An Overview of Chinas Traffic Troubles

China hasn’t always had a problem with traffic, but over the past couple of decades, as China rapidly urbanizes, the country’s urban denizens have had to adapt their lives to a new phenomenon: gridlock. How Bad Is China’s Traffic Problem? It’s really bad. You may have heard about the China National Highway 10 traffic jam on the news back in 2010; it was 100 kilometers long and lasted ten days, involving thousands of cars. But outside of the mega-jams, most cities are plagued with daily traffic that rivals the worst gridlock in Western cities. And thats despite a plethora of affordable public transportation options and anti-traffic legislation in many cities that mandates (for example) that cars with even and odd-numbered license plates must drive on alternating days, so only half of the city’s cars can legally take to the road at any given time. Of course, China’s urban traffic jams are also a major factor in its pollution problems. Why Is Traffic in China so Bad? There are a number of reasons for China’s traffic congestion woes: Like most older cities around the world, many of Chinas cities were not designed for cars. They were also not designed to support the massive populations they now boast (Beijing, for example, has more than 20 million people). As a result, in many cities, the roads are simply not big enough.Cars are considered a status symbol. In China, buying a car often isn’t as much about convenience as it is about showing that you can buy a car because you’re enjoying a successful career. Lots of white-collar workers in Chinese cities who might otherwise be satisfied with public transportation buy cars in the name of keeping up with (and impressing) the Joneses, and once they’ve got the cars, they feel obliged to use them.China’s roads are full of new drivers. Even a decade ago, cars were far less common than they are now, and if you go back in time twenty years. China didn’t break the two million vehicle mark until around the year 2000, but a decade later it had more than five million. That means that at any time, a significant percentage of the people driving on China’s roads only have a few years of experience. Sometimes, that leads to questionable driving decisions, and that can cause gridlock when those decisions lead to blocked roads for one reason or another.China’s driver education is not great. Driver education schools often only teach driving on closed courses, so new graduates are literally taking to the roads for the first time when they get behind the wheel. And because of corruption in the system, some new drivers haven’t taken any classes at all. As a result, China has a lot of accidents: its traffic fatality rate per 100,000 cars is 36, which is more than double the United States, and several times more than European countries like the UK, France, Germany, and Spain (which all have rates under 10).There are just too many people. Even with great driver education, wider roads, and fewer people buying cars, traffic jams would still be likely in a city like Beijing, which is host to more than twenty million people. What Does the Chinese Government Do About Traffic? The government has worked hard to create public transportation infrastructure that takes pressure off cities roads. Nearly every major city in China is building or expanding a subway system, and the prices of these systems are often subsidized to make them extremely enticing. Beijing’s subway, for example, costs as little as 3 RMB ($0.45 as of March 2019). Chinese cities also generally have extensive bus networks, and there are buses going virtually everywhere you could imagine. The government has also worked to improve long-distance travel, building new airports and rolling out a massive network of high-speed trains designed to get people where they’re going faster and keep them off the highways. Finally, city governments have also taken restrictive measures to limit the number of cars on the road, like Beijing’s even-odd rule, which stipulates that only cars with even- or odd-numbered license plates can be on the road on any given day (it alternates). What Do Regular People Do About Traffic? They avoid it as best they can. People who want to get where they’re going quickly and reliably generally take public transportation if they’re traveling in a city around rush hour. Biking is also a common way of avoiding the gridlock if you’re headed somewhere nearby. People also tend to be accommodating when it comes to the realities of rush-hour traffic in China; taxis, for example, often pick up more than one passenger at a time during busy hours to ensure they’re not spending hours sitting in traffic with a single fare. And Chinese subways get jam-packed with passengers during rush hour. It’s uncomfortable, but people have put it with it. Spending 30 minutes getting home in an uncomfortable subway car beats spending 3 hours in a slightly-more-comfortable regular car, at least for most people.

