Research Paper Analysis of Newspaper Research Report Results Essay

Research Paper Analysis of Newspaper Research Report Results - Essay Example Sampling method: Sample can be defined as the representative group of the population. The sample size of the study was 3, 639. Two types of sampling method were used to select cases for the survey. In the first phase, a few colleges of different stated of the USA were selected by applying quota sampling and subsequently the respondents were selected at random without any bias from those selected colleges. can, as the term suggests, have only one possible answer. Perhaps the most typical of these is the dichotomous question that has just two possible options "yes" or "no". Many attitudinal questions are single response in that respondents have to choose where they sit on a predetermined scale. They have to choose one response code that reflects their thoughts. Multiple response questions allow the respondent to offer more than one answer to a question (Hague, 2004). Key survey questions included whether the students had been prescribed or had used without a prescription opioids, stimulants, sleeping aids (sedatives), or anxiety medicines. To determine if students abused drugs, the researcher relied on questions that asked whether the students had experienced drug-related problems like engaging in illegal activities to obtain drugs, having withdrawal symptoms, or developing medical problems due to drug use. Questionnaire administration: The questionnaire was sent to the selected colleges and afterwards the college authority made available the questionnaire on their college homepage and urged the students to take part in the survey. Analysis of data: The data was analyzed using SPSS. The demographics of the respondents were analyzed. A distributing table of the data was created with data range. And afterwards, various tools of central tendency like mean, median were applied to the collected data. The null hypothesis of the study was "College students using prescription drugs without a prescription are not prone to drug abuse" and the alternate hypothesis was "College students using prescription drugs without a prescription are prone to drug abuse" Findings: According to the results of the survey, 59.9% of the cases reported that they medically used at least one of the four drugs with a prescription. About 20% of the respondents reported taking them without a prescription for non-medical reasons. 39.7% of the college students who took part in the survey reported that they had used the drugs only by prescription. 4.4% of the cases of the study reported to have used medications, but were not prescribed them. 15.8% of the respondents who participated in the web survey reported using some medications, both with and without prescriptions. The researcher also found that students who reported using drugs without prescriptions were more likely to screen positive for drug abuse compared to students who never used them or who had only used them for medical reasons. The findings can be summed up as below: Parentage Explanation 59.9% Reported medically using at least one of t

Accounting Issues Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Accounting Issues - Assignment Example Retained earnings are the accumulated wealth of earnings not paid as dividends that the company obtained over the years. The cash balance of the company as of December 31, 2012 was $2,800,000. In terms of retained earnings the company had a balance of $31,400,000. Based on the asset distribution of the company it seems as if the company invested its retained earnings in the past in property, plant, and equipment. Common stocks, preferred stocks, and bonds payable are three distinct financial instruments that corporations can utilize to raise money. A common stock can be defined as an equity security that has last claim on residual assets and earnings of a corporation (Tewales, Bradley, Tewales). Common stocks are traded in the open market and its price fluctuates daily. A common stock gives its owner a participation stake in the ownership of a company. Common stocks have voting rights. At the end of the fiscal year shareholders are eligible to receive dividends if the board of direct ors declares them. A preferred stock is a special type of stock that has a claim on a corporation’s earnings, dividends, and assets ahead of common stock, but behind debt (Tewales, et al.). Corporations are mandated to pay dividends to preferred stock holders. If dividends are not paid they become cumulative and must be paid in the next accounting period. Preferred stocks do not have voting rights. A bond is a long term note that corporations sell to the general public. A bond has the obligation of paying its holders an interest payment to be paid on a quarterly, semiannual, or annual basis. The interest rate paid on a bond is known as the coupon rate. The principal of the bond must be repaid to the investor in full upon maturity date. The use of preferred stock is ideal for the company for a variety of reasons. First of all the use of preferred stocks does not dilute the power of the current owners of the company because preferred stocks do not have voting rights. Most impor tantly preferred stocks are accounted for as an equity option. The debt on the balance sheet of the company will not increase by selling preferred stocks. The use of preferred stocks does have a cost as the company will be obligated to pay dividends to the owners of preferred stocks. The capital structure of the company did not include any preferred stocks at the end of 2012. The company has a covenant on its previous debt that requires the firm to maintain a debt ratio below 60%. The total liabilities of the company in 2012 were $48.6 million, while its total assets amounted to $90 million. The debt ratio of the company is 0.54. This ratio is an indicator of the solvency of the company. If the company were to acquire an additional $10 million in debt its debt ratio would increase to 0.65 violating the existing covenant on its debt. The firm would also not quality for a $20 million loan since doing so would increase its debt ratio to 0.76. The use of capital leases is a viable finan cing arrangement that the company can use to acquire equipment and machinery. The debt analysis performed on the company showed that additional debt is a limiting option due to a covenant on its existing debt that requires the firm to maintain a debt ratio below 60%. The use of a capital lease is a very attractive option because the debt on the lease is not reflected on the balance sheet liabilities section, but the asset being leased is considered an asset in the accounting books of the company. The use of a capital lease affects both the income statement and balance sheet of the firm. The balance sheet is affected because the leased equipment must be included in the asset section of the balance sheet under the

Using Enterprise Gamification For Improving Business Essay

Using Enterprise Gamification For Improving Business Essay Gamification is the concept of applying game-design thinking to non-game applications to make them more fun and engaging. (Gamification Wiki, 2012) Though a relatively new field, gamification has been used in a variety of applications albeit in a simpler manner, from driving customer loyalty through loyalty points to improving employee engagement within the workforce using titles such as Employee of the Month The latter is an example of enterprise gamification wherein enterprises use gamified systems to bring about internal change. However most such systems are currently heavily simplified and extrinsically focused, only looking to reward employees with badges, which leads to the danger of reducing the employees intrinsic motivations. Also, many of the enterprise gamification platforms have only been designed for use in the developed world and hence the need to explore how these might differ for an Indian audience with its different set of motivations and appeal to them. Taking these into account, this paper looks to explore how gamification works and what are the underlying psychological factors and how Indian enterprises can use it in their employee development process. The findings would lead to a proposed enterprise gamified framework for improving workplace motivations and the performance appraisal process currently being practiced in Indian organizations. Lastly we look at the possible limitations of having such a system in place at the enterprise level and explore areas of further development for future research. Introduction A common definition of gamification is the application of game elements in non game contexts (Deterding, 2011) At the heart of gamification is the objective of getting the desired behavioral response by appealing to the players motivations. A repeatedly used approach is to use the scoring elements used in video