Critical Perspectives on Information--- Technology Landscape Assignment

Critical Perspectives on Information--- Technology Landscape - Assignment Example In order to learn more about the topic, this document seeks to discuss more on email use and what past research has documented about it. All the different aspects concerning email will be discussed herein. Computers have become a very much needed tool to accomplish everyday activities. They have created and are continuing to work to create an avenue for communication that has changed the lifestyle of many. Electronic mail, chat rooms and instant messaging services have made a major stride in the technology world. The most used mode of communication in the office setup and in person-to-person is the email (electronic mail). These are being carried on by people to communicate because they are seen as very good and easy to use. They are also preferred by many because of computers are used in the process of sending them. They also provide the opportunity for the workers to improve their productivity, satisfaction and also they are for the good of the organization at large (Rice R. & Bair J., pp 185-216). Among those using the Internet, the email is considered as the most important application (Katz J. & Aspden P. 1997). For example, like in Sweden, the number of people that are connected to the Internet has been doubling every year for several years now. This growth makes email a very important subject of discussion in the community that cannot be ignored. With the increase of the numbers of people who are sending and receiving emails, this also means there will be plenty of emails to read. These emails are sometimes stored and can pile to big numbers. When these are so many, the user cannot read all of them. This will push them to want to delete them. There will also be another challenge to face if the emails contain work related data that an individual might not want to dispose. At times the emails can be used as a to-do list There are various forms of communication that

American Dream Concept in Literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

American Dream Concept in Literature - Essay Example The ideals lay shattered, and values became irrelevant or became impotent, exposing the hollowness of the American Dream. Thirty years later, Barbara Ehrenreich embarked on a similar journey of discovery, but did it herself, actually living out the life of the working poor to discover how it actually felt. Her book, â€Å"Nickel and Dimed† published in 1971 is almost a piece of investigative reporting. For three months, she actually waited on tables, cleaned hotels, and homes, and worked at Wal-Mart in Florida, Maine, and Minnesota because they were the highest paying un-skilled jobs she could find as a mother in her late 50s working for the first time, at "mothers hours." Affordable housing was a myth that forced her to live in cabins, trailer parks or weekly motels. The people behind Americas dressed up service economy had no place to go back to at night. The degradation was appalling, with numerous drug tests and surprise purse searches. So-called personality tests were actually designed to reject assertive candidates who could be potential misfits in the organization. Organizing a union was ruled out when even talking to co-workers was a crime labeled â€Å"time theft†. â€Å"Associates†, not workers, waited on â€Å"guests†, not customers, surviving on a bag of chips divided between lunch and dinner, or cold cuts out of a grocery bag in a motel room. Social welfare agencies were of no help either, manned by compassionate but exhausted people who really had nothing material to offer. Later, in 2006, through her book â€Å"Bait and Switch†, she explores the world of the white-collared unemployed, with college degrees, marketable skills, and impressive resumes, but equally vulnerable to financial disaster.

Pediatrics and geometry

Pediatrics and geometry Pediatrics and Geometry Pediatrics are physicians who take care of children and adolescents. They take care of the patient since birth until the patients teenage years. Pediatrics have to do check ups, and examine the children and to make sure they are not ill. (1). They have to treat infections, injuries, many diseases and dysfunctions. Pediatrics also, have to do paperwork, they have to spend time doing administrative work, filling out forms, and sometimes teaching. In high school you need to take biology, chemistry, physics, algebra, geometry and calculus. You must have a3.5 GPA in order to get in med school. Then you need to go to the Med School. Take normal 4-year Bachelor of Science courses and on pre-med courses. (2) Pediatrics use math in their daily basis. They use the most common math such as multiplying, dividing, adding and subtracting. They have to use math to solve problems when treating their patients. When pediatrics are writing prescriptions they have to make sure how many doses give to child and it depends of the weight of the patient. If a pediatric is writing a prescription for amoxicillin for a childrens ear infection, they have to consider the children weight and the dose. For example: the standard dosage for amoxicillin is 45mg/kg divides in a twice a day dosage. If the baby weight 22 that is 10kg then the dose is going to be 225 mg twice a day. (2) They use geometry to calculate the childrens body mass. It helps them to determine if the children is underweight, overweight or in a normal weight. The standard formula for body mass is: (weight in kilograms)/ (height in meters) 2. (2) Pediatrics use math to check x-rays and CAT scans. (3) They need ho w to read x-rays so they can see what the problem of the patient is. Pediatrics is career that math is very important. They use the metric system, to do a lot of equations related to the patients and its medication. (3) When the pediatrics have to check a patient after a surgery in the stomach they use geometry when lay down a patient in the bed. They have to now the position in degrees. When the patient have something wrong with their lungs the pediatrics have to make sure they are in the bed the head has to be 10 degrees down and the feet need to be 10 degrees down.(4) Pediatrics use geometry when they treat Tympanostomy (an ear infection that involves having liquids inside the ear) they need to know about geometry. They have to know the measurements and how many degrees the tube has to be reclined. They have to be careful, when they make the incision. Children are more apt to this infection; therefore, pediatricians have to be very careful to prevent them from cutting somewhere else. (5) Pediatrics earn about $13 to $24 per hour. They earn anywhere from 60,000 to 400,000 a year.

