Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Erectile Dysfunction and Viagra Essay

Erectile Dysfunction and Viagra Essay Erectile Dysfunction and Viagra Essay Advanced Entrepreneurship â€Å"Intrapreneurship & Entrepreneurship† Abstract According to Merriam-Webster online dictionary, the word innovation is the beginning of a new fresh or unlike items, services, or procedures. But the word innovation can have many unlike suggestions or implications to various unlike people. For the utilizing of the word in the business field it can suggestion that people are revolving simple thoughts into cash, generating a value for people, openings that can make jobs , or an development of an item or service that already is present. Without new and original items businesses will not survive. There are eras when people and firms thought about making original goods intentionally. There are additional periods when people and firms attempt to make an invention but by mistake make an item of consumption that is being pioneered. There are numerous original manufactured goods that have been initiated all the way through the years. Digital cameras, iPods, the world web, kindle, and MP3 players are some of the numerous modern merchandise goods that have been initiated. The merchandise good that I have selected that is said to be a mistake is the product called Viagra. The intent of Viagra was to cure what is known as hypertension but was discovered to assist in the remedy of men who have a medical condition of erectile dysfunction. Viagra consents to men to obtain and keep under control of their sex life, but only with the aid of the so called â€Å"Blue Diamond† or â€Å"Little Blue Pill†. This is a fresh and original item of consumption to me. For the duration of the foremost stage of the medical test, Viagra demonstrated a small result on what it was proposed to be utilized for, but did encourage penile erections. For the period of the following stage of the medical test, it was determined to encourage the make use of the drug for erectile dysfunction. Subsequent to, the drug grew to be copyrighted in 1996, and was Established in the United States when it came to be permitted for the utilizing of erectile dysfunction by the U.S. FDA in March of 1998(Parnham, M. 2004) The method that was applied to establish the drug was known as intrapreneurship. Mr. Peter Dunn along with Mr. Albert Woods was two workers of the Pfizer pharmaceutical firm that formed this item of consumption known as Viagra. A small number of benefits for exercising the intrapreneurship method are that the progress of Viagra was properly supported by the firm. Including additional people in the group decrease the concern of jeopardy that were being in use following the initial stages of the medical tests were unsuccessful when it come to a decision on having this specific drug to take care of inability. The third benefit of this method is that it provides the firm with a larger brand for itself. The drug resulted in a vast sum of resources once the Viagra was accepted for purchase. A few of shortcomings of this method is for the reason that more than one person was operating on this product. The two people have to be confident that the two are in continuous contact on what was functioning, in order to present the drug flourishing in the market. Supervisors for the pharmaceutical firm were reliant on their members of staff in order to make a winning drug to take care of a definite form of health situations which in turn will position them out of their ease sector for the duration of day-to-day procedure. The single trial that the pharmaceutical firm had to tackle when produce Viagra in the marketplace, was getting the drug accepted by the Unites States FDA. I state this for the reason that the objective of Viagra was not to take care of erectile dysfunction. It is to be well thought out inventive throughout the era since the drug was the foremost drug that

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Litotes

Litotes Litotes Litotes By Maeve Maddox A rhetorical term for understatement is litotes: litotes [LY-tuh-teez] (noun): understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary (as in â€Å"Hes not a bad ballplayer†)- Merriam-Webster. Litotes can be used to express a variety of meanings. When the translators of the KJV have Paul of Tarsus identify himself to the Roman officer as â€Å"a citizen of no mean city† (Acts 21:39), it is not to suggest that Paul was being modest. The words are â€Å"no mean city,† but the meaning is â€Å"a very important city.† Here are other examples of the use of litotes to emphasize the importance of something by using a negative to express the contrary: The history of American freedom is,  in no small measure, the history of procedure.  (i.e., â€Å"to a great extent†) The disparity in government funding is  not easy  to remedy. (i.e, â€Å"extremely difficult†) Litotes is also used to convey modesty, sarcasm, contempt, admiration, and veiled disapproval, as in the following examples: You’ve managed to wreck the car and destroy the front porch all in one go. Good job! He’s no Einstein. Oprah gave every guest a car? Not too shabby. This day-old lobster bisque is not entirely inedible. Understatement has been a popular form of expression in English since the earliest times. For example, the Old English epic Beowulf begins with a gory description of Grendel’s slaughter of thirty of Hrothgar’s thanes. Grendel seizes the thanes and carries some of the bloody bodies back to his lair, â€Å"exulting.† Later, Grendel returns to wreak more slaughter. Says the poet, â€Å"[The monster] did not mourn for it.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:70 "Home" Idioms and ExpressionsWhen to Form a Plural with an ApostropheThe Difference Between "Un-" and "Dis-"

Thursday, November 21, 2019

History US Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

History US - Essay Example By 1939, the US unemployment still exceeded 20%. The New Deal also raised taxes such that entrepreneurs became discouraged from investing more. As such, the New Deal failed to end the Great Economic Depression. When World War II started, America hesitated to join until 1942, when about 12 million soldiers were sent overseas to fight alongside the allies to defeat Adolf Hitler. Back home in the US, about 15 million people were employed in the manufacturing of military weapons, machines and equipment. Folsom (2010) and Bohanon (2012) agree that this is the most significant moment of the New Deal because it created more jobs than ever. Many Americans got employed either in the army or the military industry. This again provided an opportunity for production to increase in the US, hence boost the economy. Unfortunately, the produced weapons were not being used by civilians at home. They were sent overseas to be used in the war field. Even the soldiers themselves could not eat weapons. They needed bread, homes and sustainable jobs. On the other hand, taxes were still high such that what people earned could not suffice. As such, life still remained miserable and the quest to end the Economic Depr ession was far from reality. According to Folsom (2010), towards the end of the war, in 1944, President Roosevelt started preparing for the post war economic recovery. He drew his vision but died six months before the war ended and before he could implement his post-war America agenda. His successor, Harry Truman, wanted Roosevelt’s agenda implemented but the opposition (Congress) refused vehemently and opted for the opposite. Finally they agreed to totally deviate from the New Deal and adopt a totally new Recovery plan which included the following: no federal program for health care, no full-employment act; only limited federal housing; and no increase in minimum wage or social security benefits. Instead, the

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Business research analysis Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Business analysis - Research Paper Example Mean is 68 for location. As for the topics, 69 is the mean. Again, the mean for timing of events is 43. The last part, which is the domestics reason part, resulted to 18 mean. The standard deviation for location is 47 Whereas, the standard deviation for topics is 46%. The standard deviation resulted to 50% for timing of an events. The last part is the standard deviation of 38% for domestic reasons. The descriptive statistics will show that minimum for interested in the subject, networking opportunity, personal development, professional and professional development is zero. The mean for interested in the subject is 54. The mean for the networking opportunity is 74. The mean for the personal development is 25. The mean for the professional development is 64%. The standard deviation for interested in the subject is 50%. The standard deviation for networking opportunity is 44%. The standard deviation for personal development 43%. The standard deviation for professional development is 64%. Regarding the question how useful is the conference, 32.3 said the conference was very useful. Then 38% of the population said that they were quite useful. The next group stated that the seminar was not very useful. Regarding the opinions on the conferences, 8.3% of the 300 population said that the conferences were too formal. ... The mean for the professional development is 64%. The standard deviation for interested in the subject is 50%. The standard deviation for networking opportunity is 44%. The standard deviation for personal development 43%. The standard deviation for professional development is 64%. Regarding the question how useful is the conference, 32.3 said the conference was very useful. Then 38% of the population said that they were quite useful. The next group stated that the seminar was not very useful. The other group of 14.7%. said that the conference was not all useful. Regarding the opinions on the conferences, 8.3% of the 300 population said that the conferences were too formal. The next group stated that the conference was about right belong to 79.7%. Then another 12%. said it was too informal. INSTITUTE PUBLICATIONS (Please circle one response only) When asks about the frequency of the institute magazine, 9% said they were too few while another 81% said they were just right and another 10% stated that they were just too many. Of the total 300 population, 35.7% indicated they very satisfied while 39.7% said they were quite satisfied with the content of the institute magazine. Another 14.7% said they were dissatisfied with the content of the institute magazine. The very dissatisfied group is only 10%. The mean is .99. The standard deviation is 95%. The respondents said, the mean for the survey on information on conference is 2 and the standard deviation is 78%. The information on local events survey resulted to 2.13 mean. This generated the standard deviation of 76%. Of the question relating to institute developments, the mean is 2.02. The standard deviation in this situation is 79%. Relating to the topic recruitment

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Philosophy of Music Education in the Indian Context Essay Example for Free

