2.To what extent does Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas fulfil Essay

2.To what extent does Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas fulfil the stated aim of the Voyage extraordinaires series to provide instruction which amuses an - Essay Example It still finds its place in hearts of many people. One of the most famous and iconic characters of this book is Captain Nemo. True to his name Nemo was an enigma to Aronax, the narrator and the professor in the story, Ned land, the Canadian harpooner and Conseil, loyal servant of Arronax. To really look into characteristics of Nemo, let’s briefly sum the concise idea about this classic. While idea of the story is being told we will analyze the character of Captain Nemo. The story is being narrated by Pierre Aronnax, who is a famous marine biologist. It all starts with a theory of narwhal being sighted in various places. Aronnax along with his servant and Ned Land follow the path of seas only to understand that narwhal is a submarine which is led by a certain captain called Captain Nemo. The story then revolves around the expedition of Nemo, Aronnax, Conseil and Ned wherein they travel under sea for sixty thousand kilometers or twenty thousand leagues. The book became a cult success and has achieved the tag of classic not only because the central idea of Verne but also the style, characterization and treatment given to the plot to make it more entertaining and astounding. Captain Nemo is the central character of the story. Nemo in Latin means no one or nobody and that name aptly suits him because of his mystical attitude and mystery behavior in the course of the book. Let’s take the book analysis in more detail to understand the iconic character of this great captain. The name has lot of significance to the character and the outcome of book and we shall unravel the mystery behind it now. The first meeting with Captain itself was the one to remember. When Ned, Conseil and Aronnax were being taken as captives in the submarine ‘Nautilus’, each of them explain their situation in different languages of English, French, German and Latin. Captain Nemo does not reply and walks away. Later when he confronts the group he was attacked by Ned and

Global perspectives assessment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Global perspectives assessment - Research Paper Example This means that the US criminal justice system including its law enforcement could go beyond the boundary of the state as the crime itself could be created beyond boundaries, but could still have substantial threats on the part of the nation. At this point, the US could remarkably play the role of a global police, trying to maintain peace and order situation of the whole world just as to ensure stability of peace in its state. This is a significant and probable response to the growing international dimensions of crime. Criminals might be staying out of the US state, but still could inflict potential threats due to the spreading wide coverage of their scope, connections and evolving organizational control. In response to this, the US state should also therefore expand the exposure of its criminal justice system throughout the world. Let us add to the problem when technological influences on global criminality enter the scene. The advancement of technology at the other part of it does not only bring comfort, but trouble at the same time if used at the criminals’ vantage point of view. Concerning this, the US criminal justice system needs to make its effort twice as much, double its time and never delay in order to keep its pace even more than the level of the criminals. Added to the issue is the diversified US culture, leading to the point that the US criminal justice system requires international cooperation so as to ward off probable threats on America’s borders and of other relevant crimes. The heterogeneous culture in the US though it may provide certain advantages, but at the other side of it, the bottom line is that there are other probable problems tied up with it. For example, the diverse culture creates a portal making it easy for bigger syndicates to easily move in and out of the US federal state. They became too familiar with the US culture, but on the other side, the US still needs to learn more about varying culture. This signifies the need to learn more about the existing different cultures on the part of the US, be familiar with them too and use this for its competitive advantage. That is why it requires constant international cooperation to solve existing crimes and even those new cases as upshots of varying changes not only brought by technology and different cultures, but the globalization in general. For this reason, the US is strongly advancing to create an effort to solve crimes and as much as possible hinder possible great impacts they could bring to the entire state. Compare and contrast international criminal justice systems Socialist law traditions are used by the states that are communists and are formerly communists. They employed the Marxist-Leninist ideology (Joerges & Ghaleigh, 2003). Another branch of law is civil law which deals with legal disputes among individuals or organizations and those who win the case may be able to receive compensation (Dunham, 2008). The common law on the other hand is a case-based reasoning law, evaluating the case and then applying what laws might probably apply to it (Holmes, 2005). Embodied in the Islamic law are the religious duties employing Allah’s commands (Standke, 2008). As noticed, these international criminal justice systems have varying foundations and beliefs as their means to ultimately come up with the right and appropriate decisions. While socialist law is

Hong Kong affect its future economy Essay Example for Free