Symptoms And Treatment Of Elderly Patients - 1781 Words

Patient factors include age, gender, education, ethnicity, socio-economic status and how much patient knows about cancer and cancer symptoms. Age appears to be the major determinants of cancer survival. Cancer survival rate for almost all types of cancers decrease significantly with age. Research has shown that elderly patients generally do not receive the same standard of treatments and care, as compared to younger patients. Elderly patients are also reported to be less likely to receive surgery and the most effective treatment than younger people irrespective of the co-morbidities. This is because healthcare professionals tend to make decisions based on the assumptions that older patients will not be able to cope with certain treatments†¦show more content†¦Cancer signs are often mistaken as the symptoms of their mental health condition or side effects of the medications they are taking. This ultimately leads to a poorer cancer prognosis in the UK. (Independent Cancer Task force, 2015) The Black and Minor Ethnic (BME) communities also reported a worse treatment and care experience compare to other race groups. However, links between race and cancer are often complex and vary between different populations. (Department of Health, 2010) Health inequalities can be clearly seen in the uptake variation of screening programmes available in England. For instance, 23% of BME women claimed that they have never had a cervical screening as compared to 14% of white women at screening age. (Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, 2012) Other than that, communication and public awareness about cancer is crucial in improving cancer outcome. It has been proven that good communication between healthcare professionals and patients aids in early diagnosis, increase in patients’ self management, decrease emergency admissions, decrease health inequalities and appears to save cost for the NHS as well. The 2010 Cancer Patient Experience Survey highlights that there are man y patients do not understand the doctors and nurses about their diagnosis and conditions most of the time. Also, a significant number of patients state that there is always not

Stereotypes on Intercultural Communication †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Queston: Discuss about the Stereotypes on Intercultural Communication. Answer: Introduction: The spread of globalisation has changed the world of business to a great extent. Globalisation has enabled people and organisations from all corners of the world to interact with each other, form business relations and expand their market reach, which can help them in achieving a competitive edge in the market. The spread of globalisation has also made it difficult for business organisations to survive in the market because of the exponential increase in competition. As a result, business organisations are looking forward to expand their businesses overseas in order to achieve market competencies and ensure a long term survival in the market. Overseas expansion involves interacting with individuals that belong to different cultural backgrounds and have their own morals, ethics, values, language, etc., which governs their behaviour during business interactions (Kreuz Roberts, 2017). Therefore, understanding the culture of an overseas partner is considered to be crucial for those orga nisations that are looking forward to expand their business management overseas. Culture is defined as the set of morals, ethics, values, language, cuisines, etc. that governs the social conduct of an individual or a group of people (Heine, 2015). Cultural stereotyping is referred to the condition when one person forms an opinion about another person on the basis of who that person is, where is the person from, which language does that person speaks, etc., without actually getting to know the person, etc. (Schnurr, et al., 2017). There are a number of cultural stereotypes that exist till date, such as all people with a Jewish background are greedy, Mexican people are lazy and migrate into America illegally, all black people outside of the United States are poor, etc. There are a countless number of stereotypes associated with different cultures in the world, out of which, some are valid while some are completely invalid and have originated as a result of false perceptions of people. It is better to rely on stereotypes than to enter into a relationship with someone from another culture without any idea of what they believe in. To conclude whether the statement is correct or not, it is important to discuss the merits as well as the demerits of the statement. Let us start by discussing the merits of cultural stereotypes in cross cultural communication management: First of all, relying upon stereotypes while entering into a relationship with someone from a different culture can be beneficial for a person that has negligible knowledge about the cultural preferences of the other person. There can be certain situations where a person might not have the time to study the culture of another person in depth. In such cases, relying on cultural stereotypes can shape the way for communication to a certain extent. Further, relying upon cultural stereotypes can sometimes be helpful in making quick judgements and fast decisions (Peng, 2010). Secondly, cultural stereotypes