Philosophy of Music Education in the Indian Context Essay These goals must be the first and foremost reason why we teach music. To instill an even greater understanding and love of the domain thus enabling our students develop a genuine interest and continue a life long journey that’s undertaken in varying degrees and through diverse roles. Phenix (1986) stress on the fact that knowledge of methods makes it possible for a person to continue learning and undertake inquiries on his own (p. 11). Estelle Jorgenson in her book â€Å"Transforming Music Education† eloquently describes the need for music education to be transformed for the very reason that children be able to continue developing their knowledge beyond the classroom. Effective music education is built of a foundation that encompasses discussions, goals, materials and strategies, based on a teacher’s knowledge and experience of music and child development, educational guidelines and â€Å"overarching, and developing philosophy of music education† (Fiske, 2012). Before I elucidate my philosophy about music, I recognize the need to clarify my stand as a music educator who is passionate and determined to elevate the status of music education within classrooms around India. My Musical Experiences Music has always been a part of me for as long as I can remember. My earliest memories of music, especially the performance aspect, goes back to when I was three years old and sang a solo for a Christmas Concert that was organized by the radio station that my father worked at. I have memories of him kneeling on one knee and playing the guitar for me while I sang after which I was delighted to receive a big present from Santa. Ever since, I have enjoyed performing, and have so felt so comfortable on stage. All along I grew up listening to Christian gospel music and many contemporary arrangements of hymns. Supplementary to that my father offered me a rich experience of Indian hindustani devotional music. I learned songs by ear and didn’t realize what I was missing at this point, imagining what I learned in music to be the only way to absorb and internalize it. Performing was something that I enjoyed doing and it came naturally to me, partly because of my early initiation into leading worship at church. My true test of endurance came about when I was introduced to Western Classical Music at the age of 14, through the study of two years of piano. My teacher, like many others around, displayed an extremely formalistic approach and didn’t do much to expand my understanding of music beyond what was on the page and how I was supposed to read it. In response to this method I didn’t enjoy learning from the pages of notated music books, as much as I did learning by ear, and I continued to develop as a musician who played by ear and improvised at will. Studying opera during undergrad was a trying phase for me because of my inability to â€Å"connect the dots† as easily as I should have been able to. My aural skills remained excellent and I sometimes relied on that to carry me through certain phases. Hard work and determination became my motto, and I spent hours to understand and perfect music that was assigned to me, as I wanted to do my very best. Although I had composed songs earlier, without notating them, the study of music theory opened up a whole new world for me. I could now add variety and richness to my music through the concepts I was learning. Music became a new language for me; I was captivated by the way it lent itself to diverse experiences through different musical roles (something that I wasn’t aware of or didn’t pay attention to earlier). As a Music Teacher Although I initially joined a conservatory to study vocal performance, I found myself deeply drawn towards music education, and during my second semester decided to learn more about devising meaningful and persuasive trategies to improve the standard of music education in India. This thought emerged from an understanding that I had felt almost cheated for having lost out on so many years of studying music formally, yet effectively. I didn’t have a choice because structured music instruction simply wasn’t available at all the schools that I studied in, or the quality of instruction didn’t serve the purpose of educating or informing students like me. What gave the impression of a music class/lesson at school was in reality an enthusiastic way of keeping students occupied for forty minutes in simple singing, with a concert for parents every once a year. We learned songs by rote to perform them, year after year. During those years though, I didn’t realize the limitations that this system came with and continued to enjoy the fact that I was in choir and able to sing. This vacuum remains largely visible and unattended to in schools today, although some music educators in the recent past have taken huge steps towards improving the quality and effectiveness of their instruction in classrooms around India. Their efforts however remain predominantly an enthusiastic endeavor. What is urgently required is certainly something much more than sincere teaching. It calls for a transformation of the present system, giving room for every child to receive superior music education that fits into the whole. The need of every student being met in a transformed educational framework that constantly reshapes itself to accommodate new ideas and strategies. After all, as Regelski (2003) rightly points out that music (music education) is for everyone and not just for an elite few. The turning point in my decision to finally teach music myself came about when I enrolled my four-year-old daughter, Tiara, for after-school piano lessons. I hoped to give her a head start, with the understanding that she needn’t have to face the same challenges in learning music, like I had to. However, after a few classes, I realized to my complete dissatisfaction that there was no structure, no thought and imagination, and no clarity in what was being thought to her. Her fingering on the piano was all over the place for the two songs that her teacher worked on â€Å"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. † And â€Å"Baa Baa Black Sheep† Her teacher (I later learned wasn’t introduced to classical notation), taught her these songs by writing letters in a book and instructing her to commit it to heart. Lesson after lesson they would follow the same outline with no emphasis on any other musical aspects whatsoever. I decided I wasn’t going to take this lying down! I had to do all within my capacity to change the face of music education, as the vast majority of people understand it. I began studying about music education as well, to inform and equip myself for the task at hand. Around this period, my voice teacher encouraged me to coach students in voice, and I began shying away from it believing I was under qualified and needed many years of study to begin teaching. However, with a newfound passion and vigor, I accepted to coaching some of his voice students and also began to teach small groups of students on the history of music (because I loved learning about it). Meanwhile, I started training both my young daughters at home constantly developing new ideas and strategies to introduce musical concepts to them. A friend noticed my teaching style and asked if I would teach her daughter too, and thus began my professional journey as a music educator. Four years since then, I find myself accountable for the music instruction I offer to over 250 children across various age groups, who are part of my school. The need is so great within schools, and only a few educators are willing to take the extra effort of educating themselves and being channels of superior music instruction-catalysts of sorts. I am blessed to have a team of ten teachers who share in my vision and work alongside me in imparting music to the children who are part of our music school, â€Å"Harmony†. My long-term vision is to enhance the music programs in India for the betterment of as many children as possible. Individuals don’t realize what they’re missing until they’ve been given a taste of it, a glimpse of the bigger picture (much like my case). Through our school performances I aim on providing a window for the change to take place. A transformation that not only affects my students, but others around them as well through their personal interactions with each other and the community as a whole. My Personal Philosophy â€Å"A field or discipline without philosophical guidance, without critically examined ideals and commitment to their revision in light of the diverse and changing needs of those it seeks to serve, is more akin to an occupation han a profession† (Bowman Frega, 2012, p. 23). For my vision to bear fruit and show evidence of becoming something concrete, I realize the need to develop my philosophy of music to an extent that equips me with the requisite tools to be able to initiate the change that I seek after. In the words of Jorgenson (2008), â€Å"I want to excavate beneath the superficial and demonstrable skills to think about the ideas and principles of music teaching, the things that drive and shapeà ¢â‚¬ . According to Kivy (2002), â€Å"A practice or discipline or body of knowledge, then, seems to become ‘eligible’ (If that is the right word) for philosophy, properly so–called, when it becomes for us a way of life: when it cuts so deeply into our natures as human beings that we are impelled to explore and reveal its innermost workings† (p. 7). It is necessary for me to â€Å"clarify the major dimensions of musical experience† so I can â€Å"effectively offer them to, and nurture them within, â€Å" my students (Reimer, 2003, p. 9), this despite the passion and conviction with which I teach and advocate the need for arts in schools. I have begun to develop a synergistic mindset in my philosophy of music education after my reading and researching the literature, coupled with practical experiences over the last few years. Reimer (2003) points out â€Å" A synergistic mind-set is one open to cooperation as an alternative to contention, to searching for points of agreement or confluence as an alternative to fixating on discord, to recognizing nuances in which seemingly opposed views are capable of some level of contention† (p. 30). I agree with Reimer’s democratic view that musical meaning is meaning that â€Å"individuals choose to give to and take from music, based on their life experiences and their musical orientations. † He further adds that there is to be no â€Å"one right way†, and calls for an adaptation of a synergistic blend in music teaching. Music must involve decision making through discernment and connections within a particular role (Reimer, 2003, p. 213). Eisner (1987) illuminates the need for a curriculum that â€Å"exploits the various forms of representation and that utilizes all of the senses to help students learn what a period of history feels like†(p. 7). Similarly, offering students a basis for understanding music in all contexts involves a thorough exploration of musical meaning within its definitive parameters, along with contemplation or reflection. Introducing students to the music and other art forms of various cultures is a wonderful way to broaden their understanding of the meaning of music. A student does not need to lose his own musical identity in order to study other music. On the contrary, in learning about other music, a student’s life is enriched. Reimer states, â€Å"In the spirit of adding to the self rather than substituting other selves for one’s self, the study of the music of foreign cultures enriches the souls of all who are engaged in it† (p. 191). Music and Meaning As advocates of music, music educators are often expected to express the meaning of music through words, yet words are incapable of truly describing the beauty and emotion felt through experience. â€Å"The concern is not to arrive at a definition and to close the book, but to arrive at an experience† (Ciardi, 1975, p. ). Ciardi states that there â€Å"still lingers belief that a dictionary definition is a satisfactory description of an idea or of an experience† (p. 1). Words may attempt to describe music, yet true meaning must be derived from the actual music experience Reimer (2003) discusses the difference between meanings drawn from words or language and the meanings found through music. He writes, â€Å"Language is created and shared through the processes of conceptualization and communication. Music is created and shared through the process of artistic/aesthetic perceptual structuring, yielding meanings language cannot represent† (p. 133). â€Å"The real power of music lies in the fact that it can be â€Å"true† to the life of feeling in a way that language cannot† (Langer, 1942, p. 197). Phenix (1986) highlights the need to look for aesthetic meaning in music concluding that there has to be a delicate balance between descriptive proposition that serves the purpose of laying out a historical background and allowing for freedom to gain perceptual features. Though music may evoke emotions in my students as they compose or serve as an outlet for their feelings when they perform, the ultimate significance of music lies in its ability to symbolize/portray deeply felt emotions. In the pages of his article, How Does a Poem Mean, John Ciardi (1975) shares with the reader his view that language is not capable of completely conveying the meaning that is discovered through experience. Living through the poetry is more powerful than attempting to interpret it. I believe that language does, however, serve a purpose of enhancing and is required when teaching for musical meaning. Words such as diction, metaphor, rhythm, and counter rhythm describe elements that lead to the understanding of form. Once a student can identify changes in the form through performance, â€Å"he will have identified the poem in action† (p. 95). He will no longer ask what the poem means but will see â€Å"how it means† (p. 95). Ciardi suggests questions such as, â€Å"Why does it build itself into a form out of images, ideas, rhythms? How do these elements become the meaning? † and â€Å"How are they inseparable from the meaning? † (p. 100). These questions are helpful in leading a student to the ultimate meaningful experience. Likewise, music students may use their knowledge of musical elements, such as rhythm and dynamics, to see â€Å"how† a piece of music means. Reimer (2003) says language has the essential function of disclosing and explaining the music. Music elements are inseparable from the performance of the music as they help to explain the musical experience. On their own, however, words and definitions remain dull and lifeless. I believe students should be immersed in the experience, while in a chorus, performing their instruments and listening to those around them. Meaning can be discovered through active participation in music and through the emotion and beauty the music portrays, for â€Å"Music means whatever a person experiences when involved with music† (Reimer, 2003, p. 133). Ciardi’s (1975) statement: â€Å"It is the experience, not the final examination, that counts† (p. 3) is particularly striking. The Indian society places high emphasis on examinations in music as with other subjects, very often overlooking the need for students to value their experience through the process of learning. I sometimes feel pressured by the community to meet high concert performance expectations and good examination results. Although I recognize that performance and the International music exams is a wonderful opportunity in which students can share their music with the community, or understand their level of competency, the true reflection of meaning in the music should be experienced in day-to-day music making within my classroom. I do my best not to focus on the examination repertoire alone but to include other music as well giving them a chance to draw out meanings and experience the music. Ciardi (1975) describes a poem as a â€Å"dynamic and living thing† (p. 10). He continues stating, â€Å"One experiences it as one experiences life. One is never done with it: every time he looks he sees something new, and it changes even as he watches† (p. 10). Similarly, music is capable of revealing something new each time it is experienced. The meanings my students derive from an initial listening of a piece of music may be vastly different than the meanings understood months or years later. The meaning of music constantly changes with personal life experiences and new perspectives. Reimer claims, â€Å"Music education exists to nurture people’s potential to gain deeper, broader, more significant musical meanings† (p. 133). I believe my students should derive their own meanings from the musical experience and without my influence. By explaining meanings to them, I face the fear of casting into oblivion the celebration of their own unique experience with the music, much the same way a language teacher might, in more ways than one, take away from the experience of a students â€Å"feelingful† experience of poetry as she explains the meaning in the verses of the poem. Instead of teaching â€Å"what† music means, I will instruct students on â€Å"how† music means, enabling them to derive meaning from experiences that occur beyond the classroom, and within their own roles. Feeling through Music â€Å"Music does for feeling what language does for thought† (Bowman, 1998, p. 200). As a musician, I understand the power of music to evoke feelings. Listening to or performing a great work of music in a concert hall may bring tears or chills to the musician in a way that only music is capable. Similarly, students’ emotional lives may be heightened by experiences in the classroom. According to Reimer (2003), the â€Å"emotional dimension of music-its power to make us feel, and to â€Å"know† through feeling-is probably its most important defining characteristic† (p. 72). In Western history, emotion has often been regarded less valuable than intellect (Reimer, 2003). Some people do not consider the arts to be as important as other core subjects such as math and reading in education due to the belief that arts are based on emotions and not reasoning or intellect. Recently, however, scientific scholars have begun to recognize that human intelligence, or cognition, is exhibited in a variety of forms, directly related to functions of the body, and tied to feeling. Dimensions of the mind, once thought to be separate and unrelated, are now known to work together, contributing to the things we know and experience. Anthony Damasio, a research neurologist, believes â€Å"feeling is likely to be the key factor in human consciousness itself and an essential ingredient in human cognition† (Reimer, 2003, p. 76). The capacity to feel â€Å"pervades and directs all we undergo as living, aware creatures† (p. 8). â€Å"Direct experiences of feeling are embodied in music and made available to the bodied experience of those engaged with it† (p. 80). The use of descriptive and symbolic language in the classroom, in the teaching of a varied repertoire of expressive music, aids in drawing out these responses of feeling from students. Including music that is heavy and loud or delicate and light will bring out an array of feelings. I believe students should be given an opportunity to articulate these feelings through journaling and in-class discussion.

