Swot Analysis of Bank Al-Falah Essay Example

Swot Analysis of Bank Al-Falah Essay SWOT Analysis of Bank Al-Falah Here we have applied this very useful technique to identifythe strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats ofBank Al-Falah. Strengths Strengths Strong Financial Position Strong Financial Position As we can see in the financial statements of the bank, the financial position of the organization is very sound and its profitability is in increasing. The Earning per sharehas been increased on a rate of about 50%, which is a verypositive sign. Highly Qualified Employees Highly Qualified Employees The bank has highly qualified and skilled workforceand it has succeeded to attract the best bankingprofessionals from across the country due to its growingpace and sound reputation. Conducive Environment Conducive Environment The management of the bank is very muchconcerned with the development of and improvement of theworking environment. The bank has state of the art andpurpose built branches where all the modern technologiesare provided to get the efficiency of the workforce and thecustomer satisfaction. Govt. Support and Encouragement Govt. Support and Encouragement As the owners of the bank belong to UAE and thetype of their investment in Pakistan is a foreign investment,the govt. is fully supporting the bank management due to itspolicy to maximize the foreign investment in the country, toget the economic prosperity. Fastest Growing Financial Institution Fastest Growing Financial Institution Due to its successful business policies and thestrong financial position the bank has achieved thereputation of fastest growing financial institution in thecountry. We will write a custom essay sample on Swot Analysis of Bank Al-Falah specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Swot Analysis of Bank Al-Falah specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Swot Analysis of Bank Al-Falah specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer It has greatly increased the customers confidencein the bank Huge Expansion Plan Huge Expansion Plan Due to its strong financial position the bank has undergone a huge expansion plan to compete with the existing bank all over the country and with the passage of time the branch network is expanding at a very good pace. Young and Energetic Workforce Young and Energetic Workforce As the bank is a newer one in the country, the bankhas an advantage over its competitors because the majorityof its workforce is young and not very much over aged. Thus the bank is getting maximum out put from its youngand energetic workforce by spending comparatively less ontheir remunerations. Islamic Banking Division Islamic Banking Division The bank is one of the pioneers of the commercialbanks who have started the Islamic Banking along with theirconventional banking. The bank has a separate network ofits Islamic Banking Division which has 16 branches acrossthe country and this network is also expanding at a very good pace. Weaknesses Waiver of charges Waiver of charges Currently the middle management of bank Al-Falah is thebig reason for waiver of charges. Bank Al-Falah loosing alot of its income likes (Cheque book charge, online charges,statement charges, and other things) because ofmanagement. This is a weakness of bank Al-Falah. Inexperienced workforce Inexperienced workforce As the majority of the workforce consists of young professional, they lack in their experience. And sometimes ack of experience becomes a hurdle while serving to thecustomers. It is the point where they feel difficulty whilecompeting the other bank, which have a very experiencedworkforce. Over work Load on Employees Over work Load on Employees It was observed in the branch that as compared tohuge business the bank is dealing in, the no. of employeesis lesser and thus there is an increased workload on theemployees. Due to this the efficiency of the employees isreduced. Employees are not very much Employees are not very much Motivated Motivated As discussed before, the workload is high and theemployees, especially the credit department, have to dolate sittings to complete their tasks. On the other hand thebank has revised its salary increments policy to decreasethe increment rate, as a result a decreased motivation levelof employees is observed Opportunities Rapidly Growing Economy Rapidly Growing Economy At present the Pakistan’s Economy is growing on avery fast pace. The rapid growth of economy has resulted inthe increase in the growth rate of all economic sectorsespecially in the banking sector which is growing at afastest speed than ever and in future the growth is expectedto increase even a higher rate. Increased Interest Rates Increased Interest Rates The SBP has revised the interest policy and theinterest rates have been linked with the KIBOR rates. Dueto which the banks interest rate has been substantiallyincreased which will greatly increase the banks’ profitability. Mega Projects Financing Mega Projects Financing As the increase in overall business activity in thecountry, the investors are launching various types of MegaProjects especially in housing and textile the bank has agreat opportunity to finance these projects at very profitableterm. Huge Demand for Consumer Huge Demand for Consumer Financing Financing The increase in per capita income and overalleconomy has resulted into a great demand for theconsumer financing especially for home finance and carfinancing and it is said that this trend will increase more infuture. The bank can earn a lot by focusing on its consumerfinancing sections. Merger with UBL Merger with UBL After the privatization of United Bank Limited,  themanagement of the BAL has purchased the majority sharesof the UBL, and it is planning to merge these two banks. AsUBL is the second largest bank in the country, this mergercan make the bank the largest bank of the country. Growing Trend of Islamic Banking Growing Trend of Islamic Banking There is a very good growth trend in the Islamicbanking in the country and in the world as well. BAL has theadvantage of having full fledged Islamic Banking networkand the growth in this particular field can be very fruitful forthe bank. Spending Practices of Mass Spending Practices of Mass As the Pakistani’s are known for their extravagantpractices, and to fulfill their funds requirements they don’thesitate from getting loans from banks. Thus there is a verygood scope for the bank to run successful business in suchcircumstances.

English and Spanish Relations With the Native Americans essays

English and Spanish Relations With the Native Americans essays The purpose of this paper is to prove that although both the English and the Spanish saw the natives as uncivilized and vulnerable savages; ultimately, the English, more so than the Spanish, took advantage of these characteristics to lead to bad relations with the Native Americans. Whereas the Spanish settlers, who forced Catholicism on the Pueblos and tried to obliterate Indian practices, ended their problems with hopes of peace, the English took over land with no effort at reconciliation with the Narragansett tribe. When the English first arrived in New England in the mid 1600's, they were much amused at the Indians responses to their European culture. The natives were impressed with European technology and soon expressed a desire to experience the new bits of customs that had arrived on their shores. When the English saw that the natives venerated them for their new and interesting technology as almost supernatural in basis, they perceived this as bond that would be carried throughout settlement. Similarly, good intentions were met in the southwest part of the land where the Spanish sent Franciscan friars into the area of New Mexico to spread the Catholic faith. Beginning their expanse, they were welcomed by the Pueblos mostly because they brought new crops and agricultural technologies that made life much simpler and industrious. Unlike the English Puritans, the Spanish missionaries did not see it necessary to force conversion on the natives. Camaraderie and good associations between the English and Native Americans did not last long. The Indians first noticed that the English had outstayed their welcome when tribes would complain of loss of land, grass, and trees. However, the English reacted no differently to the outlandishly different lifestyle of the natives. Early Massachusetts Bay settler, William Wood, went on to find fault with various aspects of the Indian routine, including treatment of Indian women...