Hong Kong affect its future economy Essay This research project seeks to bring out the effects of the Hong Kong population structure on the future economy of Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a booming economy being one of the major financial districts of the South Asian region and its changing population structure has a lot to do with its workforce and in turn affects its working culture and present and future economic structure as well. Research Question: The research question for this project seek to study how or to what extent the population structure a regards to age and gender or social characteristics of the population tend to affect the present and future economy of Hong Kong. So there are two parts to this research project – the first part analyzes the population structure of Hong Kong with regards to the age and gender or social status and the second part brings out the economic structure of Hong Kong from its past to present changes and the future of Hong Kong economy in a more globalized world and the impact of global markets on the financial centre of Asia. The focused research question in this case brings out several dimension of the study as through the analysis of the qualitative and quantitative dimensions, the subjective and objective aspects of the study. The impact of the changes in population structure on the economy could be understood on the basis of changing population numbers and percentages quantitatively and the socioeconomic changes as understood qualitatively. The research question essentially focuses on the qualitative and quantitative dimensions of the research as it seeks to bring out the impact of population change in economic structure of Hong Kong in a descriptive manner and in accordance with socioeconomic changes, as in influence of wage, gender, age gaps and changes etc an also the direct statistical values and correlations between population and economic structures in terms of numbers and statistical values. The research question on the extent to which population structure affects the Hong Kong economy thus brings out this ‘extent’ in terms of numbers or real values as also in terms of description of changes in Hong Kong as what happens qualitatively when the population structure changes and what is the impact on the economy from a descriptive point of view. Like for example this can be related to lack of high living standards, poor health conditions of the elderly. These would be qualitative dimensions of the research and the values or percentages of changing population and simultaneously changing economy would be the quantitative aspects of research. These two methods are discussed further in the methodology section as given below. Background/Literature Review: A brief literature review is provided here and brings out the main points of research articles as published in journals and obtained from ingentaconnect or sciencedirect or JSTOR. The literature review is on the Hong Kong population and economic structure and articles published and written on these issues showing the impact of an ageing population on Hong Kong’s economy and job prospects and on the industries in Hong Kong as influenced by a global economy and ageing population. In this literature review section a study by Leigh (2006), a research article by Chui published 2003 and another by Fan and Lui (2003) have been selected. Leigh’s study shows the direct impact of ageing on Hong Kong’s economy, fiscal changes and living standards. Chui shows how the ageing population face problems of survival and housing in a fast paced Hong Kong economy and Fan and Lui talk of gender and wage gap in Hong Kong’s population that could redefine economic changes and structure. The studies chosen here highlight the qualitative aspects of the impact of ageing and gender changes in population or demography on the economic structure of Hong Kong. The participation of women has also increased significantly necessitating needs of study of the impact of gender on Hong Kong’s economy and how women’s participation in the workplace can change things for the economy. In a research article on the population structure of Hong Kong, Leigh (2006) has suggested that Hong Kong SAR’s population has been aging rapidly and aging could adversely affect the growth and living standards of people in Hong Kong. There has to be some change in economic and administrative policies in keeping with the aging or changing population according to the article. There is a high labor and productivity growth with increased migration of younger skilled workers from Chinese mainland in Hong Kong mainly due to Hong Kong’s booming economy and although this attenuates the economic impact of aging, there is no full offset of the impact of aging population on the economic structure of Hong Kong. According to Leigh, aging puts considerable pressure on public finances particularly as with aging there is also rising health costs that directly affect government spending. There are relatively fewer options that government has and opportunities to implement polices on this are also limited that could lessen the impact of aging on the governance and structure as demographic effects would start setting in by 2015 when the ratio of working population would peak. The Hong Kong SAR authorities have been focused on administrative and governance policies that would limit or reduce the fiscal impact of aging and they have also provided continued expenditure restraint on reform of health care financing with private health insurance systems, along with tax reforms and non age sensitive areas (Leigh, 2006). Considering the gradual ageing problem of Hong Kong, Chui (2001) suggest that Hong Kong as one of the Four Dragons of Asia is faced with the gradual