Quality of Emba Program

Problem Definition Background to the problem Dhaka University's Evening MBA program started in 2002 as an effort to bring the Faculty of Business Studies up to the standard with other private, public and international academic institutions. The program is currently on its 18th batch. Although the University authority started the program almost 8 years ago, there are still doubts among people about the quality of the Evening MBA program offered by the Dhaka University Faculty of Business Studies and many are confused about where this program stands against the MBA program offered by Dhaka University Institute of Business Administration (IBA). So a study was due in this field to determine the quality of the DU evening MBA program. And no one knows about the program better than those who are studying in the program already. Problem Statement The problem statement for our research is â€Å"The quality of the Evening MBA program in Dhaka University is not very high†. We will be using several statistical theories and tools to test our problem statement and create a model from it and also test the significance of the model. Approach to the Problem As our problem statement suggests, our objective of the study is to determine the quality of the Evening MBA program in Dhaka University. Now a product's quality can be easily determined through the use of different quality checks but what determines the quality of an academic program? After looking into some secondary data and taking initial opinion from a small group we have come to conclusion that quality of an academic program is closely related to quality of the learners, the environment the learning process takes place, the teacher, content of the learning program, the process and the outcome of it. Based on these analyses we have come to the conclusion that we will need to develop a survey questionnaire which will be used as our primary data and will include questions relating the above mentioned criteria with the topic in question- quality of the evening MBA program. Based on the data collected we will run regression analysis to develop the model and then use Discriminant analysis to classify the results. Research Design A research design should include all the important information about the research process such as type of research done, information needs, data collection, scaling techniques, questionnaire development, sampling techniques and fieldwork. Type of research To determine what type of research is needed to be done to achieve our objectives, we have explored different possibilities. First let us revisit our objective- we would like to determine the criteria that form quality of an educational program and then create a model out of it to identify significance of each of the criteria in the model. In other words, we will be determining the effect of some independent variables and determine how they affect the dependant variable. Based on this initial assumption we could say that we are looking into a cause and effect relationship and hence we will be doing a Causal research. However, further probing into the matter made us realize that the most important criteria of a causal relationship is to be able to manipulate the variables and observe their effect on the model, which in our case is not at all possible, neither we will be doing much experimentation. So ours is anything but a causal research. What our research is rather capable of is determine some characteristics relating to the problem in hand and based on primary data and observation develop a model to show an overall relationship. Based on such analysis we have come to the conclusion that a Descriptive research is more appropriate in our case. Information Needs For our analysis, at first we needed to know the perception of students about the quality of the evening MBA program. After that we needed their opinion on quality of the students enrolled in the program, students’ perception of the brand value of the program, quality of the teachers, grading system and admission test. So we have determined to create a questionnaire that will include questions about both the dependent variable (quality of the program) and independent variables (quality of students, brand value perception, quality of teachers, grading system, admission tests etc. ) and use it to run a survey to gather all the necessary information we will need in developing the model. Scaling Techniques Now all of our required data are about opinions or perceptions of students. For such situations a Likert scale is the most appropriate scaling technique to use because the main feature of Likert scale is a list of opinions ranging from extreme positive to extreme negative about a statement. Each opinion is assigned a score and based on the respondent’s response the score is considered in further data analysis. While using Likert scale we had to careful to maintain a consistency in the statements so that the positivity of an opinion always gets the highest score and the negative one the lowest. Based on this rule we needed to reverse the scoring on questions that leaned to negativity. Questionnaire Development and Pre-testing We have already defined our dependent and independent variables for the research and what we needed was to collect the sample population’s opinion about each of the statements made using a Likert scale. So setting up the questionnaire was quite simple for us. All we had to do is form a statement relating to each of the variables and attach a Likert scale table to let the respondents choose to what level they agreed or disagreed to the statements. Based on our initial analysis, we have determined 1 dependent and 12 independent variable and so we created a questionnaire with 13 statements and some apparently-relevant open-ended questions. To avoid confusion, the statements were worded as simple as possible. However, after pre-testing the questionnaire among a very small group, we observed that people still got confused about a question (question 12) related to grading. While our objective was to correlate fairness in grading with the quality of education, students related it to the grading system. So this statement didn’t serve its intended purpose and hence in our final analysis we have decided to leave it out. Due to this change, from now on every instance of Q12 will refer to Q13 in real. A sample copy of the questionnaire used has been included in the appendix section of this report. Sampling technique Sampling is another important part of a research design. The first and foremost job in sampling is to define the target population. Now we have already discussed that as the problem is to determine whether the quality of the EMBA program is up to the standard or not, no one but the students would know the most about it. So our target population is defined as all the students in the EMBA program; that includes not only the students from marketing department but all other departments too. After the target population was defined, the next job was to determine a sampling technique. Now there are a lot of sampling technique available but due to several limitations not all of them were appropriate. Considering the fact that it would be a lot difficult to contact and convince students from other departments to participate in the survey, we have decided to leave them out. And considering the fact that we started working on the research project right at the end of the semester made it difficult to communicate with all the students in marketing department too. So to run our survey we had to rely on the places of convenience where we would be present along with more students from different batches. In other words, the sampling technique we used was more of a convenience sampling. however we were careful not to select one respondent more than once. After the sampling technique was determined, our next job was to determine the sample size. Now determining the sample size is a very complicated process even on situations where relevant data like total population size etc. are available. When no such data exists, the sample size determination becomes just that much harder. However, we were lucky not to have gone through any hardship at all because we were instructed by our respectable course teacher to keep the sample size to somewhere around 30 and we followed his instructions to the book. Fieldwork As this is a very small-scale academic research, there was no need for additional fieldworker to run the survey. Instead we, the researchers took matters into our own hands and did the fieldwork ourselves. Now the positive side of it was that we didn’t have to train anyone to run the survey most effectively. As we were the ones setting up the questionnaire, we had a clear idea about what to do and how to do it. We used our available classes as place of convenience and used the class breaks to collect our data. Data Preparation After the fieldwork was done, we were left with 36 responses, out of which 4 were found to be incomplete. On such situations it is suggested to assign missing values to the incomplete survey papers. However, as we still had a margin from the required minimum of 30, we decided to leave the incomplete ones out. Once we agreed on that, the 32 valid survey papers were coded and transcribed into the computer to be used with SPSS, the statistical tool we ought to use. Data Analysis Once the data were transferred into SPSS, we were ready to start data analysis. Methodology The data were analyzed by conducting multiple regression analysis and Discriminant analysis. Regression was conducted to see whether a relationship exists between quality of EMBA program (dependant variable) and factors we have determined to indicate the quality (independent variables). Discrminant analysis was used to give us further insights. Plan for Data Analysis For regression we have considered Q1 as dependant variable and Q2-Q12 as independent variables. Then we have used SPSS to get the output. For Discriminant analysis, independent variables were converted from nine-point Likert scale into two-group categorical variable. For conversion we followed the following rule: -4= 1 (Low); that is EMBA program is perceived to be of low quality. 