Article on Karl Marx and Private Enterprise

Article on Karl Marx and Private Enterprise Karl Marx is the most controversial economist in history. His writings are studied and debated. He is frequently linked with communism and that association has biased many people against him. Marxs link to communism were formed because many of the socialist dictators such as Lenin studied Marx intensively, however it is erroneous to assume that Marx was a proponent of communism. He was however a critic of capitalism. He studied capitalism extensively and much of his writings focus on the problems with capitalism and specifically on the exploitation of the worker. By examining the origination of capitalism and the Marxist critique of capitalism, we can gain a better understanding of Marxs viewpoints and separate Marxs views from many of the misunderstandings surrounding Marx. Marx spent a great deal of time examining the conversion of the feudal society to a capitalist society. Before the conversion to capitalism took place, England experienced an industrial revolution. This revolution took place from the 10th to the 14th centuries. Around this time, the Plaque that wreaked havoc on England and wiped out nearly half of its population was over. After the Plague ended, many people inherited a lot of wealth and spending on extravagant items became very common. Additionally, it was during this time that technological advances moved industry forward. The invention of the loom made it possible to create linens rapidly and inexpensively and Englands textile industry flourished. Soon after that came the invention of the printing press, which changed allowed for the efficient transfer of information. It was no longer necessary to learn how to do things directly through human contact. This spread of information made it possible for the people of England to organize themselves and to expand their knowledge in different areas of industry. During the 16th and 17th centuries England experienced a turning point in its economic history. During the reign of Charles I, England was going through a period of economic shrinkage. Up until this time English monarchy favored an economic system that was monopolistic in nature. The reason for this is that it gave England greater control over profits and taxation. However, as the merchant class began to grow, Englands economic policies began to hinder further growth. The merchant class (referred to by Marx as the bourgeoisie) began to compete with the monopolies and Englands economy grew increasingly unstable. The rising bourgeoisie began to enclose their land and focused their efforts more and more and their own material gain. These economic factors were, in a large part, responsible for the eventual revolution and execution of the King of England, Charles I. The conversion to capitalism took place over a large period of time, but the changes that took place affected every aspect of society. It changed not only industry, but also politics, religion, laws, and peoples social interactions. In feudalism, wealth was tied to the land. Society was based on agriculture and 90% of the people worked the land. If someone owned land they were wealthy; the society was divided into two classes, landowners and non-landowners. In feudalism, wealth was inherited. Land was passed on when the landowner died to his descendants and therefore it was impossible for serfs to move up. With capitalism this all changed. Wealth was linked to trade and production. For the first time, serfs had the ability to acquire some wealth because wealth was no longer based on lineage. Under this new system, owning a business became the major way to generate wealth, which created some opportunity for serfs that had a skill. Furthermore, land became a commodity that could be bou ght and sold. Previously, land did not change hands and the king could seize it at any time. In capitalism property was bought and sold and people could do with it whatever they wished. In feudalism profits were considered immoral, but under capitalism profits became the way to obtain a better life. Capitalism is the separation of the economy and the state. It is a social system based upon private ownership of the means of production, which entails a completely uncontrolled and unregulated economy where all land is privately owned. Capitalism has been described as the a social harmony through the pursuit of self-interest. This is because those who promote capitalism, believe in that by leaving the state of the economy unregulated, and by each individual left in pursuit of his own self-interests, the economy will automatically adjust itself so that is runs with maximum efficiency. Today in the United States we live in a capitalist society (although our economy is not purely capitalistic because it is not completely unregulated). Under this system a large and growing section of the population survives based on the condition that it works for the owners of the means of production. Production became a key component of this new way of life. Marx defines social class as relations to means of production. Society class structure changed. Instead of society being divided into the landowners and non-landowners, it was divided into those the capitalist and the worker. Capitalists built huge factories instead of small workshops and began to employee hundred of workers at a time. The capitalist owned the factory, the land, and the raw materials and instructed the worker on what to do. Then the goods produced were sold and the capitalist paid the worker a wage and kept the profits. At a time when 90% of England were poor, former serfs, capitalists found plenty of people willing to work for almost nothing. Although, a select few of the workers who were skilled earned a slightly higher wage, the majority worked to just enough money to sustain themselves. The capitalist paid as low a wage as possible and tried to sell their products for as high a price as possible. Most cap italists were very successful. They reinvested their money into new ventures and their wealth grew. Marx recognized that Capitalism divides society into classes, whose interests are not only different, but are opposed to each other. According to Marx the relationship between the capitalist and the worker is inherently antagonistic. What one gains is lost to the other. Because of this he felt that it was inevitable that the worker would have to rise up against the capitalist. Lets take a closer look at the capitalist-worker relationship and how workers wages are determined. The same principles that determine the price of goods also determine the wages. Supply and demand and the competition for labor determine wages by the capitalists. This is what causes the cost of labor to fluctuate and the fluctuations revolve around the cost of producing labor. The costs can be described as the cost of maintaining and training the worker. The easier a worker is to replace or the less training required to educate a worker, the smaller his wage. If there is little or no training necessary, a workers wages will equal the subsistence wage (the minimum amount necessary for a worker to survive). In addition the subsistence wage the capitalist must also consider the cost of replacing worn out workers. The addition of this cost to the subsistence wage is the minimum wage. Although many workers do live and work for a wage below this level, the minimum wage correlates to the wa ges of the entire working class and this wage is the point about which wages of the workers fluctuates. Understanding how wages are determined in the