History of Israel Essay

For thousands of years, the small land of Israel has been the site of countless wars between people who claim, for many different reasons, the land as their own. The struggle persists up to this day, and blood continues to spill over what the world considers its Holy Land. Israel’s Biblical Past When one wishes to look at Israel’s history, it is important to study Israel’s Biblical account. This precious volume recounts Israel’s roots, her period of slavery in Egypt, her beginnings as separate tribes in the Promised Land, and the uniting of these tribes under a monarchy. Wood, 1986, p. 3) Fortunately, Biblical accounts of Israel are supported by archaeological data, which makes the information in the Bible historically valid and reliable. Israel is the chosen land for the chosen people. From the Bible, we see that this land was promised by God as reward for Abraham’s faithfulness and obedience to His word. Abraham is considered the Father of the Jewish Nation, and his descendants were the direct beneficiary of God’s covenant with him. However, the journey to the Promised Land would not be easy; it was wrought with so much pain and sacrifices. For quite a long time, the descendants of Abraham were slaves to the Egyptians. Still, they held on to God’s word, and when they were finally freed from slavery by Moses, they began their exodus from Egypt into the Canaan, the land that God has chosen for them. After a generation of wandering, the Jews finally arrived at Canaan. There, they settled as separate tribes, but was eventually unified under one king. Israel’s first king was Saul, but his greatest king was David. After a succession of kings, Israel was banished by God because of their sins. Muslims came to invade the land claiming it as their spiritual land as well. Thus, the Jewish nation lost their Promised Land once again. The Diaspora Since the time that the Jews lost Israel, they have been scattered all over the world. This dispersion is called the Diaspora, and has deeper meanings than mere physical separation or migration to other places. This Diaspora is meant to remind the Jews that they are meant to be together in Israel as God intended them to be. Thus the desire to return to their spiritual land abides even after thousands of years of Diaspora. This longing to return to Israel is made more acute by the persecution of Jews in almost every place they go. While there were isolated pockets of stability, the attempt to settle elsewhere was generally a failure, and they took this as a sign that it is time to return home. The Homecoming A hundred years after the crusades, Jews began to return to Israel in small trickles. Israel then was under Muslim rule, as it has stood when the Crusades failed to retake the land from them. During this time Israel was called Palestine to make the distinction between Jewish Israel. For hundreds of years the Jews made their slow excruciating homecoming, strengthened only by their faith in God that He shall soon restore them to their land. Slowly over many generations, the number of Jews continued to grow. This Jewish homecoming was encouraged by the internal rift within the Ottoman Empire. On one side, the Ottoman Empire was fighting the rebellious Bedouins, while fending off challenges to the legitimacy of the Ottoman State. (Lewis, 1996, p. 333) Gradually, these internal conflicts weakened the once mighty empire. Within the first decade of the twentieth century, the empire lost all of its territories, including Israel, their crown jewel. Thus, the Ottoman Empire was no more. Finally by the end of the nineteenth century, the population of Jews in Palestine was big enough to exert some pressure over Palestine. In 1897, the First Zionist Congress was convened. This Congress formally declared the intention to establish a Jewish state within Palestine that will be recognized by the international community. This move was supported by Britain and the United States, who declared their favor over the creation of an independent Jewish state. However, the declaration did not find steam as the influx of Jews slowed down in the early twentieth century. The resurgence came in the 1940’s when the Holocaust killed millions of Jews in Europe. This unspeakable horror wrought upon the Jews solidified their resolve to build their own country and galvanized support from the international community. After World War II, the United Nations declared that Palestine be split in two, one for the Arabs and one for the Jews. As expected, the Arab world raised their objections against the division. Violence erupted immediately after this announcement and continued unabated until David Ben-Gurion, in accordance with the UN Partition Plan, declared independence for the Jewish nation and the creation of the State of Israel in May 14, 1948. The Holy Wars Right after the creation of the Israeli state, neighboring Arab countries surrounded Israel and attacked them from all sides. With sheer resolve to defend their homeland, the fledgling nation with an inexperienced army was able to repel the invading forces. In fact, the Jewish army went so far as advancing their forces, and occupying territories outside their mandated boundaries; this includes most of the land allocated for the Arabs under the Partition Plan, and half of Jerusalem which was supposed to be a UN-controlled city. A ceasefire was successfully negotiated with current occupation defining the new boundaries of Israel. As a result of the Arab invasion, Israel now straddles a land much bigger than what was given to them in the UN Partition Plan. Hundreds of thousands of refugees from both fronts resulted from this war of Israeli independence. The Jewish refugees who have been expelled from Arab lands continue to flock to Israel, while Arab refugees displaced by the Israeli territory continue to settle along the border in UN-sanctioned refugee camps. Even up to this day, Jews and Arabs trapped in the conflict pray for safe passage. The Promise of Israel Arabs and Jews stare at each other across the border in an uneasy truce. Even up to this day, lasting peace is an elusive dream as extremists from both sides threaten war at any time. Israel has created a deep and far-reaching conflict that affects the entire world. Arab terrorists attack the United States and Britain for being staunch allies of Israel, and the United States, in retaliation, is now holding a war in Iraq. And the violence goes on. That the Holy Land of Israel shall be the site of such violence is indeed mankind’s collective tragedy. Where the story of Israel shall take us, we can never know, but this much I am sure of: the war over the Holy Land will never stop until we find it in our hearts to forgive and accept one another. Perhaps it is the fate of a Chosen Land to never find peace until humanity makes peace with each another. The promise of the Holy Land is the promise of peace, and it is incumbent upon us to bring that promise to its final fulfillment.

The Uses And Effects Of Fuel Cells Environmental Sciences Essay

First I would wish to state that Fuel cells are considered a specific device which converts the chemical power to a fuel ( natural gas, H and gasolene. The air or O may be converted besides into electricity. The fuel cell operates like a battery peculiarly. Unlike a battery nevertheless, a fuel cell does non run down or necessitate recharging. But it will bring forth the electricity and heat every bit long as fuel and an oxidant are supplied. Hydrogen is one of the most important picks for all the cells of fuel. There are more of gases, like N which is provided in the air have a dilution consequence on the fuel cell ‘s public presentation. And it was noticed besides that there are other gases have an consequence on the fuel cells like CH4 and CO, and it depending on the sort of fuel cell, which the CO is a toxicant to fuel cells to run at comparatively low temperatures, such as the Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell. It is important to advert that CO can be used straight as a fuel for the high temperature fuel cells like the Solid Oxide Fuel Cell. Every fuel cell with its specific electrolyte will accept the different gases as fuels and experience toxic condition or dilution. Therefore, the system of gas supply should be tailored to a specific sort of fuel cell. The procedure: Fuel cells are considered the basic electrochemical cells and operate following the same indispensable mechanism as the batteries which work every twenty-four hours. However, unlike batteries, where all of the chemicals are used in cells which are contained and when the reaction is finished wholly the battery is dead, fuel cells have stable flow of fresh chemicals to the cell and so in theory have an limitless life. sprint-nextel-to-expand-hydrogen-fuel-cell-deployment.jpg Hydrogen fuel cells, that are the most used, alter the flows of H and O to supply us the H2O ( H2O ) and to hold the electricity from this procedure. On 1s manus, the anode, H is forced through the Pt pulverization where it is ionized: 2H2 == & A ; gt ; 4H+ + 4e- . The negatrons so pass through the external circuit, where their flow can be harnessed as electricity, on their manner to the cathode. But on the other manus, the cathode: O is traveling to respond with the merchandises from the anode to bring forth H2O: O2 + 4H+ + 4e- == & A ; gt ; 2H2O. Along with heat, this is the lone by merchandise of the H fuel cell: the reactants are usually to the full utilised. The fuel cells is traveling to bring forth the electricity through the chemical procedure. And this procedure means that they are non capable to the Carnot Limit It is needed to cognize what Carnot bound is: ( it is a theoretical bound sing the efficiency of the engine depending on the flow of heat between the 2 reservoirs ) , and that they can efficaciously pull out more energy from fuel than combustion-based methods. Traditional internal burning engines typically have efficiencies of around 30 % , whereas fuel cells can accomplish 40-70 % efficiency. The usage: We can establish the Hydrogen in assorted organic compounds, and it was noticed besides that the hydrocarbons which make up many of the traditional fuels, like the gasolene, methyl alcohol and eventually natural gas. Hydrogen can be separated from hydrocarbons by the application of heat: It is the procedure which is known as reforming. Most of H is made by utilizing this manner from the natural gas. The current of electricity can be used to divide the H2O for its constituents of ( O / H ) . This procedure is named by the electrolysis. Some of bacteriums can utilize the sunshine as their energy beginning, NASA had used the H fuel cells to establish the bird of the infinite. Hydrogen is considered high in supplying energy, and the engine burns pure H which it will non bring forth any pollutants in this procedure. NASA has used liquid H from the seventeenth to impel the infinite bird and many projectiles to revolve. Hydrogen fuel cells can supply the power and energy for the bird ‘s electrical systems, and it will bring forth the clean by-product, which the crew drinks. The Fuel cells are considered the assuring engineering to be usage in the hereafter as a beginning of electricity and heat of the edifices, and as an electrical power beginning for electric motors impeling vehicles. Fuel cells will run the best and the most pure H. But the fuels such as natural gas, gasolene and methyl alcohol can be reformed to bring forth the H which is needed for fuel cells. Some fuel cells can be fueled in direct manner with methyl alcohol, without utilizing ( reformist ) . hydrogen.jpg In the hereafter, H could be seen with the electricity as the most of import energy bearers. An energy bearer shall transport and present the energy to be used by the consumers. The renewable energy beginnings, such as the air current and moving ridges and sunshine ca n't supply us with the energy all the clip. But they could bring forth electric energy and H which it can be stored till it ‘s needed. Hydrogen can besides be transported to locations where it is needed. THE Cost: The entire cost of Hydrogen4.00 dollar and the gasolene gallon equivalent? howafuelcellworks4.jpg It was proposed that the H shall be electrolyzed with the electricity to bring forth by the air current or sunshine. Here is the existent scoop on what it will be you to drive if this happens. Let ‘s presume for the minute which the air current and its bring forthing the electricity will be.075 / kWh. This is a sensible figure which has been born out in bing installings. Here is the list of premises: 10kW system will be about 33,000.00 dollar The Wind is available at full power 25 per centum of the twenty-four hours, produces 60kWh ‘s per twenty-four hours. 20 twelvemonth life span, it will bring forth 438,000 k.Wh ‘s over life-time of system 60 kWh every twenty-four hours ( 365 yearss in the twelvemonth ) = 21900 kWh in the twelvemonth 21900 kWh in the twelvemonth ( 20 old ages ) will be 438,000 kWh Lifetime The H ‘s denseness reaches to 0.0899 kgs gm in each three-dimensional metre, so it needs 4.8 kWh to hold 0.0899 kilo gm of H or 53.4 kWh per gasolene gallon equivalent. The environmental consequence: The H fuel cells and its development are considered as an alternate fuel is good for the environment, but how does that work? It is easy to state that we should utilize H fuel cell engineering to salvage our environment and prohibition planetary heating. We can establish some of facts about it and encompassing those facts can be two really different things. First, allow us state that there are some of facts trade with the H fuel cells are good for the environment due to holding the cleanest combustion fuels of all time developed. Hydrogen was extracted from the H2O and so we managed to set it into the fuel cells as a gas that can power a vehicle. The lone emanation that comes out of a fuel cell powered vehicle is H2O vapour. It is like holding a humidifier for the whole universe Decision: It is known that the H fuel cells had high efficiency ( from 40: 70 % ) the possibility of using both electricity and heat from them will do an of import part to cut down the emanations which will bring forth in atmosphere. Such as the fuel cell runing at 60 per centum, the efficiency would breathe from 35 to 60 per centum less than CO2 at the dodo fuel phase and 80 per centum less from H. The beginnings of energy which will be used in the hereafter will hold to be cleaner and more efficient than current beginnings ; the fuel cells fulfill these demands. Several challenges remain before we will see wide-spread commercialisation, chiefly because of limitations with cost, dependability, size and safety, but an environmentally friendly beginning of power is decidedly on its manner.

