Misuse of Mobile Phones Essay

Mobile or cell phones have revolutionized our lives since many years. In past people had to wait for days or even weeks to get reply to their letters. Then with time and technological advancements things started getting easier with the invention of telephone and then finally it got a lot easier with the introduction of cell phones. Cell phones provide us the opportunity to converse, figure out and access content. Mobile phones have redefined connectivity and communication. But high-end mobile phones have also turned out to be handy devices for criminals, anti-social elements and even activists. Mobile phones have their uses and misuses. Uses: The ability to talk wirelessly and all across the world is one of the major uses of cell phones. Cell phones have surfaced as the main communication gadgets for millions of countryside, distant and undersized areas in many developing countries where it is quite hard to build widespread fixed-line as well as other landline phone infrastructures. One can use cell phones in many disaster circumstances and emergencies to get helpful and apt help. Some of the mobile phones have special features like maps etc. If you are new somewhere and have lost your way you can get help using your cell phone. There are number of applications like calculator, torch, calendar etc in almost every cell phone. One can get help from these applications whenever needed. You can call or chat with your friends or family members for hours with the introduction of a number of worthy packages for you to avail. Thus by spending less money you can talk for longer time period. These packages are worthy enough as compared to wired or landline phone charges. Misuses: On one side if cell phones are the best sources to get instant help in the hour of need there are some drawbacks of this gadget. It is a fact that parents allow their kids use mobile phones at an early age. But it is only to make sure about their safety and security which is needed since we live in an unsecured society. However, unfortunately many times it has been observed that these children do not make use of it in a proper manner. They spend hours talking to their friends, not for good purposes but to gossip and thus waste their time. They prefer indoor games like those in the mobiles rather than the outdoor games. This can impact negatively on their  minds physical fitness. The law made by the governments of many countries was much appreciated by a large number of people according to which it is restricted to the children to buy a SIM card until they reach the age of eighteen. Majority of parents are thankful to their government for taking this effective step. Some of the common misuses of mobile phones are cameras loaded on majority of mobile phones can be used to take pictures of women and innocent children; these pictures are then usually morphed, maneuvered and circulated on the Internet and can be used for any negative purpose. Texting can also be used to misuse or track people. Cell phones have been known to be used by corrupt elements, burglars and criminals can plan out a number of criminal schemes, scamming plans and other illegal activities. Thus cell phones if on one side a blessing then on the other side they can create disasters in our lives and society. It is advisable to make use of mobile phones for positive and useful purposes and not for negative activities.