capitalist society we can now examine the relationship between labor and capital in more detail. The laborer receives wages in exchange for his labor. The laborer receives this wage which provides him a method of survival in that he can by food, clothes, and shelter. However, the subsistence wage will not provide the worker any means of economic progression. It will not provide him a way of moving up from the lower classes. An example of this would be a factory worker. He works for one day and is paid for his work ten dollars. The factory owner earns twenty dollars for the work put forth by the worker after subtracting the wage that he pays the worker. Therefore, the employer has created for himself twenty dollars by doing nothing more than giving the laborer work. The factory owner can then use the twenty dollars to reinvest in the factory or in another venture, increasing his wealth. The laborer on the other hand, earns his ten dollars a day, which is only sufficient for him to purchase necessities. It is often said that in capitalism it is in the best interest of the worker and the capitalist for the capitalists ventures to succeed. This is true in that if the venture does not succeed, the worker nor the capitalist will reap a reward. However, when it does succeed it is the capitalist who has the opportunity to increase his wealth and it is in the capitalists best interests that the worker not be given opportunity to earn more than the subsistence wage he is being paid. The growth of the business under capitalism will logically benefit a select number of capitalists. The few who are fortunate enough to have wealth have the opportunity for their wealth to grow. However the worker is not as fortunate. Marx knew that a growth in profits for a firm did not help the worker as one might suspect. In fact, a growth in profits would imprison the worker. When profits increase, wages might also increase but not at the same proportion to profit. An increase in profits for a firm of 30 percent could translate roughly to an increase in wages of 5 percent. Even though wages rose, they rose proportionately less that profits. Therefore the relative wage has not increased, but in fact it has gotten smaller. As the few capitalists increase their wealth, the gap between the rich and the poor must widen. The size of the working class (Marx refers to them as proletariats) grows in number, but their individual wealth is stagnant. The relationship between the two classes i s a control relationship of the capitalist over the worker. This is not a great improvement over the relationship between the feudal lords and the serfs. In the best case scenario a capitalist economy prospers to the point that wages are driven up. Even in this case, however, the gap that would develop between the rich and the poor is so unproportional that it would be impossible for the laborer to increase his standard of living in a pure capitalist economy. We can see that even the best possible situation for the working class does not improve their situation. The material position of the worker may rise slightly, but his social position continues to decline. Marx refers to the manner in which a capitalist controls the worker and reaps the rewards of his labor as exploitation of the worker. The capitalist exploits the worker by using him in the production of goods and using the profit that was generated by the workers labor for his own gain. We will look at how this is done, but first we need to understand how the value of a good or a commodity is measured. By gaining that understanding we can then look at the value added to a product by the laborer and what portion of that value is rewarded to him. It had been a problem for economists to determine how the value of a good is derived. It had been determined that prices of all commodities including labor, are continuously rising and falling and that the price of the goods can rise and fall because of factors that had nothing to do with the production of the good itself. The determination of value was a problem that many economists tried to resolve. Marx was the first economist to investigate thoroughly the notion that the value of a good is determined by the labor put into producing the good. He believed that the value of a commodity was based on all labor, past and present, put into creating the good. This established a way of measuring the true value of good. However this theory had some problems. How is the value of labor determined? How do we express the value of labor when labor itself is used to measure value? Classical Economists contrast these problems that were faced by Marx (as well as other economists such as David Ricardo), with another theory. This theory suggests that the value of a commodity is equal to its cost of production. Under this idea, the value of labor can be determined by the cost of sustaining him or the cost of replacing him. Another way of looking at the exploitation of the worker is by examining the number of hours put into producing a product. The value of each product consists of three parts, according to Marx: the first part is the amount of constant capital put into a good, the second part is the amount of variable capital used to create the good (wages), and the third is the surplus value. The surplus value is the value of a good above and beyond the value that was paid to the worker in the form of wages. In fact by dividing the surplus value by the workers wages we are able to derive the Rate of Exploitation of the worker. So for example a workers wage might equal half of the value of the good he produced. The other half of the value that the worker added is the surplus value and the surplus value is taken for profit by the capitalist. By looking at the relationship between the worker and the capitalist one thing is certain. The value of a good is determined either directly or indirectly by the worker. The value is either composed of the actual units of labor used to produce the product or the cost of labor is used as part the valuation of the good (in addition to the other costs such as materials and machinery). Regardless the worker is reduced to a tool used by the Capitalist and he is nothing more than a component in the production process. And that is what Marx felt would cause the strain and the inevitable rebellion of the worker. It is important to note that despite the common misperception, Marx did not feel that Capitalism is all bad. He recognized that it ended feudalism which was far worse. In many ways he looked at Capitalism as a segue to something better. He believed that Capitalism was dynamic and constantly changing and this leads to the promotion of technology and spurs advances in science. He also knew that Capitalism was an efficient way of creating material wealth. However, despite capitalisms advantages, Marx could not over look its disadvantages. It divides people into classes, which in and of itself, Marx believed, creates problems. It produces wealth for few and unhappiness for many. He believed that a worker is not just selling his labor, he is selling his humanness. He believed that a Capitalist economy will grow for decades (although their will be periods of recession and depression), but the capitalist system can not flourish indefinitely because by isolating the worker and creating the tension that must exist between the capitalist and the worker, capitalism must fall. The workers will eventually organize themselves and overthrow capitalism and then capitalism will be regarded as feudalism is now, as a stepping stone to something better.