ageing problem that seems to have affected the urban fabric of the city as also the general population. However one of the regions in which Hong Kong seems to be booming along with the economy is property development as Hong Kong is mainly based on a property led economy and the government as well as private and public property developers have been launching redevelopment projects for setting up new structures in Hong Kong. However as Chui points out the special needs problems of elderly people have not been attended to and most of Hong Kong’s elderly people are poor physically, financially and socially. However with urban renewal and changes, the elderly people are at disadvantage and face threats to their survival as they are not in a position to cope with the restructuring changes in Hong Kong’s fast paced urban development projects. There has also been a gradual weakening of the respect to Chinese traditional values and culture as for the respect given to the elderly and this along with nuclearization of families have added to the problems of the elderly. Chui writes that government housing policies in Hong Kong should emphasize on community care and ageing in place and help in solving housing problems and needs of the elderly. The study shows the plight of older people in Hong Kong, a booming economy in the South Asian region and a contrasting fate of the elderly people. The gender gap in wages has been analyzed by some researchers and the trend shows a narrowing gender gap in wages. According to Fan and Lui (2003), the narrowing gender gap may be related to women’s advantages compared with earlier times especially women’s changing positions at the workplace. Gender gap is found as smaller in occupations and industries that are less dependent on physical labour as men are more suitable for physically rigorous work. This shows that when an economy transforms from a manufacturing or production oriented approach to a more service oriented one, women’s productivity would be recognized an with increased women’s participation in service based economies, the gender gap on the basis of wage or participation at the workplace also decreases. A 1% random subsample was used in this study for two population censuses and the results of the experiment also support empirical results. Methodology The methodology to be used for this study will be both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The qualitative and quantitative data would be primarily available from the internet and research journal databases and journal articles will be selected along with studies by the Hong Kong government as based on the economic indicators, as well as statistical and other government reports on the population and GDP, GNP and labor or prices. Of course in this section we highlight the importance of theory and practice and differentiate between the theories and the practical implications of research and the use of methodology to explain these two features. The theories that will be dealt with will be economic theories and changes in the global economy along with changes in the Hong Kong economic structure. The practical implications here would be changes in the population structure statistically obtained and otherwise and population changes as indicated in journal articles that deal with ageing and its associated problems in Hong Kong. The theories and practice of the economic and population changes in Hong Kong will be obtained from journal articles selected from journal databases and these articles are obtained by using search terms such as ‘Hong Kong economy’, ‘Hong Kong population, ‘Ageing population, ‘South Asian Economy’, ‘Economic structure of Hong Kong, Population of Hong Kong, ‘Elderly in Hong Kong, ‘Employment in Hong Kong and Economy’ etc. As indicated in the later part of the study, the government’s reports on the economic changes and population changes have been given here and the results can be used to show the trends and the analysis can be done quantitatively and qualitatively to show the changes in population in terms of age, gender and wages or social status. In fact wage structure shows changes in economic conditions of the major part of population and results could be drawn to show how economy and wages would be related in turn to gender and age and the overall impact this has on the Hong Kong’s population structure could be drawn in the analysis and interpretation section of the results. The different possible methodological frameworks would be the qualitative methodology and the quantitative methodology. Qualitative methodology is about understanding the more qualitative or subjective aspects of the population and delineating the attributes or the characteristics of job changes, economic structure and population structure in Hong Kong. Quantitative methodology is about showing statistical tables and values and suggests the population and economic structural changes in terms of values or numbers as given in statistical tables. The impact of old age or ageing population on the economy as discussed qualitatively by researchers would form part of the study using journal articles and descriptions of the situation as given by researchers in articles and published papers as would be the quantitative aspects that are given in published reports and statistical tables giving values or numbers that define the changes in Hong Kong’s social, demographic and economic structure quantitatively in terms of values, statistics and numbers. A snapshot of the qualitative and quantitative primary data as would be used in the research study is given below and from some of the research papers as used in the literature review and the reports published by the Hong Kong government, the primary data in terms of tables or published research