Friday, November 15, 2019

Descriptive Essay- Describing Bass Guitar :: description essay, observation essay

Description paper You can describe an object a few ways. Depending on what that object is, you have to decide on the best manner of analyzing it. If you were describing a musical instrument like a bass or guitar, the physical description might be sufficient. However, to a musician there's a lot more to it. Sitting in a music stand in the corner of a room right now is a bass. This bass looks very simple to the eye, but actually has a lot more detail than you think. To the normal eye, someone sees a smooth body shape with a long wooden neck overlapping and continuing vertically up. This requires a closer look. Zooming in closer at the neck, little dots start to appear. These markings are like reminders of what notes are to be played by the musician. They start to shine a bit in a chrome-type reflection. Underneath those dots is the actual neck, which looks like a smooth, flat-tone wood. Also on that same neck are what look like sectioned off pieces. Metal bars go horizontally across the neck to mark off certain notes. These bars get closer together as the neck gets closer to the body. When a finger is pressed down between two of these bars, a note is signified. Above the neck is what is called a head. On this particular body-shape, are metallic knobs called machine-heads, which tighten or loosen the strings depending on which way they’re rotated. On the other side of this neck is the largest part of the bass. This is the body. The body can be any number of shapes. This particular shape is like a glossy black melted figure eight with horns. The horns point toward the head of the bass. The right horn is a bit higher than the left. These details have to do with making the bass comfortable to hold and play. In the center of the body are plastic bars with magnetic studs lined up under the strings. These magnets pick up the vibrations from the strings and create a number of sounds.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Gloria Steinem’s Effect on Modern-Day History Essay