games and use them in a different context. Though the term is relatively new, this concept has been in application for centuries in the form of frequent flyer loyalty programs for customers, enterprise leader boards in the sales and customer care divisions. However, in recent years the concept has gradually seen an increasing no. of applications within the enterprise. Some of the examples are listed below Intranet The SAP community network is an internally used community network (intranet) where leader boards for domain experts in every domain is maintained Productivity Enhancement Call centers are using gamification techniques to improve representative performance by making use of leaderboards, levels, virtual badges and immediate feedback. The danger could be that it could be used as a tool to constantly monitor and pressurizing them. Efficiency Enhancement Efficiency enhancement is about improving general skill level of employees and not just the work related to their job. Helping employees deal with their emails is an example. Companies use gamification elements such as progress bars, virtual points and feedback on time spent for emails to help them deal with this. Seriosity is another company that has created a virtual currency around the emails. This helps employees decide which mails to deal with first and decide the urgency of the emails they are sending out to other employees. Knowledge Management Application called WhoWhatWhere is an enterprise collaboration system where consultants are encouraged to share information about what they are working on thereby making it easier for consultants working on similar projects to get in touch with them and seek help Innovation The UK Dept of Works Pension created the Ideastreet, essentially seen as a trading platform for ideas. Employees put forward ideas which have a inherent stock listed price associated with them. Other employees have the option of buying or selling these stocks so that a few of the ideas have a much higher market cap than the others. This has proved to be a well performing solution, with the no. of new ideas being implemented increasing by the tune of 54%. Recruiting and Onboarding Gamification is also being used for recruitment for certain managerial positions using online simulation games that depict real life scenarios and test the decision making skills of the players. This competition leads to a pool of best players who are then considered as potential candidates for the company. All the above mentioned examples of enterprise gamification and gamified systems in general, can be broadly classified according to what user motivations they cater to, which could be intrinsic or extrinsic motivations. The concern with gamified systems that are heavily extrinsically focused such as the one currently employed in call centers, is the long term negative impact that most organizations are not aware of. This is something that shall be addressed in detail in subsequent sections in this paper. Organisations that offer gamification platforms for employee engagement are growing in developed countries. Bunchball is currently one of the biggest which offers Nitro as a plugin gamification application to Salesforce. The Indian enterprise market however, is currently largely untapped and presents huge opportunities for the same. Most Indian employees find the current performance appraisal systems in most organizations highly inefficient and unsatisfactory. The current efforts of the HR professionals to improve employee seem to fall short with workplace morale and productivity running lower than desired. Taking these factors into consideration, this paper looks to propose an enterprise gamification model for improving intrinsic workplace motivations and the performance appraisal systems currently in place in Indian organizations. Theoretical Background What are Games? A formal broad definition applicable to all forms of games proposed by Zimmermann Salen, 2003 says that A game is a system in which players engage in artificial conflict, defined by rules, which result in a quantifiable outcome. However, what this definition lacks is the notion of a feedback system. The feedback system can take the form of points, levels, progress bars and serves to quantify the progress made by the user, how close/far the user is from the goal and provides motivation to keep on playing. In addition to this is the concept of voluntary participation. Be it indoor games such as monopoly, social games, alternate reality games to the most popular sports played today, voluntary participation requires that each one plays the game willingly, accepting the rules and goals of the system with the freedom to enter and leave the game whenever desired. This ensures that the artificially created challenging environment is not found threatening and can be experienced as a playful, safe and enjoyable activity. All these characteristics of the definition of a game are important and are modelled by Dignan in the figure below (Dignan, 2011): A definition of a game (Dignan, 2011) What makes Games so Engaging? Before we delve further, it is important to explore what is it about games that is so engaging and why it seems to be the answer to current workplace engagement and productivity issues according to us. An important research conducted by McGonigal to explore how playing games leads to human happiness has answers to this question. According to McGonigal (2011) studies have actually shown that people are at their happiest when doing hard work at the borders of their skill level. Only when people are continuously challenged according to their skill levels and continuously receive feedback on their work will they have a sustained engagement, otherwise they will end up getting bored.C:UsersmicaDesktopFlow.png This is also explained well by a central model for the appeal for video games the concept of flow. According to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, people feel best when they are neither underchallenged nor overchallenged but at the right level of skills. And as people learn with time and repetition, challenges have to increase to keep up with growing skills. The research goes on to say that most of the traditionally considered relaxing activities such as watching TV, are actually mildly depressing. She argues that this is because companies often fail to continuously challenge employees at the right level in a structured way without giving them frequent feedback. In short, it goes on to proclaim that The Opposite of Work is not Play, it is Depression. Empirical studies also show how the responses that games elicit are very similar to real life emotions, if not the same. Even if the reward might be growing more crops in Farm Ville, the reward though purely fictitious elicits an emotional state that happens to be no different from a real life scenario. To summarize there are multiple dimensions to games that cater to different needs of the players and have been segregated as follows When it comes to the workplace, at a fundamental level we could conclude that the work in itself not the demotivating factor for workers in an organization. It is more so the lack of one or more of the above needs that results in a decrease in their morale over time. For example a rigid company structure could end up stifling the workers need for independence or autonomy. More so, the absence of a continuous challenge that gives employees an opportunity to master their skills and a more regular, robust feedback system that helps them figure where they stand is currently missing. A gamified system would serve the solution for this through continuous feedback on their current skill set and quantifying their scope of improvement. A choice provided to the user at various stages to set their own goals would mean that their need for autonomy is also served to. Throughout this paper, we would henceforth look at building a framework considering these factors. Using Games as a Form of Behavioural Change Dr. BJ Fogg of Stanford University developed a behavioural model which described three elements Motivation, Ability and Trigger that are necessary for behavioural change to occur. In essence, the greater the user motivation, more the probability of hard to do abilities being performed. Similarly if the motivation for the user is very low, the ability demanded to perform the task must be also very low ie easy to do. C:UsersmicaDesktopFogg.png Even when both motivation and ability are sufficiently high to reach the threshold, a trigger becomes necessary to be able to change the user behaviour. The model is intended to help designers identify what stops people from performing the intended behaviour. Game elements go a long way in incorporating this model to change user behavior in the following manner 1. Game dynamics use positive feedbacks in the form of points, scores, progress, social status etc which help in improving user motivation. 