reports will be chosen and analyzed for the purposes of this study. The published articles or papers in journals as selected from ingenta, sciencedirect, JSTOR or other such databases thus provide the basis for qualitative primary data and the published research reports as available from Hong Kong government sites showing statistical analysis of population and economic structure form the more quantiatve aspects of this study and a balance of quantitative and qualitative methods will be considered for analysis of this research study. Social science research is largely based on ontological and epistemological propositions that help to understand consumer behavior and in this case population structure and government approach to population and how it affects Hong Kong economy in general. From the ontological point of view any phenomena could be analyzed objectively using economic data and in this case the economic structure of Hong Kong could be comparatively objectively analyzed considering other developed or developing economies and the effects of population on economy. The epistemological approach to methodology emphasizes on people’s perspectives and the subjective or qualitative aspects of research as already indicated. Positivistic and Interpretive theories in social science research focus on scientific data (as in positivism) in which experimental findings are of prime importance and interpretive analysis in which drawing out qualitative aspects and viewpoints of the researcher would be more important. The epistemological, interpretive positions are closer to qualitative methodology and the positivistic, ontological philosophies are akin to quantitative methodology as used in any research project. The Table below provides the population structure of Hong Kong by age and sex and as seen from the initial study of 2007 population growth and structure, 3. 9% of the population is above 60 years of age, 3. 4% of the population is above 65 or 70 years of age, 2. 7% of the population reaches above 75 year limit and 1. 7% of the population crosses the 80 year old mark. 1. 4% of the population is above 85 years. This suggests that a significant portion of the population is an aged population in Hong Kong and this is a change from 2006 in which the 60 year old population was at 3. 7% and above 75 year olds was at 2. 6% and above 85 year olds was at 1. 3%. The charts show that thee has been a slight yet significant increase in aging population of Hong Kong and considerable decrease in the young population as seen from the population data of 2006-2007. If data is attained over a period of last 10 years this aging population trend will however become more prominent and this will be elaborated in the methodology and data collection section of the research. This research table thus forms part of the resources that we use as data for our study on the effects of population on economic structure.

Developing Evaluative Skills Through Critiquing Quantitative Research

Developing Evaluative Skills Through Critiquing Quantitative Research Nursing is becoming a progressively evidence base profession. Arguably, Nightingale first popularised the link between nursing theory, nursing practice and research to inform an appropriate evidence base, and progress towards this goal has been ongoing ever since (Graham 2003). In nursing, a critique is often seen as a first step in learning the research process. However, conducting a critique is not a basic skill (Burns and Grove 2004). The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC, 2008) ruled it mandatory for the pre-registration nursing curriculum to teach EBP as a fundamental principle of proficiency. Research has become a priority for nurses of all specialities. This paper seeks to demonstrate how these evaluative skills can be developed by critiquing a quantitative research study. An acknowledgement of the credibility of the authors, the publishing journal, and the methods used the data collection and analysis, findings, ethical issues and the strengths and weakness of the research is made. The paper will be considered using the CASP critique tool for methodological consistency and ease of presentation (CASP 2000); shown in appendix 1; a copy of the tool is enclosed. The article, on which this critique research is made, was published in the journal of Advanced Nursing. The title of the article is, Tablet-splitting: a common yet not so innocent practice. The title of this article outlined above, is seemingly clear and explicit, although not as concise as Frances et al,(2007) would prefer; between ten and fifteen words. The title of this paper suggests that tablet splitting is a common practice, which is probably true, but it suggests that it is not so innocent, which smacks more of journalism than an academic paper. It is possible that the original Belgian text does not translate perfectly into English and this may be a translational syntactical inaccuracy. The article was accepted on 6 August 2010 and it was published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing 67(1), pages 26-32. Elsevier (2009) State that they only print manuscripts that have been peer reviewed with any necessary revisions made. This is favourable for the credibility of the article as the reader is assured that it has been scrutinised by an independent body of a similar field to the author/s. Elsevier also clarifies that the author must have the appropriate clinical and educational credentials for the research study. The four authors are all highly qualified, each with a PhD, three in academic pharmacology and a fourth who is a professor of geriatrics. A substantial literature search does not show any other publications by these authors. Quantitative research is formal and objective research