Brazilian Racial Politics Essay

The reading provided, extracted from Orpheus and Power by Michael George Hanchard, critiques the Race vs. Class Paradigm that is widespread in the Brazilian society. By weaving together some works of the more renowned analysts and sociologists of the topic, he highlights two main things: firstly, the salient points of their claims and secondly, the faults in their arguments. By comparing and contrasting two schools of thought on the issue, Class-based and Structuralist, he points out certain weaknesses and the glaring irreconcilability of such thought when applied to the trends in Brazilian economic society. The subject of Race and Class and their contributions into creating a society wherein oppression has been structured into policy has fueled many debates, much of them still ongoing. While there has not been any theoretical consensus reached, a characteristic that is always attendant in the field of academia, there is however, a fortunate by-product in that it has broadened the body of current knowledge to embrace other topics into the discussion such as modes of production and social inequality. It is also interesting to note that the post-World War II era, as represented by the works of Oliver Cox and Stanley Greenberg, show the minimum agreement between scholars that race, at the very least, plays cuts an integral figure in structuring the oppressive social inequality. This makes for a broader, richer and more interesting scholarly debate. Hanchard begins the comparison with a discussion on Economic Determinism and the study of the Negro population in Brazilian society through the written work of one Florestan Fernandes, Democracia Racial. Fernandes describes the relationship between the â€Å"White elites† and the â€Å"Negroes† in Brazilian society as a situation where the former â€Å"limit themselves to treating the Negro with tolerance, maintaining the old ceremonial politeness in inter-racial relationships and excluding from this tolerance any true egalitarian feeling or content. † (Hanchard 32) By articulating the â€Å"hegemonic position† of the White population over the Black one, he more than hinted at the absence of racial democracy in Brazilian society. Fernandes’ analyzed the racial interaction of the society a pivotal time in economic Brazilian history. The importance of his written work may largely be attributed the perfect timing of it. His deconstructions and analysis of Brazilian society then, through interviews and the gathering of empirical data, did much to further the study of Brazilian racial relations. Moreover, his role and significant importance to the field is further underscored by the fact that he was the first to analyze the linkage between race and class in the context of Brazilian socio-economic development. He claimed that the Brazilian Blacks were â€Å"exploited both during and after slavery by uncaring whites†. However, in a turn-about, he concludes that the Afro-Brazilian is â€Å"dysfunctional, suffering from anomie, hopelessness and immorality† and lacked a sense of discipline and responsibility that made them pale in comparison to Italian immigrants for competition in the labour markets. Hanchard, however, took issue with this particular conclusion and rebutted by emphasing the failure of Fernandes’ missed or misappreciated the important fact that the intervention of big landowners and government officials played a crucial role in creating a marketplace that preferred Southern European immigrants. In essence, Fernandes’ approach fails is that his discussion of the Negro social movement was confined to issues of racial inequality where race itself was autonomous and not an economic variable nor indicator. George Reid Andrews, by using an approach offered by Greenberg, refutes Fernandes’ claims and forwards his own. Andrews’ approach fares better than the previously discussed one of Fernandes’ to the extent that he explored the â€Å"collusion between the state government and landowners to foster economic development† by subsidizing European immigration creating a rocky playing field where the Blacks were the destined losers. He then claims that although slavery played the role of a detrimental catalyst in Brazilian socio-economic development, it is but one of many factors to the displacement of Afro-Brazilian workers. He considered state intervention more critical in that policy itself structured the economic oppression by the doling out of development funds in a very preferential treatment to European immigrant workers. Thus, he introduced a very important aspect into the debates; that of the material dimension of race and how it structures state policies. At this junction, the theoretical wars began to include a different perspective: Structuralist. As the third generation of race relations, this school of thought rebuts and debunks the racial democracy myth proposed by their predecessors. Carlos Hasenblag and Nelson Do Valle Silva are two of the most prominent figures in this approach that does not treat race and class as being on opposing ends of the same spectrum but rather they situated racial inequality at the very heart of socio-economic relations and the development and trends of the labour market. Harchand, however, critically points out that although there was a discussion of racial inequality, there was virtually no explanation offered how such inequality id politically constructed or even contested. â€Å"Despite the conceptual differences between the Reductionists and Structuralists, the tendencies seemed to concur about one crucial dimension of Brazilian race relations; a dimension that seemed to distinguish Afro-Brazilians from their US counterparts: a lack of collective awareness of themselves as a subordinated racial group. † (Hanchard 41) By analyzing the theories at hand, one thing is clear: the need for a better-tailored conceptual framework to be used as a guide for racially equal policy making. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. In an effort to stop the mentality of finger-pointing to the dominant white, what has the different Afro-Brazilian social movements done, or at least attempted to bring about, in order to correct the racial inequality with regard to economic policy and labour markets? 2. What are some concrete state policies, like the Black Economic Empowerment Movement of South Africa, that can correct this historical injustice?

The movie “I am Legend” Review

When producing a horror movie we tend to think of an indivual going around killing or chopping people up into small peices. Some horror movies might have a big scary monster that goes around and terrorize people in there neighborhood. This is the norm for most horror movies to give the storyline that scarey factor. The movie â€Å"I am Legend† was a horror movie that took a different aprroach from your normal horror movies. It was still scarey but only had that horror effect when the time was right or when the monster was approached. In this paper I will analisy the movie â€Å"I am Legend† to better understand the overall storyline and its plot.The movie â€Å"I am Legend† had a non-linear narrative structure. A non-linear film â€Å"does not move from one event to the next in chronological order but moves from the present to the furture to the past, and so on, with no regard for chronological order† (Goodykoontz, B. , & Jacobs, C. P. 2011). In this movie it starts with Neville remembering his past daily life as a military scientists. He was trying to find the cure for a virus that was spreading across the world. Then the movie goes into his present life after the virus has killed everybody and leaving him alone in the city of New York.In the movie â€Å"I am Legend† Will Smith was the star actor who played the role of Robert Neville. I think Will Smith is not only a star actor but also a wild card actor who can play a wide variety of characters equally well without becoming typecast (Goodykoontz, B. , & Jacobs, C. P. 2011). Will Smith did a good job of protraying the life of a man who was left alone in the world with mutants and his only companion Sam a German Shepard. These mutants were results of a man-made virus that killed off most of the population. He was able to survive and not be affected by this virus because he was immune to the virus.In this movie Robert's family wife Zoe (Salli Richardson) and son Marley (Willow Smith) were killed in helicopter crashed caused by the mutants, so Robert is haunted by the memories of his family being killed. The cinematography was created by Andrew Lesnie. He did an outstanding job of creating a realistic abandoned New York city with cars scatterd through out the city with no movement. In the scene were the helicopter crashes the special effects made it feel real, all the special effects in this movie were created using computer-generated imagery.CGI was also used to give the realistic effect of the planes shooting missles into the bridge blowing it up. Most of the colors used in this movie went relatively well with the scenes. The darker colors were used to set the mood for scarey scenes. For example has Robert enters the dark building looking for Sam that scene was shot totally in the dark with him using a flash light. The flash light was a very good tool to use to highlight the mutants feeding in the dark. The editor Wayne Wahram used the cut transitioning method to edit the movie â€Å"I am Legend†.â€Å"After the news report is shown in the opening sequence, the editing is generally slow cut and transitioned this is to build up the atmosphere and impend on the audience a sense of solitude and abandonment. The camera shots then turn into shaky footage when shown from inside the car, this is in order to a sense of realism to the film. v When the deers run in front of Robert Neville’s car the editing is sped up and quick cut transitions are now used- this is to add suspense and tension as in principal it is a conventional chase scene† (slideshare. net). In this movie â€Å"I am legend† all three categoreis of sound were used.Dialogue, voice-over, and sound effects. Dialogue is when one character talks to one another. When Robert wakes up from the night he tried to commit suicide he awoke to having Anna (Alice Braga) in his house cooking breakfast. Once he comes to terms of what just happened he began to talk to her about how did she find him. He was under the impression he was the only sole survior and she expalined to Robert that was other people in a different part of the country. In the beggining of the movie voice-over was used because Robert narrated this first scene he was explaining about his life.Sound effects was used through out the movie to enhance the over all different scenes. You can hear deers running birds chirping when Robert goes out on a patrol threw the city and see the deers. In the final scene sound effect was used to create the big explosion as he kills himself and some of the mutants. The movie â€Å"I am Legend received three stars out of three from Robert Ebert. The pros for this movie was the special effects. The way the special effects were used help enhance the thrill and suspence and gave you a good scary factor.The cons for this movie was its story line its hard to believe that if the bridge was blew up from the start of the movie that Anna some how was able to get to Robert by car. Also the scene where Robert starts off sleeping in the tub and some how ends up in his bed. I think when the movie was edited they used the wrong cut to reestablish the next seen or used a jump cut. In conclusion I think the movie â€Å"I am Legend was a very simple horror/suspence movie that was entertaining at momments and boring others. The storyline could have been enhanced to give the horror film more horror and thrills.

Difference Between Two Population Means

Here, we describe estimation and hypothesis-testing procedures for the difference between two population means when the samples are dependent. In a case of two dependent samples, two data values—one for each sample—are collected from the same source (or element) and, hence, these are also called paired or matched samples. For example, we may want to make inferences about the mean weight loss for members of a health club after they have gone through an exercise program for a certain period of time.To do so, suppose we select a sample of 15 members of this health club and record their weights before and after the program. In this example, both sets of data are collected from the same 15 persons, once before and once after the program. Thus, although there are two samples, they contain the same 15 persons. This is an example of paired (or dependent or matched) samples. The procedures to make confidence intervals and test hypotheses in the case of paired samples are differe nt from the ones for independent samples.Two samples are said to be paired or matched samples when for each data value collected from one sample there is a corresponding data value collected from the second sample, and both these data values are collected from the same source. As another example of paired samples, suppose an agronomist wants to measure the effect of a new brand of fertilizer on the yield of potatoes. To do so, he selects 10 pieces of land and divides each piece into two portions. Then he randomly assigns one of the two portions from each piece of land to grow potatoes without using fertilizer (or using some other brand of fertilizer).The second portion from each piece of land is used to grow potatoes with the new brand of fertilizer. Thus, he will have 10 pairs of data values. Then, using the procedure to be discussed in this article, he will make inferences about the difference in the mean yields of potatoes with and without the new fertilizer. The question arises, why does the agronomist not choose 10 pieces of land on which to grow potatoes without using the new brand of fertilizer and another 10 pieces of land to grow potatoes by using the new brand of fertilizer?If he does so, the effect of the fertilizer might be confused with the effects due to soil differences at different locations. Thus, he will not be able to isolate the effect of the new brand of fertilizer on the yield of potatoes. Consequently, the results will not be reliable. By choosing 10 pieces of land and then dividing each of them into two portions, the researcher decreases the possibility that the difference in the productivities of different pieces of land affects the results.