can help in identifying people into groups and predicting their reactions and decisions. It can help a person in forming expectations and making communication more predictable and easier to understand. Thirdly, stereotypes in cultural communication is sometimes considered to be an equalizer because people belonging to a particular group definitely have something in common. Stereotypes ca n thus be used to face issues related to intercultural communication rather than running away from them. Cultural stereotypes can definitely have certain truth attached to them and by addressing these issues, stereotypes can be used to eliminate barriers to communication Fourthly, cultural stereotypes can sometimes be used by individuals to explain social events as stereotypes can help in identifying certain typical characteristics of a cluster. On the other hand, most of the people believe that cultural stereotypes can cause more harm in cross cultural communication than their potential benefits. Some of the negative aspects of cultural stereotypes are discussed below: First of all, cultural stereotypes can have a great impact on the organisational behaviour of the employees. In cross-cultural communication or in multinational organisations, it is often observed that certain employees have a tendency to shape their behaviour with other employees on the basis of stereotypes that they have regarding a particular group of people. This can make them bully others if they perceive their culture as recessive or less assertive. According to the socio-technical approach and the situational approach under the administrative theory of organisational behaviour, an organisation is composed of a social system, technical system and an environment and for the success of an organisation, it is crucial that there is a strong relation between all these systems (Bin, n.d.). Stereotypes can instil a feeling of inferiority or superiority in the system and it can become difficult to establish a strong relation between these systems. Relying upon cultural stereotypes while entering into a relationship with a person belonging to a different culture can prove to be a failure because the judgement about his or her culture can be completely misguided and incorrect. In such cases, there are greater chances that one might end up offending the other person, which makes it difficult to establish a strong and long lasting relation with the person. Further, stereotypes can also result in employees mistreating or abusing those whom they perceive to be inferior to them, based on stereotypes(Lyons Kashima, 2001). Secondly, according to most of the cultural stereotypes, people belonging to a particular culture have a similar dressing sense, values, beliefs, preferences, social conduct, etc. This belief can act as a barrier in cross cultural communication because people having the same dressing sense can feel differently towards different situations and actions (Lyons Kashima, 2001). As a result, relying upon stereotypes can decrease the effectiveness of cross cultural communication. Furthermore, a popular notion saying Dont judge a book by its cover stresses on the face that appearance cannot be enough to completely understand who a person really is. Thirdly, cultural stereotypes can sometimes act as the biggest barriers to communication and might prevent two people belonging to different cultures from interacting at all. A person might not want to interact with another person because of his or her assumption about the other person, which is obviously based upon cultural stereotypes that she or he might have read or heard about. Fourthly, cultural stereotypes can sometimes result in prejudice. Cultural stereotypes can sometimes make people protect their self-esteem by making them feel that they are a part of a superior group of people (Bin, n.d.) . As a result, such people, in order to satisfy their feeling of superiority, can apply negative stereotypes while communication with others. For example, American managers believe that their Asian colleagues do not possess leadership skills and are not assertive while at work while the Israelis think that businessmen from India are not trustworthy and do not provide the correct information during business dealings. Basing ones behaviour or social conduct on such negative stereotypes can offend the other person, who might be trustworthy and is sharing all the information in a business deal management. Coming to the statement, having no knowledge about a persons culture or belief and still entering into a relationship with that person is a tricky situation because establishing a relation without having knowledge about each others cultural values is not possible in the first place. Even if somehow it does become possible, the foundation of relation established between the two parties will not be solid enough to make it a long lasting one as they would definitely end up offending each other because of the lack of understanding. On the other hand, relying upon stereotypes while entering into cross cultural communication can definitely help a person in identifying certain dos and donts, which would ultimately reduce the chances of offending the other person as a result of the lack of cultural knowledge (Ting-Toomey, 2012). Further, the foundation of the relation can be stronger in this case and as the relation becomes