6-9= 2 (High), that is EMBA program is perceived to be of high quality. Note that we have disregarded the neutral value 5. From our analysis we have found that none of the respondents have chosen this. So we have taken only two variables and planned for Two-Group Discriminant analysis. So in this case the newly converted group variable is the dependent and Q2–Q12 are considered as predictors. Results Regression Strength of Association In the SPSS output Table below we can see the value of R2 is . 878. The R-square value is an indicator of how well the model fits the data e. . , an R2 close to 1. 0 indicates that we have accounted for almost all of the variability with the variables specified in the model. Our R2 is close to 1. ModelRR2Adjusted R SquareStd. Error of the EstimateChange Statistics R2 ChangeF Changedf1df2Sig. F Change 1. 937(a). 878. 811. 989. 87813. 0651120. 000 (a) Predictors: (Constant), Q12, Q7, Q3, Q2, Q4, Q9, Q6, Q11, Q10, Q8, Q5 Significance Testing The following formula is used to test whether an R2 calculated is significantly different than Zero. The Null Hypothesis is that the population R2 is Zero. where N is the number of subjects, k is the number of predictor variables and R? s the squared multiple correlation coefficient. The F is based on k and N – k – 1 degrees of freedom. In our case, N = 32, k = 12, and R? = . 878. In the SPSS output Table below we can see that F = 13. 065 which is significant at ? =0. 05. We can also see that significance is . 000; as it is smaller than . 05 we can say that it is highly significant. ANOVA (b) ModelSum of SquaresdfMean SquareFSig. 1Regression140. 6461112. 78613. 065. 000(a) Residual19. 57320. 979 Total160. 21931 (a) Predictors: (Constant), Q12, Q7, Q3, Q2, Q4, Q9, Q6, Q11, Q10, Q8, Q5 (b) Dependent Variable: Q1 In addition to testing R? or significance, it is possible to test the individual regression coefficients (Beta) for significance and it is shown in the SPSS output in the following table. Coefficients (a) ModelUnstandardized CoefficientsStandardized CoefficientstSig. 95% Confidence Interval for BCorrelations BStd. ErrorBetaLower BoundUpper BoundZero-orderPartialPart 1(Constant). 4491. 171. 383. 705-1. 9942. 892 Q2-. 046. 188-. 035-. 246. 808-. 437. 345. 395-. 055-. 019 Q3-. 091. 131-. 074-. 694. 496 -. 364. 182. 236-. 153-. 054 Q4. 102. 190. 084. 539. 596-. 294. 499. 407. 120. 042 Q5-. 188. 232-. 129-. 809. 428-. 672. 296. 464-. 78-. 063 Q6. 507. 196. 4372. 582. 018. 097. 916. 856. 500. 202 Q7. 015. 141. 011. 103. 919-. 279. 308. 273. 023. 008 Q8. 508. 170. 4652. 982. 007. 153. 864. 878. 555. 233 Q9. 035. 151. 029. 231. 819-. 280. 350. 464. 052. 018 Q10-. 132. 167-. 111-. 791. 438-. 482. 217. 524-. 174-. 062 Q11. 188. 145. 1711. 292. 211-. 115. 491. 600. 277. 101 Q12. 165. 119. 1461. 386. 181-. 083. 414. 621. 296. 108 (a) Dependent Variable: Q1 In the above table, we can see that all of significant levels corresponding to individual Beta are greater than . 05 except two. The significant for coefficient for Q6 and Q8 is less than . 5. So these are found to be significant. Therefore teacher’s delivery and student’s seriousness are important in explaining quality of education program. Regression Model From the whole regression analysis, we can finally generate a mode l that shows the total relationship between the independent variables selected and the dependent variable. Assigning each of the independent variables with Xn starting with Q2 as X1, Q3 as X2, Q4 as X3 and so on and assigning the dependent variable Q1 as Y, we form a generic regression model- Y= C + B1X1+ B2X2+ B3X3+ B4X4+ B5X5+ B6X6+ B7X7+ B8X8+ B9X9+ B10X10+ B11X11 Now putting the relevant Bs in the equation, we get- Y=0. 449 – 0. 046X1 – 0. 091X2 + 0. 102X3 – 0. 188X4 + 0. 507X5 + 0. 015X6 + 0. 508X7 + 0. 035X8 – 0. 132X9 + 0. 188X10 + 0. 165X11 This is our regression model to determine the quality of education in the EMBA program. Discriminant Analysis The significance of univariate F ratios shown in table below indicates that when the predictors are considered individually Q8, Q6 and Q12 are highly significant (significant level . 000) in differentiating between those who perceive EMBA program to be of high quality and those who perceive it to be low quality. That is teacher’s delivery (Q8), student’s seriousness (Q6) and seriousness of administration in enforcing quality (Q12) are important differentiating factors toward high or low quality perception of EMBA program. Tests of Equality of Group Means Wilks' LambdaFdf1df2Sig. Q2. 8007. 501130. 010 Q3. 9531. 480130. 233 Q4. 8067. 240130. 012 Q5. 72311. 518130. 002 Q6. 29073. 336130. 000 Q7. 9551. 410130. 244 Q8. 26881. 874130. 000 Q9. 8584. 949130. 034 Q10. 8037. 350130. 011 Q11. 8087. 123130. 012 Q12. 62517. 996130. 000 Because there are only two groups, only one discriminant function is estimated. The Eigenvalue associated with the function is 5. 37; as shown in table below and it accounts for 100 percent of the explained variance. The canonical correlation associated with this function is 0. 924. The square of this correlation, (0. 924)2 = 0. 85, indicates that 85% of the variance in the dependent variable (High/low quality perception) is explained or accounted for by the model. Eigenvalues FunctionEigenvalue% of VarianceCumulative %Canonical Correlation 15. 837(a)100. 0100. 0. 924 (a) First 1 canonical discriminant function was used in the analysis. It can be noted from table below Wilks' Lambda associated with the function is 0. 146 which transforms to a chi-square of 47. 98 with 11 degree of freedom. This is significant beyond the . 05 level. Wilks' Lambda Test of Function(s)Wilks' LambdaChi-squaredfSig. 1. 14647. 09811. 000 The table below shows the inter-correlation between the predictors and we can assume a low correlation. Q2Q3Q4Q5Q6Q7Q8Q9Q10Q11Q12 CorrelationQ21. 000. 324. 512. 340. 215-. 209. 064. 441. 317. 131. 125 Q3. 3241. 000. 088. 243. 218. 094. 072. 066. 044. 398. 261 Q4. 512. 0881. 000. 667. 096-. 236. 170. 197. 497. 266. 055 Q5. 340. 243. 6671. 000. 290-. 438. 053. 080. 336. 364. 149 Q6. 215. 218. 096. 2901. 000. 032. 186. 095. 323. 529. 015 Q7-. 209. 094-. 236-. 438. 0321. 000. 29. 100. 220. 163. 113 Q8. 064. 072. 170. 053. 186. 129 1. 000. 450. 390. 260. 186 Q9. 441. 066. 197. 080. 095. 100. 4501. 000. 531. 296. 206 Q10. 317. 044. 497. 336. 323. 220. 390. 5311. 000. 517. 153 Q11. 131. 398. 266. 364. 529. 163. 260. 296. 5171. 000. 135 Q12. 125. 261. 055. 149. 015. 113. 186. 206. 153. 1351. 000 An examination of standardized discriminant function coefficient shown in the following table given the low inter-correlation between predictors, it is revealed that Q8 (teacher’s adequate lecture delivery) and Q6 (seriousness of the students to learn) is the most important predictors (having highest value of . 13 and . 704 respectively) in discriminating between groups, followed by Q12 ( administration’s seriousness in enforcing quality) and Q5 (competitive value of achieving degree in the industry). Standardized Canonical Discriminant Function Coefficients Function 1 Q20. 164 Q3-0. 199 Q40. 122 Q50. 245 Q60. 704 Q70. 276 Q80. 713 Q9-0. 118 Q10-0. 387 Q11-0. 264 Q120. 254 It is interesting to note that the same observation is obtained from examination of the structure correlations (structure matrix shown in table below). In this table these simple correlation between predictors and discrminant function are listed in order of magnitude. Structure Matrix Function 1 Q80. 684 Q60. 647 Q120. 321 Q50. 256 Q20. 207 Q100. 205 Q40. 203 Q110. 202 Q90. 168 Q30. 092 Q70. 090 SPSS offer a leave-one-out cross validation option. In this option, the discriminant model is re-estimated as many times as there are respondents in the sample. Each re-estimated model leaves out one respondent and the model is used to predict for that respondent. The output for this is shown in the table on the following page. From the table hit ratio or the percentage of cases correctly classified can be estimated as (18+13)/32*100 =96. % [considering correct number of predictions of 18 and 13 for two groups] Classification Results (b,c) GroupPredicted Group MembershipTotal 1. 002. 00 OriginalCount%1. 0018018 2. 0011314 1. 00100. 0. 0100. 0 2. 007. 192. 9100. 0 Cross-validated(a)Count%1. 0017118 2. 0011314 1. 0094. 45. 6100. 0 2. 007. 192. 9100. 0 (a)Cross validation is done only for those cases in the analysis. In cross validation each case is classifie d by the functions derived from all cases other than that case. (b) 96. 9% of original grouped cases correctly classified. (c) 93. 8% of cross-validated grouped cases correctly classified. Thus we can say most important factors are Q8 (teacher’s adequate lecture delivery) and Q6 (seriousness of the students to learn). This result is consistently found both by regression and correlation. Limitations No research project is free from limitations of some form- be it time or resources. Same is true for our research project. Although time given was adequate for a small-scale project like this, but considering the topic of our discussion such small-scale research hardly means anything. Considering the number of students currently enrolled in the EMBA program as a whole, a sample size of 30 is hardly representative of the population. Added to that is our inability to communicate and select respondents from other departments. So considering all these, this project, although best efforts were given to complete, doesn’t completely satisfies its main purpose of determining the quality level of the EMBA program. Conclusion In conclusion, we can say that even though the research project didn’t serve its purpose completely, it at the least gives some idea about students’ perception of quality education and overall quality of the EMBA program. From the research, based on multiple data analysis, we have found out that people put great emphasis on students’ eagerness to learn and teachers’ delivery of knowledge to determine the quality of education program. So it is imperative that students are encouraged in different ways so that they feel inspired to learn new things on their own. And teachers also should keep in mind the duty they have sworn to fulfill and give their best efforts in teaching the students properly while staying above all influences. –X–

