience of older people who are ageing with multiple sclerosis in order to describe the self-management history

How people react to robots Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

How people react to robots - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that response to robot interaction is a recently emerged area of research that is working to understand how the humans perceive and react towards robots in the social interaction scenario. Recent works have shown that people respond differently to the robot, but also show a similar flow of character towards the devices. Several future challenges have also been considered in these studies, for instance, physical embodiment and correct reading the robot intentions, to come up with sociable robots. Finally, for robots to live up to their mission, the focus will have to drift from competitive generation of robots to production of robots that are functional co-action and co-ordination. Whatever is happening to technology is affecting the day to day behavior of humans in all lines of business. Researchers are invading the human society and this is a reality. From the entertainment to performing household chores, to looking after the elderly, and to educating the children, people will soon be welcoming and accepting their existence. The changes are inevitable; avoiding this will be fighting a losing battle. Research on robot revolution shows that, though this will take time, people will need to learn ways of responding to these changes and try to see the positive impact this will have in the society. That is what this survey is about; the response of the humans to robots in the society.... According to [2] the sociable robots are robots that are capable of fully engaging in the social situation and have their own motivation for being involved in these types of interaction. These robots will be capable of interacting with humans on a social level and be comfortable and familiar with them, thereby, allowing the interactions to seem easy and natural [3]. Ref: [1] researcher referred this to simple trust from the humans. Although there are other types of robots for instance; socially evocative robots and social interface: This research will entirely dwell on sociable robots. III. Critical analysis Human robot interaction is increasingly becoming a topic of popular culture and academic interest, and most try to answer the question regarding the role of robots, the ethical issues in relation with its legal issues, and how the robots interact with humans [7]. Though not everyone writer of the popular culture writers have affected the field of robotics research. A. Shampoo Rob ot Project With the recent technological evolution, robots have been known as objects that can walk, talk or point. However, Panasonic has decided to add another action of robots to the ever increasing list by developing a robot that can shampoo one’s hair. The shampoo-Bot currently is on trial in japan to see how effective it works. Many have argued that it borrows from the car wash machine, but, all the same it is a descent innovation one must say. The hair care robot sounds a fascinating thing to hairdressers. The robot composition includes a reclining chair with a wash basin at the back both mechanized to achieve its task. According to [8] released on YouTube,

Conflict and Political Order Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Conflict and Political Order - Essay Example Both of these theories have foundations of democracy. Conflict is found at the centre stage of politics because of the struggle for power between individuals. Up to the modern concept of political order, conflict remains contentious when it comes to politics. These concepts have drawn from the ancient view of politics advanced by individuals such as Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, and Aquinas among others. Some of their concepts and propositions have been dispelled while others have influenced the philosophy of politics for centuries. Conflict among human beings is as old as history itself. War is found to have begun very long time ago because of the desire to control resources. Conflict has been founded on religious differences, ethnic differences, differing political ideologies, and social motivations. Politics is a broad subject that has influence over all humans directly or indirectly. According to Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, political science has massive influence over all other things, he mentions about its authority and the control it has over humans under his theory of natural slavery. His assertions that humans are naturally political present a situation that depicts them as differing in opinions and thoughts. His view was that humans are unique, with each playing a specific role just like the way organs functions in a body. The aggregation of communities together is a natural affair because it achieves self-sufficiency among the individuals. The political nature of persons induces them to engage in conflicts between one another. The conflicts may not be based on any personal view but the political affiliations. According to the arguments presented by Aristotle in the Book V the affiliations that appears between individuals creates factions based on common interes ts. In the first place, the mindset of an individual prompts them to affiliate to a certain group and will tend to have disparity in opinion and behaviour with the other factions. Secondly, factions are developed depending on the benefits that are derived from them, it is also possible that some things are lost in joining the groupings thereby some resentment to the differing groupings is experienced. Finally, political disputes are potential sources of factions where there are ideological differences between groups. The traditional approach of conflict seems to have been avoided since its focus was mainly on functionalism. The approach gives weight to the fact that each individual in an organization or community is designated from a specific role in the community. This is contrary to the modern conflict theory where the opinion shapers are the elite in the society. However, to the modern theorists there is consensus with Aristotle’s point of view that all humans are wired to be political. The modern view presents a situation where social classes arise hence creating a huge disparity and dispelling the functionality notion that humans have a specific role that each is supposed to play. Conflict is very much associated with rise to power. According to Machiavelli use of force is one the strategies that power can be obtained, these results in conflict that results to loss of lives and betrayal. These individuals kill the people they want to lead and the existing leaders in order to find their way to power. A situation that does not involve much conflict happens when power is obtained through the favour of the people. In such a situation the conflict arises between the common people and the nobles, however, the funny thing is that the nobles have much influence over the common people such that they are capable of manipulating them to have one of them