2. Through training and master of skills, they increase the perceived ability of users by making difficult jobs simpler and more manageable. 3. Game dynamics place triggers in the path of motivated users at the optimal level of user ability to trigger a behavioural change. Gamification for Motivational Design At the core of the gamification system is tapping into the right motivational factors that drive users. Since the motivators vary for different people, game systems needs to be customized accordingly. Broadly speaking, motivators can be divided into extrinsic and intrinsic motivators. Extrinsic motivators are driven by external rewards such as the desire for power and status. Intrinsic motivators are driven by the inherent joy of doing the task itself instead of using any external reward mechanisms. Such motivators at the workplace might include autonomy, mastery, curiosity and feeling connected to the overall cause of the company. Traditionally, most enterprises have essentially made use of extrinsic motivators to motivate employees and enhance productivity. But studies show that excessive focus on external rewards results in users losing their intrinsic motivation to perform the task that previously existed, which is not in the best interests of the user itself. If the organization starts using gamification based upon external rewards and then stops the rewards program, it will be worse off than when it started as users will be less likely to return to the behavior without the external reward (Deci, Koestner Ryan, 2001). Good gamification practise however emphasizes on intrinsic motivators to help them succeed in work life. Hence the concept of meaningful gamification takes it a level further through gamified designs, with the user at its centre, appealing to his/her intrinsic motivations and with a focus on providing user benefits without any adverse effects in the long run. Reiss Sixteen Motivators (2001) Despite the many theories in the field, few are based on actual scientific research. One of them was Steven Reiss who in his book Who am I comes up with 16 categories of motivators which are collected in a statistical manner using which he tries to explain human behaviour. Among the 16 we found only 11 categories to be relevant to the workplace as the rest were found to be related to basic physical needs such as consuming eating which is outside our scope. The 11 categories are presented below with a brief description of their desire profile and segregated into intrinsic and extrinsic motivators accordingly: The dominant motivators among this list would be different for the various profile segments, hence research would be necessary to figure out the most important motivators at work for Indian employees which will form the core of the gamification framework to be designed. Research Methodology A quantitative approach was adopted by means of a survey to capture the relative importance of the 11 Reiss motivators found to influence human behavior in a workplace environment. The sample size for the survey was 36 individuals working in different organizations across India. Respondents were asked to rate the importance of the motivators for them on a Likert Scale. After their responses were captured, a regression was run to establish a relationship between the respondents levels of motivation in a workplace and the various motivators. The relative importance of the motivators was then established by comparing their standardized coefficients. The process then led us to the motivators that were considered most important by Indian employees in the context of a workplace environment. C:UsersmicaDesktopTempg.png Research Methodology Process Leading to the Gamified Framework These dominant workplace motivators and barriers to adoption insights would then be used to design the appropriate game mechanics and come up with the final gamified system as shown in the figure above. Findings Analyzing the results of the survey showed us that Indian Employees are motivated by factors such as curiosity, independence,social contact status and not factors such as competition or power. This implies that the gamification structure that is created needs to have game layers that focuses on group tasks and freedom of players involved in the game. The game layers also need to emphasize on increasing ability since curiosityis an important motivator for Indian employees. On the basis of the results obtained we make the approach to design a gamified framework. Since there currently does not exist a fixed method of developing a gamified system we have given our recommendations based on these results and the theoretical construct described above. Choosing the Right Game Mechanics The biggest problem with todays workplace is the absence of any structured goals that provide an optimal challenge, real time feedback of ones own performance and how the contribution has an impact at an organizational level. In this context game mechanics serve the purpose of increasing either ability or motivation to accomplish the desired behaviour for the employees through real time feedback in the form of points, progress bars etc and other components. Since the major motivators in the Indian workplace context have been found to be curiosity, social contact status and independence/autonomy, care must be taken to see that different game mechanics are in place to cater to these motivations. Hence the following proposition consisting of three different features that serve a different purpose, appropriate mechanisms would be used 1. Personal Efficiency Model For Curiosity Autonomy Motivators To-do lists and progress bar map to track the employees personal goals such as time management, emails cleared, level of project completed etc both to increase ability and motivation. This is done by assigning progress to create incentives for players to complete goals they set for themselves. A sample diagram depicting the same is as given below C:UsersmicaDesktopPicture1.png Sample Visual Map of Individually Set Goals and Status of Completion To cater to the employees motivation for curiosity, a set of interactive quizzes and challenges of different levels testing his/her knowledge in the domain would be necessary. The levels would be of adaptable difficulty (such as in GMAT exams), based on the performance of the worker in the previous level. Customisation components to choose personal goals in different competency areas. This provides workers with a feeling of independence and autonomy. 2. Online Stock Market Model For Status and Social Contact Idea Resource A game where individuals come up with innovative ideas in their domain which are listed on the virtual stock exchange. Employees can now buy/sell these ideas using in game currency so that each idea now has a market cap too. Resource Management using in-game currency as extrinsic rewards for good idea suggestions 3. Peer Recognition and Social Features For Social Contact and Status Community features to encourage unexpected positive feedback from peers and improve motivation when individual contribution levels have reached. A similar interface to elicit positive peer feedback on a software called Rypple is shown in the figure. Social Badges to cater to the players need for appreciation from colleagues and flaunt their status C:UsersmicaDesktopwork.jpg Social Recognition Feature Employed on Rypple.com Designing a Gamification Framework There are three major frameworks and models included in this paper for the purpose of coming up with a gamification framework. There are Dignans Game Frame which describes all the necessary components of a behavioural game (Dignan, 2011), Dr. Reiss Sixteen motivators which describes what motivates the player (Reiss, 2001) and lastly Dr. Foggs Behaviour model which examines how a new behaviour is realised (Fogg, 2011). Dignan describes a behavioural game as made up by ten components which together design the framework Game Frame (Dignan, 2011). The Game Frame allows the designer to look at any behavioural game from the top down, understand its essential parts and see how they together make up a game. In this paper, Dignans Game Frame is used as a structure to describe the situation. This structure needs to be filled with information based on our research. However, to design how the game is played and the available tools for the players, one needs to know what kind of behaviour that is intended (outcome). Before designing how it is played, what currently inhibits the intended behaviour (the obstacles) were investigated from the survey results. The characteristics of these obstacles are then categorised in terms of lack of ability or motivation with Dr. Foggs behavioural model to investigate what kinds of mechanics that will be most efficient to promote the new behaviour. We now take each element of the Dignans frame to explain the