Pillars of education

Learning to managerial education specialized education Should be given and Is Provides the opportunity available to all despite to study a small number differences of race, of of subjects in depth, place and of physical and focused on training to economic condition prepare students for their respective workplace 3. Mineral educational is in this field that a child learns how to: Think- something that should be learned from parents and then teachers which include the process of robber-solving and abstract thought Concentrate- ability to focus or to give full attention to something Acquire memory skills- skills to associate one object or experience to another 4. Peccadillo educational Is In this discipline that an individual: Is encouraged for greater intellectual curiosity Could sharpen his critical faculties Enables an individual to develop their own independent judgment on the world around them 5. Learning to know is the concept of basic and general education with the addition of op portunities to work on specific areas that continue o develop with regards to the rapid change In science, technology and socio- economic activities.General education Specialized education 6. II. Learning to do Adjusting Education for the 21st Century Occupation There is a great shift of occupation in the coming years thus learning should also be adjusted and modified in order for an individual to cope with change Learning to do tackles not purely on instructing an individual to perform a specific task but to give a grounding in the concept called personal competence 7. Ratified skills vs. personal interdependence skills Personal competence Purely technical or MIX of skills and vocational talents Intellectual In aspect Emotional in aspect Learned through Innate or acquired specialized education qualities 8. Learning to do is a concept where technical skills paired with personal competence equips man the ability to perform well in his particular work. Certified skills Personal compet ence 9.Ill. Learning to live discountenancing Other People 80th teachers and students should learn about human diversity, that all people are in equal footing and all are interdependent with each other Children should be taught early In life the understanding of other people's reactions by taking that experience Like RSI their own Recognition of the rights of other people which will bring about the concept of respect 10.Moving towards common goals Shared aspiration bypasses color, religion, physical attributes and cultural differences. Conflicts are set aside, tensions cooled down, arguments are discussed and resolved, variance is accepted, and clashes are put aside. An entity Is being formed by that one common goal and everything that divides the path Is dropped or better yet dissolved. 11. Formal education should then provide time and opportunity to introduce to young people collaborative projects as part of their sports and cultural activities.Senior citizen help scheme Renovatio n of slum areas Relief operations 12. Learning to live together is a concept of interdependence and complementation. This view is expected to overcome various conflicts within society of differing culture, geography, ethnicity and so forth. 13. IV. Learning to be Education has Its goal of changing a man to become individual fulfilled and accomplished as an entity and as a member of his society. In order to reach the full development of a human being, which begins at birth and continues throughout a person's life, education should be a highly individualized process and an interactive social experience. 14. Highly individualized Interactive social process experience A person should be able An individual should be to solve his problems, able to relate with others make his own decisions and learn expressions of and shoulder his own cooperation, unity and responsibilities interdependence 15. Learning to be is the process of becoming. â€Å"elf all of life is directed toward the process of becoming, of growing, of seeing, of feeling, of touching, of smelling, there wont be a boring second. â€Å"(Leo Bacillus,1984)† Education should be the process of helping everyone to discover his uniqueness, to teach him how to develop that uniqueness, and then to show him how to share it because that is the only reason for having anything.

The Necessity Of Computer Security

When the first electronic computers emerged from university and military laboratories in the late 1940s and early 1950s, visionaries proclaimed them the harbingers of a second industrial revolution that would transform business, government and industry. But few laymen, even if they were aware of the machines, could see the connection. Experts too, were sceptical. Not only were computers huge, expensive, one-of-a-kind devices designed for performing abstruse scientific and military calculations, such as cracking codes and calculations missile trajectories, they were also extremely difficult to handle. Now, it is clear that computers are not only here to stay, but they have a profound effect on society as well. As John McCarthy, Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, speculated in 1966: â€Å"The computer gives signs of becoming the contemporary counterpart of the steam engine that brought on the industrial revolution – one that is still gathering momentum and whose true nature had yet to be seen. † Today’s applications of computers are vast. They are used to run ordinary household appliances such as televisions and microwaves, to being tools in the workplaces through word processing, spreadsheets, and graphics software, to unning monumental tasks such as being the heart and soul of the nations tax processing department, and managing the project timetables of the Space Shuttle. It is obvious that the computer is now and always will be inexorably linked to our lives, and we have no choice but to accept this technology and learn how to harness its total potential. With any progressing technology, an unauthorized application can almost be found for it. A computer could and has been used for theft and fraud – for example, as a database and manager of illegal activities such as drug trafficking and pornography. However, we must not just consider the harmful applications of the computer, but also take into account the good that they have caused. When society embraced the computer technology, we have to treat this as an extension of what we already have at hand. This means that some problems that we had before the computer era may also arise now, in the form where computers are an accessory to a crime. One of the problems that society has faced ever since the dawn of civilization is privacy. The issue of privacy on the Internet has risen many arguments for and against having it. The issue of privacy has gotten to the oint where the government of the United States has placed a bill promoting a single chip to encrypt all private material on the Internet. Why is privacy so important? Hiding confidential material from intruders does not necessarily mean that what we keep secret it illegal. Since ancient times, people have trusted couriers to carry their messages. We seal out messages in a envelope when sending mail through the postal service. Using computer and encrypting programs to transfer electronic messages securely is not different from sending a letter the old-fashioned way. This paper will examine he modern methods of encrypting messages and analyse why Phil Zimmerman created an extremely powerful civilian encipherment program, called the PGP, for â€Å"Pretty Good Privacy. In particular, by focusing on cryptography, which was originally intended for military use, this paper will examine just how easy it is to conclude why giving civilians a military-grade encrypting program such as the PGP may be dangerous to national security. Therefore, with any type of new technology, this paper will argue that the application of cryptography for civilian purposes is not just a right, but is also a necessity. Increasingly in today’s era of computer technology, not only banks but also businesses and government agencies are turning to encryption. Computer security experts consider it best and most practical way to protect computer data from unauthorized disclosure when transmitted and even when stored on a disk, tape, of the magnetic strip of a credit card. Two encryption systems have led the way in the modern era. One is the single-key system, in which data is both encrypted and decrypted with the same key, a sequence of eight numbers, each between 0 and 127. The other is a 2-key ystem; in this approach to cryptography, a pair of mathematically complementary keys, each containing as many as 200 digits, are used for encryptions and decryption. In contrast with ciphers of earlier generations, where security depended in part on concealing the algorithm, confidentiality of a computer encrypted message hinges solely on the secrecy of the keys. Each system is thought to encrypt a message so inscrutably that the step-by-step mathematical algorithms can be made public without compromising security. The single key system, named the Data Encryption Standard – DES for short — as designed in 1977 as the official method for protecting unclassified computer data in agencies of the American Federal government. Its evolution began in 1973 when the US National Bureau of Standards, responding to public concern about the confidentiality of computerized information outside military and diplomatic channels, invited the submission of data-encryption techniques as the first step towards an encryption scheme intended for public use. The method selected by the bureau as the DES was developed by IBM researchers. During encryption, the DES algorithm divides a message into blocks f eight characters, then enciphers them one after another. Under control of the key, the letters and numbers of each block are scrambled no fewer than 16 times, resulting in eight characters of ciphertext. As good as the DES is, obsolescence will almost certainly overtake it. The life span of encryption systems tends to be short; the older and more widely used a cipher is, the higher the potential payoff if it is cracked, and the greater the likelihood that someone has succeeded. An entirely different approach to encryption, called the 2-key or public- key system, simplifies the problem of key distribution and management. The approach to cryptography eliminates the need for subscribers to share keys that must be kept confidential. In a public-key system, each subscriber has a pair of keys. One of them is the so-called public key, which is freely available to anyone who wishes to communicate with its owner. The other is a secret key, known only to its owner. Though either key can be used to encipher or to decipher data encrypted with its mate, in most instances, the public key is employed for encoding, and the private key for decoding. Thus, anyone can send a secret message to anyone else by using the addressee’s public key to encrypt ts contents. But only the recipient of the message can make sense of it, since only that person has the private key. A public key cryptosystem is called the PGP, for Pretty Good Privacy. Designed by Phil Zimmerman, this program is freely distributed for the purpose of giving the public the knowledge that whatever communications they pass, they can be sure that it is practically unbreakable. PGP generates a public and private key for the user using the RSA technique. The data is then encrypted and decrypted with the IDEA algorithm – which is similar to the DES, but the work factor to decode the encrypted message by brute orce is much higher than what the DES could provide. The reason why the RSA is used only when generating the keys is that the RSA takes a very long time to encrypt an entire document, where using the RSA on the keys takes a mere fraction of the time. At this time, Zimmerman is bing charged by the US government for his effort in developing the PGP. The government considers encryption as a weapon, and they have established regulations controlling or prohibiting the export of munitions. Since the PGP is a powerful encryption program, it is considered and can be used as a powerful weapon and may be a threat to national security. On the Internet, it is clear that many people all over the world are against the US government’s effort on limiting the PGP’s encryption capabilities, and their reason is that the ban infringes on the people’s right to privacy. The PGP must not be treated only as a weapon, for it contains analogies that are not used in wartime. One of them is authentication. The two-key cryptosystem is designed with authentication in mind: Using someone’s public key to encrypt enables only the owner of the private key to decrypt the same message. In the real world, we use our own signature to prove out identity in signing heques or contracts. There exists retina scanners that check the blood vessels in out eyes, as well as fingerprint analysis devices. These use our physical characteristics to prove our identity. A digital signature generated by a public key cryptosystem is much harder to counterfeit because of the mathematics of factoring – which is an advantage over conventional methods of tests for out identity. Another analogy the PGP has with the real world is the need for security. Banks and corporations employ a trusted courier – in the form of an armoured truck or a guard – to transfer sensitive documents or valuables. However, this is expensive for civilian purposes, and the PGP provides the same or better security when securing civilian information. While many argue that limiting the PGP’s abilities are against the people’s right to privacy, the PGP must also be seen as a necessity as we enter the Information Age. There is currently little or no practical and inexpensive way to secure digital information for civilians, and the PGP is an answer to this problem. Computer privacy must not be treated differently than any other method to make private any documents. Rather, we must consider the computer as a tool and se it as an extension of society’s evolution. Clearly the techniques we employ for computer privacy such as encryption, secure transfers and authentication closely mirrors past efforts at privacy and non-criminal efforts. The government is putting more pressure against the distribution of PGP outside of the United States. One of their main reasons was that since it is freely distributed and thus can be modified in such a way that even the vast computational resources of the US government cannot break the PGP’s secured message. The government could now reason that the PGP can provide criminal rganizations a means of secure communications and storage of their activities, and thus make the law enforcement’s job much harder in tracking criminals down and proving them guilty. Also, we must never forget one of out basic human rights – one that many laid their lives for, is freedom. We have the freedom to do anything we wish that is within the law. The government is now attempting to pass a bill promoting a single algorithm to encrypt and decrypt all data that belongs to its citizens. A multitude of people around the world are opposed to this concept, arguing that it is against their freedom and their privacy.