A Farewell to Arms Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

A Farewell to Arms - Essay Example The researcher states that the novel’s plot wholly conforms to the standard pattern of tragedy wherein the start, development, and the conclusion of the plot-structure is marked by the well-known stages of exposition, complication, climax, crisis, anticlimax, and denouement. The 41 chapters of the novel show the rising and falling action running through the various stages; beginning with the introduction and exposition of the action centering on Frederic. It then leads to complication of the action by the new factor of love, which pulls the hero in the direction opposite to that of the war. The rising action reaches a climax in the wounding of the hero in the war front, then the action taking a downward journey leading to the crisis. The turning point in the fortune of the hero is in his desertion of war in the Caporetto retreat, then reaching the anticlimax of the falling action in the hero’s migration along with Catherine from Italy to Switzerland. It ends with the ca tastrophe or denouement in the death of Catherine leaving the hero alone and bitter. Thus, the novel’s patterning is modeled on the plot structure of a classic tragedy. The exposition is in the introduction where we are introduced to the novel’s setting, war-torn Italy, the major characters, their conflicts and the dramatic tensions working against the characters. He builds up suspense through the arousal of the readers’ expectations followed by their ironic reversals.... Frederic’s duty as a soldier and his love for Catherine pull him in separate directions. The activating incident if Frederic’s wounding which makes it possible for Catherine to nurse him and for the couple to fall in love. The rising action is marked by numerous coquettish games that Frederic and Catherine had. These fetish actions foreshadow their affection for one other. This is further demonstrated in their final days together, prior to Frederic’s departure to the front zero by the demands of love in competition with his life beyond their relationship. The rising action is also characterized by complications in the form Frederic’s growing affection for Catherine, his injury and her graveness. By the time Frederic is about to go back to the front, they realize that Catherine is three months pregnant (Hemmingway 149). Frederic sees a life he could have with Catherine as they live in Milan. Catherine’s pregnancy and the call to report to the front, however, divide Frederic’s loyalties, trapping him between two desires. The climax of the novel is the disastrous retreat at Caporetto and Frederic’s near-execution by the carabinieri, which utterly changes his attitude toward the war (Hemmingway 152). Frederic’s action during the Caporetto retreat becomes the turning point of the conflict between war and love. In shooting the Italian sergeant for desertion but then deserting the war himself, Frederic’s disillusionment with battlefield bravery is complete. He commits himself to his love for Catherine. The falling action comes is when Frederic decides to flee and abandon the army marking his farewell to arms. Frederic and Catherine idyllic time together in Stresa, an Italian town, may seem an odd setting for a story’s falling action. Nevertheless, as

Roma (Gypsy) music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Roma (Gypsy) music - Essay Example The attack massacred the people and carried thousands of slaves. Although Rajput fought back, a number of people were displaced. At some point around the eleventh century, the ancestors of Romans made their way into Upper Hindus Valley from Gurjara where they spent some of the time in the region. Thereafter the ancestors of the Romans left India and penetrated into the Northwest China. From there, they followed the ancient trading route which led them to Persia, through Southern Georgia, Armenia and finally reached Byzantine Empire. By fourteenth century, they reached Romania from Byzantine capital (now Istanbul). Some groups also remained in Romania as they moved on both east and west. By the fifteen century, Romanians could be traced in areas such as West, the British Isles and Spain and at the east of Poland and Lithuania. The population is approximately 6 to 10 million people. According to some scholars, they migrated from India changed their original name from Dom (plural) to Rom (singular) and Roma (plural) (Yooors, pg. 14). Roman religious beliefs are deep rooted amongst Hinduism. Romans have a universal believe called Kuntari. On the contrary, everything must have its natural place such as, that birds fly and fish swim. Although hens do not fly, they are considered as not balanced as are frogs. The Romans has believed that there’s a possibility of becoming polluted in a number of ways that included breaking of taboos that involve the upper and lower halves of the body. According to the Romanians, a person who becomes polluted is considered out of balance and need restoration to purity through a trial before a tribunal led by elders. At that instance, one found guilty are isolated from the others and then reinstated. For severe cases of pollution, a Roman could be outlawed from the group forever despite rare nowadays. Exemptions are given to children until they

Communication Challenges in Global Virtual Teams Essay Example for Free

Communication Challenges in Global Virtual Teams Essay Communication Challenges in Building Successful Global Virtual Teams Due to Diversity and Cultural Differences Abstract This paper introduces an approach to effectively communicate within a global virtual team by discussing the challenges faced by them, understanding cultural differences in communicating, diversity within a team, building trust in virtual communication, and communicating across different regions and time zones. This approach appears in many discussions surrounding the difficulties managers and team members have in communicating effectively in global virtual teams. Specifically, this paper evaluates how the diversity of a global virtual team makes it challenging to communicate when members are not present face to face and adhering to the different regions and time zones these members are located. It will also examine the challenges in understanding the different cultures amongst a team and how to effectively build trust by researching, acknowledging, and understanding these cultural differences and communicating them to the team in a virtual environment. Communicating Challenges in Building Successful Global Virtual Teams Due to Diversity and Cultural Differences In today’s economy, many organizations must expand their operations globally in order to remain competitive and to stay afloat. With this business model companies have to develop teams across all functions of the organization and in all regions of the globe in which the company operates. For these companies, many have set up global virtual teams to manage processes and implement any projects or company initiatives with other employees of the organization. However with these teams come many obstacles and challenges definitely in communicating across cultural differences, understanding the diversity of the team and communication management within the different regions and time zones. Various authors (Danielle, 2006; Kayworth, 2000; Lee-Kelley, 2008 to name a few) have noted that these groups consisting of dispersed members across the globe and accumulated from various cultural backgrounds have an impact on how effective global virtual teams can be. Kayworth determines that there are four main challenges that global virtual teams face; which are communication, culture, technology, and project management. This paper observes the difficulties that virtual teams face within their communication efforts, analyzing the diversity of team members and the obstacles of communicating across different regions and times zones. As well as it takes an extensive look at the cultural differences that consists of these virtual teams and the challenge of building trust amongst a dispersed group. And in order for a global virtual team to operate effectively, managers and the members must research the different cultural backgrounds of its members, understand the communication challenges they face, and utilize them accordingly in order to build trust amongst the team to fulfill their goals that they place ahead of them. Defining Global Virtual Teams There are many authors that have provided definitions of global virtual teams, Lee-Kelley (2008) mentions