Conagra Foods Essay

ConAgra Foods Inc. is one of the largest food companies in the United States operating in such segments as Consumer Foods (66%) and Commercial Foods (34%) which are divided into three significant business operations segments – agricultural products, packaged foods and refrigerated foods (Table 1). Table 1. Net sales (in millions USD) 20102009%increase/decrease Consumer Foods 8,002 7,979-%. Commercial Foods 4,077 4,447(8)% Total12,07912,426(3)% Source: Annual Report 2010 Consumer Foods The Consumer Foods segment includes branded, private label and customized food products, which are sold in various retail and foodservice channels. The products include a variety of categories, such as meals, entrees, condiments, sides, snacks, and desserts across frozen, refrigerated and shelf-stable temperature classes. The Company’s major brands include Alexia, ACT II, Banquet, Blue Bonnet, Chef Boyardee, DAVID, Egg Beaters, Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt’s, Marie Callender’s, Orville Redenbacher’s, PAM, Peter Pan, Reddi-wip, Slim Jim, Snack Pack, Swiss Miss, Van Camp’s and Wesson. As of July 22, 2010, it had 39 domestic manufacturing facilities in Arkansas, California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin. As of July 22, 2010, it also had four international manufacturing facilities in Canada and Mexico (one 50% owned) and one in Arroyo Dulce, Argentina. Commercial Foods The Commercial Foods segment supplies frozen potato, sweet potato and other vegetable, spice and grain products to a variety of restaurants, foodservice operators and commercial customers. The products are sold under brands, such as ConAgra Mills, Lamb Weston, and Spicetec Flavors & Seasoning. As of July 22, 2010, it had 41 domestic production facilities in Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and Washington; one international production facility in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico and Qingdao, China; one manufacturing facility in Taber, Canada; one 50% owned manufacturing facility in each of Colorado, Minnesota, Washington and the United Kingdom; one 67% owned manufacturing facility in Puerto Rico, and three 50% owned manufacturing facilities in the Netherlands. Company is mainly engaged in operations in the United States which count for more than 90% of total income (Table 2). ConAgra Foods Inc. owns approximately 50 brands (Table 3). Table 2. Pre-tax income from continuing operations (in millions USD) 201020092008 United States1,040. 3872. 1631. 9 Foreign 66. 6 64. 3 69. 6 Total1,106. 9936. 4701. 5 Source: Annual Report 2010 Vision and mission The vision of the company set by current CEO Gary Rodkin is: â€Å"One company. One goal. Making the food you love. † It reflects the overall company’s strategy to make â€Å"food people want in their lives every day†. The mission is reflected in company’s profile: â€Å"Preparing great food, being a strong partner to our customers and thinking about all of the people who enjoy our food and the difference it makes in their lives fuels our passion: making the food you love. † Goals Like every public-held company listed on NYSE (ConAgra Foods Inc. has ticker CAG) ConAgra Foods Inc. aims to increase earnings per share. The goal of the company is to achieve long-term growth through supply chain productivity, operational efficiency, innovation, selling, marketing and sustainability of great brands . Increase in supply chain productivity and operational efficiency lets the company to reduce its manufacturing, finance, administrative, transportation costs. Innovation and marketing orientation enhances the business processes and expands profit margins. Figure 1. Formula for growth Source: Annual Report 2010 ConAgra Foods Inc.operates under three principles while achieving its strategic goal: simplicity, collaboration and accountability. Using their resources rationally, nourishing employees and creating positive image within the community are the objectives which lead the company to be â€Å"good for you, good for the community, good for the people† . Strategic priorities The company focuses on the following business product groups. In each strategic group ConAgra Foods Inc. possesses significant manufacturing and innovation capabilities. Figure 2. Strategic priorities. Source: Annual Report 2010 Strategy â€Å"ConAgra Foods is focused on growing sales, expanding profit margins, and improving returns on capital over time. To that end, the company has significantly changed its portfolio of businesses over a number of years, focusing on branded, value-added opportunities, while divesting commodity-based and lower-margin businesses. † Acquisitions Company was founded in 1919 as Nebraska Consolidated Mills and in 2000 changed its name to ConAgra Foods Inc. Acquisitions are the major part of ConAgra’s strategy. The company implemented horizontal and vertical integration strategy after sustaining solid background in flour-milling operations and feed and poultry segment. The time and the trends in the food industry were crucial to the strategic acquisitions of the company. In 1970-1980s when home and industrial refrigerators became available for the consumers and packing techniques developed , which meant that now meat and vegetables will not spoil, ConAgra entered the frozen foods market with the acquisition of Banquet Foods in 1980 and other companies in the meat and poultry segment (Armour Foods, Beatrice Foods, Hebrew National Foods, etc.). In 1980-1990s when the welfare of American citizens began to improve and people began to value time the food that was easy to cook (which means basically just heat and serve) was highly demanded and ConAgra’s strategic move was highly appreciated by the investors in the stock market. The stock price of CAG tripled from 10$ in 1990 to 30$ in 1998. The total amount of acquired brands approximated 30 by the year 2000 (Hunt’s, La Choy, Wesson, ACT II, Chef Boyardee, etc. ) and company changed its name to ConAgra Foods Inc.to reflect its growing role as a food products manufacturer rather than just the food ingredients supplier. In the beginning of the twenty first century and nowadays when the society became more concerned about their health ConAgra Foods Inc. implemented several strategic acquisitions of such companies as Alexia Foods Inc. (natural and organic foods company) in 2007, Elan Nutrition in 2010 and others. The purchases that company makes â€Å"†¦reflect [our] acquisition strategy—find businesses that are great fits and enable [us] to grow by filling a need within [our] portfolio or giving [us] an adjacent category expansion†¦. † Figure 3. The acquisitions strategy helped ConAgra Foods Inc. to: ConAgra Foods Inc. divests the businesses which are either too complex to integrate with the core businesses or did not achieve a profit margin greater than the benchmark margin rate. In 2009 the company sold Pemmican (beef jerky business), in 2008 it sold â€Å"Knott’s Berry Farm† operations and others. Mostly, the divestitures are low-margin (commodity-based) businesses. Marketing and distribution Almost every American household has a number of ConAgra Foods brand-named products in their refrigerators. The ability to acquire well-known and customer-loved brands had secured for ConAgra beneficial position. Some of the acquired brands such as Peter Pan and Chef Boyardee had longer history than ConAgra and were so much identifiable in the consumer market that it makes no sense to advance the brand of ConAgra. Even though the company has so many brands in their â€Å"arsenal† many people don’t know what ConAgra does. And many consumers don’t identify ConAgra as the owner of the brand-named products that they buy. ConAgra is aimed to the better understanding needs of their customers. The health-conscious consumers (whose number is growing) chose nutritious and low-fat food. For increasing nutrition in its products company launched the program on sodium reduction and positions itself as a â€Å"safe food manufacturer† . In 2008 the company launched the program online startmakingchoices. com for people who are concerned with the healthy way of life. The website has several tests and tips on how to keep your life healthier. Also company designs packaging with the full information to help consumers improve their diet. â€Å"Taste, health, nutrition, convenience, sustainability and, of course, value are just some of the issues American shoppers are now faced with every time they go to a supermarket – and they’re demanding to know more. † For the purpose of better serving its customers and help consumers with their choice ConAgra Foods Inc. launched â€Å"Food News Today† with Phil Lempert, a â€Å"leading consumer trend analyst and Supermarket Guru†. ConAgra Foods Inc. aimed to develop and improve their private labeling strategy. One of the most successful brands that company has, Healthy Choice, has retail sales of about 1 billion dollars. This label is licensed to other companies for use on their products. Company announced the Gold Store initiative in 2006, which focuses on driving growth by optimizing in-store conditions in three fundamental areas: distribution, shelving, and placement next to the companion products. As part of a plan ConAgra’s sales efforts are shifting from a strategy that relied heavily on short-term price discounts and couponing in order to push out sales volume to consumers to a strategy that relies more on ways to draw in consumers. The new strategy hopes to provide a more balanced mix of trade spending, consumer advertising, and product innovation than the company had in the past. Even though ConAgra Foods Inc. owns distribution and transportation businesses like J. M. Swank, most of company’s transportation equipment, distribution centers and storage facilities are being run by third parties. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and its affiliates, accounted for approximately 18% of consolidated net sales for fiscal 2010 . ConAgra combines hard data from retailers with its own qualitative research. â€Å"Gary Rodkin is on a quest to find what he calls â€Å"the big, singular insight that will drive behavior change. â€Å"†¦. He is using theories about buying habits–backed by $399 million a year in advertising, marketing and in-store promotions–to convince grocery stores to provide ample shelves for its 45 consumer brands†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬  Leadership. Charles M. Harper The â€Å"wizard† Charles M. Harper who led the company from 1974 to 1993 is well-known for launching acquisitions strategy and founding Healthy Choice brand. During his tenure at ConAgra, the company expanded its business operations from flour-milling business to frozen foods, poultry, prepared seafood, fertilizers and the sales rose from $636 million in 1974 to $9 billion in 1987. The main reason for making decisions on acquisitions strategy were cyclical profits that company faced in agricultural segment. Mike Harper decided to diversify the company from basic products to packaged goods. His main priority was to acquire companies while they were in their down cycle and he restructured the companies and refocused their marketing strategies. He reintroduced the brands which were highly recognizable by consumers and refocused the product lines. In 1988 Harper boasted that ConAgra was probably the only food products company to â€Å"participate across the entire food chain. † In the early 1990s ConAgra expanded at a rate of about 3-5 acquisitions and joint ventures a year, becoming the leader in the frozen goods industry . During his tenure the P/E ratio of the company was at all times high which means: the price of stock was rising faster than the earnings per share or in other words, the investors were overoptimistic about the future of the company. (Figure 4) Figure 4. P/E ratio of ConAgra Foods Inc. Bruce Rhode In 1998 Bruce Rhode was named a CEO of ConAgra and his first steps were to reduce costs by large amount. He instituted â€Å"Operation Overdrive† restructuring program, closing several production plants and storage facilities and cutting the workforce by seven thousand employees. The estimated savings from â€Å"Operation Overdrive† were approximately $600 million a year . The other problem that Bruce Rhode faced was strong decentralization of the company. Some of the food-processing and meat-packing companies, which operated under one brand name of ConAgra, purchased the products from the competitors rather than other ConAgra’s branches. The same uncoordinated actions were in marketing when â€Å"representatives from several ConAgra divisions, all selling similar products, visited the same restaurants and groceries†. Bruce Rhode emphasized team-approach to solve these problems. At the beginning of 2000s many retail grocery stores would like to promote their own brands in foods processing and packaging segment and that was another problem for Bruce Rhode to solve. He concentrated on product development and marketing, working closely with grocery stores to create displays of ConAgra products. Bruce Rhode continued acquisitions strategy of his predecessors acquiring more brand names in packaged food segment (International Home Foods in 2000) to increase gross sales of the company and he divided company into ten principal operating units: ConAgra Foodservice Company; ConAgra Grocery Products Companies; ConAgra Frozen Prepared Foods; ConAgra Dairy Case Companies; ConAgra Refrigerated Prepared Foods; ConAgra Meat Companies; ConAgra Poultry Company; ConAgra Food Ingredients; United Agri Products Companies; ConAgra Trade Group. The early years of his tenure coincided with the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997-1998 when the investors were cautious about the US domestic markets and the stock price fell significantly (Figure 4). Figure 4. Daily stock prices for ConAgra Foods, Inc. (CAG) since 1978 to 2010. Source: google. com/finance Gary Rodkin Gary Rodkin, the former CEO of PepsiCo Beverages and Foods of North America division, replaced Bruce Rhode as CEO of ConAgra Foods Inc. in 2005 and began reorganization trying to create one centralized consolidated company that consists of more than 500 subdivisions. As a result of refocusing its portfolio of businesses ConAgra Foods Inc. divested Butterball, Armour, Eckrich and others. Gary Rodkin, while continuing acquisitions strategy, transformed the company into a â€Å"more unified operating company† . With the changes of the new CEO many analysts were concerned that he would try to create ConAgra brand instead of coordinating many different brands. However, during his interview to SmartMoney (Wall Street Journal) in 2010 he said: â€Å"†¦. There is no product named ConAgra. So instead, we say, consumers make the brands relevant. We do need investors to better understand this company. But on the consumer side, we really don’t think the juice is worth the squeeze. † Performance Internal organization ConAgra Foods Inc. operates in a low-margin industry thus effectively managing its costs is the priority in achieving strategic competitiveness (Figure 6). Focusing on cost reduction the company could save 1. 1 billion USD through supply chain rationalization initiatives, the relocation of a divisional headquarters from Irvine, California to Naperville, Illinois, the centralization of shared services, salaried headcount reductions and other cost-reduction initiatives . Figure 6. Here’s how the $4. 19 you pay for a frozen dinner like one from Healthy Choice breaks down. ConAgra makes 55 cents. Source: Forbes. com . Shopping Cart Psychology by Helen Coster. 08. 19. 09 For the fiscal 2010 year ConAgra Foods Inc. announced net sales of 12,079 million USD with the operating profit of 1,652 USD (Table 4). Table 4. Financial Highlights for the fiscal 2010 year Source: Annual Report 2010 â€Å"†¦.. Heightened competition, weak demand and inflation hampered food processor ConAgra’s fiscal first quarter, leading it to cut its outlook, though the maker of Healthy Choice and Orville Redenbacher’s brand foods increased its dividend†¦.. † . The company also decreased its earnings per share outlook from 8-10% growth to 5-7%. External environment ConAgra Foods Inc. is focused on value-added brand companies and private labeling in the food industry where it competes with such giants as Kraft Foods, Heinz, Nestle, etc. â€Å"†¦.. We experience intense competition for sales of our principal products in our major markets. Our products compete with widely advertised, well-known, branded products, as well as private label and customized products. Some of our competitors are larger and have greater resources than we have. We compete primarily on the basis of quality, value, customer service, brand recognition, and brand loyalty†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. † From the next figure it can be inferred that even though ConAgra Foods, Inc. operates better than overall US industries, it still underperforms the leading companies in food sector. Figure 5. 10-year comparison of ConAgra Foods Inc. , S&P 500, S&P 500 Packaged Foods Index. Source: Annual Report 2010 In the Processed and Packaged Goods industry companies operate under very narrow margins (Figure 6) and for that reason severe price competition after the financial crisis influences heavily the profits of ConAgra Foods Inc. Also, the retailers implement backward integration strategy and take away profits from famous brand companies since the consumers are losing interest in the brand-named products. Even though the there are some good news about the industry that the consumers are very conscious about the money and they eat-out less than before the crisis the competition in the industry makes it difficult for analysts to predict bright future for the food companies. In the Figure we can see that the general projections for the industry are either â€Å"buy† or â€Å"hold† rather than â€Å"strong buy†. Figure 7. Analysts recommendation about the industry and ConAgra Foods Inc. Source: wikinvest. com Zacks Investment Research, November 24, 2010. Bibliographies 1. Amanda Quick, â€Å"Company profiles for students†, (Thomson Gale, 1999) 2. bigcharts. com 3. ConAgra Foods Inc. Annual Report 2010 4. ConAgra Foods Inc. Corporate Responsibility Report 2010 5. conagrafoods. com 6. forbes. com 7. google. com/finance 8. http://www. hbs. edu 9. referenceforbusiness. com 10. wikinvest. com 11. wsj. com.