The Role of E-Commerce Technology and the Impact of E-Commerce on the Essay

The Role of E-Commerce Technology and the Impact of E-Commerce on the Supply Chain - Essay Example The online markets tend to involve the third party element of the business in that the transaction may affect the enterprise and the consumer or the sales made by a consumer to another consumer. Moreover, e-commerce involves the selling and activities of purchasing that include two businesses such that is a business to the business transaction as the description by (Chen, Chen & Kazman, 2007). Other involvements of e-commerce are the collection and subsequent use of the data on demographics that is available from the great representations of the contacts on the web as well as the contacts in the social media. Other instances of e-commerce include the prospects in marketing that focuses on the customers and employ the electronic emails or fax that may be a part of the newsletters. In fact, electronic commerce entails the launch of various new products and new services in the online markets. The most critical attribute of e-commerce is the interactivity aspect that keeps the customers or the buyers to be in a continuous form of involvement in the processes that constitute the activities of the favorite seller. The interactivity case implies that the market has plenty of individualizations. Besides, the online businesses are cheap to operate as a basis of the usage of already existing computer applications. The applications make up the EDI that is the Interchange of the Electronic Data. The regulations are probably to ensure that the business transactions that take part in the online markets are authentic.

Future of more energy efficient planes Research Paper

Future of more energy efficient planes - Research Paper Example (Coogan 41) The robust demand for commercial and air transport drives the current intensive research and development of energy efficient planes. As a matter of fact, the modern aircraft today has decreased in energy consumption significantly compared to old planes. According to Ngo and Natowtiz, with occupancy rates on the order of 70-80% the fuel consumption of recently built planes is on the order of 5L/100 km per passenger and that this means flying over a given distance as about the same in terms of energy consumption and CO2 emissions per passenger as driving the same distance with a car. (333) It must be underscored that technological innovations in the history of mankind, especially in the area of transportations, has been less energy efficient than the technology it replaced. In this regard, the use of supersonic air transport could reverse the trend for air transport. The engine of these supersonic jets are expected to beat all other current aircrafts in the area of energy efficiency because its technological designs optimize such items as fuel/air mixture, engine temperature and airflow velocities. (Siuru 155) A future supersonic transport could travel at speeds of Mach 2.7, making a trip from Los Angeles to Tokyo in a little over three hours. (Siuru 155) Some market projections anticipate a fleet of some 300 to 1,200 commercial supersonic jets in service in the next 10-30 years. Another interesting area in the supersonic jet technology, which makes it the most energy efficient aircraft of the future, is the so-called oblique-wing airliner concept. It supposedly eliminates the conventional fuselage by having passengers ride inside the wing. Siuru pointed to the computations that show how an oblique-wing airliner could fly at Mach 1.6, twice the speed of the Boeing 747, while consuming no more than a subsonic jumbo jet. Here, the level of fuel efficiency is achieved through the oblique wing’s very high lift-to-drag ratio and, subsequently,

Research design (Qualitative, Quantitative, and mixed methods Paper

Design (Qualitative, Quantitative, and mixed methods approaches) - Research Paper Example The use of sub-questions would be useful exploring the answers to the research question. Qualitatively written questions help in gaining an understanding of essential reasons, motivations, and opinions. It offers perceptions into the problem or rather helps in developing ideas or assumptions for prospective quantitative research. In addition, qualitative research is used to expose trends in opinions, and expound further into the problem (Petty, Thomson, & Stew, 2012). The techniques for data collection in qualitative research methodology include individual interviews, focus group, and observation. All of these will be useful in researching Green Logistics Chain and Issues because the sample size remains typically small also requires an exploratory research approach. The two forms of writing quantitative research questions include descriptive research questions and comparative research questions. Descriptive research questions aim at describing the variables being measured (Petty, Thomson, & Stew, 2012). The word describe implies that the research questions seek to quantify variables one intends to measure. For instance, the question that begins like, how much, how often, and what percentage are usually used in describing quantifiable variables. Descriptive research questions concentrate on just one variable and a group though they can comprise multiple variables or even groups. Comparative research questions seek to examine the variances between two groups on single dependent variables. Such questions typically begin by asking "what is the variation in" (Amelina, 2012). Descriptive research questions are essential for the quantitative research in answering this topic. For instance, how much CO2 results from Freight transport emissions. The desc riptive research question will attempt to find out the quantity or amount of CO2. Mixed methods research questions apply various