that is concerned with collecting and analysing data that focuses on numbers and frequencies, rather than meaning or experience, it examines cause-and-effect interactions among variables using a systematic process (Burns and Grove, 1997; Ogier, 1999). The research that has been carried out for this published paper is an example of quantitative research and has been carried out using a randomised control trial method. A randomised control trial (R.C.T.) is a true experiment characterised by the manipulation of the independent variable, random assignment of individual subjects to the conditions and all other factors being controlled (Ogier, 1999). The R.C.T. was carried out as a small study in which five volunteers were asked to split eight tablets of different sizes and shapes, including medicines for Parkinsons disease, heart failure and arthritis. Participants used three different methods to split their pills: a splitting device , scissors or manual spitting for scored tablets, and a kitchen knife. In the article under scrutiny, the authors point out the fact that it is observed to be common clinical practice, particularly in nursing homes, to split tablets so that a proportion of the tablet dose can be conveniently given. This can be for economic or purely practical reasons as tablets are often supplied from stock and not always in the exact form or dose prescribed. They cite a German study in support (Quinzler et al 2006) which found that nearly 25% of administered drugs were split. It should however, be noted that on closer inspection, the Quinzler study is not particularly relevant to the UK situation, has a number of serious methodological errors and also did not consider a wide spectrum of clinical applications, nor is it in close agreement with other studies in this area. Its findings therefore are not particularly generalizable and are a poor choice of evidence in support of this paper. There is no doubt however, from taking a further overview of the available literature, that tablet-splitting does occur with a degree of regularity in clinical situations, and as such, the authors consider this investigation justified. The Abstract in this case is perfectly adequate, outlining the main points of the study. The main contentious issue is a comment in the Abstract conclusion which states that Large dose deviationsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. occurred when splitting tablets (Verrue et al 2011, p.26), a comment which is not actually borne out by the findings of the study. Close inspection of the results suggest that deviations of more than 25% of the original tablet mass occurred in 19% of cases, but the authors included those cases where one half spontaneously split further, and therefore would have no real clinical or practical significance. It has also to be noted that there is no indication in the abstract, of the methods of sample selection or whether this was in any way a controlled trial. It does however; serve the prime objective of an Abstract, which is to offer the reader sufficient information to determine whether further reading of the article would be appropriate (Robson 2006). The Introduction is comparatively short. The point about the citation of the Quinzler study has already been made, but the rest of the Introduction effectively sets out the rationale for the study, together with the justification for clinical relevance. It has to be observed that the literature review is comparatively brief with some comparatively old papers being cited (Barker et al 1982 and Babbington 1997) when there are a number of perfectly respectable authorities to make the same points that are much newer and would therefore be considered both more relevant and appropriate (Coombes et al 2009). The aims of the study are clearly stated, although the actual study design is not. It requires further reading through the paper to actually determine the methodology used (this is found under data collection), the sample selection, (this is found under Discussion which is really quite inappropriate) and also the means of determining the results (also found under data collection). It is also the case that the clinical significance of the rationale for the study is neither explicitly set out nor addressed. This is very relevant to the issue of tablet-splitting as if, as the cited literature suggests, there is a 25% variance in actual dose administration after splitting, then the degree to which it could be clinically important should be presented. One could suggest that in all but the most extreme cases, a 25% variation in the dose of Aspirin given is not likely to be hugely clinically significant, whereas a 25% variation in the dose of a cytotoxic drug may have profound consequences for the patient. There is no real consideration of this point, nor any concession to its absence (Polgar et al 2000). This element of the review of the literature in the introduction therefore has major deficiencies. The study design is quantitative in nature. The authors have used five healthcare professionals for the task of tablet-splitting. One has to read through to the study limitations segment to determine that the authors used an administrative co-worker, a laboratory technician, a pharmacy student and two pharmacists as the study cohort. On reflection, this seems a strange choice, as it is neither homogenous nor rational, as none of these groups are likely to be involved in tablet-splitting in the situation of the nursing home, which the authors have chosen to investigate (nor many other clinically relevant situations, in all probability). This choice seriously weakens both the generalizability of the findings and also the applicability of the study to the clinical evidence base for nursing. Another major shortcoming