that Towsend along with Lipnack and Stamps define a virtual team as a group that is geographically dispersed and utilize telecommunication and information technology as forms to communicate and perform. Lee-Kelley also refers to Alge, Balosky, Christensen, and Davis’ definition that virtual teams are typically a group that are dispersed who use various sources of information technology to communicate. In the case of these definitions, there is a lack of emphasis on the concept of team, but further definitions tie in this concept and place more value on the aspect of team. Cascio’s and Shurygailo’s mentioning of multiple-relationships in global virtual teams, by referring to the number of manager’s involved, number of team members, and number of locations. Many researchers in this field do not reference a specified distance in which team members must be apart to classify as virtual team, but as Lee-Kelley stated it is a psychological reality versus sociological that team members conceptually define themselves in a virtual team. In sum, there are many definitions that agree on the structure, form and characteristics of a virtual team and the members it consist of, but there is a lack of consensus amongst them. This lack of consensus on the definition of a global virtual team has also brought up the discussions of the challenges in communication that these virtual teams face, thus prompting this research. Time Zones and Work Schedules One of the initial challenges of global virtual teams is the complicated work schedules of its team members in their respective regions. Settle-Murphy (2006) notes when working in a synchronous mode (Instant Message, telephone, video conference), some remote team members are forced to work at awkward times. This alone is one the most consistent challenges that managers and teams have to overcome. When is the optimal time for virtual teams that span across various time zones to meet? A manager and its team have to take in consideration the different work weeks as well as the time difference. Consistently in many western civilizations, the standard work week is predominately Monday through Friday, utilizing Saturday and Sunday as business days off in order to tend to personal matters and observance of the religious day that is most affluent in that region and culture. Where in many eastern civilizations the work week is Sunday through Thursday, and they utilize Friday and Saturday as their days off. This difference is not only restricted to western/eastern civilization, but ultimately applies to the different cultures that make up the team, the different religions, and time of year. Being cognitive of this challenge and addressing it in an applicable manner is crucial to the effectiveness of a global virtual team. It is an evident obstacle in scheduling team meetings via information technology applications (i. e. teleconferencing, video-conferencing, etc). This is one challenge that can easily be addressed by the manager’s and team’s awareness of these work week schedule differences along with the cultural and religious difference of its team members. Another issue that global virtual teams encounter is conducting meetings across the various time zones of its members. There is no exact corporate standard or guidelines on how and when meetings should be conducted in order to accommodate all members of the virtual team. Settle-Murphy states that in order to reduce this challenge as an obstacle to building trust and team success, a team should agree when same time meetings are necessary, and consider rotating the times to share the burden of working during normal sleep time. The managers and team members should also consider which work can be done asynchronously (e. g. via email or a shared workplace) to allow all team members to work at the most convenient times. This approach can be highly effective because it is apparent that the manager and other team members have taken into consideration each other’s differences of location, culture, and business practices, and simultaneously addressing the challenge of building trust. By researching, understanding, and being respectful of the team members and their time, the cohesiveness of the group is established quickly and strengthened, which is also a challenge to overcome in global virtual teams. Communication and Behavioral Differences In the article â€Å"Working Together Apart,† Zakaria, Almelinckx, and Wilemon (2004) state that, â€Å"managers have often under-valued the profound influence of culture on knowledge conceptualization and transfer. Suggesting that knowledge sharing is often facilitated by communication that involves the exchange of meaning and that the process of communicating is dynamic, multifaceted and complex† (p. 17). Zakaria et al. , also suggest that cultural conditioning has a major affect on the evaluation of experience as well as how information and knowledge in global virtual teams is conveyed and learned. In short, cultural influences play a major role in communication and behavioral differences. This concept is another major challenge that global virtual teams face when striving to reach their end goal. Conveying a clear message is only one challenge, the difficult part is conveying that message so that it reaches each individual affectively according to their unique cultural and behavioral background and how to convey organizational messages across global virtual teams has consensually been done through technology. Global virtual teams that use information and communication technologies and exclude social or physical presence and rely on depersonalized forms of communications between its team members (Zakaria et al. ,2007). One can argue that this hinders the creation of a knowledge-sharing culture, yet over time, the exclusion of social and physical presence can possibly strengthen working relationships that normally would not form in a more traditional work setting. Utilizing technology as the form of communication takes out a lot of subtle communication aspects that are experienced when working within a team in a more traditional framework. An example of this is the use of non-verbal communication or cues. The absence of non-verbal communication may cause difficulties for those global virtual team members’ cultures that rely on body language, gestures and facial expressions for vital communication. For example, in high-context cultures, people value these subtle and indirect communications. Visual communication like a nod, smile, posture, voice and eye contact provide important indications and meanings to establish understanding of what is trying to be communicated. The usage of verbal and non-verbal communication is important when working together in a team. Global virtual teams usually lack the ability to rely on these communication manners because of their reliability on technology in order to communicate and therefore it is difficult to build cohesiveness and trust within the team. Zakaria et al. , states that: â€Å"Technology is simply a tool that needs human operations, no matter how sophisticated the technology can be, the implementation of technology has the potential to fail if insufficient considerations are given from the user perspectives† (p. 19). This brings up the topic of what is appropriate and what is not when communicating to and within global virtual teams. In the majority of information and communicated technology-mediated environments where team members are dispersed geographically and are culturally diverse, the usual form of communication is electronically, and the preferred language of use is English. Studies have shown that native and non-native English speakers exhibit culture-based differences in meanings of terminology, structure and format. A key example of this is the usage of terms and slang. When members use terms and slang words, the intended meaning can be obscured due to cultural differences and can hinder knowledge management and effectiveness. Another area for potential conflict in information communication is the actual language itself. For those teams that use English, individuals need to be aware of the English language variation in intra-team electronic communication. This particularly pertains to the tone, style, formality, salutations and closings and that they need to be aware that there are substantial sociolinguistic and grammatical variations within the global English-speaking community and will have a significant impact on intra-team communications. In order to successfully facilitate the cross-cultural collaboration and