NEGOTIATION SKILLS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

NEGOTIATION SKILLS - Essay Example This brief analysis will work to address three main questions with regards to negotiation. They are as follows: 1) Describing and offering advice regarding the three main points of the â€Å"Getting To Yes† model of negotiation 2) comparison and contrast of distributive/competitive vs integrative/interest based bargaining 3) Discussion of the win-lose/win-win nature of negotiations and the influence that perception and expectations have on both parties involved. As such, this brief analysis will attempt to lay out, as best as possible, a type of rubric that will help an individual to handle negotiations in an informed and thoughtful manner. With respect to the three points of advice that were gleaned from the book Getting to Yes Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, the authors note that the three most powerful tools towards achieving a successful negation hinge on the following: 1) separating the people from the problem 2) focusing on the interests not the position 3) inve nting options for mutual gain. Oftentimes in situations where disagreements/contentions/negotiations are taking place, it is extraordinarily easy to immediately denote a problem, an idea, or a given point of view to an individual or group of individuals. In this way, the actual problem comes no closer to resolution as groups involved have ascribed uniquely personal attributes to each of the perspectives. As such, the individual hang ups that a person or group of people may have with relation to another individual or group acts as the main impediment towards achieving an environment amenable to successful resolution2. In this way, the problem itself (or obstacles) is minimized as the personalities that espouse the given view are maximized. Such actions make it difficult if not impossible to work towards a resolution. In this way, it is the role of the negotiator to seek, at all costs and at all times, understanding of the issues rather than working to ascribe them to a given group or individual. The second point centers around the fact that the negotiator must place emphasis on seeking to define the interests of the respective group and not the problem. Although this can be understood a multitude of different ways, perhaps the best way to understand it is that the focus should be placed on the positive and not the negative. In such a way, rather than immediately coming to agreement that a central negative exists, the group can focus positive and constructive energies on defining and further developing the respective interests that guide the positions that are at hand. Lastly, how it is framed is oftentimes half the battle. In a situation where a difficult issue seeks resolution, a redistribution of focus in a way that works to maximize mutual gain is oftentimes one of the most efficient ways towards bringing parties together on points of agreement. Although this is a very basic concept, it is one that is lost on many negotiations as individuals involved develop a type of tunnel vision on their desired results with little thought as to small tokens of peace offerings that could coax the other side to relinquish some ground on a given item or set of points. With respect to comparing and contrasting distributive/competitive versus integrative/interest based bargaining, these primarily differ with respect to the item that is being discussed. For instance, as the name implies, distributive bargaining is often

Evaluate the UK tax system in the context of Adam's Canon of Taxation Essay

Evaluate the UK tax system in the context of Adam's Canon of Taxation - Essay Example 2008). In UK today, there exist no published figures on this particular ‘gap’ but statistics from the Tax Justice Network (TJN) indicate that UK’s fifty largest companies have paid an average of 5.7 per cent less corporation tax than ‘expected rates’ from 2000 to 2004 (Wolfgang et al. 2008). This largely depends upon what is ‘expected’ and some of the assumptions made are questionable. For instance, in UK, TJN has associated this with excessive corporate tax allowances given to motivate investment in plant and machinery that in turn result into high levels of deferred taxation (Wolfgang et al. 2008). Today, capital allowances constitute examples of various express tax relief and incentives, which are regarded by most governments as desirable in the context of their economic policies. Recent report findings by the National Audit Office in UK identified that, around 220 of the largest UK 700 companies paid no tax at all in the years 2005 an d 2006, which led to concerns being widely highlighted in the media that there were high levels of corporate tax avoidance (Wolfgang et al. 2008). Therefore, this research paper will largely look at and make evaluation of the UK tax system in the context of Adam’s Canon of Taxation. Background to Adam’s Canon of Taxation Adam Smith is considered the father of modern economics and part of his contribution to the field of economics was presentation of four principles of a good taxation system known as Adam Smith’s Canons of Taxation (Smith and Cannan 1976; Smith and Sutherland 1998). The four principles are as follows: Canon of Equity, in the words of Adam Smith, â€Å"people of every state should pay their share in proportion to their individual abilities, which means that they should pay tax proportion to that income which they respectively get under the government security† (Jain, Kaur, Gupta and Gupta n.d, p.30). The basic assumption of this law is that , people are supposed to pay taxes according their capacity, while equity in this sense means people should demonstrate equality of sacrifice in paying tax. For instance, since the rich people’s marginal utility of money is less than that for the poor, rich people are supposed to pay more amounts in taxes than the poor people (Jain, Kaur, Gupta and Gupta n.d). Therefore the principle of justice is implicated in this doctrine (Nicholson 1928) and in the words of Adam Smith, â€Å"It will be more justified for the rich to contribute to the public expenditure not only what is proportionate to their income but more than that† (Jain and Khanna 2006, p.349). The second canon is that of certainty, where the postulation of this principle is that, there need to be a certainty regarding taxes (Das, 1993). For example, in Smith’s words â€Å"the tax which each individual is bound to pay ought to be certain, and not arbitrary and that time of payment, the manner of payment , the quantity to be paid ought to be clear and plain to the contributor and to every other person† (Jain, Kaur, Gupta and Gupta n.d, p.30). These assumptions show that, in any taxation system, individuals must know how much tax they are supposed to pa