Character Comparisons of Winston vs. Guy in Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 Ess

Winston Smith vs. Guy Montag The two protagonists in Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 both started out somewhere, following the rules and doing what they were told, and towards the end of the book you see them change and become completely different people. In 1984, the reader experiences a nightmarish world that Orwell imagines through the eyes of the protagonist, Winston Smith. In Fahrenheit 451, the protagonist, Guy Montag is on a desperate search to find and understand his own life and purpose. These stories are set in the past tense but they both talk about what the future would or could be like. Winston Smith, from the novel 1984, is a low status member of the Party who rules over the nation of Oceania. Winston is never alone, even in his own house. Everywhere he goes the Party is watching him through what they call telescreens. Oceania is run by a leader that is referred to as Big Brother. Winston is struggling with the fact that he doesn’t even have control of his own life, it’s controlled by the Party and Big Brother. When Winston becomes frustrated by the Party and Big Brother he illegally buys a diary in which to write criminal things like, â€Å"Down with Big Brother.† The Thought Police can basically read your mind, so even thinking anything rebellious or illegal will get you in trouble with them. Winston knows that he will soon get caught by the Thought Police for committing a thoughtcrime. He convinces himself that he will be caught no matter what he does, so he continues to rebel. Winston finds the courage to join a secret organization, called the Brotherhood, in order to take down Big Brother. O’Brien, the Brotherhood’s leader, turns Winston in and he goes to jail. There he is questioned by O’Brien and tortured, ... ...s running from his life he meets a group of people called the â€Å"Book People.† They are books lovers who have memorized many books. When enemy jets appear in the sky and they completely obliterate the city, Guy and the Book People move on in search of survivors and to rebuild the city. Montag started as a man with a incomplete life. That life was fulfilled when he discovered literature. In conclusion, Winston Smith and Guy Montag are two men who are distinct in their own ways. Winston really figured out his life while he was in jail. That makes me think, do you need to be somewhere like that in order to get your life back together? Guy Montag found his satisfaction in books. Which I believe is the way to get your life in order. They are similar people for the reason that they both are unsure of their place in the world and who go through a journey to figure it out.