overall gamification framework for our system. The Objective and Activity The objectives of this recommended gamified framework will be to encourage employee innovation at the workplace, improve the intrinsic motivation of the employee in alignment with the organizational objectives and to put in place a more robust performance feedback system. Reinforce good habits and real-time recognition and rewards. Recognize achievement publicly or give real rewards in the discount coupons. The main activities of the game will involve entering logs, giving feedback to peers and/or submitting ideas apart from setting custom goals. The Player Profile Based on the results that we obtained using our research, an attempt was made to create a profile for players involved in the system i.e. Indian employees. Since curiosity, status, Independence and social contact proved to be the most important indicators, certain inferences were drawn about the behavior of Indian Employees: Peer recognition and appreciation by fellow employees were significant Learning and development of new skills acts as a powerful motivator Employees remain driven if given the freedom to decide their own goals and pace to achieve those goals Team activities or tasks that involved the organization as a whole generates a lot of interest . Outcomes The last frame in Dignans game frame is the outcomes that are generated along the way of the game. The short-term outcomes should primarily be to get individual feedback on everyday activities at work. The long-term outcomes are to get a clearer picture of the career progress, improve employee morale through feedback. The outcomes of the game are to receive immediate individual feedback about the organizational impact of their contributions and to visualize the career progress. Defining the Feedback Cycle A significant feedback would be in the form of the community-like feature where employees can give feedback on each others personal goal statuses. The motivational factor will be increased by community-driven feedback and intangible rewards. These rewards should be in terms of in-game currency, and badges for reaching a certain personal achievement. One important part of the competence model is that the employees estimate their own performance. In terms of the feedback, this means that the employees need to estimate the value of their own performances in this system as well. Hence, when logging an activity, the employee needs to estimate how valuable that particular action is. Defining Resources and Skills Resources are the drivers of game using which a player moves forward within a game. The resources in the stock based platform for ideas is the virtual currency that players are allotted to buy/sell. Since the currency allotted to players is limited, players must ensure that they allocate it judiciously for ideas that they think will work best. In case of the Gamified feedback system, resources are the badges and points that act as motivators and used to display appreciation for ones efforts. Skills are specialized abilities one that puts to use in a behavioral game and can be categorized as physical, mental and social. Our gamified set up requires players to use their mental skills for generation of ideas and continuous learning and social skills that help individuals get their ideas to be popular and well traded. Triggers Certain activities work very well as triggers. For example simple activities like sending notifications to employees that tell him of his weekly performance in a domain vis-Ã  -vis another employee who is working in a similar domain could act a trigger for the employee .Notifications could also tell the employee of his weekly performance over his/her last weeks performance .The direct comparison is such cases could help employees set the pace for the rest of the week. Transparency Should an employees performance be revealed to other employees? It is a question that needs serious consideration. Often employees do not like the comparison that comes with the sharing of another employees progress and such comparisons could prove to be fatal. An example would be a gamification system based on leader boards employed by Disney for its laundry workers. The real time sharing of information about a workers performance and the continuous comparisons hampered employee performance and created a sense of nervousness amongst employees. On the other hand sharing information is an integral part of the feedback mechanism that allows one to comment and receive feedback on ones progress.A possible solution to the problem would be to let the employee decide by giving him the choice to reveal his/her personal information to whomsoever they want. System Limitations The suggested gamification system has its own strengths and weaknesses. One of the most obvious thing that needs to be ensured is long term engagement. Gamified setups are designed to achieve both short term and long term objectives and therefore needs to be continuously developed and maintained to ensure that players dont get bored. Emphasis must lie on increasing ability of the players and changing the motivational elements within the structure which involves bringing in new game elements and tweaking existing game mechanics Another limitation of a stock market like setup for Ideas is that there comes a time when stocks might be traded due to their association with people and not with ideas. There is an inherent danger of the system becoming a personality driven platform rather than a platform being idea driven. The other danger which has already been mentioned is that of a player getting too involved in the game and restricting his concerns to achieving a higher stock price for the ideas selected by him/her and not the ones that can bring a change. Finally there is the question of participation. Games require voluntary participation from all its players. A platform meant merely for ideas that does not fall within the purview of an employees personal responsibility may not encourage players to voluntarily participate. Employees may however be encouraged by their superiors to part of such a set up but this runs the risk of an employee engaging in the system with not much interest. Any social game requires participation and lack of interest to participate can prove detrimental to the setup. Ideas of System Future Potential and Further Development Even if the suggested game layer attempts to promote each activity by adding motivational elements, a big focus on increased ability has permeated the selection and design of the game mechanics. To achieve a greater impact, organizational elements at the workplace need to be included in the system so that in-game rewards have a clear connection to the consultants career. One step in that direction would be to incorporate projects as part of the game layer. That would allow log entries to be linked to specific project entities and the connection between the system and what the consultant actually do will be clearer (instituting a more relevant feedback loop). It would also create a good way for project leaders and management to give feedback. The down side, and the main reason that it is not proposed, is that it would bring an additional dimension, raising the commitment and time needed to use the system. There is also great potential in adding team based mechanics into the system. These could be project based teams or made up teams. There are many examples showing that the social component in team-based activities is a powerful way of affecting behavior. Dedication takes time but enables more ways to create relevant feedback loops, awards more strongly connected to the consultants professional situation, in-game currency that can be spent in various ways, team-based structure and challenges etc. It is all a question how deep the gamification system is allowed to permeate through the organisation. Another important aspect that needs to be considered before the implementation of a gamified system is to identify how it will impact the skill level of employees. Employee skills can be classified into -a) Core skills i.e. those skills that all employees in the organization are expected to have, b)Unique skills i.e. skills that are unique to an individual and c)Future skills i.e. skills that an employee would like to have in the future. A gamified set up works best in situations where employees can put to use their core skills to be part of a team-based activity for the greater organizational good or in situations where individuals can develop future skills as part of their personal responsibility. While it is imperative that organizations look closely towards data, employee behavior and organizational culture to create a gamification structure that can best support its objectives; it must take steps to ensure that an employee remains motivated to fulfill his responsibilities and does not get lost in the game.