St. Peters Basilica Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

St. Peters Basilica - Essay Example Famous group of architects in Renaissance times include of Bramante, Peruzzi, Antonio da Sangallo and Michelangelo for the architectural practice that was then imitated throughout Europe. Their masterpieces are made up of their personal artistic skills and preferences. Its interior was compounded of magnificent works of these famous architects in which several structures are brilliantly decorated with mosaics. In order to communicate their design intent, the architects considered the graphical language that is easy to understood and shared to others. Christians were allowed to worship openly, St. Peter's basilica became the prototype of churches today which the Christians built. Little by little, each feature inside of the pagan basilica became suffused with Christian significance. This paper traces the gradual restoration of St. Peters basilica from the first and original plan that grown slowly but steadily adapted place for worship. None of the existing types of building could meet the needs of the fellow Christian worshippers. St Peters Basilica is the center of the flow of western Christendom's political, social, religious and cultural development. Every masterpiece is much appreciated in the history and the essence of this remarkable place. Under the construction of more than 150 years, it's been a witness of spiritual humility. The Vatican is still the most recognized landmarks in Rome.

How Attitudes Are Formed Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

How Attitudes Are Formed - Essay Example Attitudes once formed play a vital role in governing the behaviors of the people (Albarracin, Johnson & Zanna, 2005). Many factors can have an influence on forming the attitude of the people, which includes learning from social environment, evaluation of social aspects, personal beliefs, cultural and religious norms, heredity factors, and personal or family life experiences. Since the attitude is directly in proportion to behaviors and behaviors have a direct impact on the actions of an individual, therefore, a positive attitude can only come under formation when one’s perception is optimistic. Cognitive, behavioral, and affective components also help in forming one’s attitude. There can be many theories that define how a person can form his attitude, amongst which two theories – Mere Exposure and Classical Conditioning comes under discussion below (Albarracin, Johnson & Zanna, 2005). Mere Exposure is one theory that defines that a recurring confrontation with an object or a person presides over the fondness of an individual as it influences the perception. For example, if a person is repeatedly watching a television serial or listens to a song repeatedly, each time his understanding of the images he watch or the sound he listen becomes better and his perception transforms into either his liking or boredom (Fiske, 2010).

Causes of autism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Causes of autism - Essay Example Early diagnosis of autism is very important to adjust the methods of child rearing and to facilitate their social adaptation. It is believed that autism is not a mental illness, but a developmental disorder. It is thought that it cannot be cured completely, but therapy at an early stage will help the child overcome some limitations. Dustin Hoffman's character in Rain Man has little to do with the lives of people with autism. They usually attract attention to their unusual behavior. Our brain reacts to the stimuli and processes information through the biological process of connecting, pairing and organizing the neurons. These neurons have thread extensions through which electrical discharge travels. Neurons thus conduct these electrical impulses. Autism changes how these nerve cells function, though it is not quite known how this occurs. Since their brain cannot function properly, people affected with autism have problems in their daily life tasks including problems in interacting soc ially, communicating non-verbally and other activities that involve give-and-take, humor and adroitness. The clinical picture of autism: a number of psychomotor, speech and behavioral disorders, with different combinations of symptoms and signs of developmental delay. Early childhood autism can be detected at as early an age as three years. Such children are weak and have poor facial expressions. They are not capable of non-verbal interactions with their mother or other people – they do not look in your eyes, do not respond to their own name, do not take toys when someone gives them. You may have to line up their pencils before they can pay attention, or say the same phrase over and over to calm down. They may flap their arms to indicate they are happy, or hurting to show that they are not. Some people with autism never learn to speak. Most of the autistic children carry out repetitive movements for instance they rock and twirl, or they abuse their own selves by biting and he ad banging. Such children start talking after the normal ones and rather than calling themselves by I or me they take their name. Autistic children are not able to play with others like normal ones and some even talk in sing-song voice. They do not care for what the other person thinks or is interested in and they themselves have few favorite topics. Autistic children appear to be having an increased risk of having particular comorbid conditions, which includes fragile X syndrome (that leads to mental retardation), tuberous sclerosis (wherein tumors develop in the brain), epileptic seizures, Tourette syndrome, learning disorders and deficit disorder attention. Almost 20-30% of autistic children also develop epilepsy by the time they become adults. Although there are certain schizophrenic people who might also exhibit behavior of autism, their symptoms normally are not visible till almost adulthood is reached. A lot of schizophrenic people may also be having hallucinations and delusi ons that is not a sign of autism. As the child grows, the symptoms of autism increase. He falls into the strong disorder due to the change in the familiar environment, loud noises, bright lights or strong odors. Worst of all, the child feels alone and avoids any physical contact with parents and peers. Emotional reciprocity and