Gloria Steinem has had the greatest impact on modern day women in American society because, as an activist, she fought to achieve rights of equality. As a woman whose life was affected by society’s opinions and views of women, she was determined to change these standards. She set a goal to regulate women’s rights and have women’s role in society matter just as much as men’s. To accomplish said goals, â€Å"Gloria Steinem systemized organizations that would fight against discrimination towards any alienated group, organized speeches that covered strong topics such as women’s role in politics, women’s side of rape and pornography, and funded a company that would allow women at home to share their stories and speak for themselves† (Bauer, Garlena A, B2). Gloria Steinem has had the greatest impact of modern day society because without her assistance and provision women’s culture would diverse from what it was like in the 50s. Gloria Steinem accomplished the goals she set out to attain; she was able to change the outlook on women’s roles in America. In the 50s, American women were responsible to execute family traditions and follow the â€Å"rules† of motherhood – they didn’t really have much say in life decisions; but â€Å"Gloria Steinem changed that by getting politically active and being determined as an advocate for women’s rights of equality† (Foner, Eric and John A. Garraty, D1). â€Å"She was also nominated as a spokesperson for feminism and the leader of the enlargement of women’s rights of equality; she organized groups to fight discrimination against women such as NWPC and WAA† (Yanak, Ted and Pam, Cornelison, I1). All these actions led to an effective move towards the Women’s Liberation Movement. Steinem’s assistance towards women’s rights involved creating and editing Ms. Magazine, â€Å"the 1st feminist mass circulation magazine in the U.S. Influencing the Women’s Liberation Movement was one of her greater achievements† (Bauer, Garlena A, B2). â€Å"Others would include covering certain topics at protest that no other would discuss; such as pornography, rape, incest, abortion, poverty, lesbianism, politics, women’s health care and care for battered women† (Bauer, Garlena A, B2). All these add up to object to inequality for women in America. Overall, the battle to obtain equal rights alone is great success, but Gloria Steinem also attempted solving world problems as an activist. Not only did Gloria Steinem challenge critics and politicians by having her own say in topics about women’s rights, but â€Å"she also confronted them about resolving other complications in America and worldwide such as animal rights, the fight against genital mutilation, child abuse, and human trafficking† (Hepola, Sarah A, F3). Steinem had a lot on her plate, but she was determined to resolve as many problems and to help as many people as possible. In order to do so, she started ordering initial organizations to gain perspective and to prevent each cause from getting worse. â€Å"National Women’s Political Caucus, Equal Rights Amendment, Women’s Action Alliance, and National Black Feminist Organization†: were just some of the actions and initial organizations taken and funded my Gloria Steinem (Yanak, Ted and Pam, Cornelison, I1). With these organizations present, she was able to gain supporters; which would help her get make a point for women’s rights – the point being that she is not the only one who believed that women should be given choices like men, and that they should all have the same equivalence and impartiality. Her points were brought forth in every issue of ‘Ms. Magazine,’ where she would discuss all topics related to women’s rights and include reader’s opinions. â€Å"In every edition of ‘Ms. Magazine,’ Gloria Steinem would be sure to include readers’ personal stories† (Matthews, Glenna, E2). This was an important contribution on behalf of the readers’ part because their stories proved that women should have been entitled to their own opinion to those who weren’t activist or feminist and altered their opinions on women’s rights. Gloria Steinem also made sure to promote feminist cause – an example being reproduction rights – the articles would vary in focus but one thing that stayed the same was the fact that the articles spoke for all women who were expected more of. Gloria had different believes of what a household women should ensure. â€Å"As a feminist, Gloria Steinem criticized certain aspects of the traditional role of motherhood† (Charles Moritz, G2). She believed women should have been able to work if they would like to or marry who they loved, not who they were forced to marry because of economic or beneficial reasons. â€Å"Steinem wanted to assure that all women were able to fairly make their own choices† (Charles Moritz, G2); she knew that wasn’t an option because women were degraded only for the fact that they were women. â€Å"During years of working for a living, I have experienced much of the legal and social discrimination reserved for women in the country [†¦] all for the clearly sated sole reason that I am a woman.† (Hepola, Sarah A, F1). Within the supportive fight to gain equality for women, Gloria Steinem accomplished significant impressions on U.S. history. â€Å"She became a social activist, humanist and feminist† (Bauer, Garlena A, B1). Gloria Steinem was the target of much criticism, nevertheless, â€Å"she spent her life time committed to women’s liberation and remained committed to all political causes of the news and left a natural path into her career as a feminist to let other feminist peruse with what she started† ((Bauer, Garlena A, B1). Gloria Steinem has had the greatest impact on modern day women in American society because, as an activist, she fought to achieve rights of equality. As a woman whose life was affected by society’s opinions and views of women, she was determined to change these standards. She spoke for other women in the U.S. that were not able to do so because their opinions would not be valid since they were women. Since the understandings of women’s suffrage and the stance on women’s liberation and rights has changed from the 1950s to modern day believes, an assumption can be made that Gloria Steinem is the one who can be acknowledged for completing such task since she spent a life time committed to making a difference and making an effort to resolve the problem of discrimination.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Housing Industry Research Essay