Evolutionism Vs Creationism Essay -- essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Questions on the origin of life and of the universe must have challenged human curiosity and imagination as soon as early man had time for activities other than survival. In 1859, Charles Darwin published the Origin of Species, and since then, people have debated between the creationism and evolutionism theories. The theory of evolution has been supported only through various religious writings, particularly the Bible.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Creationists believe in a divine creator, God. Creationism has a broad range of beliefs involving a reliance on God’s miraculous work to explain the origin of the universe, of life, and of the different kinds of plants and animals on Earth. According to the creationist view, God willed everything into existence, and this is how humans came onto the Earth. Creationists say that the evolution theory is biased and incomplete. They believe that the fossil records fail to provide a link between diverse groups. To find out how old fossils are, scientists use a method called radioisotope dating, which measures the amount of uranium or lead lost over the years. Creationists deny evidence from this testing because they assume no uranium or lead has been lost over the years. The process of evolution, which all living things developed from unicellular organisms, over billions of years Exactly how evolution occurs is still debated but it is a scientific fact that it does occur. Most biologists believe that the modern theory of evolution arose from a history of mutations either physically or chemically and it is still occurring. All organisms can be traced back to a common ancestor from inanimate matter.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The science of paleontology or the study of life provides the most direct proof of evolution in the past through fossil remains or impressions, usually in rock. Other evidence comes from comparative studies of living animals and plants, including their structure and geographical locations. â€Å"Mollusks and vascular plants account for more than 80 percent† (Futuyma 87) of the world’s species, with about â€Å"1.4 to 1.8 million species† (Futuyma 87) in all. Changes occur in living organisms to help increase their adaptability, or potential for survival and reproduction, in the face of changing environments. Evolution apparently has no built-in direction or purpose. A given ... ...atively, is definitely an important piece of literature. To believe that the age of the earth is only 10,000 years old does not support the validity of the creationists. To many scholars, the Bible is a figurative book of parables, not to be taken literally. The use of the Bible may be hindering, instead of supporting, the validity of the creationist’s arguments. It is clear that evolution is much clearer to understand and accept than the creationism theory. There will always be people who will still be curious as to how we appeared on the earth, and some people will oppose the evolution theory, therefore, the evolutionism/creationism debate will forever continue. Works Cited Creation Science FAQ http://www.clubs.psu.edu/origins/faqsci.htm Drew Thinks About Evolutionism vs Creationism. http://petra.austinc.edu/arayburn/evolve.html Futuyma, Douglas J. Evolutionary Biology. 3rd ed. Massachusetts: Sinauer Associates inc., 1997. General QH 366.2.F87 Montagu, Ashley, ed. Science and Creationism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1984. General QH 371.S343 Strahler, Arthur N. Science and Earth History. The Evolution/Creation Controversy. New York: Prometheus Books, 1987. BS 652.S77

How Is Romeo and Juliet Relationship Presented

One of the play’s most consistent visual motifs is the contrast between light and dark, often in terms of night/day imagery. Need Evidence! This contrast is not given a particular metaphoric meaning—light is not always good, and dark is not always evil. On the contrary, light and dark are generally used to provide a sensory contrast and to hint at opposed alternatives. One of the more important instances of this motif is Romeo’s lengthy meditation on the sun and the moon during the balcony scene, in which Juliet, metaphorically described as the sun, is seen as banishing the â€Å"envious moon† and transforming the night into day (2. . 46). A similar blurring of night and day occurs in the early morning hours after the lovers’ only night together. Romeo, forced to leave for exile in the morning, and Juliet, not wanting him to leave her room, both try to pretend that it is still night, and that the light is actually darkness: â€Å"More light and light, more dark and dark our woes† (3. 5. 36) The Inevitability of Fate In its first address to the audience, the Chorus states that Romeo and Juliet are â€Å"star-crossed†Ã¢â‚¬â€that is to say that fate (a power often vested in the movements of the stars) controls them (Prologue. ). This sense of fate permeates the play, and not just for the audience. The characters also are quite aware of it: Romeo and Juliet constantly see omens. When Romeo believes that Juliet is dead, he cries out, â€Å"Then I defy you, stars,† completing the idea that the love between Romeo and Juliet is in opposition to the decrees of destiny (5. 1. 24). Of course, Romeo’s defiance itself plays into the hands of fate, and his determination to spend eternity with Juliet results in their deaths. The mechanism of fate works in all of the events surrounding the lovers: the feud between their families (it is worth noting that this hatred is never explained; rather, the reader must accept it as an undeniable aspect of the world of the play); the horrible series of accidents that ruin Friar Lawrence’s seemingly well-intentioned plans at the end of the play; and the tragic timing of Romeo’s suicide and Juliet’s awakening. These events are not mere coincidences, but rather manifestations of fate that help bring about the unavoidable outcome of the young lovers’ deaths. The concept of fate described above is the most commonly accepted interpretation. There are other possible readings of fate in the play: as a force determined by the powerful social institutions that influence Romeo and Juliet’s choices, as well as fate as a force that emerges from Romeo and Juliet’s very personalities. Link this to Friar Lawernce! STRUCTURE -briefly answer the question awhat the relationship is like, what sort of impression you get of the relationship. Second paragraph)-Context- write about how men/women were supposed to behave when the plays were written a how is this reflected in the text? (this bit is essential for Band 4/5). How do you think an audience might have responded to the relationship when the play was first performed? How might a modern audienceas response be different? (Third paragraph)- How language reveals the relationship- select 3 or 4 key examples of words that reveal to you the relationship a might be a simile /metaphor that has be en used or a striking phrase/word. Try to select them from the different scenes you are focusing on. For each make sure you analyse how the word/phrase suggests ideas about the relationship, not just what it suggests. (Fourth paragraph)- How structure reveals the relationship- think in particular about the relationship changes as the play progresses- analyze how Shakespeare shows the relationship changing as the play goes on. (Fifth paragraph)- How dramatic techniques reveal the relationship- this might include: the setting; actions; stage directions. Try to find one or two examples Shakespeare presents Romeo & Juliet's early relationship as a love-hate affair. By this I mean that although they love each other immensely, they are surrounded by the hate of their two families Arranged marriages were very common at the time depending on your social status and love had no meaning. At the time marrying at the age of 12 appeared to be normal, however now is frowned at.