The Almanac of American Politics (2008) Essay Example for Free

The Almanac of American Politics (2008) Essay Presidential election results (2000, 2004) The following pages are quoted verbatim from the Almanac of American Politics, 2006 edition: American politics has devolved into a grim battle between two approximately equal-size armies in a take-no-prisoners culture war. In 2000, those armies fought to a near-draw—out of more than 100 million ballots cast, the presidency of the United States hinged on a breathtakingly slim 537-vote margin in Florida. Four years later, despite the occurrence of a recession, two wars, and a devastating terrorist attack on American soil, the two adversaries remain fairly evenly divided. In the wake of an acrimonious election where both political parties together spent roughly $4 billion on the federal elections the crisis spilled over into other areas of American politics: health and welfare spending, handling of the economy, and the continued occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan (Barone and Cohen, 2006) State Profile NEW JERSEY State Profile The following data and information about this state is taken from the 2006 Almanac of American Politics. â€Å"New Jersey boomed in the 1980s, suffered sharply in the early 1990s recession, came back strongly, and is now weathering the high-tech storms with mixed success.† At A Glance Size: 8,721 square miles Population in 2000: 8,414,350; 94.3% urban; 5.7% rural Population in 1990: 7,730,188 Population Change: Up 8.6% 1990-2000; Up 5.0% 1980-1990 Population Rank: 9th of 50; 3.0% of total U.S. population Most Populous Cities: Newark (277,911); Jersey City (239,097); Paterson (150,782); Elizabeth (123,215); Trenton (85,314) Registered Voters: 1,163,224 D (23.2%); 884,801 R (17.7%); 2,957,934 unaffiliated and minor parties (59.1%) State Senate: 22 D 18 R State General Assembly: 49 D 31 R State Legislative Term Limits: No Key Elected Officials Gov. Jon Corzine (D) Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D) Sen. Robert Menendez (D) Representatives: (6 D, 6 R, 1 V): Robert Andrews (D-01) Loida Nicolas Lewis (D-02) Jim Saxton (R-03) Chris Smith (R-04) Scott Garrett (R-05) Frank Pallone (D-06) Michael Ferguson (R-07) Bill Pascrell (D-08) Steven Rothman (D-09) Donald Payne (D-10) Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11) Rush Holt (D-12) Vacant; formerly Robert Menendez (D-13) About New Jersey The Northeast has long been the nation’s least conservative region and turned out the biggest bonanza for the Democrats in their surge to an even greater House majority in 2008: 15 of the 25 seats the party took from the GOP were in the area.   Democrats say this â€Å"reverse alignment† — counterbalancing the Southern shift to the GOP — rolls on (The Electoral Map, 2007). â€Å"A valley of humility between two mountains of conceit: That is what Benjamin Franklin called New Jersey, which even in colonial days was overshadowed by the metropolises of New York and Philadelphia. New Jersey was named by King James II, then Duke of York, for the Channel Island on which he was sheltered during the English Civil War. But New Jersey has much to say for itself. It is a sort of laboratory in which the best blood is prepared for other communities to thrive on, Woodrow Wilson said when he was governor, just a tad defensively. Today, New Jersey is the nations tenth most populous state: It boomed in the 1980s, suffered sharply in the early 1990s recession, came back strongly, and is now weathering the high-tech storms with mixed success. New Jersey was the home of Thomas Edison and of the old Bell Labs; its successors Lucent and ATT were among its biggest employers in the 1990s. Other big employers include several of the nations biggest pharmaceutical firmsMerck, Johnson Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, Schering-Plough. These industries give the state a high-income, high-education work force, and in 2000 New Jersey passed Connecticut to boast the nations highest median household income. This is prosperous middle-income country, with more two-car than one-car families but fewer limousines than Manhattan, with an estimated 13,500 $1 million houses but not the multi-million dollar co-ops of Manhattan or mansions of Greenwich, Connecticut. Within New Jerseys close boundaries is great diversity, geographically from beaches to mountains, demographically from old Quaker stock to new Hispanics, economically from inner city slums to hunt country mansions. Though New York writers are inclined to look on New Jersey as a land of 1940s diners and 1970s shopping malls, this state much more closely resembles the rest of America than does Manhattan, even if its accents can sometimes be incomprehensible to outsiders. The Jersey City row houses seen on emerging from the Holland Tunnel, many renovated by Wall Street commuters and Latin immigrants, give way within a few miles to the skyscrapers of Newark and its new Performing Arts Center. Farther out are comfortably packed middle-income