Monday, September 16, 2019
Assessing Importance of School Factors Such as Racism Essay
A variety of material disadvantages that may confront ethnic minorities coming from working class backgrounds are they do not achieve the same level of education. The main achievers are Indian, Chinese and African students, but the lowest achievers are Turkish, Bangladeshi And Afro Caribbean students. The white working class students are the lowest achieving, which is peculiar because most sociologists are white who stereotype and label other students from different backgrounds. The main cause of underachievement in schools are cultural and language factors which sociologists clarify and focus on and are thought to be main cause of everything. Previously the spotlight has been put on what happens in school and racism in common As shown by Cecile Wright, which explains that, Asian students can also be the victims of teachers Cecile found out that regardless of the schools evident promise to equal opportunities, teachers still hold ethnocentric views they believe that British culture and English are greater. This prepared teachers to assume that they would have a poor pronunciation of English and left them out of class debates or used basic, childlike speech when speaking to them. Asian pupils also felt cut off when teachers spoken dissatisfaction of their behaviour or misread their names. Teachers saw them not as a risk but as a difficulty they could take no notice of. This resulted in that Asian pupils in particular the girls were hard-pressed to the limits and disallowed from play a part fully. Close at hand is proof of teacher racial discrimination and harmful labelling. Nevertheless study shows that pupils can take action in variety of ways. They may take action by becoming unsettling or withdrawn but pupils may decline to agree to the label and even choose to prove it incorrect by putting in hard work. Off-putting labels do not repeatedly twist into self-fulfilling prophecy Working class white pupils attain below standards and have lesser desires. There isnââ¬â¢t much parental support at home, which means there is low achievement and goals. Reports show that teachers have to deal with low level of behaviour and discipline in white working class schools. Nevertheless they had fewer kids on benefit programs teachers blame this on inadequate parental support at home and negative attitude that white working class parents have towards their children and their education. The life in the street for white working class can be tough for pupils which means they get used to getting intimidating and intimidate other which they pick up and use in school to cause disruptions and make it hard for other students to succeed at school. Underachievement of student of different is blamed on cultural deprivation. Few sociologists say that Afro-Caribbean families lack a close relationship to their family and therefore are extremely violent towards everything they do. Arguments explain that families arenââ¬â¢t very supportive towards their children and they donââ¬â¢t offer enough cultural capital for their children. Stereotypical views suggest those students are not deprived because of their class or because of their backgrounds. Factors like social class are important to certain ethnic minorities like Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and a considerable amount of Afro-Caribbean students, which are all working class backgrounds in which material deprivation play a main role because to find out why they achieve below the national standards. Sociologists say schools and curriculums made just for one specific group of ethnic minority gives priority to one particular ethnic minority while disregarding other ethnic groups. Some schools have curriculums, which are ethnocentric because they only give priority to English languages. The British curriculum has been described as exclusively British. In history Britain is thought to bring civilisation to ancient people are colonised. Black people as inferior weakens black childrenââ¬â¢s self esteem and Leads to them to underachieving and failing. It isnââ¬â¢t for sure what effects the ethnocentric study shows that black donââ¬â¢t really suffer from low self esteem. Wrightââ¬â¢s study found some ethnic minority groups received poorer interaction from staff. Teachers perceptions were seem as stereotypical although Asian students were seen as good and black students were seen disruptive and disobedient. Study show that schools in cities which contain ethnic minority students were not benefitting in terms of O Levels entries because of being in low set and having to achieve high grade in order to get good results and become successful. Overall taking into consideration we can not split or label ethnicity from social classes and gender since this is really difficult matter as some of the main achieving students are from ethnic minorities so for that reason there isnââ¬â¢t a connection here so we canââ¬â¢t make statements or come to conclusions as to what the association among ethnic groups and schools actually are. Pupils can refuse to accept negative classing and teacher expectations. Sociologists canââ¬â¢t come to a conclusion to explain what occurs between teacher and students or what takes place in different ethnic groups related to education. Students live up to roles they are given but can try to resist the labels and getting put behind by carrying out what is thought of them to do or do what they want to do and achieve good education and become successful.
Sunday, September 15, 2019
Marketing Strategy for Competitive Advantage Essay
Executive Summary Three friends ââ¬â Lyndon Duke Hanson, Scott Seamans, and George Boedecker, founded Crocs Inc. in the year 2002 in Colorado, USA. As the firm grew, it acquired Foam Creations in Canada to own manufacturing operations, under the leadership of Ronal Snyder in 2004, and gained sole rights. Crocs is a designer, manufacturer and retailer of molded, casual footwear for men, women and children. All Crocs footwear feature a proprietary closed-cell resin called ââ¬ËCrosliteââ¬â¢ that provides the wearer with extreme comfort by taking the shape of the feet of the wearer due to heat. The company boasts the footwear as being ideal for casual use as well as for professional and recreational uses viz. boating, hiking and hospitality. The product is claimed to be lightweight, slip-resistant, and odor-free, and is available in several bright colors. Crocs shoes are sold across 129 countries and come in 250 styles. The company has also diversified into apparel and accessories. One major acquisition has been of that of Jibbitz show charms, for which the company has also acquiredà licensing agreements with Disney, Nickelodeon, Warner Bros. and DC Comics. The case discusses the phenomenal supply chain management of the company that has been a major reason for the success of the company, besides of course the popularity of the shoes. The achievement of an extremely flexible supply chain was the vision of Ronal Snyder, CEO, to meet customerââ¬â¢s demand based on the exact same principle followed by software giants. This supply chain provided Crocs with a competitive advantage in the footwear industry. Crocs had the highest profit margin in the industry at 56.5% in 2006, considerably higher than that of its competitors. Crocs created a blue ocean by creating differentiation and low costs and breaking out of the red ocean. This resulted in global expansion and quick growth. Profits increased from $10.9million in 2004 to $763.3milion in 2007. Later in the case study, we will see the Industry Analysis to understand the competitive scenario. This reveals that Nike is the market leader, followed by Adidas. A look at Porterââ¬â¢s Model shows that consumerââ¬â¢s bargaining power is a major threat in the industry. We also see the standard manufacturing practices in the industry compared to Crocsââ¬â¢ manufacturing techniques. The SWOT Analysis gives an understanding of the potential threats and rising opportunities. Customerââ¬â¢s changing tastes and threat of substitutes pose immediate threat to the firm, but it can capitalize on its unique product range and supply chain in order to gain a majority market share. Industry Analysis The global footwear market has grown from $153.2 billion in 2004 to $189.3 billion in 2007. Although the footwear industry is in the maturity stage, it is known that the demand for the product will not decline. Hence, globalà sales are forecasted to reach $238 billion in 2013. Footwear industry is a highly fragmented market. The industry experiences intensive competition led by major firms such as Nike, Reebok, Adidas, and Converse. Nike is the industry leader, followed by Reebok and Adidas; Nike has a market share of 47%, Reebok ââ¬â 16% and Adidas ââ¬â 6%. Competitors Nike Nike is the worldââ¬â¢s largest designer and marketer of athletic footwear and apparel. The stores are located over 180 countries. Nike is based in Oregon. It runs its manufacturing operations primarily in Asia. Nikeââ¬â¢s footwear accounted for 60% of the companyââ¬â¢s total net sales in 1999, after which the firm attempted to become more diversified. Nikeââ¬â¢s largest share of sales comes from United States. Nike is one company to have crossed the $5 billion mark. Nikeââ¬â¢s target consumers were 18-44 aged people, with six-digit income. Adidas Adidas is in the second position in the global market. It is based in Germany and sourced 97% of its footwear from Asian. Its main market is the Europe region. The firm had only a 3% market share in 2005, but after the acquisition of Reebok in 2006, the share jumped up to 9%. Footwear sales accounted for 45.5% of the total sales for Adidas in 2007. Adidas target slightly young aged, 18-44 and was especially popular among Hispanics and African Americans. Other competitors include Puma (Germany), New Balance (USA ââ¬â largest privately held manufacturer), and C&J Clark (UK-based) nearing the $2.0billion mark. Porterââ¬â¢s Five Forces Model Threat from Existing Competition The industry is characterized by easy entry and exit. The market is competitive, with the industry being described as red ocean, often. The market has reached maturity stage, and the growth is slow-paced. Firms areà always attempting to lower costs and manage supply chain effectively to meet the changing demand. There is always a potential threat of a competitor eating into the market share. Threat from New Entrants The footwear industry is an easy market to enter for new players. Investments required are not huge, and raw materials are easily available. Legal policies are not strict, except in cases of imports in some countries. However, human rights issue is a major cause for concern in the footwear industry. Manufacturing/outsourcing decisions are used for low costs. Threat of Substitutes As entry is easy, substitutes are a major threat. Pricing becomes a key concern. Knock-offs also pose a great threat to companies even though certain designs are proprietary. Bargaining Power of Suppliers Shoes are mostly made from similar raw materials that are easily available. So, most firms manage to get materials at low costs. However, for Crocs, this is not a problem because it owns the manufacturing units and has a proprietary right over croslite. Bargaining Power of Consumers Consumers have the greatest power in the footwear industry due to availability of substitutes. Price and quality are major attributes of the product. Changing consumer taste is a potential threat. Changing fashion and trends and even fads are a problem faced by manufacturers. Competitors have come up with the concept of ââ¬ËShoe Designââ¬â¢ to give the consumer the ability to custom design shoes that are delivered with two weeks. SWOT Analysis Opportunities Market penetration in the footwear industry is still considerably low, especially in Asia-Pacific region. Developing countries like India are emerging markets with huge population for firms to capitalize on.à Purchasing power of people in these countries is increasing, thus showing potential target consumer groups. Threats Substitutes and knock offs pose great threat to major players in the industry. Since pricing and quality are major concerns, low costs are the main objectives. Changing trends and consumer taste are also a serious threat. Strengths Crocsââ¬â¢ unique design that offers great comfort, odor-free, slip-resistant lightweight shoes at comparatively lower prices is a distinctive competency. Supply chain flexibility offers Crocs a competitive advantage over the other firms. Weakness Crocs is required to distinguish its product, especially with the usage of croslite in its footwear. This makes it difficult for Crocs to develop new products in the formal range. Financial Analysis While 92% of companyââ¬â¢s revenues came from footwear, the remaining 8% was from the sales of accessories and apparels. Revenue has increased over the years and reached $354.7 million in 2006. There has been a tremendous increase in cost of the goods sold and was reported to be $154.2 million in 2006 from $47.8 million in 2005. Net profit margin has also been increasing and it was found to be 18.2% in 2006. Revenue was found to be $142 million in the year 2007 for Q1. Gross profit was reported to be 84.4% in the first quarter of 2007. In comparison with competitors viz. Nike and Deckers, gross profit margin of Crocs has been considerably higher. Debtorââ¬â¢s turnover ratio is the highest in the industry, indicating that Crocs is efficient at handling debts. Assetà management is also performed well at Crocs. But looking at the inventory turnover ratio, Crocs is one of the lowest in the industry. This shows that Crocs is unable to turn inventory into cash as effectively. It is seen that in 2006, Crocs has inventory worth $86.2million compared to $28.5million in the previous year. This shows that Crocs capital is blocked in its stock. About Crocs Inc. Mission Bring profound comfort, fun and innovation to the worldââ¬â¢s feet. Brand Attributes Innovative Crocs shoes are distinguished from others by the following motive of the firm ââ¬â Radical thinking, health-minded research, and providing solution to the Feet. Fun Colors and designs offered and the emotional experience served are important to Crocs to create its brand image. Comfort Crocs claims to offer profound comfort, ergonomic design, massaging foot bed, and lightweight. Simple Crocs believes in keeping its products simple with a versatile function. Crocs Shoes Clogs with Croslite Target Consumer Segment: Men, women and children of all ages Diabetic patients and other ailments Crocs shoes are lifestyle products that exhibit personalities like trendy, fun, and high fashion, dressy, casual and active. Various models offered include mammoth, clogs, sandals, flats, heels, boots, slip-ons, flip flops, sport, work, Ocean Minded among others. Crocs started off as a company with about 25 models in 2004, and reached a point in 2007 when it offered 250 models. Original design was the clogs that kids could personalize with Jibbitz. Over time, Crocs extended its line by using usual raw materials like leather and suede with croslite soles. Supply Chain Management For consumer, Crocs designed an extensive distribution system so its shoes were available in a variety of retail outlets from specialty stores to department stores and large shoe store chains. Footwear companies have two alternatives to choose from in the manufacturing of their products; they can both own and operate the factories that produce their products, or outsource operations. Factories may be located internationally or locally. Most firm practice outsourcing of operations to enable reduced costs. Crocs believed in meeting customer demands in the current season. Supply Chain was Crocs main focus. Crocs had adopted the global logistics strategy. The firm was vertically integrated and by 2007, had acquired various units all across the world for its operations to cater to different consumers. Hence it was faced with large capital expenditure requirements and the management of the factories themselves. Yet Crocs did a tremendous job at supply management. Where its competitors followed the seasonal order placements, Crocs had a delivery time of two to four weeks for newly placed orders, indicating how Crocs understood the demand for the product. Crocs owned the manufacturing, warehousing and retails units in almost all countries. With its effective management, Crocs was able to maintain low costs. Any other company in the footwear industry did not achieve such a flexible supply chain. The firm maintained good professional relations with the retailers, and deployed its own personnel in stores and provided a store-in-store experience to customers. Core Competencies Unique Product Crocs is the only company that offers shoes made of croslite. This material ensures extreme comfort to the wearer. Crocs owns proprietary rights overà the material, and this becomes the firmââ¬â¢s distinctive competency. Since Crocs is the only firm with the sole right of manufacturing such footwear, it should ensure no knock-offs are sold in the market in its name. Flexible supply chain Crocs understood the dynamic footwear industry and built a revolutionary supply chain to meet the demands of it consumers. Crocs is able to replenish stocks within weeks at short notice. This gives the firm a competitive advantage over the rivals. Other than the core business activities, Crocs has initiated a program called Crocs Cares to provide the inhabitants of disaster affected areas with shoes in over forty countries. Conclusion Crocs has managed to develop an extremely flexible supply chain in order to meet customer and retailer demands, similar to none other in the footwear industry. The firm is extensively vertically integrated and has followed a pattern of a series of acquisitions for growth. Another advantage for the firm is the sole proprietary rights over the croslite material. However, Crocs has learnt the need to extend its product line and incorporating materials like leather and suede in its products. Crocs has also managed to lure its customers by acquiring the charm business, and also by diversifying into accessories and apparels. à Although the firm is showing year-on-year profits, it is seen that by following the model of semi-finished products to achieve quick delivery, it is faced by the problem of low inventory turnover. The important thing to understand is that the industry is dynamic, and the demand is quite unpredictable due to varying trends. Thus, Crocs will continue doing better by focusing on the end-user product. References www.packagedfacts.com Global Footwear Market Report http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com How Crocs Is Outpacing The Pack http://logisticsviewpoints.com Crocs Revolutionary Supply Chain http://www.blueoceanstrategy.com Crocs Review http://ezinearticles.com History of Crocs http://www.hoovers.com Factsheet of Crocs http://company.crocs.com About Crocs ââ¬â Company Profile
Saturday, September 14, 2019
Education Unplugged Analysis Essay
In his essay, Education Unplugged, Floyd Allen, the author combined three methods of development, process, cause-effect, and argument method, in order to strengthen the effectiveness of the message he was conveying. According to Allen, generally, the society today rely on ââ¬Å"pseudo-intelligence,â⬠which means that people, particularly the youth, depend too much on technology to perform their work for them including even the simplest tasks like counting small amounts of money or basic math. The author claims that the only way to solve this is for educators to give more emphasis on teaching more the fundamental or basic lessons in school than focusing on computer education. Among the three processes used by the author, the most dominant and most effective one is the argumentative method. In the essay, Allen argued that young people nowadays can no longer perform a lot of basic tasks without resorting to an electronic device first. In order to support his claims, the author used as an example his experience with a female fast food employee who had to call for help just to count his change of 99 cents. He also cited other examples of too much reliance on pseudo-intelligence such as the inability of the tellers to make transactions with clients when the system is down and the inability of children to tell the time if the clock has hands. Generally, the use of solid examples and instances is the one of the most effective ways to convey the message an author would like to impart to his or her readers when making an argument. In the essay, Allenââ¬â¢s use of real life scenarios greatly bolstered his claims on pseudo-intelligence because readers were able to relate to them. He also used solid examples when he provided the solution to societyââ¬â¢s problem such as concentrating more on teaching students the basics of writing, reading, and arithmetic instead of focusing on making them computer literate.
Friday, September 13, 2019
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis also known as ALS or Lou Gehrigs disease is a disease. This disease attacks nerve cell and pathways to the brain and the spain cord. The nerve cells that are being attacked control muscle function that control the body mean all motor function as well. When these cell get attacked the start to die off as a result to treat the muscles in the body start to weaken and cause difficulty with speaking, swallowing and breathing. This disease can cause people to stop breathing as well. It is a rare disease that only 20,000 to 30,000 people in the USA are found with this disease. However it is the most common motor mondo disease among adults. About 5,000 people is diagnosed with this disease per year. It normale shown in people in the age of 40 to 60 but there are some causes that people have it when younger. Men are more likely to get this disease than women. There is a 5 to 10 percent chance that that this disease can be hereditary. If a parent has ALS there i s a 50 percent chances that there child will get this disease. They also found out that in certain places there are is a lower rate of people with ALS these countries include Mexico, Poland and Italy. People with ALS lives has been improving a bit with the new teacher that is being found out about it but this diese still is hard for families and individuals. Today about 10 percent of patients live over ten years after being diagnosed. Twenty live up to five years and more. Then fifty percent of pantion live three years or more. However 80 percent of passion die between two and five years after diagnostic. No one for sure know how ALS caused and who can be expected to get ALS. In most cases about 90 to 95 percent of them do not have a known cause. Some teachers are looking at different thing that they believe may be the cause of ALS. One belief it that is a gene mutation. They found out that various genetic mutations can lead to inherited ALS. This causes nearly the same symptoms as the non inherited form. Then there is chemical imbalances that they are looking at, people with ALS generally have higher level of glutamate. Glutamate is a chemical messenger in the brain and is ar ound the nerve cells in spinal fluid. Too much this chemical can be toxic to some nerve cells. They are also looking into disorganized immune response. This is when an individual immune system states eating there own normal cells. By this the body can start to kill it cell and may even kill itself. There evening looking at mishandling protein. Mishandled proteins within the nerve cells may lead to abnormal forms of proteins in these cells. By this it can cause nerve cells to be destroyed. They are also looking into smoking, Environmental toxin exposure and people in the military service. The diagnostic procedure for AlS is a complicated one. There is not one test or one procedure used to diagnose ALS. It can take up to a year or more to be diagnosed with ALS. To diagnosis ALS lab testing will be done. This includes blood, unian and thyroid function test to be performed. Another thing that is used is Muscle and or never biopsy. Which is where a piece of tissues is removed from a living body and is examined to see if anything look out of the ordinary. A spinal tap can be done as well. This is when the fluid in the spinal cord is evaluated by withdrawing some of that fluid from the spain. X-rays, MRI, and electro diagnostic test could and most likely be done as well to look at the muscles. The signs and symptoms of AlS. The first symptoms of this disease can go unnoticed. However, when time passes on the symptoms become worse. The cell start to die muscles start to weaken and muscle control can stop working.Arm and legs and usually the first to be affected. The starter to become weaker and The indulge with this disease ma y not be able to hold their own weight up evationly and my not be able to move there arms. Arm, shoulder, and the tongue can twitch and cramp. Feet and the ankle can start having less control and can not support ones weight. Breathing can become short and shalwar. The individual may need help with brother further on with this disease. THey may have a hard time swallowing and also may aspirate or inhale food and saliva in the lungs and chock. Most of these people with ALS dis by respiratory failures. Someone with ALS can become paralyzed and may not be able to speak. However ALS normally does not affect the five sense. Which is seeing, hearing, smell, taste and touch along with those the ability to think. There are different types of ALS and each type has there own symtoms that can very. One of the most common ALS in the Classical ALS this ALS affects upper and lower motor neurons cells. It affect more than two-thirds of people who Have ALS. Primary Lateral Sclerosis also known as PLS is a type of ALS. It also the rarest of all the type. The upper neurons is affected firs t. The lower neurons may not be affected for another 2 years but it normal affects the upper neurons the most. Progressive Bulbar Palsy i also know as PBP. This type of ALS starts to affect spanking, chewing and clawing first due to lower motor neurons deteriorate. About one fourth of people with ALS will get this type of ALS. Progressive Muscular Atrophy also known as PMA. This type the lower motor neurons is affected first and in about two years the upper neurons can be affect or may not be affected at all. This type normal stay in the lower neron. The last type that is known is Familial. This is a hereditary type of ALS five to ten percent of people in the USA can be affected. It is a fifty chance that if a parent has this disease it can be passed down to the children. There is not a lot of treatment. There is no cure for this disease. There is a medication that adds three to two ,months to someone life however all the symptoms are still there. They can also take other drug but this is to help cope with physical pain or mental health. People who has ALS can develop depression and can have panic attacks. They can take a physical therapy, occupational therapy and ar rehabilitation therapy. This is to try to help prevent joints from becoming imbolo and to try to slow down muscles weakness and anatomy. Living with ALS can become very difficult to that individual and for the people around them. Depending what type of ALS they have can have different effect. For they induvegele that need help breathing they may need a ventilation machine. They could also get An aneurysm diaphragm pacer system implanted in them that helps the diaphragm to move so the individual can breathe. There are also other thing that can be down to help with an indvical to breath. continuous positive airway pressure, bi-level positive airway pressure and tracheostomy are also some other thing that can help with people who need help breathing. When people start to lose the ability to speak they have to rely on technology and or other people to communicate for them. There also can be eating dificalcation. For these people the may need special cups and or silver where to eat and drink with. They may need a feeding tube or even go on a spection diet so they can eat. Cost of this disease can be very pricey. Medicare, equipment needed and even home health care can be expensive. It is important to look into health plan coverage and other programs for which an individual may be eligible for to help pay for the cost. Some of the thing that someone can look into is Social Security Disability, Medicare, Medicaid, and Veteran Affairs benefits. Due to the fact more people are learning about ALS more reacher is being done to understand this diese and to stop it from affecting people lives. One group that is doing fresher for this disease is the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke or NINDS for short. They are the lead suporter of biomedical reaches in the world they look at the brain and nervous system. They are looking at the development and progress of this disease. They are also trying to figure out what people can be affected by ALS. They are looking into different thing they believe can be causes. One of theses is cellular defects. These scientists are trying to figure out how ALS- cause gene mutation and why it happens. They are trying to figure out how they mutation and have ir destruction of the neurons. TO do this they are using models to test this theory this includes fruit flies, zebrafish, and rodents. They found out that depending on what gene that it affect it affects a certain motor motion. THey also discovered that when a mutation motor neurons death and the defences in the cell because of this. Something they found is that that is affected is RNA molecules of processing and recycling of proteins is affect. They also found out some nerves cell can become inflamed and that can also play a big role in why the nerves cells die. They are also looking a stem cells. Saints would take blood and or skin form an indivagle with ALS and turn them to stem cells. By this the cells can become any type of cell in the indivages body including motor cells. That can replace the the mutated cells. ALS has affect quite a few peoples lives one person that it was Lou Gehrig. Which the disease can also be known as the Lou gehrig disease. He was a famous baseball player who was diagnosed with ALS at the age of 36. He was played for the New York Yankee as a first baseman. He had a record that stood for 60 years. It was the most consecutive baseball games played. Cause of this record he was known as Iron name. He had to retire in 1939 and died in 1941 due to the disease. Another person who was affected by this disease was Stephen Hawking. He is the longest person who have ever lived with this disease. Against odds he has lived over 40 years with ALS and he is still alive. He was diagnosed at that age of 21 and was told he was going to die before his 25 birthday. He is now 76. He is a scientist and is known as one of the most intelligent man alive. There are many other peopel who has been affected Kevin Tuner who was an american football fullback for eight seasons for the New England Patratirce and Philidaphina Egles.Stephen Hillenburg. He was an american cartooniestg, animation and a former marien biologiest. He was the creatrer of the telivtion searise of spongebob squarpants. He also directed it, pruduced it and witten it. SPreading Awareness of this disease became a goal to many. Many people did not hear of it. So in 2014 a former baseball college student Pete Frates that was diagnosed with ALS in 2012 at the age of 29. He wanted to bring awareness and to help get more money for rashy=church so he started the Ice Bucket changed. So far over 1.2 million people participated in this challenge. The ice bucket change is where a bucket of ice water dumped over their head and then donate money to the cuse . Since July 29, 2014, the ALS Association national office reported collecting $13.3 million in donations in the USA and counting was in 2014.
Description of implementation and its issues Essay
Description of implementation and its issues - Essay Example Expert review is a way of testing usability, by bringing experienced experts who specialize in usability testing on board, in order to evaluate the usability of an interface.When one or more human factors experts are involved in evaluation of an interface, this is referred to as Heuristic evaluation of usability Audit. The experts who are included in the evaluation are charged with the responsibility of measuring the usability, effectiveness and efficiency of the interface founded on Jakob Nielsen definition (Heuristic Evaluation par 1). Nielsenââ¬â¢s Usability Heuristics, which have persistently developed in reply to new devices and user research, include consistency and standards; visibility of system status; error prevention; flexibility and efficiency of use; recognition rather than recall; help and documentation; user control and freedom, aesthetic and minimalist design; help users recognize, recover and diagnose from errors; and match between system and the real world. User- based evaluations User-based evaluation methods involve identification of representative tasks, representative users, and designing of a procedure for identifying the problems that users face while attempting to use a certain software product in their undertakings. During the development, testing, design stage of software development, the two types of usersââ¬â¢ evaluations that are performed include formative evaluations (used to gather information for design) and summative evaluations (used to document efficiency, effectiveness, and user satisfaction of a product). Model-based evaluations A replica of the human information processor has been designed founded on information drawn from psychology research regarding humanââ¬â¢s memory, perception and cognition system. This model has integrated capabilities of long-term and short-term memory, together with capabilities of human audio and visual processing. Also included are times for cognition motor processing and processing. Th is model allows interactions of human- computer researchers in order to evaluate user interfaces on the basis of the modelââ¬â¢s performance. Tools for evaluating information systems Questionnaires For a long time, questionnaires have been used to evaluate user interfaces (Root and Draper 87). They can be used in paper form or electronically (for example surveymonkey.com). Different questions are designed to specifically evaluate components of reliability, validity, and usability of the User Interface (Tullis and Albert 317). Currently, there are multiples of online survey services that can be used for this purpose, including survey monkey, KeySurvey, WebSurveyor, QuestionPro, and Free Online Surveys. I will do further research to identify the best survey services to use. Choice of questionnaires is mainly motivated by their ease of grasping of many people and the power of showing many audiences. Checklist Although many checklists are designed for assessment of hardware, they can also be used for software assessment. The checklist that will be used in evaluation of user interface will be based on a simple concept. Each design principle will be featured as an individual entry in the list. To indicate weighing of importance, a space will be indicated after each entry, followed by a space to indicate approximation of compliance. The last space will include notes on whether remarks have been made to allude to definite design deficiencies or any other related information. The evaluation of checklist will be based on evaluation of User Systems Interface. There are six general functional areas of USI design that will be covered including data entry, design, data display, user guidance, sequence control, data transmission, and data protection. Report III: Final description of system issues and solutions Why is it important to understand who are the stakeholders and their interaction with the user interface? Understanding
Thursday, September 12, 2019
Report on the case study Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words
Report on the case study - Coursework Example Critical Management Studies stresses at looking the organisation and management theory from wide variety of groups which are affected by educators and business managers who instruct them. Critical theory is one of the important philosophical foundations of critical management studies. Critical theory has more influence on development on CMS than any other related theoretical foundations like post-structuralism, labour process theory, critical realism etc. Critical theory has a distinct paradigmatic characteristics and unique philosophical tradition. Critical theory basically stresses on the reflective assessment by applying knowledge from humanities and social sciences. Critical management studies brought together post-structural writings and critical theory, but since then it as developed into more diverse directions. This report will take a look at the case study of Experiencing Depersonalised bullying with respect to call-centre agents. The case provided is based on the depersonalized bullying which occurs on the call-centre agents who are employed in International call centres in Bangalore and Mumbai in India. It focuses on the oppressive regime faced by them in the workplace. The kind of bullying regime faced by them can be attributed to the service level agreements which exist between the clients and employers. This sets the tone for organisational practices. The call centre agents accept such kind of tough working conditions because of material gains and professional identities gained by them. Capitalist labour relations in the workplace bullying set the tone for such kind of oppression in the workplace. Call centre industry in India is an emerging industry. It is known as ITES-BPO sector which now contributes majorly to global offshoring business. In countries like South Africa, Philippines, Latin America and Eastern Europe this sector are an emerging sector while in India it remains in the developing stage. There
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
Animal Testing and Rgihts Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words
Animal Testing and Rgihts - Research Paper Example In fact, vivisection of small animals like frogs, rabbits and mice is not confined to sophisticated laboratories alone, but are also a part of school and college curriculum. Animals are also used in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries to test drugs and cosmetics before market release. According to AWA reports, the U.S government estimated that the number of laboratory animals used in 2010 alone was about 1,136,567. ââ¬Å"Precise figures for the number of rats, mice, birds and fish do not exist, but it is estimated that approximately 25 million of these animals are used every yearâ⬠(animal Reports Animal Usage by Fiscal year, 1-2). Vivisection is not just using of animals for scientific purposes alone; it also involves the inhumane treatment meted out to them. They are kept in cages in dark laboratories, fed poorly and stored for experimentation alone. The lab animals are subjected to toxic testing, allergen testing etc which involves cruel treatment for the sake of test ing alone and justify them on the grounds that Human feeling s and animals feeling have a difference (Ryder). While many researchers and vivisection enthusiasts may argue that animal testing is beneficial to humans, I shall discus as to why this should be stopped and alternatives adopted. Scientifically Unreliable Scientists and researchers who use animals for their research work often claim that the results procured and derived from these animal-test based experimentation is for the benefit of the human race. But in reality this is untrue and the results may be totally unreliable because the anatomy of humans and animals is drastically different and each species responds differently to a particular substance, this is the reason why thousands of drugs and cosmetics that pass the lab-animal test have often been withdrawn from the markets, solely because they were harmful to humans. Chemical testing is highly unreliable and this can be understood with a small fact that arsenic which i s highly carcinogenic in humans rarely causes cancer in lab animals like mouse and rats. There is no evidence to prove that mice, rabbits and humans would react all the same to a certain chemical. Experimentation on animals is impractical and reveals negligible information about the human body and its response (Mur, 29). Furthermore, it is well known that the sensation of fear alters the biochemical processes of a living body and lab animals are in state of constant fear which may affect the results too. Hence, the results are not valid. ETHICALLY WRONG It is purely unethical to take advantage of speechless and helpless creatures and use them in the laboratories, inflicting intentional pain and fear among them in the name of human benefit. Science itself has proven that animals too like humans, are sentient. They can feel emotions like pain, fear, hunger, thirst etc, yet we deny animals their rights. Rifkin in his article reported about a study conducted in the Purdue University, U. S. where it was observed thatââ¬â¢s pigs crave affection and attention and were depressed if denied so. The study strengthened the fact that animals did resemble humans in some form. The theory of Evolution states that Homo sapiens are linked to all other living creatures through evolution, yet somehow humans have taken the liberty to judge other living things and determine their value in Nature. There is nothing to determine whether inherent value of humans is higher than that of other living
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