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

Ben Carson Essay

English 52 3:00pm class Faith Ben Carson today is a neurosurgeon that once was just a young black kid from the ghetto with no knowledge of anything the world. Today he is one of the most inspiring person in the world, he was the first neurosurgeon to separate conjoined twins from the head, without bleeding to death. He had no dad, and a mom with psychiatric problems. He faced a hard teenage and childhood, in his life he faced problems from racism, anger management, and poverty. This book shows us how having faith with no fear of the unknown, this book ould lead anyone to have a successful spiritual life and career. His faith led him to go through all the struggles and come out successful. Ben Carson had different experiences throughout his childhood, and having faith led him to go through struggles. When he was just a boy, his father left him, his brother, and mother, because of another family he had. As a child Ben tried to figure out why his father had left them for another family, Ben used church as a way to escape his problems.He began to really have faith, when he heard the preacher talk about a missionary doctor; from then on, his faith set him on a path to become a doctor. There also came a time where his faith was put to the test. At 14 years old he struggled with a bad temper. All the hate he felt from his dad leaving him was in his heart, and he had never let it go. One day at school, he sat listening to classical music when one of his friends made fun of him and was going to change the music.Carson, with all the hate he had, he pulled out a pocket knife he had bought and aimed for his stomach, he hit his friend’s belt buckle. He ran home and thought to himself he was crazy. He got home and locked himself in the bathroom and prayed to God to take his temper away and he prayed and sang, â€Å"Jesus is All the World to Me. † From then on his faith only became stronger, and whenever he felt anything negative, going back to this moment made him feel better. God gave him a second chance to life and make more of it. From then on, he knew he was going to be an instrument of God to save people.When he went on a job for the university to recruit students with his current wife, he almost had an accident while falling asleep on the wheel; he felt relieved and thanked God for helping and giving him yet another chance to life. His struggle through Yale University, when he couldn’t find a job, his faith and willingness helped him find one. Even in his junior year, when he had no money, he walked through the university, thinking and asking God how he was going to make it through, and, just like that, he found 10 dollars in the ground. He knew God was guiding him through and watching over him.In another school year, when he also went through rough economic times, he then again walked through his campus to see if he would find money again, but, no luck, his university did a test of honesty and said that all of the test the c lass had taken, had been burned in a fire his whole class, there were notices posted some of the students just said, that they will just say they did not see the post. Carson was the only one left and the teacher and a photographer came to take the picture of the only honest student in class and right then and there the teacher handed him a 10 dollar bill.As he grew older and became a doctor during surgeries and he felt lost his faith helped him and believed God would guide his hands and even though he did have times, he failed, his surgeries he had faith, that made him strong to overcome it. At the end without faith he wouldn’t be where he is at today. In my life, without faith I wouldn’t be where I am right now. Ever since I read this book, it has inspired my faith in a spiritual and professional way. I have gone to church more often and found the peace I was looking for.I no longer have temper issues, either. I have been more successful in my job and will soon be ge tting another job. I have been dedicated more, and I don’t make sudden decisions, which only benefits me. My faith has also made me outgoing in my career. I never give up finding a solution to a problem. There’s a saying that says â€Å"faith can move mountains. † I believe that Ben Carson is a perfect example of this, and it’s an example that I am following step by step in school and work. When I feel frustrated and ngry, I let my faith intervene and help me get through my own struggles, My marriage has also gotten much better. I have set my life goals based on this book and I know I could achieve them. There is a saying that says faith is the last to die, and that’s the difference between hope and faith. I believe those who hope wait around for things to come out good or wait for things to be handed to them are the ones who never step to the world of the unknown because of fear and like of faith. But with faith you have to put in your work and no t give up on your goals.Ben Carson made it from the ghetto to being a successful, respected Neurosurgeon; because of his faith, he never once stopped believing in himself. His mom’s faith in him also helped; she knew he was going to be special. I believe we all have our destiny this life and that God has set a path for us, our choices, decisions and faith are the ones that decide our path. I will follow my own path just as Ben Carson did; I do not where it will take me, but I know that faith will keep me on the right path. Because faith is the last thing to die.

Girls Issues in UK Schools Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Girls Issues in UK Schools - Essay Example The essay "Girls’ Issues in UK Schools" talks about the problem of marginalization within the scenario of education which forces the girl students to feel alienated within a school environment. One can see that this problem hinders girls from entering the workforce in future and to have upward mobility in the social ladder. One can see that social class is an important factor which determines a student’s acceptability within a class room environment. Read states that, ‘However such desired characteristics are also those considered to characterize the ‘popular girl’ at school- a position of power and influence amongst girls’ peers’. If a girl student happens to be from the lower layers of the society, there is a high chance for the problems related to her social class. While peer group discourses constructed girls as harder working, more mature and more socially skilled, still the boys and a significant number of the girls adhered to the view that it is better being a boy. Girl students may try to hide their social status but this may lead them towards stress and related emotional problems in general. Similarly, cultural background determines a girl student’s socialization and acceptance within her public domain. From a different angle of view, boy students can resist the influence of their cultural and social backgrounds because they have enough freedom. The relative ‘high achievement’ of girls has often been perceived as unproblematic and thus neglected, or achieved at the expense of boys.

WEEK 3 DISCUSSION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

WEEK 3 DISCUSSION - Essay Example Porter is clear in explaining that because a company is profitable and effective at a given moment; that is not necessarily the benchmark of how a company will perform in the future. Like science’s description of life on Earth, the corporation must continually evolve and become more efficient as it maintains a keen eye on its competitors. Most economists like to use the Japanese as a business model when it comes to efficiency and profitability. True the country’s top businesses seized upon a time period where Western companies seemed to be asleep at the switch. Yet their competition has seized upon strategy and in a sense is beating the country’s businesses at their own game and it appears several decades later that the opposition is winning (Porter). In using the Japanese model, Harvard Business Review points out that in 1970 Komatsu was a tiny bulldozer company hardly known outside Japan and had a minute sales fraction of Caterpillar, the American giant in the industry. Fifteen years later, Komatsu had expanded to a $2.8 billion company with as many product lines as their mammoth opposition. As well, they had expanded into the emerging industrial robotics area (Hamel). Did Caterpillar concern themselves with Komatsu in 1970? It is doubtful but had they done a Strategic Intent analysis at the time, they may not have had such a tremendous slice of profit removed in 1985. In a sense, Albani Perfumes is the current Goliath in its market of Latin America. With current sales of $10 million, it is still a relatively small company but has managed to do well against its current competitors. Yet as discussed in Week 2, China is making headway into the market with knockoff perfumes. It could probably be argued that Albani would not win a trade war with the world’s fastest growing economy and this would be rated at zero, Strong Negative

Business analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Business analysis - Essay Example Retail is all about selling goods from businesses or individuals to the end user. In this industry retailers are often considered to be a part of the integrated supply chain. Large quantities or products are purchased by retailers from respective manufacturers. These purchasing process are either done through a wholesaler or directly from the producer and are then passed on to the end users in considerable small quantities. There are various mechanisms through which retailing can be done either in the form of fixed stores or markets or by delivery or door to door selling. The retail industry in the present scenario is considered to be the most competitive industry. As the consumer market demand is increasing there are many new players emerging in this segment which is making the competition fierce. It can be stated that customers are at a profitable end in terms of the scenario of retail industry with multiple players operating to deliver best services and goods at competitive prices . In context of global retail industry there are firms performing their operations through online websites, home delivery and even increasing convenience of users by electronic payment. Retailing is usually associated with providing services to a wide base of customers and encompassing wide range of products. This may include clothing to grocery or even any other household items. However the type of products which are included in a retail store are food products such as those which require facilities of a cold storage, durable goods or hard goods such as appliances, automobiles, sporting goods, electronics, furniture, etc., consumables or soft goods such as clothing, footwear, medicines, other fabrics, cosmetics and stationary, and the last type of product is arts. The importance of selecting a particular industry in this study is that it would help to identify the probable challenges which are affecting the industry. On the

Materials for a Business Jet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Materials for a Business Jet - Essay Example In the paper, a comparison of the related costs of using the five different aircraft materials is shown. When using CFRP, there are also savings of assembling manpower. There will also be savings due to the reduced weight of using composite materials like CFRP and Kevlar.Maintenance cost of a material is determined by several variables. These include the density, ultimate tensile strength, tensile yield strength, durability (fatigue) and fracture toughness properties listed. In a comparison of the related costs of using the five different aircraft materials is shown, the properties of the five materials studied here are displayed. The aluminum alloys have properties which are specific to the number of the series they belong to. The alloy series is categorized by the metal that is the major alloying element. For instance, the 5xxx series aluminum alloys contain magnesium as the major alloying element. The 5xxx series alloys have moderate to high strength and good corrosion resistance. They are not heated treatable. Mechanical properties and strength are less desirable than in the 2xxx and 7xxx series. The 7xxx series aluminum alloys have zinc as the major alloying element. These alloys have the greatest strength of the heat-treated alloys. The 7xxx series alloys also have good heat-treating qualities. In a paper, the particular conditions and tempers used to obtain the material property values are as follows: For aluminum 7475, the T61 temper was used. For aluminum 5052, the H34 condition properties were used. For aluminum 2124, used T351 condition/temper. Kevlar K49 used for density, shear strength and modulus, and yield strength. For density and ultimate tensile strength, used Dupont Kevlar 49 Aramid fiber. For CFRP, data is for Type P-VSB-32 (Union Carbide) carbon fibers. Aluminum alloy 7475 has lower impurity limits than 7075. Aluminum 7475 is used for aircraft structures because of its good fracture toughness.