stronger, each of the party will have opportunities to learn more ab out each other and their beliefs, which would further reinforce their relation. Cultural stereotypes receive different reviews from different people and their reliability in cross cultural communication and establishing business relations is highly debatable. Where some people are of the belief that cultural stereotypes can act as a barrier to cross cultural communication and are trying their best to discover methods that can help in eliminating cultural stereotypes, others believe that cultural stereotypes have been formed over a period of time by closely observing the social conduct of a group of people and can be reliable in cross cultural communication as they help in making quick judgements and decisions (Spencer-Rodgersa McGovern, n.d.). To conclude, it is actually beneficial to rely on stereotypes rather than entering into a relationship with a person from another culture with no knowledge about his or her beliefs or preferences because stereotypes cannot just help in making a judgement about the other person, but can also help in shaping ones own behavi our and communication style while interacting with others. Having some knowledge about the culture of another person, even if it is based on cultural stereotypes, can actually help a person in gaining confidence and actually initiating a conversation. On the other hand, entering into a relationship with another person without having any knowledge about his or her beliefs cannot help a person in taking a conversation much far. Therefore, it is definitely better to rely upon certain stereotypes during cross cultural communication rather than entering into a relation with someone without actually having any knowledge about his or her culture and beliefs. References Bin, H., n.d. Discuss the role of stereotyping in intercultural communication; how inevitable is it. [Online] Available at: https://www.academia.edu/13705232/Discuss_the_role_of_stereotyping_in_intercultural_communication_how_inevitable_is_it[Accessed 16 April 2018]. FAO, n.d. Organizational theories. [Online] Available at: https://www.fao.org/docrep/w7503e/w7503e03.htm#weber's%20bureaucratic%20approach [Accessed 16 April 2018]. Heine, S. J., 2015. Cultural Psychology: Third International Student Edition. s.l.:WW Norton Company. Kokemuller, N., n.d. How Does Stereotyping Affect the Workplace Environment?. [Online] Available at: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/stereotyping-affect-workplace-environment-78286.html[Accessed 16 April 2018]. Kreuz, R. J. Roberts, R. M., 2017. Getting Through: The Pleasures and Perils of Cross-Cultural Communication. s.l.:MIT Press. Lyons, A. Kashima, Y., 2001. The Reproduction of Culture: Communication Processes Tend to Maintain Cultural Stereotypes. Social Cognition, 19(3), pp. 372-394. Peng, S.-Y., 2010. Impact of stereotypes on intercultural communication: a Chinese perspective. Asia Pacific Education Review , June, 11(2), pp. 243-252. Schnurr, S., Chan, A., Loew, J. Zayts, O., 2017. Leadership and Culture: When Stereotypes Meet Actual Workplace Practice. Challenging Leadership Stereotypes through Discourse, 2 September.pp. 95-117. Spencer-Rodgersa, J. McGovern, T., n.d. Attitudes toward the culturally different: the role of intercultural communication barriers, affective responses, consensual stereotypes, and perceived threat. International Journal of Intercultural Relations , 26(6), pp. 609-631. Ting-Toomey, S., 2012. Communicating Across Cultures. s.l.:Guilford Press.

Unme Jeans Essay Example

Unme Jeans Essay Which, if any, of the three social media plans should Foley pursue? Why? Among the three marketing communications plans, Zwinktopia, Facebook and YouTube, I suggest that Margret Foley pursue the Zwinktopia option. The suggestion is based on the consideration of (1) how efficient the marketing vehicle reaches the target consumer; (2) how well the plan delivers the brand image of UnMe and (3) whether it fits into UnMe’s marketing budget. (1) How efficient the marketing vehicle reaches the target consumer UnMe jeans targeted at teen girls who have their own unique taste in fashion. They are social and are trend leaders in their communities. The target group has grown up with the development of Web 2. 0 as well as with the downturn of traditional media. Compare to YouTube and Facebook, which have an audience of all ages, Zwinktopia’s audience fits right into the target group of UnMe jeans. Zwinktopia is designed for the girls who are from 13 to 24 years old and focuses on the contents of fashion and music. The ultimate goal of marketing is to boost sales. As one of the largest virtual world, Second Life can tell certain trend in regards to marketing and sales. We will write a custom essay sample on Unme Jeans specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Unme Jeans specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Unme Jeans specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer According to 2007’s Virtual Product Sales on Slexchange, the largest sales generated from apparel. Also, the article addressed the audience is shifting from Second Life to other virtual world such as Zwinktopia. And by the end of 2011, it is estimated that 80% of the online users will have an appearance in the virtual world. It is reasonable to believe marketing on Zwinktopia will