English Proficiency and Academic Achievement Essay

Introduction For many years now, linguists and researchers have examined the impact of English language proficiency on various fields like academic success and employability. While early researches suggested that English proficiency does not dictate high academic rating and employment aptitude, evidences are now showing that proficiency of the English language is a cutting-edge asset in areas of academic success and employment in a highly-competitive and demanding industries in Medicine and Fitness, Information Technology, and the Business Process Outsourcing. In the Philippines, for example, where there is an increasing demand of call center workers year after year, fluency of the English language should be a topmost priority among schools. It is on this ground that the issue of how English language proficiency relates to academic achievement and employability is clearly relevant to the educational development of bilingual and trilingual students. This issue has been a widely debated topics not only in the Philippines, but also around some parts of the United States and Europe. Underlying these issues, the question of what English proficiency means and how it relates to academic achievement and employability should be addressed. Central to the understanding of English language proficiency is J. Cummins’s Theory of Language Proficiency. To be proficient in a second language (English, for Filipinos), both basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS) and cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) need to be developed. The latter is the basis for students’ academic success but may take from 5-7 years or longer to master. The former, in contrast, is usually attained within the first two years of exposure to the second language and is characterized by superficial oral language skills. Language proficiency, furthermore, develops along these two continuums: from context-embedded to context-reduced communication, and from cognitively less-demanding to cognitively-demanding tasks. Then how do we measure English language proficiency? Canale provided a set of criteria he termed communicative competence to assess proficiency in the language as follows: grammatical  competence which encompasses knowledge in lexical items and rules of morphology, syntax, sentence, grammar, semantics, and phonology; discourse competence which is the ability to connect sentences in stretches of discourse and form a meaningful whole out of a series of utterances; sociolinguistic competence which involves knowledge of socio-cultural rules of language; and strategic competence which is the verbal and nonverbal communication strategies that may be called into action to compensate for breakdowns in communication due to performance variables or due to insufficient competence. Summing it up, English language proficiency is competence in basic mechanics, manipulation and ability to use words, phrases, and sentences, distinction of appropriate function of the language, and compensation or remediation for a lack in some language areas. These have been the basis for myriad of researches on the relationship of English language proficiency to academic achievement and employability. At present, researches have turned their attention to the broad cognitive development of language among students. These researches have found an increasing evidence for positive relation between English language proficiency and reasoning abilities including â€Å"nonverbal problem-solving skills, divergent thinking skills, and field dependence†. Research has also indicated that additive-bilingual students who have high proficiency in English outperform their monolingual counterparts who have low proficiency in English on tasks requiring high levels of cognitive control. The positive relation between proficiency in English among students and exceptional nonverbal ability in with-in group analyses has also been observed. Results of these studies revealed that students who are proficient in English are superior to their counterparts in the area of â€Å"general cognition development†, â€Å"academic achievement†, â€Å"and â€Å"linguistic competence†. The series of studies by J. Cummins in 1979, 1981, 1989, and 1992, respectively, have shown that proficiency in the acquired language must be obtained in order for the students’ cognitive abilities to be properly incited. In short, academic achievement is only attained through literacy and proficiency of English. Additionally, the more proficient one is in English, the quicker one is to amass knowledge. For a student to be academically competent in areas like Mathematics, Science, Humanities, Arts, and even Character Education, focus on â€Å"linguistic structures, functions ,  and mechanics†14, should be considered first. Thus, culturally diverse students must make the transition from using only concrete language style to a more contextualized language. Systematically selecting language activities along the oral-proficiency continuum and facilitating the development of the students’ narrative abilities prove to be effective in promoting academic achievement as well. Furthermore, Wallach and Miller noted that â€Å"the shift from utterance-based communication to text-based communication means that students engage in the manipulation of language topics, forms, and functions†, which is very crucial in attaining academic success. According to the researches of Wallach and Butler, and of Simon, there is an existing relationship between English language proficiency and academic achievement, and becoming academically good involves proficiency in English. Thomas and Collier suggested that sustained instruction in English enhances students’ academic success in later years, as shown in thei r research study on high school students. And with the booming call center industry in the Philippines, the need for English fluency and academic mastery should be addressed through effective academic instructions in schools. Every quarter, the industry opens more than 1000 seats to college and high school graduates alike, provided that they have the acceptable and standard language competence to deliver their highly demanding functions in a highly competitive environment. The quality of our graduates in terms of academic and English competence is determined by the passing rate of call center applicants. For the record, the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines admitted that only 9 out of the 100 entry-level applicants are deemed-fit for the call center job, while 20 to 40 applicants would need to undergo skills-based training in language and technology, and the rest failed to get the cut. The Call Center Association of the Philippines pointed out several reasons for the low passing rate. Aside from the lack of call center experience, the applicants do not have the entry-level skills to be considered for the job. Such entry-level skills include verbal conversations, technology know-how, and decision-making, which can be addressed through effective academic preparation in schools. While most vocational schools offer short-term call  center courses, nothing beats a well-grounded academic training in schools. As the call center business continue to offer an attractive working climate, some sectors express concerns about the overall English and academic competence level of the potential new hires. Due to the high-level language proficiency and socio-linguistic skills requirement of the job, certain call center companies may have not filled in the expected seats from the foreign clients, especially for high-end accounts like banking and finance and telecommunications which demand a higher-order thinking and analytical skills. In a study conducted by the John F. Kennedy Center Foundation – Philippines in 2006, it was revealed that the declining supply of qualified call center workers could arrest the projected growth of the industry. The JFKCF-P mentioned that one solution is to â€Å"adequately prepare graduates by providing them quality training in English proficiency.