American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Essay

American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals - Essay Example At present, ASCPA is considered as one of the largest animal welfare organization in the world. The organization's top advocacy is the prevention of animal cruelty. It is a non-profit organization privately funded by its members and supporters worldwide. ASPCA spreads the advocacy for animal welfare through efforts of practicing animal care, and assisting the victims of animal cruelty. In line with its mission, ASPCA conducts activities, classes, and seminars that aim to build the relationship between animals and their handlers (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ASPCA, 2011). The ASPCA was able to influence the government to formulate anti-cruelty laws for animals and was given the authority to impose the said law (Schroeder, 2003). One upcoming activity offered by the organization is the "Team up for AAT," class. It will run from September 17th up to November 12th. The registration fee is $320 per person (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Anim als, 2011). This break even analysis is presented to have an idea on the profitability of this of activity. All the amounts reflected in the analysis are only estimation except for the actual price of registration fee which is $320. The period covered for the amount of salaries and benefits is one month. If the enrollees of the class will reach to a hundred, the expected revenue will amount to $32,000. .

Non Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Non - Assignment Example When a situation is fed into the flow chart, a clearer view of the type of decision in hand should emerge. In theory it will enlighten a manager to the potential risks and benefits of involving others in that decision. In practice, however, there are some potential problems with the model as it is intended to be used. First of all there is an issue about the amount and quality of information that is fed into the decision making process. Poor information at any point in the model will weaken its reliability. Furthermore, Chemers makes the very valid point that â€Å"the Vroom-Yetton-Jago model and other prescriptive models†¦ assume that leaders can easily change their behaviors in accord with situational demands.† (Chemers: 1997, p. 52) Managers often act instinctively, however, based on their experience in a decision-making role and their own personal style. This inherent tendency, along with pressures of time mean that the application of the Vroom-Yetton-Jago is theoreti cally useful, especially for inexperienced managers, but in practice not likely to be fully implemented, especially by more experienced managers. Reference. Chemers, Martin M. An Integrative Theory of Leadership. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1997, pp. 47-57.

Investigation Completion and Analysis Essay Example for Free

Investigation Completion and Analysis Essay Evaporation is a process where liquid is converted to vapor with the purpose of separating it from a dissolved solid or from a liquid that is higher in boiling point in experiments or investigations on how to separate soluble solid in liquids (Holland, 2005). Evaporation technique was chosen for the experiment because it is easy and simple to execute compared to other methods of separation such as distillation. 2. Distillation Distillation is an investigative technique used in separation of mixtures based on conditional and differences required to change the components phases of the mixture. It can be applied in a mixture of liquids, and the mixture of soluble solutes and solvents like in this experiment. During the distillation process, the water is heated into the gas phase of the vapor leaving the salts deposits, then condenses back into liquid form that is then collected. The process is then repeated again to improve the water purity (Porteous, 2010). This method was obtained because pure water can be obtained 3. Crystallization This technique is a process of solid crystals formation from a solution. This technique is a technique of separating solids and liquids in which transfer of solute from a solution to a solid crystalline which pure occurs (Jones, 2002). This method was chosen because pure solutes can be obtained. Modifications made, and justification for the changes 1. In evaporation, I applied some heat from flames to the containers holding solution of water and salt. I applied the heat to increase the rate of evaporation instead of leaving it open in the air and under the sunshine that is slow. 2. I used ice in the condenser to condense maximum amount of vapor. Moreover, I re-distilled the condensed water to get maximum dissolved salts again. 3. In crystallization, I left the crystallization process to proceed slowly undisturbed instead of fast cooling. This was to prevent impurities from getting attached to the salts and also to get bigger crystals. Ways to ensure the accuracy To ensure accuracy, I ensured that the same amount of solvent and solution was used in the three experiments. Moreover, an equal amount of time was applied on all the experiments to get accurate results. Lastly, I ensured that the salts and the water had no impurities that could affect their boiling points. Ways to ensure reliability Reliability in the techniques was determined by the experiments producing consistent results. To ensure reliability, I started with the evaporation method which the results were salt and water, distillation and crystallization also produced consistent results of salt and water.Ways to ensure validity Validity indicates the extent to which the applied technique in the separation process separated the components it was intended to separate. To ensure the validity, I ensured that salt and water which were the components of the solution that was to be separated were the end products. The process requires a lot of heat energy which might be expensive. However, solar heat is slow and evaporates small quantities of the solution. The method is suitable in situations where salt is the only product needed. However, collection of water vapor is difficultDistillation The distillation process desalinate water removes dangerous heavy metals like mercury, arsenic and lead, and the soluble salts that harden the water such as magnesium, calcium and phosphorous. Therefore, it is preferable for distillation of drinking water. However, this process is ineffective in separation of soluble salts that has lower boiling points than water such as synthetic chemicals, chlorine solutions, herbicides and pesticides (Porteous, 2010). Moreover, it requires large source of heat which is costly. Lastly, the distillation process strips water its natural trace elements; hence the hydrogen composition in water increases and makes water acidic (Porteous, 2010). Crystallization The process is complex compared to the evaporation method. It is also unsuitable where water is to be collected as an end product. However, it is advantageous since pure salts can be obtained for usage (Jones, 2002). b) Suggestions of possible improvements Alternative sources of heat could be used such as the use of solar energy to reduce high costs incurred in the evaporation and distillation process. Despite the fact that solar energy cannot produce a high amount of energy needed to heat the large amount of the solution for a longer duration of time, it is the best cost-wise. Given that some dissolved salts have lower boiling points than the water hence difficult to separate them from water, the boiling point of water can be lowered by lowering the gas pressure above the liquid. The distillation process strips water its natural trace elements, hence making water to be acidic due to increased proportion of hydrogen. To avoid water being acidic, beneficial salts can be added into the water for human consumption such as calcium that is good in formation of bones. References Holland, C. D. (2005). Fundamentals and modeling of separation processes: absorption, distillation, evaporation, and extraction. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall. Jones, A. G. (2002). Crystallization process systems. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Porteous, A. (2010). Saline water distillation processes. London: Longman. Source document