Plannng an expedition to an extreme environment

The place that our expedition is going to take is in the region of Norway called Svalbard. To get there we have to take a boat from Norway port and bring our equipments ready for the cold environment. The average temperature is around 5à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C and -12à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C in winter. Equipments I need to bring on the expedition are: A parka is essential in cold weather. It insulates the heat even at a -47 degree Celsius. It is waterproof so the melted snow couldn't get in to your body. Insulator trousers are used to keep our legs warm. It is water proof with fleece lining to keep the heat in because the temperature is really low there. Fleece jumper is essential in this harsh weather condition. It keeps our body temperature in which is great. A woolly jumper is also good to keep heat in. I use this jumper as a spare in case the fleece gets dirty. A long sleeve shirt is to be worn before the jumper to keep me extra warm. Tracksuit bottoms with fleece lining are ideal to put on first before the thermal trousers. It will keep me extra warm. These are essential accessories for parts of our body like hands, neck and head. This faux fur hat keeps most of my body temperature in because the heat is loss through our head. Earmuffs are good to keep my ears warm; scarf is great to prevent coldness to enter my body. Waterproof gloves are used to keep my hands warm and prevent melted ice to get through the material. Thermal socks are there to keep my feet warm and these water proof boots are useful to walk through snow and uneven land. They have thick rubber soles to prevent slipping and provide good friction. Map and compasses are the must have. They will help me to find my way back if I get lost. Water is good because it stop me from being dehydrated. Dry food is ideal in this weather as it is easy to cook and quick. Swiss knives are useful because you never know when you need it. I will need it to open a can or defend myself when I get attacked by a bear. Task 2: Glacier retreat project A: Find maps and photographs of Glaciers on Spitsbergen 1: Label the features you can see 2: How did glacier form and move? 1. Snow is collected over millions of years. The snow flake compressed and fused together, squeezing air and moistures out to create one solid ice block. With the pressure of more snow the firn will eventually over years become glacier ice. 2. Glacier is like a mighty river of ice. It is capable of doing what a river can do such as flow and change in flow rate. In ice, the flow rate is faster in the centre than at the edges and quicker on the surface than at the bottom because the gravity pulls the weigh there greater. That is why some glacier surge forwards than the other. 3. When ice moves it picks up rocks on the way therefore the rock make good cutting tools such as erosion. Erosion by plucking and abrasion make the hollow deeper and bigger. * Plucking is when rocks and stones froze to the bottom of the glacier and being plucked up by the movements of the glacier. * Abrasion happens when the materials rubbed against the bedrock at the bottom and sides of the glacier. They were being pulled down by gravity. This also causes wearing to the landscape. Fine grained debris polishes the bedrock called glacial polish. 4. Some of this debris is deposited at the edge of the corrie, as a moraine, building up the lip. This combined process creates a rounded shape, with a steep back wall, and an armchair shape characteristic of a corrie. 5. When the ice melts, a lake is left in the corrie. This is called a tarn. 3: Why do you think that many people might find them both interesting and enjoyable to look at? I think people find it interesting to look at the glacier because they can find answers to their wonders of how landscape form. It is amazing to see the nature is so powerful which can move and change the land. They can also do some sporting activities such as camping and sledge riding. Furthermore they can compare the difference between places which are affected by glacier retreated and see how much ice have melted. They might find it interesting because they can see how the climate is changing and some responsibilities are down to human. B: Look at the map on page 11 and other evidence that shows how glaciers have retreated on Spitsbergen 1: Using the picture above, the time scale that retreating of glacier has been measured is 103 years. Since 1900 and up until 2003, the resources tell me that the glacier has moved 3 miles from 1983 to 2003. I measure the scale and worked out that 3mile is equivalent to 1 cm. Therefore I can say that from 1900 to 2003, the glacier has moved 16 miles and in the present time, there is a great possibility of it moving further than 16 miles. 2: The ice moves at the rate of 241 metres every year from 1983 to 2003. The map shows the glacier melted the most in 1983 to 2003, the gap between 1900 to 1916 is smaller therefore I can say that less ice receded then. The amount of precipitation on this island is very little; causing ice on Svalbard accumulates snow very slowly. This affects the way the ice movements. 3: The evidence of glacier retreating appears to match with the theory of global warming because the ice is melting very fast as the year goes on. It is because the Earth is affecting by the green house effect. This means that heat and CO2 gas are being trapped in the atmosphere instead of leaving the Earth. They insulate the heat which causing ice to melt. The pollution is increasing which makes the ice melt faster as well. The â€Å"albedo effect† has an important role in climate change. It is used to describe what material can reflect sunlight. The higher the albedo the greater it can reflects the sunlight. The higher the Earth's albedo, the more solar radiation will reflect and the Earth will heat up less. White is a good colour which doesn't absorb the heat. If the ice melts, there will be more heat being trapped and will lead to more global warming because dark colour material tends to absorb heat than the lighter colour. 