Monday, September 30, 2019

Citra Terranova

Citra was just a teenage girl when she was selected to become a scythes apprentice. She didn't want to kill, but she had to or else her family would be cursed. Of course, she did not want harm upon her own family, she loved them, therefore she became a scythe. This is my personal opinion about Citras future and you don't have to agree. So, with that being said, let's get started. Citra Terranova will grow up to remember that she's a killer, but she only did it to save her family. She will grow up to be a very successful pharmacist and will be a married mother with three loving, beautiful and smart kids. The oldest, Gerald, who is fifteen and wants to grow up to be a doctor. Gerald has autism and is the smartest out of the three. Anne is twelve and is an amazing gymnast and is practicing a double-back on flat, but she has learning problems and has dyslexia. The youngest is Logen who is eight years old, has skipped two grades and is the smartest kid in the fifth grade. Citras name originates in Indonesia, translated to English it means imagery. Her last name, Terranova, means southern Italian. Therefore, her ancestors must have some Italian in them. Citra will make lots and lots of new friends, she is a black belt in karatà ¨ and loves her job as a pharmacist. Her husband, Quinten, is a highly trained firefighter and has saved many people's lives. Citra and Quintin met after the 5/3 Bank collapsed into flames about twenty five years ago, at that time, Citra was working two jobs and is so stressed that she only gets about three hours of rest every night, four if she's lucky. Citra and Quintin are a perfect match because they are both determined to succeed and be the very best that they can be. But, the married couple didn't always get along as they wanted to. Quintin had a severe drug addiction and gambling obsession. Citra obviously hated this and wanted to get him the help he needed, but Quintin wouldn't do it. She doesn't want here kids to turn out like him so she moves into a new house, leaving Quintin and his problems. Soon after that, Citra demands a divorce with Quintin and a few months later, Citra is a single mom of three. Citra having to work two jobs now leads to a babysitter, the babysitter also gets them on and of the bus.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Learning and Memory Worksheet Essay

1. Write a 450- to 700-word essay to describe the relationship between classical and operant conditioning. Explain their elements and how they differ from one another. Additionally, provide an example for how learning can occur through each mode of conditioning. Explain how Ivan Pavlov and B.F. Skinner contributed to the study of learning and conditioning. Ivan Pavlov contributions were the start and the rise of behaviorism in psychology. His experimental methods influence the growth of behaviorism, and helped move psychology away from introspection and subjective or the objective measurement of behavior in which played a great part in our study. Hey study the behavior of Dogs in which in term he develops a new form of learning .This new form of learning is called classical conditioning a form of learning in which reflex responses are associated with new stimuli. Ivan Pavlov also used a bell in which as a neutral stimulus, he would ring the bell when the dogs were given an unconditioned stimulus, meat powder. The result is that the dogs than will respond salivate when the unconditioned stimulus is given to the dogs. This stimulus is called the conditioned stimulus; it changes from an unconditioned response to a conditioned respond. The dog quickly learned the difference from the bell and receiving an unconditioned stimulus. As for B.F skinner who also staunch behaviorism became a force in psychology and the therapy techniques in fact that we still used extensively today. He also made the Skinner box which is also called operant conditioning chamber in which had like a metal lever and a tray in which food can be drop for the rats are in a tray.These two played an important role in our psychology’s history gave us an important contributions to our understanding of human behavior in which we can use to go by. 2. Match the correct type of memory with its respective function.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Josh Hamilton Book

Justin Michael CabanEnglish 10 Mrs. MeyerBook Report For my 1st quarter book report I read â€Å"Beyond Belief† which is written by Josh Hamilton. Hamilton is a Major league baseball player who now plays for the Texas Rangers and was named MVP two short season’s ago. Josh is a premier center fielder and the captain of his team, for the average person you may think Mr. Hamiliton lives the ordinary life of a sports star , the pretty women , fancy cars , huge house’s and the six figure pay checks.Even though this may be true, living an everyday lifestyle was extremely difficult for Josh throughout his whole life , you would think someone who is so well respected and idolized by many fans throughout the world would try to live up to his expectations, but that was not the case for Josh , he was addicted to cocaine and struggled with many other addictions such as alcoholism and having anger issues with his loved ones. Josh wrote this book to express his feelings and gi ve readers a point of view on how thing’s may not also be the same as it seems.So next time you judge someone just by their appearance, financial situation or even idolizing someone just by the way they perform a certain thing, you might want to think that over. Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers who made last year’s all-star team and hit a record 28 home runs in one round of the Home Run Derby has a lot more than All Star memories to be thankful for. He is alive, reunited with his family and back in baseball, which only a few years ago seemed impossible since he was in the middle of dealing with a cocaine addiction.Josh was drafted in 1999 by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays , as a young kid , Josh stunned all different kinds of people with his skill for the game of baseball , reaching nearly 80 mph on a pitching gun at age 12 meant he was destined to play in the MLB at one point or another. When Josh was drafted in 1999 he as well as others expected him to be an automatic fi rst round pick , which he was but instead of going right to work with his new team , Josh was sidelined, not by his coach , but by his devastating addiction to cocaine. The MLB has a very strict drug policy and there players are constantly found =. are serve a suspension of 50 games.

Friday, September 27, 2019

CULTURAL AND ETHICAL VALUES Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

CULTURAL AND ETHICAL VALUES - Essay Example All rational actions carried out by men will always aim at achieving something good. There is a hierarchy to the end as the end point or purpose of some actions could lead to the beginning of a totally new action. The ends in the hierarchy might themselves vary in their value; however, the ultimate end is valued on its own measure and that which is sufficient and completely good. People might do things for the sake of achieving something else and this chain would continue, but Aristotle feels that every human being would definitely possess one supreme goal in life and all the other tasks which one undertakes would lead towards this goal. Aristotle then goes on to explain what, according to him, is the ultimate goal in human life that is over-all happiness in one’s life. The Greek word â€Å"eudaimonia† provides a close enough explanation to what Aristotle views as ultimate good. Eudaimonia stands for eternal and ever-lasting peace and happiness and whether a person has truly led a eudaimoniac life can be ascertained only after the end of one’s life. His argument for stating that ever-lasting happiness is the final goal in a human’s life is that every action performed by man is only to achieve happiness, which alone can make a man self-sufficient. Aristotle further explores the means to achieve happiness. He believes that every human possess a characteristic activity much like the animals and this activity would ultimately help one to achieve a state of eternal happiness. According to him, this characteristic activity possessed by every human is the power of reasoning, which when used in t he correct manner will help a person to achieve a happy life. It is this unique ability that distinguishes mankind from other animals and is the key that would lead each of us to our ultimate goal. In other words, he believes that the power to achieve the final goal lies within the reasoning capability of the individual and the degree to which the goal is

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Personal Liberties Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Personal Liberties - Essay Example Between January 2013 and December 2013, a total of 92.3 billion pounds of food were wasted in the United States. It is due to the capitalistic system in which all aspects of lifestyle and society require access to currency in order to procure products and services. Without this access, an individual will be homeless, have nothing to eat, and generally be at risk of death without adequate access to important health-sustaining resources. Businesses in the capitalistic system consider all of their assets to be associated with a pricing structure and government provides regulatory and legislative support for this system which continues to contribute to higher starvation rates across the country. To simply enter a grocery outlet, fill a shopping cart, and subsequently push it out the door without providing payment is considered a criminal act in the capitalistic system. This thereby prevents people in American society without access to high volumes of currency from having any quality life style as they have become, essentially, slaves to a system that favors the value of money over human life. I am supportive of a socialist system, one where resources are more fairly distributed to all members of society and where class divisions are broken down to provide equity in resource allocation. Even the ideological Communist system has merits in its doctrines as this type of system desires to completely abolish all forms of currency and return society back to a barter and trade type of system to ensure equity.

Beijing china Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Beijing china - Essay Example These signs of Beijing being the cradle of civilization made many travelers to visit the city, considered the capital of the East’s civilization. This speech intends to give you overview information on Beijing, so that you may appreciate not only the role of the city in ancient civilization but also its central role in shaping the economy, politics, culture and social spheres of modern civilization. In this speech, Beijing’s history, location, population, administration, economic development, education, health, culture religion language hotels, climate, travel tips, transportation shopping and nightlife are explored. This information is not only important for visitors to the city such as international students but also to local students interested in the rich history and economic development of the city. Fact about Beijing In Chinese, Beijing means the city to the north. As mentioned earlier, Beijing’s history can be traced to more than eight centuries ago, durin g the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234). Built as Beijing by the Jin Dynasty, the city would later be named Zhongdu, after being seized by Mongol armies in 1215 (Li et al., 2007). The city was later renamed the Great Capital (Dadu) by the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) later renamed it Beiping, the Northern Peace on August 2, 1368 (Tourbeijing.com, 2012). From this brief history of the city, it is clear that despite Beijing being started by the Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368), it was actually immensely reconstructed during the reign of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1644-1911). After these two dynasties, the city was transformed into an architectural masterpiece and emerged as the undisputed capital of the Chinese empire. Beijing’s location is the other aspect of the city worth knowing. Generally, Beijing covers approximately16, 800 square kilometers with 38% of it being flat land and 62% mountains. It is located 40 degrees north latitude and 116 degrees of longitudes (Tourbeijing.com, 2012). It is to the northern parts of China and borders Hebei Province to the north, west, south, and to a small extent, the east. It borders Tianjin Municipality to the southeast. As of 2009, Beijing’s population was 20 million people with about 5 million living within the city center and the rest on the peripheries. For administrative purposes, the city is divided into two counties and fourteen districts with Fengtai, Dongcheng, Chaoyang, Haidian, Xicheng and Shijingshan being closer to the city while Tongzhou, Pinggu, Mentougou, Shunyi, Changping, Daxing, Huairou and Fangshan are on the outskirts. Economic Development, Health and Education A speech on Beijing would not be complete without mentioning the city’s economic development since its emergence. Of particular importance is the economic development of the city since the mid-20th century. In this period, Beijing transformed from a consumer city to a major industrial and global city. Currently, it does not only rank among the centers of power in China; Beijing is among the top Chinese investment hubs. In fact, with the current reforms in China, Beijing has managed to open up to improved urban construction. This development record saw the city host the Olympics Games in 2008 during which Beijing