People would often refer to real estate and housing industry as the best way to build up riches, or possibly the best, easiest and fastest way for anybody to get rich. Most of the time, the terms real estate industry and housing industry are being used interchangeably by people, not knowing the very basic distinctions between the two terminologies. Real estate industry more formally refers to the industry that focuses on simply buying and selling real estate properties. Whereas, the housing industry is more concerned on developing and incorporating improvements to a real estate property. Basically, those that are in the real estate industry are doing much more of retail business, while those in the housing industry are doing much more of service and nonetheless, research, design, and manual work. The housing industry is the industry which is primarily concerned in building and developing houses and housing designs for private individuals, for government housing projects and for a local community. Moreover this is also the industry which provides the basic materials such as the building materials, and hard escape materials for a housing project. When you drive or ride through a community, the variety of architecture often reflects some of the history of the community or the locality. Architectural styles of the past are illustrated in the older neighborhoods but also influence the styles of homes built today. In a community, the housing industry is the one which is mainly concerned in all these. For most communities, there is only one housing industry which can be regarded as the main housing industry of the community. This can be a company, or a group of companies that would generally dominate all the housing projects within the locality, be it a private housing project or a housing project from the government. Mostly, these housing industries would dominate the landscaping industry, hard escape industry, and the hardware, building equipments and materials industry as well. Since most people believe in the logical trend that as one industry goes up the black, a counter industry would fall down the red; this would lead many to believe that the immediate spike in the information technology and communications industry would leave other industries such as the real estate industry and housing industry, to experience its most protracted slump for several years. This is actually the opposite of what’s really happening in the economy, for many years, the housing industry has remained as one of the most stable industries all over the globe. Indeed the housing industry has had its share of downs and suffered greatly from economic destabilizations, inflations and other economic fluctuations, but in spite of all these, it has retained itself as still one of the most promising, and stable industry. With nearly 17 million new conventional homes added over the past decade, the home building industry continues to set new records and standards. In 2005 alone, single-family starts exceeded 1. 7 million—far and away the largest number ever. Thanks to a stable economy and low mortgage interest rates, the home building industry has not seen a significant downturn since the early 1990s. This undeniable stretch of strong, stable growth in the home building industry has ushered-in a period of prosperity for major builders and supported a wave of mergers and acquisitions within the industry. In the early 1990s, the top 10 builders in the country accounted for less than 10 percent of all conventional new single-family home sales. By 2004, their share had risen to over 20 percent in most major metropolitan areas; larger builders hold an even greater market share. There are three major reasons for the dramatic increase in the scale among the home builders. The change in the access to capital is one of these reasons. After World War II, the savings and loan industry was the principal source of capital for the home building industry. With the collapse of many of these institutions in the late 1980s, builders had to turn to other sources of financing. Banks and private funds companies have thus, stepped in to fill the need for capitals and investments. These funding companies gave an edge to the housing industries since their presence meant easier access to capitals. Another reason is the change in the land use regulation. More and more communities are restricting residential development in an effort to manage growth. As a result, the development process in many locations takes longer than it once did, with land assembly and entitlement typically more complex and costly. This again creates a premium for scale of operations, since smaller builders often lack the resources to work with local officials over extended periods to secure the necessary approvals. The third reason is the change in economic environment. This has favored large-scale home builder industries. The strong economic environment for home construction over the past decades has ushered a stable growth and low mortgage interest rates that have prevented a major recession in the home building industry since 1991. This combination of market conditions has produced stunning increases in top-line growth and bottom-line financial performance for large home building companies. Between 1999 and 2004, builders of 500 units or more each year realized inflation-adjusted revenue growth of 135 percent. In addition, their gross margins on homes sold and net income each increased about 4. 5 percentage points. With industry consolidation have come new opportunities. To increase their scale and overall capabilities, larger-scale builders have incentives to reinvest in their operations by adding information systems for estimating, scheduling, and purchasing, or investing in panel plants to save time and costs in the construction process. With such investments, larger home builders continue to improve their operating performance, at a much faster rate relative to smaller builders. Better performance encourages even more builder consolidation, which in turn produces even greater scale economies, creates more incentives for investments to leverage these opportunities, and so on. This cycle would dictate further consolidation and greater efficiency in the home building industry in the years ahead. When asked to name the single most important reason for their recent financial performance, over half of the corporate-level survey respondents attributed their success to strong housing market fundamentals, and nearly a third cited their land assembly strategies. Another 13 percent considered improved customer satisfaction the key to profitability. In sharp contrast, few respondents attributed their success to shorter construction cycles, savings on product purchase, man power, on-site construction costs, and other operational efficiencies. Still, evidence of operational improvements does exist, particularly within the divisions of national and international home builders. Although their homes have become bigger and have incorporated higher-quality materials in recent years, national and international home builders have been cut the construction time to minimal, keep cost increases at modest levels, and significantly improve customer satisfaction scores, in parallel to improvements in the quality of finished products. Local divisions of regional builders have been less successful in improving the efficiency of their operations. Improvements in home building efficiency were the most common results from the implementing of innovative operating practices. Studies from Harvard have cited four general types of operating practices that homebuilders especially those at large scale, have used to their advantage. 1. Coordination with subcontractors. Subcontractors are typically the ones who purchase the materials used in home building, making payments to contractors a major expense category for homebuilders. Innovative builder practices in this area include initiatives such as making scheduling information easily accessible to subcontractors, automatically notifying subcontractors of schedule changes, and frequently updating the job site production schedule. As a result, increased efficiencies in the building process and lower production costs is maintained. 2. Component preassembly. Preassembling major components such as roof trusses allows greater precision in manufacturing and often provides cost savings by substituting semi-skilled off-site labor for skilled on-site labor. The preassembly process is also more efficient when done off-site, thereby creating the potential for shorter construction cycle time, and even so, smaller labor costs. 3. Supplier installation. In many product categories, builders have begun to purchase installation services from the manufacturers or distributors. Supplier installation helps to limit product disputes over the source of any problems. In addition, this practice can reduce construction labor needs since product manufacturers and distributors typically serve broader geographic areas than subcontractors. 4. Supply chain management. Supply chain management covers a broad range of practices from price negotiations for products and value-added services to the implementation of information systems to support purchasing and inventory management. Supply chain management is an area where scale economies give larger builders an obvious edge over their smaller competitors. Innovative operating practices help large home builders not only run their operations more efficiently and use their market power more effectively, but also better manage risk especially financial risks and risks in operations. Builders have reduced their exposure by controlling more land through options, joint ventures, and other approaches that keep land costs off their books until they buy the entitled lots. In this way, builders only incur these expenses close to the time of construction. With more efficient operations and better management controls, large builders typically do not begin construction until a home is pre-sold. Across builders surveyed, 73 percent of all homes closed in 2004 were sold before construction began an increase from 70 percent in 1999. National builders pre-sold over three-quarters of homes closed in 2004, while regional builders pre-sold about two-thirds. Larger builders have incentives to adopt innovative operating practices because they have the market power to implement these efficiencies and can leverage the benefits across a broader range of operating divisions. The financial payback for these improvements, however, depends greatly on conditions in the local market. Over the past years, consolidation of the home builders has dramatically changed the home building industry. In addition to improved financial performance, the adoption of innovative practices and methodologies related to product distribution and assembly line and development, has improved the operational performance of large builders along such dimensions as construction cycle time, efficiency of the building process, stability, style, and overall quality of structures, and customer satisfaction. In generating these efficiencies, builders have helped to streamline processes throughout the entire homebuilding industry. Home buyers have also benefited in parallel to the home building improvements. More efficient builder operations have kept construction costs low and customer satisfaction levels high, allowing builders to offer more model home options and more product choices without any corresponding increases in prices. In addition, greater efficiency has enabled builders to pre-sell more homes, which in turn has reduced the risk of overbuilding, and thus reduced the risk or putting the company financial trend line on the red. By keeping supply in line with demand, home builders have helped to bring greater stability to house prices, since overbuilding has historically been a principal cause of house price declines. Whether these improvements will continue as market conditions change remains to be seen. One encouraging sign is that operating efficiencies, as opposed to financial performance, have increased most in more competitive markets. If the housing market weakens in the years ahead and competition increases, larger builders still have the potential to improve their operations and maintain their strong financial performance. In communities where demand is strong but residential development opportunities are limited, house price appreciation tends to be high. In markets where price appreciation is low, land is generally more accessible and builders face fewer barriers to entry. As a result, construction activity can respond very quickly to changes in demand. As market conditions shift, however, builders can get caught with excess inventory, which drives down area-wide house prices. In these markets, builders must run their operations efficiently to remain profitable. In high-appreciation markets, demand for new homes is generally greater than the number of homes that can be added under existing land use and building regulations. This limits the risk of rapid overbuilding. Given that it takes more time and resources to build in these markets, higher barriers to entry and higher land costs push up the average price of homes sold. Builders working in these communities generally put a premium on their land acquisition and development strategy. Since they are often able to achieve higher margins on homes sold in these markets, they may put less emphasis on operational efficiencies. The market conditions that have helped to create a more efficient home building industry over the past years have also, in turn, favored the housing consumers. A more stable economy, with more muted cycles and low inflation, has produced some of the lowest long-term interest rates in a generation. Low interest rates, together with low unemployment rates, have also provided greater financial security for many citizens and thus given them more initiative to build their own households or improve their current household. Internationally, house prices have raised an average of 127 percent since 1990, with nearly half of this increase coming since 2000. Until recently, economic cycles interacted with housing cycles to produce tremendous volatility in home prices. From 1975 to 1993, house prices rose more slowly than overall inflation in 10 of the 19 years, or over half of the time. In each of the 12 years since 1993, however, house price appreciation has exceeded the pace of inflation. Builders that have already adopted more innovative practices have clearly profited from their investments. New practices related to product distribution and assembly has improved the operational performance of large builders, particularly in terms of construction cycle time and customer satisfaction, and thus greatly increasing their profits. Although being in the housing industry has a lot of economic advantages it is undeniable that there are still various external, economical, factors that can negatively affect this industry. A low economy, and low living standards, would most likely correspond to a decrease in the demands for housing industries. Natural disasters and calamities such as earthquakes, floods and typhoons that would occur at an unfortunate time, would leave home builders hanging in the deadlines for finishing their projects, since building cannot continued during such occasions. Generally speaking, the housing industry reflects the type of economy in a given region or locality. A region with a high economic state, low inflation, and high monetary value would most likely have a high level of housing industry in turn. The houses in the said region would also be of high quality; however, man power for construction would also come at higher rates at such an area. A stable economy in terms of monetary value and inflation would be the most ideal economy for a successful housing industry. Even high-performing builders still have the potential to make more improvements. Given that their strong financial performance has largely resulted from their leading land positions in booming housing markets, builders just have not to focus on implementing innovative practices and on maximizing operational efficiencies. Larger builders are those that would especially benefit from focusing on efficiency. Local builders with closings of 10,000 homes or more in 2004 reported implementing only half of the common innovative practices, while the divisions of builders with sales of 2,500 to 10,000 homes implemented less than 40 percent of the innovative practices. There are many valid reasons why implementation has been relatively weak. The corporate offices of larger builders report above-average development of innovative procedures, but implementation at the division level has often lagged. With the increase in the number of acquisitions in recent years, many of these divisions have only recently come under management of the acquiring builder and may thus need additional time to implement new systems and procedures. Furthermore, given their strong financial performance in recent years, corporate offices have less incentive and reason to develop new procedures for their local divisions, and local divisions have less incentive and reason to implement such changes. Whether builders will seize these opportunities remains to be seen. One encouraging sign, however, is that operational improvements have increased the most where house price appreciation is relatively low and no one builder dominates the market. If the house building industry weakens in the years ahead, house price appreciation is likely to slow and more builders are likely to compete within individual markets, these are exactly the conditions that lead to the development and implementation of operational improvements made in recent years. This means that a crisis such as the weakening of the economy leading to the weakening of the housing market, although has its undeniable negative effects in the housing industry, on the positive side, it would somehow force the home building industry to continuously and further develop and implement more and more innovations in their systems. Nonetheless, this would consequently lead to further innovations and efficiencies in the home building industry, and thus more high quality and affordable choices of homes for the consumers. References What’s next for housing industy CIOs. Retrieved April 20, 2008, from http://www. cio. com/article/134004 Seiders, D. F. (2006, September 19). Housing economics. Retrieved April 20, 2008, from http://www. nbnnews. com/houseecon/issues/2006-09-19. html Milt N. (2005, April 27). Housing market crisis threatens economy. Retrieved April 20, 2008, from http://www. workers. org/2005/us/housing-0505/ Schoen J. W. (2007, June 19). Housing industry still looking for the bottom. Retrieved April 20, 2008, from http://www. msnbc. msn. com/id/19311316/ Buban C. E. (2007, December 22). Housing developers and current industry trends. Retrieved April 20, 2008, from http://showbizandstyle. inquirer. net/ lifestyle/view_article. php? article_id=108293 Zito K. (2006, June 16). Billions to state from housing. Retrieved April 20, 2008, from http://www. sfgate. com/cgi-bin/article. cgi? f=/c/a/2006/06/16/BUG77JER951. DTL Housing slump reflects worsening economic crisis. Retrieved April 20, 2008, from http://en. internationalism. org/inter/144/housing-slump A new paradigm of the housing industry. Retrieved April 20, 2008, from http://www. meti. go. jp/english/newtopics/data/nBackIssue20080408_01. html Brief overview of the housing economy. Retrieved April 20, 2008, from http://www. oppapers. com/essays/Brief-Overview-Housing-Economy/116741 Barry S. Housing industry, subprime loans and mortgage woes: how serious is it? Retrieved