Tescos annual report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Tescos annual report - Essay Example Customers bought over two million bags of barbecue fuel in the summer, and Christmas decoration sales were up by over 37% from the previous year. What will be interesting will be to see if this rise in non-food sales across the board will continue to grow on a year-by-year basis, or if at some point they will level off with only small incremental gains to be had. The underlying profit rose from 1832 (in 2004) to 2064 (in millions) (in 2005) and that rise is even more impressive since 2004 numbers were based on a 53 week year and 2005 was based on a 52 week year. The return on capital employed has not been 11% or higher since 2001, but in 2005 it was 11.5%. Earnings per share was also significantly higher and has been growing every year since 2001. In 2005 the earnings per share were 18.30 as compared to 10.66 in 2001. Last years earnings per share were 16.31. The increase from 16.31 to 18.30 represents an almost 17% higher earnings per share in one year. It would seem that the company's objective of focusing on superstores instead of smaller stores is working, especially in the UK. The overall number of stores in the UK dropped from 1,878 to 1,780 while the total sales area (in square feet) went from 23,291,000 to 24,207,000, which is an increase of almost 1 million square feet while closing almost 100 stores. The same scenario was taking place in the company's international markets, with one major difference. The company maintains only 554 international stores but has more square footage that than all the UK stores combined with 24,928,000 square feet. This is a significant difference. If each square foot generates the same amount of sales then international sales in the future are going to be significantly higher than UK sales, with not as much overhead or expenses. The Chairman's statement reflects the company's growth and aggressive style in an optimistic writing. He touts the fact that they have added two new non-executives to the Board, and that both were woman. He, and the company, faces shareholders and a public that are more discerning and political than ever before and has to manipulate the opinions held by those masses to maintain the edge developed over the company's competitors. By adding two women to the Board the company portrays its willingness to facilitate gender equity. The Chairman also touts how much the shareholders benefit from an investment in the company.The Chairman, and the Board, would certainly not wish to see a downswing in investor sentiment, with the resulting sales of shares that would lower the share prices, so he would present even bad news in a way that would seem positive, not that he would have had to with the numbers that Tesco has been generating. The numbers regarding cash flow are also strong. Net cash flow rose from 2,942 to 3,004 from 2004 to 2005 and the stronger number is reflected throughout the entire cash flow analysis. The cash inflow went from a negative (137) to a positive 259 (in millions). The company spent almost the same amount in 2005 as they did in 2004 to acquire tangible fixed assets. The company had less of a decrease in net debt than the year before, but it was still a substantial increase dropping from 4,090 to 3,842. That is a significant decrease in debt. As for the contributions made from each sector, as

Global Computing System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Global Computing System - Essay Example Attempts have been made to solve most of these challenges by enhancing technology systems. In today's global computing world, advanced technology systems like multi-lingual Translation Engines, Distributed Computing, Overlay Computing, Component based Computing, Service Oriented Architecture, Cryptography Systems, etc have enhanced the experience of Global Computing to a large extent. These technology solutions definitely have enhanced the global computing experience. However, they cannot bridge the gaps in cultural acceptance of content of a Global Application. Example, a translator converting American English to German language might do an excellent job grammatically but the Germans may not like the writing style of translated script because of some cultural mismatch. This is the reason that some companies have preferred to maintain multi-lingual web-sites rather than relying upon the translation engines. Moreover, security has remained a large challenge in Global Computing posed b y known threats and emerging threats turning up continuously (Perrault, Anna H and Gregory, 2001; Jones, Cameron and Twidale, Michael 2006). Other challenges that needs further research & enh... egration, Data Consistency, Speed & Performance, Identity Management, Legal & Compliance framework, Quality of Service, etc (Perrault, Anna H and Gregory, 2001; Jones, Cameron and Twidale, Michael 2006). Description of the Project and its Significance: Following are some examples of Global Computing platforms (Nicola, Rocco De, 2006): Internet: An integrated platform of millions of websites whereby practically every educated individual of the world gets millions of avenues to collaborate with the rest of world. Intranets and Extranets: Collaborative platforms deployed by an organization to interact with employees and customers. Virtual Private Networks: Secured connections between clients and servers via site-to-site and user to site encrypted tunnels. World Wide Web: An integrated platform of millions of IP based networks which can be used by businesses and people to connect to practically any part of the world. Telephone Network: Establishment of Voice over IP networks and their connectivity to local PSTN networks has created a virtual exchange which has empowered every multi-media enabled personal computer to act like a telephone. Moreover, such technologies have also presented Video over IP systems to global users such that they can interact with any Internet user across the globe using Video-Conferencing. GRID: A well co-ordinated multi-protocol network of resources across the world managed at higher layers of the OSI seven layer model without any centralized control that ensures proper personalization to an individual, groups and companies. Following is a partial list of applications of Global Computing platforms: Knowledge Enhancements Knowledge Management Business Process Collaborations and Transactions Trading, Sales, Marketing, Brand Building, etc. News and

Individual Learning Log Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Individual Learning Log - Essay Example Thus social enterprises are an established business concept and help the economy grow (Kerlin, 2009). It is easier for social enterprises to collaborate within themselves than to collaborate with other small and medium scale enterprises. Due to their activities, social enterprises are better established via informal contacts than through formal support since the community is their main client and sponsor (Kerlin, 2009). Major activities in the goals of social enterprises are sustainability and capacity development. This may be hard when it comes to practice since most businesses exist for commercial goals. Thus conflicts may arise since social and environmental responsibilities are the major goals for any social enterprise. Integration with the local community helps solve these conflicts (Paton, 2003). Small and medium enterprises have more in common with social enterprises. They all start small and grow through some steps in growth. These all start from creativity with a need to serve the community thorough provision of missing services. As with the case of social enterprises, they seek to provide essential service to the needy in society (Bull & Ridley-Duff, 2011). Those who run social enterprise are best known as social entrepreneurs. They differ from other entrepreneurs in that their mind set is not focused primarily in making profits but rather integrating the business with the community (Bull & Ridley-Duff, 2011). Most entrepreneurs are innovators and do not follow the standard way of doing things hence are disruptive. So for social entrepreneurs, they should be managers or look for managers to run the social enterprise. A manger of the social enterprise should strive to ensure that the business is sustainable and that the enterprise aspect is upheld. Most funding comes from donations and entrepreneurial activities and not from equity investments. This means that there are no major shareholders that run the finances of

Analysis of Chapter Two of Guy Deutscher Book The Unfolding of Essay

Analysis of Chapter Two of Guy Deutscher Book The Unfolding of Languages - Essay Example The paragraph also introduced how the initiative of King James to translate the Bible into English had revolutionized and changed the language to its present form. The second paragraph that also summed up the whole chapter can be found on page 53 to 54 that stated â€Å"no corner of the English language has remained protected from changes: sounds, meanings, and structures all  seem to have suffered from a curious inability to stay still.   This paragraph is intertwined with the paragraph on page 46 that introduced the evolution of the English language because it provided the conclusion to make idea complete. Indeed, the version of English that we used today is a product of the generation of improvement to make the language more comprehensible and more coherent as a tool of communication. And this phenomenon is not only exclusive in the English language but is a phenomenon in other languages such as French and German. In the paragraphs stated, Deutscher made use of the technique of storytelling and quotation. The storytelling came from Deutscher narration of how the English evolved from its old form and how King James revolutionized the language to its present form. He made The thesis of Deutscher that language changes over time are agreeable and well argued. The ideas purported by his thesis have been very convincing. In the paragraph chosen, he used story-telling to make his point coupled with direct quotations. The storytelling involves how the English language changed over time. It is supported by a direct quotation from the Bible to demonstrate how the language changed. He, however, also argued for exactness and propriety of the language in the same chapter. Although his recommendations were valid, it sounded illogical when taken as a whole because he also contradicted himself by proposing how the language should be exactly used. In the previous chapter, he discussed the arrangement of words to convey a clearer meaning and the correct hierarchy of sent ence.        

The Pattern Matching Technique in Case Study Research Paper

The Pattern Matching Technique in Case Study - Research Paper Example Descriptive Case Study, pattern matching helps to determine its validity, on the condition that prior to data collection the predicted pattern of specific variables is defined. Moreover, pattern-matching being a predictive approach to intervention, it â€Å"specifies a post-intervention pattern of results/ incidents that would either show ‘effects’ or ‘no effects’†. In pattern matching, the data analysis phase begins at the preliminary stage of data collection. Testing the perceived patterns in the field is an advantage of this methodology. Data analysis would then consist of â€Å"pattern matching the collected evidence against the initially stipulated pattern†. For example, a case study conducted on educational reform can begin by conceptualizing some patterns regarding implementing improved curriculum and instruction, consequent redesigning of tests and assessments by basing them on the new curriculum and instruction methods, appropriately changed in-service opportunities for teachers, and also an altered preservice training system for new teachers. The researcher’s Case Study would determine whether this pattern of educational conditions had actually occurred, and the extent to which the conditions were clearly similar. In research, a pattern is an arrangement of occurrences, incidents, behavioral actions, or the outcomes of in terventions which occur as a series in time. Hypotheses are theories predicting a pattern of values of variables. In the pattern of a non-equivalent dependent variable design, the initially predicted value must be found for each element of a pattern of dependent variables. Another type is the pattern in a non-equivalent independent variables design, as derived from a typological theory. research validity.  