communication, the team members must be aware of these subtle differences and acknowledge them when relaying organizational messages. Since the use of electronic communication technology has the capacity to reduce or overcome certain cultural challenges within a global virtual team, these forms of technologies can facilitate intra-team interaction. It also introduces a shared-framework, a virtual work setting that can build intra-team respect, trust, reciprocity and positive individual and group relationships. Therefore, understanding the communication and behavioral differences when communicating electronically to the team members can put the team in the position to work through the challenges that lie within a global virtual team. The Importance of Developing Trust For global virtual teams, building trust is one of the essential factors in developing a successful team. Since global virtual teams consist of many cultures that make up the entity as well as a geographically dispersed entity, there is a high risk of potential misunderstandings and mistrust. So the question that many virtual teams face is how to develop trust. Many researchers contend that in order to develop trust, a group must facilitate face to face interactions in order to build trust. These face to face interactions allow people to relate to each other or â€Å"click† as many of the new generation say. However, this may not have enough grounds to develop strong trust within a team if the members do not understand each other and/or the nature of the team itself. As Roberts observed, â€Å"the development of trust, whether on a local or international basis, requires more than face to face contact or its technological and spatially indifferent substitute video-conferencing ellipses, trust depends on the sharing of a set of socially embedded values, cultural institutions and expectations† (Roberts, 2000, p. 6). In order for global virtual teams to be effective, there must be intra-group trust as well as trust between management and team members and vice versa. Jarvenpaa, S. L. , and Leidner, D. E. 1999) infer that virtual teams have no time to gradually develop trust and therefore require a high degree of â€Å"swift trust† to be demonstrated by enthusiastic and proactive team members’ behaviors. So how do cross-cultural members form swift trust? Jarvenpaa and Leidner suggest that the virtual team members would import the expectations of trust from other settings that they are familiar with. It is also important to note tha t if an individual team member’s cultural stereotypes are flawed, biased or incomplete, this technique may be problematic. Once communication is developed between members, trust could be maintained by actions that are highly dynamic, proactive and enthusiastic. Such active communication must be premised on accurate cultural knowledge to be effective. Therefore swift trust is made possible because when cross-cultural teams work in a virtual environment, they bring their knowledge, competence and expertise not only to meet the goals that are set but also about the other team members’ and their cultures in order to ensure the success of the team. Not only is this necessary for the members of the team but it also necessary for the leaders of the team to establish this swift trust. As noted from Zakaria and Leidner, there are two behavioral categories that form cross-cultural trust. First, credibility where one individual believes that the other individual has the capabilities, competence, expertise and resources to make a successful exchange that meets expectations. Note that when working in cross-cultural teams, the work expectation of a person in culture A is different from the expectations of a person in culture B. This can be challenging in implementing swift trust in global virtual teams, but it can be overcome if the expectations are set by the managers or leaders and are clearly communicated to all team members. The second factor that Zakaria and Leidner discuss is benevolence, the beliefs about the emotional aspects of the referent’s behavior like positive intention to exchange. These beliefs include a referent’s good will so that they would participate in the better good of the team rather than jeopardize the exchange outcome. This may result in some challenges to the team because swift trust does not focus a lot on interpersonal relationships. Rather it places more emphasis on the initial broad social structures. Therefore in order for swift trust to be implemented successfully, team members must maintain a high level of actions, regardless of their cultural preferences and differences. But team members should also appreciate, understand and respect the cultural differences that make up the team in order to truly succeed in a global virtual team. Conclusion Through research of many articles and publishing’s regarding the topic of communication in global virtual, building trust has been the one subject that has been consistently addressed. Mockaitis, A. I. , Rose, E. L. nd Zetting, P. (2009) suggest that the development of trust in the context of multicultural global virtual teams is related to aspects of culture, conflict, task interdependence and communication. A team whose members are more collective in nature rather than distant tend to report more positive results of developing trust within the group, this impli es that culture matters. It is important for all team members to understand and respect the cultures of the other individuals. Although team members’ personal cultural values have consistent predictive power it is suggested that it displays very little value in developing trust within the group. Initially since communication amongst the team is done virtually and not face to face, it is important to establish trust among the group. But as the team develops the factors for cultural differences and diversity tend to become less important to the success of the group. The findings of Mockaitis et al. , show that cultural diversity does not appear to serve as a barrier to trust, even as differences become apparent through communication, but it can play a crucial role in developing that trust. Therefore along with cultural differences, communication is extremely important for the development of trust within a global virtual team.

lord of flies :: essays research papers

The novel Lord of the flies by William Golding presents and defends a theme that human nature is essential evil, and that a person removed from society will be allowed to let their evil instincts to manifest themselves as the person becomes increasingly savage. In this novel, Golding presents a character (Jack) who takes on and exemplifies this transition to savagery through out the course of the book as the evil inside him is set free. We see Jack, who at first cannot even kill a pig caught in the creepers, fall deeper in deeper into his savage ways as his killing of one pig, and his focus on the hunt turns to bloodlust. Then as it progresses his bloodlust begins to drive more than just the hunt for food as he leaves the dead as sacrifice for the beast, and he begins to turn his violence out towards the other boys, not just his pray. As a final decent into the evil that has consumed him the pray becomes one of the boys as Ralph is hunted with the intent to kill, sacrifice and possibly even eat in an act of cannibalism. Before the evil began to grow in strength within Jack, he was a boy much like the others and like the others he found the concept of killing another living thing was not something easy to digest, but Jack learned. How ever hard it was for Jack to first kill a pig, spilling its blood on his bare hands, once he had first killed another living thing his path towards evil and savagery was well one its way. Early on in the novel we find Ralph, Simon and Jack walking through the forest when they come across a small pig tangled and caught in the creepers. Although Jack does have a knife with him his hesitation combined with the overwhelming reality of the situation keeps Jack stunned in his place and the pig escapes untouched. Jack swears to himself and the others that he will kill the next pig and this pressure to perform to prove himself a true and worthy hunter, leads him to obsession over the hunt. To Jack the hunt becomes more than just a game, or a source of food, it becomes his mission, duty and purpose on the island. When Jack makes his first kill he is spellbound by the power of life and death he exerts on the pig and is fascinated by the warm blood that pours from the wound he cuts to slit the pigs throat.