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Internet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Internet - Essay Example As said by Berners-Lee, World Wide Web should be accepted widely by the world, leaving a community behind is not justified. The focus here is on the community, which face problems in accessing the web because of some form of disability. Disabilities may be many for e.g. blindness, poor sight (partial blindness), colour blindness, deaf users, epileptic users, users unfamiliar to technology, non-English users, learning disabled people, aged people (senior citizens) etc. As per U.S. Census Bureau it is estimated that around 50 million people in United States have some form of physical or mental disability. To make the Internet really universal and explore its power of universality there has been a lot development in the field of making Internet more accessible by disabled people. The paper elaborates such developments in the field. Web 2.0 has led to the development and growth of web-based communities like social networking sites. There has also been considerable amount of development for making these sites accessible and easy for disabled people. Blind users who do not have the sight may utilize the screen reader. The screen reader reads the content of the page and reads aloud the selective part of page, which is important for information and page navigation (Webcredible, 2008). For users with partial or poor sight, the facility to enlarge the text is there. The text of the web site can be varied in the size but the text embedded in the images cannot be resized and so an alternative to images is kept which can render plain text against the images. The figures show that 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 woman have some form of colour blindness (Webcredible, 2008). As a solution to this, the sites are trying to provide more flexibility in changing the text colour, size and type. A point under consideration is majority of the sites uses CAPTCHA images to register new users. This creates an inequality for

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Theories of Movement Control Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Theories of Movement Control - Essay Example According to Schmidt and Wrisberg, there are at least two ways of conceptualizing the term 'motor skill' which can be construed as a talk or an act, where motor skills can be distinguishable along a number of aspects or on the basis of a variety of high-flying characteristics (Schmidt and Wrisberg, 2008). The second way construes to the conceptualization of motor skill in terms of the ability a person delineates while performing a movement. Utley and Astill, in their book, have stated that the motor skills can efficiently be implemented in the brain and nervous system as well and also that they can be improvised (Utley and Astill, 2008). The development in motor skills defines the field of measurement as well as movement, thereby, learning the ways to control movement as a whole. This paper delineates the contrasting nature of both the theories of motor control, i.e. the open-loop and the closed-loop theory, thereby, stating examples which demonstrate the different explanations of hu man coincidence-anticipation performance. In open loop controll... en loop system, the controller output indication is settled on by the input signal from the computer or any other non-essential device. In response to incorrect calculation of the system response, or the affect of some other occurrence in the output signal, the system might turn aside from the desired path. As a result, it is necessary for the controller to assume that each part of the system is at its absolute position and has moved there at the correct pace. No feedback is conceived from the system, which would enable the controller to weigh against the actual position to the programmed position. In such a case, it is not possible for the controller to check and correct himself. Under this kind of a system, it is feasible to incline against the designated positions and paces, and not be able to correct the difficulties. This theory is significant for well-defined systems where the relationship between input and the resultant state can be modeled by a mathematical formula. For example, determining the voltage to be supplied to an electric motor which drives a consistent load, so as to acquire a desired pace can be considered as an appreciable implementation of open-loop control system. However, on the other hand, if the load were not predictable, the motor's pace might vary as an operation of the load as well as of the voltage. As a result, the open-loop controller would not be satisfactory enough to ensure the repeatable control of the speed. To comprehend the open-loop control system, an example of a

Monday, September 23, 2019

Possible Relationship Between Crime, Race and SES CJ403 WK 7 Research Paper

Possible Relationship Between Crime, Race and SES CJ403 WK 7 - Research Paper Example ese findings however cannot be used as measures in profiling for potential white collar offenders because white collar crimes and crimes by race are different. Most common white-collar crimes are fraud, bankruptcy, bribery, insider trading, embezzlement, computer crime, medical crime, public corruption, identity theft, environmental crime, pension fund crime, fraud, occupational crime, securities fraud, financial crimes, RICO and forgery; while Crimes committed by race, according to the Bureau of Justice as categorized by circumstances are felony/murder/ sex, drug and gang related, argument and workplace; and uses guns, poisons and arsons as weapons. White collar crimes are high end, uses advanced technology, connections, and power. One cannot easily identify a potential white collar offender because he is shown as someone to be in the middle age, respectable, with high social status, living in an affluent community (Sutherland defined in Strader, J.Kelly, 2001), and therefore profiling is difficult. As Sutherland defined † white collar criminals are opportunists who learn to take advantage of their position over time to accumulate financial gain. If this reasoning is to be followed, then poverty, social economic status and race cannot be the sole reasons for crime. White collar offenders, according to Strader includes those who are professionals or semi professionals and those who possess special skills as they can easily make false claims. Crime could also be seen in people who came from a good family, living in a good surrounding and in any other ethnic backgrounds. Piquero et al. added another perspective that touches human behavior as a predictor of corporate offending, but due to immeasurability, th is cannot be easily used as a predictor. Profiling is therefore like making a landscape of criminals that joins various pieces of theories to make a picture of a potential white collar criminal. It is more difficult to make for a potential white

Sunday, September 22, 2019

African People in the Global Village Essay Example for Free

African People in the Global Village Essay Certain things happen in one’s life, whether one likes them or not. You can not stand apart from it; you need to experience the process of going through it. Let me give the example of a car. It has two types of movements-forward movement and lateral movement. The energy (petrol, gas etc. ) relates to forward movement, without which the car can not start. You have no control over it. As for the lateral movement, you as the individual driving the car, have the control over its speed-you can drive it through the royal road, narrow lane, drive at 120 kms. per hour or just 30 kms- or not drive at all. Just lock it in the garage for days together! You are living in a changing world- very fast changing world. The modified lifestyles, due to industrial revolution, the modern materialistic civilization, the internet revolution, are mind-boggling. You need to run your race, accelerate the steps, clear the hurdles and move towards the goal. Stop in between at your own peril! Survival under tough conditions and competition are not magic. Nor an element of chance is involved. The wise saying goes, â€Å"When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. † Survival will be extremely difficult for the African people in the global village, unless tangible steps, all-comprehensive projects are drawn up and implemented with speed and imagination, by responsible leaders and people. The test of the leadership lies in involving the people actively and willingly in such projects. African people in the Global village- the summary: Africa is a big continent. The vastness of the area, multiplicity of ethnic conflicts, the fierce tribal loyalty prevailing even today, the religious factors, the difficult past, the historical factors some of which do exercise telling effect on the African society and mind-set even today, render the solution difficult. John K. Marah, who is the Associate Professor and Coordinator in the African and African-American Studies Department at SUNY at Brockport, makes a concerned and well-studied approach to offer solution in the book African People in the Global Village and the possible direction which they need to follow. Moreover, due to historical reasons, African people (the black race) are spread all over the Western World. They are a noticeable political force, an awakened society in Countries like USA. Marah categorically opines that it is no use brooding over the past, its failures and bitter memories. He does the examination of the present situation from an open-minded perspective. Confrontation at every stage is not going to help the cause of the African people. They have to know their place and find out the ways and means to evolve within the global village. He calls it ‘multidisciplinary approach and well-rounded understanding’. Right from the beginning of the book, Marah is aware that he is up to a difficult task, and the subject matter of the book, â€Å"African People in the Global Village,† can not be discussed in isolation. Yet, he takes the direct plunge into the serious subject matter. The book has neither a preface nor a forward. For a highly sensitive and complicated subject like this, author’s detailed background would have been a helpful factor, but that is not given in the book. The biographical sketch is not provided. Nevertheless, it is a determined and well-informed effort to broach the subject matter which is so vast viewed from tough, social, political, historical, economic and cultural perspectives. The problems are ever growing like the octopus expanding in many directions and only a radical solution like Pan-Africanism is the solution according to Marah. But, to define Pan-Africanism is not the easiest of the tasks. He concludes that African people have no other choice but to move forward at a rapid pace, with the qualities of head and heart-be dynamic without destruction! Marah begins his book on a tough note. â€Å"African Sensibilities in the Global Village. † He fails to give a clear message in this chapter one can not expect him to do so. The subject matte is so vast, complicated and the concern of Marah to offer a desperate solution to a desperate situation can be seen. He realizes his limitations-the subject matter he is up to tackle can not be discussed in isolation—by referring to the conditions of the African people alone! Their so-called more fortunate brothers in America also have their own problems and deep fears on many vital and fundamental issues! It would be prudent to link the problems of the black people of America with the black people of Africa, as Marah rightly argues. At the end of the chapter he specifies, `in this book we examine the position of African people in Africa and the United States with particular emphasis on some of their salient predicaments in the global system. ‘( Marah, 1998 p. 16). Having said this, Marah realizes about the uphill task ahead for him, for he fails to give appropriate solutions or alternatives. The discussions in the book naturally and essentially take him to outside Regions, where black race matters. In chapter 4, he discusses this aspect in detail. The black people issue is like the issue of a flowing river. It can not be discussed in parts. The river as a whole will have to be discussed to understand it. Its beginning, its course of flow and the area through which it passes, etc! Marah has a message for the black people and the leadership. Some inspiring political and economic leadership has to take over and lead, to achieve the set goal. He makes a case for the entry of socio-spiritual leadership to play its role, because what the Global Village Africa needs is not only fine projects but fine individuals to implement the projects-that is what he means when he says about the ability of the people to survive in a new environment. New skills are required to push ahead in such circumstances. The thought process of the people requires a new orientation and change. When the thoughts are changed, the mind is changed; when he mind is changed, the man is changed; when the man is changed, the society is changed; when the society is changed, the nation is changed; when several such nations are changed, the African continent will change for the better! Then only the African people in the Global Village will achieve plenty and prosperity. For survival, wherever may be it, certain basic skills are necessary, and African People in the Global Village, are no exception. Education gets top priority—the ability to read with understanding. Speak boldly so hat others can understand and appreciate your problems. It is not that you expect sympathy from others; but in a democratic society, when your fundamental rights are guaranteed by the Constitution, you need not be condemned by anyone either-you need not live your life like a baked potato always. The majority of the ills of African People are due to poor response to globalization. This lethargy is frightening and it will continue to bother and trouble them in every aspect of life, unless something tangible is done as quickly as possible. African people will head for an economic and social disaster and moral doom, if they do no wake up and react speedily.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