† The general perception of a â€Å"declining English competence† of our students and graduates has been constantly talked about by industry insiders, media practitioners, and educators. Has there been a decline of English competence that we have a relatively low passing rate in the call center job? If there is, what measures are currently in place to ensure academic and language success in schools? Does proficiency in the English language ensure good academic standing? What other factors contribute to language proficiency and academic performance in relation to employability? Background of the Study The academic achievement of bilingual and/or trilingual students has long been a major educational concern. It has been said that before these students are confronted with academically challenging tasks in any discipline, they should be masters of the English language first. But the question here is: how do these learners acquire the standard of English proficiency? There are several factors that affect or inhibit learners in attaining mastery of English; thus, attaining academic success is near to impossible. Such factors include age and/or level of maturity, first language proficiency, and attitude and individual differences. Age and/or level of maturity here refer to the preparedness or readiness of the learners to acquire competence in the language. Collier said that â€Å"for  academic achievement, it does not matter when second language begins, as long as cognitive development continues at least through age 12.† First language proficiency is also a major factor, as what was noted by researchers that it may inhibit the development of the second language. Attitude and individual differences refer to language learning styles and behavior of the learners towards the language. It is on this premise that this research study is geared to prove or disprove the validity of the said effects of English language proficiency on academic achievement and employability. Sufficient data are then gathered to supplement the research study and to aid the researcher with the proper procedures in conducting the study. These data are grouped according to relevance and importance and on the degree of reference. The interest of the research study started as a practical observation in the call center setting. It has been observed that those who have the ability, in whatever level of proficiency, in the English language have the competitive advantage over those who are less or no ability to use English in terms of aca demic performance, employability, and even job promotion. The interest was then broadened into a real research work. Theoretical Framework | Conceptual Framework This study is anchored on Jim Cummins’s Theory on Second Language Acquisition, where five stages of acquisition are discussed in relation to students’ capacity or readiness to achieve academic proficiency. The five stages are as follows: Stage 1: The Silent/Receptive or Preproduction Stage, which can last from ten hours to six months. Here, the students often have up to 500 hundred words that they can understand, but they may not be comfortable using; Stage 2: The Early Production Stage, which can last additional six months after the initial stage. At this stage, students have usually developed close to 1,000 receptive or active words; Stage 3: The Speech Emergence Stage, which can last up to another year. Students in this stage have usually developed approximately 3,000 words and can use short phrases and simple sentences to communicate; Stage 4: The Intermediate Language Proficiency Stage, which may take up to another year after speech emergence. Students have typically developed close to 6,000 words and are beginning to make complex statements, state opinions, ask for clarification, share their thoughts, and speak at greater length; Stage 5: The Advanced  Language Proficiency Stage, which typically takes from five to seven years. By this stage, students have already developed some specialized content-area vocabulary and can participate fully in conversations that require great fluency similar to that of native speakers. In relation to these stages, the achievement level of the students in their academics depends on what stage their proficiency of English is into. Another theory of Jim Cummins is that of Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and that of Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). This theory states that the â€Å"average student can develop conversational fluency within two to five years, but that developing fluency is more technical, academic language can take from four to seven years depending on many variables such as language proficiency level, and the degree of support for achieving academic proficiency.† The paradigm shown on the next page features the concept of this study. The continuous cycle begins with English language proficiency first, and after achieving proficiency in the language, students will be able to correctly manipulate language forms and patterns for easy understanding of academic lessons presented in English. This results to high academic performance, which will also augment students’ proficiency in the language. The more proficient one is in English, the more academically go od one becomes and the more one achieves academically, the more one becomes proficient in English. Paradigm: The continuous flow of English language proficiency to manipulation of language forms and patterns to academic achievement and then back to English language proficiency. Statement of the Problem This study determines and proves the significant correlation of English language proficiency to academic achievement of Grade 9 students of Calumpang High School for the school year 2014 – 2015. Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions: 1. What is the profile of the respondents according to: 1.1. Age; 1.2. Sex; 1.3. Birth Order; 1.4. Parents’ Educational Background; and 1.5. Socio-Economic Status? 2. What is the respondents’ level of English proficiency as a result of the English Proficiency Test? 3. What is the academic achievement of the respondents as reflected by their average grade in all subjects from their previous year? 4. What is the degree of the variability of the respondents’ grades and scores on the English Language Proficiency Test? 5. What is the correlation of English language proficiency to academic achievement? 