Public Bank Has The Function Information Technology Essay

Public Bank Has The Function Information Technology Essay Public Bank has the function of the mobile banking. Mobile banking is users can perform the services of banking but is through the cell phone or mobile phone. Mobile banking is also known as the M-banking, or SMS Banking. The mobile phone or the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) can be used as the devices for mobile banking. Mobile banking can be used with the mobile phone or even with the PDA. With the mobile banking user can used all mobile banking functions with convenient without going to the bank for these services. But, how many services that are provided is all depends on the bank itself .Now, the user just need to have a mobile phone with the function for the midlet services need to have the Java and mobile information device profile(MID)P 2.0, with general packet radio service(GPRS) or third generation of mobile telephony(3G) access. While for the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) services then need to have the browser and WAP 2.0 with GPRS or 3G access then can use the fun ction of mobile banking. Users can use this mobile banking no matter at where with the condition that has the mobile phone has this function. Those users for the mobile banking will be the business man because they will be busy for their work so it is much more convenient if they can just do their payment and other services through the mobile banking. Besides that, the user also can be teenagers it is because nowadays those teenagers do not have much patient to go for banks to lining up for the payment so they will choose the mobile banking. For those user who want to apply for the PB mobile banking system, they must be the existing internet banking customer .Not only users personal can apply for this services, company also can apply for this services but they need to be the existing corporate e-banking customer and have to go to their Account Branch to register for the PB Mobile Banking services. Users who wish to register for the PB Mobile Banking services can follow the steps which are as follow: There are many services which are available in the PB mobile banking service .For the individual customers, they can use it for account inquiry which can perform inquiry for the account balance whether there are enough credit or not and those inquiries can be anytime whether is pass record or current records or some specific transaction. It also can obtain the pages that enable users view all the details regarding the bank account, make payments, outlook tax forms, and complex a payment plan. Not only that, for the PB customers also can do payments such as registered bill payment ,card payment for themselves, card payment registered for the third party accounts and the loan payment for own and for the registered third party accounts. Now you can just pay it through the mobile banking service and no need go to the bank for these payments. Transaction history is for transactions done earlier and the payment history that included deposit, loan/financing, credit/debit card .The users can view back their current balances and the transaction before that .Users can choose to view the transaction items by date range or by account which are current monthà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s or previous monthà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s transaction history. If they forget keep record for the month then they can find it back through the payment history so they do not need to worry about it. Besides that, PB it also have the services of funds transfer. Customers can transfer their funds between members of them but they need to own an account before doing that. They also need to registered 3rd party accounts and registered the interbank GIRO. Users can easily transfer their money between users of the same banks or they even also can transfer their money to the other banks. Not only that, for the PB customers also can do payments such as registered bill payment ,card payment for themselves, card payment registered for the third party accounts and the loan payment for own and for the registered third party accounts. Now you can just pay it through the mobile banking service and no need go to the bank for these payments. PB individual users also can do investments with the registered account .After the users decide which to invest in they can pay through the mobile phone. PB also provide for the cheque management, with this users can also request cheque book, stop cheque and check status inquiry. There are so many benefits of using PB mobile banking. Firstly is that it help to save time for the users .Nowadays most citizens are busy with their job, they do not have sufficient time to go to the bank just for those payment but now with this services they can just use the mobile phone and just press a few buttons then the transactions will be done. So you do not even have to go to the bank and queue up. Besides that, this PB services is easy to use. Nowadays almost all people own a mobile phone and the users mostly will be familiar with all the functions .Mobile banking services is easy to use you just need to press a few buttons and follow whatever instruction that is provided and save the transactions made then the transaction is consider success fully executed. Next is that the PB mobile banking services can help users reduce cost. PB provides this facility at the lower costs if compared to conventional banking itself. Users using this service can save a lot of money for the long period. There are few disadvantages also if using the mobile banking services. Firstly is that the security of using the services. While using this services may be will have such viruses that hack the phone and try to get the users important information and it will may not immune. This will strongly harm the user and may cause them lost their important data or information like password, money and others. Sometimes the user can also be susceptible to a phishing-like scam called à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“SMiShingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ . This is happened when the user receives a fake text message that request for the accounts details. Next disadvantages of using PB mobile banking services that are the compability of the mobile phone. Not all type of mobile phone is suitable for mobile banking services; this service requires some important function to access in the services. Although some mobile phone has the capacity to browse the internet through mobile phone but the phone cannot support the anti- virus inside. PB mobile banking services have so many functions and benefits and also disadvantages. So consumers should fully utilize this type of convenient because it really helps a lot but also need to think how to protect their self.

Seasonal Affective Disorder and its Effects :: Seasonal Affective Disorder Health Essays

Seasonal Affective Disorder and its Effects Why is it that in dark, cloudy weather I take on a gloomy personality? Why do suicide rates drastically increase during the winter months? Why is the overall student body at USC much happier than the average Mawrtyr? Why do I constantly find myself fatigued and lethargic when the weather outside is lousy? For one reason or another, I allow the whims of Mother Nature to determine how I think and feel. If I wake up and the sun is brightly shining through my window creating a beautiful mixture of dark and light shadows, I suddenly feel happy and look forward to the day ahead. On the other hand, if I wake up and look out onto another cloudy and cold day in February at Bryn Mawr, I have the aching desire to crawl back into bed and sleep the day away. I am not alone in that my mood and disposition are determined daily during those first few moments in which I am awake. In fact, this phenomenon is shared by many. The general feeling of winter depression coupled with normal mood in the summer has been around for centuries, but it was not until the 1980s that it was characterized as a type of clinical depression (1). Psychologists have long been studying the effects of what they now refer to as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), the biological condition associated with changes in weather patterns. Can Seasonal Affective Disorder be considered a true medical condition? Everyone reacts to the changing seasons with corresponding changes in mood and behavior, but some experience more severe symptoms which alter their whole way of life. The symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder tend to first appear in late September when the days get shorter and the temperatures drop, and last until April or May. Seasonal Affective Disorder is characterized by recurring periods of depression lasting for at least two successive years of seasonal change (2). Other symptoms include a voracious appetite involving a high carbohydrate craving and accompanied by a 10-20 pound weight gain, sleep problems, memory loss, suicidal thoughts, problems concentrating, and an overall lack of interest in or enjoyment of activities. Unlike other forms of clinical depression, Seasonal Affective Disorder involves the cyclical pattern of depression that comes as the amount of daylight hours decrease and disappears as the days get longer (1). SAD patients often have hypersomnia during the winter and become manic or hyperactive in the spring.

My Educational Philosophy Essay -- Philosophy of Education Teaching Te

My Educational Philosophy I can remember as a child being in the classroom scared to death! I remember being the little kid in the back that was scared to raise my hand, in fear of having the wrong answer. I can remember how my hands trembled when it was my turn to go to the board and work out a problem in front of the class, terrified that everyone would laugh at me. These are feelings that I never want a child in my classroom to experience. I have a strong desire of becoming an early childhood special education teacher. I want to be the one that will teach a child that my be a slow learner or has special needs how to not be afraid and to learn, because learning is fun! I want my classroom to be a comfortable and relaxed environment where children can be themselves and lea...

Jane Eyre :: essays research papers

In the story of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Mr. Broklehurst becomes a very controversial character that Jane encounters early in the story. Mr. Broklehurst, a rather annoying clergyman, feels that he has a specific goal. His goal, at least in his eyes, is to save the otherwise lost souls of his girls in the institution, but in reality he is trying to mold the girls to his own vision rather than God’s. For starters, he thinks that his depiction of what is good and evil is the same as God’s. He, in a sense, thinks he knows exactly what god knows. The only way that would work would be if he though he was God, right? He limits the girls appearance and he is very selective on what the girls should and should not eat for religions spiritual purposes. Mr. Brocklehurst feels that for spiritual reasons and to follow the motto of Lowood which says, Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven- (St. Matt. v. 16.) He must limit the appearance of the girls. He had Julia Severn, a girl of natural curls, cut her hair off. When Miss Temple had tried to rationalize with Mr. Brocklehurst and tell him that her hair is natural he replies and says, Naturally! Yes, but we are not to conform to nature: I wish these girls to be the children of Grace: and why that abundance? I have again and again intimated that I desire the hair to be arranged closely, modestly, plainly. Miss Temple, that girl’s hair must be cut off entirely; I will send a barber to-morrow: and I see others who have far too much of the excrescence- that tall girl, tell her to turn round. Tell all the first form to rise up and direct their faces to the wall. (pg. 55) This quote leads me to think who are the girls suppose to follow the motto of, God’s or his? And in all honesty, I don’t feel that God would think a person impure if they had curly red hair. Especially considering the fact that it is natural, meaning from God. He is very picky of what they should eat. I really don’t believe that god would condemn you if you had an extra piece of bread but there again you have Mr.

Qualities and Skills Essay

A manager must have many skills and qualities. An ideal manager for a retail store must be able to bring out the best in others as well as themselves. A manager should be able to discipline his/her staff, working as a role model towards their staff. A good manager should also be able to commit to a task or activity. On the River Island website I found out information on special skills a manager should have to conduct his/her job successfully. An ideal manager should have good communication skills as they have to communicate with their employees, good leadership skills, are focused, able to persuade his/her employees and organised, a manager should be able to divide large tasks and activities into manageable ones. A manager with good communication skills can help to build an organised and effective team of employees. It also helps to build and manage performance of their team members, having good communication skills can benefit the maintenance of relationships between employees. It is also crucial for a manager because it allows them to deal with customer complaints limiting any negative feedback about your business. A manager should be able to be persuasive and have good organisational, leadership skills. This allows employees to feel as if they can trust their manager; they feel as if they want to be led by them not have to be. This not only helps an employee grow fond of their job but also motivates them to give 100% effort. Helping to give the business an outstanding reputation and influences more customers to buy from their store. Qualities and Skills of a Supervisor: Sometimes the manager may not be available so this is when a supervisor steps in. A supervisor has to have similar skills to a manager but supervisors are more in contact with their fellow employees. A supervisor should have good flexibility and time management as well as basic communication skills. A supervisor should be able to motivate his/her employees to perform as well as they can to help the business succeed. Good flexibility can ensure that a supervisor is responsive to changes in the work place and is not blown off by any difficult situations. For example a customer complaint, a good supervisor especially for River Island should be able to stay calm under pressure and respond quickly to difficult circumstances. This also helps to keep the reputation of the business at its highest as customers are more likely to buy from somewhere that is knowledgeable in all situations. A supervisor should be able to manage their time, by doing this it keeps the employees confident that they are being led by someone who knows what they are doing, with this employees work harder increasing productivity, customer service and revenue.