A Reflection On My Learning Styles Education Essay

A Reflection On My Learning Styles Education Essay INTRODUCTION This reflective essay aims to draw reflection from experience acquired from the Learning from Practice and Reflection (LFPR) module studied at level 1. My own development during this period will be examined in addition to issues encountered in the progression of the event/activities endeavoured upon. In an attempt to demonstrate significant comprehension of my learning from experiences encountered during this process, emphasis would be made on the learning style(s) utilised and how these were examined and developed. My preferred and actual pursued roles will also be highlighted to show how I developed and/or changed behaviours. How I have managed to develop new and existing skills will be assessed and the extent to which I understand myself and my learning. Finally, I would evaluate the potential scope of improvements made and in need of being made by looking ahead in order to perceive how things would be done and what I would do differently resulting from lessons learnt from past experience. The aforementioned analysis will be well structured to cover the different stages (planning, implementation and evaluation) involved in the activity pursued, and will be made against a backdrop of theory and models that would be utilised and act as supporting evidence accumulated from the module. In doing so, one must also acknowledge the importance and relevance of such a topic due the wide scope it possesses to the extent of being applicable far and beyond this module, university life, but to greater dimensions at the peak of ones career. Learning styles, preferences and skills learnt and adopted could be further honed and tailored around ones expertise in order to maximise ones potential and capacity. This would prove crucial and particularly beneficial in areas where there is much at stake, not to mention the flexibility involved in its transferrable nature (the acquisition of transferrable skills such as organisational, decision making, communication, research, IT appropriate numeracy and group work) where its concept could be implemented in areas/situations of a less magnitude such as nurturing kids to adopt such learning techniques a an early age when starting a family or general everyday experiences. LITERATURE ON LEARNING STYLES/CYCLES PREFERENCES Honey and Mumford The process of learning has been found to be multi-dimensional as various schools of thought have come up with various theoretical models that conjure how people learn. Among the most renowned is Kolbs (1984 1995), who presented learning as a cycle; evolving on a constant basis. Viewing this one can easily reason perhaps why academics such as the likes of Kunzel(no-date) would argue from a psychological standpoint that learning is a journey or a lifelong process. The diagram below illustrates the Kolbs (1984; 1995) initial development of learning as a cycle: Subsequently deduced from the original cycle above is Honey and Mumfords (1992) learning cycle illustrated below: The second enhanced version seems to suggest that in every learning situation, the learning process involving the learner should move consciously through every stage of the cycle. However, this may be found contrary to practical reality and experience which show significant preferences for one or more of the stages over others and that not all learners are well grounded in all stages of the cycle. Although some learners may positively or negatively dislike one or some of the stages, there is nothing to prove or indicate that such preference systems make learners better or worse than one another. Relevant and directly aligned to each stage of the learning cycle, Honey and Mumford (1992) identified four different preferential methods in which people prefer to learn, namely; Activist, Reflector, Theorist and Pragmatist. People tend to operate in just one or in a combination of these modes depending on the degree of preferences, because rather than being fixed characteristics, these are assumed to be acquired characteristics adaptable either through evolved circumstances or at will. Additionally, it is said as mentioned by Honey and Mumford (1992), that ones managerial approach usually reflects ones learning style or vice versa. Honey and Mumford (1992) also found: Activists tend to prefer being proactively involved and dominated by imminent and new experiences with a philosophy of wanting to give a go at anything at least once. This consumes their days with activity and problems are usually tackled through brainstorming. Honey and Mumford (1992) also suggests that activists are busy looking for another activity once the short bursts of excitement from one has sedated. Apparently according to Honey and Mumford (1992), activists are bored with implementation and longer-term consolidation processes and are least productive in learning from passive situations centred on concept or theory that may include the likes of watching and listening to lectures or reading, but rather tend to thrive on and relish the challenge of new experiences. One may argue however, that this element of interest does in fact involve implementation however short-termist it may be, so perhaps it is long-term implementation that activist dislike, but can tolerate short-term as long as it serves their needs of interest and preferences. Activists also prefer not to review their learning achievements and opportunities and dislike situations requiring detailed preparation, solitary work or repetitive tasks. Reflectors prefer to stand back, listen, observe and ponder on experiences from various perspectives, and learn best when doing this. This process usually involves collecting information (either first-hand or from others) to be thoroughly thought through from every possible angle before coming to any definite conclusions, comments or actions. As a result, characteristics traits present in reflectors include postponing outcomes as long as possible; always exercising caution, whilst watching other people in action preferring to occupy a back seat in discussions and meetings, always thinking before speaking, adapting a low profile and possessing a slightly tolerant, distant and unruffled aura. Honey and Mumford (1992) suggests reflectors are weaker in learning when rushed into things without time to plan or with inadequate data, when pushed into role play duties like chairing a meeting. Theorists as learners enjoy analysing and synthesising; by combining and converting distinct facts and observations into comprehensive logical theories. Theorists are said to learn best when presented with a concept theory, system or model irrespective of the potential distance from reality associated with such application. This philosophy relishes logic and rationality. Honey and Mumford (1992) state that theorists enjoy being intellectually challenged; preferring to work with structure, a clear purpose, and being allowed to: investigate associations and interrelationships question assumptions and logic analyse reasons and to generalise from deductions Theorists are said to usually think things through in a well structured and logical manner with high perfectionist tendencies; restless unless and until things fit well into a rational scheme or sequence. Characteristic of this learning preference is keen interest on principles, theories, models, assumptions and systems thinking, and detached, analytical and dedicated to rational objectivity in nature. Anything flippant, subjective in judgement, ambiguous and lateral in thinking, tend to be of discomfort to theorists, who are weaker in learning when: supposed to do something without clear purpose activities are unstructured and ambiguous emotion is emphasised faced with shallow activities subject supporting data is unavailable feeling out of tune with the rest of the group (Honey and Mumford, 1992). Pragmatists are more concerned with making things work on a practical reality by possessing a keen interest on implementing theories, ideas and/or techniques learnt (either recently or previously) to test if they work. This is a feat in slight contrast with reflectors and theorists. Pragmatists are said to positively (and perhaps proactively) search out new ideas and relish opportunities to experiment with applications. They enjoy getting on with things, making practical decisions and solving problems, and are confident and decisive when acting on ideas proving attractive. Pragmatists are also practical and down-to-earth in nature; responding as a challenge to problems and opportunities with a can do, there always a better way or an it is good if it works attitude. Such attitude can be easily perceived as positivist and optimist in mentality or way of thinking. Honey and Mumford (1992) suggests that pragmatists are best at learning when there is a clear link between their current job or (team) role and what is being learnt (the subject matter). They are said to enjoy exposure to processes or techniques clearly practical in nature with immediate relevance where there is a high probability for an opportunity to exist for implementation. As identified by Honey and Mumford (1992), points of weakness in learning with such preference are where there are no immediate rewards, benefits and/or relevance existing from learning activity and/or event(s). After completing Honey and Mumfords (1992) learning styles questionnaire, my highest and second highest score was against reflectors and theorists respectively. This indicated that strengths and learning preferences centred on those of reflectors and theorists and weaker in comparison to adapting traits of activists and pragmatists learning styles. Additionally, my personal results of Honey and Mumfords (1992) learning survey indicated that I preferred watching and thinking than doing and feeling; which effectively placed me in a philosophy category. This complemented the theorist style of learning more than the reflectors by suggesting that I preferred: to dwell on observations and pull thoughts into an integrated whole in a structured manner, logical reasoning, theories, projects and models, analogies, systems, case studies and lectures; courtesy of Clarke (2010). Equipped with this knowledge, placed me in a better convenient position to benefit from choosing the most suitable and adaptable learning techniques, experiences and opportunities at given activities/event(s)/tasks such as the group activity we embarked upon as on a module requirement. Additionally, there are options now available at least consciously where learning styles can be developed in order to expand the range skills available for learning purposes. Considering that by preference, with regards to the three main stages involved in any given task/activity/event (planning, implementation and evaluation), reflectors and theorists are more keen and productive in the planning and evaluation sides of things as opposed to activists and pragmatists implementation, it is of no surprise that I also enjoyed and performed better during these stages (planning and evaluation) of our group activity. Pragmatically speaking this does not suggest however, that Honey and Mumfords (1992) learning cycle theory was not at all contradicted or called into question at times in reality, as it would be quite naive to deem it flawless especially considering the wide dimension of learning styles preferences theory and literature out there. This criticism of Honey and Mumfords (1992) learning cycle matches Smiths (2001) fourth criticism of the cycle which outlines that the ideological sequences do not necessarily equate to reality. Among other criticisms by S mith (2001) worth mentioning is the fact that cultural conditions and experiences are not at all considered and acknowledged, not to mention the subjective perhaps pre-judgemental and weak empirical evidence it relies on for diagnosis. The overriding criticism of this learning cycle is Smiths (2001) sixth but not least criticism which quite rightly points out that the relationship between knowledge and learning processes is much more complex than Kolb (1984) and Honey and Mumford (1992) suggest. Emphasising this point is the Islamic principle and philosophy described so eloquently by Abdalati (1975) as; the truth and knowledge are not entirely confined to sensory knowledge or perception alone. This principle is so firmly rooted when pondered upon that it goes further to expose the fact that any view held or derived by an individual(s) without infallibility or divine revelation, is usually based on the rationalisation of ones own prejudices. LEARNING LOG These were noticed and considered upon critical reflection of critical incidents aided by the utilisation of a learning log which kept track of how I was managing my learning. Consciously and deliberately, time was taken out to focus on my performance during the course; as is the emphasis of this essay. The objective of this is to review thoughts that led to specific actions, outcomes, and lessons learnt from experience in order to be well equipped and informed for future practice; weaknesses could be developed and repeated mistakes avoided. From an enhanced version of the earliest known version of the renown proverb initiated by Julius Caesar,: experience is the teacher of all things, author Pliny the Elder in Naturalis Historia (A.D. 77) mentioned experience as the best teacher, which does emphasis the rationale behind such learning methods. When used critically, the technique of critical reflection can assist one to hone skills. The learning log; which in essence is a diary, a pro gress file or a journal of event/activities with short term reactions to activities, can significantly in the reflecting process. The learning log used during this module can be summarised into three main sections, these were: An actual log; this was a detailed/brief account of what happened Immediate Reactions to situation/activity A Rear View; looking back at what significant outcomes would I take away from event/activity, what lessons were learnt and if anything could have been done differently looking ahead for the future One of the most significant of critical incidents logged (courtesy of Gallagher (2010)) during our group activity within the period of this module was recording briefly that I had left my phone behind on the day we were supposed to be selling cupcakes at university and only realising it 15 minutes after leaving the house on my way to pick up the cakes from a group members house. My immediate reaction was one in rational non-panic mode; with less emotional attachment to the situation I assessed the fact that it was not at all imperative to have my as opposed to the imperativeness attached to actually having cupcakes for sale, being on time to secure a good spot and to allow enough time to plan ahead on the day to make sure everything was in order running smoothly than rushing into things with less thought; traits usually associated with lateness. So I decided not to go back for it and proceeded to my destination which was to a team-members house to pick up the cupcakes. This of course complemented a philosophy style of learning, with the only contradiction being that if philosophers due think things through logically and prefer structure, then surely there should have been provisional scope made in my thoughts to make sure I did not leave my phone behind especially in an important occasion as our big day as far as our group activity was concerned where communication could play crucial roles for organisational and logistical purposes. The counter argument to this would perhaps be acknowledging the fact that no man is perfect not even the best of philosophers not to mention a mere student and besides, surely not all group members would forget their phones; so in such terms this was not a deal breaking error that would seal ones fate, but was easily absorbable and offset by other more superseding factors. In the looking back section of this log, lessons learnt was to go that extra mile to prepare a little bit more; perhaps by making a shortlist of essentials and to dos and tick each one and I go along; this ensures all bases are covered in events leading to a big day/event/activity/occasion/meeting and so on. This is something I could do differently in the future in any role applicable. Overall, I rated my performance and confidence in this critical incident as 4. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING Subject to necessary changes a personal development plan (PDP) is most relevant to target driven job/role as highlighted by Honey and Mumford (1992) and is usually utilised for unexpected opportunities and/or weaknesses. To monitor ad record progress, a PDP also identifies areas in need of improvement. Set criteria/targets are usually individualistic and unique to individual performance. Overleaf is a copy of one among PDPs made during module, but this drew reference to the group activity: What I am going to do Open the sales of cupcakes by picking up cakes, setting up stall and begin selling the cakes and the documented accounting for sales Why I am going to do this My personal contribution as s a group member in an attempt to achieve success; a goal that unifies all group members as we are all in this together How I am going to do this Plan ahead, through structured and logical manner, logical and rational reasoning over the logistics involved with the delivering of the above target. Make sure estimated time of arrival is early, cakes are ready for pick up on time, use selling, numeric and bilingual skills to the best of my ability to close as many sales as possible When I am going to do this On the 21/03/11 When I will review the results /how I will know I was successful Post 21/03/11 Courtesy of Honey and Mumford (2006) Quite similar to a learning log to the extent that it extracts from ones learning log and appraisal documents, but perhaps more challenging, target driven and development orientated. A PDP would usually include dates, event/activity, achievement/results, interpretation of achievement/results against a benchmark, lessons learnt and any possible room for improvement or what could be done differently is under-achieving. OTHER RELEVANT MODELS: VAK Leite et al. (2009) highlights one of the most renowned classifications of the different kinds of learning styles is Flemings VAK also known as VARK which is an expanded version of neuro-linguistic programming models. As an abbreviation the VAK stands for: Visual learners; prefer seeing/thinking things through pictures, handouts, visual aids like PowerPoint slides and so on. Auditory learners; prefer learning by listening via lectures, tapes, discussions and so on. Kinesthetic learners; prefer learning by experience; actually doing on a physical dimension; be it experiments, moving, touching, and active exploration to name a few (Walter et al., 2009). Upon taking the VAK survey, Visual learning was revealed as my preferred learning style and my goal thereon was to focus on visual aids as a main source of learning in order to maximise my educational experience. However, to avoid getting too carried away with this model, it is hard not to recognise the fact that all three styles within VAK are required for effective learning in the pursuit of knowledge and experience as they are inter-related/-dependent and used more often than not interchangeably. Although it supplemented my other identified styles of learning (reflector/theorists/philosophy), my preference for visual aid for instance as a visual learner would still require listening when benefitting from a PowerPoint presentation being presented by a lecturer unless one was deaf or chose to cover their ears and kinaesthetic element involved would be efforts and energy required to access it in the first place be it using a computer/laptop, jotting down notes or taking a walk into t he classroom again unless one was immobile or chose to be stationary. Emphasising this fact of objective criticism is the mere fact that losing any one of the imperative senses directly associate specifically with anyone of VAK classifications would equate to having a learning disability irrespective of what type of learner/learning preferences one is/has. BELBIN TEAM ROLES Source: XenerGie (no date) The above illustration outlines the nine different main team roles that people are scored on depending on how strongly they express behavioural characteristics of the nine roles, which are more or less self explanatory. The overall assessment process involved to derive such results is known as the Belbin Team Inventory or Belbin Self-Perception Inventory (SPI), which was instigated by Belbin (1981; 1994) to measure preference for the main roles. My SPI results indicated that my most natural roles (where I scored exceptionally high) were as: A Plant; described by Belbin (1981; 1994) as someone with bright ideas who prefers to work on his or her own and generates ideas without considering the practicality or considering others views and can be bored easily by others inputs. Plants are also described as weak at communicating with, learning from, or managing, other people. A Monitor Evaluator; Excellent in reasoning for solutions, views from a wider perspective when all options are considered, but similar to plants weaker at motivating, acknowledging, or facilitating others as rationality is favoured over emotions. A Completer Finisher; Possesses depth to efficiently assist a team to see task(s) through but with major emphasis on accuracy and perfection which can frustrate other practically minded members. Members feel safe by him although there still remains a tendency to annoy due to perfectionism characteristics. My results in totality with key for decipher and interpretation purposes are illustrated below: Courtesy of Belbin (1981; 1994) IM Implementer CO Co-ordinator SH Shaper PL Plant RI Resource Instigator ME Monitor Evaluator TW Team Worker CF Completer Finisher Very Low 0-5 0-3 0-3 0-1 0-2 0-2 0-3 0-1 Low 6-8 4-5 4-6 2-3 3 3-4 4-5 2-3 Mid-Range 9-12 6-9 7-14 4-7 4-7 5-9 6-10 4-8 High 13-15 10-13 15-18 8-9 8-10 10-11 11-13 9-10 Very High 16+ 14+ 19+ 10+ 11+ 12+ 14+ 11+ Courtesy of Belbin (1981; 1994) BELBIN SELF PERCEPTION INVENTORY EXERCISE DT360 From the results shown above, it is clear that absolute coordinating and team worker roles are best avoided as I had very low scores on them, although on average I am capable of assuming shaper and resource instigator roles with relative ease. Some may argue that a more objective and rational method of executing this model would have been to rank each statement in order of preference with the highest rank being made on a statement that best described ones behaviour/personality rather than being confined to 10 points where it is inevitable that some statements would be unaccounted for even though one may have a degree of response for them. Surely it would be fairer in distribution and unbiased if all statements were accounted for to some degree, although keeping the key hidden among the statements and not revealed until ones completed the survey does account to an extent for objectivity. The model can also seem quite daunting and complicated for participants with poor numeric skills; (as a total of 10 points has to be maintained for each number), to the extent that they may be easily confused, put off or end up providing a false reflection due to inaccuracies or poor calculations. Additionally, the fact that Belbin (1981; 1 994) defines an ideal team as consisting of 4 members and anything over this constitutes of a group. This implies that the model is best applicable to teams than groups, but in practicality teams in the workplace and in most cases than not are usually exceeding 4 members. The contradiction of this is that the total number of team roles being tested are 9 (far excessive than 4), although one may argue that depending on the overall goal/objective/activity/event at hand, it may not be an imperative to have all 9 roles present in your team, but perhaps the best/most suitable 4 selections from the 9 that would best serve the overall task at hand. JOHARI WINDOW Initiated by Luft and Ingham (1955), a Johari Window is usually used as a heuristic activity in an attempt to assist people to comprehend interpersonal relationships and communication much better and is seen as a cognitive psychological tool. In terms of input and facilitation, in comparison to the other models aforementioned, this model tends to be less individualist and more interactive (imperatively requiring others input). As revealed by Luft (1969), in practice, a list of 56 adjectives is provided (to both the subject and peers) and utilised by both in the same way but independently input (picking 5 or 6 adjectives), to describe the subjects personality, which are then sieved and mapped onto a grid similar to the one found below (relevant to myself and completed for this module): 2. BLIND SELF Warm Sympathetic Warm Proud Self-conscious OPEN SELF Happy Kind Nervous Adaptable Friendly Known to self Not known to self Known to others 3. UNKNOWN SELF Reflective Observant Logical Adaptable Organised 4. HIDDEN SELF Complex Independent Loving Modest Dignified Not known to others Handy (2000) describes this concept as a house with 4 rooms; moving in a clockwise direction: Room 1; represents traits of my personality that I share in common with peers in terms of awareness. These adjectives were selected by both me and peers. Room 2; represents traits of my personality that I am unaware of, but revealed by peers. These descriptions were selected by my peers only without my input. Room 3; represents traits of my personality that were oblivious to both me and my peers. These were in effect selected by the other aforementioned models revelations and indications; these adjectives that best described my found learning preferences/styles. Handy (2000) describes this room as the most mysterious where the unconscious or subconscious part of us noticed by neither ourselves nor others. Room 4; described as confidential; the part of us known only to us and not others. These adjectives were selected by only me. The limitation with this window is that the number of adjectives does not always tally with what is required; and an uneven distribution of selections would have to be made more often than not; which may invalidate findings to an extent in terms of bias. However, this only tends to be an issue if a requirement is made to ensure an even distribution of adjectives across all 4 rooms is achieved. There is nothing to suggest in the theory that an uneven distribution across the rooms is unacceptable or invalid, rather the main emphasis is actually only made on an even independent selection of adjectives between subjects and peers. The problem with this is, if I did not select any adjective that matched my peers selection, would mean room 1 would remain empty. There is also some ambiguity on the frequency of selection required for each participant; is it confined to once or are multiple frequencies of selection allowed to offset such limitation? CONCLUSION PLANNING This was part of the group activity that I enjoyed the most and quite rightly so as indicated by the learning cycle/preferences models. I was proactively involved in this part of the session and my confidence in doing so was mostly thanks to completing most of the learning style/preferences models in precedence to the actual activity. I made the most of knowing where my learning preferences, strengths and skills lay by maximising my potential input/contribution to the group activity. Demonstrating traits of a reflector, theorist, plant, monitor evaluator, completer finisher, in a visually orientated dimension meant this role and stage of activity was performed naturally. One of my most productive and influential contributions at this stage of the activity was the highly imaginative idea to suggest that we considered raising money for charity as this seemed feasible under the circumstances considering our limited resources in terms of lack of funding (a concession from which the idea to submit a funding request stemmed from; although this attempt ultimately proved futile), and limited capacity to produce a lucrative venture under such confinements such as limited timeframes and manpower. Deciding on actually which charity (in this case red nose) to support/represent came from another team member. I must admit that I did not pay much interest or attention on the ins and outs involved in seeing through, although I was quite passionate about the idea. Moving forward perhaps I should develop my pragmatism on this aspect a bit further in order to be more specialised on hands-on experience. IMPLEMENTATION It is obvious that this was not my strongest point and as opposed to the brainstorming phase of the activity, I was not too much involved in this part of the procedure. My main input in this stage of the process was merely driving to picking up the cakes from a group members house (who happened to be more involved with liaising with the producer and negotiating on a price) setting up the stalls and a passive participation in selling on the day of sale. During this time I was better at observing spanners at work, how they work and generating ideas from gone wells and not gone wells. I was more committed to tracking our progress on sales projecting sales based on current sales ad how long we may be expected go on for. It was my idea that we always made sure we had spare change available, which required for each of us to bring coins along on the day. This highlighted preferred passion for the evaluation sides of things as similarly expressed for the planning stages. There is a lot that I have learnt from the implementation process and there is also a lot more to learn provided I am more involved in this stage, the realisation that theories do not always work in reality for instance would more easily verifiable and assessable. EVALUATION I did enjoy the evaluation stage other than the aspects of implementation involved in this process. My evaluation skills contributed toward the drive that was derived from projected findings on sales that led to us completing sales three hours ahead of schedule whilst generating a healthy profit of 64.5% and a total contribution of pou