The Relationship Between Study Habits

The relationship between study habits and academic performance of IT students A Research Proposal Presented to the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences & Communications Department Far Eastern University – East Asia College In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Subject ENGL303 Educational Research By: Buen, Nica Chrizza N. E. Cruz, Yves Justin C. Diocareza, Darwin Joseph V. Marquez, Samwell Kervy A. Masbate, Kristine Gay A. September 5, 2012 ABSTRACT This research highlights the relationship between the study habits and the academic performance of second year IT students.A habit is defined as a planned schedule done regularly, while to study is to gain knowledge. Therefore, study habits are done regularly in order to expand learning. It is the way how students accomplish their homework and how they prepare for an exam. This research discusses how important study habits are in achieving students’ academic good performance. This also presents how many hours the students are studying, how they prepare for an exam, and what is the comfortable place and time for them to study in order to show if these factors are contributors in attaining better academic performance.A survey questionnaire that is composed of 8 questions related to the topic was given to 50 second year IT students in Far Eastern University – East Asia College. The data gathered in the survey includes the midterm and final grades of the students which shows how they performed during those periods. After the survey, the researchers found out that most of the students spent 1 to 2 hours in studying yet, they still accumulated passing grades in the midterm period, and they even got better marks in the final period of the previous term. From the given data, students have different ways on how they will prepare for an upcoming test.Most of them prefer to be alone. The comfortable place for them to study has also something to do in order for them to attain good academic pe rformance. Great number of the respondents answered that they study inside their bedroom and they are at ease to study during evening from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. One of the survey questions is how the students spend their vacant time. According to the collected data, most of the respondents play which includes playing computer games, playing guitar, playing just for fun, and so on. Next to that is surfing the net which includes visiting social networking ites such as facebook, etc. It is being observed that most of the students spend their vacant time in front of the computer which is a common scenario nowadays. The last question asks the respondents opinion whether their study habits help them achieve good academic performance or not. Majority of them answered â€Å"yes† which is true that can be observed in their previous midterm and final GPA. A theoretical analysis, backed up by the survey results, indicates that study habits really affect a student’s academic perform ance. Good grades can be achieved by proper study habits. It s not necessary that students should study for a long period of time because the amount of time spent for studying does not mean that students can already pass in their subject. Some students find difficulties in some subjects, so they pay more attention to it that consumes much of their time. In order to overcome those difficulties, they have their own ways on studying for them to understand their lessons. Time and place are also factors to be considered in studying. Good place and right time make the students comfortable and study with ease. INTRODUCTION Education plays a vital role in students’ life.It is not only about acquiring knowledge, taking down notes during discussions, answering exam, passing in the test, or even attaining good grades; but also it is also about teaching the students how to be independent in the real life. Finding solutions in the given problems happen in the real life. Projects, assignme nts, and exams that come at the same time also take place in the real world. These things train students to decide what to do, what are the things that should be paid attention first, what comes next and what will be the last priority. Someday education will be the only one they have in hand in order to become successful person. It will be their weapon to overcome those obstacles they might encounter along the journey of their lives. In order to acquire better education, students should focus on studying no matter how hard it is. There are times that they might find difficulties, but there is always ways to surpass those trials. Good study habits play a vital role in the development of the students’ education. It can help them in studying a lot. It is a strategy on how the students acquire knowledge effectively. Establishing study habits are one of the determining factors for attaining passing grades. It efers to the schedule, plan, and the timeframe where studying is done in order to attain good academic performance. Students are always directed to the fact that poor study habits will lead to miserable scores, and good study habits will result to excellent marks. Grades are also a determining aspect of knowing student’s academic performance, which means the attained knowledge over a certain period of time. Therefore, proper study habits lead to good academic understanding and having good grades, otherwise leads to bad academic understanding and having bad grades. But always keep in mind that a student’s study habit is not the only factor to onsider, because factors such as age, past subject learned, IQ, learning ability, mentors, gender and so on are also something to consider as well. Nevertheless, the researchers would like to investigate the relationship of study habits and academic performance of IT students. In the research, the researchers would like to determine the answer to these questions: 1. What are the students’ inform ation according to: a. hours spent in studying, and b. studying skills? 2. How did study habits affect the academic performance of the students? The study aims to actuate the relevance of study habits to the academic performance of the tudents through survey questionnaires. This also concentrates on the findings related to the students’ preferred place and time to study; how they prepare for an upcoming test; in what way do they spend their vacant time; and also discussing if their study habits help them achieve good academic performance. The scope of the study are the IT students from Far Eastern University – East Asia College and the limitations of the study are those enrolled second year IT students in the first term. There would only be a number of questionnaires to be used in the survey, which will be limited to a number of students as well.Therefore, there will only be a number of students who will participate in the study. METHODOLOGY This part exhibits the meth ods to be employed in going through the research. This comprises the number of target participants, the research design, the collection of data, the materials to be utilized in putting up the study, and the analysis of the research. Corpus The selected respondents were second year IT students from Far Eastern University – East Asia College, in random gender and age span, provided that they are second year IT students currently studying at Far Eastern University – East AsiaCollege. 