suburbs and the horse country around Far Hills, the university town of Princeton, old industrial cities like Paterson and Trenton, and dozens of suburban towns and small factory cities where people work and raise families over generations. Among them are commuter towns like Middletown, whose commuter trails lead to Lower Manhattan, and which lost dozens of neighbors on September 11. A year later, only 37% of New Jersey citizens said their lives had returned to normal and 29% said they would never be the same; 43% said they thought about the attacks every day. New Jersey has long been a magnet for immigrants, and it is again today. In 2000, 29% of its residents were born in another country or had a parent who was; only California and New York have larger percentages of foreign-born residents. Hudson County, the land along the ridge opposite Manhattan, was the home to hundreds of thousands of Irish, Italian, Polish and Jewish immigrants in the early 20th century; in 2003 it was 41% Hispanic, with Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and Mexicans. Immigrants are plentiful in the little middle-American towns of Bergen County, Filipinos in Bergenfield, Guatemalans in Fairview, Koreans in Leonia, Indians in Lodi, Chinese in Palisades Park. The old central cities of Elizabeth and Paterson were half-Hispanic in 2000 and Camden, opposite Philadelphia, was 39% Hispanic. There is still a black majority in Newark, but it includes many of the Brazilians in the Ironbound district. New Jersey has all the ethnic variety that America offers. In the last two decades, a new New Jersey has sprouted. The oil tank farms and swamplands of the Jersey Meadows have become sports palaces and office complexes; the Singer factory in Elizabeth, the Western Electric factory in Kearny, the Ford plant in Mahwah, the Shulton plant in Clifton are all gone, replaced by shopping centers or hotels or other development, and the GM plant in Linden, the last New Jersey auto plant, closed in April 2005; the intersection of I-78 and I-287 has become a major shopping and office edge city; U.S. 1 north from Princeton to North Brunswick has become one of the nations high-tech centers. Even some of New Jerseys long-ailing central cities are perking up. New Jersey increasingly has an identity of its own. It is the home of big league football, basketball and hockey franchisesthough after nearly three decades, two of them have threatened to moveand of the worlds longest expanse of boardwalks on the Jersey Shore from Cape May to Sandy Hook. And New Jersey is one of Americas great gambling centers: Atlantic City, an hour from Philadelphia and two hours from Manhattan, had gambling revenues in 2006 ($8.2 billion) that nearly matched the Las Vegas strip ($8.8 billion). State government played an important role in building New Jersey identity and pride. In the 1970s, Governor Brendan Byrne started the Meadowlands sports complex and got casino gambling legalized in Atlantic City. Governor Tom Kean in the 1980s started education reforms and promoted the state shamelessly. The revolt against Governor Jim Florios tax increase in 1990 was led by the first all-New Jersey talk radio station and took on national significance with the 1993 election of Christine Todd Whitman, who later became EPA Administrator. In the next decade crime and welfare rolls dropped, but auto insurance and property taxes remain the highest in the nation. New Jersey, contained within two of the nations biggest metropolitan areas, was also a harbinger of the national trend in the big metro areas toward Bill Clintons Democrats. Not so long ago, suburban New Jersey was one of the most Republican of big states: It voted 56%-42% for the first George Bush in 1988. But in 1996 New Jersey voters, turned off by the congressional Republicans Southern leaders and by the national partys opposition to abortion and gun control, voted 54%-36% for Clinton and 53%-43% for Democrat Bob Torricelli for the Senate. In 1997 Whitman, despite cutting taxes, was reelected by only 47%-46% over little-known Democrat Jim McGreevey. In 2000 Al Gore carried the state 56%-40%. In 2001 McGreevey defeated Republican Bret Schundler for governor by 56%-42% and in 2002, after an unorthodox campaign, Democrat Frank Lautenberg defeated Republican Douglas Forrester for senator by 54%-44%very similar margins. Democrats cinched control of both houses of the legislature in 2003. New Jerseys politicians compete in a market that is the second most expensive in the nation, because they have to buy New York and Philadelphia television. And they have a special handicap, because those stations dont give state politics and government the in-depth coverage that voters in most states can expect. This gives an advantage to well-known candidates, like former Senator Bill Bradley, and to incumbents with a distinctive style and notable achievements, like Governors Byrne, Kean and Whitman, and to self-funders like Senator and gubernatorial candidate Jon Corzine. But it also means