Science of Stars

Stars are well recognized astronomical objects in our solar system and represent building blocks of galaxies. The history and dynamics of a star in a galaxy depends on its age, distribution, and composition. The stars are responsible for elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. A star’s life begins very small, like many more things in the universe. They begin as, apart from anything else, particles in clouds of dust and gas. They remain cold for ages. The disturbance of a comet or other object that moves through the cloud will then make particles collide and clumps will begin to form. Over the course of a million years, clumps will grow into what we call â€Å"protostar† and draw in more gases and grow even hotter. This is how stars are formed and is a point in a star’s life. Astronomers determine composition, color, and temperature of stars and other distant objects with an essential tool called a spectroscopy. Astronomers have used this tool since the 1800’s to analyze emitted light spectra. When a star gives off light and the light splits by prism, the spectral pattern reflects a star’s composition. All stars are 95% hydrogen, so the variations in composition reveal its age, luminosity, and origin. Composition of gases can be determined by observing the light of a star. Astronomers can determine the temperature of a star from its color and its spectrum. All stars have different colors. They have different colors due to its light radiation. There are a few different ways astronomers can determine a star’s temperature. One way is to measure a star’s color. They use three filters that transmit light in three different wavelength ranges. Astronomers then take the intensity ratio of the light. Another way to determine the temperature of a star is to examine the spectral lines in the starlight. Science of Stars3 Astronomers also use a tool called the electromagnetic spectrum to determine the composition, temperature, speed, and rotation rate of stars and other distant objects. Rotation rates are measured by using telescopes or space probes. Astronomers pick a particular feature on an object and then determine how long the feature takes to move from one side to the other side. For an example, the Sun has a rotation rate of about 25 days. One planet in our solar system that is difficult for astronomers to observe rotation rate is Earth. That is because we live on Earth and rotate with it. As stars progress through their lives they move around in the H-R diagram since their properties change over a period of time. In the H-R diagram it plots luminosity, spectral type, and also temperature. If a star is plotted higher up on the diagram on the vertical plane, this means that the stars are brighter. If a star is plotted in the horizontal plane to the left, this means that these stars are the hottest. Stars spend most of their lifetime in what is known as the main sequence in the H-R diagram. In this phase of a star’s life, they burn hydrogen into helium. Also at this point, the star’s size and luminosity remain constant because their forces have reached a near-equilibrium. Stars will remain in the main sequence until they reach a certain mass. Stars that are called supergiants in the H-R diagram and lie along the top right are luminous and cool. The stars that are called white dwarfs and are plotted at the bottom left of the diagram are fainter, hotter stars. The red giant stars are the stars of great luminosity and size. They form a thick horizontal band that joins the main sequence. All the stars on the H-R diagram are plotted by their color horizontally and their luminosity vertically. All the colors are coded from O (blue), B (blue), A (blue-white), F (white), G (yellow), K (orange), and M (red). Science of Stars4 In the center of our solar system lies a star called â€Å"the Sun†. Its color is white, but appears to us on Earth as yellow and is considered a main sequence star. The life cycle of the Sun, just like any other star starts with a cloud of gas and dust composed mainly of hydrogen collapses under gravitational forces. It was formed about 4. 5 billion years ago determined by scientists using the Sun’s current main sequence age. Right now, the Sun is believed to be about halfway through its main sequence evolution. The Sun should spend about 10 billion years as a main sequence star. It will enter the red giant stage in about 5 billion years. By the time it reaches to be a giant star stage, the Sun will have lost about 30% of its mass due to a stellar wind. The orbits of the planets will move outward then. Eventually our Earth will be swallowed by the Sun. The Sun living in the main sequence is gradually becoming more luminous and its temperature is slowly rising. After the red giant stage, the Sun’s outer layers will be thrown off. It will cool and fade into the white dwarf stage. As of right now, the Sun’s life cycle is the main sequence stage. It is considered middle aged at 4. 5 billion years old. The Sun is currently fusing hydrogen in its core and has been for the last 5,000 million years, and it is expected to continue fusing hydrogen for at least another 4,000 million years. The main sequence stage is the longest and most stable phase of its existence and this stage lasts about 10 billion years for a star. The main sequence is also the first stage of a star after becoming a star, right after the protostar stage. The following stage after the main sequence stage would be the red giant stage. I have now discussed in this paper how astronomers determine composition, temperature, speed, and rotation rate of distant objects. I explained the properties of the stars in the H-R Science of Stars5 diagram, summarized the life cycle of the Sun, and also stated where the Sun is currently in its life cycle.

Effect on Restaurant Tipping of a Helpful Message Written on the Back Research Paper

Effect on Restaurant Tipping of a Helpful Message Written on the Back of Customers Checks - Research Paper Example icle entitled Effect on Restaurant Tipping of a Helpful Message Written on the Back of Customers’ Checks written by Rind & Strohmetz (1999) aimed to determine the effect of a written message at the back of customer’s checks on the amount of tips given to restaurant servers. The participants of the research were eighty one dining parties who ate at a northern New Jersey restaurant. The study was conducted over a three-week time period from March to April of 1997 with only one female server as actively involved in the process. The findings revealed a consistency with the author’s hypothesis that writing at the back of the customers’ checks would increase the amount of tips given to the server. The article based its theoretical framework from previous researches in the field of restaurant operations, particularly on tipping as additional sources of income for servers (Lynn & Mynier, 1993; Schmidt, 1985). Found at the beginning of the article, right after the introductory paragraph, the conceptualization stage presented references to various previous researches on the subject. An article (Statistical Abstracts, 1990) was cited to indicate the number of people working in the United States as waiters or waitresses. Other studies mentioned factors affecting tipping in the restaurant industry (Rind & Bordia, 1996) and server-diner interactions which entailed writing simple messages, like â€Å"Thank You† at the back of the customers’ checks as having influenced the amount of tip percentages given to servers (Rind & Bordia, 1995). The current research aims to present a parallel study on check manipulation by designing two conditions: written message by one female server with the message informing the customers of a good deal in future dining experience; versus no message written at the back of the check. The study employed an experimental method of research with statistical and correlational analysis. The experimental method was designed according to two