Human Resource Management for Service Industries Assignment - 1

Human Resource Management for Service Industries - Assignment Example It involves having the total responsibility of maintaining high-quality standards of the selected hotel. The job comes with comprehensive training activities, competitive benefits and handsome annual salary that relies on the market pay ranges. There is an additional monthly bonus. There is also room for personal career growth, as well as enough opportunity for steady progression. As a hotel manager, one is responsible for overseeing the daily operations of the hotel and management of the junior workforce. Also, guarantees that high-quality guest service, as well as the severe quality and cleanliness standards, are unfailingly sustained. One assumes the total ownership of the hotel premises, being able to carry out some minor maintenance and repairs, and ascertaining profitability of the business and that guests are satisfied with the hotel services. As a hotel general manager, one receives various economic and physical benefits. As the hotel industry experiences constant growth, it also provides an avenue for career growth. One also enjoys a fully paid comprehensive training that helps one achieve his credentials as a certified hotel manager. Furthermore, by being hardworking and a display of professionalism one receives handsome rewards with remarkable compensation and benefits. A hotel manager requires an individual with the ability of combining meticulous professionalism with a sociable, convivial and enthusiastic personality. Ones need to be outgoing, well presentable and able to usher in guests into the hotel as it were his home. Also, possess the ability to manage P&L and financials efficiently so as to ensure the continual profitability of the hotel. The employees play a critical role in the success of any business. Therefore, careful selection and recruitment of working personnel is essential for any organization, as well as the hotel industry. In order to get the required applicant pool that is diverse and talented a team

Look Before You Leap Essay Example for Free

Look Before You Leap Essay Aristotle is praised for naming fortitude, First of the cardinal virtues as that without which no other virtue can steadily be practiced; but he might, with equal propriety have placed prudence and justice before it. Since without prudence fortitude is mad; without justice it is dangerous. Only a fool or a suicide will jump into a river without making sure about the depths, eddies and whirlpools. And even there no one tests the depth of a river with both feet. Rashness has been unhappy parent of misfortune. Once in a blue moon it might bring us luck but more often than not it is fraught with dangerous consequences. The Persian monarch Xerxes, rashly enough, ordered an expedition to conquer Greece. With a wave of the hand he dismissed all pitfalls and dangers. When the trial of strength came the armies of Xerxes were dashed to smithereens and the crestfallen monarch escaped in a solitary boat, forlorn and humiliated. Those who act first think afterwards are bound to repent forever. History is replete with such instances. Napoleon, otherwise calculating and sagacious warrior in a rash and proud moment gave signal for an invasion of Russia. He had counted without the terrible winter of that country. His armies were bogged down in the snows. The flower his army, the Iron Guards, perished and the loss became the prelude Napoleons utter downfall. History repeated itself. In the Second World War, Hitler drunk power and pride turned his guns towards Russia, in spite of the Non- aggression Pact which he had solemnly signed. He also met disaster paid the price for his rash decision. True statesmanship lies in thinking hundred times before deciding on any course of action. A situation is assessed in all its potentialities and possibilities. Though you would like to beat the dog, you have to consider the masters face as well. Look before you leap, sums up the wisdom born out of experience. In ordinary situations the proverb holds. But there are moment’s crises or emergency when boldness or even rashness may be preferable cool calculation. In earthquakes, famines, floods and national calamities a person should act at once without caring for the consequences. In trying to avoid rashness one might go to other extreme of indecision and sloth. A bachelor, said a humorist, is one who looks before he leaps then never leaps. Rashness is any time better than sloth. But the right course is quickness guided by prudence. Haste and rashness are storms and tempests breaking and wrecking business; but nimbleness is a fair wind, blowing it with speed to the haven.

Medium Of Defamation In The Cyberspace Media Essay

Medium Of Defamation In The Cyberspace Media Essay Defamation is potentially one of the largest areas of law which will be affected by the internet revolution as it deals, quite simply, with communication between people  [1]  . The internet provides a new means to facilitate this communication and so is an ideal forum for free speech, a practice which can often lead to vituperative and contumelious language  [2]  . A communication is defamatory if it tends so to harm the reputation of another as to lower him in the estimation of the community or to deter third persons from associating or dealing with him.  [3]   With the aim to injure the reputation of the victim and in particular to cause him (or her) to be regarded with feelings of hatred, contempt, ridicule, fear, dislike or disesteem is part of the objective of the defamation  [4]  . The defamer or the defendant can be taken into custody for his/her action if the plaintiff thinks that the information given in the cyberspace is false, inappropriate and resulting lowering down the plaintiff reputation. Depending on different countries and regions, the punishment for defamation in the cyberspace is varies due to its law. Some country for example Brunei can take 5 years prisons for the punishment. It is not only the author or originator of a defamatory statement that may be liable for the publication of that statement; rather, defamation law ensures that anyone who plays a significant role in the act of republication or redistribution of defamatory message will be held responsible for that message  [5]  . This objective of this paper is to determine jurisdiction on the regional cases of defamation in Brunei and Malaysia. Other than that, this paper also explains medium of defamation in the cyberspace, the effects of the defamation to the victim, the punishment to the defamer and the court action with the case. BRUNEI AND MALAYSIA DEFAMATION LAW Both Brunei and Malaysia defamation law are based on the English Common Law  [6]  . MALAYSIA DEFAMATION LAW Malaysia Defamation Act are the Malaysian Defamation Act 1957 for civil cases and the Penal Code of Malaysia Section 499 Section 503 for criminal cases  [7]  . This law does not define defamation. It recognized two forms of defamation only that is libel and slander. There are distinct differences of these two forms of defamation. The difference lies in the means or medium by which the defamatory material is communicated. It used to be a fundamental distinction that between a written or printed word which is concludes as libel and spoken words which are considered as slander. Both libel and slander are civil and criminal offences. Thus, a person who is guilty of libel or slander may be sued in court, and also face jail sentence. In civil cases, the person so defamed will normally sue the maker of the defamatory words for compensation. The amount of the compensation depends on the damage caused to the reputation of the person suing. In criminal cases, the punishment for defamation is a jail sentence for a maximum of two years, or a fine, or a combination of a jail sentence and a fine [Section 500-502 Penal Code]. But, nowadays the general view of libel is whether the publication is in a permanent form, in other forms it is a slander. Defamation in a permanent forms and is usually visible to the eye, such as items in writing, email, pictures, statutes or effigies. Section 3 of the Defamation Act 1957 stated that broadcasting of words by means of radio communication shall be treated as communication in a permanent form. BRUNEI DEFAMATION LAW The Defamation Act of Brunei Darussalam, which was revised in 2000, punishes libel or slander by means of broadcasting, telecommunication or publication by newspaper.  [8]  Like Malaysia, the laws also governing both libel and slander are identical. Bloggers should also be aware that under the Brunei Defamation Act, a blog post for the purpose of the law of libel and slander, may be considered the equivalent to broadcasting of words by means of telecommunication and as such will be treated as publication. Even though the defamatory content on the Internet can be deleted, there is a possibility that the post can be recovered through a cache, and thus can be admitted into evidence  [9]  . Though there has not been any major case of litigation concerning blogs and bloggers in Brunei, the neighboring countries of Malaysia and Singapore have had cases which have resulted in imprisonment for comments made by bloggers  [10]  . Under Section 500 of Bruneis Penal Code, whoever defames another can be imprisoned for a term of up to 5 years and a fine  [11]  . MEDIUM OF DEFAMATION IN THE CYBERSPACE Based on Lilian Edwards study, she define that there are at least four distinct sites where defamation may occur in the cyberspace that can usefully be separated out, as to some extent they raise distinct problems  [12]  . One to one email messages Compared to the traditional written mail (via postal), transmission of email is virtually instantaneous and usually, once sent, is irrevocable. As a result, email correspondence is often in substance more like spoken conversation than written interaction  [13]  . Interaction and communication between two are becoming no limitless which can turn out to be legally actionable. Mailing List The format of an electronic mailing list is that various parties subscribe by email to the list, which is administered by some central host. The subject of discussion of the list may be anything from Internet law to real ale to homosexual fantasies. Usually the list is set up so that, by default, any email message sent by any one subscriber to the list is bounced or exploded out to every other subscriber. Carelessness can lead to the user think they reply only to the maker but actually the user sends their reply to the every member in the list. The embarrassment factor can be considerable, particularly where the members of the list form a small professional community within which the professional reputation of the person defamed can be severely damaged  [14]  . Newsgroup Newsgroups are discussion forum which are made up of comments from their subscribers, sorted by subject matter. All it takes is to subscribe and post comments to the newsgroup  [15]  . Collectively, the newsgroups available to Internet users are sometimes known as the Usenet  [16]  . There are something like 14,000 Usenet newsgroups subscribed to en masse by millions of subscribers, located in every country where there is Internet access. As a result, any comment posted to a Usenet newsgroup is virtually guaranteed to be published, and read, within days if not hours, in many hundreds of national jurisdictions. As can be imagined, the volume of material published in these forums is enormous one estimate is that around 4 million articles are available at any particular time  [17]  . Therefore, the probability of defamation cases in the newsgroup is higher. The World Wide Web Like newsgroups, Web sites can be accessed and read in multiple jurisdictions, and they therefore share many of the problems of transnational publication discussed above. But perhaps the major unique problem with the Web is how far it allows any individual to mimic traditional publishing at very low cost. Home pages can be set up which do a good job of looking like electronic journals or glossy magazines and which can be extremely attractive, with good design and graphic content  [18]  . However many of the parties setting up Web sites often fans of popular music or TV programmes, students, pressure groups, or amateur associations are not already hard copy or traditional publishers, have no knowledge of the law of defamation or libel, and may well find themselves publishing defamatory statements without fully appreciating their potential liability  [19]  . LIABILITY OF INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS The key role of ISPs is to provide access to the Internet for their subscribers. This access includes allowing subscribers both to read and write to Usenet newsgroups and to surf the Web. ISPs also sometimes host local discussion forum and almost invariably agree to act as physical hosts to Web pages set up by their subscribers (generally to a maximum storage of a few megabytes)  [20]  . In all these cases, the ISP runs the risk of being regarded as the publisher of libelous remarks, originated by another person, but published by them in one of these forums. As per mention before, any repetition or re-publication of a defamatory statement is in itself actionable. Action is possible against all intervening persons who are responsible for repeating, publishing or otherwise circulating the defamation  [21]  . Therefore, any republish or repeating, the victim can choose whether to sue original defamer or the re-publisher or both and in many cases, ISP were usually being sued due to the money issue rather than suing the original author. HOW IS DEFAMATION PUNISHED Defamation is usually a civil offence, although it can be a criminal matter under special circumstances.  [22]   CIVIL DEFAMATION Most complaints of defamation are dealt with under civil law. That means that cases go to a civil court and are punished by awarding money (called damages) against the person found to have committed the offence, usually called the defendant. If someone takes you to court for defamation, they will be the plaintiff, you will be the defendant.  [23]   In civil defamation, the principle is the same as for someone who has been physically injured as a result of someone elses actions, either through carelessness or a planned attack. The injured person may take the other person (or people) to court. If successful, the injured person will be awarded a sum of money as compensation. This money will be paid by the person who did the damage.  [24]   DAMAGES There are several kinds of damages a court can award, either separately or together.  [25]   General or Compensatory damages which a court may award for a persons loss of reputation, shame or hurt feelings. The payment to the plaintiff may be at small amount of money. Special damages compensate for any loss of business or earnings the plaintiff may have suffered as a result of the defamation. These could also include any money the plaintiff has spent as a result of the defamation, for example in sending letters to clients denying the allegations. Aggravated damages this can be awarded if the court thinks that the defamation was deliberate, possibly out of ill-will or any other improper motive (usually referred to as malice, which we discussed earlier). Punitive or Exemplary damages which may sometimes be awarded if the defamation is so extreme that the court feels the need to punish you or warn other journalists against similar conduct. Damages are usually large in the case of media organisations because the courts think that they can pay more for their mistakes than individuals can. CRIMINAL DEFAMATION Defamation can also be a criminal offence, which means that those found guilty could be fined or sent to prison or both. This is much less common than civil defamation.  [26]   A charge of criminal defamation can be brought if the words, pictures or gestures use provoke resulting riots, mob violence or other breaches of the public peace. For this reason, the prosecution does not have to prove publication to a third party. It is enough that the person the defendent are referring to hears the words (or sees the gestures) and reacts violently. However, unlike civil defamation, the prosecution will have to prove that the words complained of were malicious. In civil defamation the words may be malicious, but in criminal defamation they must be.  [27]   SOCIAL MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES Social media technologies are part of the cyberspace. It include blogs, picture sharing, email, instant messaging, vlogs and other medium that allow to be democratically interactive in ways unlike radio, television, or highly edited letters pages of newspapers and magazine. Below is some case law and summaries that happen in Brunei and Malaysia which relate with defamation in cyberspace. Facebook is a popular free social networking website that allows registered users to create profiles, upload photos and video, send messages and keep in touch with friends, family and colleague  [28]  . One recent and well-known case in Brunei with regards to Facebook Upload is Adi Adip  [29]  case where the defendant had uploaded his ex-girlfriends (Miss X) obscene picture and video clip on the Facebook. The reason for his action is to insult Miss Xs modesty as well as to get her attention after she had broken off her relationship with the defendant. The plaintiff report this issue to the police once she discovered the Facebook account is under her name, managed by the defendant and containing the obscene pictures and video clips involving herself. The court ordered for the iPhone used by the defendant to be forfeited and all photos and videos related to the case was seized and disposed of, including copies, immediately. This is one case example from Brunei of the defamation in cyberspace. Other than that, the defendant was send to jail for 10 months. In Malaysia, over the past years, Malaysians have been increasingly engaged in virtual communities and online interactions. Some have led to positive outcomes, but some of these virtual arenas have been exploited, tarnishing the true potential of the Internet  [30]  . In case of Jeff Ooi and Rocky Bru  [31]  case, this is the first time in Malaysia that a prominent media organization filed a suit against bloggers. Jeff Oois Screenshot become a topic of debate when he retracted all his libelous allegations in weblog against the New Straits Times. Raja Petra Kamaruddin is a Malaysian editor known for running Malaysia Today website. He published a series of commentary article on Malaysia politics in the website. There are a lot of cases relate to him which include both Civil and Criminal offences. Some of his cases are: Nordin Kardi UUM v RPK (2008) Lt-Col Aziz Buyong Lt-Col Norhayati Hassan v RPK (2008) Datuk Muhammad Shafee Abdullah v RPK (2008) Public Prosecutor v RPK (2008) Due to large number of cases he was being suit, he was arrested by the authorities. He was detained under the Internal Security Act on 12th September 2008 under section 73, 60 days detention by Police Officer and again on 24th September 2008, under section 8(1) which he was detained for 2 years by the Minister. CONCLUSION As mention earlier in this paper, the objective of this paper is to determine jurisdiction on the regional cases of defamation in Brunei and Malaysia. This paper also explains medium of defamation in the cyberspace, the effects of the defamation to the victim, the punishment to the defamer and the court action with the case. Weve found that there are 4 distinct medium of defamation in the cyberspace one to one email messages, mailing list, newsgroup and the World Wide Web  [32]  . As we know, defamation can result to injure the reputation of the victim and in particular to cause him (or her) to be regarded with feelings of hatred, contempt, ridicule, fear, dislike or disesteem.