Naval Hospital Guam Facility Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Naval Hospital Guam Facility - Case Study Example Naval Hospital Guam 2006). My search has so far brought up the general quality management program for the Department of Defense but no specifics on this particular facility. I have been unable to identify a comprehensive Quality Assurance Program document online for the Naval Hospital Guam. The tasks of the Data Quality Analysis and Evaluation Division, the closest thing to Quality Assurance, is as follows: "Administers, coordinates and analyzes a variety of statistical data, to include: Medical Expense and Workload (MEPRS); Clinical workload data (both inpatient and outpatient); and Utilization Reporting for use by the command and higher authority. Provides guidance to work centers in developing statistical data collection techniques; and conducts training to familiarize personnel with statistical data reporting and requirements, and the impact on financial and manpower resource allocation"(U.S. Naval Hospital Guam, 2008). In connection with TRICARE, there was reference to the 1998 document from the Assistant Secretary of Defense. The Department of Defense (DoD) Utilization Management (UM) Policy for the Direct Care System provides a framework for systematic business and clinical processes. Regional UM and Quality Management processes are developed at the Lead Agent level. The Lead Agent establishes joint plans with the Managed Care Support (MCS) Contractors. The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) standards or the Joint Committee on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHCO) standards provide the basis for the flexible development of processes which are multidisciplinary, cost efficient and designed to optimize patient care (Assistant Secretary of Defense, 1998). The goals and objectives include attention to the cost efficiency, timeliness and quality of care as well as the optimal partnership with MCS Contractors. Process performance, process improvement and system improvement a nalysis are an integral part of the plan and appropriate measurement and statistical methods are included in the plan. Key elements of the plan are education, utilization review, demand referral management, case and disease management, discharge planning and health promotion. These provide a basis for the evaluation of care and the development of best practices including practice guidelines, critical pathways and critical outcome studies. TRICARE has developed a Provider Handbook by Region to supply information on key operational aspects of the program and program options. Mandated Requirements: According to the Assistant Secretary of Defense (1998), integration of UM in the Direct Care System (DCS) with the contractor's network, other regional Military Treatment Facilities (MTF),

Choose an organization of your choice, (a) write about their strategy Assignment

Choose an organization of your choice, (a) write about their strategy in depth, (b) write about the communication inside the organization in general and manager communication methods - Assignment Example One of the primary strategies of this company is to have a strategic management analysis, which will allow the company expands and have other more outlets around the world (Branson, 2013). By putting in place the SWOT analysis, the organization has identified this strategy as strength, and which is internal to the company. In the process of trying to accomplish this, the company has put in place the core strategy of developing its major pillars of its business empire. These major components include; travel, leisure, individual finance, telecommunication, and entertainment retailing services that the company offers. To realize this, the organization has been looking for capable managers as well as training the existing ones so as to achieve the goal of its strategic management. Another major strategy of the company is the competition policy, mainly put in place so that the enterprise can outdo its competitors in the market. The company has come up with strategies that have enabled it to attract its customers over a short period. The organization has been able to produce different products, with different packaging and branding so as to differentiate it from those of the other competitors. After reviewing the SWOT analysis, the company identified competition and customers as some of the competitors and prices as the threats of the enterprise. Being external, it has been able to apply blueprint strategy on leveraging strength and opportunities as well mitigating some of its daily threats and weaknesses (Virgin Australia Holdings Limited, 2014). The organization has been able to lower the prices of its products by adding back its profit to the production costs, hence experiencing relatively low production costs. These reflect on the low prices of their services to their clients and in turn winning as more customers as possible, in the long

Reaction paper Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reaction paper - Assignment Example The black blocks generally connote a sense of hopelessness, loss or even grief while the uneven size represents uniqueness. I could just visualize how lonely it looks in winter as the victims of Holocaust fought for dear life. I carry on with me such interpretation because I have seen the film â€Å"Schindler’s List† that showed that dark age in modern history. The Field of Stelae accomplished its purpose by presenting something simple yet provocative. Undoubtedly, Peter Eisenman is a genius for he has successfully conveyed all the horrors of the Holocaust using uneven structures. The memorial is hauntingly beautiful that it never fails to attract tourists. Although it is a scar from humanity’s wound, Germany is very humble to devote much time and resources in building the memorial. Imagine the space that could have been used for commercial projects! This just shows how Germany prioritizes art and history in lieu of commercialism. The video is truly remarkable fo r it has encapsulated the grace, form and significance of the memorial.

Legal Right and Ethical Obligation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Legal Right and Ethical Obligation - Essay Example This causes a certain deviation from the law for a judgement to be ethically viable. "When important ethical principles are jeopardized by law, citizens are confronted with an ethical problem." (Loewy, 2000). In a situation where people who have suffered loss of life and property claim for compensation, there is no doubt that all legal possibilities will be explored in order to ensure that the company does not lose heavily. In a case where a passenger (of American origin) tries to sue the cruise line that claims immunity under 'flag of convenience rules', the question is more of an ethical issue than a legal one. It would be quite unjust to argue that by merely flying the flag of another country, the DWI are under no obligation to pay for the loss of life and/or property of a passenger who has boarded their cruise with a fervent hope that he and his belongings will be safe. Third party billing problems occur most of the time either in phone companies or in the medical sector. Most disputes arise when people are oblivious of the declarations and statements made in fine print in most bills and invoices. As in the case of Mr. & Mrs.

Syria Revolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Syria Revolution - Essay Example However, unlike the practical main revolution that causes increased violence and destruction from below, the Syrian revolution was started from above courtesy of reform coup and this paved way for the long Baath’s party military reign that made people feel greatly isolated under the leadership of Assad. Assad played a main role in the leadership of the revolution from above that caused land reforms, education expansion and extension industrialization sponsored by state that favored the elite group of the society. Tom achieve increased power in the Arabic world and secure his power from the West, Assad waged war on Israelites and rejected the United States policy. It examines the outbreak and possible causes of the uprising and to identify the main reasons behind the revolution of Syria, the book examines factors like social conflict, weakness of the institutions, radical parties’ emergence, the military politicization and the function of unfavorable external situation. For instance, according to the author, the revolution traces its origin to the various coups and counter-coups that happened in the early 1960s. The Syrian uprising compared to the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions was grounded on the revolt of peasants, a Sunni periphery protest against the regime of Baath that turned its back on the Syrian local population, (Hinnebusch 12). Later on, the uprising took on diverse dimensions with Muslim Brotherhoods – Jihadists – entering into the conflict because of the heretical aspects of the regime and due to its alliance with Iran Shiites and Hezbollah. Resultantly, because of Jihad, various demonstrators from across the Arabic and Islamic world have emerged in Syria, although, the slogan of Jihad did not trigger Syrians to enter into the uprising. A different dimension according to the author is revenge, basing from the extreme violent efforts from the regime to halt the protest waves. He suggests that the brutality of the reign acted to extend the circle of the protestors involved in the uprising. A number of people who later joined the protest were encouraged by the desire to avenge their family member, friends and relatives’ bloodshed, and destruction of their properties, cities and settlements by the forces of the regime during the uprising. The book explains the power concentration under the President Assad and examines how presidential monarchy creation buttressed by inherited kin and people commanding repression instrument was integrated with the establishment of Lenisit political organization consisting of a local constituency. The leadership was an inherited type of leadership, for instance, it was a the forty-year regime of the dynasty of Assad – initially under Hafiz and later Bashar, Assad’s son and predecessor, which has prospered in making the nation a firm and stable nation. It also analyzes the Assad’s response to the uprising and the effects of the revolution to Syria as a nation and the entire world. Hinnebusch Raymond also examines the political economy of the development of economy, indicating how industrialization, liberalization of economy and agrarian reforms lead to an increasingly equitable and different but significantly flawed

Greenways Garage Evaluation Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Greenways Garage Evaluation Report - Essay Example The word improvement deals with maximizing opportunities, increasing the production at a lower cost and creating more profit. In doing this kind of endeavor, one thing should be the outmost priority of the business enterprise, and that is to satisfy the needs of the customers because primarily, it is the reason of the existence of the business. "Quality thinking was initially based on users' charters (1991 'Citizens Charter' in the UK, 1992 'Charte des services publics' in France and in 1993 the Users' Charter in Belgium, later followed by a number of other countries). During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Total Quality Management focuses on products that are primarily catered for public consumption. Later on, a variation of quality models (EFQM, ISO) and the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) were made available for the benefit of public sector. Recently, new members of the EU have taken quality management aboard (.Bouckaert G,1993)1 In the United States, a number of companies use MBNQA or Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award which is credited for the success of most companies in the aforementioned country along with the Baldrige approach. Furthermore, Vinod Singhal, Professor of Operations Management at Georgia Institute of Technology, reported to an audience of international quality improvement leaders in The Hague, Netherlands on 3 June 2003, it is a change strategy used by growing numbers of businesses around the globe because it works to improve results.2 Here in Europe, variety of measurements are used nowadays to ensure the productive performance of a certain enterprise which is beneficial to managers on how will they implement strategies for a competitive business process.2:2Quality and Quality assurance developments -This part discusses the four Models that are used in Europe, in quality and quality assurance developments One of which is the EFQM Excellence Model or the European Foundation for Quality Management, a non-profit membership foundation s the primary source for organizations in Europe looking to excel in their market and in their business with website available at http://www.efqm.org/3.The other methods include, the Benchmarking, a process that provides accurate measure of performance relative to a Council's peers, and has been shown to provide the motivation for management to seriously consider improvement processes, and ultimately reduce risk in the workplace (http://www.emrc.org.au/risk.asppg=133)4, There are three forms of benchmarking namely : internal, competitive and generic . "Internal benchmarking is deemed as comparisons between units within the institutions. Competitive and generic benchmarking refers to identifying best practices of other organizations. Competitive benchmarking involves comparisons with direct competitors, whereas generic benchmarking involves organisations that are not direct competitors but share similar organisational practices and procedures" (Doerfel and Ruben 2002, 6-7)5. A management system that