Friday, September 20, 2019

Alas, Babylon :: essays research papers

Alas, Babylon Essay   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the book Alas, Babylon, the author, Pat Frank, discusses the condition of the human race. Mainly, his view differs from others because rather than write about the countries in a nuclear war, he writes about people living in the countries that are involved in that war. His discusses these peoples’ progress, both technological and moral, as well as their use of power. These topics make the book as intriguing as it is to read.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Frank, rather than talk about all mankind’s technological advances, talks about how they have hindered man. He says that we have become dependant on these discoveries. He shows this when Dan Gunn and Mark take turns telling Randy all these things that he has, such as a nice car and a refrigerator, are useless when nuclear fallout occurs. It seems that man cannot function for even one minute without using things that were not even available fifty or one hundred years ago. Frank is warning us that there may be a time when we will need to retain the lifestyle of the nineteenth century, and only the people who have the knowledge of this way of life will be fine.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Frank has an interesting view on the way man has progressed morally. I think that he says that we don’t really know our morals until we have them truly questioned. In this he implies that the people who have strong morals, not only will stay true to them, but will survive. An example of this is Randy Bragg. Randy, on the day of nuclear fallout, stopped on the side of the road to help a woman. This shows that he has respect for the human race as a whole. The opposite of this was Edgar Quisenbury. Edgar valued nothing but money. In the end, the absence of money caused Edgar to become an example of Darwin’s â€Å"Only the strong† theory as he shot himself.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Power is addressed in the book as something that Americans do not take seriously. The use of this power is not shown so much as who is in power. I will use three examples of this. Bubbah Offenhouse was in charge of making everyone aware of what to do in case of fallout. However, he chose not to even hand out information on this because he didn’t want to think about it.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Capital Punishment :: essays research papers

Capital Punishment   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There once was a man, long ago, that was sentenced to death for crimes the government said he had committed. He was not a murderer or a thief. He wasn’t a rebel he was just a normal man doing what was right. Since the government saw him as a threat to them they sent him to death. An innocent man was killed. This man was the most influential man in history. He was Jesus Christ. Capital Punishment is one of today’s many issues brought up in Congress. Does the government have the right to take a life?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Capital Punishment has been around since ancient times; it has been used as a punishment for crimes ranging in gravity form petty theft to murder. Modern opposition to capital punishment arose in France in the 18th. Century and spread through Western Europe, where most nations abolish such laws in the 20th century. In the US the death penalty was applied with decreasing frequency after World War II, and in 1972 the US Supreme Court voided all federal and states laws calling for the death penalty on the grounds that condemned persons were being subjected to cruel and unusual punishment, in violation of the 8th amendment to the Constitution. The court left open, however, the possibility of new, constitutional laws, since then the U.S. And most states have enacted measures imposing the penalty in specified kinds of murder cases.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Capital Punishment is one of the oldest institutions in America.Americans have implemented capital punishment ever since Daniel Frank of Virginia was put to death in 1622. Since then more than 18,000 convicted felons have been put to death. There is not enough evidence to prove whether or not capital punishment deters crime. If the state governments used the death penalty consistently it could become an effective deterrent of violent crime. When trying to determine whether capital punishment does deter crime criminologists are forced to compare states that do have capital punishment to those that hardy do. This makes it almost impossible to learn anything from the study. The opposition of the death penalty has been successful in limiting the use of the death as well as the methods used. The government if the Unitied States has brought and end to public executions and mandatory capital sentencing as well as costing courts to give an appellate review in capital case s. Some state governments have never implemented the death penalty, and others have experimented with temporary or total abolition of capital punishment.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Handheld Mobile Devices Essay -- Technology