4: What the likely effects on melting glaciers in the sea around Svalbard Islands? Think about salinity, exposure to erosion and changes in the land/sea level. Salinity: amount of salt dissolved in water. Melting glaciers in the sea around Svalbard Islands effects on a lot of things such as the Thermohaline, living things like polar bear and climate not only on the island but also UK and other countries. Ocean water never rest which means it moves constantly. The complicated patterns are influence by wind, the water's salinity and heat content, bottom of the ocean's structure and the Earth's rotation. One of the biggest oceans current is the Gulf Stream. It transports 150 millions cubic metres per second of warm water from the Gulf of North Mexico across the Atlantic to Svalbard. On the way it mixes with water from other current, exchanging qualities of salinity, temperature, plants and animal. When warm Gulf Stream collides with the cold Atlantic current, it causes the seawater to become extremely dense. It is because warm water has higher mass due to the heat and salty water is heavier than fresh water. The warm water sinks and exporting towards south but some will continue towards Svalbard. When it reaches South Atlantic, it moves east to join the current flows to Indian Ocean and the rest move to Pacific Ocean. There it will heat up and repeat the same cycle. If the ice in Svalbard melts even more, there will be an increase in sea level as well as more fresh water will be added in to the ocean. This fresh water will move down south and affect the Gulf Stream because it will get colder and less salty; this also upset the process of Thermohaline. If the Gulf Stream slow down or shut down completely the climate in Britain would be colder. It would be like Moscow which is on the same latitude. This is called Rapid Climate Change. Britain is warmer than Moscow due to the warm current. If the ice in Svalbard melts even more polar bear will have no where to live and reproduce because these bears rely on ice. They can not swim well enough to catch seals or fish. It will results in shortage of food and could lead to distinction. If the ice in Svalbard melts even more the land will expose more because the glacier would disappear. This will have an impact on people and tourism on this island. The unique site and land on this island will change dramatically. C. Read the Glacial meltdown information sheet. 1: The problem in suggest the reason why the glacier melts because of global warming is that it is not the only reason why. They blame it on human because we consume a lot of fossil fuel can produce toxic gas that harms the environment. Yes they are right partly, but even before we begin to us fossil foil, glacier already started to retreat. This is normal for them. They have different opinions and views but they need to know both side of the evidence. Furthermore, global warming doesn't occur in a short amount of time. It is measured over a long period and find out the changes in pattern of the temperature, ocean life, etc†¦ 2: It is important to know who produce and interpret the evidence of global warming because they could be bias and have different views of the global warming. Some time they can exaggerate. It is good to know all the evidence that global warming caused by human and nature. This statement from Greenpeace is saying that the cause of global warming that makes ice melt is due to human activity such as burning fossil fuels in cars, aeroplane, bus, etc†¦They exaggerated it even though parts of it is down to human activity. The climate change is measured over many years, decades even centuries. Climate change doesn't happen that quickly. This evidence suggests that one of the reasons why glacier retreated faster is because some ice surges forward than the other. This is normal and is due to nature and not human activities. Task 3: Climate change and effects on the food chain A: Find out about phytoplankton that grows in Arctic waters. Phytoplankton – Microscopic plants and plant-like organisms found in massive quantities in the sea. They are known as ‘the ocean's grass'. Algae bloom – A plankton bloom also known as algal bloom, is simply an area where phytoplankton (algae) reproduce very fast that you may find many thousand plant cells per litre of water. The chlorophyll in these plants colour the water green. Zooplankton – Microscopic animals and animal-like organisms found in the sea. 1: Just like any normal plant, phytoplankton needs light, warmth, nutrients, carbon dioxide and water in order to grow and reproduce. The condition and environment around it has to achieve some of the requirements for algae to grow. 2: The Ocean's bottom contains decaying plants and animals which carry nutrients; they are being brought to the surface by currents. Algae bloom occurs when the Sun comes out like in spring because plants need sunlight to develop healthily and gives it the colour green. The phytoplanktons also use the nutrients to produce; this leads to algae bloom as well as the bloom of zooplankton because they have more food to eat. The light and warmth control the multiplication of algae. In winter it is harder for this specie to grow. 3: The growth of phytoplankton is very important to the Arctic food chain because they are the producer. They are food to zooplanktons which they are eaten by fish. Small fishes like Arctic cod are eaten by other predators such as polar bears, whales, seabirds and other fish. If there are less of them then the population of other consumers and predator can decreased. B: Look at page 12 in the High Arctic book. Look at the maps and other information about the growing conditions for plants on land in the Svalbard Islands and the Arctic in general. CAFF stands for The Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna. 1:  Land surface: the Arctic tundra made of flat and low land surface. The further north you go the higher the land due to some mountains. The further up north, the land is usually covers in snow and only a few plants can survive, like in Spitsbergen. Plants on land only cover just over 5% of the surface and home to 165 species of plants on Svalbard. Low land and mountain tundra's vegetation is composed of dwarf shrubs, sledges and grasses, mosses and lichens. Scattered trees grow in some tundra. The ecological boundary region between the tundra and the forest is known as the tree line. There are likely no trees and no bushes. Taiga is described to be home to many living organism. Boreal forest refers to the southern part of this biomass. Northern taiga has small-leaves trees like birch, alder, willow and aspen. Nearly all the trees in this kind of forest are fir trees. They grow for just a few weeks and have tough leaves to survive frost, wind and snow. Whereas in southern also known as middle boreal. Trees grow bigger and home to many animals like red squirrel. The further south you go the more trees will grow and more living things are able to survive. Soil: mountain tundra has permanent frozen soil. But judging in the pictures the soil is quite fertile as there are living things growing