About China's Macro economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

About China's Macro economics - Essay Example As of 2011, industry contributed 46.6 percent to total GDP, while services contributed 43.3 percent to GDP. The general economy grew by 92 percent by some estimates in 2011, and this growth can be construed as being broad-based and generally applicable to the economic centers. The key industries in the economic centers are the following (Central Intelligence Agency): mining and ore processing, iron, steel, aluminum, and other metals, coal; machine building; armaments; textiles and apparel; petroleum; cement; chemicals; fertilizers; consumer products, including footwear, toys, and electronics; food processing; transportation equipment, including automobiles, rail cars and locomotives, ships, and aircraft; telecommunications equipment, commercial space launch vehicles, satellites (Central Intelligence Agency). The political capital of China is Beijing. Due to the country’s socialist system of government, where economic planning is centralized, Beijing can be construed as being the nerve center of the control of economic activities in the countries. Beijing’s influence on the national economy is therefore very vast and very key to understanding how the economy fares and how it will fare moving forward (Central Intelligence Agency). The western region of China is deemed as having historically developed at a lesser pace compared to the East, where the development is disproportionately located. A description of the western region is as follows (China Internet Information Center): The western region includes nine provinces and autonomous regions i.e.,Gansu, Guizhou, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Tibet, Xinjiang and Yunnan, in addition to Chongqing Municipality, and covers two thirds of the nation’s territory, with a population making up 22.8 percent of the nation’s total. Western China is rich in mineral,

Creating Strategy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Creating Strategy - Research Paper Example The opening of the thesis report consists of the description of office of Human Resources. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the main agency under the United States Department of Health and Human Services that is mandated by the United States government to conduct health- related and biomedical research. In order to operate effectively and efficiently to meet the client’s needs and expectations, NIH has, among other offices, the Office of Human Resources (OHR) and Client Services Division. OHR provides strategic leadership in assessment and development of human resources policies and program of the Department of Health and Human Services. Additionally, OHR links the Department to the central management agencies which provide consultative and operational services. Specifically, OHR has an operation arm of called the Client Services Division. This division’s key goal is to provide the best possible customer service in addition to creating positive, strong relatio nship between OHR and the Institutes or Centers (ICs) staff. Client Services Division has 10 branches which often operate inconsistently. They all serve different institutes which they are adapted to operate certain processes differently. Also, some are stricter on their institutes than other, while others are simply more efficient. These inconsistent operations among Client Services Division’s branches are not desirable as they result to clients obtaining varying services in regard to quality, time, efficiency, and effectiveness. Therefore, it is important to create a strategy for making the 10 branches of the Division to operate consistently and ensure that they all deliver services in a more efficient, effective, and timely manner that meets client’s needs and expectations. Creation of the Strategy Creation of the strategy will be based on the Harvard Business Review’s "What is Strategy", "Blue Ocean Strategy", "Pfizer Inc. Building An Innovation Center" case study, "Crafting Strategy" and "5 Competitive Forces that Shape Strategy." In order to create appropriate strategy for an organization, it is important to understand the forces that shape competition (Porter, 2006). Porter (2006) identifies these forces as the following: threat to entry; the power of suppliers; the power of buyers; the threat of substitutes; and, rivalry among existing competitors. Creation of strategy for the Client Services Division should thus take these forces into account so as to have a successful strategy in the long- run. Mintzer (1987) advises that crafting of strategy should take into consideration the patterns from the past and plans for the future. Therefore, in creating a strategy for the Client Services Division of the NIH with a bid to making the ten branches operate consistently, the patterns of the past and the plans for the future will be considered. In regard to patterns from the past, the fact that the branches have been operating inconsistently especially regard to time and efficiency will be considered. On the other hand, the plans for the future which is to ensure that these branches operate consistently will be considered to ensure that these plans are achievable within a given period of time and the amount of resources needed to achieve them. Taking these two important aspects into consideration will be critical in aligning the past patterns with the strategy that seeks to achieve the new goal (Mintzer, 1987). Porter (1996) argues that creation of strategy in most cases seek to attain operational effectiveness and consistency with the aim of improving organizational performance. This proposition is true in regard to the Client Services Division of the NIH; the strategy created will be essential in leading to superior performance which is indeed the main goal of any organization. Since it is an established fact that Client Services D

Human resource management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Human resource management - Essay Example The intention of this study is Human Resource planning that is essential in organizations for two major reasons; alignment & change. Due to the impact globalisation, any company seeking to expand beyond the boundaries of a given nation has to come up with ways on how to remain competitive globally. An entity has to change its corporate culture and strategy. Restructuring of business operations has relations to competencies and behaviours of the personnel the organisation possesses. Therefore, to motivate and give support to the organisational behaviour that is required the HR practices and policies have to be changed. This is only possible through HR planning. The HR Management is also needed in the process of strategically aligning an organisation. To this, there are two types of alignment: 1) vertical alignment- this is evident where the system of HR Management can fit with the entire elements of the organization. That is, strategy, culture, and technology among others; 2) horizont al alignment- this is in existence where the HR Management practices and HR policies are in consistence with each other. Thus, there is coherence on the messages concerning how employees should carry themselves at work. As an organisation grows, there arises a need to bring in new employees. This is because of the anticipated future growth. Here HR planning is needed for the accomplishment of this purpose. It is vital to note that HR planning happens in several steps. There are four major stages in HR planning and these are as follows: Preparation of a forecast- At this stage, there is the anticipation of the number of employees that are needed in the future. This step usually favors the firms which have been in business for a while since they can reasonably forecast their future needs based on their past trends as far as Human Resources are concerned. HR Inventory Development- This step is usually an easy task for numerous businesses. This involves the determination of the number o f employees that the company needs in future, taking in to account the employees already working in the organization. A Job Analysis Development- This is considered as the hardest step in HR planning process. This is hard especially because it involves a process of deciding what is to be done and by which employee even though the employees are yet to be hired. A Comprehensive Plan Preparation- This is the most time consuming of the steps, but the most vital. This is, fundamentally the step of determining how to successfully bring in the new employees in the organization. (morebusiness.com, 2006) 2.3 Recruitment and Selection Process in two organisations (Comparison)

Exam paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Exam paper - Essay Example There are various factors that determine how the Web site would benefit the youth group, one of them being the way in which the youth club would exploit the Web’s interconnectivity as well as the opportunities it would create to make better the relationships with its vendors and suppliers, its customers plus other external stakeholders. Another factor is the nature of the club’s relationship with its customers. Developing deep, long-life relationship with customers is of greater significance on the Web. It would cost the youth club money to attract customers to its site and maintain them. The youth club’s plan for incorporating the Web in its overall strategy is another factor that would determine whether it would realize Web success. The issues that the plan should address include site design and maintenance, strategies for marketing ad promotion, customer service, sales, and generating and managing a brand name. Another factor that would determine how the Web site would benefit the youth club is its relevance to the customers whose needs, tastes and preferences are dynamic. If the youth club is to remain relevant to its customers, then the success of its Web-based transactions effort is indispensable. The nature of resources including time, energy, talent, and money that the club would invest would also play a part in determining its Web success. This is because creating a meaningful Web presence necessitates a progressive investment of resources. In fact, an attractive Web site with catchy photographs plus products and services’ descriptions is just but a beginning (Zimmerer, 2010). The Web site would be of great importance in assisting Mr. Grove, the building fund manager, in organizing donation requests as well as in determining the kind and quality of the necessary building supplies. He can utilize the site well-constructed e-mail messages to direct customers to the site, where they can respond to donation requests – he can avail

Discussion problem for legal claim Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Discussion problem for legal claim - Article Example The school custodian is also to be sued of warping the school rules and regulations and accepting the bribe promise. Accepting the bribe promise meant that he was not much concerned of the aftermath of such an action but so long as he or she achieved got the promise. The school principal in this case was to be sued of negligence. He actually new what was going on though was not much concerned as he wanted his school to win the competition. In these cases, each and every defendant would come up with their own statements just to evade the case. The school principal in this case would claim that he did have an idea what was going on as he was not informed of such an action. This is possible because the custodian and the head coach assumed that the principal knew nothing and was therefore green about the issue. The custodian in this case would also claim that the head coach bribed him while the head coach would deny and post a claim of negligence on the side of the school custodian for leaving the room open. Though the claims are there for the defensive purposes, they are all involved in this case and are to be held responsible. Not to forget is that Terry was also wrong as he went against the instructions they were given by the head coach though not recognized by the