Research has shown that use of hand held mobile phones while driving can increase the risk of crash by up to 23 times (Vic Roads, 2009). In an attempt to curb the number of people taking such risks, TAC launched a campaign to bring awareness to the problem of distracted drivers, many of whom are distracted by hand held mobile phones, commonly used to talk or text while driving. Considering the statistics regarding the chance of crash when engaging in such activities and the prevalence of the problem, TAC has launched the campaign with hope of creating attitude change. The TAC advert, witnessed by participants of this study, shows various situations of distracted drivers. Two situations of specific relevance to this study, talking on a hand held mobile and texting whilst driving. In all occasions the danger is present, in the final situation the danger is realised via the crash. ‘Attitude’ can be defined as a set of beliefs, feelings, behavioural tendencies and evaluations, that are mostly enduring, and are positive or negative in nature, regarding some person, group, object, issue, event or symbol (Vaughan and Hogg, 2011). This reveals the problematic nature of any attempt to use persuasion to force attitude change. While enduring, resilient attitudes are unlikely to be easily altered, it is not impossible to do so. A dual process theory was proposed by Petty and Cacioppo (1981), the Elaboration Likelihood Model in which, attitude change can occur via two processes. The Elaboration Likelihood Model postulates two processing routes of persuasion, the Central Route, and the Peripheral Route. The former refers to more careful thought utilising more cognitive resources, while the latter, less motivated, less car... ...erely the hand held mobile. It has been speculated that laws pertaining to banning of mobiles whilst driving should include hands free mobiles. Future research should utilise this information and perhaps measure attitudes regarding all phone use whilst driving rather than only hand held phone use. This study has utilised the two processes of elaboration set out in the Elaboration Likelihood Model, to measure the success of the TAC campaign, in changing attitudes of favourability towards the dangerous practice of using a hand held mobile whilst driving. The results of the study show that attitude change is possible via both Central and Peripheral Route processing, as measured before and after viewing the TAC advertisement. Central Route processing has a clear advantage and was significantly more effective than Peripheral Route processing in attitude change.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Supply Increases Price

Homework Week 23. What effect will each of the following have on the demand for small automobiles such as the Mini Cooper and Smart car?a. Small automobiles become more fashionable This will increase the demand in small automobilesb. The price of large automobiles rises (with the price of small autos remaining the same) The demand will increasec. Income declines and small autos are an inferior good. The demand will increased. Consumers anticipate that the price of small autos will greatly come down in the near future. The demand will decreasee. The price of gasoline substantially drops This statement is unclear. You can’t really tell if the demand for small automobiles will increase or decrease just because the gas prices drop substantially.6. What effect will each of the following have on the supply of auto tires?a. A technological advance in the methods of producing tires. Supply will increaseb. A decline in the number of firms in the tire industry. Supply will decreasec. An increase in the price of rubber used in the production of tires. Supply will decreased. The expectation that the equilibrium price of auto tires will be lower in the future than currently. Supply will increasee. A decline in the price of large tires used for semi-trucks and earth hauling rigs (with no change in the price of auto tires). Supply will increasef. The levying of a per-unit tax in each auto tire sold. Supply will increaseg. The granting of a 50-cent-per-unit subsidy for each auto tire produced. Supply will increase9. How will each of the following changes in demand and/or supply affect equilibrium price and equilibrium quantity in a competitive market; that is, do price and quantity rise, fall or remain unchanged, or are the answers indeterminate because they depend on the magnitudes of the shifts? Use supply and demand diagrams to verify your answers.a. Supply decreases and demand is constant Price goes up and quantity goes downb. Demand decreases and supply is constant Price goes down and quantity also goes downc. Supply increases and demand is constant Price goes down and quantity upd. Demand increases and supply increases Price is indeterminate and the quantity goes upe. Demand increases and supply is constant Price goes up and quantity upf. Supply increases and demand decreases Price goes down and the quantity is indeterminateg.Demand increases and supply decreases Price goes up and the quantity is indeterminateh. Demand decreases and supply decreases Price is indeterminate and the quantity goes down11. Critically evaluate: â€Å"In comparing the two equilibrium positions in figure 3. 7a, I see a larger amount is actually purchased at a higher price. This refutes the law of demand† The increase in demand from D1 to D2 increases both equilibrium price and equilibrium quantity. On the second equilibrium we can see that demand has increase causing buyers to buy more at higher prices than the first equilibrium.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Basic Sentence Structures And Samples

Using the four basic sentence structures in a written work is very important, first as a means of clarity of expression, and second as a means of adding dimension and variety to a written work. For instance, using only simple sentences such as â€Å"The woman eats everything she sees. † will not give continuity to a written work, and will make the work sound and look like an enumeration of things, just a list of everything with nothing to link each of these together.On the outset, it will make the written work ambiguous or difficult to understand. There should be a variety of sentences in a written work, so noticeably, if for instance, the above sentence is followed by a compound sentence like, â€Å"She eats everything but she also chooses what to eat based on her mood. † the above simple sentence acquires another dimension and thus, more clarity.Now if to these two sentences another sentence is added, a complex sentence, like, â€Å"She opens her mouth every time som ething edible is in sight until the item is too big for her mouth. † the idea expressed in the first two sentences becomes even clearer, hence, the function of clarity; and with the introduction of new ideas in the third sentence, more variety is achieved. Finally, with the addition of a compound-complex sentence, such as, â€Å"When she is full, the woman’s stomach distends immensely, and she stops eating.† the ideas come full circle and maximum clarity is achieved. The above sentences may therefore be written as follows. â€Å"The woman eats everything she sees. She eats everything but she also chooses what to eat based on her mood. She opens her mouth every time something edible is in sight until the item is too big for her mouth. When she is full, the woman’s stomach distends immensely, and she stops eating. †