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson Essay Example for Free

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson Essay The short story, The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson is one pf the most shocking stories I have ever read. It caused controversy when it was published in a New York newspaper and for good reason. The ending is very unsettling and I would even categorize it as a horror story. The picture the story paints prepares you for the exact opposite of what actually happens, making this a confusing, yet unforgettable story. It is hard to figure out what the message is in this story. Starting from the beginning there are many things one must notice upon a second reading. Subtle symbolism is used in a genius manner so that only on a second reading can the reader understand what the author is doing in every paragraph she writes. Throughout the story we are never sure about what exactly this lottery is, which keeps the reader in suspense. The story begins with a cheerful mood. It is summertime in a small town of 300 people. Every character comes off as friendly and full of positive energy. Jackson sets the scene for a beautiful day by describing growing flowers and beautiful grass. The reader is reeled into a peaceful mood and becomes comfortable in knowing this is peaceful story. The only confusion in the beginning is when the children are gathering stones and making piles of them. The reader may indicate the children will be throwing the stones, yet in a childlike playful manner and no violent premonitions can be made due to the peaceful setting counteracting and overpowering any violent thoughts. The interaction between characters is 100% friendliness. The story informs us that everybody in town is gathering at the town square, which is located between a post office and a bank. At first this means nothing extraordinary until you realize that no other buildings are mentioned. No courts or police stations, which are usually found in a towns square, are mentioned. No mentions of authority whatsoever except for Mr. Summers, who runs the yearly lottery. It is also interesting how we are informed that he runs a Halloween program, which is known for trickery, yet no other holidays are mentioned. The mood of the story seems to take a turn when we learn about the villagers reaction to the black box that holds the lottery slips. They seem to be  nervous around the box. Once the winner was found, we notice his reaction is not a good one. Then we read on to find that the villagers will throw stones at the winner until they kill him. This is done so casually that it creates an eerie feeling as we read how the villagers surround the victim and prepare to kill him. The story ends there. The Lottery is definitely an interesting tale by Shirley Jackson. But what is she implying by this story? Surely she didnt write this ending because she felt it was cool. There is a not so obvious message we must analyze. My conclusion leads me to believe that this is a story about tradition. The villagers follow tradition without even knowing why the tradition exists. In the story, Old Man Warner states, Theres always been a lottery he said petulantly. In this statement, the reader sees the most ignorant of all excuses for doing anything. This, however, seems normal for the community. The reader then discovers That much of the ritual had been forgotten or discarded, Mr. Summers had been successful in having slips of paper substituted for the chips of wood that had been used for generations.' While reading, the reader starts to understand the lottery tradition from which many rules and regulations disappeared for convenience reasons. This leads the reader to believe that the villagers do not truly understand the origins of the lottery. Mrs. Jackson states The people had done the lottery so many times that they only half listed to the directions?' In this passage, the reader learns through the nonchalant ness of the villagers actions that an important event does not gander much attention. They kill the victim simply because its tradition. To put it simply, the author is trying to say that you shouldnt do things simply because others have done them. There may be a better way of doing things. I think she is implying that traditions found across the globe may be foolish at times and people should think logically and not do things simply because they were born doing it, like the baby who is handed stones, yet to make sense out of things, and discard those which do not make much sense. This is a strong message in todays society where tradition may cause destruction and hate amongst human beings. I could be wrong, but if I am correct, those who read should learn a powerful lesson and take a look at  their beliefs and make the right change.

Personal Reflections on the Self Essay Example for Free

Personal Reflections on the Self Essay I  certify that  the attached  paper is my original work and has not previously been submitted by me or anyone else for any class. I further declare I have cited all sources from which I used  language, ideas, and information,  whether quoted  verbatim or paraphrased, and that any assistance of any kind, which I received while producing this paper, has been acknowledged in the References section. I have obtained written permission from the copyright holder for any trademarked material, logos, or images from the Internet or other sources. I further agree that my name typed  on the line below is intended to have, and shall have, the same validity as my handwritten signature. Students  signature (name typed here is equivalent to a signature):   Marjorie Neal When we talk about self, it is generally meant to be a reflection of an individual’s identity and separate from others and the environment (Huitt, 2009). The most widely used concepts when it comes to self are the self-concept and self-esteem. Self-esteem is the sense of self worth and dictates how we feel about ourselves where self-concept is dictated by how an individual answers the question â€Å"who am I? †(Myers, 2008). Research has shown that self-concept is the basis for all motivated behavior because self-concept that provides individuals with possible selves and those possible selves create the motivation for behavior (Huitt, 2009). Self-concept is built through the process of taking action and reflecting on the action one has taken as well as what others tell him about what he has done (Huitt, 2009). We are not born with a self-concept. Self-concept is developed through interaction with the environment and one’s reflection of that interaction. Self-concept has four parts: self-image, self-esteem, ideal-self and self-efficacy My sister had all the friends that my parents approved of, she got the good grades, she was not in special education classes and at home report cards and progress reports were constantly compared. I never heard that I was doing a great job or that I had improved on this subject or that it was always how wonderful my sisters grades were compared to my C’s that I worked very hard for in the early years. By the third grade I was behind in reading and math so I had to go to special classes to get help on those subjects. I not only felt inadequate at home but the other students in school made me feel very stupid and not good enough. I was picked on at school and called all sorts of names from stupid to Margarine to Rhino. Looking back it was kids being kids and picking on me because they could see that it bothered me. I used to come home in tears and all my parents said was to ignore them and they would stop but they did not stop. I was in the â€Å"loser† group and there was no getting out of it. By third grade I believed them. When I entered Junior High School, I started off in the lowest group for my classes, the one that all the troublemakers were in and all the â€Å"stupid† kids. I got tired of being lumped with those kids and decided I could do better so I decided I was going to work hard and talk to my teachers about moving up a group. In sixth grade I went from group four to group three at the half way point in the year. This gave me a bit of a boost but I still was not happy. I wanted to be one of the smart kids like my sister was so that my parents would be proud. So in seventh grade I worked harder and talk to my teachers and I was moved from group three into group two. I was feeling better about myself and continued to push harder until I was finally in group one by the end of the eighth grade. Being in group one meant I could take the college level classes I wanted to take in High School, it also meant that I was just as good as my sister was but that did nothing for me at home because I was struggling to pull C’s and my sister was still pulling A’s. Nonetheless, I was proud of my accomplishment and myself so I tried college level classes in High School. I did fine in college English but not so good in Math. I found that high school was very difficult for me and after all those years of trying to be as good as my sister I still could not pull the same grades no matter how hard I worked at it. I gave up and stopped taking college level classes with the hope that the other classes would be easier for me and I could pull the A’s and B’s that my parents were so proud of my sister for getting. When I continued to struggle my freshman and sophomore year I gave up and decided that I was going to do what it took to get those C’s and nothing more. I became very discouraged. Then my parents separated and we moved from my hometown to the Cape with my aunt so I had to change schools half way through my sophomore year. I was happy with that, a new group of kids to meet and different expectations by the kids I already knew in that school so this was going to be easy and that was my easiest semester ever. I finally got the good grades that I was looking for and my mother stopped criticizing me for my choice in friends. She actually approved of most of my friends. My sister at that point became the problem child. Then it all fell apart. My mother decided that she was going to take a job in Boise, Idaho and my sister and I had to move with her across the country. I had finally adjusted to the idea of my parents getting a divorce and now she was going to take me away from all of my life long friends and everything I knew. My attitude, self-esteem and everything went right down the toilet. When we got to Idaho I didn’t care anymore. I was going to do what I had to do to graduate and get out of my mother’s house so I could go back to Massachusetts where I knew people and I was home. I made poor choices in friends, poor choices in behavior, and poor choices in my schoolwork all because the only thing I could see was anger. I was so angry with both of my parents, my mother for making me move to Idaho and my father for not fighting to keep us in Massachusetts. It was like my opinion did not matter and once again my sister was the queen. All the good I had done in junior high and down the Cape did not matter anymore. I graduated from high school, turned down a military career and moved back to Massachusetts where I met my first husband. It was a marriage destined to fail. My first husband was very abusive verbally and emotionally. He constantly made me feel like I was not worth the dirt I walked on. I was diagnosed bipolar two years after we got married and he never took the time to learn about it, said he didn’t believe in mental illness and did not help me find the help I needed so it was a very rocky ten-year marriage. I did get two wonderful children out of the marriage though, of that I was thankful and challenged. After my first husband and I divorced, I met my current husband. He is the exact opposite of my first husband. We have a very good relationship. It was the relationship with my first husband and all the abuse that I went through in the ten years we were married and my childhood experiences that made me who I am today.