Business Analysis Of Foxconn Business Essay

Business Analysis Of Foxconn Business Essay The Foxconn Technology Group is specialized in computer, communications, consumer electronics, digital content, auto parts, and sales of high-tech enterprises 6C industry. With roots technology, manufacturing and forward-looking decision-making, Jau-Ji in Taiwan since 1974, particularly in 1988 in Shenzhen Construction, The Foxconn has expanded rapidly, with more than 90 million people and the worlds leading IT customer base, as the worlds largest The electronics industry manufacturer. Exports to the mainland in 8 consecutive years, ranks the top 200 list; 2010 among the Fortune Global 500 2010 No. 112. Leaders Terry Gou founded Hon Hai in Taiwan in 1974 with ten workers to make plastic parts for television sets. In 1988 Terry Gou opened his first factory in Mainland China, in Shenzhen, where his largest factory remains today. Terry Gou now owns 30% of the public company and was ranked 142nd on Forbes magazines 2007 list of the worlds richest people, with a net worth of US$5.5 billion. Scope of business operation The Foxconn leads through its competence, creativity, and teamwork. Its quest for excellence did not allow it to rest on the laurels of its past success, as with the increase in size comes the challenges of operating in a timely fashion. The Group has hundreds of subsidiaries and branch offices through Asia, Europe and the America. The strategy of having two RD Clusters they are based in Asia and the America are the major anchors where the RD teams are housed, where the laboratories are located, and where advanced research is performed. The three design and manufacturing zones that are located in Asia, Europe, and the America are where the design is implemented and final assembly is achieved in large scale/high efficiency/low cost/high quality via vertical integration. The Foxconn prides itself on its commitment to having zero inventory and on time delivery that adds value to existing products, develops new product line, and beats competition to the market, and where affordability me ets state of the art technology. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide, The Foxconn provides its customers with an all in one service and cutting edge IT products worldwide. Business Model Foxconns leadership is founded on the basis of maintaining a constant focus on Component Module Move and Service, a business model that was envisaged by its founder and CEO, Terry Gou. The Foxconn offers an extraordinary portfolio of capabilities on the design of components and modules that enables it to deliver a one stop solution from design and manufacture to logistics and to repair and maintenance across the globe. The five key tenets of to underlying business model -speed, quality, technology, flexibility, and cost efficiency have proven Foxconns sustainability that lies at the core of its quest for success. Products With its well established technology on molding and tooling, The Foxconn has evolved from being a manufacturer to an innovative technology developer and to becoming the industry leader in mechanical, optical, and electronic integration. It finds a new focus in a host of areas such as nanotechnology, heat transfer technology, wireless networking systems, green environmental technology, CAD/CAE, optical film, sputter technology, AMT, and networking chipset design. Establish itself in China improve the layout The Foxconn continue to enhance R D design and engineering service capabilities, gradually establish a China-centered, extended development to the rest of the worlds international territory. In the Pearl River Delta region, built in Shenzhen, Foshan, Zhongshan, Dongguan Science and Technology Park, and established the Shenzhen Longhua Global Logistics Manufacturing for the Group headquarters, its three business revenue year after year into the top ten enterprises in Shenzhen City, and the top ten tax annual tax contribution of over ten billion yuan in Shenzhen. Park is transforming into a new product R D and design center, the key manufacturing technology R D Center, new materials, new energy R D center, manufacturing equipment and tooling technology research and development center, product display / trade / logistics and distribution center and test base the amount of new products, and strive to become Shenzhen construction of national innovative city, the main driving force. In the Yangtze River Delta region, the layout in Kunshan, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Nanjing, Huaian, Jiashan, Changshu, etc., to form a precision connector, wireless communication components, CNC equipment, body parts, semiconductor equipment and software technology development and supply chain industry chain polymerization system, boosting the regional industrial structure optimization and upgrading. In the Bohai Sea region, the layout of Yantai, Beijing, Langfang, Tianjin, Qinhuangdao, Yingkou, Shenyang and other places, to wireless communications, consumer electronics, computer parts, precision machine tools, automation equipment, environmental technology, nanotechnology and other industries as the backbone for regional economic development and manufacture of kinetic energy transfer technology. In the Midwest, investment Taiyuan, Jincheng, Wuhan, Nanning, Zhengzhou, Chongqing and Chengdu, the focus on the development of precision mold, magnesium alloy, automobile parts, mechanical and electrical modules and other products, actively cooperate with the Rise of Central China, West National Development Strategy. Sophisticated technology to win the opportunity Continued to improve in precision molds, key components, modules and other products both electrical and mechanical integration of technology advantages, The Foxconn actively promote cross-technology integration, nanotechnology, precision optics, environmental lighting, flat panel display, automation, thermal acoustic magnetic, industrial measurement, semiconductor equipment, and other fields have achieved fruitful results. The Foxconn Nanotechnology Research Center of Tsinghua controllable growth of carbon nanotubes and application in the field, continue to achieve groundbreaking results. Group of independent development of industrial robots FOXBOT, in the global technology and manufacturing industry to win the subsequent advantages. The Foxconn testing center in South China and East China is the ILAC International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation Organization, of which R D validation, product testing, simulation, experiments, and so is a world leading level. The Foxconn to actively create energy saving, emission reduction, green, recycling, green business and rigorously enforce the RoHS WEEE international environmental standards such as independent research and development LED energy saving lamps, energy-saving aluminum, intelligent all heat exchangers and other green products, to promote the production, living the quality of the environment and peoples livelihood continues to improve. The Foxconn has set up all over Papua, the United States, Europe and across three continents of the professional R D network, establish a sound platform for innovative mechanisms and Intellectual Property Management, 2009, to achieve 13,400 patent applications, of which 80% or more categories of invention patents, for 5 consecutive years were total patent applications listed mainland and the top three patent applications. Chinese enterprises become the wisdom of riding the right of the global technology industry pioneer. Feedback social care staff The Foxconn long-term commitment of Charities, 2008, earthquake in Wenchuan, has more than 7200 million for the donations sent to disaster areas. Accumulated over the years donated money to Over one billion NT Group, benefiting more than 30 provinces. Through the disability employment project, and actively explore solutions to social problems disabled; by a wide range of school-enterprise cooperation, and create hundreds of thousands of jobs. People-oriented, profit sharing, employees. Group than the terms of the labor contract law and the full labor contracts, both to purchase legal insurance for all employees, but also for the staff set up five security lines, and establish a comprehensive, multi-level security system employees. Through the allocated units, placements and other measures to motivate good employees, create a well-being, stability and development, the harmonious atmosphere. Foxconn and Tsinghua University, Peking University, National Taiwan University, renowned academic institutes such as cooperative education, and collaboration with local governments Enterprise University, set up different levels of training system for all willing to learn, willing to learn the staff continuing education, lifelong learning opportunities and conditions for the growth of the young talent pool to create institutional memory in order to display the stage and space. Hongfei miles, Fuji is Kang. Foxconn will continue to love and cultural tradition, fulfilling social responsibility, nurturing talent, innovation and development patterns, technological innovation and industrial restructuring challenges a higher goal, to create long-term, stability, development, technology, international of the companys long first-class Green Albert! Foxconn in China, Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and the Americas, Europe and other places have hundreds of subsidiaries and representative offices of global logistics strategy, both R D, design and manufacture of three districts, the global assembly of delivery. Both R D (Time to market) Two R D refers to the Greater China and the United States as two major strategic pivot, set up R D team and research and development laboratories, pulse master technology to meet the Groups product development strategy and an important strategy for global product development customer needs for new product development, creating new growth global markets. Design and manufacture of three districts (Time to volume) Third District design and manufacture of the layout of the focus is mainland China as the center, at least three continents, Asia, the United States and Europe set up two manufacturing bases, with product introduction, design sample preparation, engineering services and high-efficiency low-cost high-quality large-scale vertical integrated manufacturing strengths to provide customers with the most competitive technology products. Global assembly of delivery (Time to money) Global assembly delivery refers to assemble a global scale to ensure the right products, timely, appropriate quality, appropriate to the goods delivered to the client specified location. To this end, with customer needs for global logistics distribution and channel