Locke and Hobbes: Cause of Religious Toleration Essay

Historically, Locke’s treatment of toleration was one riddled with religious change, religious turmoil, and political changes that were shaped largely by religious tensions. This was a time when religion, specifically the Christian Church, became fractioned and led to widespread war and death in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Locke’s Letter on Toleration promoted separation of church and state, arguing that each institution has legitimacy and power in certain areas. The state exists to protect people’s interests, and can use force to protect these interests. However, the state will not be able to coerce its people to believe in a certain religion. In Leviathan, Hobbes provides ideas that support Locke’s toleration of religion. Hobbes belief in the state of nature, state of war, and covenants helps to paint a clearer picture of a world without religious intoleration. Locke’s plea for tolerations is one of religious toleration in general but more specifically toleration among Christians. Locke speaks out against Christians whom â€Å"deprive (men) of their estates, maim them with corporal punishments, starve and torment them in noisome prisons, and in the end even take away their lives†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Letter p.24). This type of intolerance is itself intolerable because it violates many mandates that should characterize a true Christian. The mandates of charity and meekness are violated, and those who have committed these aggressive and violent actions against others are in themselves hypocritical. These people are usually careless about their own virtues, imposing on others something they don’t practice. According to Locke, instead of looking into others moral salvation, they should practice looking into their own moral salvations as well as the salvations of family and friends. These same people are spending time and effort on trivial things like doctrinal matters and ceremonial preferences. Locke urges that one should not worry so much about matters that, on the surface are nice and intricate, but â€Å"exceed(s) the capacity of ordinary understandings†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Letter p. 24). Instead of wasting time on these futile activities, one should actively try to better oneself. Separation of church and state is an important premise that buttresses his argument throughout the letter. It is a separation of civil versus religious authority and who has power of what domain. Locke argues that civil government has certain responsibilities for its citizens, which include preserving and advancing the civil interests, well-being and life of its citizens. Locke defines the one who wields civil authority as a magistrate and it is the magistrate who is enjoined to tolerate any religious doctrine, provided that these doctrines do not violate rights or disrupt the peace. Locke is intolerable of violations of rights of citizens and crime, or anything that disrupts the peace. Individuals do not have the power and position to respond and punish the criminals. That task is left to the magistrate. The magistrate has the ability to enforce laws through force but his coercive power must be kept out of religious matters, in so long as the religious matters do not hinder citizens’ rights and their peace. Locke believes that in religious matters, true belief in a religion requires more then the coercive power to make one believe. He argues if people are forced to believe in a religion against their will, it will not be as strong and effective unless the person consciously makes his own effort to believe. The ability for the magistrate to impose its power on its people is something Hobbes believes is a requirement and duty of a civil government. Men have an inclination towards peace, which is why men build commonwealths. Men want to get out of this state of war in favor of peace. Therefore, men come together in a commonwealth to make a covenant with every other man to establish peace and order. This sovereign now has the authority to enforce civil laws. This is a necessity because men by themselves cannot externally judge conflicts and will be naturally inclined to certain biases. By agreeing to this covenant, the people bestow upon a man or group of men power over sovereign. This covenant also holds responsibility for the people because they are the ones who gave power to the magistrate. To actually ensure peace, Hobbes says that a sovereign of this power is necessary. The question of the individual’s coercive power is another argument in favor of religious toleration. â€Å"No private Person has any Right, in any manner, to prejudice another Person in his Civil Enjoyments, because he is of another Church or Religion† (Letter p. 31). Tolerance brings about respect for the autonomy of the other. Since religious beliefs are freely chosen, there is no room for coercion to be a useful end because coercion and freedom cannot coexist in religious matters. Skepticism is another way religious believers can tolerate others holding different religions. Every religious person must tolerate one another because it would be foolish to believe that one person can have all the truths to the world. Similarly, Hobbes supports this argument through the state of nature. Having the freedom to choose ones religion is from the fact that individually, we are all equal. Hobbes believes that people are equal in strength of body and manifest of mind. There are differences, obviously, but Hobbes argues that these differences do not amount to much. We are fundamentally equal because we all have the ability to kill one another, whether it is through force or deceit. This constant threat of war between man and man is an important reason why men try to constantly seek peace. This state of nature provides us the liberty to our own self-governing because in the state of nature, there is no authority over man. Since man has no authority over him in the state of nature, naturally it would mean that man has no authority over another man. However, Hobbes continues that this natural condition of mankind is decidedly undesirable and should be avoided. From the natural state of man the desire for a stable government arises. Men are naturally equal but Hobbes believes self-preservation can only be had by constantly trying to acquire new property, or power. Power is the man’s means to some future good and the acquisition of more power is a constant cycle. Concerning the question of religious power, religious authorities also do not have the power for any coercive actions. Since religious authorities do not have the power to change someone who is not willing, they must respect and tolerate other religious churches or societies, even if there is disagreement with certain doctrines. Locke’s reasoning for the toleration of other churches stems from the belief of orthodoxy of the church. Every church believes that it is the Orthodox Church but Locke argues that people can never know which is the true Orthodox Church. However, he goes on to say that the true Church is the one that practices the idea of toleration. Despite Locke’s adamant stance on toleration, Locke does discuss certain beliefs that should not be tolerated. Locke specifically targets atheism because he believes that men should enter into some religious society because God should be publically worshipped. To Locke, atheists are the weak bones to a society because covenants and promises have no power over atheists. This causes problems within society because covenants and promises are the bonds of human society. Similarly, Locke also considers Catholics intolerable because of the political threat they represent. Catholic’s pledge allegiance to a foreign king. Locke views this as a problem because it brings into question who the Catholic pledges his loyalty to, the foreign king or his homeland king. Locke says that a person should be under the rightful king and not a foreign king. This means that any foreign jurisdiction in one’s country and any influence from the Vatican State is not acceptable. Locke also mentions odd religious practices, such as human sacrifice, as intolerable. The magistrate should make a conscious effort to not tolerate such practices because it could hurt society as a whole. Just because something is a religious matter should not dictate the legality of the practice. Hobbes would probably agree that atheists would not be tolerable under the condition that covenants and promises are not kept because they hold no power over atheists. Hobbes First Law of Nature is that human beings always seek a state of peace because it is the most advantageous to their survival. The Second Law of Nature is the creation of covenants. In Hobbes’s mind, the ideal covenant would be a leviathan government that would make and regulate laws very effectively. The Third Law of Nature is derived from the second, which states that it is necessary for men to perform their covenants. From these three laws, as stated earlier, men create a commonwealth to ensure peace. If covenants hold no power over atheists, the commonwealth and essentially peace is destroyed. Hobbes is adamant that to fortify this social contract, the members of the contract need steps to prevent others from breaching it. The Third Law of Nature creates a society where peace is established, but if a citizen is not held under contract, the political disruptions are more likely to occur. Locke’s primary rationale for toleration in the individual is the self-governing of the other. In Christina writing, loving ones neighbors is a key element in a Christian’s salvation. Locke emphasizes that one should only care for one’s own salvation rather than worrying about his neighbors or others religious teachings. By practicing toleration, one must ignore the content and be satisfied with the fact that the other has reached his conclusion autonomously. Before worrying about someone else, Locke urges that one must focus on ones own salvation because there are many instances where hypocrisy can rise by imposing ones beliefs. However, there are instances where non-intervention can be unjust because some matters are so offensive, it would be unjust to let it slide. Matters where injury or death can occur are justifiable for others to intervene. Even though this Lockean autonomy works most of the time, there are times where it would not. Locke’s reasoning for writing this letter, on the surface, seems to be from a religious perspective. However, a careful reading of the letter suggests that Locke is not interested in religious doctrines or practices. Locke finds that the religious differences are too insignificant for discussion. Although it is a letter concerning toleration of religion, this toleration is meant to benefit from a political standpoint. Reading the document with this point of view shows that Locke was writing it exclusively political in nature. Even though there was widespread religious violence and opposing opinions during the time Locke wrote the letter, it was a way for Locke to talk about the politics of society. This document was on religious toleration only because Locke viewed religion as having potential for civil disruption. This letter is a way for Locke to say what he believed was the means for maintaining peace and stability. To maintain peace and stability in a society requires sovereignty. The sovereign has the power and authority to govern its principality. Because it has the power to govern, it also gives the sovereign the right to use coercion. This does not give the right to religious institutions to use coercion because it has historically not worked in favor of the religion. The separation of church and state is therefore a way that Locke foresees peace in sovereign. Peace in sovereign is an important aspect to Hobbes’s Leviathan perspective because he views peace as the main reason we create societies. Religious toleration is therefore a tool that both Locke and Hobbes would advocate because it creates peace and unity in a sovereign.