6. Does a positive correlation between English language proficiency and academic performance dictate high level of passing rate in the call center industry? Hypothesis of the Study For statistical testing and data interpretation, this hypothesis is considered: English language proficiency has no significant effect on academic achievement of the students; thus, no correlation can be made between the level of proficiency in English language and academic achievement. Scope and Delimitation of the Study While there is a strong presence of the issue of bilingualism and trilingualism and second language acquisition, this study covers only the inherent and potential relationship of English language proficiency and academic achievement. The above two issues are excluded here although some aspects have been tackled because of some relevance and association with the main focus of this study. This study also adheres to its main objective, which is to determine whether or not the ability to correctly use the English language has an effect on the students’ academic achievement, and in turn get a very high employability rate in the Business Outsource Processing industry. Although results vary due to factors like age, gender, birth order, socio-economic status, and the like, any conclusions made in this study are solely based on one variable, English language proficiency. The term English language proficiency covers not only mastery of grammar and mechanics or sentence patterns, but mor e so on the mastery of the four macro skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Proficiency in this study refers to the ability of the students to read, write, speak, and listen in English. Any of these macro skills does not determine proficiency  because proficiency means more that just the ability to read, write, speak, and listen. Rather, proficiency means the ability to correctly use these four macro skills in a given situation. In this study, the proficiency of the students in the English language is measured under these conditions. Academic achievement covers the school performance of the students through their grades from the previous academic year only. It includes academic subjects like Mathematics, Sciences, Language, Social Studies, Arts, and Livelihood Education. Academic achievement is measured here through the students’ grade from their previous year. The respondents of this study are enrolled Grade 9 students Calumpang High School of school year 2014–2015. Those who indicates in the survey questionnaire that they are foreigners and /or native speakers of English are excluded in the study. It is on these conditions where the results of this study can be concluded valid and reliable. Significance of the Study The study on the relationship of English language proficiency and academic achievement has been the subject of many researches for decades now. Educators and school administrators promote the idea that language proficiency affects academic performance and language proficiency and academic performance affect employability. Although there are some who contradicted such idea, the impact of the results of these researches and studies proved to be interest-provoking and had alarmed those in the authority. That is why considerable number of similar researches is still conducted. The study on the significant effects of English language proficiency on academic achievement is the key factor in understanding learners’ diverse ways on acquiring mastery of the subject matters specially those that use English as medium of instruction. The study alone may eliminate subjectivity on the part of the teachers in terms of assessing the academic performance of the students. In such ways, the teachers are given prior knowledge about the capacity of their students to use the English language and eventually make the necessary adjustments so that all students, in whatever level of English proficiency they have, shall learn effectively whatever the academic subject is. Additionally, understanding that the students are going through a predictable and sequential series of developmental stages in English language proficiency helps teachers predict  and accept students’ current stage, while modifying their instruction to encourage progression to the next stage. This study can also help teachers develop appropriate instructional strategies and assessments that guide students along a continuum of language development. This study will also benefit the students themselves. Having this background, they can already adjust to different academic tasks in the classroom. Also, this shall provide them with the necessary information on assessing their own competence in English and suit it to appropriate level of academic struggle. They will be given substantial help for them to understand their level of competencies in the language. In the case of those who are in the authority, they will be given enough background on the level of English proficiency and its effect to academic achievement of the students. With this, they shall have basis in future program implementation in relation to educational development. Furthermore, this research study is an important area in English language education, perhaps an area that can be significantly studied more. This study will generate new ideas that can be used for future researches related to the topic. As a mere research study, this may not be the be-all and end-all in describing students’ academic learning styles, but this will be a starting point in analyzing the important role of English not only as an international language, but also as a language of academics. Finally, understanding the concept of English language instruction and its impact to the overall academic performance of the students is a good bird’s eye view to course developers and educators of Call Center Programs in the K-12 curriculum. Identifying the areas of English our students are challenged with versus the English proficiency requirements of the call center job enables our school administrators to create skills-related teaching methodology to equip our students in their job application in the future. Moreover, it is imperative for the whole academe to understand the demands of the global market and the relevance of language proficiency and academic performance to marketability and self-worth. This research ultimately seeks answers to the unidentified reasons of the â€Å"declining English proficiency† and what effective programs and solutions can we implement to address such issues. Definition of Terms Throughout the study, there are words and terms that are contextually and operationally used. This section includes clearly and concisely defined coined words and technical terms as follows: Academic Achievement. This refers to the school performance of the students through grades. Bilingualism. This term refers to the use of two languages, the first language and English, as a medium in communication. Call Center Industry. Also known as Business Process Outsourcing, this term refers to the large operations of foreign companies in the Philippines. Communicative Competence. This refers to the ability to communicate effectively in whatever forms of speaking and writing as well as the ability to get messages through listening and reading. English Language Proficiency. This term refers to the competence in using English in forms of written discourse and oral communication.