Friday, November 8, 2019

Can I Get an Accredited High School Diploma Online

Can I Get an Accredited High School Diploma Online SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you looking into online high schools and wondering if they’re legitimate?Have you come across the word â€Å"accredited† and want to know what it means?Online high schools have been exploding in popularity in recent years, and, as more are created, it can be difficult to tell which are legitimate schools and which are little more than diploma mills. Read this guide to learn more about online high schools, what it means for a school to be accredited, where to get an accredited high school diploma online, and how to ensure that you are choosing the best school for you. Note: If you're interested in getting your GED online rather than an accredited high school diploma, read this article instead. What Is an Online School? Asyou may have guessed, an online high school is a school or program where students can earn their high school diploma by taking classes online.Some of these classes arecompletely online, while others are mostly online but require students to visit a testing center or other location to take final exams. If you enroll in an online high school, you can either take a few classes to supplement your degree at your regular high school, or you can earn your entire high school diploma online.Some of these programs are affiliated with traditional brick and mortar schools while others are solely online.Online high schools can be public, private, charter, or university/college affiliated. To learn more about why people choose to attend online high school and how it can benefit you, check out our guide to online high school, and learn how to decide if it's a good choice for you. What Does Accreditation Mean? Accreditation is a process of evaluation that schools (both online and traditional) undergo in order to ensure they meet certain quality standards for education. Accreditation is evaluated regularly, and a school can lose accreditation if a large number of students don't meet educationalstandards for their grade level, there aren't enough teachers for the students, teachers don't have necessaryeducational backgrounds, or a different reason. Before a school becomes unaccredited, it is often given a warning and probationary period first to try and improve. A school can regain its accreditation if it has shown sustainable improvement, but becoming re-accredited can often take several months or even years. For high schools, accreditation requirements vary by state. Public schools must follow guidelines set by their state government in order to be accredited, while the requirements for private and charter schools often vary widely, depending on the state. Accreditors must be approved by the US Department of Education (USDE) in order to be considered legitimate.A school that is legitimately accredited will provideinformation about who it is accredited by (such as a regional accreditor), and who accepts that accreditation, such as "Fully accredited by the State Department of Illinois." A school that simply lists "accredited" without mentioning who it is accredited by or who accepts that accreditationmay not be officiallyaccredited, which is pretty much the same as not being accredited at all. Unfortunately, fake accreditors do exist. Accreditation is important because it lets students know they are attending a school that provides them with a quality education, and, when they graduate, it lets others know that their education met certain standards. Colleges want to accept students from accredited high schools because it gives them confidence that those students were taught what they need to know to be prepared for and succeed infuture classes. For students who are younger than16, accreditation becomes even more important because you will only be considered enrolled in school (which is required until you turn 16) if the online school you attend is accredited. Are There Non-Accredited Online High Schools? What Are the Dangers of Taking Classes Through Them? As online education continues to grow in popularity, more and more online high schools have been created in order to keep up with demand.Some of these online high schools have gone through rigorous development and reviews and can provide an education equal to that of a traditional high school;however,others are nothing more than diploma mills that take your money and give you a prettyuseless piece of paper in return. Accreditation is the best way to pick out the highest quality schools and prevent yourself from getting scammed.But what if you find a really great online high school that offers great classes, but it isn’t accredited? Is it really that bad to take classes at an unaccredited school? In short, yes.The first reason taking classes from a non-accredited school is bad is that you likely won’t get a good education. For a school to not be accredited, it either didn’t put in the effort to attempt accreditation (a bad sign, considering how important it is), or it failed the accreditation process because it didn’t meet certain education standards. Simply put, this means that you will be taking classes from a school that hasn’t been found to provide a quality education. Any person canset up a website and claim to run an online high school.Some online high schools will give you a â€Å"diploma† as long as you pay their fee and take a short multiple choice exam. While that’s an extreme case (and that company was eventually shut down), there are many other non-accredited programs that claim to offer you a high school education but don’t deliver. Getting a diploma from an unaccredited school could cause problems for you in the future. Image Source: Flickr/Enokson While getting a high school diploma so easily may seem nice, if you don’t learn much before getting it, you likely won’t be prepared for whatever the reason you’re attempting to finish high school, whether that’s college classes or a more advanced job. That can lead to you feeling confused and overwhelmed, and you may end updroppingout of schoolor quitting your job because you didn’t have the knowledge you needed to do well. Another important reason to not take classes from a non-accredited school is because most other schools and people won’t accept the classes you took. This means that, if you took classes at anon-accredited online school, they probably won'ttransfer to your regular high school, and if you receive a diploma from anon-accredited high school, mostcolleges and employers won’t accept it.Colleges want students from accredited high schools because it increases the likelihood that they received a rigorous education and are prepared for college classes. For almost alljobs and colleges, having a diploma from a non-accredited high school is just about the same as not having a high school diploma at all.Taking classes at a non-accredited online high school can leave you with a poor education and an expensive piece of paper that likely don'thelp you further your education or career. Is It Ever OK to Take Classes at a Non-Accredited Online High School? Now you know the risks of studying at an unaccredited online school, but would there ever be a good reason to take classes at anon-accredited school? For almost all high school students, it's a bad idea to classes at anon-accredited school.However, there area fewtimes whenit could be OKto take classes at anon-accredited online high school. The reasons are listed below; however, for each of them, remember that there is still some risk involved if you ever change your plans and would like those classes to transfer to a school that only accepts credits from an accredited school. Whenever possible, you should still choose an accredited school. One reason you may take classes at a non-accredited school is because you don't plan on pursuing additional education afterward,so you don't need to worry about other schools accepting the classes. This may be the case if you are attending a technical school or certificate programwhere your qualifications will be based on a specialized test you need to pass and not the accreditation of your school. Another reason you may take classes at a non-accredited online school is if you are only taking a few classes for your own personal use and not looking to receive academic credit for them. This could be the case if you want to take some online classes for fun, to brush up on a particular skill, or to prepare yourself for future classes where you will receive academic credit (such as taking an online calculus class before your actual calculus class begins). This may also be true forhome-schooledstudents who want to supplement their education with online classes. A third reason is that the traditional (i.e. not online) school you are attending or will attend has agreed to accept classes from a non-accredited school. Some high schools and colleges have partnershipswith certain online class providers, and they may give you academic credit for classes you take through them, even if those online schoolsaren't accredited because your schoolstudied their syllabi and knows theymeet their standards. However, you should absolutely check on thisbefore enrolling in an unaccredited online class, and you should get confirmation, preferably in writing, that the class will be accepted. If you're going to attend an unaccredited online school, be careful, and don't jump in right away. How Can You Find OutIf an Online High School Is Accredited? So now that you know how important accreditation is, how can you find out if the online high schools you’re interested in are accredited? There are several different steps, and each isoutlined below. Step 1: Check the School Website Typically, the easiest way to see if a particular school is accredited is to check its website.If the school is accredited, it will state that somewhere on its website, often on the first page or in the â€Å"about† section. Some schools have specificpages just to show their accreditation. Once you find this information,sure the schoolalso states whoit received its accreditation from and/or who that accreditationis recognized by (such as a regional accreditationor a department of education). A school will rarely come out and state that it’s not accredited, however.If you can’t find any accreditation information on the school’s website, move on to the next step. Step 2: Check Online Resources While the US Department of Education has created a database for people to check the accreditation of colleges and universities, there is currently no such resource to check for high schools, so it can be slightly more difficult to learn if a high school is accredited.First try doing an internet search for â€Å"accreditation + [School Name]†.You can also search for online reviews to see what past students are saying about the school. Step 3: Contact the School If you are unable to find information online, contact the school itself.Look on the school’s website to find its contact information, and either call or e-mail them.Ask if the school is accredited and, if so, by whom. Be aware that many schools do not like to admit outright that they aren’t accredited, so they may give you a roundabout answer. You should be extremely wary of any answer that isn’t a plainâ€Å"Yes.† This includes â€Å"We’re almost accredited†, â€Å"No, but we’re just as good as accredited schools,† and similar responses. This is often just a way to try and convince you to enroll in the school anyway. If they are accredited, ask for more information on who accredited them. It may be a regional accreditation, national accreditation, or a state accreditation. If a school isn’t accredited, move on to another one that is. There are many options for online high school now, and more and more of these schools are becomingaccredited. Summary Online high schools can be a great way for people who can’t attend traditional schools to obtain their high school diploma. However, as online education becomes more popular, some schools have been created solely as a way to make money for their owner, with no regard to quality of education. Accreditation is a way to easily find out which schools provide a good education. If a school is accredited, that means it met certain education standards. If you enroll in an online high school that isn't accredited, you will most likely not get a good education, and your diploma and coursework won’t be accepted by almost anycolleges or employers, making it pretty much useless. You should always check to see if a school is accredited before enrolling. You can do this by looking on the school’s website or contacting them directly. What's Next? Wondering if you should earn an accreditedhigh school diploma online? Check out our guide toonline high schools and learn how to decide if they are the best choice for you. Thinking about getting a GED instead? We discuss what a GED is, how to get your GED online and the best GED practice tests to help you prepare here. Want an in-depth look at an online high school? Read our reviewof the prestigious Stanford Online High School and see if it's something you're interested in. Why is your high school transcript so important? Learn about what information a transcript includes and why it's often the most important piece of information colleges look at. Do you even need a high school diploma to get a job? Find out what careers require a high school diploma and when you can get away without one in this article. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