building in order to reach to goods stock, not when the goods are zero inventory objectives. Goals for future Conduct SER on site audits for 200 suppliers identified as being at risk of non conformance Conduct the Conflict Minerals survey throughout the supply chain and require suppliers not to use those metals Drive all PCB suppliers to be certified ISO 14001 standard Drive 200 suppliers to conduct GHG reduction Cooperate with customers and suppliers to initiate the product carbon footprint program Chart below shows the organization structure of Foxconn Board of Directors General Manager Assistant General Manager Executive Vice President Sales Vice President Deputy General Manager of Production Technology Human Resources Finance Department General Administration Department Trade Division Static Division Electronics Division Marketing Design RD Engineering Technology Static Products Electronic Products Service Department Marketing Centre Group Marketing Centre About the Kingdee Kingdee International Software Group Company limited (stock code: 0268) is a lead software company in China specializing in the delivery of foot blade enterprise management software, middleware in the Asia Pacific region.It is also one of the fastest-growing independent software providers in the worlds first line of management in providing online, e-commerce services.Kingdee altar drive as its task to make progress in the management of standard software from it, nurture e-commerce, service its customers, promote Chinas management of pulse encoder device world.Customer first attitude, innovation, integrity and responsibility to reflect the groups core values. Kingdee services to enterprises and government information through its 54 branches, and in marketing and service partners, more than 1,500 consulting, technology and implementation services, and in concentrated demand around the world. It is already recognized by the International Data Co., Ltd. as the largest player in the SME m anagement software market in China in terms of market share of the four series of years, small and medium enterprises as the best in Asia for two consecutive years by Forbes Asia. Future prospects Kingdee IDC, was named as the SME ERP market in China for five consecutive years in Forbes Asias leading, the best in Asia in a million, one for four consecutive years, the best ability to Sofrware Award , the highest capacity management in China Software , Best Technical Innovation Software Award . In 2007, IBM invested Kingdee, as its strategic shareholders. IBM has been with the Groups cooperation incluind products, technology, consulting and marketing. The countrys economic stimulus measures, including plans invigrate electronic information industry, began to take effect in the second half of 2009. In response to the financial crisis, local enterprises have basic IT applications in a more emphasis on internal management, e-commerce, information technology, and industry consolidation, business transformation and upgrading, while the demand for IT consulting and services commensurate with the growth.The Chinese government has actively promoted e-government infrastructure and suppor t for the domestic software industry and the pharmaceutical industry of information technology development. The next four years, is expected to harvest time, and the results of these efforts in China in the manufacture of application software, middleware, e-commerce software development, investment, e-government software, medical and hospital management applications. In 2010, the Group is well prepared to seize the economic recovery and a strong software industry opportunity. It will continue to expand the program to different industries through market penetration and further into a service company, and extend the operation of the entire product lifecycle, thereby enhancing its core competitiveness, providing products and services, improve customer value. The team will enhance merger and acquisition to consolidate its active ingredients business management software and middleware in the area of leadership. The team will also further develop e-commerce, e-government, health care of i ts business, the Group will strive to build a global think tank best management practices to provide greater value in Chinese enterprises, government departments and non-profit organizations. Chart below shows the organization structure of Kingdee CEO Mr. Xu Shao Chun CFO Mr. Chen Deng Kun Non-executive Director Mr. James Ming King Non-executive Director Mr. Ho Ching Hua Independent Non-executive Director Ms. Yang Zhou Nan Independent Non-executive Director Mr. Wu Cheng Independent Non-executive Director Mr. Yeung Kwok On Independent Non-executive Director Mr. Gary Clark BIDDLE Company Secretary Ms. Ngan Lin Chun, Esther ACS Qualified Accountant Mr. Ho Ka Man, Barry CPA Audit Committee of the Board Ms. Yang Zhou Nan Audit Committee of the Board Mr. Wu Cheng Audit Committee of the Board Mr. Gary Clark BIDDLE Employees Conclusion So, we can see lots of difference between Foxconn and Kingdee in business operation, Business Model, Products and Goals for future and etc. The organization structure of Kingdee is smaller than the organization structure of Foxconn. The good thing about the Foxconn is the share in market is large than other company and the competition is strong in the world. And the advantage about Kingdee is the goals are the organization structure is more easy to change than MNC and the management of the company is more humanization. We need to learn the good things and the bad things from Foxconn and Kingdee. The good things can help us to improve ourselves, and the bad things came be the advice to warn ourselves. By the finally, the knowledge are limitless, we should learn more and more knowledge so that we can easy to find the job which we want to get. The information of Foxconn and Kingdee are a good part of the knowledge which we need to learn.

herody Essay on Homers Odyssey: A Hero Defined -- Homer Odyssey Essa

A Hero Defined in Homer's Odyssey What makes a hero? To be known as a hero takes a lot, but what is a true hero? Well, it depends on whom you ask. To some, a hero might just be a person who is courageous and brave, to others a hero might be a person that is a strong warrior and leader who wins battles; however, to some to others, a hero might be a person who uses his brain just as much as a warrior uses his sword. Odysseus, in Homer's epic, "The Odyssey", embodies the ideal human qualities that Homer's Greek society mostly admired. Odysseus' courage, nobility, and his most distinguishing attribute, his sharp intellect are what make him an eminent hero. Odysseus' great intellectual capacity gets him out of even the most life threatening situations. In addition, his courage is what drives him to get himself in those situations to begin with. Tested with even the toughest obstacles, Odysseus still led a heroic victory. Living a life with immortals and Gods around you, it was not ordinary to be a mortal and carry the strength of a God. In conclusion, Od... herody Essay on Homer's Odyssey: A Hero Defined -- Homer Odyssey Essa A Hero Defined in Homer's Odyssey What makes a hero? To be known as a hero takes a lot, but what is a true hero? Well, it depends on whom you ask. To some, a hero might just be a person who is courageous and brave, to others a hero might be a person that is a strong warrior and leader who wins battles; however, to some to others, a hero might be a person who uses his brain just as much as a warrior uses his sword. Odysseus, in Homer's epic, "The Odyssey", embodies the ideal human qualities that Homer's Greek society mostly admired. Odysseus' courage, nobility, and his most distinguishing attribute, his sharp intellect are what make him an eminent hero. Odysseus' great intellectual capacity gets him out of even the most life threatening situations. In addition, his courage is what drives him to get himself in those situations to begin with. Tested with even the toughest obstacles, Odysseus still led a heroic victory. Living a life with immortals and Gods around you, it was not ordinary to be a mortal and carry the strength of a God. In conclusion, Od...

Multiple Sclerosis :: essays research papers

The name itself is revealing: multiple, more than one, and sclerosis, which refers to areas of sclerotic (scarred) tissue. Multiple sclerosis is a demyelinating disease of the white matter of the central nervous system.These areas of sclerosis, also referred to as lesions or plaques, occur in the white matter of the central nervous system. Gray matter consists primarily of nerve cells. Axons (nerve fibers) are the connections between the cell body and the muscles, sensory organs, and primary organs such as the heart. These nerve cells are the communication system both within the central nervous system and between it and the rest of the body. Axons are sheathed in myelin, a white substance (hence the term "white matter") that insulates them and speeds transmission of impulses along the cell fibers. Electrical impulses move along the nerve fiber to the synapse (the connection point between cells) to the next nerve cell.The lesions or plaques of multiple sclerosis are areas of tissue damage arising from inflammation, which occurs when white blood cells and fluid accumulate around blood vessels. This inflammation causes destruction of myelin. After the fragments are cleared away, a scar is formed--the lesion--in the area of demyelinization. The cause-and-effect process of inflammation and demyelinization is unclear. These lesions impede conduction of signals by blocking or slowing communication, either completely or partially and from time to time. The process can be thought of as similar to an electrical short circuit. The symptoms of multiple sclerosis result from that loss or diminution of signal conduction.MS is the most common demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. In the United States alone, there are at least 250,000 cases. For reasons that remain unclear, it is more prevalent in northern temperate zones and affects noticeably more women than men. The average age of onset is thirty years.Research into the underlying causes and processes of MS is ongoing, and in recent years, advances in virology and immunology have rapidly increased knowledge and understanding of the disease. However, its etiology remains unclear. Epidemiological studies indicate that an environmental factor, perhaps exposure to a virus, when combined with a genetic predisposition to the disease, may well control occurrence of the disease. MS is not a genetically transmitted disease. MS may also be or involve a defect of some kind in the body's autoimmune system--some part of the body may, in effect, attack itself.Diagnosis of MS is difficult.