that high-income, highly educated New Jersey politics is often the business of county and city political machines, of varying degrees of competence, cronyism and corruption. It is, astonishingly, a great advantage in both parties to have the designation of the local county party on the primary ballot. A 1993 campaign finance law allowed county parties to take contributions 18 times as large as candidates could, so money is increasingly raised by chairmen of parties that have control of local government and can dole out contractsthe Jersey term is pay to playand then wheeled, or doled out, to favored candidates all over the state. McGreevey, elected in 2001 after his near-defeat of Whitman in 1997, was a product of the Middlesex County Democratic machine and served as both mayor of Woodbridge and state senatorin New Jersey, as in France, politicians can be town mayors and legislators at the same time. Second District, New Jersey 2008 Congressional Election Results (Second District, New Jersey) NJ-02 District Profile: Politically, Atlantic City often votes Democratic but has an antique Republican machine that goes back generations. 2008 Results: First-timer Loida Nicolas-Lewis (D) roundly defeated Frank LoBiondo (R) by 64-31% Loida Nicolas-Lewis (R) Nicolas-Lewis was nominated with 72% in a two-way primary. Contact: 212-756-8900 †¢Ã‚  Campaign Web site †¢Ã‚  Official Web site †¢Ã‚  Almanac biography Frank LoBiondo (D) Elected in 1994; Seeking eighth term; LoBiondo barely emerged from the primary with 50.5% pf the vote. Contact: 856-794-2004 †¢Ã‚  Campaign Web site †¢Ã‚  Official Web site †¢Ã‚  Almanac biography Profile of the District (Source: Almanac of American Politics) When the builders of the Camden Atlantic Railroad in 1852 extended the line to the little inlet town of Absecon, little did they know what would become Americas biggest beach resort, Atlantic City. Like all resorts, it was a product of developments elsewhere: of industrialization and spreading affluence, of railroad technology and the conquest of diseases which used to make summer a time of terror for parents and doctors. In the years after the Civil War, first Atlantic City and then the whole Jersey Shore from Brigantine to Cape May became Americas first seaside resort, and Atlantic City developed its characteristic features: the Boardwalk in 1870, the amusement pier in 1882, the rolling chair in 1884, salt water taffy in the 1890s, Miss America in 1921. By 1940, 16 million Americans visited every summer, Atlantic City was a common mans resort of old traditions; but the place became less popular after World War II as people could afford nicer vacations. By the early 1970s, Atlantic City was grim. Then in 1977, New Jersey voters legalized casino gambling in Atlantic City and gleaming new hotels sprang up, big name entertainers came in and Atlantic City became more glamorous than it had been in 90 years. But not for all of its residents: Casino and hotel jobs tend to be low-wage, and the slums begin just feet from the massive parking lots of the casinos. In the 1990s Atlantic Citys gambling business was thrivingcasinos came out ahead $4.3 billion in 2000and huge new casinos were built on both Boardwalk and bayside. Over Donald Trumps objections, Steve Wynn won approval of a new tunnel, which would permit him to build a new casino in the marina district. Now listed among the top 10 House districts nationwide for tourist economies, Atlantic City is growing into what Las Vegas has become, not just a collection of gaudy casinos but a gaggle of theme parks, with entertainment for the family as well as adults. The Jersey Shore south of Atlantic City is a string of different resorts. Behind the Shore are swamp and flatland, the Pine Barrens and vegetable fields that gave New Jersey the name Garden State. Growth has been slow in these small towns and gas station intersections, communities in whose eerie calmness in the summer you can hear mosquitoes whining. In the flatness, you can also find towns clustered around low-wage apparel factories or petrochemical plants on the Delaware estuary; the Northeast high-tech service economy has not reached this far south in Jersey yet. This part of South Jersey makes up the 2d Congressional District. Politically, it has strong Democratic presences in the chemical industry towns along the Delaware River and in Vineland and a strong Republican presence in Cape May; Atlantic City often votes Democratic.   The party carried the area in all 1990s statewide elections and won easily in the 1996 and 2000 presidential races. This is prime marginal territory, off the beaten track of Northeast politics. The Incumbent New Jersey 2d voters finally gave seven-termer Frank LoBiondo the boot long after he had promised not to run for more than six terms.   Even loyal Republicans angrily crossed party lines owing to a series of indiscretions and scandals.   Chief of these was involvement in the Abscam scandal and the revelation that Harrah’s had been the single biggest contributor to his campaigns all along.   