Reasons for the Nazca Lines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Reasons for the Nazca Lines - Essay Example According to them one of the reason for Nazca lines is that they want to point the place where the sun and other celestial bodies rose or set. However upon further analysis on the hypothesis, archeoastronomist Gerald Hawkins and Anthony Aveni conclude that there was insufficient evidence to support an astronomical explanation. In 1985 archeologist Johan Reinhard states that the Nazca people believed that mountain gods protected humans and controlled the weather. These gods also affected water sources and land fertility since they are associated with lakes, rivers and the sea. He presented the theory that the lines and figures can be explained as part of religious practices involving the worship of deities associated with the availability of water and thus the fertility of crops. The lines were interpreted as being primarily used as sacred paths leading to places where these deities could be worshiped and the figures as symbolically representing animals and objects meant to invoke their aid. However, the precise meanings of many of the individual geoglyphs remain unsolved. Another study and the possible reason for the Nazca lines, is that it serve as a landmark for possible source of underground waterways. These lines according to David Johnson shows that the highly geoglyphs part are the part wherein water is abundant. Based on his study the Nazca lines shows where the path of the water goes. By creating a giant, full-scale map they would know exactly where to find their water no matter what area of the desert they were in. The geoglyphs would then be religious figures for the gods or names given for each water source. Eclipsologist Robin Edgar has theorized that the Nazca Lines, particularly the biomorph geoglyphs that depict animals, human figures, birds and "flowers" are almost certainly an ancient response to the so-called "Eye of God" that is manifested in the sky during a total solar eclipse. According to Robin it is the response of the Nazca Indian to God during the total solar eclipse. An unusual series of total solar eclipses over southern Peru coincided with the time period during which the Nazca Lines and geoglyphs were created. The totally eclipsed sun distinctly resembles the pupil and iris of a gigantic eye looking down from the sky thus providing an explanation as to why the Nazca Indians created gigantic geoglyph artworks that are best viewed by an "Eye in the Sky". Another theory that maybe the reason for the creation of the Nazca lines is that a large number of worshipers walked along a preset pattern dedicated to particular holy entity. Based on researches residents of local villages say the Indians conducted rituals on these giant drawings to thank the gods and to ensure that water would continue to flow from the Andes. According to Michael Vaillant, conductors under the form of very slim gold or copper leafs would have been stretched on the ground. These conductors would have been used as antennas to collect the very low frequencies magnetotelluric waves produced in certain seismographic areas, and that occurred a few hours (or days) before the seisms. This hypothesis relies on a controversial theory named as "SES" (Seismic Electric Signals). The Nazca lines would be the traces of the place where these conductors would have been set down, but also of the numerous tests that would have been done and to find "suitable positions" to collect EM field and

Education Policy and No Child Left Behind Act Research Paper

Education Policy and No Child Left Behind Act - Research Paper Example From the discusssion it i clear that the education in the US schools has been passing through crisis and that is what has been opined by the experts time to time. When Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is already active since 1965, what is the need to enact a new legislation under the name and style of the NCLB Act of 2001? In order to get an appropriate reply to this basic question, it will be most pertinent to scrutinize the prevailing state of educational affairs in the US schools. Some of them are worth pondering as being listed in the ensuing paragraph.This essay stresses that  that only 30 percent of students entering high school are able to read at grade level. This simply means that only one-third of the students are ready for college education. Only 50 percent of students of color go for higher studies after finishing their high school. The dropout rates are fairly high at nearly 7,000 high school students on every school day. In the highly competitive job mark et, the high school dropouts are at odds to get a good-paying job. They are more at risk of turning less healthy and die earlier. They are likely to become parents relatively at young age and need social welfare assistance in their life impacting society at large. Students' performance highly depends upon the teachers and their skills. Schools who cater to poor students find it most difficult to recruit certified and experienced teachers.; moreover, almost 50 percent of the teachers leave the profession in five years and 33 percent within 3 years of their joining. Surprisingly, the US schools spend over $ 2.6 billion every year just to replace the teachers who have left the profession. It is astonishing to note that about 70 percent of all eighth-grade students are unable to read at their grade level; this is what has been reported by the National Assessment of Educational Progress in their report card (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2012). The shortcoming comes in the way of the students especially, the students of color and English language learners to pass high school diploma. Research indicates that students drop out due to their weak performances in Math and English. It is quite obvious that students cannot master higher courses at graduate level when they find difficulty in reading and comprehending the content offered in their textbooks. They remain weak in Math because they are unable to understand the theories explaining Math. Arguments against NCLB Some of the major arguments that have been proposed against NCLB can be described as per the following (Carleton, 2012). 1. The program has not been funded adequately by the federal government ever since its inception. 2. How students perform on math and multiple-choice reading tests could be the sole basis of their achievements. 3. All efforts of the teachers are directed and focused toward 'test' because of the fear that in the event of students failing the test their own jobs may be in jeopardy. Expe rts argue that due to this narrow approach creativity has been lost in the education. 4. A special emphasis has been given to math and reading

Article Review and Response (Read Full Directions) Essay

Article Review and Response (Read Full Directions) - Essay Example will be left without a single high-profile league sponsorship, even as Reebok will continue to sponsor the NHL, Adidas swallowed up Reebok in 2006, but Adidas as a brand will be left out in the cold so to speak. From a marketing point of view, moreover, exiting the NBA would mean that Adidas is potentially ceding more mind share to Nike and Under Armour, even as financial considerations, marketing strategy, and marketing budgets went into the decision to end the NBA sponsorship arrangement. For those who will be left to compete for a new NBA apparel and uniform deal, the projections are that the price will be much higher than what Adidas paid for this current existing sponsorship contract, which translates to amounts that are much greater than $400 million (Tabuchi and Belson). For Nike, what is at stake is extending its dominance of American sportswear, and preventing its emergent rival Under Armour from gaining market share. For Under Armour, the sponsorship deal can catapult its brand image and marketing reach beyond the US and towards other markets where the NBA has significant traction (Tabuchi and Belson). While on the surface ending the sponsorship deal looks bad for Adidas, the company may have figured out that the NBA is not the best vehicle for its brand advertising, in terms of return on marketing dollars. To be sure ,even with the current sponsorship arrangement in place, the article notes that the fortunes of the brand have been declining in the US for some time, and in certain product categories, such as shoes for instance, Nike has outclassed Adidas, and Under Armour too has come to achieve some success without the NBA. Moreover, in markets outside the US, Adidas may have enough marketing programs in place to compensate for the loss of traction from leaving the NBA (Tabuchi and Belson). On the other hand, it may be that losing the NBA sponsorship will further erode Adidas’ already dwindling market share and prospects in the United States. Maybe

Advertising and marketing communications Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Advertising and marketing communications - Essay Example Marketing communications is traditionally thought of as organizations' efforts to promote the services or products they offer to external clients and customers. The goals of internal marketing are similar to those of external marketing, to increase visibility and awareness of the services or product available, and increase sales or orders. By increasing knowledge and awareness of the services that a department offers, the department can help to ensure that opportunities are not missed out on due to a lack of awareness in other parts of the business. In this paper, we would be discussing on the theories of Advertising and Marketing Communications and creating an advertisement for M.Sc Crop Biotechnology and Entrepreneurship.Marketers have a variety of promotional tools at their disposal. To make effective use of them, a company' personal selling, advertising, and other promotional activities should form a coordinated promotional program within its total marketing plan. However, these activities are fragmented in many firms, with potentially damaging consequences. For example, advertising directors and sales-force managers may come into conflict over resources, or the sales force may not be adequately informed about the details of a particular sales promotion effort. This wouldn't happen if the elements comprising promotion were part of an integrated marketing communication (IMC) effort, a strategic business process used to plan, develop, execute, and evaluate coordinated communication with an organization's public. IMC begins with a strategic planning effort designed to coordinate promotion with product planning, pricing, and distribution, the other marketing-mix elements. Promotion is influenced, for instance, by how distinctive a product is and whether its planned price is above or below the competition. A manufacturer or middleman must also consider its promotional links with other firms in the distribution channel. On the other hand, Communication is not a one way flow of information. Talking at or to someone does not imply successful communication. This only occurs when the receiver actually receives the message that the sender intended to send. Message rejection, misinterpretation and misunderstanding are the opposite of effective communication. To address the various communication models, no simple diagram can reflect all the nuances and complexities of the communication process. There are many models of communication including single step model, two-step model, mass communication, multi-step model, Web communication and adoption model. In this paper, we would be creating an advertisement for M.Sc crop biotechnology and entrepreneurship using one of the communication models. We would be using the "Mass Communication Model" to advertise M.Sc crop biotechnology and entrepreneurship. A single-step communications model There are three fundamental elements in communication, the sender (or source), the message and the receiver. This basic model assumes that the sender is active, the receiver is inactive or passive and the message is comprehended properly. In reality this is rarely the case. An understanding of the target receiver or audience helps to identify what is important to the audience and how symbols, signs and language are interpreted. The message is 'dressed up' or coded in an appropriate way, sent through a media channel and, if it gets through all the other noise, finally decoded by the receiver. Guinness advertisements basically ask their target audience to drink Guinness, but

The International Business Entry Strategy, Aussie Fresh in Vietnam Essay

The International Business Entry Strategy, Aussie Fresh in Vietnam - Essay Example In addition, Vietnam is in a transformation process as the country is moving fast towards implementation of capitalist principles against its traditional planned economy. In fact, the country now also exports its Vegetables and Fruits products to over 50 nations worldwide because of its free market mechanism. Nevertheless, the domestic fruits/vegetables demand is not completely met from domestic agricultural produce; hence, these products are also imported in Vietnam (Vietnomics Update, 2009) & (CIA Fact Book – V, 2009). It is, therefore, recommended to Aussie Trade to commence operations in Vietnamese market through proper branding and packaging of agri-products. The company should adopt Joint Venture strategy because the currency risk is relatively high, mainly attributable to current account deficit of Vietnam. The imports, therefore, become expensive that may negatively impact the growth of Aussie Trade if forms its own subsidiary in Vietnam. It is feasible to minimize such risks by partnering with locals (who have knowledge in this sector) and establishing distribution networks for sales of Fruits and Vegetables (CIA Fact Book – V, 2009). The world today is viewed as a global village because recent technological developments have helped reducing communication barriers and borders among nations worldwide. The creation of information/communication networks and transportation routes has significantly contributed to increase trade volume and business activities. Not only developed countries like USA, France, UK< Germany, Japan, etc are beneficiaries of these advancements but also the developing nations have joined international arena as they have to focus on international integration, economic prosperity and sustainable development. Australia is viewed as a small, yet rich economy because of high purchasing power. It's per capita income was estimated to be $39,000 in 2009 and  the country was ranked 21st in the list of high-income nations.  