on it. Snow buttercups, lichens etc†¦ are able to grow and reproduce on this soil. It is moist from the melted snow. Plants can not grow on the glacier because it is too cold to it to survive. Temperature: plants on Spitsbergen can grow at temperature as low as -5à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C. Plants like dwarf shrubs, sledges and grasses, mosses and lichens can survive at this temperature. The temperature increases as you go further south because it is nearer to the sun. the temperature raises after the snow melts so the plants can start growing. Precipitation: the mountain tundra gets less rain than the other part of this Arctic because it is colder and dryer. Places like the taiga have more precipitation because the trees need rain in order to grow big. There are more moisture in the air there than the area around glacier. Growing season: The map shows the length of time that plants need to grow. So in spring, the mountain tundra will have 80 days to grow. These plants are short whereas the middle boreal will have 160 days of growing season because the plants are tall and have loads of leaves. The further south you go the longer the growing season. Colourful wildflowers bloom from the end of June to the end of July. They have to adapt to this every short season. 2. Describe the main characteristics of plants that are found on the land. It is hard for plants to grow in the Arctic. Once the snow melts, the growing season is going to be short. Despite getting the most sunshine in summer, but the harsh weather condition have made the plants adapted to their environment such as Arctic tundra. They have distinctive characteristics such as being small, grow close together and close to the ground. This protects them from the cold temperatures and the strong winds. Some flowering plants covered in fine hair like the Arctic crocus to provide protection from the wind. Flowering plants use all the sunlight they can to produce flowers at very fast speed because they knew growing season is very short. Some plants have cup shaped flowers that face up to the sun, so they can get the sunlight shines directly at the centre of the flower that's why they are so bright. However, other plants have dark colour because they can absorb more heat. Some plants have small roots because only the top layer of the soil thaw and they have small leaves to retain moisture. Because of the short growing season, most tundra plants are perennials and they do not die in the winter. Other living organisms like lichens and mosses can survive on bare rock. They are very short. 3: Plants can be said to be part of a â€Å"fragile† environment is because they can be easily damaged. For example, tracks from a passing vehicle will tear up the fragile insulating tundra, allowing the soil to thaw into scars that may remain for hundreds of years therefore the surface layer is vulnerable to environmental damage. There are also other factors that could stop plants from growing such as colder temperature and shorter growing season. Plants there have already adapted to that low temperature, if it gets any lower there is a likely chance they will not survive. Furthermore, if the sun is not giving them enough sunlight, they wouldn't be able to grow healthily. C: Look at the Arctic food chain on page 13 in the High Arctic book. 1: The Arctic food chain consists of many animals, sea animals, land and sky. The most important producers start in the sea like the phytoplankton. They are food to the zooplankton and from that fishes consume them. Fishes are important because many animals rely and live on them such as seals, killer whales, birds, polar bear etc†¦ Birds like the kittiwake fed on fishes and they are food to Arctic foxes. If it wasn't for the sea animals, the land animals wouldn't be able to survive because they have nothing to eat. The sea environment keeps the food chain balance by providing the right amount food at the right time. Like when a female polar bear gave birth to her cub in December, the algae would bloom after December and make food for the polar bear. Numbers of birds are more than number of fishes. If the fishes do not multiply then it could cause a fall in number of animals. Numbers of whales are shortening due to whale hunting by human and animals. The food chain has interlinking which means a specie consumes more than one type of food. This increases the chance of getting something to eat than some other living organisms. 2: If the ice melts, the number of seals will decrease because they will have no where to mate and rest which will lead to the falling in polar bear's population. However, the number of fishes will increase and population of birds and foxes. It is because they will have fewer predators and more food to eat. Killer whales will be relying on squids and other fishes instead having them as well as seals. Their population will decrease but not greatly. In the future, seals might be hunted for their skin or their fat or it could be the melting of ice which will leave them homeless. 4: After the coal mining industry closed in the 1980s the future of Longyearbyen, a city in Svalbard seems to have no hope. The economy went down hill because there was not enough income and the population was decreasing. The Norwegian government decided that it would create new business opportunities on Svalbard. One of the main activities to be developed was tourism. Svalbard is a very beautiful wilderness, with many rare living organisms, and it's also a part of the Arctic that is easily accessible by plane. Because of the Gulf Stream, the temperature is not as cold compared to other places on the same Northern latitude. Longyearbyen received 25,000 tourists every year and they arrive by plane and another 25,000 visit on a cruise ship. They bring a lot of income to the town by using the facilities such as hotels, going on excursions, buying souvenirs, etc†¦. It's important that the government carefully manage the wilderness so that tourists can still enjoy coming here in the future because the view and places here are exclusive to Svalbard. It is advised not to use modern transport to go around on this island. Tourists can take the aeroplane or cruise ships but if they want to explore this land more it is best to only go with dogs, or on foot, or by skiing. One of the reasons they believe using those environmental friendly transport is because tourist come here from big city to find peace and quite. Silence is a valuable commodity today. If they raced around on snowmobiles, then people wouldn't want to come as much. In addition, motorised vehicles cause damage to the environment. They produce more C02 and destroy landscape. The Government of Norway has set a goal of trying to make Svalbard one of the best managed wildernesses in the world. To achieve this they have put a lot of regulations into force, including the Svalbard Environmental Protection Act. The purpose of this Act is to preserve a virtually untouched environment in Svalbard. Littering is forbidden, you can not pick a flower or even move a stone on the beach.