Sentiment against the Iraq war also focused on his voting record of going along with every bill sponsored by the White House that related to funding and deployment in that country and Afghanistan. Other aspects of his legislative record that came to light in a bad way were having voted with DeLay seven in eight times, agreeing to weaken ethics rules and assenting to bringing indictment hearings behind closed doors.   The last straw turned out to be outtakes from the local Harrah’s security cameras proving it was LoBiondo after all who had been, and still was, carrying on an affair with Vicki Iseman the telecoms lobbyist whom the New York Times had wrongly linked with John McCain. Mere minutes after LoBiondo conceded the election in November, his wife held her own press conference to announce she was divorcing LoBiondo.   The following day, a downcast ex-congressmen was seen off at the airport departing for parts unknown, muttering something about getting in a few rounds of golf with the Bushes. The 2008 Election Winner Loida Nicolas Lewis Born: July 20, 1957 Family: Husband, Reginald (deceased); two daughters Religion: Roman Catholic Education: St. Theresa’s College (Philippines), A.B. 1972 (summa cum laude) University of the Philippines, Ll.B. 1976 (summa cum laude) Harvard, J.D. 1985 Career: Chairman/CEO, Beatrice International Holdings, Inc. President, Confederation of Asian-American Associations Immigration lawyer Elected Office: None 2008 New Member Profiles New Jerseys Second District: Loida Nicolas-Lewis (D) The Almanac of American Politics  © National Journal Group Inc. From out of nowhere and riding a wave of anti-administration sentiment among minorities in the district, the inexperienced but highly intelligent and articulate Loida Lewis captured the imagination of voters and soundly trounced the incumbent by an unprecedented 2:1 margin.   No one was more surprised than Representative LoBiondo himself. Loida first came to national attention and even gained a measure of fame after her husband, the famed African-American deal-maker Reginald Lewis engineered a leveraged buyout of Beatrice Foods International.   On completing the LBO deal with the help of Michael Milliken at Drexel Burnham Lambert, the press hailed Reginald and the flagship TLC Beatrice as the most successful African-American enterprise ever.   When Reginald foundered in his choice of domestic acquisitions that would allow Beatrice to balance industry cycles in Europe and especially after Reginald’s death, Loida earned the respect of minority stakeholders for her business acumen as CEO. Three months before the primaries, Loida landed in the short list of Gov. Corzine owing to her decade-long work with minority associations on both coasts.   An informal dinner with campaign managers of Sen. Obama and President-Elect Clinton made the choice official. In the ensuing campaign, Loida Lewis proved herself a soft-spoken but very articulate and highly moral rival to the flagging and corruption-prone image of the incumbent.   With unfailingly good press, unanimous support from every minority association and church group, and extremely good rapport with businessmen, Loida Lewis was happy enough to leave the mudslinging to the press.   To no one’s surprise, she won handily and immediately won kudos from the House leadership. THIS SECTION ADAPTED FROM ALMANAC OF AMERICAN POLITICS 2008 (Almanac, 2007) Committees Foreign Relations (10th of 11 D) European Affairs; African Affairs; East Asian Pacific Affairs; International Development Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs International Environmental Protection. Health, Education, Labor Pensions (11th of 11 D) Employment Workplace Safety; Children Families. Homeland Security Governmental Affairs (8th of 9 D) Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services International Security; Investigations; State, Local Private Sector Preparedness Integration. Veterans Affairs (2nd of 8 D). Group Ratings ADA ACLU AFS LCV ITIC NTU COC ACU CFG FRC    2008 95 83 100 100 75 16 55 8 7 0 2009 100 100 95 6 39 8 0 National Journal Ratings 2008 LIB 2008 CONS   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2009 LIB 2009 CONS ECONOMIC 87% 12% 87% 0% SOCIAL 77% 18% 77% 21% FOREIGN 76% 15% 85% 12% Key Votes Of The 109th Congress 1 Bar ANWR Drilling Y 2 FY06 Spending Curb N 3 Estate Tax Repeal N 4 Raise Minimum Wage Y 5 Recognize Filipino WW2 veterans Y 6 Path to Citizenship Y 7 Bar Same Sex Marriage Y 8 Stem Cell Research $ N 9 Limit Interstate Abortion Y 10 CAFTA Y 11 Urge Iraq Withdrawal Y 12 Provide Detainee Rights Y References Almanac (2007) Almanac of American politics 2008. National Journal. Barone, M. and Cohen, R. E. (2006) The almanac of American politics, 2006. Retrieved February 29, 2008 from http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/161479.ctl. The Electoral Map (2007) Do Democrats still have room for growth in the northeast? Retrieved February 29, 2008 from http://theelectoralmap.com/2007/11.