The Economic Success of South Korea Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Economic Success of South Korea - Essay Example On the contrary, Korea surprisingly experienced a continuous rise in average real wages since the sixties. This appears to defy the law of supply and demand for labor, that is, why wages would rise in a regime of abundant labor supply. Amsden (1990) attributes these to the following: First, high wages were in part due to the intense training and education in Korea to meet the demands of a technologically competent workforce. The increase in wages was the reward to individuals in the workplace who undertake additional training to complement the technology transfer. This contrasts with the traditional Asian model of the existence of ‘implicit contracts’ between workers and employers, where workers are rewarded for their loyalty and hard work in the performance of their duties. Second, the wage phenomenon in Korea has drawn attention to the segmentation of the labor market, on the basis of the qualifications required of the workers for the late industrialization. Workers wh o possessed the skill sets needed by a fast industrializing economy comprises a minority, at least at the time the industry is growing fastest, which the firms will seek to attract with higher wages. Finally, the increase in wages is partly justified by Korea’s fast growing GNP. Land reform and small-scale agriculture Amsden (1990) noted that one of the drivers of wages in modern Korean industries is the rapid increase in productivity in the agricultural sector. Prior to the seventies, the implicit wage received by male workers in agriculture surpassed the average wage of workers in manufacturing. There were few proletarians in Korean agriculture; the post-World War II agrarian reform made the tillers the owners of the land... The Korean economy is often looked up to as a model for economic success in Asia, although studies show that there are certain aspects where Korea departed from the Pacific-Asian model, and in other aspects are consistent with it. According to Ha-Joon Chang and Chul-Gyue Yoo (2000), from the 1960s to the mid 1980s, while Japan and Taiwan experienced consistent trade surplus, Korea lagged behind with a trade deficit resulting in foreign exchange shortage. As a result of the Asian crisis, the IMF recommended economic reform which followed the US-UK model. The equities market was opened to foreign investors, forcing the large publicly-listed companies to comply with international investors’ demand for short-term profits by minimizing investments. Korea’s economic growth thus fell from 6%-7% to below 4% per annum on per capita terms. Lower growth meant fewer jobs, lower wages, and poorer protection for the worker due to a relaxation of the labor laws. The welfare state and lifetime employment have been abandoned, causing great apprehension among Koreans about the future and their job security, since employers may more easily separate them from the company and replace them with younger, cheaper employees. Furthermore, Korean youth are opting more to become physicians and lawyers which are seen as more stable professions, rather than study science and technology which embody the skill sets industry needs (Ha-Joon Chang, 2012).

Value configuration of argos Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Value configuration of argos - Research Paper Example shopping very accessible to their clients with the accessibility of sets for surfing earlier to visiting the stores ,the collections are accessible as hard copies for example, the low price DVDs and CDs.This suitability of shopping with the Argos lengthens to the establishment of home distribution for mobile orders and online acquisitions at lowered prices. The clients who are registered to Argos website benefits from 5% discounts on the complete Argos variety and some monies to use in Argos and site stores obtainable on their loyalty cards. Argos deals in merchandises care to the client such as breakdown care, equipment care and replacement produce care. For easy admittance of the company’s features and produces, Argos has established beta Widget which delivers a quicker and easier access to the main features of Argos.co.uk which comprised the pursuit of their up-to-date offers, costs and the wide merchandise range. To advance rates of exchange, drive produces sales and progress their enactments, Argos linked with the Zoocha to cultivate the customer proficient design. Argos has capitalized meaningfully in digital contribution and establish new ways to influence its vast store collection in a retail atmosphere, this is due to the just launched five-year revolution plan which marks Argos as a digital front-runner in the corporate market. This has led to the improvement of Argos products purchase since clients could visit the Argos website through mobile devices and surf for products and conducts purchase .It appeals to the clients because of the endowment of 16% discount of the general purchases directed through the phones. , Argos announces a digital version of its Christmas gift guide that exploits new expertise and rich content to deliver collaborating ways of spending for its customers (www.argos.co.uk ,2014). In addition, the catalogue type of the gift controller is using augmented reality to lift arrangement stages further.Interms of expertise Argos

The effects that staging a major sporting event can have on an area Essay Example for Free