of the methodology of this paper is the fact that the authors included cases where the tablet split into more than two pieces as deviations from the mean. In most clinical situations the administration of a tablet, which has split into two halves, and one half has then broken further, is no less accurate if the pieces are administered as one piece or as several. The authors make no concession on this point and therefore are likely to significantly overestimate the inaccuracies in their findings. (Schulz et al 2005) Issues of sample selection have already been addressed above. Sample size appears to be completely arbitrary with a total of 1,200 operations spread over the group being considered a reasonable sample size. It is usual, in academic studies such as this to see calculations of minimum sample size to determine the power of significance. Its omission further reduces the applicability of the study (Rosenthal 2004). The ethical considerations are explicitly addressed, as ethical committee approval was not required because patients were neither involved nor personal details recorded (Bowling 2002). Some of the elements of bias and limitation have already been addressed. The results obtained have been subjected to a modest degree of statistical analysis with a one way ANOVA and a Turkeys post hoc analysis being carried out. One has to observe however, that the nature of the study is such that a more sophisticated data analysis is not really appropriate (Argyrous 2000). The results are presented in a clear and logical fashion, with 5 tables showing how the results were distributed. It is clear from the presentation of the results exactly what the authors have found; for example using a splitting device was the most accurate method. It still produced a 15 to 25 per cent error margin in 13 per cent of cases, but this was lower than the 22 per cent for scissors and the 17 per cent for the knife. Further critical reading is not necessary in this respect. An interesting feature of the study is the fact that weight loss of the tablet occasioned by the splitting process has also been determined, for example some tablets were much easier to split accurately than others. The easiest to split produced an overall error margin of 15 per cent deviation or more and the most difficult tablets produced an error margin of 19 per cent. Closer examination of the results however, shows that this does not just reflect the amount of material lost as powder or small fragments, as one might initially consider, but also the amount of the tablet that was inadvertently dropped on the floor. The authors rationalised this on the basis that a tablet, once having been on the floor, would not be subsequently given to the patient, which although undoubtedly true, does rather distort the results that are presented (Rosner 2006). The discussion element of this paper is something of a disappointment. The first element is a consideration of the study limitations, which entirely appropriate (Gomm et al 2000). The authors spontaneously point out the fact that the clinical effects or consequences of their findings are not presented (Verrue at el 2011 p. 29). This is a major detraction from the usefulness of this paper and would make the interpretation of the results by a non-clinician more difficult. The authors also concede that no nurses were selected for the experimental splitting group. This is quite remarkable, as one could intuitively suggest that it would be nurses, of various grades, who would actually be responsible for tablet-splitting in the vast majority of clinical circumstances. It is actually of little practical relevance for nursing homes to be able to understand how effective a Professor of Pharmacology is at splitting tablets. The authors go on to compare and contrast their findings with other work in the area (Mcdevitt et al 1998,Birton et al. 1999, Peek et al. 2002, Teng et al. 2002, Cook et al 2003) and point out the similarities and differences in their findings. This is an entirely appropriate and useful segment with the authors pointing out the specific fact that this type of study has not been done before and also that much of the similar work in this area is already a few years old (Verrue et al 2011 p.30) The discussion segment also notes that we aimed at providing nursing homes with advice for the best tablet-splitting technique in daily practice (Verrue et al 2011, p.30). One would suggest that this is not in congruence with the stated aims of the study (although it is tangentially relevant). One could also observe that the one thing that this study does not do, is to offer nursing homes a suitable evidence base on which to base their practices, as no clinically relevant staff were involved in the study. Some of the participants are unlikely to have a concept of the clinical significance of exactly halving the dose of the medication. This is a low grade study which had the potential to make an impact on the evidence base in an important clinical area. The methodological shortcomings and a lack of generalizability, greatly reduce any possibility of such an impact. The paper, although superficially well presented, with an admirable display of tables and easy to interpret data, has major flaws which become apparent on even the most superficial levels of critical analysis. The initial interest generated by a reading of the Abstract, did not translate into clinically useful data which could be applied into everyday nursing practice. An overview of the methodology suggests that the authors might have made a significant contribution to the evidence base in this area with a little more forethought and pre-study design consideration. This belief is given credence by the fact that the authors criticise themselves in the Study