The study of children and childhood

Why In A Society That Prides Itself On It ‘s Democratic Values Should The Suggestion Of Children ‘s Engagement Be So Contraversial?IntroductionUntil late geographers have paid light attending to the survey of kids and childhood ( James, 1990 ; Sibley, 1991 ; Philo, 1992 and Winchester, 1991 ) . Where surveies had been carried out, most were concerned with kids as future grownups and attending focused on their emerging accomplishments and cognitive development. Rarely were kids studied for what they are, as active societal agents in their ain right, with their ain lives, demands and desires ( Corsaro, 1997 ) . With the ‘cultural bend ‘ , kids have been ( rhenium ) positioned on the geographical docket ( Aitken, 1994 ; Valentine, 1996a and Valentine, 1996b ) . One ground is that consideration of other low-level groups in society ( for illustration, adult females, minorities, the disabled ) has drawn attending to the ways in which society is constructed around so cietal and spacial premises. Constructivist and interpretative positions of this sort have led to a acknowledgment that kids as a group are amongst the least powerful within western societies ( James et al. , 1998 ) and yet, their experiences within topographic point and infinite have non been consistently examined. In effect, there has been a rush of involvement in the mundane geographicss of kids ( Aitken, 1998 ; Matthews, 1995 ; Matthews and Limb, 1998 ; Matthews and Limb, in imperativeness ; Matthews et al. , 1998 ; Sibley, 1995 ; Skelton and Valentine, 1997 ; Valentine, 1997a and Valentine, 1997b ) and vigorous averment for ‘childhood infinite ‘ to be recognised as an of import dimension in societal and cultural theory ( James and Prout, 1992 and James et al. , 1998 ) . Unlike other marginalised groups, nevertheless, kids are non in a place within most western societies to come in into a duologue ( with grownups ) about their environmental concerns and geographical demands. In this sense, kids occupy a particular place of exclusion. Their ability to dispute the conventions of dominant political orientation from within, together with the patterns and procedures which lead to their socio-spatial marginalization, is largely beyond their appreciation. Children as ‘outsiders ‘ demand Alliess and geographics with its concern with the political relations and power of infinite and spatial property ( Painter and Philo, 1995 ) is good positioned in this regard. Just as feminist geographers have developed their surveies to turn to issues of adult females ‘s representation and engagement in socio-spatial decision-making, so geographers analyzing kids need to construct upon their surveies to take on the issue of kids ‘s rights. We contend that the argument about kids ‘s engagement ( or deficiency of engagement ) in society and public policy devising is cardinal to an apprehension of the modern-day geographics of kids and childhood. In the remainder of this assignment we develop these thoughts, within a cross-cultural model. The right to state about affairs associating to the quality of life is a basic human right ( Archard, 1993 ) . Although this cardinal rule of citizenship and of the democratic ethos was embedded in the United Nations ‘ Universal Declaration of Human Rights ( 1948 ) , it was non until the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child ( UNCRC ) in 1989 that kids ‘s right to take part in society was steadfastly established. Alongside Articles on proviso, protection and attention, the UNCRC sets out a figure of duties on the rights of engagement by immature people. Of primary importance are the undermentioned Articles:The Children Participation ControversyEngagement implies processes of engagement, shared duty and active battle in determinations which affect the quality of life. For the UNCRC engagement provides a mechanism for non merely safeguarding the ‘best involvements of the kid ‘ ( Article 3 ) , but besides for guaranting that kids ‘s positions and sentiments are given regard. However, whilst at that place has been broad acclamation and support within the UK for two other major rights of childhood identified by the UNCRC, that is, the rights to protection and proviso, there is less consensus about the impression of engagement. In malice of a turning anteroom in favor of kids ‘s rights to take part, there remains an intransigency in some quarters about whether such political engagement is appropriate. Lansdown identifies three grounds why some grownups are loath for kids to take portion in decision-making that will impact on their ain life and the lives of others ( Lansdown 1995, p. 20 ) . First, giving kids the right to state threatens the harmoniousness and stableness of household life by naming into inquiry parents ‘ ‘natural ‘ authorization to make up one's mind what is in the best involvements of a kid. Yet, as Qvortrup et al. , ( 1994 ) suggest, to prolong such an statement, it must be beyond sensible uncertainty that grownups behave with kids ‘s best involvements in head. In pattern, this is non ever the instance. Second enforcing duties on kids detracts from their right to childhood, a period in life which is supposed to be characterised by freedom from concern. Such a position ignores the fact that many kids ‘s lives are full of legitimate concerns which are merchandises of the same societal and economic forces that affect grownups. A 3rd strand to the statement is that kids can non hold rights until they are capable of taking duty. This position is based on an idealized position of childhood, yet few kids live without duties. Alanen ( 1994 ) points out that kids ‘s labor and responsibilities within the place are underestimated, whilst the world of school work and its associated duties are rendered unseeable by the label ‘education ‘ . A 2nd, though related, statement against kids ‘s engagement is based on a strong belief that kids are incapable of sensible and rational decision-making, an incompetency confounded by their deficiency of experience and a likeliness that they will do errors. Furthermore, if kids are left to the freedom of their ain inabilities the consequences are likely to be harmful ( Scarre, 1989 ) . Franklin and Franklin ( 1996 ) pull attending to a scope of libertarian unfavorable judgments of these two point of views. As a starting point, kids are invariably doing rational determinations impacting many parts of their day-to-day lives ( some trivial, some less so ) without which their lives would hold small significance, order or intent. In add-on, grownups are frequently non good decision-makers and history bears this out. Indeed, this observation provides an inducement to let kids to do determinations so that they may larn from their errors and so develop good decision-making accomplishme nts. More radically, it has been argued that the chance of doing errors should non suspend engagement, as such an premise ‘confuses the right to make something with making the right thing ‘ ( Franklin and Franklin 1996, p. 101 ) . Critics besides draw attending to the bing allotment of rights harmonizing to age, which is flawed by flightiness and incompatibility. For illustration, within the UK a immature individual is deemed reprehensively responsible at the age of 10, sexually competent at the age of 16, but non politically responsible until the age of 18, when all of a sudden, without preparation or dry run, immature people enjoy the right to suffrage. Last, by denying rights of engagement to everyone under the age of 18 assumes a homogeneousness of emotional and rational demands, accomplishments and competencies. Furthermore, we contend that both places are imbued with an adultist premise that kids are non societal histrions in their ain right, but are adults-in-wait ing or human becomings. Minimizing kids in this manner non merely fails to admit that kids are the citizens of today ( non tomorrow ) , but besides undervalues their true potency within society and obfuscates many issues which challenge and threaten kids in their ‘here and now ‘ ( Matthews and Limb, in imperativeness ) .Engagement And Representation Of Children Within The UKIn this subdivision we review immature people ‘s engagement and representation within the UK, separating between engagement at the national and local degree. At the national degree, a figure of political observers draw attending to a turning neutrality by immature people in all affairs political ( Bynner and Ashford, 1994 ; Furlong and Cartmel, 1997 and Furnham and Stacey, 1991 ) . A deficiency of political consciousness, political apathy and low degrees of political engagement are claimed as platitude. A recent societal attitudes study ( Wilkinson and Mulgan, 1995 ) showed that 45 % of under 25 s did non vote in the 1992 election compared to 31 % in 1987 and merely 6 % of 15-34 twelvemonth olds describe themselves as ‘very interested in political relations ‘ . It would look that an full coevals is choosing out of political relations ( Barnardo ‘s, 1996 ) . Yet there is ample grounds to propose that if immature people are given more duties and more opportunity to take part in the running of society, so they will be more willing to prosecute in the procedures of democracy ( Hodgkin and Newell, 1996 ) . For illustration, in individual issue administrations where immature people are encouraged to take portion, rank statistics confirm a turning engagement rate. Amnesty International ‘s youth subdivision increased from 1300 in 1988 to 15,000 in 1995 ; Greenpeace ‘s young person rank rose from 80,000 in 1987 to 420,000 in 1995 ; and Friends of the Earth describe a growing of 125,000 new immature members over the same period ( British Youth Council, 1996 ) . Hodgkin and Newell ( 1996 ) strongly assert: â€Å"Our society is in some danger of infantilising kids, of presuming an incapacity long past the day of the month when they are more capable. It is a affair of common sense, and the natural good pattern of many parents populating with kids and many professionals working with kids, to listen to kids and to promote them to take duty for determinations wherever possible. The results are normally better and, even if things go incorrect, larning from errors is an indispensable portion of development† ( p. 38 ) . Indeed, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the international organic structure which was set-up to supervise the execution of the Convention, expressed concern in its meeting in January 1995 about the deficiency of advancement made by the UK Government in following with its rules and criterions. In peculiar, attending was drawn to the inadequacy of steps associating to the operationalisation of Article 12. It recommended that: â€Å"greater precedence be given to†¦ Article 12, refering the kid ‘s right to do their positions known and to hold those positions given due weight, in the legislative and administrative steps and in policies undertaken to implement the rights of the kid. ..