Dimensions of Diversity

There is much lip service given these days to the concept of diversity in the workforce. The reason that it is â€Å"lip service† is that many people only have a vague understanding of what a diverse workforce actually is and why diversity is highly important within the business world. There are a number of reasons why a diverse workforce is an effective workforce. On a baseline level, a workforce that incorporates various dimensions of diversity will never be a stagnant work force.That is, when the people who make up the work force come from a multitude of backgrounds, there will be a variety of different perspectives offered on various business decisions. For example, if there is a question regarding how to market a specific product to a specific group of people, would it not be wise to have individuals from that specific group of people part of the decision making process regarding the actual marketing plan? It is surprising that there will be a number of companies that wil l actually exclude the targeted group from the planning stages.This is terrible management and will only lead to a number of missteps and oversights that could have easily been corrected had a more diverse workforce been employed. Also, incorporating dimensions of diversity in the workforce is the moral thing to do. To have a workforce that is exclusionary is no different than a cancerous growth at the epicenter of the company. Lack of diversity will eat away at a company until it can not function and, in the modern era, a workforce that is not diverse does not belong in the modern era at all.

Employer Liability for Employee Torts Under the Theory of Negligent Hiring Essay

The manager of an apartment complex used the key to one of the apartments to enter the tenant’s apartment during his off duty time and rape the occupant. ABC Apartment Company owns the property and hired the manager. An investigation after the fact turned up evidence the manager had a criminal record which ABC failed to discover during the interview process. The tenant is suing ABC Apartment Company for compensatory and punitive damages. The following will discuss the possible legal theories upon which the tenant may seek recovery in a civil court of law and how likely the tenant may be to receive an award of compensatory and possibly punitive damages.The idea of vicarious liability has existed for centuries, predating even English common law in the 16th century. Vicarious liability was common in primitive law wherein â€Å"owners† were held responsible for the negligence of servants, slaves, inanimate objects and wives. Blumenreich, 1993). To phrase it plainly, a person is responsible for the actions of those people with whom that person may have a master and servant relationship. The Restatement (Second) of Agency, (Restatement (Second) of Agency  §Ã‚ §215-267 (1958)) outlines the doctrine of respondeat superior as it pertains to a principal and his or her agent, such as an employer and an employee. Under respondeat superior, a principal may be vicariously liable for torts committed by an agent of the principle. The liability may arise when the agent’s act is committed within the scope of employment and in furtherance of the principal’s business, or when the agent’s act is ratified by the principal. (cited in Lindemann and Kadue, 1992) When applying the Restatement (Second) of Agency to the facts of the of the third party tenant’s rape at the hands of the apartment manager hired by ABC Apartments, it becomes clear why the doctrine of respondeat superior is doomed to fail in a civil court of law. The apartment manager entered the premises and raped the victim in off hours. A reasonable person may conclude that entering the leased premises of a tenant and committing criminal acts against that tenant is not within the scope of employment for the manager and decidedly not in furtherance of the business of ABC Apartments. A reasonable person could also conclude ABC Apartments did not give the manager consent or instruction to unlawfully enter and physically assault the tenants of the apartments. The act of raping the tenant was motivated completely by the apartment manager’s own personal desire. Unless the apartment manager had been specifically instructed by ABC Apartments to rape the tenant, no purpose to serve ABC Apartment’s interest existed. Finally, the manager was hired to oversee the operation of the apartment complex for ABC, not to physically assault and rape the tenants. The theory of negligent hiring addresses employers who do not take reasonable care in hiring their potential employees for a job (FindLaw, 2004). In his legal treatise entitled Employment Screening, Rex K. Larson points out most states recognize a cause of action for negligent hiring, although, no real uniform elements have been adopted as of yet by the multiple state and federal courts. (cited in Creed. T. , 2007) However, a similarity in exactly how to define negligent hiring does exist. In the case of Garcia v. Duffy, 492 So. 2nd 435 (1986), the Florida Supreme Court defined negligent hiring in the following manner: Negligent hiring occurs when, prior to the time the employee is actually hired, the employer knew or should have known of the employee’s unfitness, and the issue of liability focuses upon the adequacy of the employer’s pre-employment investigation into the employee’s background. (cited in Sinclair-Bernadino, 2006. ) In Pennsylvania, Coath v. Jones, 277 Pa. Super. 79, 419 A. 2d 1249 (1980), follows the Restatement (Second) of Torts stating: Negligent hiring cases focus on what duty is owed by the employer to a third party when an employee commits a crime or other bad act †¦the consensus is that an employer may be found negligent if he knew or should have known that an employee had a propensity for conduct that would harm a third person. † (cited in LaPasta, 2006) The Minnesota Supreme Court in Ponticas v. K. M. S. Invs. , 331 N. W. 2d 907, 911 (Minn. 983) offered an opinion which can be characterized as a majority test for the doctrine of negligent hiring: Liability is predicated on the negligence of an employer in placing a person with known propensities, or propensities which should have been discovered by reasonable investigation, in an employment position in which, because of the circumstances of the employment, it should have been foreseeable that the hired individual posed a threat of injury to others. (cited in Creed, 2007) The commonality of all the above-quoted opinions revolves around holding employers responsible for hiring employees who harm third parties when an adequate background check would have prevented such a person from being hired for the job in the first place. In the law review article, Note, Minnesota Developments: Employer Liability for the Criminal Acts of Employees Under Negligent Hiring Theory: Ponticas v. K. M. S. Investments, 68 Minn L. Rev. 1303, 1304-05 (1984), Cindy M.  Haerle draws upon the Ponticas opinion of the Minnesota Supreme Court to identify six basic elements of negligent hiring : (1) the tort-feasor was the employer of the defendant; (2) the employee was unfit for employment; (3) the employer knew or should have known the employee was unfit; (4) the plaintiff (claimant) was injured by the employee’s tortious act; (5) the employer owed a duty of care to the plaintiff; and (6) the hiring of the employee was the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injuries. cited in Creed, 2007). Assuming the courts of the state in which the tenant who became the rape victim of the manager utilize elements such as the above in determining an employer’s liability under a negligent hiring theory, it becomes clear ABC will be held liable for the acts of the manager. The manager was the employee of ABC at the time he committed the rape. The manager had a previous criminal record that ABC failed to discover during the hiring process. Because a criminal background check would have revealed the manager’s past to ABC, they would or should have known the manager was unfit to perform a job in which access to all the tenants’ apartments was readily available. The tenant was clearly injured, both physically and mentally, by the tortious act of the manager. ABC clearly owes a duty to their tenants to insure their employees are fit for the jobs they are hired to do. Failure to investigate the manager’s background is a clear breach of that duty. Finally, had ABC not hired the manager, access to the keys of the tenants’ apartments would not have been available to him and, of course, he would not have been able to enter the tenant’s apartment and commit the crime of rape. Now that is has been established the tenant will succeed under the theory of negligent hiring, the issue of damages must be addressed. Black’s Law Dictionary defines compensatory damages as â€Å"such as will compensate the injured party for the injury sustained. † (Nolan, p. 390, 1990). Black’s Law Dictionary defined punitive damages as damages awarded on an â€Å"increased scale†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦that of punishing the defendant or of setting an example for similar wrongdoers. † (id). In the Florida case of Tallahassee Furniture v. Harrison, a company was successfully sued under the theory of negligent hiring and the plaintiff was awarded $1. 9 million in compensatory damages and $600,000. 00 in punitive damages. (Arvey, et al. , p. 1, 2001) A Massachusetts jury ordered the Trusted Health Resources and Visiting Nurses Association of Boston to pay $26. million in combined compensatory and punitive damages to the family of a murdered quadriplegic after the family successfully sued under the theory of negligent hiring. (Anderson, 1998). A clear indication issues from these decisions indicating courts are willing to allow for the award of punitive damages on top of compensatory damages. Based upon this information, under the theory of negligent hiring it seems likely that the tenant will be successful in a civil lawsuit and will be able to recover both compensatory and punitive damages of a significant nature. The nature of employment law is ever changing and the theory of negligent hiring seems to be an ever expanding area of the law. The idea of a third party recovering for the torts of an employee seems almost to be a return toward the primitive law mentioned in Mr. Blumenreich’s article wherein the master was responsible for all actions of his chattel, or persons in their charge. (Blumenreich,1993. )