Effect of Family Disruption on Family Finances and Children

Effect of Family Disruption on Family Finances and Children Critically discuss the evidence underlying the claim that the deterioration of economic conditions that usually results from family disruption is the major explanation for the lower ability and achievement of children in disrupted families. This paper considers whether, and to what extent, the deteriorated economic situations caused through family disruptions and economic deprivations are the main reasons for children’s lower competences and attainments. Firstly, the association between disrupted family and economic circumstances are considered in line with some recent economic theory. Secondly, the reasons why economic circumstances arising from family disruptions are identified as being the foremost predictors for lower ability and attainment of children in disrupted families. This claim is examined. In addition, issues within previous studies are then investigated. Lastly, the implications for enhancing children’s outcomes regarding this issue are also discussed. How family disruptions are linked to deteriorated economic conditions Due to a dramatic change of family structure in modern societies, questions about the impact of family disruptions (e.g. separation/divorce, step-parenting, remarriage) on economic conditions, measured by home ownership, income and size of the residence, have appeared to be increasingly significant. There have been a number of studies explaining the relationship between disruptions in family life and economic circumstances. Numerous longitudinal and cross sectional research reveals that disruptive events in families cause economic disadvantage (e.g. Amato, 2000; Duncan, Yeung, Brooks-Gunn and Smith, 1998). Divorced individuals typically have greater economic deprivation than married individuals (Marks, 1996; Ross, 1995). Researchers have reported that women are likely to have more serious problems with economic consequences in comparison with men (e.g. Holden and Smock, 1991; Ross, 1995; Smock 1994) and that lone mothers are considered to be in the poorest situations after separation or divorce (Ram and Hou, 2003). For example, the longitudinal study of Bianchi, Subaiya and Kahn (1999); focusing on the gender gap in economic well-being among the couples with children after family disruptions in the United States, found that there was a 36% decline in living standard of custodial mothers, whilst noncustodial fathers experienced a 28% increase. It can be seen that in general, mothers’ post-divorced standards of living was merely a half that of the fathers. Moreover, to compare with divorced men or married women, lone mothers tend to have more monetary problems over longer period. Amato (2000) explains this incidence that â€Å"women, compared with men, have more interrupted work histories prior to divorce, experience greater work–family conflict (due to their responsibility for children), and are more likely to experience employment and wage discrimination† (p.1277). However, the deleterious economic conditions can be relieved in step-parent families (Amato, 2000) Why is economic deprivation from family disruptions claimed to be the major predictors for low outcomes of children? Over the last few decades, researchers have focused attention on the economic consequences of changes in family structure, identifying family disruptions as key causal explanations for lower children’s outcomes. It has been found that the deterioration of economic conditions, caused by disruptive events in the family such as single-parenting and divorce are greatly related to negative outcomes among children (Pearson and Thoennes, 1990; Bronstein, Stoll, Clauson, Abrams and Briones, 1994; McLanahan and Sandefur, 1994; Duncan, Brooks-Gunn, Yeung and Smith, 1998; Gue, 1998; Amato, 2000; Ram and Hou, 2003). Household income is often considered to be significant in explaining children’s outcomes (Mulkey, Crain, Harrington, 1992). Congruent with the explanation of Haveman and Wolfe (1995) The income level of the family in which a child grows up is perhaps the best measure of the level of economic resources devoted to the child by the parents, and is often included in the studies of children’s educational attainment (p. 1855). It is well known that different types of family have different effects on children’s ability and outcomes due to their differing economic situations (Schneider et al., 2005). Intact families usually have more income than single-parent families, and this advantage becomes a part of developing children’s educational outcomes (McLeod and Shanahan, 1993; Duncan et al., 1998; Schneider, Atteberry, Owens, 2005). On the other hand, children from single parent-households have more limitations in economic resources in comparison with children from intact families. Single parents, particularly lone mothers often spend more time outside of the home to compensate for the economic loss due to separation or divorce. This is likely to affect children’s ability and academic outcomes because of reducing time for involvement with their children. Parents who have lower incomes due to a separation or divorce are less able to provide their children with material resources such as school equipment, computers and extra lessons (Ross, 2005) Negative impacts on academic achievement of children related to living in separated families, often results from reduced provision of economic resources. Boggges (1998) has suggested that there are few effects on children’s academic performance when the economic status is controlled in research, achievement were found. However, persistent negative effects on graduation rates were found. In addition, Schneider et al. (2005) argues that although step-parenting families (non-traditional families) are often more advantaged in economic resources, the outcomes of the children remain lower than the outcomes of children from traditional families. This is because step parents may not provide step children with the resources like they might towards their biological children (Schneider et al., 2005). Ram and Hou (2003) similarly propose that â€Å"children in step families are no different from those raised in lone-parent families in a number of spheres, including cognitive skills, hyperactivity, and indirect aggression, even after economic condition and familial resource variables when held constant† (p. 326). This is commonly compatible with the studies of some researchers who found children from step families less well performing in school and exhibiting more emotional and behavioural difficulties (Coleman, Ganong, and Fine, 2000; Hanson, McLanahan, and Thomson, 1997; McLanahan and Sanderfur, 1994; McMunn, Nazroo., Marmot, Boreham and Goodman, 2001) In addition, children who live with other types of two-parent households, such as with grandparents or relatives, are also likely to have more disadvantages than children living in intact households, and the same or lower level than children in lone-parent households (Chase-Lansdale, Brooks-Gunn and Zamsky, 1994). According to Downey (1994), although children in lone-mother families often lack economic resources, some children in lone-father families have problems with a deficiency of interpersonal resources such as involvement in children’s tasks. He also suggests that children’s outcomes in both types of family are roughly equal (Downey, 1994). Moreover, it was found that children who live with the same gender or opposite gender parents slightly differ in outcomes. While economic situations have often been considered as the most significant factors in explaining children’s outcomes of the disruptive families, the study of Kerr and Beaujot (2001) investigating Canadian children found that there are low income is less important than other factors such as the function of family, number of children in households, educational level and age of the parents. Similarly, Mulkey et al (1992) argue that economic conditions are not a significant mediator between lone-parent families and the low attainment of children. They also state that living in lone-mother households is not more detrimental than living in lone-father families, and income is not the major issue explaining the relationship between family structure and children’s academic performance. Problems with the studies The findings of some studies have been ambiguous when indicating the association between family structure changes and children’s outcomes. For example, do deteriorated economic conditions in disruptive families often affect the child’s educational outcomes? Or do children with lower ability or lower attainments usually come from families with monetary problems? In addition, the prior problems before parental divorce or separation are often neglected. According to longitudinal research by Ram and Hou (2003) children of several disruptive families were already registering academic difficulties. Second, there is little specific mention regarding the time within the lifecycle of the child of the deteriorated economic situations. Duncan et al. (1998) suggest that the economic situations amongst children in the early years have the most influential impact on attainment, especially among children in low-income families (Cherlin, Chase-Lansdale and McRae, 1998; Duncan et al., 1998; Amato and Sobolewski, 2001). This should be different from the findings derived from adolescents. Therefore, a clearer specification of period when economic deprivation takes place should be inserted. Third, the comparisons of income across different types of households are ambiguous. There is an unclear distinction between the income before disruptions and the income after disruptions. For example, some families may have financial problems before disruptions. Furthermore, the stability of income also should be considered because earning cycles in each family differ, and may vary across the year. Lastly, it can be seen that ethical considerations are not adequately addressed in a number of studies even though the research touches upon highly sensitive areas of family life and predictions of children’s achievement. Such matters are usually quite confidential and the complicated relationship that might negatively affect the subjects, so the reader needs to know how the data for the research was gathered and in what conditions. For example, the protection and welfare of the participants, the use of deception, confidentiality and the anonymity of data are issues that should have been addressed and considered more fully in order that subsequent research operates within accepted ethical boundaries. Implications Public policy Public policy should be more focused on the welfare of single-parent families, particularly lone-mothers. As several studies have reported, single-mothers or custodial mothers are more likely to have more financial problems than any other types of family (e.g. Holden and Smock, 1991; Ross, 1995; Smock 1994). After disruptions, they have to spend more time outside of the home in order to earn money to compensate for the loss of family income. This association in single-parent families seems to be unrelieved until re-marriage happens. In addition, if income can be considered as a significant factor in predicting childrens’ later achievement, it also acts as the resource to provide the means for their progression. One implication of these findings is the need for critical considerations about higher pay for women and income support programmes, in particular, for single mothers who have to bring up their children on their own to assist them cope with problems derived from economic deprivation after disruptions. Also, more extensive child care and support should be provided in order to meet the needs of these children. Schools Teachers should be more deliberately concerned with their reactions and behaviour to children from lower income families. Some teachers tend to react to such children differently due to their economic backgrounds (Mulkey et al., 1992). In addition, the understanding of misbehaviour of the student is important. Some inappropriate behaviours of students in classrooms may occur due to depression or bereavement from disruptive events in their family. Therefore, whenever the behavioural problems of students appear, instead of focusing on them only, teachers should consider the contexts of students such as family backgrounds in order to prevent misunderstanding as well as find the way to assist and support children. Furthermore, teachers in schools should have more concern and care about their own behaviours as a role model for all students because the students, especially the children in their early years tend to observe and replicate teachers’ behaviours. Parents Parents are the individuals who are likely to be the most influential role models for children’s lives. A careful family plan may be one strategy to ensure stability for the child. The home environment should also be considered because it is a significant source of learning. â€Å"The quality of the home environment – its opportunities for learning, the warmth of mother-child interactions, and the physical condition of the home – accounts for a substantial portion of the powerful effects of family income on cognitive outcomes† (Duncan et al., 1998, p.209). Furthermore, having a stable level of income is important because low and unstable income leads to economic pressures that may cause conflict between partners experiencing serious financial issues (Conger et al., 1993). The income level of the family is a powerful predictor of the economic pressure that has both direct and indirect impacts on children’s achievement (Duncan et al, 1998). Conflictin g or disruptive events in the families can also be traumatising events for children. Parents should avoid using force and presenting unpleasant behaviours at home and in front of the children, because it may be the cause of later aggressive behaviours from children. Conclusion It appears in several studies that economic conditions are the significant explanations for the association between family structure and children’s achievement. The diminution of material resources due to deteriorated economic conditions, which often derive from disruptive events in families, has significant impacts on educational outcomes of children (Ram and Hou, 2003). In several studies, when income is restricted, children in disrupted families tend to have lower attainments than children in intact or non-divorced families. Research reports that the majority of children in intact families are at an academic and social advantage in comparison with children in non-intact families. A child’s achievement generally depends on the economic resources that are given by parents, children who live in an intact family tend to have high attainments. This is because lone-parents have less income and have less time to be involved in household activities such as helping children to do their homework. This leads to the lower outcomes of children. Children who grow up in lone-mother families tend to have the lowest attainments in comparison with growing in other types of families. In addition, although children who live with step families have opportunities to have more economic resources than those who live with single-parent families, the researchers state that there is no difference between the educational outcomes of children in lone families and the child outcomes in step-parenting families (Coleman et al, 2 001; Henson et al, 1997; Ram and Hou, 2003). It might therefore be concluded that the deterioration of economic circumstances after separation or divorce may explain part, but by no means all, of the lower outcomes among children who have experienced parental disruptions.