Business Structures Essay

If someone wants to start a business, that person would have to decide which structure he or she would want to use. To know what kind of structure he or she has to know what kind of business he or she is trying to run and who will run it with him or her. Structures range from sole proprietorships and partnerships to corporations. When companies first start up, they consider sole proprietorships or partnerships, but as they grow into larger companies, they become corporations. When someone first opens a business it may just be him or her, those companies consider sole proprietorships, meaning a business owned by one person. There are several advantages when running a sole proprietorship. First is it is the simplest type of business to start and run and also it is not regulated as much. Also, sole proprietorships pay lower income taxes compared to other business structures. Last, when a company is a sole proprietorship, decision-making rest on the owner’s shoulders but the owner keeps all profits (Films Media Group, 2011). Even though there are some very good advantages owning a sole proprietorship, there are also some disadvantages. The biggest advantage is also the biggest disadvantage, the bills, debts, and major obligations. If the owner does not pay the bills, the company cannot run. Another big disadvantage is the capital the business has. If the owner does not have some other capital invested into the company, the company will not grow. The last disadvantage is running the company when the owner leaves or dies. Because there is no one else with stock, the owner has to let the company go (Parrino, Kidwell, & Bates, 2012). The next business structure is a partnership, which consist of two or more owners that legally run the business together. With a partnership, the owners know what his or her position in the company is and how the profits would be split. There are two different partnerships; a general partnership and a limited partnership. The general partnership has the same advantages as a sole proprietorship, but has one more disadvantage. All owners have unlimited liability regardless of  the percenta ge in the company (Parrino, Kidwell, & Bates, 2012). To avoid the big issue with a general partner, the partner would sign into a limited partnership. In a limited partnership, the company can have general and limited partners. One or more general partner has unlimited liability while limited partners only deal with the obligations he or she provides. To qualify as a limited partner, he or she cannot engage in the managing of the business (Parrino, Kidwell, & Bates, 2012). The last business structure is the biggest and the last to get to. Large companies consider themselves to be corporations. Corporations consider themselves as a â€Å"person,† where the corporation can sue and also be sued, borrow money, and own assets like real estate. An advantage of a corporation is that the stockholders have a limited liability for all of the corporation’s obligations. Because the corporation is a â€Å"person,† the corporation is taxed as a â€Å"person† on the income it earns (Films Media Group, 2011). References Films Media Group (2011). Planning Your Business: Research, goals, and business plans [Video podcast]. Retrieved from https://newclassroom3.phoenix.edu/Classroom/ToolContainer.jsp?context=co&contextId=OSIRIS:40817068&activityId=16e92012-daa3-4692-89b0-622c50a227b6&profileId=4136b5d5-519c-4e35-a63a-f84741e11cd2&syllabusId=OSIRIS:40817068&version= Parrino, R., Kidwell, D. S., & Bates, T. W. (2012). Fundamentals of Corporate Finance (2nd ed.). Danvers, MA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc..