Phonological and Writing Systems of English and Thai

In the second language and foreign language (FL) classroom literature, it has been claimed that several variables related to the interface between L1 and L2/ FL, i. e. psychological aspects, contribute to language learners’ perception and production of a foreign language. A study of these variables could have important implications for the teaching of foreign languages. More recently, the role of spoken and written L2 input (e. g. Bassetti, 2008; Moyer, 2009) has been studied in greater detail, and there is an abundance of such studies.In this chapter, the relevant literature will be illustrated and critiqued, with particular attention to the works on phonological systems and writing systems across languages and the interaction between the two systems. In addition, the influence of affective factors on the productive skills of Thai learners is reviewed. The first section of the chapter is a discussion of the relevant literature on the differences between phonological and writi ng systems across languages and the resulting language learner output, followed by a review of the framework to be used in this study.The final section is a review of the effects of the affective factors on the learners’ language achievement and language performance as well as on language learning. 1. The related literature The findings reported in the literature that the majority of Thai learners of English demonstrate a low degree of proficiency, especially in the productive skills (speaking and writing) reflect the fact that â€Å"English language pedagogy in Thailand †¦ is still in its infancy† (Wongsothorn, A. , Hiranburana, K. & Chinnawongs, S. 2002; Laopongharn & Sercombe, 2009, among others). As reported in the national survey (1999) conducted by the Office of Educational Testing of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction (in Khamkhien, 2010), â€Å"high school sstudents’ productive skills were generally below 50 per cent, i. e. below average, leading to the recommendation in the report for immediate improvements of writing ability in all educational institutions in the country† (Wongsothorn et al. , 2002: 112). There are several factors that could prevent Thai learners of English from aining a sthrong command of productive skills in English. In terms of the phonological system, Yangklang (2006) investigated the improvement in pronunciation of English final [l] in 40 Thai sstudents in Matthayom Suksa 4 at Assumption Convent Lamnarai School who had used the Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) programme she was testing. The CAI in the study, as described by Yangklang: â€Å"contained drill and practice exercises. Drill and practice activities aimed to provide learners with adequate practices and also to review items that were new to learners.The goal of the drill and practice activities was to teach sstudents to pronounce words with final /-l/ accurately and automatically. † These practices and exercises were, therefore, provided by the computer programme as part of the post-lesson activities. The participants were divided into two groups according to their competence of pronunciation of English, one with good pronunciation and the other with poor ability. Prior to the experimental task, each participant had taken a placement test to classify their pronunciation competence.Subsequently, they all took three pronunciation post-tests every week for three weeks. It was found that both groups of sstudents improved their pronunciation significantly after they used the CAI programme. In general, both groups had positive reactions to the use of the CAI programme for improving their pronunciation. Obviously, the programme helped the participants improve their pronunciation, given that they had intensive training on pronunciation practice of specific English consonant sounds, and the post-test of pronouncing the sound was administered immediately after the programme training.As Graham (1997) and M acaro (2006), among others, have pointed out, effective language learning is about mastering communicative skills, i. e. speaking, writing, listening, and reading. This indicates that the more learners practise, the better their communicative performance in a language. In line with this, the results did not show anything unexpected. The point at issue, which I shall leave for future study, is how can accurate pronunciation, e. g. of the /l/ sound, be maintained after short-term, intensive training?In Yangklang’s findings, the English consonant sound /l/ which constitutes the coda, i. e. word-final ending in /l/, (see Figure 1 below) could be realised as [l], [n], and [w] by the participants. The participants with good pronunciation appeared to produce the [l], whilst the participants from the poorer group appeared to generate [n] and [w] instead of [l] or [? ]. The [n] was produced more frequently than [w] by these participants, however. Yangklang did not discuss why [n] and [w] constitute allophones of /l/.In the study, it was the poorer group who produced such allophones, and it was reported from interviews that the participants had not yet been exposed to an environment where English is used as a medium of communication. In the word list, part of the research instrument which consisted of pronunciation tests contained words like ‘ball’, ‘mile’, etc. which are English loanwords. I assume that there is some force of segmental alternation with regard to English loanwords.As /l/ is not available at coda position, the notion of final consonant phoneme alternation appears plausible. That is to say, [n] and [w] appear to be alternatives. Paradis (1996) in Kentowicz & Suchato (2006), claimed that the location of such segments in feature geometry and prosodic structure was relevant in dealing with segmental alternation in loanwords. Based on the data, /l/ and /n/ fall into the same natural class, in that both of them are sonorant con sonants, which can be represented by the feature matrices

Aphrodite/Role of Women in Illiad Essay

Throughout the many annals of Greek mythology, there have been many fascinating characters, ranging from the beginning of time with Gaia and Uranus, to their children, Cronus and his wife Rhea, through the Titanomachy, the war of the Titans versus the Gods, and finally to their children, the Olympians themselves, and the dawn of the Silver Age. Of the twelve Olympic Deities, you have five Goddesses: Hera, the queen of Olympus, Demeter, Goddess of the harvest, Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt, and Athena, Goddess of Wisdom. While each of them have their own intriguing backstory, histories, and myths associated with them, there are none more fascinating than Aphrodite, the goddess of love, beauty, and sexual rapture herself. Her intrigue begins at her inception into the world of Greek Mythology. There are multiple accounts of how Aphrodite came into existence but the most widely recognized one came from Hesiod’s poem Theogony, on the origins and genealogies of the Greek Gods and Goddesses, in which much of Greek mythology is derived from. As the myth goes, when Cronus castrated his father Uranus, Uranus tossed his amputated member into the Ocean, and from the resulting foam, out came Aphrodite, fully grown in all her beauty and splendor. It is said that it is because of this lewd beginning that Aphrodite gained her erotic nature. Almost immediately after joining Olympus, Zeus’ fear quickly grew about a growing conflict between the Gods about who would be the one to take Aphrodite’s hand in marriage. Acting quickly Zeus married her off to his son Hephaestus, the God of smiths, crafters, and weavers, due to his anger towards Hera for throwing him off Olympus when he was born because of his innate unattractiveness. Aphrodite did not however take her wedding vows very seriously and took part in quite a number of affairs. Her partners ranged from Gods to mortals to include Dionysus, Hermes, Poseidon, Nerites, Anchises, Butes, Phaon and Phaethon, but her two main affairs were with, firstly Ares, the God of War, with whom she had numerous children with, mainly Eros (god of love), Phobos and Deimos (the embodiment of fear and error), Anteros (god of love returned), as well as Himerus (personification of lust), and Harmonia (goddess of Harmony). Her second main affair was with a mortal name Adonis. She had to compete with Persephone, Goddess of Spring for him, and the conflict got so heated, that Zeus believed he had to step in to resolve the issue. Jealous of Aphrodite’s love for him, it is said that Ares himself transformed into a bull and killed Adonis himself. What was blatantly obvious from the moment she walked out of the Ocean was that Aphrodite’s erotic nature and her command over love gave her immense power and control. Love, being one of the most basest of instincts, gave her a level of influence of the males of the world that set her apart from the rest of the Olympians. It was said that whenever Aphrodite spoke, even Zeus listened1. While Aphrodite definitely has a loving side to her, it is by no means her sole personality trait. Many a myth have portrayed Aphrodite, not only as jealous and vain, but also deceitful, and at times downright ruthless. When it suited her, she was known to be unapologetically treacherous and malicious, and her sway over men was often potentially deadly. The bewitching power she possessed over men very often led to their own destruction. To illustrate how deadly Aphrodite can be, we need not look no further than the Judgment of Paris. The Judgment of Paris was when Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, came down to Earth, and with a certain influence from Eris, the God of discord, Paris was asked to choose the most beautiful between the three of them. Aphrodite, with her power over men, was of course chosen. Paris was promised the most beautiful woman in the world, and as a result, an uncountable number of men bled for his choice in the Trojan War. To exemplify her vain, jealous nature, we look to the myth of Eros and Psyche. Jealous of Psyche’s beauty, she sent a plague to her homeland and said the only way to rid the land of plague is to sacrifice Psyche. As soon as Eros laid eyes on her, he fell in love and saved her from the sacrifice and married her. Even though they were married, Eros would never let Psyche lay her eyes on him. One night to satisfy her (and her two sisters) curiosity, she snuck into his chambers and accidentally woke him. Irate and disobeyed, Eros fled. Driven by love, Psyche implored Aphrodite to give her another chance, but with ulterior motives in mind, Aphrodite agreed. Psyche was forced to complete a series of nearly impossible tasks, culminating in Psyche having to go to the Underworld and retrieve a box of Persephone’s beauty cream. Upon opening the box, Psyche fell into a coma, at which point at Zeus’ command, Eros brought Psyche up to Olympus and made her immortal. In regards to certain Olympians, the power and influence they possess and exert is apparent as the light of day. Two very evident examples are firstly Zeus, the king of the Gods, and Poseidon, the lord of the seas. With goddesses like Aphrodite, her power isn’t always as clear. Instead of obvious supremacy over the physical realm, Aphrodite has command over man’s more basic instincts. This in many ways, can be much more dangerous, and is abundantly clear when she seems to give immortal Gods a very bone-chilling mortal side. Topic #13) Discuss the role of women in the Iliad by Homer. Masculinity in ancient Greece was one of the most highly regarded character traits a human being could possess. Men in Greece were expected to be tough, cold, and exude power with not an over abundance of rules and a lot of wants and desires. Women on the other hand were, for the most part, to be treated and kept like slaves. Ladies were viewed as property by their male opposite numbers, and their function outside of the home were severely limited and confined to religious activities. Sardonically, this same people that revered Goddesses. Goddesses were to take part in the glory of war, and were able to abide by their own rules. That is the case for Goddesses in the Odyssey by Homer. While most to all women are treated as second hand citizens, there are many different types of women portrayed in the Iliad. There are resolutely willed women, clever women, damsels in distress, evil and vengeful women, and women that could potentially bring about the downfall of the protagonist male hero. Among those there are also women who are shown as the spoils of war. The true irony is that while the story is predominantly about conflicts in the male dominated world, the cause and inspiration of these conflicts is usually the opposite sex itself, women. The women in the Iliad can, for the most part be separated into several groups. In the first group, you have the women who are specifically portrayed as less than human and are more property than anything else. The most prominent example for this is the case of Briseis and Chryseis. While it may seem both characters are merely â€Å"war prizes† to be won by the opposing side, their impact is a little less obvious and a little more mercurial. Neither of these two women have any sort of power (physical, political, magical, etc. ), however their breathtaking beauty simply influences men to keep on going to war for them. When Apollo blighted the invading forces with a plague, cursed to ravage the Greeks until Chryseis was give back to her Trojan father, Agamemnon proclaimed to Achilles that if he gives Chryseis back to the Trojans, he shall take Bryseis, Achilles’ war prize as his own. So angry Achilles was with his king, that he withdrew from battle and allowed the Greek forces at the mercy of the Trojans. This shows how great the power a woman’s beauty can behold, and how simple it is for them to take advantage of man’s baser instincts. Helen of Troy is another example of the sway that beauty has over the male gender. Because of her abduction and her complicit role with Paris and Troy against Menelaus and the Spartans, the Trojan war was sparked and both nations paid dearly as a result. Eventually though, it was made clear that she deeply regretted her decision to leave for Troy and despised herself and Paris for allowing so many to die so that they could simply be together. Of all the female characters in the Iliad, none play more idealistic of a role than Andromache, Hector’s wife. While she doesn’t have multiple men killing each other over her, she no less plays an important role. Andromache can be described as the anti Helen. Hector is the one man in all of the Iliad who loves and adores his wife. She was his main motivation for defeating the Greeks, for he knew what would happen to her and his son should the Greeks claim victory over them. She is the perfect example of your ideal housewife. Her two goals are to raise their child and to keep her husband happy. The next group of women are those who would be described as having a much darker side. The ones who, for example, use their beauty and sexuality as a weapon. The most blatant character who’s guilty of such action is Aphrodite, the goddess of sexual manipulation herself. Starting with the judgment of Paris, where she seduced Paris into choosing her as the most beautiful Goddess over Athena and Hera with the promise of giving him the most beautiful woman in the world. As a result, the Trojan War was started. The next woman that falls under this category is Calypso, the daughter of Titan Atlas. When Odysseus was washed up on her shore, she immediately fell in love with him. Calypso enchants Odysseus to and forces him to stay with her for the next seven years, in which, by certain accounts, Calypso bore him three children, Latinus, Nausithous, and Nausinous. He was not able to leave until Hermes came to Calypso with a directive from Zeus to let him go free. These characters reinforce the stereotype that women have no physical power, but can very easily seduce men and manipulate them with their beauty and sexual nature. The final female character of significance in the Iliad is Athena. As the patron goddess to Odysseus, it is her duty to protect him and his family and steer him in the proper direction when he goes off course in life. Without her guidance, Odysseus’ son Telemachus would have most likely given up on his father and allowed Penelope, Odysseus’ wife to marry one of her suitors. Under the guise of Mentes, the advise that Telemachus receives from her plays an incredibly significant role in his development as a man. On top of that, on multiple occasions, Athena saves Odysseus’ life from Poseidon, whom he angered with his arrogance after the victory at Troy. This benevolent role that she plays is reserved for specifically female goddesses. While mortal women are seen as weak, even the more evil ones, the female Goddesses boast being able to wield as much power as the males Gods. While most mortal women in the Iliad are stereotyped to a fault, there are still a small number, such as Andromache and Penelope, that give ancient Greek women a sense of dignity. The goddesses’ story is something else entirely. While mortal women are stuck as mere housewives, the goddesses are viewed as equals from the male counterparts. It can be argued that the power that goddesses like Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite wield matches that of Poseidon and Hades. The respect that goddesses command can be seen when Athena had the city of Athens named after her over Poseidon. However. overcoming that lay before him and with much help needed from certain people around him, Odysseus finally made it home.

Globalisation Process Essay

The business world is becoming increasingly global. As a result of this, many companies, such as Costa Coffee and Dyson, have changed their strategies in relation to the markets they target or where they produce. Does the increasingly global nature of business mean that all organisations need to change their strategies significantly to achieve higher profits? Justify your answer with reference to Costa Coffee, Dyson and/or other organisations that you know. Globalisation is the process by which the world is becoming progressively interconnected as a result of significantly increased trade and cultural exchange. It has also increased the production of goods and services. The biggest companies (such as McDonald’s, Starbuck’s, Costa Coffee, Tesco, Dyson) are no longer national firms, but multinational corporations with subsidiaries in many other countries. The aim of this essay is to justify whether organisations need to change their strategies significantly to achieve higher profits as a result of the increasingly global nature of business. As a result of globalisation, the world has become a smaller place; however this is a potential benefit for companies that are looking to expand because communication, trade and travel are becoming increasingly easy. Many countries, especially the ‘BRICS’ economies are undergoing industrialisation, giving Western companies the cheaper infrastructure they need to expand. If the business does the market auditing efficiently and they target the right market, with the cheap infrastructure and more potential customers, there are minimal reasons why the business would not achieve higher profits. So having said that, businesses like McDonald’s are a perfect example that higher profits are a result of changing their strategy to relate more to the market they target. Originating from America, McDonald’s are currently market leaders in 96% of the markets they do business in; they operate in 119 countries on 6 continents, with over 33,000 restaurants worldwide, employ ing over 1.7 million people. (http://www.mcdonalds.ca/ca/en/contact_us/faq.html) They first expanded internationally when they opened in Canada in 1967. The international section of McDonald’s has become increasingly more important to the company’s overall success. As of this past year, non-US based restaurants account for over half of the company’s $40 billion in revenues. Foreign restaurants now account for about 60% of McDonald’s total profits. Since coffee has become a necessity in a person’s every day routine rather than a luxury, McDonald’s has recognised this is an opportunity to increase their product portfolio. With the majority of McDonald’s customers being business men and women, coffee is an increased purchase amongst their sales, therefore they have recently announced they will be opening up a â€Å"McCafe† in the UK, having already been opened in Australia since 1993, they’ll be selling a variety of coffee’s other than your standard black, white, latte and cappuccino. As a consequ ence, for companies like Costa Coffee and Starbuck’s, this means that McDonald’s will continue to add to the markets they are in and become increasingly intense competitors. So the increase use of necessities globally definitely has an impact on a businesses strategies. McDonald’s have had to identify a person’s every day need, and cleverly made it as sort of a luxury item because it’s ‘new’ it will be new to McDonald’s. As a result of their new investment, the McCafe generates 15% more revenue than an ordinary McDonald’s. On the other hand, Globalisation is proven to have had a negative effect for some other businesses such as Tesco. This is a business that has strived to expand internationally, and as a result, they struggled/failed as they couldn’t easily adapt to the market change. Tesco has expanded into many other countries over the years, but as the â€Å"BRICS† economies are becoming increasingly attractive, an opportunity to venture into these economies seemed to be a ‘rising star’ for Tesco. Tesco’s ‘eye on the prize’ meant that they took their eyes off what made them successful in the first place- their UK stores. Ultimately, expansion into China, India and Thailand has left what was their ‘cash cow’ UK stores to currently become their ‘problem child’. Losing focus on their original investments meant that they â€Å"slipped behind in terms of stores, service and innovation.† http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-177 67565 In addition to their struggles to maintain the success of their UK stores, focus on China, Thailand and India had a massive impact on their competitors such as Asda, Sainsbury’s, Lidl and Aldi. During the time that Tesco focused on the new move, it was an opportunity for its competitors to steal Tesco’s 30% market share – Sainsbury’s brought in â€Å"By Sainsbury’s† and Asda brought in â€Å"Chosen By You†. When Tesco realised their mistake and focused their attention on their UK stores, they invested in the â€Å"Big Price Drop Flop† but the  £500m campaign only damaged their branding image, as customers thought the quality of their products had dropped. It was a clear step by step process for Tesco losing its place in the market. All of this is a result of changing their strategy by expanding overseas into a better economy, and that is a result of Globalisation. Overall, Globalisation has so far cost Tesco to invest in a new economy, invest in strategies to save their place in the market, and has now cost them a  £1bn investment making their UK stores a â€Å"warmer look and feel†. It’s safe to say that Gl obalisation has definitely not achieved higher profits for Tesco, only slandered them. Overall, Globalisation has effect on all businesses whether positive or negative, but it does not necessarily make them achieve higher profits due to a changed strategy. In my opinion, it’s not Globalisation itself that makes a business achieve higher profits, it’s how the business takes advantage of the situation, and there are other internal factors involved that make a business achieve increased profits. Tesco could have easily become more successful if they balanced out their investments, keeping the UK stores as a ‘cash cow’ while they invested in their ‘rising star’ in China, and also kept their attention on their main rivals: Asda and Sainsbury’s. Sometimes a business does not need to change its strategy, an investment into the ‘BRICS’ economies could potentially mean more money is required. Having said that, some businesses already have the infrastructure they need to maintain their businesses over in the UK and it would seem moronic to expand overseas, especially if the business is maintaining profits. Although McDonalds has taken advantage of Globalisation, and used their strategy efficiently to become successful and to be as big as they are now – they are one company in a million. They are not proof that just because they managed to successfully adapt to the market, expansion into other countries is not guaranteed success, as proven by Tesco. So no, not all businesses need to change their strategy significantly due to Globalisation, in fact, some businesses don’t need to change their strategy at all.

Philippines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Philippines - Essay Example It has a land area of 114, 672 square miles and stretches almost 1, 150 miles. Its capital is Manila which is located on Luzon. According to Steinberg † The Philippines is one of the most disaster-struck countries in the world† (12). This country is located on the Ring of Fire and is subject to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Steinberg stated that â€Å"It is averages about five earthquakes a day of all grades and intensities up to 7.9 on the Richter Scale† (12). Its climate is tropical. The monsoons mark the rainy and the dry seasons. In Manila the rain starts from June to November. The cool dry season comes from December to February while the hot dry season is from March to May. It lies in the path of several tropical storms and suffers several strong typhoons between July and October. The Philippines has a long history of exporting agricultural products. Rice is the symbol of life (Steinberg, 2000: 15). It is the most important crop grown in the country. The farmers rely on the monsoons to give the plant the necessary water. Bad crops can affect the peasants. The tropical rain forests are one of the key sources of export income. However, tree cutting and milling are changing the landscape and causing disasters. There are major extractive mining industries as the country has large deposits of chromite and gold. Of the 49. 4 million acres of mineral land, only 34. 6 million have been geologically surveyed. (Steinberg, 2000: 29). The Philippine territorial waters offer 2,000 local species of fish, giving the people a new source of protein. In the past few decades, prawn farming has become the major industry throughout the archipelago, offering the promise of a new export product. The Philippines is a democratic country. The population of the Philippines was approximately 84.2 million in 2004 (Abinales & Amoroso, 2005: 16). Filipinos are distinguished by ethno linguistic groups originally corresponding to geographical

Global Enterprise and Innovation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Global Enterprise and Innovation - Assignment Example op employer in France and Europe and hence selecting Saint Gobain-India was an easy decision based on the excellent company record and long term vision of the company (Saint Gobain, 2014) With innovation at its core, Saint Gobain has made products such as its automotive glass, construction materials and performance plastics. The automotive glass range comprises of cutting edge products in automotive glazing, laminated wind shields and tempered glasses. It also has special features such as acoustic control and enhanced security. The performance plastics range is the world’s leading range of high performance polymer products which are used for construction and various other purposes (Saint Gobain, 2014). These products have been made keeping the current Indian market in mind. The construction industry in India has been growing at an average 9-11% year on year (EC Haris Research, 2011). This is due to a marked increase in manufacturing activities and industrial growth. Growth rates for the construction industry are expected to bypass the overall GDP growth over the next two years. The booming construction industry is the perfect market for the Saint Gobain construction materials (EC Haris Research, 2011). Same is the case with the automotive industry. In March 2012, production of auto motives grew at the rate of 6.83% (ACMA, 2013). The domestic sales of auto motive domestic sales great at 10.11% as compared to 2011 (SIAM, 2013). The automobile market is booming and Saint Gobain India made the right choice by specializing in these products so it can cater to the growing demand of these markets. As a company Saint Gobain has adapted to the Indian market and introduced products which are suitable for the growing industries and can cater to their need. The products are also high quality with innovative features (SIAM, 2013). The poster highlights the core feature of Saint Gobain which is Innovation. The innovation strategy of Saint Gobain has been shown and how

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Ang Lee (2000) Essay

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Ang Lee (2000) - Essay Example The movie is based on the novel written by Wang Du Lu and shows the story happening in 19th century. Since the hero and story of the movie represent a supernatural theme, the movie defies the ancient Chinese cultural representation. (Thesis). The lead role as a hero is played by Hong Kong legend Chow- Yun- Fat who has the name Li Mu bai in the movie . Li is a magnificent warrior and is renowned throughout QING China and leads an adventurous life. His precious asset is his mighty sword which is both powerful and ancient and is being gifted to his very close friend. The movie surrounds the theft of the sword and Li’s determination in finding the stolen property and returning it to the rightful owner. In this movie, the primary importance is for Yun- Fat as the whole movie circle around him and his sword. In the movie Li also accompanied by his lady love Yu – shu – Lien which is played by Michelle Yeoh. Role of hero in the movie The hero Li is the pivotal character in the movie and he is the action performer which is the central theme of the movie .The hero Li throughout the entire movie has the role of chasing the stolen sword which he presented to his treasured friend as a token of love. Here the hero has to represents a classical righteous Chinese warrior who is after establishing truth and morality in his life. Li‘s duty as a hero is to represent in the movie as a noble warrior who seeks after truth. His role is to depict as a sacrificial person who fights with enemy to get back the precious gift which he presented to his best friend. The role of Li is to portray as a charismatic hero who has the miraculous power of battling ancient Chinese martial art. The role of Li in the movie is of a mighty warrior and a of a romantic hero who fights for righteousness, integrity and love. In the movie, as Li is battling against a female enemy, he also is bound as a hero to showcase masculine prowess in abundant. In the movie, Li is also compared with a tiger for his ferocious martial art skill, accuracy and defending power. In reality, the main role of hero Li is to portray a fantasy martial art expert who gives value to loyalty, honesty and truthfulness. The hero defying classical traditional representation The hero in the movie â€Å"Crouching tiger Hidden dragon† showcases one who has supernatural fighting tactics and martial art skill. This hero takes us to an ancient Chinese culture where people possess mysterious and mythical power in martial arts. The hero in this movie battles on every plane of earth like air, water and ground. This defies the very essence of ancient Chinese martial art concept. According to the age old Chinese martial art, there is no mythical or supernatural tactics or skills attached to it. The fight is conducted on land and by no means can be practiced on air and water surface. Unlike hero Li, the martial experts of traditional Chinese culture did not possess superficial power or attribu tes in context to martial art practice and the film depicted more western action elements. As per (Movie Muser) â€Å"Crouching Tiger was actually the first film he directed outside North America, and despite the wirework and plot, he brought a relatively western perspective to the way it was filmed†

Ex-fellons and the right to vote Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ex-fellons and the right to vote - Essay Example In some states of the United States of America, ex-felons, that is the people who committed a crime and have served the concomitant sentence, are not allowed to vote. This very provision not only deprives a good proportion of the citizens of their essential and basic rights, but also in a way tends to compromise their sense of dignity and respect. In a social, political, legal and humanitarian context, the ex-felons should have the right to vote in this country. The provision of debarring the ex-felons from voting is not only anti-democratic, but also contrary to the objective of enabling the ex-felons rejoin the society as worthy equals. It could reasonably be understood that a great many people tend to have reservations, as far as the task of taking an initiative about mixing with and employing ex-felons is concerned. Yet, the very society which punished these people for the crimes they committed also carries the responsibility of assuring that once they have served their sentence, they do not get stigmatized and persecuted, once they are set free. However, the provision for restricting the ex-felons from voting not only amounts to a state sponsored persecution, but also does much to further alienate and sideline these individuals. Genuinely speaking, how could one expect these people to rejoin the society as law-abiding and responsible citizens, when they state formally declares them to be untrustworthy, by debarring them from voting. Ma ny people tend to put forward the argument that serving a sentence is not a guarantee that the ex-felons have abstained from their criminal and unlawful tendencies. However, at a deeper analysis, this argument smacks predominantly of abject prejudice, rather than being logical enough to deserve a blanket generalization. There was a time when many thought that the blacks should not have the right to vote. There was

The international business environment is shaped by a wide variety of Essay

The international business environment is shaped by a wide variety of Political, Economic, Socio-Cultural and Technological ('PE - Essay Example The internationalization of businesses is normally shaped by macro-environmental factors which impacts hugely on their operations. Therefore, it is advisable for managers to ensure that a thorough analysis is conducted on the macro-environmental factors before making a move to go global. The macro-environmental factors that shape the international business environment include political, economical, social, legal, and technological factors (Blythe 2006, p.21). These factors must be considered because failure to do so might lead to sub-optimization of the strategies and resources invested by the company. This paper will examine how the political, economical, socio-cultural, and technological factors shape up the international business environment. Political/legal factors Political factors that shape a company’s internalization strategy include laws, groups and agencies that impact and limit individuals and organizations in society (Viswanathan and Dickson 2006, p.26). The areas that must be evaluated by managers include the attitude of the government toward foreign businesses, political stability, government bureaucracy as well as the financial policies of the country in which the company wants to establish its operations. The legal and political forces are very crucial and need to be considered by any manager because they cover several aspects of policies adopted by a company. For instance, the policies adopted by the government affects the entire industry through its regulatory bodies such as Trade and Industry Departments and Environmental Departments (Morrison 2009, p.16). These bodies affect the industry in which the company operates through their policies on trade and standards and restriction within their areas of controls. Policies developed by these bodies can affect businesses in a number of ways including the products produced, sold, or promoted by a company. It is very important for multinational companies to acknowledge the fact that political backgrounds differs from one country to another. For instance, the political environment of the U.K. may be quite different from that of China. This implies that a multinational company in the U.K. wishing to set businesses in China must first be conversant with the political and legal issues in China before making any move set business in the new environment. Morrison (2009) notes that a majority of economies that were formerly centrally planned still receive protection from their governments. This implies that a move to have a joint venture can easily be accepted in such economies. At the same time, it is reported that legal implications pertaining to the marketing of a product globally is very complex (Daniels and Radebaugh 1998, p.51). This is because every country has its legal system which implies that global companies must adhere to such legal systems in order not to find themselves on the wrong side of the law. McDonald’s is one of the most famous Americas fast food restaurants with an international presence in several countries such as the U.K., Japan and Russia, just to name but a few. However, reports indicate that McDonald’s was hugely affected by a legal challenges in Russia in 1993 when a law was passed in Russia compelling all stores (both local and international) to have Russian names. The same law,

Protection of Intellectual Property, Confidentiality, and Freedom of E Essay

Protection of Intellectual Property, Confidentiality, and Freedom of Expression on the Internet - Essay Example Internet suppression can maintain its vital role in providing an efficient and democratic means of distributing information around the world. The act of hate speech, pornography and the like are very alarming in the country as it can affect the lives of the people involved with some sort of wrong information. These are my main concern for opposing the use of free speech. Websites that contain pornographic and obscene material and information are also widespread on the internet which can give a bad effect to the users. Even it is impossible to totally discontinue its operation on the internet, the government shall act on carrying out the censorship by filtering its every feature and applying the rules in creating a useful website.As the technologies progress, any person with an internet connection has the potential to reach other people with anonymity thus, syndicates can easily use cybercrime to perform their bad intention with the advantage of hidden personal identity from the law e nforcers. Crimes and dilemma which emerged from improper usage of the internet can be reduced if people using it are responsible enough of their right and if the law is implemented strictly.Encouraging awareness and advocacy in protecting one’s own right as well as the rights of others will be of great help in minimizing the risks of crimes and the dilemma associated with internet use.Legal aspects related to utilization of networked information devices and technologies such as the existence of cyber law will also help in regulating some of the most important topics including intellectual property, privacy, freedom of expression, and jurisdiction.

Four functions of management case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Four functions of management - Case Study Example However, you did not put some of the management functions in place. It was the reason for the business failures as the business grew in size. The management skills, which accrue to a business’s success that you did not put into consideration, include controlling, planning, organizing, and directing skills that accrue to a successful business. Directing: One of the reasons that affected the business’ success was your directive skills. According to your business statistics, you employed Lisa and entrusted her with all the business operations. Irrespective of you two being friends for a long time, you should not have trusted her with all the directive orders. She would report to work, wash the office and tidy up then start her daily chores. This was a lot for her and what she had not expected. She had to check all the tax forms and serve all the customers. For a business to be successful and achieve the goals and objectives, it should ensure a proper channel of communicati on between the workers (Richman 2012). Lisa had confidence that she was doing the right thing even after adding the three new employees. You should have controlled all of them since you are the senior manager. You should have given your orders to the employees in case of any changes, which should have been directly, or indirectly through According to Directive Path Theory, a business leader should give freedom to his/his employees for them to realize their job expectations. In reference to the theory, your management should do a follow up on employees’ tasks to ensure that they achieve the required job standards and set goals. Remarkably, members of the management are required to involve the subordinate staff in the process of making strategic decisions. You should have involved your employees in decision-making processes that would have helped produce effective workplace union. Employees can also motivated by awarding them accordingly after excellent progress in their work. Awards can be through issuing of presents and souvenir just as you did in your case. Additionally, you did not put your supervisions skills into consideration hence led to your employees taking advantage of the situation. As for Lisa’s case, she would not let you down due to your close relationship but the other employees would due to lack of an employee-employer relationship. It was the cause for the embezzlement of funds by your accountants. Communication is an essential measure in business management and should be employed to ensure a communication between top management and the junior staff (Richman, 2012). Communication avenues includes vertical and horizontal. In your case, you only emphasized on vertical communication. It entailed her communication skills with Lisa but not the other accountants. However, you did not consider horizontal type of communication. Good management skills allow both horizontal and vertical communication that entails an open office where commun ication occurs from all sides. These sides include communication from the senior management to the junior staff and the vice versa. Management should ensure an open office relationship where you allow your staff to make suggestions on issues before making decisions. Planning: On the issue of planning, you had good plans while establishing the job. You hired just one employee to cut costs that would boost the capital needed. However, according to management theories on planning, duties should be

Free

Free Space Optics Essay ABSTRACT: FSO may sound new and experimental but in fact it predates optical fiber and has its roots in wartime efforts to develop secure communication systems that did not require cable and could withstand radio jamming. FSO has been around for more than a decade, but it is only recently that interest in this technology has started to grow. Free Space Optics (FSO) communications, also called Free Space Photonics (FSP) or Optical Wireless, refers to the transmission of modulated visible or infrared (IR) beams through the atmosphere to obtain optical communications. Like fiber, Free Space Optics (FSO) uses lasers to transmit data, but instead of enclosing the data stream in a glass fiber, it is transmitted through the air. Free Space Optics (FSO) works on the same basic principle as Infrared television remote controls, wireless keyboards or wireless Palm ® devices. How Free Space Optics (FSO) Works Free Space Optics (FSO) transmits invisible, eye-safe light beams from one telescope to another using low power infrared laser in the terahertz spectrum. The beams of light in Free Space Optics (FSO) systems are transmitted by laser light focused on highly sensitive photon detector receivers. These receivers are telescopic lenses able to collect the photon stream and transmit digital data containing a mix of Internet messages, video images, radio signals or computer files. Commercially available systems offer capacities in the range of 100 Mbps to 2.5 Gbps, and demonstration systems report data rates as high as 160 Gbps. Free Space Optics (FSO) systems can function over distances of several kilometers. As long as there is a clear line of sight between the source and the destination, and enough transmitter power, Free Space Optics (FSO) communication is possible. [pic] Free Space optics (fso) technology Lasers are one of the most significant inventions of the 20th century they can be found in many modern products, from CD players to fiber-optic networks. A laser generates light, either visible or infrared, through a process known as stimulated emission. To understand stimulated emission, understanding two basic concepts is necessary. The first is absorption which occurs when an atom absorbs energy or photons. The second is emission which occurs when an atom emits photons. Emission occurs when an atom is in an excited or high energy state and returns to a stable or ground state – when this occurs naturally it is called spontaneous emission because no outside trigger is required. Stimulated emission occurs when an already excited atom is bombarded by yet another photon causing it to release that photon along with the photon which previously excited it. Photons are particles, or more properly quanta, of light and a light beam is made up of what can be thought of as a stream of photons. [pic] A basic laser uses a mirrored chamber or cavity to reflect light waves so they reinforce each other. An excitable substance – gas, liquid, or solid like the original ruby laser – is contained within the cavity and determines the wavelength of the resulting laser beam. Through a process called pumping, energy is introduced to the cavity exciting the atoms within and causing a population inversion. A population inversion is when there are more excited atoms than grounded atoms which then leads to stimulated emission. The released photons oscillate back and forth between the mirrors of the cavity, building energy and causing other atoms to release more photons. One of the mirrors allows some of the released photons to escape the cavity resulting in a laser beam emitting from one end of the cavity. Terrestrial Laser CommunicatIOns Challenges FogFog substantially attenuates visible radiation, and it has a similar affect on the near-infrared wavelengths that are employed in laser communications. Similar to the case of rain attenuation with RF wireless, fog attenuation is not a â€Å"show-stopper† for optical wireless, because the optical link can be engineered such that, for a large fraction of the time, an acceptable power will be received even in the presence of heavy fog. Laser communication systems can be enhanced to yield even greater availabilities by combining them with RF systems. Physical Obstructions Laser communications systems that employ multiple, spatially diverse transmitters and large receive optics will eliminate interference concerns from objects such as birds. Pointing Stability Pointing stability in commercial laser communications systems is achieved by one of two methods. The simpler, less costly method is to widen the beam divergence so that if either end of the link moves the receiver will still be within the beam. The second method is to employ a beam tracking system. While more costly, such systems allow for a tighter beam to be transmitted allowing for higher security and longer distance transmissions. Scintillation Performance of many laser communications systems is adversely affected by scintillation on bright sunny days. Through a large aperture receiver, widely spaced transmitters, finely tuned receive filtering, and automatic gain control, downtime due to scintillation can be avoided. FSO: Wireless, at the Speed of Light Unlike radio and microwave systems, Free Space Optics (FSO) is an optical technology and no spectrum licensing or frequency coordination with other users is required, interference from or to other systems or equipment is not a concern, and the point-to-point laser signal is extremely difficult to intercept, and therefore secure. Data rates comparable to optical fiber transmission can be carried by Free Space Optics (FSO) systems with very low error rates, while the extremely narrow laser beam widths ensure that there is almost no practical limit to the number of separate Free Space Optics (FSO) links that can be installed in a given location. How Free Space Optics (FSO) can help? FSO’s freedom from licensing and regulation translates into ease, speed and low cost of deployment. Since Free Space Optics (FSO) transceivers can transmit and receive through windows, it is possible to mount Free Space Optics (FSO) systems inside buildings, reducing the need to compete for roof space, simplifying wiring and cabling, and permitting Free Space Optics (FSO) equipment to operate in a very favorable environment. The only essential requirement for Free Space Optics (FSO) or optical wireless transmission is line of sight between the two ends of the link. For Metro Area Network (MAN) providers the last mile or even feet can be the most daunting. Free Space Optics (FSO) networks can close this gap and allow new customer’s access to high-speed MAN’s. Providers also can take advantage of the reduced risk of installing an Free Space Optics (FSO) network which can later be redeployed. The Market. Why FSO? Breaking the Bandwidth Bottleneck Why FSO? The global telecommunications network has seen massive expansion over the last few years. First came the tremendous growth of the optical fiber long-haul, wide-area network (WAN), followed by a more recent emphasis on metropolitan area networks (MANs). Meanwhile, local area networks (LANs) and gigabit ethernet ports are being deployed with a comparable growth rate. In order for this tremendous network capacity to be exploited, and for the users to be able to utilize the broad array of new services becoming available, network designers must provide a flexible and cost-effective means for the users to access the telecommunications network. Presently, however, most local loop network connections are limited to 1.5 Mbps (a T1 line). As a consequence, there is a strong need for a high-bandwidth bridge (the â€Å"last mile† or â€Å"first mile†) between the LANs and the MANs or WANs. A recent New York Times article reported that more than 100 million miles of optical fiber was laid around the world in the last two years, as carriers reacted to the Internet phenomenon and end users’ insatiable demand for bandwidth. The sheer scale of connecting whole communities, cities and regions to that fiber optic cable or â€Å"backbone† is something not many players understood well. Despite the huge investment in trenching and optical cable, most of the fiber remains unlit, 80 to 90% of office, commercial and industrial buildings are not connected to fiber, and transport prices are dropping dramatically. Free Space Optics (FSO) systems represent one of the most promising approaches for addressing the emerging broadband access market and its â€Å"last mile† bottleneck. Free Space Optics (FSO) systems offer many features, principal among them being low start-up and operational costs, rapid deployment, and high fiber-like bandwidths due to the optical nature of the technology. Broadband Bandwidth Alternatives Access technologies in general use today include telco-provisioned copper wire, wireless Internet access, broadband RF/microwave, coaxial cable and direct optical fiber connections (fiber to the building; fiber to the home). Telco/PTT telephone networks are still trapped in the old Time Division Multiplex (TDM) based network infrastructure that rations bandwidth to the customer in increments of 1.5 Mbps (T-1) or 2.024 Mbps (E-1). DSL penetration rates have been throttled by slow deployment and the pricing strategies of the PTTs. Cable modem access has had more success in residential markets, but suffers from security and capacity problems, and is generally conditional on the user subscribing to a package of cable TV channels. Wireless Internet access is still slow, and the tiny screen renders it of little appeal for web browsing. Broadband RF/microwave systems have severe limitations and are losing favor. The radio spectrum is a scarce and expensive licensed commodity, sold or leased to the highest bidder, or on a first-come first-served basis, and all too often, simply unavailable due to congestion. As building owners have realized the value of their roof space, the price of roof rights has risen sharply. Furthermore, radio equipment is not inexpensive, the maximum data rates achievable with RF systems are low compared to optical fiber, and communications channels are insecure and subject to interference from and to other systems (a major constraint on the use of radio systems). Advantages A free space optical (FSO) system offers a flexible networking solution that delivers on the promise of broadband. Only free space optics or Free Space Optics (FSO) provides the essential combination of qualities required to bring the traffic to the optical fiber backbone – virtually unlimited bandwidth, low cost, ease and speed of deployment. Freedom from licensing and regulation translates into ease, speed and low cost of deployment. Since Free Space Optics (FSO) optical wireless transceivers can transmit and receive through windows, it is possible to mount Free Space Optics (FSO) systems inside buildings, reducing the need to compete for roof space, simplifying wiring and cabling, and permitting the equipment to operate in a very favorable environment. The only essential for Free Space Optics (FSO) is line of sight between the two ends of the link. âž ¢ Freedom from licensing and regulation leads to ease, speed and low cost of deployment. âž ¢ Since FSO units can receive and transmit through windows it reduces the need to compete for roof space, simplifying wiring and cabling. âž ¢ Only need is the line of sight between the two ends of the link. âž ¢ Providers take advantage of the reduced risk in installing FSO equipment, which can even be re-deployed. âž ¢ Zero chances of network failure. âž ¢ Virtually unlimited bandwidth. APPLICATIONS âž ¢ Metro network extensions – FSO is used to extend existing metropolitan area fiberings to connect new networks from outside. âž ¢ Last mile access – FSO can be used in high-speed links to connect end users with ISPs. âž ¢ Enterprise connectivity The ease in which FSO can be installed makes them a solution for interconnecting LAN segments, housed in buildings separated by public streets. âž ¢ Fiber backup FSO may be deployed in redundant links to backup fiber in place of a second fiber link. âž ¢ Backhaul – Used to carry cellular telephone traffic from antenna towers back to facilities into the public switched telephone networks. Free Space Optics (FSO) Challenges The advantages of free space optical wireless or Free Space Optics (FSO) do not come without some cost. When light is transmitted through optical fiber, transmission integrity is quite predictable – barring unforeseen events such as backhoes or animal interference. When light is transmitted through the air, as with Free Space Optics (FSO) optical wireless systems, it must contend with a complex and not always quantifiable subject the atmosphere. âž ¢ Fog and free space optics (fso) âž ¢ Physical obstructions and free space optics (fso) âž ¢ Free space optics (fso) pointing stability – building sway, tower movemen t âž ¢ Scintillation and free space optics (fso) âž ¢ Solar interference and free space optics CONCLUSION FSO enables optical transmission of voice video and data through air at very high rates. It has key roles to play as primary access medium and backup technology. Driven by the need for high speed local loop connectivity and the cost and the difficulties of deploying fiber, the interest in FSO has certainly picked up dramatically among service providers worldwide. Instead of fiber coaxial systems, fiber laser systems may turn out to be the best way to deliver high data rates to your home. FSO continues to accelerate the vision of all optical networks cost effectively, reliably and quickly with freedom and flexibility of deployment. REFERENCES 1)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-space_optical_communication 2)http://www.freespaceoptics.org/freespaceoptics/default.cfm 3) http://www.freespaceoptic.com/

Teacher As A Resource For Students Essay Example for Free

Teacher As A Resource For Students Essay The boy came from The Dominican Republic and did not speak English. This proved to be a problem not just for the young student but his teacher, classmates, and school as well. How would he learn, cope and thrive is his new environment? How would his new surrounding help him adjust? These were the questions that, after a few interventions, were resolved successfully. The intervention began when an aide was appointed to help the boy by serving as his translator. It helped for a while until lessons were starting to get progress. To facilitate learning, I provided supplementary books for the boy’s teacher to equip her in helping the student. Concurrently, the student was given worksheets. With his aide and teacher by his side, the boy started adjusting to his new environment and was learning. He could speak little English and was able to interact with other children. This is a perfect example of what successful teaching is. Successful teaching is a fusion of personal and interpersonal skills and personal and professional commitment (Day, 1999). They act as resources for students. They are the agents of transferring knowledge, skills and values. In this case, employing an aide was a way of capturing and transferring knowledge. Doing one-on-one with the child was also advantageous for it broke the barrier of transmitting information. The aide, in her own way, became an important resource for the student. The teacher also acted as a vital resource. A teacher’s task is to teach but in this case, the teacher also had to learn. She was willing to learn to be able to teach. That is a marking of successful teaching, if a teacher can be a good source for a holistic development of a student. Continued one-on-one guidance with the boy should be encouraged until the boy has completely managed on his own. It is also favorable to continue exposing the boy to his new environment, allowing him to mingle with others and explore. Field trips and activities that foster cooperation may help.

IT Impact on Organizational Performance in Banking

IT Impact on Organizational Performance in Banking Information technology and permeated almost every aspect of business operations and communications technologies. So it is a one of the most exciting research has been focusing on the wide interest in all parts of the world through the decades, but little was devoted to study the impact of information technology to banks in Bahrain. This study examines the impact of information technology on organizational performance in the banking sector during the period from 2005 to 2009. The dependent variable used is return on equity ( ROE) while the independent variables are Hard ware, Soft Ware, System Development Operations, I .T Maintenance, I.T Training , I .T Insurance , I.T Communication, I .T Implementation, I .T Consultancy , I .T Sites and Business Continuity Planning (BCP). Preliminary data collected through in-depth interviews, official documents and surveys of the field through the top 8 banks in Bahrain, this data has been tested by applying different statistical methods and finance. The research results led to the conclusion that information technology has a positive impact on organizational performance in the banking sector. CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION As an emerged business trend, the use of information technology (I.T) in the economic organizations are immense and measureless. Systems of organization and functions are now considered effortless and unproblematic because of I.T. information technology passes to be the most important one for each financial institution and the banks, particularly, they are one of the greater investors in I. T, Ahli united bank one of these banks that costs them around $ 13 millions. It is an enormous cost of this technology for local and international market. The existing studies generally have concluded two positive effects concerning the relationship between IT and the financial performance of banks. â€Å"First, it can reduce operational costs of banks (the cost advantage). For example, the Internet helps banks to conduct standardized, low value transactions (e.g. send the bill payments, balance inquiries, account transfers) through the online channel, while focusing its resources on specialized, high value added transactions (eg small business loans, personal trust services, investment banking) through branches. Second, can facilitate transactions between customers within the same network(the network effect). As an example, let us consider the case of automated teller machines (ATMs) by banks. If ATMs are geographically dispersed areas available largely over, the advantage of using an atmosphere will increase as customers can access their accounts from any geographic location they want. This would imply that the value of the ATM network increases with number of locations available in the atmosphere, and the value of the network of the a bank to a customer is determined in part by the final size of the network effect banks network is important in the adoption of the atmosphere. IT has drawn the attention of many researchers, commissioned to study the impact of IT in the functioning of the bank and that is a goal of many organizations. Some researchers have found positive relationships between IT investment and organizational performance and some of it found it negative. Problem Statement IT investments and its impact on the banking industry is a very important point for both banking managers and IT managers to be able to deal with and justify wither increased spending for investment in IT will lead to increase performance of Bank or not. That will put increasing pressure on managers to asses its business value. In this study we will examine the key components of IT investments (Hard ware, Soft Ware, System Development Operations, I .T Maintenance, I.T Training , I .T Insurance , I.T Communication, I .T Implementation, I .T Consultancy , I .T Sites and Business Continuity Planning (BCP) to see if spending in different IT areas as an impacts on bank performances. Significance and Importance The importance of this project lies in its ability to shed a light on the Impact of Information Technology on The Financial Performance of Bank sector in kingdom of Bahrain. Furthermore, this study would encourage other Banks in the area to benefit from Bahraini Banks experience and therefore follow their lead. Purposes The goal of this study is to: To determine which type of information system leads to high financial performance of the banks. Evaluate in what specific ways and to what extent do information systems could eventually lead to high financial performance. To find out what issues emerges when implementing IT at the bank. Research Hypothesis The main Hypotheses There is no significant relationship between investing in I.T and the financial performance of Banks of Bahrain. H01: There is no significant relationship between investing in HW and the financial performance of Banks of Bahrain. H02: There is no significant relationship between investing in SW and the financial performance of Banks of Bahrain. H03: There is no significant relationship between investing in SDO and the financial performance of Banks of Bahrain. H04: There is no significant relationship between investing in Main and the financial performance of Banks of Bahrain. H05: There is no significant relationship between investing in Trn and the financial performance of Banks of Bahrain. H06: There is no significant relationship between investing in Insu and the financial performance of Banks of Bahrain. H07: There is no significant relationship between investing in Comm and the financial performance of Banks of Bahrain. H08: There is no significant relationship between investing in Imp and the financial performance of Banks of Bahrain. H09: There is no significant relationship between investing in Con and the financial performance of Banks of Bahrain. H010: There is no significant relationship between investing in Sit and the financial performance of Banks of Bahrain. H011: There is no significant relationship between investing in BCP and the financial performance of Banks of Bahrain. Key Words Information technology (I.T): any technology that helps to produce, manipulate process, store, communicate, and/or disseminate information. Information system (IS): is any combination of information technology and peoples activities using that technology to support operations, management, and decision-making. I.T Investment : Banks of Bahrain: Its a financial institution located in Bahrain that deals in money and its substitutes and provides other financial services. ATM: automated teller machine, which allows customers to complete basic transactions without the aid of a branch representative or teller. Financial Performance: is the overall profitability of the insurance firm. Study Outline The paper proceeds as follows: Chapter 2 focuses on the literature review where the work of other researchers and some previous theoretical and empirical studies are mentioned. Chapter 3 is about the methodology used in this study. Chapter 4 discusses the empirical results and findings of the research. Finally, conclusions and recommendations are made in chapter 5. CHAPTER TWO BACKGROUND CHAPTER TWO BACKGROUND Introduction This chapter will specify some aspects of Bahrains economy and what attracts foreign and local investors to invest their capital in this country; along with some important features and statistical data regarding the banking industry, we will try to know why It is necessary for the management of the organizations to measure and to evaluate the organization performance. Finally, the literature review will discuss a number of some previous studies related to this topic. An Overview of Bahrains Economy The economy of Bahrain is mainly defined by oil production and refining and production, ship repair, iron pelletization, fertilizers, offshore banking, insurance. The country is trying hard to privatize its economy so that it can reduce the dependence on oil production and that prompted the government to develop other industries as well. For example, in 1970, the government established Aluminum Bahrain (ALBA), an aluminum smelting industry which still remains an important industry. In a further effort at diversification, the government has also promoted tourism. The government controls the oil and gas, most heavy industry, and the bulk transport and communications, but has made efforts to privatize the economy, bank transfer, light manufacturing, and trade in private hands. Listen Read phonetically Dictionary View detailed dictionary Translate any website El Confidencial-Spain Tom.com-China News.de-Germany Nord-Cinema-France Zamalek Fans-Arabic Gotujmy.pl-Polish Vogue-France Arte Toreo-Spain LExpress-France Onet.pl-Polish Pà ºblico.es-Spain Zeit Online-Germany Bahrains economy is strong and always improving their sectors to look for a bright future. It was called the fastest growing financial center in the Arab world by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia in January 2006 by the City of London global financial centers index in 2008. In 2004 it signed a free trade an agreement with United States will reduce the trading Which Barriers between the two countries. Bahrain Was the first Arabian Gulf state to sign such a trading mutual agreement with the United States. http://www.mapsofworld.com/country-profile/bahrain1.html https://www.cia.gov Banking Sector in Bahrain Bahrain is the home of more than 400 the authorized financial institutions, what represents a rich mix of international, regional and local names. They cover all the range of financial products, with private concentrations in sure, wholesale banking and funds / asset management. The financial sector is now the major sector of the economy represents more than the 27% of the GDP. The financial sector is also the major employer in Bahrain for more than the 80% of the labor. The sector is regulated and supervised by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) (www.cbb.gov.bh), which since 2002 has functioned as a regulator of the entire financial system. Bahrains banking system consists of both conventional and Islamic banks and is the main component of the financial system, which represent over 85% of total financial assets. The conventional segment includes 19 retail banks, 69 wholesale banks, 2 specialized banks and 36 representative offices of foreign banks. The Islamic segment, offering a series of Sharia Conformity of their products and services include 6 retail and 18 wholesale banks, and the numbers are increasing steadily. The banking sector has played a central role in the development of Bahrain as major financial center in the region. As in December 2006, banking sector assets amounted to over U.S. $ 180 billion, more than twelve times annual gross domestic product. The recent increase in the sector has been supported willingly fortune of the industry of the petroleum and the corresponding increases of liquidity. The banks are playing thus a central role in surplus to reinvest the petroleum incomes as well as complying the opportunities of financing in other segments of the economy. http://www.bahrain1.com/banking.html Performance Measures The performance as declared by Wheelen and hunger (2000) is the final result of an activity and a performance organizacional accumulates turned out final of all the organization process and activities. It is necessary for the management of the organizations to measure and to evaluate the organization performance to utilize organizations resources in better form and to win good organization honorableness. Managers measure and to control organization performance, since conducts to a better management of assets, to a greater capacity to provide value of the client, for improve the measures of organization Knowledge and measure of performance organizacional have an impact on an organization reputation. Literature review Many studies had been done in order provide a clear picture of the financial performance of banks. Gupta, Uma and Collins (1997) investigate the impact of information systems on the efficiency of banks. They were centered in determining the relation among the investments in I.T and bank efficiency; they identified an efficiency measures assembly commonly utilized by the banks and they asked to their respondents to specify if these measures were utilized to evaluate the performance of I.T an investment. They found that the companies ensure that the investments in technology are deliberately and in a significant way aligned with achieving the strategic, tactical one, and the operational goals of the business is probable that to see a narrower link among I.T investments and improvements of productivity of the organization. Thus I.T performs an important and valuable role in helping to reach objectives organizational, to enlarge the productivity to improve service to the client, and to utilize fully existing system. Lunardi, Becker and Macada (2003), they evaluated the strategic impact of IT in Brazilian, American, Argentinean, Uruguayan and Chilean banks as perceived by their executives. In order to externally validate the questionnaire, results were analyzed considering, as isolated samples, (a) Brazil, (b) the United States, (c) Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, and, then, (d) as one group merging all data. The results indicate that (1) Competition, Products and Services, and Borrowers (customers) are the main strategic variables affected by IT; (2) there are no differences between executives of IT and other functional executives regarding their perception of the impacts of IT in strategic variables; and (3) the impact of IT in Competitiveness is significantly related with the impact of IT in Borrowers, Government and Country Requirements, Products and Services, and Cost Structure and Capacity. This study supported banking executives to plan IT strategies, their implementation and to evaluate their use. Another research had been done by Elena Becalli. (2005) Who investigated whether investment in Information Technology (IT) hardware, software and other IT services influences the performance of banks by Using a sample of 737 European banks over the period 1993-2000 . The study found that the impact of different types of IT investment (hardware, software and services) on banks performance is heterogeneous. Investment in IT services from external providers (consulting services, implementation Services, training and education, support services) appears to have a positive influence on accounting profits and profit efficiency, while the acquisition of hardware and software seems to reduce banks performance. Shaukat and Zafarullah. (2009) made a study examined the impact of IT on organizational performance in quantitative terms of Pakistans manufacturing and banking sectors over period of 1994-2005 and come with the following result. I.T changed the character of so much work for the industries and enlarges its performance. This positive impact has shown in indicators of qualitative performance. Significant improvements with regard to the different qualitative variables as customer satisfaction, client/suppliers links, image of the business, employees interest work, shareholders, confidence and among office links/communication they have been observed in both the sectors and banking in Particular . Akram and Allam. (2010), explored the impression on improving the performance of two forms of matrix. The first is matrix of financial performance which comprises Market Value-Added (MVA), Return on Investment (ROI) and Earning per Share (EPR) and the second is matrix of operational performance, which includes the Net Profit Margin (NPM), Operating Return on Assets (ORA) and the profit value of the employee (PE). Utilizing IT by Jordanian banks which measured by testing the level of investment in Hardware, Software, Internet Banking, Phone banking, number of ATMs, use of Cyber branches and Banking via SMS. The results of measurements indicated that there was an impact on the use of MIS in Jordanian banks in the market value added (MVA), Earnings Per Share (EPS), Return on Assets (ROA), Net Profit Margin (NMP). Keramati, Azadeh and Mehran (2009), discussed and tested empirical to moderate environmental effects of dynamism and branch strategy on the impact of the investment and other efficient variables (number of employees and fixed assets) in the branches. The study sample was comprised of 102 branch offices of the bank Parsian and the empirical results, on the base of a model moderate of decline. Concretely, IT investment seems to have a greater positive impact on performance of the banks when there are greater environmental changes and more proactiva strategy branch. According to their conclusions, the banks considering that the investment should evaluate their performance environmental contexts and the strategic orientation. Another investigation has been carried out for Mallick and Shirley (2006). They examined the effects of the information technology (IT) in the banking industry of United States. They found that IT can improve banks performance in two ways: IT can reduce operational cost (cost effect), and facilitate transactions among customers the clients inside the same network (effect network). They characterized the conditions to identify these two effects and the conditions for the two seemingly positive effects to turn negative in the equilibrium. The results were tested on a panel of 68 US banks over 20 years, and they found that the bank profits decline due to adoption and diffusion of IT investment, reflecting negative network effects in banking Industry. In this study I will use the same factors used by Akram and Allam (2010) to explain the Impact of Information Technology on The Financial Performance of Bank sector in kingdom of Bahrain. CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY Introduction In this part of the study, we build the methodology of the study that is characterized in terms of tools and method of measurement and tests for the problem of the study, taking advantage of methods and tools of previous studies, in order to guarantee the access to the methodology to obtain the information more I need and better results. The key variables will be measured in an intent of practice to identify dependent and independent variables and to explain how the independent variable affects the dependent variable. Finally, It will also provide a study model and some specifications of the model used to conduct the research. Population and Sampling Data Collection The data was collected through in-depth interviews with the senior managers of finance , and some mangers from I.T Department of Banks in sample and from official documents plus We used several academic journals and articles which have been downloaded online from various websites to collect data for this study. Updating numerical data about the Banking sector and Banks have been collected from the annual reports of each Banks which are submitted on their official websites. Population The research population is all locally Banks in Bahrain Ahli United Bank National Bank of Bahrain Bahrain Islamic Bank (BisB) Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait B.S.C . Bank Muscat International (BMI) Standard Chartered Kuwait Finance House Bahrain Citibank Bahrain HSBC Bank Middle East Limited Arab Bank Table 3.1 : Population Source: The Researcher Sample Ahli United Bank (AUB) Bank Muscat International (BMI) were selected as research sample to represent this sector. However these Banks were selected because I found that it was easy for me to collect any information needed for this research from these tow Banks since I am working in Ahli united Bank and I Know Manger of IT in Bank Muscat International (BMI) . Ahli United Bank . Bank Muscat International (BMI) Table 3.2 : Sample Source: The Researcher The first bank is Ahli United Bank, Bahrain (AUB): Ahli United Bank BSC (AUB) formed after the 2001 merger of Al-Ahli Commercial Bank and Commercial Bank of Bahrain, It is a full fledged commercial and investment banking group providing Services of 1. Wealth management 2. Retail, corporate 3. Treasury 4. offshore 5. Islamic banking 6. Real estate fund management 7. Structured finance and private banking services. The Groups businesses consist of the operations in Bahrain, a wholly owned subsidiary in the UK and associates in Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Egypt, Iraq and Libya. Source: http://www.cbb.gov.bh/page.php?p=banking The second bank is Bank Muscat International (BMI) : BMI Bank (previously known as Bank Muscat International), an associate of Bank Muscat the largest financial services provider in Oman today, is a Retail Bank, registered in Bahrain and regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain offering a full range of retail and commercial banking services. BMI Bank operates in Bahrain through a network of 8 branches and 26 ATMs with net banking for easy access to services. Source: http://www.bmi.com.bh/AnnualReport/images Period covered in this research This research covers the period from 2005 to 2009. Analysis Plan Use Regression method to specify the relationship between the independent variables (HW, SW, SDO, MAIN, TRN, Insu, Comm, Imp, Cons, Sit, BCP) and the dependent variable which is the (ROE). Research Model Model Specification This economic model is used to examine the relationship between Independent Variables and Banks performance. Defining Study Variables The independent variables Hard ware: Which includes spending on data storage devices, terminals, memory, peripherals, workstations, personal computers and data communications devices, So It is the net investment bank in the computer hardware and equipment in the period. (Akram Allam 2010) Soft Ware: which includes spending on packaged software, application Solutions software, application tools, and systems infrastructure software? It is the net investment bank in the software during the period. (Akram Allam 2010) System Development Operations: Which includes spending on Specific activities related to system development and other expenses for operations management during the period like the network, processing services, backup and archiving. ( Elena Becalli. 2005) I .T Maintenance :On going operational support of either hardware or software IT assets of an organization. This can be both preventative as well as reactive support. I.T Training: Includes education used to enhance general knowledge and expand the abilities to use IT during the period. (Elena Becalli 2005) I .T Insurance: The insurer provides protection of IT assets against fire, theft, flood and accidental damage and protects the firms investment from claims arising out of professional negligence or system failure . I.T Communication: Providing effective ways for inter application, inter entity communication. Effective IT communication provides the backbone for the working of any next generation application due to centralized and cloud based roadmap towards Information Technology. I .T Implementation: Which includes spending on a new or changed application systems are needed in order to support the processes, these must first be procured or developed and implemented. I .T Consultancy: Includes all what they spend to provide product-specific consulting during the period. It is one of the independent variables. (Elena Becalli. 2005) I .T Sites: Physical controlled infrastructure support for IT related hardware / data centers. This can be segregated between production and disasters recover sites Business Continuity Planning (BCP): It is the cost of Planning that identifies to the organization, exposition to external and internal threats and synthesizes soft and hard assets to provide an efficient prevention and the recovery of the organization, during the period. It is one of the independent variables. The independent variables ROE: Return on equity  measures a corporations profitability  by revealing how much  profit a company generates  with the money shareholders have invested. So it is the amount of the net incomes returned like a percentage of the capital stock.   Each banks ROE has been obtained for its annual reports and calculated as: Return on Equity = Net Income/Shareholders Equity CHAPTER FOUR ANALYSIS TESTING HYPOTHESIS Introduction This Section includes tow main topics, the first is about descriptive Analysis of the study variables through various descriptive statistical measures, such as: Central tendency measures, Dispersion measures, Mean, Median, Range and Standard Deviation; to describe the study variables. The Second topic represents testing the study hypotheses, and computing the regression model information. First topic, Descriptive Analysis Descriptive Analysis The descriptive analysis table in the appendix shows the following: From Table 4.1, which illustrates the use of Bahrain banks for I.T, we notes that average cost of H W in Bahrain banks reached the highest average in year 2009 (3,332,204) and this year was the lowest in the standard deviation (323,436), as well as the year that contains the largest cost for investment (3,103,500), which refers to the rise in investment H W by Bahrain banks. The second independent factor is the S W, its mean (medium) started with (1,085,277) and we notice that they are on the increase from year to year until it reaches in 2009 to (3,117,740) While the standard deviation of S W started with 940,060 then decrease to (865,657) and increase later in 2007 and again decreased to (805,459) in 2008 and lowest amount (236,654) in 2009. The minimum S W during the research period was (420,554) while the maximum was (2,950,400). We marked that the third factor which is the S D O had a mean started with ( 627,493 ) and ended with( 525,001 ) and noted that investment in S D O reached the highest value in the years 2005 ( ,000,000) and 2007 ( 720,000 ) while the lowest value was in the year 2008 ( 245,907 ) and the standard deviation started high in first year 2005 ( 526,804 ) and decreased to the lowest in the last year 2009 ( 35,281) . The M A I N mean (medium) started with (930,182) in 2005 and ended with (1,519,138) in 2009. While the standard deviation started with (805,844) and ended with (957,440). The minimum M A I N during the research period was (360,365) and the largest amount was (2,196,150). The fifth factor which is the T R N had a mean (medium) of (133,498), (142,611), (180,363), (147,626) and (94,051) the standard deviation started with 94,048 and ended with (36,697), the minimum T R N during the research period was (66,996) while the maximum was (280,000). The I N S U mean (medium) started with 48,220 in 2005 and ended with 99,966 in 2009 while the standard deviation started with 37,873 and ended with 13,918 the minimum I N S U during the research period was 21,440 while the largest was 109,808. From the previous table we note that the seventh variable COMM, the average cost in Bahrain banks started with 1,124,045 and continue increased upto (1,737,626). In 2009, the standard deviation started with 955,944 and ended with (1,148,871), the minimum rate during the period reached to the lowest of 448,091 and highest was 2,550,000 in 2009. The I M P mean (medium) started with (243,621) in 2005 and ended with (562,749) in 2009. The standard deviation started with (188,627) and ended with the (60,303); the minimum rate during the period was (110,241), while the maximum was (60,303). The ninth factor which is the C O N S had a mean (medium) of (63,192), (32,123), (38,552), (55,051) and (95,053) and the standard deviation started with (52,055) and ended with (35,281), the minimum C O N S during the research period was (14,245) while the maximum was (120,000). The S I T mean (medium) in the beginning 3 years were the same 65,307 years and in the last 2 years increased to (104,500) while the standard deviation started with 49,063 and ended with (21,920). The minimum S I T during the research period was 30,614 while the maximum reached to (89,000). The BCP mean (medium) in the beginning year started with (295,011) and ended in the last year with (430,744). While the standard deviation was beginning with (247,472) and decreased in the last year to (198,759). We note the minimum BCP during the research period was (120,022) and the maximum was (571,288). The dependent variable is the ROE which was marked by the year 2006 the highest revenue between the years of the sample, as it reaches the highest return of 19.230% while the standard deviation was started with 3.606% and decreased later to .495 % in 2009. The year 2009 marked the lowest return on equity, amounting to 9.600%. Regression Analysis I used Pooled Data Regression method because Ive tie series data (2005-2009) and cross-sectional data (2 Banks). I have mathematical model of the study is developed as follows: I used E views program to analyze the data, I also used pooled regression and multi-regression because we have more than one independent variable verses only one variable which is the R O E. The confidence interval is ( 95 %). Testing Hypothesis As stated in the first chapter, these are the null hypothesis for this research The main Hypotheses There is no significant relationship between investing in I.T and the financial performance of Banks of Bahrain. H01: There is no significant relationship between investing in HW and the financial performance of Banks of Bahrain. H02: There is no significant relationship between investing in SW and the financial performance of Banks of Bahrain. H03: There is no significant relationship between investing in SDO and the financial performance of Banks of Bahrain. H04: There is no significant relationship between investing in Main and the financial performance of Banks of Bahrain. H05: There is no significant relationship between investing in Trn and the financial performance of Banks of Bahrain. H06: There is no significant relationship between investing in Insu and the financial performance of Banks of Bahrain. H07: There is no significant relationship between investing in Comm and the financial performance of Banks of Bahrain. H08: There is no significant relationship between investing in Imp and the financial performance of Banks of Bahrain. H09: There is no significant relationship between investing in Con and the financial performance of Banks of Bahrain. H010: There is no significant relationship between investing in Sit and the financial performance of Banks of Bahrain. H011: There is no significant relationship between investing in BCP and the financial performance of Banks of Bahrain. The above hypothesi

Roles Of Individuals And Societies :: essays research papers

Roles of Individuals and Societies   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The early twentieth century marked a period of rapid industrial and technological change in a society which began to redefine the roles of the individual and society. Max Weber and Sigmund Freud were two revolutionary thinkers of the time who recognized the importance of this relationship and tried to determine whether the power balance between society and the individual was tilted in one particular direction or the other. A world becoming an increasingly complex and restrictive forced these thinkers to ask themselves if society had indeed finally become a force too dynamic for the individual to manipulate; that if in fact it was society that had mastered the man. Although both thinkers provide radically different views of culture and society they are both essentially trying to answer the same question: does the individual control society or does society control the individual?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The relevance of such an argument might first be debated, for one might first respond to this question with some doubt; surely we have control of ourselves, do we all not have control of our own faculties at this very moment? At this moment you are reading or being subjected to a reading of this paper, therefore if this indeed is not fufilling some immediate obvious desire it is accomplishing some sort of other goal. Likely this goal is to achieve an education but again we might ask ourselves why? Surely we all want to further our scholarly qualities and develop our minds but more likely this again has an underlying goal: to succeed in society. Society has shown us that in most cases it requires a good deal of education in order to succeed. Therefore we might entertain the question, is our presence here a product of our own desires or that of society's? The point of this reasoning is only to point out something we may not immediately recognize: regardless of what our own free will may dictate, we cannot help but be influenced by the values and morals of modern-day society. And it is because of this influence, the rewards which it offers and the punishments which it threatens, that the individual has found himself actually being manipulated by this larger body. Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud expresses this point in his greatest achievement, Civilization and Its Discontents. Pointing out this conflict between the individual and society Freud concludes, â€Å". . . the two processes of individual and of cultural development must stand in hostile opposition to each other and mutually dispute the ground.† (Freud, 106) And then after describing the affects of civilization as a â€Å"drastic mutilization† of his desires, Freud

The Meaning Behind Alien Abductions :: essays research papers

www.angelfire.com/mt/montalk Souls can only incarnate inoto bodies with DNA responsive to and compatible with that soul. Because souls are shaped by experiences and thoughts, different soul types will reincarnate into different body types of the same species. As humans, their personality is influenced and restricted by the characteristics of their soul. Spiritual evolution is limited by one's biological, genetic, and physical composition. For instance, a dog cannot grow emotionally as we do because their brains are biologically incapable of perceiving the same range of emotions. Dogs also do not feel equal self sacrifice and devotion to truth that some of us humans enjoy, and we are therefore superior to them. Lastly, since all souls, once out of the physical body and deep into the stages of the afterlife, are essentially the same being, there is no place for evolution in the spiritual realm; all evolution occurs on the physical plane of existence. This is why planet earth is so valued by the powers that be. It is the perfect training, evolving, and learning grounds for positive souls with the privilege of physical presence. In this region of the solar system, without an earth, there is no evolution, and whatever pain a soul is in continues indefinitely until that soul can reincarnate to evolve out of its pain. Because souls evolve by earthly hardships, new types of souls can only develop by modification of the older ones over millions of years of evolution. Thus, if a sudden jump occured in the genetic sophistication of a species, a spiritual void would be left as the older souls would be outdated and incompatible with the newly created species. The new species would be born as still births unless some source of soul were available that is suitable with the DNA of that species. The human race was a result of drastic genetic engineering by a coalition of several alien species/races several hundred thousand years ago, each group putting its own spin on the basic human template. Most of the aliens themselves were products of undisturbed evolution upon their homeworlds. Since human evolution was catalyzed, the souls of our ancient primate ancestors could not reincarnate in the newer advanced bodies. Thus existed a spiritual void which was immediately filled with a new source. Considering it was aliens who created humans, these aliens must have had some reason to profit from the task. In fact, most alien bodies were too primitive to allow further spiritual

Rising Incidence of Alzheimers Disease Essay -- Alzheimers Disease Es

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common dementia that destroys brain cells and causes problems with memory, thinking and behaviour. According to recent statistics (Alzheimer's Association, 2010), Alzheimer’s is the 7th-leading cause of death in the USA with the number of people suffering from AD only in America over 5.3 million. It affects more women than men, causing differences in symptoms depending on gender. There is no cure which can guarantee a recovery for diseased people to date. However, more possible cures exist for diseased females. As per Brian Ott’s article on gender differences in Alzheimer’s disease, females have huge changes in behaviour comparing with males. This process is tightly connected with emotional instability, mood swings, wandering, and refers to personality change. Over listed symptoms are the first one to show up, but eventually there become more and more consequences of the disease such as frequent delusions, hallucinations, and sun-downing – the exacerbation of syndromes in the afternoon and evening, which makes a person in early stages of Alzheimer’s more antisocial and unadapted to a daily life. Such difficulties with communicating with people makes lives of patients very complicated, make them suffer of misunderstanding, and lead to depression as it was proved by American Psychiatric Association (1980). Indeed, 69% of people with dementia were suffering from depression (from Neundorfer, 2001: American Psychiatric Association, 1980). A group of researchers has found evidence of difference in language comprehension and memory regression between males and females: the latter are more vulnerable to such changes in cognition due to influence of sex hormones on the brain (from Ott, 2005: Sherwin, 1997)... ...llet, X., N. Raoux, N. le Carret, J. Bouisson, J. Dartigues, H. Amieva. 2009. Gender-related Differences in Visuospatial Memory Persist in Alzheimer’s Disease. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology 24 (issue: unknown): 783-789. Oxford Journals. http://acn.oxfordjournals.org (accessed October 27, 2010). Neundorfer, M., M. McClendon, K. Smyth, J. Stuckey, M. Strauss, M. Patterson. 2001. A Longitudinal Study of the Relationship Between Levels of Depression Among Persons With Alzheimer’s Disease and Levels of Depression Among Their Family Caregivers. Journal of Gerontology: PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES 56B (5): 301-313. http://psychsocgerontology.oxfordjournals.org (accessed November 12, 2010). Ott, B., D. Cahn-Weiner. 2005. Gender Differences in Alzheimer’s Disease. Geriatric Times 2 (6). http://www.cmellc.com/geriatrictimes/g011123.html (accessed October 23, 2010).

How It Alters the Teen’s Future

Teen pregnancy is a thing that ultimately alters a teens future forever with negative side effects, In the United States, 2. 800 teenagers become pregnant each day. When I graduated in 201 1; out of al the girls I graduated with 10 of those girls have had babies. one of them Just had her second baby this year. think more needs to be done to make girls realize that it affects their future, their children's, the baby's tamer. and other tamily members. I couldn't Imagine having a baby at this age. My cousin became a teen mom at the age of 19 with her long time boyfriend.But, I see the struggle they have to make money to pay the bills. He works two jobs to support her and their child because child care Is so expensive. They don't regret having their son, but they regret dropping out of college. Teen pregnancy Is the leading reason teen girls drop out of school. More than half of teen mothers never graduate. of them earn a college degree by the time their 30. About d quarter of them have d second child within two years of their first. Teenage girls in relationships with older boys are more likely to become pregnant, han a teenage girl In a relationship with a boy her own age.Poverty Is associated with increased rates of teen pregnancy. 80 % of teen mothers have to go on welfare at some point due to less than one third of teen mothers receive no child support. Girls whose mother or older sister gave birth as d teen are more likely to get pregnant themselves. Teenage parents who can rely on family and community support, social services and child care are more likely to continue with their education and get a higher paying job as they progress with their education. In the united States alone 820. 00 teens become pregnant each year.Birth rate in the United States is the highest in the developed world and teen abortion rate Is also higi-n In 2006, the united States teen rate rose for the first time in fourteen years. Canada also trended towards a steady decline for both 15- 17 and older 18 – 19 teens in the period of 1992 – 2002. Majority of teenage mothers are not married to the tatner ot their children. Babies born to teenagers are at risk for neglect and abuse because their young mothers ere uncertain about their roles and may be frustrated by the constant emand of care taking.Children of teen mothers are more likely to be born prematurely with low birth weight. They're at a higher risk tor intellectual, language, socio – emotional, development disabilities and behavioural issues are increased. Children of teen mothers have a 31 % incidence of depression and a 25% risk of parenthood as a teen. Mothers are less likely to stimulate their infant through affectionate behaviours such as touch, smile, smiling and verbal communication or to be sensltlve and accepting their needs.Teen parents don't have the Intellectual or erformance in children of teenage mother also been noted with many of them being more likely to fail to graduat e high school, be held back a grade level or score low on standardised test. As a son born, to a young woman in her teens is three times more likely to spend time in prison. Only 20% of teen fathers marry the mother of their child, many teen mothers continue to live at home with their parents. Teen fathers may continue a relationship with the babys mother but its common the relationship to end and when it does many fathers don't have much interaction with their children.Teen dads are less likely to earn a high school diploma; the failure to graduate can be due to finical pressure resulting form having a baby to take care of. Despite the stereotype, there is increasing evidence that teen fathers want to be (and are) involved with their children, though this involvement may not always include financial support. Young fathers are more likely to have economic and employment challenges and are more often economically disadvantaged than adult fathers. A large percentage of fathers involve d in teen pregnancies are 20 years or older.Teen pregnancy and motherhood can influence younger siblings. One study found that younger sisters of teen mothers were less likely to emphasise the importance of education and employment. Younger brothers too, were found to be more tolerant of non- martial and early births in addition to being more susceptible to high risk behaviours. Many programs available for teen moms are based on income. If the teen mom's parents earn above the minimum income, the teen may be denied services which leaves the burden of the costs on the parents.Teen pregnancy has a negative affect on their children, the teen mothers, and teen fathers. More needs to be done to prevent teen pregnancy more education and guidance from parents. Also, more needs to be done to help teens who become pregnant and the teen fathers. I don't think theirs enough done for teen dads. With more support groups, financial help, helping with them (teen moms and fathers) graduating and ge tting their diploma. They shouldn't be shamed because they become pregnant at a young age, they should get the opportunity to graduate and have a better life for them and their child.