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Promote Team Effectiveness

Charles Telfair Institute – Mauritius BSBMGT401A show leadership in the workplace (SIN D0841) ASSESSESSMENT 1 – GROUP PROJECT (WORK RELATED PRACTICAL TASK) GROUP PROJECT COVER SHEET CANDIDATES’ NAMES: Ashveena Moorgawa, Meghna Nagessur and Jessica Sevathiane | We declare this evidence has been produced by the undersigned. Candidates’ Signatures: ____________________________________ Date Submitted: 17/04/2013| ASSESSOR’S NAME: Maryline LAMY| Evidence to be presented: | Part/E| PC| 1st Attempt| 2nd Attempt| Comments| A E1| 1. 1| | | | BE1| 1. 2| | | | CE1| 1. 3| | | | DE1| 1. 4| | | | EE2| 2. 1-2. 3| | | | FE3| 3. 1-3. 6| | | |Assessor to CompleteGeneral Comment:Result Satisfactory Not SatisfactoryAssessor’s Signature: _________________________________ Date: __________________Candidates’ Signatures: ________________________________ Date: __________________Please Note: If a candidate is not satisfied with the assessment outcome he/she may lodge an appeal. | Charles Telfair Institute – Mauritius BSBMGT401A SHOW LEADERSHIP IN THE WORKPLACE (SIN D0841) ASSESSESSMENT 1 – GROUP PROJECT (WORK RELATED PRACTICAL TASK) GROUP PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS Project for: | BSBMGT401A show leadership in the workplace| Due date:| Final submission: Date indicated in the DAS|Description of the Task:| You are required to provide answers to questions related to the three elements of competence. | General overviewThis assessment is designed to give you the opportunity to show you have the skills and knowledge required to show leadership in the workplaceElements covered 1 Model high standards of management performance and behaviour 2 Enhance Organisation Image 3 Making Informed DecisionsRequirements 1 In groups of 3 – 4 students, you are required to address Part A to Part F 2 No word limit is imposed, quality is more important than quantity.Make sure you address all parts of the question and provide sufficient detail to illu strate your answers. 3 Each task is to be word processed and presented in a logical and easy to read format. | Ashveena Moorgawa:| Part A and E| Meghna Nagessur:| Part B and C| Jessica Sevathiane:| Part D and F| Contents Part A6 Answer A. 16 Answer A. 27 Answer A. 38 Part B8 Answer B9 Part C9 Answer C9 Part D9 Answer D10 Part E14 Answer E. 114 Answer E. 215 Answer E. 316 Part F16 Answer F18 â€Å"End of paper†19 Charles Telfair Institute – Mauritius BSBMGT401A SHOW LEADERSHIP IN THE WORKPLACE| SIN D0841) ASSESSMENT A – WORK RELATED TASKS Part A E1 PC1. 1 Read the case study. Write down your responses to the tasks. Case study Jennifer has recently been recruited by a retail store as a frontline manager. Jennifer has previous experience as a team leader but this is her first frontline management position. Her responsibilities include team rosters, coordinating security in her department, managing displays, team member supervision and stock control. 1. Identify wha t Jennifer needs to find out what the organisation expects of her performance and behaviour.Answer A. 1 The function of a front line manager is mainly centered on the daily activities of a department. His role is mainly to do the short term planning, motivate its subordinates and accomplish the day to day task. As Jennifer is also a front line manager, the organization expects her be fair towards all the employees . She should treat all the employees equally. She should be able to organize the roster fairly taking in consideration all the employees. She should be able to identify the right employees and put the right people to work.She should share information with her employees in order for them to know how the work should be done. She should be intelligent in order to know if whether there is a leakage in the information she should be able to handle the problem quickly. Concerning the displays in the retail store Jennifer should be imaginative in order to know what articles should be display to attract customers. She should look at the cleanliness of the store and should be open to listening and learning from other people to know what is the latest trend. Jennifer should be a good leader; she has to be a representative for the employees.Jennifer has to constantly remind the employees the vision, values, goals, standard and image of the organization. Jennifer should always be here to listen, coach and motivate her workers to build an effective work. Jennifer should be able to take effective decision for the team objective. She has to be fair towards all her team member and not favouritism anyone. As a frontline manager, Jennifer should be honest concerning the stock control as employees are going to follow her path and constantly taking note on her behaviour. Jennifer should be trust worth and not afraid to take decision or actions whenever needed.She should be well organize and have a proper recording of the stock. Reference: Management principles 2nd editio n PJ SMIT & GJ DEJ CRONJE 2. What sources of workplace information are available to help Jennifer in establishing the organisation’s requirements? Answer A. 2 The source to help Jennifer establishing the organization requirements , is that, she has to know the policies and procedures, that is, policies is the guidelines adopted by the organization to reach its long term goals and procedures are the action taken to achieve the day to day operations.Jennifer should work the company code of ethics that is the principles and values that directs behaviour of what is good and wrong and it can also influence decision making. Jennifer should know what is the code of conduct, what behaviour is accepted in the workplace and what type of dress should she wear at work. Jennifer has to keep confidential information about her workplace. She should not speak badly about the company and has to know about health and safety. What precautions should be taken for the employees’ in order t o have a safe and health workplace. 3. How could Jennifer monitor her own performance?Answer A. 3 Jennifer can monitor her own performance when she saw that she has achieved the goals that she has set and compare the results with the planned performance. For example her team members are doing the job well as she has trained them or there has been an increase in sales. When the customers are satisfied there will be no complaints at all. She can also monitor her performance when she will get good feedback from her superiors and everyone is satisfied with her job. Also when she will see what she has contributed in the organization. Part B E1 PC 1. 2 Read the case study.Write down your response to the task. Case study Matthew has received advice that the rostering system is to be changed next month. The change means that the organisation will be able to offer extended trading hours to their clients. This should offer them quite an advantage over their competitors. Matthew is concerned t hat several members of the team will be unhappy about the changes. He is aware that several team members will need to make new arrangements for childcare, family arrangements and transport. Describe how Matthew can behave as a positive role model to his team during this period of change.Answer B In this organization, they are planning to change the roster system by next month, where the staff has to extend their working hours. Matthew is concerned that several members will be unhappy about the changes. So being the team leader and also change agent, he has to motivate his team by acting as a positive role model. First Matthew has to be a good decision maker in order to help the staff cope with the changes in the company. Several factors must be taken into consideration while making these changes for example: arrangement for childcare, family and transport.Matthew acting as a positive role model he must have a plan, know how to lead, organise and control. Concerning arrangements for childcare, Matthew can discuss with his top management to see if they can provide the staff with a nursery near the working place. This will allow the parents to focus on their roles, knowing that their children are being cared in a safe environment nearby. For family arrangements, Matthew can consult the finance department in order to see if they can, pay part of exam fees, for staff’s children. They can also provide health care insurance for family members.Health Insurance will pay specified amounts of money to cover medical expenses or treatments. Reference: humanresources. about. comodenefits For transport, Matthew can take organize loan facilities for staff to purchase new car. He can also arrange transport for staff’s children; that is vehicles will fetch the children from school to nursery or willing destination. By this, staff will be at ease as they will know their children are in safe hands. As they will have night shifts, the company will arrange transport, so that the staff will not be facing any difficulties.Being a positive role model Matthew can opt for these benefits. As the company will be more advantageous over their competitors, this will bring it more profit. So, the Team Leader must create a win-win situation whereby both staff and the company will be profitable. A good role model also does what he says, so Matthew will have to keep his promise towards his staff. He must also be open to them, so that they will not hesitate to share ideas concerning the changes in the company. Part C E 1 PC 1. 3 Describe the characteristics of an effective performance plan. Answer CPerformance Planning is designed to assist Leaders and Staff in communicating about performance. Continuous application of these guidelines will ensure that employees know what is expected of them, how they are performing and what can be done to strengthen performance. The characteristics of an effective performance plan are as follows: 1. Demonstrate leadership co mmitment to the process and the plan. To be effective, a performance plan should have commitment of both manager and team member. This may be in terms of resources provided or brainstorming sessions. . Promotes environment of common understanding of goals and priorities. Development plans and performance reviews focus upon coaching and developing employees, for example helping them to reach their full potential. 3. Creates feeling of ownership and team effort among unit members. Showing Trust is the most important. If there is trust, then members will not hesitate to work to their full capacity. Group dynamics will be formed, that is team building among team members. 4. Makes clear alignment of unit initiatives with Vision, Mission and Goals. Vision: A strong vision and the willingness to see through it is one of the most important characteristic. It is a long-term view and concentrates on the future. It can be emotive and is a source of inspiration. * Mission: Defines the fundament al purpose of an organization or an enterprise, succinctly describing why it exists and what it does to achieve its vision. The leader who believes in the mission and works toward it, will be an inspiration and a resource to their followers. * Goal: Goals are for which the firm is striving and the policies by which it is seeking to get there.A goal is sometimes called a roadmap- which is the path chosen to plow towards the end vision. The most important part of implementing the goal is ensuring the company is going in the right direction which is towards the end vision. 5. Promotes coherence in unit programs, services and operations. If the entire team acts without regard for one another or is lacking sense of camaraderie in teamwork, the team leader will need to know quickly and carefully to remedy the situation. (Without cohesion, we don’t have a team) 6. Results in plan that serves a management and decision making tool.Among the most useful tools for planning is SWOT analy sis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats). The main objective of this tool is to analyse internal strategic factors, strengths and weaknesses attributed to the organization, and external factors beyond control of the organization such as opportunities and threats. 7. Communicates clearly the unit priorities to all stakeholders. Effective communication helps keep the team working on the right projects with the right attitude. If we communicate clearly about expectation, issues and advice our stakeholders will be more likely to react and trust our company. . Feedback and performance appraisal Regular feedback combined with yearly performance appraisals is an effective tool for discussing performance issues objectively and specifically with staff. Effective planning increases the likelihood of success for a program while ineffective planning practices almost results in false starts and frustrations. When a group is aware of the characteristics of effective planning and mo nitors the presence of these characteristics formally or informally, they will be a step closer to high quality program.Since it is formal and written, it acts as a guide management for example it can clarify staff expectations. Performance plan can also serve as a benchmark for next review period for setting another performance plan. But what is also important is consistency, coherence and a well coordinated performance plan. The most important stakeholder in the performance plan is the Staff Members, because it is then who will put it into practice. Hence, there should be sense of ownership and motivation. Part D E1 PC 1. 4 Read the case study. Write down your response to the task. Case studyCourtney is responsible for managing a team of eight customer service officers who assist customers by telephone. The procedure for providing telephone service in this organisation is: * greet the customer by name * advise customer of your name * offer to assist them * ask permission before as king them questions * use the customer’s name * do not interrupt them or speak-over them * respect their privacy * be alert to any special needs that they may have * offer additional services where appropriate * thank them for their custom * check whether their needs have been satisfied.Develop a range of key performance indicators that would be suitable to monitor and report on the performance of customer service officers. If you are currently employed you may develop key performance indicators to measure performance in your own work team. Answer D The Key Performance Indicators are used to measure the performance of the organization and its staff. They determine the success of their operations. The key management issue is not what the numbers tells us about the performance but it is what we do with those numbers to resolve the issues that avoid us from performing properly our tasks.Courtney can monitor and report on the performance of her team by implementing as key indicat ors: * Time to answer a call * A call should be answered within the first 10 seconds. * This indicator will measure the time from which the call was received and the time at which the officer answered it. * It measures the customer service center performance rather than the performance of the officers themselves. * This performance indicator depends however on the availability of the officers to answer the calls when they are meant to do so. * Voice quality service This indicator depends on the quality of the call. If the line is of poor quality, the customers and the officers have to repeat themselves continuously and this may lead to high customer frustration and call abandonment. * This indicator will help to know if the technologic equipments are good enough or need to be upgrade or change to be able to treat more efficiently the quieries and reduce customer frustration and call abandonment. * Abandon calls * This indicator will measure the number of callers who disconnect, or a re disconnected, before the calls reach the officers. It measures the customer service center performance rather than the performance of the officers themselves and is however related to Call Handling time. * Call Handling time * This indicator will be measured in seconds; it is the time that an officer will spend on the line with a customer. * The call handling time varies from call to call as it depends on the complexity of the caller’s issue. The more time an officer spend with one call, the less number of calls he/she will be able to treat during the day. * Average call handling time is also a metric for the customer center as a whole and for individuals’ teams. * First call Resolution This indicator will measure the number of issues resolved during the first call and that do not require either the customer to call back or an officer to make an outgoing call to the customer. * This indicator will be indirectly a measurement of the officer performance. The more know ledge the officer will have, more issues he/she will be able to resolve and the higher his/her FCR will be. But it is not an exact measurement because the caller could have call several times before having the right person on the line and the resolution of the call may require the action of someone else such as a supervisor or another department. FCR is difficult to accurately measure and should be evaluated with care. * Repeated calls * This indicator is to measure the number of call from customers who calls several times in order to obtain the assistance they are asking for and who did not get the answers or solutions the first time they called. * Transfer rate * In addition to FCR, this indicator will measure the percentage of calls that an officer has to transfer to someone else to complete; a supervisor or another department. * The reason for the transfer could be the officer’s fault or a request of the caller. * Redundant time/Idle time This indicator will measure the d uration of the unused time the officers will take between two calls. * The idle time should not be more than 5mins, the officer should be able to computerize the information and at the same time give the information to the customer. * The more unused time an officer spend between two calls, the more calls are abandoned. * Hold-On time * This indicator will measure in seconds, the time the officer keeps a caller on hold during a call. * It may be the time needed to look something up or to talk to someone else to find an answer to the caller's issue. The Hold-on time may not be more than 60 seconds. If after 60 seconds the officer has not yet find an answer he/she should take the line and tell the customer that he is still looking for a solution and ask politely to the customer to wait some more or tell him/she that he’s going to call him/her back. * Phone Etiquette * This will measure the quality of the officer's etiquette during the call. * It normally consists of a number of factors, sometimes weighted, that are checked off by a quality monitor listening to the call. The more factors that are checked off, the higher the officer score.These include items such as â€Å"greeted customer by name†, â€Å"spoke in a clear, calm voice†, and â€Å"repeated caller's issue to verify understanding†. * Knowledge and Professionalism * This will measure the quality of the officer's knowledge during the call. * Adherence to procedures * This will measure how well the officer followed the company’s procedures during the call i. e. : * greet the customer by name * advise customer of your name * offer to assist them * ask permission before asking them questions * use the customer’s name * do not interrupt them or speak-over them * respect their privacy * be alert to any special needs that they may have offer additional services where appropriate * thank them for their custom * check whether their needs have been satisfied. * Customer s atisfaction * This will measure how well the officer treated the call. * It is related to the: * Time to answer a call * Voice quality service * First call Resolution * Hold-On time * Phone Etiquette * Knowledge and Professionalism * Adherence to procedures Reference: http://management. about. com/od/metrics/a/Call-Center-Kpi. htm Part E E 2 PC ALL 1. Describe the method you would use to communicate with your senior manager regarding an issue you have identified with the organisation’s standards or values.Answer E. 1 Method that I would use to communicate with my senior manager regarding issues in the organization standards or values would be face to face communication. Face to face communication is the process of sending and receiving message through verbal mean. Face to face communication, both the sender and the receiver can have an interaction, so both of the senior manager and me can exchange our opinion. If we send emails or through phone, message can be misinterpreted, so with face to face communication we can pass our message without changing its meaning.Face to face communication will help me to express my ideas, opinions and making my senior manager understand what the problem is about. As organization standard and values are confidential for an organization meeting face to face the senior manager will be a good option as face to face communication is a personal method. An immediate decision can be taken with face to face communication and we can also discuss over the problem. References: http://www. change communications. htm http://www. brightface-communication 2. How would you respond if you were required to behave in a way that did not align with your personal values? Answer E. If I were required to behave in a way that is not align with my personal values, I would try to bring my own culture and values to the organization where possible and try to implement the values into the organization. I can make a group of employees sit together and identify our common values and see if these values can be implemented in the organization. We can tell the employees to come and report without fear when they see an unethical behaviour. I will try to talk with my senior manager to explain him how we can find a solution to the problem Reference: http://humanresources. about. com. /od/leadership/aleader-values. htm 3.How would you model behaviours to team members that would encourage them to contribute to developing an organisation which has integrity and credibility? Answer E. 3 I would encourage my team members to help to contribute in an organization which has integrity and credibility by adopting the work policies and procedures of the organization. Policies mean the guideline adopted by an organization to reach its long term goals and procedures is the action taken to achieve the day to day operations. Thus the employees will follow the path. When I will communicate to my team members I will talk sense and objectively that is d irectly to the point.I have to talk honestly to my team member I will work with the company code of ethics, that is, principles and values that directs behaviour of what is good and bad. Also the code of conduct what is the dress code so as to set the examples for the team members. Whenever I have made a mistake I should take my responsibility and be truth towards the organization. As a good model to my team I should not accept gifts for my own benefits. I should not talk against the company in public this will bring the company a bad image and influence the employees to do so. Part F E 3 PC ALL Read the case study.Write down your response to the task. Case study Roshani is very concerned. Jordan is the newest member of the team, having recently completed his High School Certificate. Jordan came to Roshani’s office yesterday with a serious complaint. He received an email from a colleague yesterday that included sexually inappropriate material. Jordan surprises Roshani when he tells her that it is commonplace for the team to share inappropriate email jokes and to view inappropriate material on the Internet in the workplace. Jordan wants Roshani to make this behaviour stop without telling his colleagues that he has lodged a formal complaint.Roshani is keen to try the group problem-solving techniques that she has been exploring in her frontline management course. She organises a team meeting with the objective of having the team develop its own solution to this problem. You are to prepare a short report that describes how Roshani and her team could go about resolving the problem of inappropriate use of the Internet and email by team members. Your report should address the following: * gathering and organising relevant information * helping team member to make decisions * examining options and assessing risks * making timely decisions and communicating them preparing a plan to implement their decision * gathering feedback regarding the implementation and im pact of the team’s decision. Answer F REPORT OXIDAM WINES To:| Staff members| From:| Roshani Appassamy – Frontline Manager of Oxidam Wines| Date:| 7th April 2013| Re:| Misuse of internet during working hours| Following the fact that it has been noted with much concern from last month IT analysis worksheet that certain employees share inappropriate email jokes and view sexual material on the Internet during office hours and the staff meeting held on 5th April 2013, please find below what have been discussed and agreed upon.It has been decided that the company’s computers must solely be used to: a) communicate and deliver timely information to the public b) perform research c) stay informed with current events affecting the job responsibilities d) communicate with fellow colleagues, business partners and clients e) communicate with family in case of emergency To avoid: a) misunderstandings and conflicts among the team b) colleagues feeling harassed c) computers an d network infection by viruses d) tampering of important files and clients data ) crashed of the server It has been agreed that: a) â€Å"Chat Programs† like Yahoo Messenger or Microsoft Messenger are not permitted and should be removed immediately. b) â€Å"Chat Rooms† and other types of forums unless related to company research and are company approved, are not permitted. c) Social Networking such as Twitter, Facebook, etc. sites are absolutely not allowed. d) No â€Å"Porno† or other forms of â€Å"Adult Only. † Besides being offensive to employees and customers, it could be grounds for the company to be sued.We would hate for customers to think all we do is surf garbage. This will be grounds for immediate termination. e) â€Å"Personal† anything must be kept to a minimum on company computers. Lunch breaks are not â€Å"Surfing Breaks. † Some employees confessed that they were not aware of the company’s internet use policies as the y did not read the code of ethic which was given to them. Most of them did know that the misuse of internet and sending inappropriate mails was punishable.A new copy of the code of Ethic will be given again to all members of the staff. A form will be attached to it. All employees are requested to read the policies and duly sign the form to acknowledge receipt. Should any employee infringe the company’s computer policies, this will lead to termination of employment without prior notice. A follow-up meeting is schedule for the 10th May 2013, please bring along your comments and any findings. Sources: http://www. iscnetwork. com/cutcosts/companypolicy. shtml â€Å"End of paper†