The effects that staging a major sporting event can have on an area Essay Abstract This report will analyse the effects that staging a major sporting event can have on an area. It will examine whether events of this size generate inward investment, what different types of investment that occur and evaluate their lasting value. The reasons for the growth of sport as a global industry will also be discussed in terms of their effect on investment levels. After studying a number of major sporting events, both within the UK and from other parts of the world this report concludes that the extent to which events act as a focus for inward investment depends on the nature of the competition and the size of its audience. Introduction The title of this report is: To what extent do major sporting events act as a focus for inward investment? Before I can begin to explore this question there are several terms to define: What constitutes a major sporting event? A major sporting event is a competition involving a large number of competitors from a range of countries, gaining widespread media coverage. What is inward investment? Inward investment implies that, Goods have been brought into existence which will allow a stream of other goods and services to be produced in the future. (Economics, A New Approach by A.G. Anderton) Key Questions/Issues My report will be structured around the key questions shown in the table below. I will make ongoing conclusions as I explore each question in turn, using case studies covering a range of scales and locations, and draw them together when making my final conclusion. Key Question Case Studies used 1) Where does inward investment come from and is it sustainable? Athens 2004, Sport England, Silverstone, previous Olympic games, World Cup 2002 (Yokohama), World Student Games 1991 (Sheffield) 2) Increased investment in sporting events has come about due to the growth in the importance of sport which has become a global industry. What has caused this growth? World Cup 2002 (Yokohama) 3) What different types of investment take place? Do they vary from one sporting event to another? World Student Games 1991 (Sheffield), Silverstone, Athens 2004, World Cup 2002 (Yokohama) 4) Are there examples of major sporting events that have not acted as a focus for inward investment? Do these events have anything in common that could explain why the inward investment was less? Embassy World Snooker Championships (Sheffield), BUPA Great North Run 1) Where does inward investment come from and is it sustainable? To find out where inward investment comes from I will be using the following case studies: Athens 2004, Sport England, Silverstone. Athens 2004 Athens 2004 balanced budget is 1.962 billion Euros. (see fig. 1 for breakdown). To date Athens 2004 sponsorship revenues have reached approximately 448.1 million Euro in total. This already breaks many previous records as Athens 2004 has covered its projected sponsorship revenues with only 7 out of forty potential Sponsors. Athens 2004 decided to have a limited number of sponsors, and to emphasise quality rather than quantity. (See fig. 2) (www.athens.olympic.org) Sport England Government funding of sport in the UK is done so through an organisation know as Sport England. They are a council who meet regularly to consider applications for funding the development of sports facilities. They make their grants from National Lottery Funds and applicants are usually expected to show evidence that their scheme will benefit the community as a whole. (www.culture.gov.uk/sport) Silverstone Silverstone is hoping that is will be able to gain financial support in this however as a report in December 2000 said; Silverstone would probably need to provide other uses for the local community there is no reason why the track should not have a velodrome or artificial ski slope there might even be the possibility of a watersport facility. BRDC (British Racing Drivers Club) President, Sir Jackie Stewart wants the government to underwrite at least half the sum, believing that it is in the best interests of politicians to support the local motor sport industry so jobs and important F1 teams arent driven out of the country to more attractive destinations. (www.octagonmotorsports.com) The redevelopment of Silverstone will be funded by three parties. Firstly by Octagon, the US marketing group that owns the rights to the British Grand Prix for the next 15 years, Bernie Ecclestones Formula One management, which handles Grand Prix racings commercial affairs, and the BRDC, which owns Silverstone itself. To investigate whether the inward investment is sustainable I will be using the following case studies: Athens 2004, previous Olympic games, World Cup 2002 (Yokohama), World Student Games 1991 (Sheffield). Athens 2003 * The Athens 2004 Olympic Games will leave a legacy to Athens, to Greece and to the world that will remain for generations to come. As Sydney, Atlanta and Barcelona have shown, there are many tangible, long-term benefits to hosting the Olympic Games. For the people of Greece, the legacy of the 2004 Olympic Games will begin with the economic benefits of investing in upgrades to the transportation infrastructure, telecommunications system, and the environment. These investments will benefit Greece for years to come. They include: 65,000 new permanent jobs 120 kilometres of new road 290,000 new trees, 11 million new shrubs A New International Airport An expanded metro system A new, ultra-modern Traffic Management Centre An increase in tourism A $1.3 billion boost in public sector revenues, and 35% improvement of the quality of the environment * In addition, the skills, expertise and training of the workforce in Greece across every sector will be enhanced. The workforce will be called upon to manage large scale complex projects that require integrated planning and detailed coordination. The new skills and expertise will be valuable assets surviving the completion of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Renewed civic pride, a massive surge in volunteerism, and the return of the Olympic Games to their ancient birthplace will all shape the Legacy of the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games. When the last medal is awarded, and the Closing Ceremony of the Paralympic Games ends, the dynamism and spirit of the Games of 2004 will remain. The city of Athens and the surrounding region will have overhauled and upgraded every major sector of the economy, channeled investment, and re-invigorated public life throughout Greece. (www.athens.olympics.org) In the period leading up to 2004, Greece will receive $40.23 billion USD from the European Union to improve highways and other infrastructure projects. Previous Olympic Games Sydney It was estimated that the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games will add $6.5 billion to the Australian GDP and 100,000 full-time jobs over a 12 year period from 1994-2006. Australia saw an 11% increase in total visitors for 2000. Interestingly, the highest month total (565,000 arrivals) was achieved in December-3 months after the Olympic Games. 1.5 million additional international tourists are expected to visit Australia until 2006 because of the staging of the Olympic Games. This is estimated to generate an additional $2.7 billion in tourism exports. Atlanta The Atlanta Olympic Games added $5.1 billion to the Georgia economy. As a result of the 1996 Atlanta Games, spending from out-of-state visitors injected $2.5 billion into the economy. Barcelona Prior to the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, Barcelona was ranked as the 16th most popular tourist destination in Europe. By 1999, it had risen to third. The Barcelona Games added $16.6 billion to the Spanish economy between 1986 and 1993. From October 1986 (the month Barcelona won the bid) to July 1992, the general rate of unemployment in Barcelona fell from 18.4% to 9.6%-a drop of nearly 50%. New suburban highways and tunnels reduced downtown traffic by 15 percent. World Cup 2002 (Yokohama) * Since the Dynasty Cup, the opening game of the stadium on March 1st 1998, there has been 9 Japanese national team games, including the Kirin Cup and the Confederations Cup. The stadium, as well as being the home ground of the J Leagues team Yokohama F. Marinos, is also the stage of many events each year, such as Kanagawa Yume Kokutai and a 70,000 people Bz Live Concert. Under the stands we can find the Sports Medical Center, the Sports Community Plaza and the Sports Information Center, which are the core of communication for all sports concerned. The objective of the facilities is to achieve international exchange and to provide health and well being. (www.fifaworldcup.yahoo.com) World Student Games 1991 (Sheffield) * Since the hosting of the World Student Games in 1991, the Don Valley Stadium has continued to be of benefit to the community as a whole. All facilities, including the indoor and outdoor tracks are open for public use 7 days a week at the excellent price of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½2.70 for adults and à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½2.10 for children. * The stadium annually hosts the North of England Athletics Association Open Championships in January and is also used for various other national athletics competitions and meetings. * The stadium is also home to several athletics clubs; the Hallamshire Harriers, Sheffield AC, Sheffield City Striders, Sheffield University AC and Sheffield Hallam University AC. The stadium regularly hosts Rugby League, American Football and Football games and is home to the Sheffield Eagles Rugby League Club. Conclusions about Key Question 1 * It appears that there are three main sources of investment available to major sporting events. The first and possibly most important of these is sponsorship. Sponsors can be broken down into two distinct categories. There are those sponsors who give money to the event organizers in return for the rights to use the Olympic name and image on their products and in their advertising. For example Coca-Cola is the official non-alcoholic beverage for Athens 2004. The other kind of sponsor is the sponsor who provides a service or function at the sporting event. They will also benefit from increased media coverage. SWATCH are providing all of the timing and scoring equipment for the games. * Major sporting events appear to have major, long-lasting benefits to the host city and the surrounding area long after the event has taken place. These include the provision of world class sporting facilities and venues that can be used by the general public and local sportsmen, the creation of new general public services, such as transport links, and the creation of jobs, both directly as a result of the sporting event and jobs created by the encouragement of new businesses into the area. Having examined the sources of inward investment I will now investigate why this investment is increasing. 2) Increased investment in sporting events has come about due to the growth in importance of sport which has become a global industry. What has caused this growth? * Increased media coverage it is estimated that the final of the World Cup in Yokohama was transmitted live to a worldwide audience of around 2 billion. Sport is now broadcast throughout the world and is one of the main ways in which many fans get access to sporting events, whether through radio, television or the internet. * Sport is an important part of the nations shared experience and values the nations culture. It brings people together either as participants or spectators, building teamwork and community pride. * Participation in sport at an amateur level has increased in recent years. Amateur sport is important to improving quality of life. Sport provides role models for the pursuit of personal excellence. Competitive amateur sport also stimulates broadly based participation in physical activity, leading to better health, higher productivity and a stronger social fabric. This has led to increased interest in professional sport, resulting in higher attendance and increased revenue. * Increasing government intervention in sport at a professional level has also increased its importance. Our elite athletes are supported using lottery funding under the World Class Performance Programme by UK Sport and Sport England. Awards have been made to the governing bodies of over 37 sports, ranging from wheelchair basketball to athletics. This enables our top athletes to improve their performance and win medals in the Olympics and major international competitions. Those athletes at the elite level are also starting to feel the benefits of the United Kingdom Sports Institute. Funded by the lottery, these are centres of excellence where first class facilities and services are available to athletes. This includes sports science, medicine, nutrition and coaching expertise. There are ten centres of excellence in England. Many of the centres have sports-specific roles, for instance most of the elite swimmers use the new facilities at Bath University. Money raised by the National Lottery is also being directed at bringing top events to the UK, such as the World Athletics Championship in 2005. Not only does this give us all the opportunity to watch the best competitors in the world, it is a boost for the country and sports as a whole. (www.culture.gov.uk/sport) Having investigated the reasons for increased inward investment we must now examine how this investment is being used. 3) What different types of inward investment take place? Do they vary from one sporting event to another? To answer this key question I will be using the following case studies: World Student Games 1991 (Sheffield), Silverstone, Athens 2004, World Cup 2002 (Yokohama). * If a sporting event is given the responsibility of hosting a major sporting event and their sporting facilities are not already of the required standard to host that event, then investment is needed to redevelop or create them. World Student Games 1991 (Sheffield) Following a successful bid for the World Student Games in 1991, the City of Sheffield undertook a programme to provide world class sports facilities for the City, including an Athletics Stadium with a fully equipped grandstand. The grandstand is in effect a four storey building containing all the support facilities such as changing rooms, as well as an 85 metre indoor track and practice area. (www.sivltd.com/donvalley) Silverstone Over the next 3 years Silverstone, the home of the British Grand Prix will undergo a $70 million redevelopment, including the improvement of key trackside facilities such as pit garages and competitor accommodation facilities, as well as 1.5 kilometres of new track to improve overtaking opportunities on the circuit. These improvements follow speculation that the British Grand Prix could be moved to Brands Hatch and strong criticism from the Head of Formula One Management, Bernie Ecclestone. (www.grandprix.com) * It is also important that facilities available to spectators at major sporting events are of a high standard, as it is the public, in combination with sponsors that generate most money for the organisers. World Student Games 1991 (Sheffield) The Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield has state of the art spectator facilities, including: * 1500 lux floodlights to accommodate a full colour spectrum TV (see fig. 4) * A fully electronic timing and results system with photo finish facilities * A huge electronic scoreboard (see fig. 3) * A fully integrated state of the art public address system * Full catering hospitality facilities as well as food and drink concession points. The Stadiums major focal point is its grandstand which holds 10,000 spectators. 15,000 spectators can also be accommodated on the open terracing making the seating capacity 25,000. (See fig. 4) (www.sivltd.com/donvalley) Silverstone As part of extensive redevelopment of Silverstone, the old club at the entrance to the pit lane was replaced with a new building that offers improved facilities for club members and their guests. The impressive three-storey building houses a restaurant, bar and club accommodation, as well as pit lane and roof terracing viewing areas. Plans have also been recently announced to greatly improve facilities in the general public viewing areas, including directional signage inside the circuit, catering, retail and modern toilet facilities. This follows on from the successful road development and improved traffic management at this years Grand Prix. (www.octagonmotorsports.com) * The potential for tourism generated alongside major sporting competitions means that a lot of money is invested on improving the appearance of an area before hosting the event. Athens 2004 Athens is being transformed into the host city for the 2004 Olympic Games. An extensive programme of interventions for the aesthetic upgrading of the city, along with the creation of Olympic Celebration sites, will enhance the Games experience for visitors and residents alike. An extensive Urban Regeneration Programme is already underway which will include the development and construction of new pedestrian roads, the redesigning of open public areas, the creation of new green areas (see fig. 5), improved street illumination and the removal of illegal advertising boards. (www.athens.olympic.org) World Cup 2002 (Yokohama) The broadcasting of Yokohamas name throughout the world during the 2002 FIFA World Cup will in itself have been excellent publicity for the city. Moreover, hopefully it will have had important effects in the area such as the attraction of movement into Yokohama by foreign businesses. Leading up to the games the city worked to improve the urban infrastructure (parks, roads etc.) and to develop its human resources and networking through programs keyed by citizen volunteer activities. To bolster arrangements a City Sales campaign built around the World Cup, with hospitality arrangements to benefit both visitors and residents was established. (www.fifaworldcup.yahoo.com) Conclusions to Key Question 3 * I would suggest that the type of investment and therefore possibly the level of investment required for a sporting event varies depending on the nature of that event. An event such as the Olympics which encompasses a broad range of sports will obviously require a greater level of investment than a single sport event such as the Football World Cup. * I have been able to identify three key areas of investment. Firstly and probably most important is investment in the provision of sports facilities. Without adequate facilities an event will never be successful. Secondary to this is investment in spectator facilities. The paying public are the main source of revenue for any sporting event, so they need to be fully catered for. If they are unhappy with the service they receive, they wont return. Low attendances would probably render the event a financial failure. Normally the projected revenue from ticket sales is incorporated into the event budget (see fig. 1). Lastly but also significant is investment in the surrounding area as a whole. For an event to be successful it is important that the infrastructure is capable of dealing with a large number of people. The image sent out to the rest of the world also has to be considered, as hosting a sporting event puts the area under close media scrutiny. A positive image can encourage new business to the area. Having examined sporting events that have acted as a focus for inward investment and the type of investment that has occurred we now need to see if there are event that have not resulted in investment and the reasons for this. 4) Are there examples of major sport events that have not acted as a focus for inward investment? Do these events have anything in common that could explain why there was less investment? To answer this key question I will use the following case studies: Embassy World Snooker Championships (Sheffield), BUPA Great North Run. Embassy World Snooker Championships (Sheffield) The Embassy World Snooker Championships are held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, every year in April. For 17 days each year, the largest theatre complex outside of London is transformed into what is recognised as snookers No. 1 venue. Organisers move into the theatre 6 days before the beginning of the championship to prepare the arena. The theatre floor is hollow so a series of jacks have to be put under the two tables, which weigh one and a half tonnes each. The stage is carpeted and the Embassy snooker arena is installed complete with press seating, boxes for the BBC commentators and photographers and the TV cameras (see fig. 6). Back stage, the rehearsal room is transformed into an Interview Room. (www.embassysnooker.com) The Studio which is also part of the Sheffield Theatres Complex is transformed into a two table practice area and the TV set for the BBC team and front man. The Crucible holds less than 1,000 spectators and tickets are eagerly snapped up by the sports fanatical followers. Why has there been little inward investment? * The size of the auditorium means that the revenue generated by the event is limited. This means there is less money to re-invest in the event and Sheffield as a whole. * The Crucible theatre is only a temporary sports venue for 17 days out of every year. For the majority of the year it is a normal theatre, staging touring and in-house productions. BUPA Great North Run The BUPA Great North Run is the worlds biggest half marathon, with 47,000 people running from Newcastle city centre to South Shields a festival of fun runners, colours and an estimated 8 million pounds is raised for good causes each year. Since it started in 1981, around half a million people have completed the 13 miles and 192 and a half yards run. The first marathon attracted only 12,000 participants but its popularity has rocketed and now many thousands of applicants are unable to get an entry. There were people from 25 different countries competing in this years event. The Great North Run has attracted many celebrities and well known personalities. Kevin Keegan once ran the Great North Run wearing the red and white stripes of Sunderland and the black and white stripes of Newcastle United. Soccer star Paul Gascoigne once pushed a wheelchair athlete all the way round the Great North Run circuit. Why has there been little investment? * The Great North Run is a charity sporting event. All money generated through the event are donated to charity and not re-invested in the area. * The event is run around the streets of Newcastle so does not require any purpose built facilities which would require investment. Conclusions to Key Question 4 The most common reason for little investment in a sporting event appears to be the lack of need for permanent sporting facilities. Facilities provision is the most costly aspect of a sporting event so where they are not required, investment is significantly less. Another reason for lack of investment, as demonstrated by the Great North Run, is if it is a charity sporting event. These events set out to make as much money for good causes as possible so dont spend money unnecessarily. Small maximum attendances also reduce investment. Money from ticket and merchandise sales is one of the main sources of income, so a small venue will only generate a little money for re-investment. Final Conclusion The initial question that was asked at the beginning of this report was: To what extent do major sporting events act as a focus for inward investment? I examined this issue using four key questions, making ongoing conclusions as I went along. The following conclusion is an accumulation of my findings throughout the report: * I have reached the conclusion that the majority of sporting events do act as a focus for inward investment. Through my research and analysis of a range of different types and scales of sporting events I believe that the extent to which this is true depends on the nature of the event. Large scale events such as an Olympic games will require a much larger investment than a world championship in a specific sport. They will require a wider range of sporting facilities and are likely to attract a broader range of spectators, requiring greater provision of spectator facilities. * I have also concluded that many of these events have lasting benefits not just for the people who benefit directly from the facilities but the general population of the area who receive the financial and social benefits. * Events which do not act as a focus for inward investment are those which do not require permanent facilities, or in the case of the BUPA Great North Run any facilities. The potential audience size can also be a limiting factor as shown by the example of the Embassy World Snooker Championship. As you can see from my conclusion, the question asked in this report is of a complex nature and has no simple answer. I used case studies covering a range of scales and locations in order to make as accurate a judgement as possible. However I could only use a limited number due to the length of time I had to carry out my research and compile this report. To fully investigate the issue I would need to carry out my research on a much larger scale, covering a greater time period and range of events. Bibliography Websites * Athens 2004 www.athens.olympic.org Official site for the Summer Olympics, Athens 2004. Contains information on the preparations being made ahead of the games, the events that will take place during the games, and regularly updated press releases. * Embassy World Snooker Championship www.embassysnooker.com Official site of the major sponsor of world snooker, Embassy tobacco company. Contains information on all the major world snooker events and venues, the latest news from the world of snooker, and its history as a major sport. * Great North Run www.greatnorthrunjustgiving.homestead.com Website containing information on the history of the Great North Run, and how sponsorship can be raised and collected. People wishing to take part have to sign up here. www.onrunning.com Website run by BUPA (The British United Provident Association), a leading UK private medical insurance organisation. Contains the latest information on the Great North Run and other charity races which they sponsor. * Silverstone www.grandprix.com A website dedicated to Formula One. Contains up-to-date news articles as well as circuit, driver and team profiles. www.octagonmotorsports.com Website belonging to Octagon Motor sports, a US marketing group which owns the rights to the British Grand Prix. Contains information on their role within the motor sports industry, press releases, and profile of the circuits which they have connections with (including Silverstone, Brands Hatch and Oulton Park). * World Cup 2002 www.fifaworldcup.yahoo.com Official site of the FIFA World Cup 2002, containing news articles, competition results, and venue information. * World Student Games, 1991 www.sivltd.com/donvalley Official site for the Don Valley Stadium, owned by Sheffield International Venues Ltd. Contains information on the history of the stadium, its facilities and an up-to-date calendar of events. * Other websites www.culture.gov.uk/sport The DCMS (Department for Culture, Media and Sports) website. www.sportengland.org Website of Sport England, the largest distributor of lottery and exchequer funding for sport in England. www.uksport.gov.uk Website of UK Sport who co-ordinate overall sports policy, the support of elite sport at the UK level as well as UK-wide programmes such as anti-doping and major events. Books * Economics, A New Approach by A.G. Anderton A contemporary A Level text; fully updated and revised to take account of recent economic developments.

Annotated Review of Literature Essay Example for Free

Annotated Review of Literature Essay Annotated Review of Literature to Support how Differentiated Instruction Workshops can Improve Instruction Hawkins, V. (2009). Barriers to implementing differentiation: Lack of confidence, efficacy and perseverance. The New England Reading Association Journal, 44(2), 11-16. Retrieved from Education Full Text database. Annotation: In this article, Hawkins exposes three major reasons why implementing differentiated instruction (DI) if a difficult task for most teachers. Hawkins states that districts advocate for professional development of DI as a reactive response to current data trends in education. The goal of this article is to provide classroom teachers with the necessary skills to be able to implement DI into their curriculum. The researcher found that a lack of teacher confidence, lack of teacher efficacy, and a lack of perseverance are three factors in which teachers most often struggle with when trying to differentiate lessons. Support for Project: This article gives important information for teachers on how to overcome the barriers of implementing effective DI into their curriculum. So many of us face the same problems when trying to differentiate our lessons, therefore, it is important for teachers to understand how to overcome these barriers and also to understand that they are not alone in this daunting task. Hawkins goes on to describe each barrier in detail to help teachers overcome them so they can become effective DI instructors. Tomlinson, Carol Ann. Carol Ann Tomlinson explains how differentiated instruction works and why we need it now. Making A Difference, September 2007. Annotation: In this article, Carol Ann Tomlinson, who is a leader in the field of education on Differentiated Instruction, explains what DI is, why it is so important in education today, as well as in the future, and the characteristics of an effective differentiated classroom. Tomlinson also reviews some key points that teachers need to think about when developing a differentiated lesson plan. The researcher goes on to explain that the reason DI is so important is that students vary in so many ways, and our student populations are becoming more and more academically diverse. Support for Project: This article is important for my project because the researcher explains how to deal with student differences. Today’s classrooms are so diverse and teachers need to know how to deal with these differences on a daily basis. Tomlinson states that there are three ways to deal with differences: ignore them, separate or â€Å"track† them, or keep students together in the context of high-quality curriculum (differentiated instruction). Obviously the third one should be the way to go, but unfortunately, it is the road least traveled. This article also describes the characteristics of a well-run DI classroom and what teachers need to do in order to be successful when creating differentiated lessons to improve instruction. Tomlinson, C. (2005). Traveling the road to differentiation in staff development. Journal of Staff Development, 26(4), 8-12. Retrieved from Education Full Text database. Annotation: In this article, Tomlinson explains how teacher leaders can help educators hurdle four key barriers teachers face when trying to implement DI into their classrooms. The researcher describes the need for DI in the United States education system and also reviews six strategies of effective differentiation. Tomlinson goes over current research findings about student achievement and differentiation in response to readiness, interest, and learning profiles. Support for Project: This article is important for my project because when trying to convince educators to change their way of thinking and pedagogical practices, you must have solid evidence that the new practice; in this case, DI, will work. This article goes over the latest research findings to support DI and it also gives effective strategies for implementing DI practices as well as ways to overcome barriers of incorporating DI into the curriculum. The goal of my project is to design a workshop to inform educators about differentiated instruction; what it is, why we need it, what effective DI practices look like, what the keys aspects of DI are, how to overcome the barriers of DI, and what the current research of DI is. This article does a good job of reviewing these topics. Wormeli, R. (2007). Differentiation: From planning to practice grades 6-12. Portland, ME: Stenhouse. Annotation: In this book, Wormeli provides a practical way for teachers to create a differentiated lesson from start to finish. He walks educators through the lesson, giving details on what steps to take before, during, and after to make deep connections for students. He gives effective strategies and advice on how to reach â€Å"all† learners within one classroom. Wormeli presents models of effective differentiated instruction, so that teachers can extend what they learn to any subject and any classroom. Support for Project: When creating a workshop for educators on differentiation, it is important to include models of instruction for teachers to reflect upon and use as examples for the future. That is just what this book does. Wormeli gives annotated models of effective differentiated instruction, such as tiering, flexible grouping, how to make adjustments based on formative assessments, and interdisciplinary examples for teachers to learn how to do. Once educators feel comfortable using these strategies, they can extend these procedures throughout their careers.