Developmental Psychology and Early Childhood Education Essay

Introduction The first six years of life are critical years of human life since the rate of development in these years is more rapid than at any other stage of development. Global brain research also informs us about the significance of early years for brain development. Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) makes a positive contribution to children’s long term development and learning by facilitating an enabling and stimulating environment in these foundation stages of lifelong learning. Parents as caregivers are critical in providing a stimulating learning environment to the child and the first two and a half to three years need not be in a formal learning environment. The National Curriculum Framework acknowledges the significance of involvement of parents, family and community. The programme at the early childhood stage helps to ensure opportunities for holistic learning and growth. The ECCE programme needs to be determined by children’s developmental and contextual needs, providing for more need based inputs and an enabling environment. Given this need for an individualised approach, it was believed that a common ‘curriculum’ would not be appropriate for all. However, over the years it has been observed that the practical realities are different and most of the ECCE programmes on offer currently do not have developmentally appropriate programmes for the young child. The vacuum created by a lack of curriculum framework has resulted in its being filled with either a minimalist programme or the downward extension of the primary stage curriculum. To ensure optimal development for all children, there is a need to create a planned curriculum framework, encompassing developmentally appropriate knowledge and skills, with flexibility for contextualization. A curriculum framework is also required to ensure that important learning areas are covered, taking care of all the developmental needs of the young child. It also facilitates adoption of a common pedagogical approach to reach for a certain level of quality and address the widespread diversity in the ECCE programmes available for the young children in India. This Curriculum Framework is in line with the Government’s vision of ECCE as spelt out in the National Early Childhood Care & Education Policy and is a broad framework of basic guidelines for curricular goals, programme content, classroom practices, parent guidance 4 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012  and teacher preparation across different provisions and across all regions. The purpose of this open framework is to promote quality and excellence in early childhood education by providing guidelines for practices that would promote optimum learning and development of all young children and set out the broad arrangement of approaches and experiences rather than detailed defining of the content. A cautious approach is being adopted to not provide a detailed curriculum/syllabus which would be prescriptive and ‘delivered’ to the young children in a ‘straight jacketed manner’. The Curriculum Framework calls attention to the common principles and developmental tasks, at the same time, respecting the diversity in the child rearing practices and contextual ECCE needs. Each programme is expected to develop its own curriculum to meet the needs of its children, their families, the specific setting, the linguistic culture and the local community. However, the programmes should be based on the curriculum principles and guidelines laid down in this framework. This Framework is a dynamic document and would be continually reviewed and evolved in the light of emerging needs. Also, with the adoption of the framework, case studies of emerging best practices will follow and learnings from them would further strengthen the framework. This Framework is firmly focussed on the needs of the child and should lead to improved quality of learning and increased attainment of learning outcomes for children participating in ECCE programmes. The other components for the holistic ECCE programme such as nutrition, health and care are to be ensured by cross reference from related instruments. Objectives of Early Childhood Education The aim of Early Childhood Care and Education is to facilitate optimum development of the child’s full potential and lay the foundation for all round development and lifelong learning. This aim is to be achieved through enabling the child to: ? Develop a positive self-concept. ? Establish a sound foundation for a good physique, adequate muscular coordination and basic motor skills. 5 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 ? Imbibe good health habits and basic life skills/ self-help skills necessary for personal social adjustment. ? Enhance verbal and non- verbal communication skills which would facilitate expression of thoughts and feelings in fluent, correct, clear speech. ? Develop the five senses and cognitive skills and concepts which are foundation for higher order thinking and reasoning. ? Develop emotional maturity by guiding the child to express, understand, accept and control feelings and emotions. ? Imbibe values, social attitudes and manners important in his/her socio cultural context and to become sensitive to rights and privileges of others. ? Develop independence, aesthetic appreciation and creativity by providing child with sufficient opportunities for self-expression and active exploration, investigation and experimentation. ? Make a smooth transition from preschool to primary through development of emergent literacy and school readiness. Principles of Early Learning Learning begins from birth: From infancy children are mentally and physically active. They learn through all their senses and stimulations. Children construct knowledge: They construct their own knowledge or working models while they actively engage in their environment and through repeated interactions with people and materials. This simply means that children touch, taste, shake things etc. to find out what happens and learn about things in their environment. Children’s curiosity and desire to learn: Children are curious and eager to learn. They have an inherent need to make sense of their experiences and learn about the world around them. Children learn through play: Play is central to the child’s well-being and development Children’s spontaneous play provides opportunities for exploration, experimentation, manipulation and problem solving that are essential for constructing knowledge. Play contributes to the development of representational thought. 6 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 Child development and learning are characterized by individual variation: No two children are same. Each child has an individual pattern and timing of growth and development as well as individual styles of learning. Children’s personal, family experiences and cultural backgrounds also vary. Children’s learning reflects a recurring spiral that begins in awareness, and moves to exploration, to inquiry, and finally, to application. Any new learning by children begins with awareness, which is generated from their experiences with objects, events, or people and ends with utilization, where children are able to use what they have learnt for multiple purposes and apply their learning to new situations. At this stage children start exploring the next level of information and the spiral continues. Children need to experience success more than failure to form a positive self-concept: The experiences should be planned in accordance with the maturational level of the children, such that they are challenging yet achievable, so as to promote self-confidence. When children have confidence in themselves, they do better. They are eager to try new and harder things; they gain new skills and become more confident and capable. Children develop holistically and benefit from integrated experiences and education: Learning and development of children takes place in totality. All the domains of development i. e. physical, motor, cognitive, language, socio-personal, emotional and creative and aesthetic appreciation are interrelated and take place simultaneously. Curriculum Content The curriculum must address the following interrelated domains of holistic development through an integrated and play based approach which focuses on development of life skills. ? Physical and Motor Development: Gross motor skills; coordination of fine muscles with dexterity ; eye hand coordination; sense of balance, physical co-ordination, and awareness of space and direction; nutrition, health status and practices. ? Language Development: Listening and comprehension; oral skills/speaking and communicating; vocabulary development; pre- literacy/emergent literacy skills like phonological awareness; print awareness 7 and concepts; letter- sound Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 correspondence; recognition of letters; building words and sentences and early writing. Introduction to language of school transaction. ? Cognitive Development: Development of various concepts including pre number and number concepts and operations (knowledge and skills related to comparing, classification, seriation, conservation of space and quantity, one to one correspondence; counting); spatial sense; patterns and estimations in measurement; data handling; skills related to sequential thinking, critical thinking, observing, reasoning and problem solving; and knowledge about concepts and physical, social and biological environment. ? Socio-Personal and Emotional Development: Development of self-concept; selfcontrol; life skills/ self-help skills; habit formation; initiative and curiosity; engagement and persistence; cooperation; compassion; social relationships; group interaction; pro- social behaviour; expressing feelings, accepting others feelings. ? Sensorial Development: Development of the five senses through visual, auditory and kinaesthetic experiences. ? Development of Creative and Aesthetic Appreciation: Exploring different art forms, develop dispositions, expression and appreciation for artistic, dance/ drama and musical activities Physical & Motor Development Creative and Aesthetic Appreciation Language Development Socio-Personal Development Cognitive Development Emotional Development 8 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 ECCE is†¦.. †¢ A balanced play based programme of language, cognitive, creative and psychomotor activities A child centered programme catering to individual children’s learning &emotional needs through individual, small and large group activities and one to one communication. A school readiness programme which ‘readies’ children for learning to read, write and do arithmetic later. A programme which indirectly promotes self-control and thereby inner discipline in children through interactions. †¢ ECCE is not†¦.. A syllabus bound programme for teaching 3R’s nor ‘a song and a rhyme and go home’ approach. A teacher centred programme that follows formal classroom approach as in school A program for formally ‘teaching’ reading, writing and arithmetic, which is to be done in primary. Not a programme which demands unquestioning obedience or exercise strict classroom discipline †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ (Source: Kaul, V. (2010): Early Childhood Education Programme. National Council for Educational Research and Training) The ECCE programme should ensure ‘holistic development’ of the child and reflect the inseparable nature of care and education by comprehensively addressing the need for care, nutrition, health and well-being of young children and parent counselling along with supporting the development of all domains. The holistic development approach is vital for provision of interconnected and interrelated activities covering all domains of development. Suggestive Developmentally Appropriate/Age appropriate Activities for ECCE For Children Under 3 years ? Focus on health, nutrition and early psycho social stimulation through free play and a lot of adult child interaction. Eg. s. , (infant games, traditional songs & syllables, access to variety of play materials, individualized adult attention and interaction, opportunities to explore, early introduction to stories, infant books, drawings etc. ) in safe, spacious and clean environment. 9 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 For Children between 3 to 4 years ? Planned play based programme for all round development with more of free play. Continuous opportunities, more free but some guided, for adult –child, child to child Basic Tenets of Curriculum Development ? Based on needs and capacities of young children ? Recognition of special features of children’s thinking ? Mix of formal and informal interaction ? Familiarity and challenge in everyday rhythm ? Primacy of experience rather than expertise ? Developmentally appropriate practice and flexibility ? Use of local material, arts and knowledge which reflect the diversity and culture of the children. Source: Position Paper, National Focus Group on ECCE, 2005 interaction and interaction with play materials and environment through a variety of individual, small group and large group activities. ? Opportunities to listen to stories, learn rhymes, create, indulge in imaginative play, ask questions, do simple problem solving, experiment to promote active and interactive learning and generally have a ‘feel good’ experience for a positive self-image. For Children between 4 to 6 years Moving towards an increasing ratio of adult guided vs. free play activities, and more of large group activities for 4-5 year old and focused more on specific school readiness for 5-6 year old, with increasing complexity in all of above. ? Reading Readiness: e. g. picture –sound matching, shapes, phonetics; increasing vocabulary; verbal expression, developing bond with and interest in reading through picture books, storytelling, charts etc. 10 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 ? Writing Readiness: e. g. eye hand coordination, interest in writing, left to right directionality. ? Math: developing skills in classification, seriation, pattern making, reasoning, problem solving, forming concepts: pre number and number concepts and space concepts and vocabulary, environment concepts. ? Motor development: fine motor development through activities such as beading, pegboards and puzzles and large muscle development through running, jumping, balancing activities etc. ? Creativity and aesthetic appreciation: Creative drama, cultural activities, field trips etc. The programme should be relevant to individual and societal needs. The age demarcations are indicative and the activities have to be planned according to the developmental level of the children. Principles of Programme Planning ? ? ? The activities should be age and developmentally appropriate. Activities fostering all domains of development should be appropriately planned. The attention span of young children is 15-20 minutes; therefore the duration of activities should be 20 minutes, with additional time allotted for winding up and initiation of the next activity. However, the programme should allow space and flexibility for need based variations. ? There should be a balance between structured and unstructured; active and quiet; outdoor and indoor; self-directed and adult initiated learning opportunities and individual, small group and large group activities. ? ? ? ? The experiences should progress from simple to complex. A wide range of individual and group experiences should be planned which are related to the child’s environment, are enjoyable and challenging for children. Routine fosters a sense of security in children. Therefore some routine should be followed in the daily programme. The ECCE programme should never be rigid. 