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Theatre in America During the 1930s.

Theatre in America during the 1930s. During the 1930s, the American Dream had become a nightmare because of the Great Depression. The sudden drop in stock exchange had threatened the land. What was once the land of optimism, had become the land of despair. The promise for success was clearly not fulfilled. Americans started to question and blame the government (rebelling). Society had led to a theatre that was politically and socially conscious The vision of the American Dream is broad, everyone is free, equal and has limitless opportunities. â€Å"Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness† is what the American strives for.No one is oppressed or starved and nothing can stop a person from their ambitions. Hard work to improve one’s position in life is promoted. This is the ideal life of an American citizen, but sadly, this wasn’t the case in the 1930s. â€Å"†¦income of the average American family was reduced by 40%, from $2,300 to $1,500. Instead of advanc ement, survival became the keyword. Institutions, attitudes, lifestyles changed in this decade but democracy prevailed. †-(www. kclibrary. lonestar. edu/decade30. html) Although this was happening, people did what they could to make their lives happy. Parlor games, board games and movies were popular.Movie houses opened as theatres closed down. Group theatre was considered â€Å"the most distinguished acting company of the 1930s and modelled on the Moscow Acting Theatre. † – (Dramatic Arts textbook, pg 210) The birth of professional American Theatre begun with the Lewis Hallam troupe during 1752. Theatre was for those who were interested in a theatre which reflected political and social ideals, e. g. Tennessee Williams (T. W). Broadway, Group Theatre and Theatrical Realism was incorporated into T. W’s book, The Glass Menagerie. The Glass Menagerie is partly autobiographical because Tom represents the author as well.Tom is basically the memory to T. Wâ€⠄¢s youth. Although T. W writes of his past, he also focuses on the socio-political issues of the American life. Tom’s mother, Amanda Wingfield, is the perfect example of the â€Å"negative† in the American Dream. She forces the American Dream upon her children and this suffocates them. In scene 3, Amanda and Tom fight, then Tom ends up calling her a witch. Amanda is still having a hard time coming to the new terms of her status in society because she grew up in a home of social fortune. But she does cause the problem between herself and Tom.