Iran-Contra Affair Essay -- US International Relations

America had begun to indulge in the unilateral environment afforded to it during the Cold War. As the Soviet Union began to collapse in the 1980s, the United States was on its way to becoming a solo super power. This acquisition of complete power would inevitably lead the country into new problems, including those foreign and domestic. One of the main issues that came around in the 1980s for the Unites States was the Iran-Contra Affair, which involved the Reagan Administration. With the United States readily inserting influence across the globe, the Iran-Contra Affair proved how foreign intervention can lead to scandal and disgrace in the modern world. Along with detrimental scandals, the Iran-Contra Affair showed how America’s imperialistic behavior in South America was beginning to catch up. In order to remain a dominant influence in South America, the United States had no choice but to topple governments that did not align with American ideology. Using guerillas like the C ontras insinuates America’s cornerstone of doing what is necessary in order to satisfy foreign interest. The Iran-Contra Affair involved the United States, Iran, and Lebanon. The affair coincided with the Iranian hostage crisis, which promoted the United States’ actions in sending weapons to Iran. The Reagan administration decided to trade arms for hostages in hopes of successfully retrieving American hostages from Iran. Iran was at the time under the power of Ayatollah Khomeini, who had put his full support behind the hostage crisis and believed there was nothing that the United States could do to Iran. America’s only chance of rescuing the hostages was to put their support behind Iran in the Iran-Iraq War, which involved the shipment of weapons to Iran f... ...es when it comes to implementing controversial foreign policy decisions that directly affect Americans and those in different countries. The main aspect of the affair that greatly influences the United States’ government is ensuring that its past imperialistic motives do not become an integral part of American affairs once again. Works Cited Boland Amendment. Decemmber 2010. http://www.fact-index.com/b/bo/boland_amendment.html (accessed Novemeber 2010). PBS. Reagan Timeline. 2000. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reagan/timeline/index_5.html (accessed November 2010). U.S. History: Iran-Contra Affair. Iran-Contra Affair. 2010. http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1889.html. Vianica. History of the Sandinista Revolution: the union of a whole nation. January 2010. http://vianica.com/go/specials/15-sandinista-revolution-in-nicaragua.html (accessed November 2010).

Digital Age Essays -- Essays Papers

Digital Age Looking back in the past several years, we can see that technology has contributed an important role in our society nowadays. It changes the way people work, the way people live, and also the way people treat each other. Knowing the important of the development of technology, scientists and engineers are constantly inventing and exploring the world of technology to build a better society for everybody. Can you imagine your life with technology in the next thirty years? Do you prefer to work at the office and chat with your co-worker face to face or just stay home, transfer files to your computers and chat with your co-worker through the web camera from home? Do you prefer to have a little chip implanted in your body, so your family will easily find you? Or do you prefer to have a private life, so nobody will know where you are or what you do? I can see clearly the heat of the discussion right now in every student in the CSC 4735 - Computers Societies and Ethics teach by instructor John Clark at University of Colorado - Denver lately. Some choose the new technology and some against it totally. It rises to the question that whether technology will improve the life of everybody or just makes it worst. A little chip implanted in your body will make you feel safer or make you feel less privacy? Participating in the discussion room in class, reading the article "Only disconnect, A taste of life in 2033" from the Economist print edition on January 23rd, 2003, and skipping through lots of frequently ask question about life with new technology, I myself believe that the exposed of digital technology in the near future will change the ethical, moral, and legal issues in every human being. ... ...iew. With the advantage of the digital world, women will have more opportunity in life and participate in her favorite clubs. If she have the chance to hang out with her husband and her kids in the real world, her relationship and the bond between her children and she will be better. Also, if Dick stop worrying about his privacy life, his life will be better since he did not do anything wrong. Anyway, what does your life look like in the next 30 years? WORKS CITED 1. "Only Disconnect, A Taste of Life in 2033" http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1534295 2. "Now Digital, Spy Camera Technology Widens Gaze" - Laurie J. Flynn http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/21/technology/21CAME.html 3. "Technology to Meld Chips into Humans Draws Closer" - Paul Eng http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/chipimplant020225.html