What Is a Good ACT Score A Bad ACT Score An Excellent ACT Score

What Is a Good ACT Score A Bad ACT Score An Excellent ACT Score SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you've taken the ACT and gotten your ACT test scores back, you probably want to know how you did. Or you might be planning for the ACT and want to know what ACT composite score to aim for. So what is a good ACT score? In this article, we'll discuss what makes a good ACT composite score. We also give you a step-by-step guide to figuring out what a good ACT score is for you personally, depending on the colleges you plan to apply to. We’ll also provide ACT score ranges for 38 popular schools and discuss what you can do if you fall short of your goal score. Aside: Are you looking for SAT standards instead? If so check out our SAT good score guidelines. What Is a Good ACT Score Overall? The ACT score range is from 1-36. As you might imagine, the higher your score, the better you did.But is there a certain cutoff that delineates a â€Å"good† ACT score? To answer this question, it’s important to understand how ACT scores work. Your composite score from 1-36 corresponds to a percentile that compares how you did to the general population of ACT test-takers. A higher percentile means you scored higher than that percent of students. (So, a 55th percentile score means your score was higher than 55% of students). Exclusive Free Bonus: Click here to download a free step-by-step guide on finding your personal ACT score target. Once you go through these steps, you'll know exactly what ACT score you need to aim for. ACT test scores are set up to follow a normal distribution. This means that student performance tends to cluster around the middle of the scale- most test-takers score a somewhere between a little below and a little above the average score. Far fewer test-takers score towards the higher and lower end of the scale. The average ACT score is 20.8. If you’ve scored 21, then you’ve scored higher than 50% of test-takers. That’s pretty good, depending on your frame of reference. A 24 places you at the 74th percentile- better than  ¾ of test-takers! Here’s an abbreviated chart with ACT score percentiles for the class of 2018 to help you figure out how your scores position you among the overall student test-taker population: Score ACT English Percentile ACT Math Percentile ACT Reading Percentile ACT Science Percentile Composite Percentile 1 1 1 1 1 1 5 1 1 1 1 1 10 6 1 3 2 1 13 18 3 13 10 9 16 36 31 28 25 27 18 44 48 38 37 40 20 53 57 49 50 52 22 64 65 60 64 64 24 75 74 70 77 74 26 82 83 77 86 82 28 86 91 82 90 88 30 90 95 87 94 93 34 96 99 97 98 99 36 99 99 99 99 99 In terms of benchmarks for ACT score percentiles, a score of 16 places you at the 27th percentile, meaning you’ve scored better than about a quarter of test-takers. This isn’t a very strong score. We’ve already noted that a 20.8 is an average ACT score, at the 50th percentile. A score of 24 means you’ve scored better than about 74% of students. A 28 means you’ve scored better than 88% of students, and a 30 means you’ve scored better than 93% of them! Anything 35 or above is in the 99th percentile- a truly phenomenal score. You can also see that not many people score near the bottom and the top of the scalebecause there’s so little percentile change between scores here. Composite scores in the 1-8 range are all in the 1st percentile, and composite scores from 35-36 are all in the 99th percentile! By contrast, around the middle of the scale at 20, where most test-takers are clustered, a bump of a few points makes a big difference: going from 18 to 22 moves you from the 40th to the 64th percentile- a whopping 24 percentile points! But a similar 4-point bump from 24 to 28 only takes you from the 74th to the 88th percentile. That’s just a 14-percentile bump. And from 30 to 34 is only a 6-percentile increase. You may notice that section percentiles are a little different than the composite scale. However, the same general score distribution holds. So, to recap, compared to all test-takers: ACT score 16 = bottom 25% ACT score of 21 = right in the middle! (average score) ACT score of 24+ = top 25% ACT score of 29+ = top 10% ACT of 31+ = top 5% ACT score of 35+ = top 1% of test-takers If you get a 34 or higher, you've ascended ACT mountain. What's a Good ACT Score for You? We’ve discussed how your ACT score compares to all the other test-takers. But what’s more important is what makes a good ACT score for you personally, based on the schools you are interested in. A 29 places you in the top 10% of test-takers, and it’s a strong score for admission to schools like Texas AM, Penn State, Virginia Tech, and Baylor. But a 29 would actually be a very low score for super-selective institutions like the Ivies, Duke, MIT, Stanford, and the University of Chicago. By contrast, a 29 would be an incredibly high score for less selective schools,like CSU Long Beach (average ACT score 21), CSU Northridge (average ACT score 20) and University of Southern Indiana (average ACT score 22). If those were your goal scores, you wouldn’t need a 29; aiming for a score a little above average (in the 21-22 range) would be adequate. So, what makes a good ACT score for you is all relative, and mostly based on where you are trying to get into college. Of course, it’s also worth noting that the higher your standardized test scores, the more likely you are to get offered merit scholarships.We’re going to focus primarily on figuring out the score you need for admission in this guide, but it’s something to keep in mind. Another thing to consider is that a higher ACT or SAT score can help you if you have a lower GPA than a schoolis looking for. (However, this won’t help you so much at particularly selective institutions- they’ll expect applicants with pretty high marks across the board.) How to Find Your Goal Score So how do you find out what makes for good ACT scores for the colleges you’re interested in? In this section, we’ll walk you through a quick five-step process for figuring out the best goal score for you. Step 1: Download This Worksheet To work through the following steps, we'll be filling out a worksheet for all the schools you're planning to apply to. Click here to download it, or click the image below. I recommend you print it out so that you can write on paper and keep it next to your work space. Step 2: Fill in the Schools You Want to Get Into on the Left Fill in all the schools you're sure you want to apply to already in the leftmost column. If you don't know what schools you're aiming for yet, feel free to use ones that have been suggested to you, or schools that your friends are interested in. I recommend that you take the time to research schools first, though, so that you have a realistic target score.Because your goal score should be targeted to the schools you are actually interested in applying to, the more accurate of an idea you have of the schools you want to apply to, the more accurate your goal score will be. Step 3: For Each School, Google "[Name of School] PrepScholar ACT" For example, if I'm interested in U Alabama, I'll do the following search: Click on the the ACT and GPA post (or the Admission Requirements post, they’ll both have the information) and scroll down to find the 25th and 75th percentile composite ACT scores for admitted students. For University of Alabama, the 25th percentile score is 23. As a quick reminder, the 25th percentile means that 25% of admits have a score at or below that number. So 23 would be a below average score for admitted students for U Alabama. The 75th percentile score for University of Alabama is 32. That means that students with that composite score scored better than 75% of all the other admits. So scoring at that level or above puts you in the top quarter of admits score-wise- a very competitive score! In summary, the 25th/75th percentile range describes the scores of the middle 50% of all students admitted to a particular school. If you score at the 75th percentile for any school, you have a great chance at getting in (assuming your other credentials are appropriate for the school). If you're at the 25th percentile, you'll need to have a particularly strong application to boost your odds of getting in. For each school on your list, google the PrepScholar ACT score information and write down the 25th and 75th percentile scores in the appropriate row for that school on your goal score sheet. Step 4: Calculate Your Final ACT Target Score To calculate your target ACT goal score, look at the 75th percentile column. Find the highest score in that column. That’s your composite score goal. If you score at the 75th percentile level for the most competitive school on your list, you’ll be competitive at all your schools for test scores. Another advantage of choosing a high goal score is that if you end up falling 1-2 points short, it’s not a huge deal because you’ll still be competitive for most of your schools. You might be thinking- hey, wait! Why did I fill out that entire sheet if I was just going to pick the highest 75th percentile score? Well, the advantage of filling out all that information is that you now have it handy as a reference. You’ll be able to check your ACT score against all your schools of interest as soon as you have it! Step 5: Share Your Target Score As a last step, I suggest that you do two things with your score target: Share it with your parents. This will be a helpful conversation around your personal goals and how you want to achieve your target ACT score. Plus, they can help keep you accountable throughout the preparation process! Tape it to your wall. This will keep your goal in mind, which will help keep you motivated to prepare. Keep your goals in sight! Good ACT Scores for Popular Schools To make determining your goal score a little easier, here is an ACT score chart with the 25th-75th percentile composite ACT test scores for 2018 for 35 popular schools.I’ve also provided the acceptance rate and current U.S. News ranking to give you additional reference points as to how selective the school is. School 25th Percentile ACT 75th Percentile ACT US News Ranking (National Universities) 2018 Acceptance Rate Princeton University 32 35 1 6% Harvard University 33 35 2 5% University of Chicago 32 35 3 9% Yale University 32 35 3 6% Columbia University 33 35 3 6% MIT 34 35 3 7% Stanford University 32 35 7 4% University of Pennsylvania 33 35 8 8% Duke University 32 35 8 10% Johns Hopkins University 33 35 10 5% Northwestern University 32 34 10 9% Dartmouth College 31 35 12 9% Brown University 31 35 14 7% Vanderbilt University 32 35 14 11% Cornell University 32 34 16 11% University of Notre Dame 33 35 18 17% University of California, Los Angeles 28 33 19 16% Georgetown University 30 34 22 15% University of California, Berkeley 29 35 22 18% University of Southern California 30 34 22 13% Carnegie Mellon University 32 35 25 17% University of Virginia 31 34 25 27% Wake Forest University 28 32 27 28% University of Michigan 31 34 27 24% New York University 29 33 30 19% University of North CarolinaChapel Hill 29 33 30 22% Boston College 31 33 38 27% Boston University 30 33 42 22% University of Georgia 28 33 46 48% Villanova University 31 34 49 29% Ohio State University 28 32 56 48% Penn State University 28 32 59 51% Clemson University 27 31 66 47% Texas AM University 25 30 66 61% What If My Score Is Too Low? If you take the test and you get lower than your goal score, what should you do? Don’t panic; you have a few options. We’ll go over them here and help you figure out when you should consider them. Strategy 1: Retake the Test If you have the time to prepare for the test and re-take it, this is probably your best strategy if you are really set on all your schools. (Unless you were only 1 or maybe 2 points under, in which case it might actually be a poor use of time toretake the test- see strategy #2). You’ll want to be sure to do targeted prep of your weaknesses to have the best chance of actually improving your score. You should also make sure you actually prepare for enough hours to make the meaningful difference in score that you need. Here are our rough estimates for how many hours of prep it will take for you to improve your composite score by a certain amount: 0-1 ACT Composite Point Improvement: 10 hours 1-2 ACT Point Improvement: 20 hours 2-4 ACT Point Improvement: 40 hours 4-6 ACT Point Improvement: 80 hours 6-9 ACT Point Improvement: 150 hours+ Strategy 2: Don’t Worry About It If you only missed your goal score by 1-2 points, depending on the schools you’re applying to, you might not need to do anything. Let’s say you were going for a 35, but you got a 34. You could retake the test, but you don’t necessarily have to. If your 34 still puts you towards the top of the 25th-75th percentile range for your schools, it might make more sense to use the time and energy you would spend prepping for and retaking the test on other parts of your application. However, if you were more than two points short of your goal score, you should consider strategies 1 or 3. And if you’re applying to very selective schools, even two points might make a retake worth it. Strategy 3: Adjust Your List of Schools If you are 3+ points short of your goal score and you don’t have time to retake the test, your best strategy is to adjust your list of schools. While you can (and should) still apply to your dream schools as reach schools, you’ll need to make sure that you have enough strong match and safety schools for your scores. Let’s say you were going for a 32, but you got a 28. You may have had Boston University(middle 50% 29-32)as a match, but now it’s more of a reach. And maybe you had Hofstra University (middle 50% 24-29) as a safety school but now it’s closer to a match. So add some safety schools for your score, like SUNY Albany (middle 50% 22-26) and Pace University (middle 50% 22-27).You can see more on choosing appropriate safety, match, and reach schools here. Safety (schools) are very important in the college application process. Review: What Is a Good ACT Score? So what is a good ACT score? Well, your composite ACT score corresponds to a percentile ranking that tells you how you did compared to all other test-takers. 20 is a 50th percentile, or average score. However, it’s more important to consider what’s a good ACT score for you personally. And a good score is one that makes you competitive for the programs you are interested in! We went over a 5-step process for determining a goal score. We also provided ACT score ranges for 38 popular schools. Finally, we provided some advice for what to do if you miss your goal score. You can prepare and retake the test, do nothing (if you were pretty close to your goal), or adjust your list of schools. Remember, the most important thing is figuring out what are good ACT scores for you personally! You won’t necessarily need the same scores as some of your friends and peers. What's Next? Got ACT questions? We've got answers! See ourACT FAQ. We can also help you figure out how hard the ACT will be for youand why you might need to take the ACT. We can help you figure out how important the ACT is for the college admissions process. And what's the minimum ACT score for college? Do you wantto improve your ACT score? Check out our top guides: ACT Prep Guide:Practice Test, Critical Info, and Section Info How to Get a Perfect ACT score, by a 36 Scorer How to Get a 36 in ACT Reading, ACT Math, and ACT English Check out our online ACT prep program. We have a 4 point improvement guarantee - if you don't improve your score by 4 points, you get every penny of your money back. Plus, you get a 5-day free trial, so if you don't feel that it's helping you, you can cancel at any time.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Peer To Peer Multimedia Streaming Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Peer To Peer Multimedia Streaming - Essay Example However, the increase in the number of viewers, along with the rise in a number of other online applications, has made this architecture ineffective because of bandwidth bottleneck issues. One solution introduced to solve this problem is peer to peer (P2P) technology, wherein peers automatically relay streams to other peers. The P2P network they are connected to performs an algorithm that helps peers ï ¬ nd a relay for a speciï ¬ ed stream to connect to. In multimedia streaming service, the important factors to observe are playing time and network bandwidth utilization. The purpose of this report is to present a solution to these issues. The proposal is to utilize P2P caching service that exploits the proximity of connected clients, i.e. the temporal and spatial locality of cached streams to the clients. In this scheme, connected peer clients not only receive multimedia streams from a server but also send cached streams to peer clients like a proxy server upon request. One P2P technology that can support this architecture is called inter-overlay optimization. Figure 1 shows the different approaches employed in multimedia streaming starting from the centralized client-server topology to decentralized schemes, which includes IP multicast and P2P solutions. P2P can be further sub-divided into mesh-based, tree-based and hybrid overlays. Each peer can accept media data from multiple parents as well as provide services to multiple children (both parent and child are relative terms in place of master-slave relationship). The advantages of this solution are high resource utilization and fast discovery of fresh peers in a single mesh due to gossiping. The disadvantages are: quality of service cannot be guaranteed due to gossiping among peers and large buffer space needed to reduce the impact of autonomy of peers (in a dynamic environment). Example applications are Coolstreaming, Promise, and GNUStream. Each peer communicates only with one parent (per overlay) and provides service to a number of children such that a â€Å"tree† topology is always maintained (in an overlay). The advantages of this solution are: closely resembles original IP multicast ideas and low management overhead.