limitations segment, in areas which could quite reasonably have been considered before the actual investigation took place. This study does not materially contribute to the evidence base in this area. Appendix 1 Quantitative Research Papers Critiquing Tool A Framework for Critiquing Quantitative Research Papers Include full reference of paper here: (i.e. Author/s (date) Title of article. Journal title. Volume, Number, page numbers.) Critiquing Framework Title of Paper Is the aim or purpose of the study clear? Are the main variables of interest indicated? Is the study design or research method clear from the title? Is there any reference to the population from whom the data are collected? The Abstract/Summary Does this summarise the whole study? Is information provided regarding background, literature, aim/and objectives, hypotheses (if RCT), methods, sample size, measures used etc, results and conclusions? Does it suggest that a more detailed reading of the rest of the paper would be worthwhile? Introduction/Literature Review Background/rationale Why was the topic chosen, what is the background to the study? Is there a critical review of previous literature and related theoretical concepts? Are gaps in the literature identified? Aim and objectives What problem or issue is being investigated? How clearly is this problem or issue defined or explained? Is there a clearly stated aim? Do the research objectives or research questions support this aim? Are the variables of interest clearly defined `and are relationships between these evident and clearly stated? Which are the independent and dependent variables? Are hypotheses (if RCT) stated in a way that makes them testable? Method Research design What is the study design and is it clearly explained and appropriate for the research questions? Could the design be improved? Was there a pilot study? Research questionnaires What measures are used? Are validity and reliability reported for these measures either in the paper or clearly referenced? Have the authors dealt appropriately with any unreliable questionnaires or scales? Sample Is the population appropriate for the research question? How were the sample chosen? What is the sample size? Are statistical power considerations discussed? Are inclusion and exclusion criteria described? Can the results be reasonably generalised on the basis of this sample? Ethics Are ethical considerations presented. Is it suggested that ethical approval was granted? Results/Findings/Data analysis Does the paper explain clearly how the data are analysed? Are statistical techniques clearly and adequately described? Are the statistics presented at a simple descriptive level or are inferential statistics also included? How are the results presented? Does the text adequately explain any tables or graphs? Have any tests of significance established whether differences, or associations, between groups could have happened by chance? What p values are used? Are non-significant results clearly indicated? Discussion Is the discussion an accurate account of the results? Could there be other ways of interpreting the data? Does the discussion address the research aim and objectives? Are all the research questions answered? Conclusion Are the conclusions of the study consistent with the results of the statistical analyses? Are alternative conclusions suggested? Are theoretical and practical implications of the results adequately discussed? Are the recommendations suggested feasible? Limitations What are the limitations and are these acknowledged by the authors? Overall impression (CASP 2000)

My Philosophy On Education :: Educational Teaching Teachers Essays

My Philosophy On Education Deciding on a career may be a hard decision for some people, but for me, it was easy. I have always known that I was going to be a teacher. There have been a variety of methods for teaching and learning introduced to me and I have developed my philosophy on education from them. Even though there have been many procedures presented to me related to education, only a few have facilitated me in choosing the way I plan to teach. My family is very education-oriented and education has always been an important asset in my life as well. So, I have always strove to learn and work hard for good grades during my school years. Many of my family members have graduated in the top portion of their classes. Most of them later worked for the board of education or went on to college to become a teacher. Since I have always been excited to learn and I loved school, as well as my teachers, I knew that being a teacher would be the best career for me. There are many things I would like to accomplish while I am a teacher. As a teacher, first of all, I hope to be as inspiring and encouraging like many of the teachers I had. Second, I want to make learning fun, but thought provoking. The third thing is that I would like to assist the students in comprehending what they are learning, not just to memorize the material. And, last, I want the students to want to come to school and have the longing to deepen their knowledge. For my students, I expect them to develop an understanding of knowledge. I believe in the principle of progressivism where education should be an on going and productive process. Therefore, I want my students to grasp this concept and always be willing to learn. I support the behaviorist’s view that the environment shapes and influences people. This theory goes into consideration with Rousseau’s theory that children mature through stages, when developing an environment suitable for the grade level a person is teaching. The curriculum should be focused on the student’s needs and how they learn best. There are a variety of methods of teaching that I will use that I believe are important.