11 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 ? The duration of the pre-school programmes should be 3 to 4 hours. The programme should provide for some rest period during the day and if it is of longer duration, as a full day programme, then a nap time is to be ensured. ? Learning opportunities should be interconnected, linking learning experiences across developmental domains in a meaningful context, reflecting the real life context of the children. ? The language used should be the mother tongue of the child. Efforts should be made to extend their language sensitively and introduce the school language gradually to facilitate school readiness. ? Curriculum goal and objectives should guide classroom process and assessment of the children. The curriculum should be implemented in a manner that reflects responsiveness to family/ home values, beliefs and experiences. ? The programme should provide opportunities for exploration and experiential learning, promoting active engagement with people and objects in the environment. Outcomes of Early Childhood Education Curriculum Children who ? ? ? Communicate effectively Display emergent literacy skills, mathematical skills and scientific temperament Express emotions in socially acceptable manner, are socially adaptive and cooperative ? Have physical control, strength and healthy habits Pedagogical Approaches The curriculum adopts a play and activity based approach. Children are visualised as active beings who construct their own knowledge and the process of teaching –learning is one of co-construction of knowledge, with adults as facilitators. 12 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 Various approaches are practised for transacting the Early Childhood Education programme. Some commonly adopted approaches are: Montessori Method: This method is characterized by an emphasis on independence, freedom within limits, and respect for a child’s natural psychological development and is transacted through specialised sensorial material. Regio Emillia: Based on the work of Loris Mallaguzi, this is a constructivist approach which focuses on creation of a learning environment that enhances and facilitates children’s construction of their own thinking through the combination of communicative, expressive and cognitive languages as they engage actively with people, material and environment. Progressive Method: This is an eclectic approach which draws from the major child development theories. Recognizing the many paths of learning, latest researches and contemporary work lay the foundation of this framework. Thematic Approach: Integrated themes and projects form the core content of the curriculum. These themes should enable the children to make meaningful connections among the different concepts and develop holistic understanding of the world around them. The curriculum should be flexible and responsive to the needs of the children in the class. It is to be constructed to suit the diverse social, cultural, linguistic contexts in the country, and initiate integrated learning. A programme can adopt any of the above mentioned approaches to transact the curriculum. An integrated daily/ weekly/ monthly programme should be prepared with a well-rounded selection of learning experiences that strengthen all domains of development and are age and developmentally appropriate. The activities for different domains and concepts should be planned purposefully to enable a child to actively engage with and experience the concepts. These will help to consolidate the learning and lay the foundations for future. Caution should be observed to not equate the curriculum to just an exercise of organising activities, rather it should be viewed as a planned and purposeful intervention and adult child and child to child interaction to facilitate the process of knowing, understanding and construction of knowledge by the children. The aim of the curriculum should be to foster 13 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 development through integrated activities rather than mere completion of worksheets or repetitive exercises and activities. To address the needs of the large group of children in one class and multi-age setting, the strategy would be to conduct the activities in large group, small group and individual level. Essential Play and Learning Material In early childhood stage, a child learns through interacting with immediate environment hence environment should be stimulating and should have a variety of materials to arouse and sustain the child’s curiosity, interest and promote his learning. ? Adequate supply of developmentally appropriate play materials to foster all round development should be available at the ECCE centre ? The materials should be safe, clean and in good conditions. Sufficient quantity should be available to work in small groups and it should be easily accessible to the child. ? The materials should promote gross and fine motor development and help the child to discover and explore including constructing and reconstructing. It should promote sensory exploration and social interaction along with creative expressions through arts, painting, etc. Some essential play materials are Indoor Material o Blocks for constructive play o Manipulative toys 14 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 o Material for imaginative play /Dramatic play – dolls, puppets, masks, kitchen sets, mirrors, old spectacle frames, purses, old shoes, weighting scales, clock etc. o Material to develop Language skills – books and picture books, storytelling aid, puppets, story cards, sound board, conversation cards, flash cards, picture dominoes, collection of rhymes and stories, visual discrimination and auditory and visual association materials, slates, chalks, crayons, blackboard, drawing paper, etc. o Material to develop cognitive skills – sound boxes, visual discrimination cards, touch cards, feel bag, food items of varying kind to develop sensory skills, number domino cards, picture jigsaw and self-correcting puzzles for matching, sorting, arranging, classifying, problem solving, memory and sequential thinking to develop cognitive skills and materials in the environment o Musical instruments o Art material for creative expression such as paints, crayons, pencil, paint brushes, cotton, threads, clay, knife, papers, scissors, cloth, gum and fevicol, bead, etc. In addition to locally available material, teachers/caregivers can develop play and learning material for specific activities planned in the programme. Outdoor Materials o Play equipment to build balancing, jumping, climbing, swinging, swaying, cycling, etc. o Materials like large or small balls, old tyres, rings, etc. for throwing, catching, kicking, rolling, etc. 15 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 o Sand and water play arrangement with sand pit, mugs, spoons, cups, bucket, sieves, strainer, etc. Assessment Assessment is an essential and integral component of any ECCE programme to ensure that the programme remains child centric and the experiences and activities are planned according to the level of the child. It gives an insight into children’s interests, achievements and possible difficulties in their learning from which next steps in learning and teaching can be planned and thereby provides a platform to support the planning of a coherent curriculum for progression in learning. In order to ensure that the programme is responsive to the developmental needs of the child, it is essential to maintain their developmental and learning profile. The purpose of assessment is to give useful information about children’s learning and development to the adults providing the programme as also to children and their families. It also helps ensure early identification of developmental delays, special educational needs and particular abilities. Assessment contributes to evaluation, revision, and development of programmes. The areas of assessment ? ? ? The child’s interest and participation Skills and abilities Social interactions The assessment of the children should be formative, continuous and flow from the experiences planned in the curriculum. Formative continuous assessment implies documenting the development of the child, by interpreting the evidence from the day to day experiences of the child with the purpose of recognising and encouraging strengths and addresses learning/developmental gaps. Teachers need to evaluate each child’s progress on an ongoing basis, through observations of their behaviour; their artwork and other products. Home-based observations may also be 16 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 conducted. The current level of performance should be rewarded to reinforce small steps of accomplishments towards the long term goals. Portfolio should be maintained for individual child. It should contain anecdotal records, developmental checklists, samples of drawing, writing and other activities, observation notes and parent teacher meeting notes. Role of Caregiver/Teacher The caregivers/ teachers in an ECCE programme are facilitators who engage children in multiple experiences to foster their all-round development. They play the following roles: ? Observe children to identify their needs and capabilities and move with the pace of the child’s development ? Plan appropriate, ? ? ? developmentally holistic and challenging activities Focus not only on planning and conducting activities but also on continuous processes for interaction and relating learning to child’s environment. Create nurturing and positive relationships with children and among children Organise supportive learning environment by taking care of aspects such as the arrangement of the physical environment and equipment; the scheduling of activities and events and groupings ? ? ? Work in partnership with parents Facilitate learning to meet the objectives of the curriculum Help in early identification and intervention for children with special needs 17 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 To accomplish the above the teachers need to enjoy being with young children, be knowledgeable about children’s development and early childhood curriculum and should be skilled at implementing the curriculum. Role of Parent The young child spends most of the time at home and much of the early learning occurs through the child’s day to day interactions with the family. The parents have a major role to play in the child’s development, much beyond merely being around the child and providing food and other basic needs. Parents need to: ? Provide a conducive environment at home for optimal development and learning and spend quality time with the child ? ? ? ? ? Encourage exploration and experimentation at home and optimally utilise the ample opportunities for incidental and lifelong learning arising from the daily activities Play a cooperative role and establish a relationship of trust and mutual respect with the teacher/caregiver at the ECCE centre Share and plan the development of their child along with the teacher/caregiver Participate in the open days and other events for parents and community Not to force formal learning and competition at this early age and respect children’s abilities and personalities. Supportive Essentials The open framework approach to curriculum adopted herein requires certain preconditions as essentials. These are: ? An enabling and stimulating learning environment which has been carefully designed and is child friendly 18 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 ? ? ? ? ? Contextually and culturally appropriate curriculum content Developmentally appropriate learning and play material Activity; rhyme and story bank Children’s Activity Book Trainer’s Manual and Teacher’s Guidebook addressing adult-child interaction, arrangement of the physical environment and equipment, planning of the daily routine etc.to help teachers implement the curriculum effectively ? ? Supportive supervision Professional development opportunity for ECCE caregivers 19 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 Annexure 1 Some Significant Themes to be covered in the Curriculum Myself, my family and community Food, health, hygiene and cleanliness Natural world and environment: plants; animals and birds; fruits and vegetables Physical environment: air, water, universe, seasons Social environment: My country; festivals and celebrations; neighbourhood; means of transport 20. Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 Annexure 2 Sample Weekly Plan Theme: Animals Time 9. 00-9. 30 9. 30-10. 00 Monday Circle Time Free Conversation (Animal Names) Tuesday Assembly Guided Conversation (Homes of Animals) Sorting Cards (Animals and their young ones) Block Play Lunch Tearing and pasting on animal drawings Wednesday Circle Time Free Conversation (Food of Animals) Soft and Hard Surface Thursday Assembly Guided Conversation (Animals and their young ones) Shape: Circle Friday Circle Time Guided Conversation (Uses of Animals) Pattern Writing. 10. 00-10. 30 Seriation Activity (Small to large animal) 10. 30-11. 00 11. 00-11. 30 11. 30-12. 00 Animal Race Lunch Free hand drawing of pet animals Swings and slides Lunch Models of animal homes Walking on Zigzag line Lunch Making Clay Animals Sand Pit Lunch Mask Making 12. 00-12. 30 Animal Rhyme (Pet Animals) Music and Movement Activity (How animals move) Rhyme Dramatization (Farm Animals) Animal Story (Wild Animals) Song and Dance (Birds) 12. 30-1. 00 Winding up & Departure Winding up & Departure Winding up & Departure Winding up & Departure Winding up & Departure. Note: The time allotted for each activity is 15-20 minutes; the time slots of 30 minutes allotted in the plan include setting up, distribution of material and winding up for each activity. 21 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 Annexure 3 Sample Thematic Web Numeracy: Sorting pictures of animals and their young ones Creative Art : Models of Animal Homes Language: Rhymes and stories on Animals Cognitive : Animal names Types: Pet/ Wild/ Aquatic Animal food, sound , home Animals Physical & Motor: Animal Race Tearing and Pasting on Animal Drawings. Socio-Emotional : Free Conversation Music & Movement : Song and Dramatization 22 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 Important Resources 1. Bhatnagar, R (2005): Little Steps. A Manual for Preschool Teachers. National Council for Educational Research and Training. New Delhi 2. Kaul, V. (2010): Early Childhood Education Programme. National Council for Educational Research and Training. New Delhi 3. Mother and Child Protection Card, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India. 4. Muralidharan, R. , Asthana, S. (1991): Stimulation Activities for Young Children. National Council for Educational Research and Training. New Delhi 5. Position Paper on Early Childhood Care and Education, National Focus Group (2006). National Council for Educational Research and Training. New Delhi 6. Soni, R, Kapoor R, Vashishtha, K. K. (2008): Early Childhood Education. An Introduction. National Council for Educational Research and Training. New Delhi 7. Swaminathan, M. and Daniel, P. (2004): Play Activities for Child Development: A Guide to Preschool Teachers. National Book Trust, New Delhi. 8. WHO Child Growth Standards- Methods and Development, World Health Organisation 23.