†and went on to propose that: â€Å"the State party see the possibility of set uping farther mechanisms to ease the engagement of kids in determinations impacting them, including within the household and the community..† ( United Nations, 1995, p. 15 ) . The instance for immature people ‘s closer representation and engagement in political procedures, particularly at a national degree has been taken up by a figure of runing administrations. First moves pre-date the UNCRC, when, in 1975, the National Council for Civil Liberties ( now Liberty ) proposed a Children ‘s Rights Commissioner to move as a national advocator for kids, but the proposal did non progress beyond the parliamentary commission phase ( Rodgers, 1979 ) . Recently, the purpose of set uping a national Commissioner has gained renewed drift. Critical to this impulse was the publication of Taking Children Seriously: A proposal for a Children ‘s Rights Commissioner ( Rosenbaum and Newell, 1991 ) . In this elaborate survey the writers make a forceful instance for reform. They suggest that it is kids ‘s exposure to mistreatment, the deficiency of co-ordination across authorities sections in proviso for kids, kids ‘s complete deficiency of politica l rights, and the demand to guarantee long-run authorities conformity with the UNCRC which make the instance for setting-up the office of Commissioner so necessary ( Franklin and Franklin, 1996 ) . Among the Commissioner ‘s functions would be the remit to affect immature people every bit closely as possible in decision-making at assorted degrees. This would affect the administration of local and national forums for immature people ; the constitution of consultative groups to see policy and pattern ; and the widescale electioneering of immature people for their positions and sentiments. As a effect of this publication the run for a statutory, independent office of Children ‘s Rights Commissioner was launched in the same twelvemonth. The proposal is supported strongly by all major kid public assistance and kid protection bureaus, four Royal Colleges of Health, local authorization associations and many professional kids ‘s administrations ( Children ‘s Rights Office, 1997 ) . The constitution of the Children ‘s Rights Office in 1995 and its appellation of a full-time officer to run for a Children ‘s Commissioner gave added weight to the cause. In an effort to travel the run frontward the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation set up an enquiry which consulted widely in the UK and overseas about participatory constructions. Their study ( Hodgkin and Newell, 1996 ) non merely highlighted the modest extent of inter-ministerial and inter-departmental co-ordination of kids ‘s personal businesss and the ad hoc nature of the allotment of some duti es ( an result of there being no lead Department for kids ) , but besides drew attending to a scope of effectual authorities constructions for kids already evident elsewhere 1. The right to state: organizational constructions for kids ‘s engagement and representationa Extra encouragement to the run for better representation for immature people has been provided by New Labour. Their 1992 Manifesto proposed seting in topographic point a Minister for Children ( Lestor, 1995 ) , although this proposition was absent in the 1997 Manifesto. Whilst there are marks that the present authorities is sympathetic to the creative activity of such a station, at present, the official place is that they are in a procedure of audience ( Hewitt, 1998 ) . This deficiency of advancement has prompted other runing administrations to take up the cause. The 2020 Vision Programme is being organised by the Industrial Society as a consequence of a concern that immature people ‘s voices are seldom heard in political, economic and societal arguments. Amongst their purposes is to set in topographic point a Minister for Youth to coordinate policy and action ( Industrial Society, 1997 ) . At the local degree, nevertheless, there are promoting marks that attitudes are altering with respect to the engagement of immature people in decision-making. There are a figure of associated grounds for such a development. First, the impulse given to immature people ‘s rights in general by the UNCRC has been added to by the rules set by Local Agenda 21. Amongst its many declarations for a sustainable hereafter is the position that duologue should be established between the youth community and authorities at all degrees which enables immature people ‘s positions and visions to be incorporated as a affair of class into future environmental policy ( Freeman, 1996 ) . Second, local authorities reorganization has provided a stimulation for young person issues to be addressed in a strategic mode, partially through a demand to show community audience and partially to undertake what is perceived to be ‘the young person job ‘ ( Griffin, 1993 and Wynn and White, 1997 ) . Third, there is the ‘millennium factor ‘ ; as we move towards the bend of the century at that place seems to be an emerging sense that the hereafter is for our kids ( Hackett, 1997 and Storrie, 1997 ) and local decision-making is critical to immature people ‘s wellbeing. As portion of this motion towards giving immature people a say has been the development of young person councils/forums. The term council/forum is used here to depict the scope of ways in which folds of immature people come together, normally, but non entirely, in commission, to voice their positions about their demands and aspirations ( in their societal and physical universes ) . A recent study ( Matthews and Limb, 1998 ) has revealed that there are over 200 young person councils within the UK, although these have developed in different ways. A figure of national administrations have played of import functions in their development, but a effect of their varying attacks is an variability of proviso within the four place states. In England, the National Youth Agency ( NYA ) and the British Youth Council ( BYC ) provide advice and information on petition about young person councils. The Wales Youth Agency ( WYA ) has a similar remit. These are bureaus, which although advocates of immature people ‘s engagement, have limited capacity to back up development. Because of this, the development of young person councils in England and Wales has mostly been a haphazard one. Their signifier and character depending partially on such factors as the human ecology, political makeup and traditions of a vicinity, and partially on bing institutional and organizational cons tructions and magnetic persons. In Scotland developments are more consistent. Here a partnership between the Scottish Community Education Council ( SCEC ) , Youth Link Scotland and the Principal Community Education Officers Group, which followed four old ages of research and audience, gave rise to the ‘Connect Youth ‘ programme, launched in 1995. Targeted at 14-25 twelvemonth olds, this programme seeks to advance effectual engagement of immature people in the decision-making processes which affect their lives and to prosecute immature people in finding their positions on services and the development of chances for enhanced community engagement ( SCEC, 1996 ) . By far the longest history of young person councils in the UK, nevertheless, is within Northern Ireland. In 1979 the Department of Education established the Northern Ireland Youth Forum ( NIYF ) , with a specific brief to promote the development of a web of Local Youth Councils ( LYC ) . The intent of the LYCs was to acquire immature people involved in undertaking local issues and to guarantee that their voices were heard by local District Councils. The NIYF, on the other manus, took on a broader function and attempted to supply a national platform for immature people ‘s issues. Presently being discussed are proposals to acquire youth representatives on each District Council and the formation of a Northern Ireland Youth Parliament.DecisionThe multiple discourse about immature people ‘s engagement and representation generates equivocal docket. For those who feel that immature people are incapable of take parting or who question the rightness of their engagement, the deficiency of chances and inducements for representation within the UK is non deemed to be job. On the other manus, for those who see engagement to be the basis of democracy and inclusive citizenship, the UNCRC has become a rallying point, opening up new ways of believing about immature people ‘s rights. The diver seness of position, nevertheless, between those who see engagement as a ‘craft apprenticeship ‘ and a acquisition scheme ( Storrie, 1997, p. 65 ) and those who consider it to be a truly empowering experience and as a opportunity to redefine the constructions which include immature people, confounds the manner frontward. Yet, there is a turning acknowledgment that within the UK immature people are non given the regard or listened to with the earnestness that they deserve ( Lansdown, 1995 ) . The lie of consecutive authoritiess in non setting-up either an independent Commissioner for Children or a Minister for Children and the deficiency of a consistent national model for young person councils, confirms this position. This is non the instance in many parts of mainland Europe. Here, there is ample grounds of effectual ombudswork, national models for the co-ordination of immature people ‘s personal businesss and good established participatory constructions which operat e at a grass-roots degree. At a broader international graduated table, excessively, there is grounds that the Articles of the UNCRC are making out to integrate turning Numberss of immature people global. We suggest that the UK has much to larn from these experiences and until this happens, immature people will stay mostly unseeable in public-policy devising at all degrees. Finally, in this paper we have attempted to demo that surveies about kids ‘s engagement and representation in society are built-in to the emerging geographics of kids. Not merely do they supply a keener grasp of the historical and cultural relativity of childhood, but they besides add insight into procedures which marginalise and exclude.MentionsAitken, S. , 1994. Puting Children in Their Place. 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