Effective Use of Humor in Magazine Advertising :: Media Advertising Promotion Essays

Effective Use of Humor in Magazine Advertising The purpose of a magazine advertisement is to attract the reader’s attention and hold it long enough for the reader to recognize and remember the name brand of the product being advertised. This is achieved, in many cases, by the use of a comedic image or phrase. These, hopefully, will cause the reader to sit up and look further into what just made him or her smile or even laugh. This technique is seen quite often in the pages of the latest issue of ArtByte magazine. ArtByte is a relative newcomer to the world of computer and technology-related magazines. It is aimed at the upper teen to lower thirties technologically-minded individual who has a somewhat wry sense of humor. Many of the ads in this magazine reflect the idea of ArtByte being aimed at this demographic in their marketing techniques by adding humor to their advertisements. But they still make an attempt to appeal to the high-tech reader. This makes for an interesting balance of technologically-minded text and humor ously-appealing imagery. Listen.com, for example, makes full use of this technique (15), as does Aquent talent agency (0,1). The former advertisement depicts a young man, with whom the reader is meant to identify, who apparently works at a diner as a short-order cook. But, as a sight gag, instead of flipping the burgers on the fryer in front of him, he has opted to pretend that he is a disk jockey (a symbol of the high-tech, modern popular culture) and act as if he were spinning and scratching the aforementioned burgers like records on a turntable. The accompanying text reads: "There’s music everywhere, if you know where to look." This makes for quite the funny image, but most likely only to those who would recognize just what he is doing (young, culturally aware, technologically minded individuals). The smaller text, just below the headline reveals that Listen.com is actually an online music database that allows the technologically able consumer to (the same demographic targeted by the rest of this m agazine) to find and download MP3s, an internet-based music format. There are also digital videos, and links to other music-related websites. These features have become a mainstay of the modern internet user’s digital repertoire. These advertised features appeal almost instantly to anyone looking for a fast and easy way to access music and information via the internet.

Diagram of Generic Academic Performance Monitoring System Essay

Figure 2.0: Context Diagram of Generic Academic Performance Monitoring System The figure 2.0 represents the two (2) users of the Generic Academic Performance Monitoring System namely the Administrator and the Professor. The Administrator entity shows the capability to access the system; manage account by modifying account’s profile; managing member’s account such as creating new user profile and updating user profile; importing student list; creation of grade criteria; generating students grade report and updating website contents. The Professor entity shows the capability on accessing the system; managing account profile; importing student list; defining grade template for grading computation and generating student’s grade. Figure 3.0: First Entry Level Data Flow Diagram of Administrator’s Capabilities The figure 3.0 represents the First Entry Level Data Flow Diagram of the Administrator upon successfully logging-in into the Generic Academic Performance Monitoring System. He/she has the capabilities to manage modules such as handling member’s account, importing students list, creation of grade criteria, grade computation and updating website contents Figure 3.1: Second Entry Level Data Flow Diagram on Managing Account for Administrator The figure 3.1 shows the Second Entry Level Data Flow Diagram of the Administrator on managing members account wherein he/she has the capability to create account’s profile for new professor or associate. He/she also capable on updating existing member account. Figure 3.2: Second Entry Level Data Flow Diagram on Import Student List, Create Criteria, Grading and Website Modules for Administrator Figure 3.2 shows the continuation of the Second Entry Level Data Flow Diagram of the Administrator. Upon successfully accessing the system, he/she has the capability to import students list and create criteria template to be use for the student’s grade computations. The Administrator also has the  capibility to change or update website contents from client’s discretion. Figure 4.0: First Entry Level Data Flow Diagram for Professor’s Capabilities In the Figure 4.0 shown above, it represents the First Entry Level Data Flow Diagram of Professor in the Generic Academic Performance Monitoring System. Same with the Administrator user, the Professor also have the capabilities to update own account profile, import student lists and generate student’s grade summary. Figure 4.1: Second Entry Level Data Flow Diagram on Managing Account, Import Student Lists and Compute Grade Modules for Professor Figure 4.1 shown above presents the Second Entry Level Data Flow Diagram of the Professor upon successfully logging-in into the system. Same with the Administrator user, the Professor is also capable on modifying and updating account profile; importing student list; defining grade criteria template and generate grade summary of students.