Plagiarism in Higher Education Essay

Al Ain Women’s College, Higher Colleges of Technology, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of the modern information society on attitudes and approaches to the prevention of plagiarism and to examine a less punitive, more educative model. Design/methodology/approach – The approach taken is a literature review of plagiarism in contemporary society followed by a case study of the education department of a tertiary-level college in the United Arab Emirates. Findings – The authors advocate a move towards a less punitive, more educative approach which takes into account all the relevant contextual factors. A call is made for a truly institutional response to a shared concern, with comprehensive and appropriate policies and guidelines which focus on prevention, the development of student skills, and the proactive involvement of all relevant stakeholders. Practical implications – This approach could inform the policies and practices of institutions who wish to systematically deal with plagiarism in other contemporary contexts. Originality/value – This paper could be of value to policy makers and administrators in tertiary institutions, particularly in English as a second language contexts, who recognise the limitations of traditional approaches to plagiarism and wish to establish more effective practices. Keywords Copyright law, Information society, Dishonesty, United Arab Emirates Paper type Literature review Plagiarism in political discourse Politicians, more than anyone else, need to portray an image of integrity, honesty, and independent thought. Their election, their livelihood, and the fate of their constituents would seem to depend on it. Yet politicians commonly use speechwriters who have the speci? c task of conveying their thoughts, personality, and personal sincerity (see for example, Philp, 2009). It may be argued that although politicians do not necessarily write the words themselves, they endorse the words they use. But what if the words themselves are not original? In one instance, the presidential candidate Barack Obama was confronted by the fact that some of his speeches had taken material from Deval Patrick, the Massachusetts Governor. Obama admitted he should have acknowledged his source: Education, Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues Vol. 3 No. 3, 2010 pp. 166-177 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1753-7983 DOI 10. 1108/17537981011070082 I was on the stump. [Deval] had suggested that we use these lines and I thought they were good lines [. . . ] I’m sure I should have – didn’t this time [. . . ] I really don’t think this is too big of a deal (Obama cited in Whitesides, 2008). Published by kind permission of HCT Press. Plagiarism has been de? ned as â€Å"the unacknowledged use of someone else’s work [. . . ] and passing it off as if it were one’s own† (Park, 2004, p.292) and it is interesting to speculate whether such an excuse would be accepted from a student by an educational institution’s plagiarism committee. Accusations of plagiarism in politics have been made before, of course, though the outcomes were often different, suggesting that a shift may be taking place in attitudes towards plagiarism in politics. In 1987, another presidential hopeful was forced to abandon his ambitions for high of? ce largely because he had plagiarised a speech by the British politician Neil Kinnock and because of â€Å"a serious plagiarism incident† in his law school years (Sabato, 1998). Ironically, the candidate was none other than Joe Biden, the man chosen by Obama to be his Vice President. In politics today, it seems as though plagiarism no longer signals the end of a career. In contrast, students who are caught cheating or plagiarising can be subject to sanctions and consequences that are severely life impacting, which in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) can include permanent exclusion from all tertiary education (see for example, Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT), 2008). One question of fundamental concern that we must ask ourselves as tertiary-level educators is why college students, who have much less at stake, considerably less experience and knowledge and who do not use English as their ? rst language, should be held to higher standards of responsibility in communication than those in the highest political of? ces? Yet, if we make allowances for students who are still learning to orientate themselves in academic discourse, what standards should be applied? Plagiarism in a complex information society The concept of plagiarism is a relatively new cultural phenomenon. Greek philosophers regularly appropriated material from earlier works without compunction, and originality was considered less important than imitating, often orally, the great works of their predecessors (Lackie and D’Angelo-Long, 2004, p. 37). All the way through the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the study of rhetoric rather than written language was often the norm, with students required to give public speeches to assembled faculty. Only the subsequent move towards written assignments brought with it new perceptions of student plagiarism (Simmons, 1999, p. 41). Around the same time, in the earlier part of the twentieth century, the formalization of citation styles from organizations such as the American Psychological Association marked a desire to standardise academic writing and provide a model for ethically quoting the work of others (Simmons, 1999, p. 42). With the rise of the information society and electronic media, another cultural shift seems to be underway. There have been recent suggestions that plagiarism is becoming more prevalent, and much of the blame has been placed on â€Å"nearly universal access to the Internet† (Scanlon and Neumann, 2002, p. 374). Park (2004, p. 293) refers to the ease of â€Å"copying [. . . ] in a digital world of computers, word processing, electronic sources and the Internet. † However, the explosion of electronic sources of information has not just made copying easier, it has also made it much more central to our students’ cultural and social experiences. Students going into tertiary education have grown up with the internet and are at home with downloading â€Å"free† ? lms, sharing music and modifying and emailing all kinds of material taken from the web. They have developed highly skilled ways of conducting non-academic research using  services such as search engines, social networking sites, podcasts, RSS feeds, discussion boards, etc. with Dealing with plagiarism 167 EBS 3,3 168 hyperlinks allowing them to jump from site to site as though the internet were a single-uni? ed source, and with copying and pasting a mainstay of interaction. They take it for granted that a pop star such as will. i. am can pick up and rework virtually the entire content of a political speech, and turn it into the award winning song and music video Yes we can, apparently without Obama’s knowledge or consent ((The) ABC News, 2008). They are not surprised when this video is then embedded in countless webpages, with the lyrics of the song posted on music sites without any attribution of the original source (see for example, LyricsReg, n. d). This intertextuality is a perfect example of the â€Å"postmodern, self-cannibalizing popular culture† (Bowman, 2004, p. 8) that our students now engage with on a daily basis. Students may well bring to the classroom very different ideas from their teachers about what constitutes fair use. Indeed, one study of 2,600 tertiary-level students in the UAE found that just over 40 percent considered cutting and pasting from the internet as either trivial cheating or not cheating at all. The attitudes of UAE students are similar to those of other students around the world (Croucher, 2009). Some theorists have gone a step further and argue that as the new media become more interactive and collaborative, it calls into question the whole idea of a â€Å"creative, original, individual who, as an autonomous scholar, presents his/her work to the public in his/her own name† (Scollon, 1995, p.1). The multiple contributors to Wikipedia pages is a clear example of how a collaborative process undermines our sense of authorship. In addition, the notion of what constitutes â€Å"fair use† is changing quickly. This is exempli? ed by the open source movement where material can be downloaded, modi? ed, and shared with minimal and strictly controlled author’s rights (See for example, Open Source Initiative, n. d). As Blum (2009) notes, the â€Å"rules about intellectual property are in ? ux. † Where does this leave educators? Has plagiarism become an irrelevant concept, too outdated in its de? nition to be of use in the production of educated professionals ready to take their place in our post-modern society? Do we have to accept Johnson’s (2007) argument that in the digital age, writing an original essay outside of class for assessment purposes is no longer viable in its current form because of the ease of copying from the internet? Do we have to agree with him when he says such tasks are no longer even relevant because they fail to re? ect the modern workplace? As Johnson argues: My transfer from education to the world of business has reminded me just how important it is to be able to synthesize content from multiple sources, put structure around it and edit it into a coherent, single-voiced whole. Students who are able to create convincing amalgamations have gained a valuable business skill. Unfortunately, most schools fail to recognize that any skills have been used at all, and an entire paper can be discarded because of a few lines repeated from another source without quotation marks. Plagiarism in education Plagiarism in education seems to operate under a very different set of rules from the pragmatic ? elds of politics or business and can create emotional responses that deploy highly charged metaphors such as The Plagiarism Plague (Bowman, 2004) or â€Å"Winning hearts and minds in war on plagiarism† (Jaschik, 2008). In education, plagiarism is â€Å"seen as a transgression against our common intellectual values, carrying justi? ably bad consequences for those guilty of the practice† (Isserman, 2003). Why is it generally accepted that politicians can use ghostwriters, but that students cannot, even if the stakes for the students are much lower? The critical issue for education is that plagiarism â€Å"circumvents the learning process† (Spencer, 2004, p. 16). The process of analysing and synthesizing ideas, and reformulating them in writing, is seen as central to learning. Only by ensuring that students struggle to assimilate material and develop their own voice do students go beyond surface information and develop higher order thinking skills. As Isserman (2003) notes: [.. . ] ownership over the words you use [. . . ] is really at the heart of the learning process. You can read a dozen books about the cold war, but if you can’t explain what you have learned to someone else in your own words, no real learning has taken place [. . . ] and you will have made no progress whatsoever toward realizing the central goal of a liberal-arts education: the ability to think for yourself. Dealing with plagiarism 169 This struggle for intellectual development is not easy, which is precisely the reason that makes plagiarism attractive for some students. In most cases teachers are not concerned about literary theft, but that their students are missing out on opportunities for learning because they are failing to engage with the material in a meaningful way. Plagiarism is therefore â€Å"denying them the opportunity to learn lessons, improve their study skills, and improve their knowledge and understanding† (Lancaster University, 2009, p. 3). If plagiarism is especially serious in education because it is an obstacle to learning, then we should deal with instances of plagiarism primarily from an educational perspective rather than the punitive one. Students need to learn the importance of academic integrity and understand that it is not just a hoop to be jumped through, but is integral to intellectual and personal growth. Clearly this learning process cannot be instantaneous, and allowances should be made as students develop. However, this does not mean that severe penalties should be removed from the process entirely as there will always be students who refuse or are unable to meet appropriate standards. Factors in? uencing the incidence of plagiarism Individual, pedagogical, and institutional factors can all in? uence the incidence of plagiarism. Students themselves can be impacted by a wide range of factors including their educational conditioning, cultural background, motivation, language skill, peer pressure, gender, issues with time management, ability, and even the subject being studied (Roig, 1997). If the tertiary experience is vastly different to students’ previous educational experience, the motivation for plagiarism again increases. In the UAE, it is likely, for example, that the students’ primary and secondary schooling was characterised by rote learning and the quest for a single correct answer, non-transparent and poorly conceived assessment practices, and vast social inequities within the student base, and between students and their often socially and economically disadvantaged teachers. Norms, expectations, and demands learned in this context can be dif? cult to dislodge in subsequent institutions which place a premium on the exploration of problems and solutions, independent and critical thinking skills, and academic integrity. If plagiarism is not de? ned or academic processes made explicit, then such students will ? nd it impossible to reach the standards that are suddenly and (to them) inexplicably imposed on them. Pedagogical approaches may also contribute to the prevalence of plagiarism. Current methodologies place much more emphasis on collaboration and group work, with a greater weight given to out-of-class projects and portfolios at the expense of formal exams. The result is that the line between collaboration and cheating during assessed tasks is blurred, and if this is not explicitly dealt with by assessors, it will inevitably EBS 3,3 170 result in misunderstandings as to what is acceptable. Also, students are more likely to justify cheating if the coursework or assignments they were given were too hard, poorly scaffolded, or based on unreasonable expectations of their abilities (Naidoo, 2008), and plagiarism will be made easier if the assignments are not constructed carefully so that stock answers cannot be copied from the internet (Wood, 2004). However, the institutional context plays perhaps the most critical role. For example, unclear and uncommunicated institutional policies with vague de?  nitions of plagiarism can affect the incidence of plagiarism, as can the application of those policies (McCabe et al. , 2002). Some aspects of an organization may unwittingly encourage plagiarism. For example, in contrast to schools, tertiary education institutions in the UAE do not typically award top grades to large numbers of students, and there is evidence to suggest that students justify using ghostwriters in such an environment because they believe they deserve better grades (Croucher, 2009). An often overlooked but crucial aspect of deterring and detecting plagiarism is the application of institutional policies by teachers. One survey of 800 American academics at 16 institutions found that 40 percent never reported incidents of plagiarism while a further 54 percent did so only seldomly, even though the evidence suggested they must have received plagiarised work (McCabe, 1993 cited in Schneider, 1999). There are many reasons why teachers may be reluctant to report plagiarism. Teachers may feel the potential penalties for students are too high (Auer and Krupar, 2001). They may also be wary of making false accusations which potentially undermine their own professional status. Some teachers object to taking on the role of detective or enforcer as it undermines the mentor-student relationship (Schneider, 1999; Park, 2004) while others may not have the time to make an extra effort to uncover plagiarism and follow it up (Park, 2004). It may also be that some teachers, especially teachers of content subjects where the focus is less on form and more on ideas, may not have suf? ciently developed skills to detect plagiarism. Hyland (2001) found that even teachers who detect plagiarism may use indirect feedback when dealing with plagiarism (for example, comments in the margins such as â€Å"Are these your own words?