not only increase brand awareness but also boost sales in real world. (2) How well the plan delivers the brand image of UnMe Zwinktopia is the most straightforward media vehicle to deliver UnMe’s brand image among all three options. On Zwinktopia, UnMe will have its virtual retail store to announce any products simultaneously when a new edition of jeans is release in the real world. It encourages the Zwinkies to design their own outfits based on their unique taste. Additionally, Zwinktopia is easy to be linked to Facebook or MySpace. The campaign strategy well delivers UnMe’s brand image of individuality appreciation and encouraging teenager girls to stand out and to speak against conformity and peer pressure. The ideas of sharing the experience of wearing UnMe jeans and virtual jeans design competition on Zwinktopia are consistent with the culture of Web 2. social media. The marketing plan would empower potential consumers to get involved in, to co-create, and to share in their own way rather than pure delivering the message. Zwinktopia is most likely to be successful when compared to the widget on Facebook and the in-video ads on YouTube. (3) Whether it fits into UnMe’s marketing budget Last but not least, Zwinktopia’s marketing plan is the most economical one among all social medias. Ms. Foley’s marketing budget has a highest CPM of $29. 95 in the existing market plans. The cost of using Zwinktopia is $300,000 annually while $500,000 for Facebook and $600,000 for YouTube at a CPM of $40. Ms. Foley is seeking an experimental Web 2. 0 marketing plan so as to that the cost is definitely a constraint. In sum, using Zwinktopia as the marketing vehicle in the Web 2. 0 world would directly reach out the target teen girls, have them better understand UnMe’s concept, get engaged in the business and experience a relatively lowest financial risk compared to Facebook and YouTube’s high CPM. Thus, Zwinktopia is most likely to be successful when UnMe wishes to have a taste of Web 2. marketing. 2. What benefits would Foley gain from each of the three social media plans? What risks does each entail? How can Foley better reap the benefits and mitigate the risks of each of the programs? Zwinktopia-Benefits †¢The marketing plan of using Zwinktopia as a media vehicle would help UnMe to be engaged in a virtual market where the target demographics are concentrated. †¢Zwinktopia has the right content, fashion, for UnMe. Launching the virtual retail store in Zwinktopia would inform the audience about new products in real world and stimulate in-world purchasing of UnMe jeans. The jeans design competition in Zwinktopia would provide a platform for UnMe to learn about what the target audience wants and needs. The interaction with the potential consumers would increase the brand awareness and educate the target audience with UnMe’s concept and core knowledge. †¢Zwinktopia allows video uploads and is easy to be linked to other social networks such as Facebook and MySpace. Cooperating with Zwinktopia would be benefit for future advertising in the horizontal social networks. †¢Zwinktopia option has the lowest initial investment operation cost and among all three marketing plans. Zwinktopia-Risks †¢The UnMe Company has never involved in any social media marketing. The marketing plan on paper sounds attractive and feasible but uncertainties and high learning curves might appear when the company takes action. †¢It lacks knowledge of Zwinkies. Just like Ms. Foley’s concern, the marketers cannot predict or control the avatar’s behavior. The virtual retail store might have normal customers and experience with virtual insanity. Some real life ethics and moral rules do not apply in the virtual life. †¢The marketing plan also drags UnMe into virtual competition. Apparel is the best sell in the virtual world but there are thousands of virtual retail stores selling hundreds of different brands. Also it is hard to choose the metrics or to measure the return on the advertising. †¢The amount of users on Zwinktopia is smaller than other social media. Facebook-Benefits †¢Facebook is one of the fastest growing social media. Its users spent the longest time on the website and it has the highest click through rate. †¢It’s very easy for UnMe to set up an account and once an individual befriended with UnMe jeans, UnMe would share her/his entire social community. UnMe’s friend on Facebook is UnMe’s ambassador. She would carry UnMe’s profile on her homepage and to her community. If UnMe had any updates and promotions, the message would appear on the â€Å"news feed† in the entire friend’s circle. Thus, Facebook profile picture increase the visibility of UnMe jeans. †¢Facebook provides an intera ctive environment that UnMe can directly speak to it’s friends/ customers. It would make the audience feel much closer to UnMe and build up a relationship with the company. †¢UnMe can use the photo and video uploading functions on Facebook in order to promote new lines and advertisements. Facebook- Risks †¢Commercial profiles are not new to Facebook users. The audience already learned how to ignore the advertisements on Facebook or just clicked on the profile and never checked it again. †¢As discussed in the case, the recall of any specific one is nearly equal to 0 when consumers view hundreds of ads on TV. Advertising on Facebook has the same clutter problem. †¢It would be hard for Ms. Foley to measure how much return from the advertising on Facebook. YouTube-Benefits †¢YouTube is world leading web 2. 0 social media and has the biggest amount of audience in the United States. The in-video advertising allows the audience to participate into the promotion strategy. YouTube users can interacted with each other by conducting comments, forwarding to a friend or uploading a new video regarding to the ad. †¢UnMe might learn some business experiences from other brands such as Axe and Toyota, which have already used YouTube channels for marketing succ essfully. YouTube- Risks †¢A successful YouTube in-video advertising depends on inserting in the right channel and the video itself. All highly viewed commercial videos are unique, creative and entertaining. These videos are distinctive in a good way that the YouTube audience felt like watching it and recommending it to anther friend. Therefore, if the assumption of an entertaining video failed, then there is no way to gain the high click rate or to achieve any of the marketing goals. †¢The cost of the YouTube marketing plan is the highest of all options. As an experimental social media plan, Ms. Foley would take too much financial risk as choosing the YouTube plan. †¢The UnMe Company has no control over the audience who watch the video. Whether they are the target consumers is remained unknown. And the interaction is between audience, not between UnMe and the consumers. UnMe cannot directly talk with the customer. In order to utilize each marketing plan, Ms. Foley has the following key points to be taken care of in order to enjoy the benefits and avoid potential risks; For establishing the UnMe virtual retail store in Zwinktopia, if Ms. Foley can hire some marketer who has experience dealing with virtual selling would be a plus to implement the marketing plan. The experienced employee might offset the high learning curve. For Facebook marketing, the most useful tool is the widget based on other’s successful story. How to design the widget decides how many people would add it to the homepage and use it. As proposed in the case, the key point for a popular widget is either it is very functional or it has a strong entertaining purpose. As to the in-video advertising on YouTube, the video should catch the eyes of teen girls and make them feel it is interesting and adding value. The marketing plan mentioned that the four-minute video would be selected by the uploads from teen girls who â€Å"forged their own identities†(Steenburch, 2008). It could go further into the audience such as selecting the â€Å"Miss UnMe† based on how popular the video clip is. Creating the buzz is the most difficult and valuable phase in this marketing plan. Also, hiring a professional team to create the four-minute video ad is critical. It must be professional, not just a simple put-everything-together clip. Like the â€Å"Bom chika Wah Wah† video, it is funny, distinctive and delivers a strong theme.

Beowulf Essays (384 words) - Beowulf, Geats, English-language Films

Beowulf Essays (384 words) - Beowulf, Geats, English-language Films Beowulf Mythical monsters with great powers that get killed by human men are a typical theme in Anglo-Saxon poetry. Beowulf is an Anglo-Saxon poem translated by Burton Raffel. Three Anglo-Saxon ideals that are portrayed in Beowulf are strength of warriors, boasting of brave deeds, and the belief in the super natural. First, one of the ideals exhibited in Beowulf is physical strength. In Beowulf, Beowulf , the hero from Geatland, exerts the most physical strength. Beowulf doesn't want to use a sword while fighting Grendel. During the fight, Grendel "?twisted in pain, And the bleeding sinews deep in his shoulder \Snapped, muscle and bone split \And broke."(467-470) as Beowulf pulls grendel's arm right out of it's socket. Another example of strength is when Grendel "?Tore it's iron fasteners with a touch?"(375) at Herot's gates. Finally, when Grendel goes into Herot and slashes and kills thirty men, it shows Grendel's great power. Also, there is a great amount of strength during the battle with Beowulf and Grendel's mother. Another ideal portrayed in Beowulf is the right to boast. When the poem talks about Hrothgar's building, that it "?reaches higher toward Heaven then anything \That had ever been known to the sons of men?"(6-7), shows Hrothgar's with his riches. Boasting about not needing to use a weapon, Beowulf values to kill Grendel with his bare hands. The biggest amount of boasting in the poem also came from Beowulf when he arrives at Herot. Telling Hrothgar how many monsters he has killed. Finally, the belief in the supernatural is another ideal in Beowulf. When Beowulf arrives he tells the stories about the sea monsters he fault. When he was done fighting with the sea monsters they were "Left floating lifeless in the sea."(279). There is also Grendel, the main monster in Beowulf, with claws and a bloodthirsty appetite. Last there was Grendel's mother, who comes to avenge of her son. She lives underwater. Grendel's mother kills Beowulf. As shown in my writing, three Anglo-Saxon ideals that are portrayed in Beowulf, are strength of warriors, boasting of brave deeds, and the belief in the super natural. These ideals are common in the majority of Anglo-Saxon writings. If you like crazy monsters and heroes then read some Anglo-Saxon poetry.