Friday, November 1, 2019

Business Function and Processes. (Coca Cola Company) Research Paper

Business Function and Processes. (Coca Cola Company) - Research Paper Example Because of the multidisciplinary nature of developing a design for a new product or service, most managers in this company considered risk calculations inappropriate within such a broadly creative and developed environment. This paralleled most scholars’ view that design is something that reflects both inner and outer environments of a firm with the interface between the two becoming that that meets the preferred objectives (Chiu, 2005: 6-7). This paper will seek to evaluate critically the implications of developing a decision to design and deliver a new product or service with which to enter either a domestic or an international market. Indeed, it is a heard task. The largest number of companies enters different geographical or international markets as a stratagem of finding and getting new customers. A product may be in maturity stage in one market while it might be in the introductory level in another. Making some product modifications like changing its size or packaging de sign can also prolong the maturity stage of the product. However, introducing a new product is a completely new story (Brooke and Mills, 2002:72). Every product must move through the four stages of a product life cycle, which include introduction, market growth, market maturity, and sales decline (Mohr, Sengupta, and Slater, 2009: 56-57). Therefore, when deciding to introduce a new product or service into the market, company decision makers must resolve to look into the kind of implications the new product will pose to pervasive issues affecting the company. Sustainability When Coca Cola is introducing a new product into the market, it means challenges and opportunities. A new drink going into the market must pass through the introductory stage of a product life cycle whereby, customers are not aware of the product and are certainly not looking for it. Coca Cola Company will likely operate at a loss because it is investing the new drink that is bringing in minimal sales. This new dr ink can pass through this life cycle stage commonly referred to as â€Å"kick them back† with much ease since Coca Cola is a large, well-known company and has many means of advertising a new product. This means that, when deciding to introduce a new drink, Coca Cola has the advantage of sustainability. This is because, when the drink enters the second stage of a product life cycle, market growth, its sales will increase at a quick pace (Daft, 2009: 280-82). At this stage, Coca Cola should make sure that the product moves through this stage at a slow pace since currently, customers are deriving satisfaction from the drink and continue to purchase it. As competitors start entering the market, they will try to imitate the product or make it better and at the process, the profits realized from its sales will start declining. At this stage, the drink maturity takes place when the industry sale level off and competition starts to grow stiffer. In some cases, some companies drops ou t of the market probably because that are inefficient and cannot withstand stiff competition. Decision basing introduction of a new drink must stage strategies on how overcome kick them back stage and withstand competition by engineering ways of establishing survival tools (Brooke and Mills, 2002:119). In order to achieve introduction of a vital new drink decision, Coca Cola’s design must cover the drink design, process selection, capacity planning, design of work systems, facility layouts, location planning, as well as decision analysis. The decision must bear in mind that satisfying customers begins with the new drink design