†) which can lead to miscommunication with the student about what is acceptable. With so many factors at play, the responsibilities of teachers must be clearly codi? ed if any institutional initiative is to have any success. Plagiarism and ESOL/EFL English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) and English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts may be more prone to infringements of academic integrity because students lack the English skills to understand the coursework and so may feel that plagiarism offers the only solution (Hyland, 2001; Liu, 2005). Moreover, the cultural conditioning of English as a second language (ESL) and EFL students has been cited as another contributing factor. Moder (1995 cited in Lackie and D’Angelo-Long, 2004, p. 38) suggests that some societies, including those in the Middle East, â€Å"value memorization and imitation as the mark of an educated person† which may mean that plagiarism is viewed as being less signi? cant. Liu (2005, p. 239) disagrees with the notion of cultural conditioning, however, claiming that â€Å"it is  based on incorrect information and is presented often via unwarranted jumps in reasoning and con? ation of separate issues. † More pertinently, perhaps, she goes on to argue that: [. . . ] even if we concede that such cultural conditioning indeed exists to some extent, we still cannot say for sure that it is the main reason that ESOL students plagiarize. There are many other factors that may motivate ESOL students from many L1 backgrounds to plagiarize, including a lack of adequate pro? ciency, lack of task speci?c writing skills, and of course, the urge to cheat (p. 239). Dealing with plagiarism ESOL students, then, whether or not cultural conditioning is accepted as an underlying factor in plagiarism, may still have greater motivation than their ? rst language counterparts to take and use the ideas and words of others in their own assignments. Ironically, plagiarism by ESOL students is also far more likely to be detected because of more prominent differences in language level and tone between copied and original work. Degrees of plagiarism Intuitively, plagiarism varies in its severity in a way that cheating (e. g. using crib sheets or having someone else take a test for you) does not. It can consist of minor lapses, for example, when original material is poorly paraphrased but the source is acknowledged, through deliberately copying parts of a text without citing the source, to submitting work from an online paper mill (Roig, 1997). Critical factors in determining the severity of the plagiarism include the intention behind the plagiarism (was it deliberate or accidental? ), the amount of material that has been plagiarised, the inclusion of the source in the list of references, the degree to which the plagiarised material differs from the source (an indication at an attempt to paraphrase), the time the student has spent in tertiary education, and whether it is the ? rst, second, or subsequent occurrence. Given the wide variation in the seriousness of plagiarism and the developmental process students must undergo to assimilate the norms of academic writing, it is clear that the appearance of plagiarised material is not always a deliberate attempt to cheat. For example, students are often poor at paraphrasing and may not be fully aware that this could be construed as plagiarism. Roig (1999) gave English-speaking undergraduate students a two-sentence paragraph to paraphrase and found that between 41 and 68 percent of the responses contained strings of at least ? ve words or more copied from the original. These results clearly back up the claim that plagiarism may indicate a de? cit in appropriate skills and not intentional academic dishonesty. Towards an institutional response to plagiarism In many educational institutions, plagiarism is seen largely as a teacher/student problem. If plagiarism is detected, then the teacher makes a decision as to whether to escalate the case for possible punitive action. The plagiarism is seen either as morally wrong or as a â€Å"crime† – the breaking of a rule that has inevitable consequences (Blum, 2009). Unfortunately, dealing with plagiarism in this way can result in decisions which are reactive, emotive, and which are made informally on an ad hoc basis, thus inviting inequity and inconsistency. When the focus is directed towards punishment, there may be little maturation in terms of academic integrity for the student concerned, or for those who watch their classmate’s fate from the sidelines. Academic endeavour must take place within an institutional culture that routinely recognises and reinforces the value of academic integrity so that all stakeholders are obliged to proactively follow and uphold best practice in order to reduce the impact of the contributing factors discussed above. This requires the establishment of an institutional response to plagiarism that is comprehensive, appropriate, fair, developmental, transparent, and educative. 171 EBS 3,3 Park (2004, p. 294) describes such an institutional framework for dealing with plagiarism that was developed by a working party at Lancaster University in consultation with staff and with reference to experience and the literature: The working party sought to move the plagiarism discourse beyond just detection and punishment and to situate and embed it in a cohesive framework that tackles the root causes as well as the symptoms of plagiarism as a family of behaviours. 172 The key elements underpinning this framework were consistency and transparency. These were ensured by the explicit codi? cation of stakeholder responsibilities, procedures, and penalties. In order for such a framework to be implemented effectively, Park (2004, p. 296) noted that â€Å"all stakeholders within the institution must understand and appreciate why the framework is necessary and how it protects their own interests. † A case study Park (2004, pp. 295-9) nominated a number of central pillars that lend validity and effectiveness to any such institutional framework. These included transparency, ownership by stakeholders, student engagement, academic integrity, framing the initiative to ensure compatibility with the culture of the institution, focus on prevention and deterrence, and the supportive and developmental nature of the framework. These pillars provide excellent reference points for the approach taken in one department in a college in the UAE and allow us to examine the viability and ef? cacy of such a framework for the local context. The Education Department at Abu Dhabi Women’s College (ADWC) has addressed its concerns with academic honesty in a concerted, collaborative, and multi-faceted fashion. As teacher educators, the faculty in this department are intent on producing future academics. Much like politicians, words, information, and the generation of ideas are the very foundation of our professional lives, so we regard it as essential that the â€Å"rules† of using these appropriately are disseminated, understood, and followed at all times by all of our students. To this end, we have established and adhere to a set of policies and practices at all levels that support and facilitate academic honesty. Institutional/departmental level The HCT, of which ADWC is only one of 16, institutionally mandates the prevention and sanctioning of plagiarism and related offences. Consequences of infringements of these rules are outlined in of?cial policies, Student Handbooks (see for example, HCT, 2008), contracts signed by students at the commencement of their studies, and reinforced by administrative staff and faculty at every student meeting and examination session held throughout the student’s academic career at HCT. From these guidelines, the Education Division throughout the colleges has documented standards and procedures that address academic honesty in its assessment handbooks – one that is distributed to all education students and the other, more comprehensive and speci?c, that is used by all education faculty. This shared written documentation enables best practice in assessment to be disseminated and followed, provides the underlying philosophy and approach for the division as a whole, and addresses academic honesty both directly and indirectly to better support student writing and make plagiarism a less viable or attractive option. The assessment handbooks re? ect the developmental curricular approach of the division as a whole, and so specify the type, nature, and expectations for assessments at each level to scaffold the students’ ability to produce increasingly sophisticated and original work. Ensuring that requirements are reasonable and documented minimises the students’ need to seek help through illegitimate means. These handbooks are the basis of communication within the ADWC Education Department on all matters regarding assessment and have served to ensure a common approach and understanding. Insights gained by instructors in their daily interactions with students and their submissions inevitably reveal general dif?culties facing students, which are then examined in regular formal and informal meetings to brainstorm and implement further strategies that may be useful. The ongoing concern at faculty level with issues of academic honesty is mirrored in the systematic recycling of warnings, information, and explicit instructions to students. As a department, the theft or misappropriation of ideas and words has been, and continues to be, addressed as professionally offensive and inappropriate. Initiatives suggested by Education Department faculty as well as colleagues in other departments and colleges are pursued vigorously. One recent example has been the provision of workshops by library staff on research skills and academic procedures. The plagiarism detection software, Turnitin, was originally adopted by the department as both a defence against plagiarism and a tool to help students protect themselves against accidental plagiarism. This proved to be very effective, but unfortunately access to this subsequently became unavailable. Now, suspicious text samples are input into search engines and all assignments are run through SafeAssign, a plagiarism checker in Blackboard (the online course management system). These have proved to be acceptable alternatives. As Braumoeller and Gaines (2001) found in their study, â€Å"the deterrent effects of actually checking for plagiarism are quite impressive (p. 836). † The departmental approach has included a series of mandatory workshops and masterclasses on academic writing and plagiarism for all students in slightly altered learning contexts designed to motivate, encourage participation, and focus attention. It should be noted that the relatively small size of the department (one chair, six faculty, and fewer than 80 students) makes shared understandings, uniform dissemination of information, and infraction detection much easier and more likely than in a bigger department where students are not familiar to every teacher. Course level Academic writing skills are an important component of all education courses. Referencing skills are taught explicitly in a speci? c course during the students’ ? rst semester, and then constantly reinforced and recycled throughout the programme. The education programmes at the HCT are based on re?  ective practice. This means that assignments are contextualised and require the application rather than the regurgitation of theory, so copying from previously submitted work or in any way buying or commissioning a paper cannot be so easily accomplished as theory has to ? t the student’s individual circumstances. In addition, the student’s right to submit and receive feedback on a ? rst draft of every paper (Assessment Handbook, 2009, p. 7) allows plagiarism, deliberate, or accidental; to be detected and remediated at an earlier stage before punishment becomes the only option. The feedback and scaffolding policy (pp.53-5), which outlines the form and scope of feedback to be given, draws instructor attention to both macro and micro features of the submission, so any attempt to use words or ideas from an external source should be revealed at least a week before ? nal submission. Dealing with plagiarism 173 EBS 3,3 All students submitting assignments in the Education Division are required to sign a declaration on their cover page that the work is entirely their own and all sources have been acknowledged (Assessment Handbook, 2009, p. 47). This provides a ? nal reminder that academic honesty is expected and will be monitored. Faculty responsibilities and input All faculty in the Education Department, regardless of their course allocation, consider themselves teachers of English. This is not only because we each have ESL teaching quali? cations and experience (obviously an advantage), but also because we recognise the importance of language as the vehicle for idea generation and transmission. Language is inseparable from the content area in which those ideas are conceived and manipulated. This can be a very different orientation to that of colleagues in other departments whose subject area specialisation takes precedence. Our more holistic approach means that we explicitly teach both content and the language elements with which to express that content to students who may be struggling with the unfamiliarity of both. It also means that we take our role as defenders of academic integrity very seriously and vigilantly monitor and check student output. As professional ESL teacher educators, we strive to be models of effective language use as well as successful proponents of academic scholarship, so ongoing instruction in both is a routine aspect of teaching and learning in the department. This increased student awareness of appropriate academic writing processes reduces their motivation to misappropriate text written by others. The cultural and social aspects of plagiarism are also given attention by faculty. In a society that places less value on individuality than it does on cooperation and social cohesion, it is important for students to understand that they have not only the right, but the responsibility, to turn down requests for assistance from peers. Faculty not only explain this, but also explain to students how to respond assertively with friends or relatives asking for inappropriate help. Without this, no amount of education or punishment can ever be successful. Student involvement Education students are required to be active participants in their own learning. Because all assessment processes are documented and transparent, they have the ability to question and ask for clari? cation on any aspect that they do not understand. All expectations or consequences are addressed in multiple ways, so ignorance is no defence for malpractice. Submissions of ? rst drafts are perhaps the most critical aspect for students. Although these are universally permitted and scheduled, they are never awarded a mark and are not always actually demanded, so it is up to the student to take advantage of their right to pre-submission feedback. An appropriate framework? The Education Department at ADWC values academic honesty very highly and has organized its procedures and practices accordingly. The very infrequent occurrence of plagiarism is testimony to the effectiveness of: . proactive strategizing; . clear documentation; . reasonable and appropriate expectations; 174 . . . . . awareness raising; sustained faculty vigilance and involvement; support for the development of student skills and cognitive growth; decreased student opportunity and motivation to cheat; and the pervasive sense of professional identity and responsibility that characterise departmental efforts on this issue at all levels. Dealing with plagiarism 175 The work done in this department is thus an arguably successful attempt to â€Å"devise a student plagiarism framework that best suits [our] own culture and circumstances†.