Subject Specific Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Subject Specific Study - Essay Example ICT encompasses a wide variety of audio-visual resources and â€Å"combinations of hardware, software and human resources that enable users to achieve more than they could with hardware and software alone, such as the Internet† (Kennewell, 2004, p. 5). These technologies have created new opportunities for students to interact among themselves, with their faculty and with course content inside and outside the classroom. The associated changes in the way in which knowledge is produced and used are of key relevance to education in the twenty-first century (Gibbons, 1998). Academia has to find ways to maximise the benefits offered by the new technologies. The term blended learning is used to describe a solution that combines different delivery methods. These can be a mix of various event-based activities such as face to face classrooms and online learning (Williams, 2002). However, this does not appear to define blended learning which should be viewed as an opportunity to revisit how courses are developed, scheduled and delivered through a balance of physical and virtual (internet and ICT) instructions, â€Å"bricks and clicks† (Bleed, 2001). Blended courses combine the traditional presentational format and computer based learning opportunities, enabling teachers to employ a variety of instructional techniques. ICT can be used to selectively present case studies, tutorials, self-testing exercises, simulations or other online modules in place of lecture material. As a result, the focus shifts to active learning through discussion and debate. This form of active learning â€Å"involves putting our students in situations which c ompel them to read, speak, listen, think deeply, and write† (Dodge, 2001, p6). Theories and principles of learning need not be bent to incorporate the effective use of ICT to supplement classroom practice; blending the use of technology into

Decision support systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Decision support systems - Essay Example They typically produce fixed, regularly scheduled reports based on data extracted and summarized from these reports is often specified in advance. A typical MIS report (Laudon & Laudon 2002) might show a summary from the organization's underlying transaction processing systems (TPS). The format from these reports is often specified in advance. A typical MIS report might show a summary f monthly sales for each f the major sales territories f a company. Sometimes MIS reports are exception reports, highlighting only exceptional conditions, such as when the sales quotas for a specific territory fall below an anticipated level or employees who have exceeded their spending limit in a dental care plan. Traditional MIS produced primarily hard copy reports. Today these reports might be available on-line through an intranet, and more MIS reports can be generated on-demand. Examples f MIS Application (Morgan 1998): California Pizza Kitchen - Inventory Express application "remembers" each restaurant's ordering patterns and compares the amount f ingredients used per menu item to predefined portion measurements established by management. The system identifies restaurants with out-of-line portions and notifies their management so that corrective action can be taken. DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS (DSSs) An extension f management reports and dealing with exceptions is decision support systems (DSSs). The goal f a DSS (Clifton, Ince & Sutcliffe 2000) is to support the decision-making process although not necessarily to provide sufficient information to make the decision a fait accompli. In fact, by the nature f many business decision situations, it is unlikely that the DSS could do that in any case. DSSs enable managers to retrieve information ad hoc and as straight forwardly as possible in order to facilitate current decision-making. DSSs are most effective in risk, for example (Marakas 1998): probability, situations where the manager is faced with a number f alternative actions. Ideally the DSS, if given estimates f relevant costs, times, workloads and so on, is capable f assessing all or some f the outcomes f the alternatives. If, for instance, the situation was such that OR techniques could be applied, this would be done automatically by the DSS and the optimum result presented to the manager. In a straightforward case, which would be unusual, the need for management decision might be eliminated as the OR technique had made the decision for him or her. A DSS is interactive to a much greater extent than most management information systems. This is a vital characteristic owing to the wide nature f user's requirements. The usual arrangement is for the DSS to record the user's requirements and subsequently to analyse the problem with an algorithm or