50 students as research respondents were under descriptive survey method of study. Majority of the respondents were with specialization in Digital Arts. The focus of the study was the IT students in second year, and they are considered as the target population. After the researchers had conducted the survey, the students differed themselves in terms of their study habits in their answers. I. Research Design This study used a descriptive survey type with an attempt to determine the relationshi p between the study habits and the academic performance of IT students. It lso aimed to find out the hours spent in studying, study skills and habits, and the grades accumulated using these habits. The descriptive survey type was chosen in order to observe the subject in an entirely natural and unchanged setting. It was also chosen because it can easily identify, illustrate, and evaluate the relationship involving the two variables mentioned. The study wanted to discover the significant influence of the independent variable from the dependent variable. It sought to observe the data gathered in order to come up with a considerable result regarding the relationship of the subject matters. II. SamplingSimple random sampling was used in this research where in only little information about the population is needed because the gathered data is already sufficient for the study. Simple random sampling method was also used because of three main reasons. First, because it is free of classific ation error. Second, its simplicity makes it easier to analyze and interpret the data collected. Finally, the cost of sampling is little enough to make efficiency less vital than simplicity. III. Data Gathering The researchers presented a letter to the respondents to ask permission from them if ever they are willing to fill up the survey form.The implementation of the survey was done inside the campus of FEU – East Asia College. Only one questionnaire was answered by an individual so that repetition of data would not be done. Only IT students on their second year level were given the questionnaire. Each one of the chosen respondents would have to answer the given questionnaire. Every question must be answered with all honesty. Data gathered would be strictly confidential. IV. Research Instrument The instrument used is a self – prepared questionnaire composed of 8 questions related to the research topic and includes some important personal information such s name (optio nal), grades, and etc. It also specifies the direction in answering the survey test and the possible selection of answers. There will be no right or wrong answers. The gathered information will be treated confidentially and will only be used in the study. V. Data Analysis After the implementation of the survey, the data was tabulated in order to get the percentage of each choice in each question. The percentage was calculated by dividing the number of respondents in each choice by the total number of respondents multiplied by one hundred. The data was represented by a graph that was either a bar raph or a pie graph depending on the values that is presented. The graphs were a representation of the data to show the proportion of the percentage of each choice in each question. The data was analyzed based from the graph and the data gathered. Each of the graphs was analyzed based on percentage. The relationship among the data was observed and a correlation between them was looked into. Cover Letter on the Survey Questionnaire Date _______________________, To whom it may concern, Good day! We have the honor to request you to participate in our research study entitled â€Å"The relationship etween study habits and academic performance of IT students†. The study wants to know how study habits affect the academic performance of the students here in FEU-East Asia College. The respondents are the second year IT Students enrolled in the first term. This study is a requirement for the finals of the course English303 Modern Communication. We therefore are requesting you to answer this questionnaire with your dedication. We assure you to keep gathered data confidentially and to use it in our study only. Thank you very much. God bless. Sincerely yours, Cruz, Yves Justin Survey QuestionnaireName (optional): _______________________________________ Age: __________ A. Instruction: Please answer the following questions with honesty and sincerity. Put a check in the bracket s. There will be no right or wrong answers to this questionnaire. Your answers will be based on your own experience. Rest assured that the gathered data will be confidential and will be used only for this study. 1. How many hours (estimated) do you spend for studying? [ ] less than 1 hour [ ] 1-2 hour/s [ ] 5-6 hours [ ] 3-4 hours [ ] others: ________ 2. What is your previous midterm GPA? __________ 3. What is your previous final GPA? _________ 4. How do you prefer to study if there is an upcoming test? [ ] alone [ ] writing outlines [ ] with peers [ ] reading aloud [ ] with music [ ] silent [ ] with snacks [ ] others: ________ 5. Where is the comfortable place for you to study? [ ] library [ ] classroom [ ] bedroom [ ] coffee shop [ ] campus (freedom park) [ ] others: ______ [ ] home 6. What time is comfortable for you to study? [ ] morning (6 a. m. to noon) [ ] evening (6 p. m. to 9 p. m. ) [ ] afternoon (noon to 6 p. m. ) [ ] others: ______ 7. How do you spend your vacant time? _ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ 8. Do you think that your study habits help you in your academic performance? _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Total number of respondents: 50 Percentage = Number of Respondents x 100 Total Number of Respondents Figure . Time spent in studying In Figure 1, according to 34% of the surveyed IT students, they spent approximately 1 to 2 hours in studying.There are 22% of the respondents answered 3 to 4 hours, while 20% managed to study in less than 1 hour only. As you can see 14% of them allotted 5 to 6 hours, and the 10% of the students chose others. It shows that most of the students spent 1 to 2 hours in studying, and only few consumed 5 to 6 hours a day. This is the same result as in the survey â€Å"How many hours should you study per day? † posted in Student Doctor Network (2010). Based on the data showed, 23. 93% answered 1 to 2 hours only, while 5. 85% of the respondents voted 5 to 6 hours of studying. This means that students have their own amount of time spent in studying.No specific length of time is used in studying as a whole. According to Cat (2010), it depends on the students’ capability to understand what they are studying about. Students have different learning ability level, which is another factor why they take so much time in studying. Figure . Previous Midterm GPA Figure 2 presents the Midterm Grade Point Average (GPA) as of the previous term, 3rd term SY 2011 – 2012. Based on the gathered data, 40% got an average of 2. 1 to 2. 5; 26% of the respondents got 2. 6 to 3. 0; 16% received 3. 1 to 3. 5; 14% got 1. 6 to 2. 0, and only 4% got an average GPA of 1. to 1. 5 during the midterm period. Written in the FEU – East Asia College Student Handbook (2010 rev. ed. , p. 18 – 19), â€Å"the college follows the numerical grading system with the following grade points and their corresponding descriptions and equivalences:† Table 2. 1: Numerical Grading System Grade Points Percentage % Description 4. 0 97 – 100 Excellent 3. 5 93 – 96 Superior 3. 0 89 – 92 Very Good 2. 5 85 – 88 Good 2. 0 81 – 84 Satisfactory 1. 5 78 – 80 Fair 1. 0 75 – 77 Pass 0. 5 74 below Failed 0. 0 – Not Attending 6. 0 – Pass 7. 0 – Officially Dropped 8. 0 – Credited 9. 0 – IncompleteThis information presented in Table 2. 1 further implies that 100% of the respondents passed during the previous midterm period. Figure . Previous Final GPA Figure 3 shows the previous final GPA of the respondents. Among the respondents, 34% got 2. 1 to 2. 5 averages and also the same percentage of respondents got a GPA from 2. 6 to 3. 0. There are 18% of them passed with a GPA of 1. 6 to 2. 0, while 14% got 3. 1 to 3. 5. Comparing the results of their midterm grade to final grade, no student got an average from 1. 0 to 1. 5 during the finals. The 14% of students who got 1. 6 to 2. 0 grades in the midterm period as been added by 4% during the final period. The 26% of the respondents who got 2. 0 to 3. 0 GPA during the midterm period became 34% in the finals. Generally, this means that the students had a great improvement during the final period even though 16% of students who got 3. 1 to 3. 5 GPA in the midterm period decreased by 2% during the finals. All in all, 100% of the surveyed IT students got passing grades during the previous final period. Figure . Preference of study habit when there is an upcoming test The data in Figure 4 shows that 48% of the students prefer to study alone if there is an pcoming test. While 42% wants to study with music, 32% preferred to study silent. There are 30% of the respondents write an outline to serve as there hand outs or re viewers, 28% study with snacks, 16% who read aloud, 12% wants to be with peers, and 8% answered others. This shows that students have their own method to be prepared in an exam. Most of them review a lot if they are studying alone or with peers. Some wants to study if they are listening to the music, while others preferred to be silent and so on. According to Palm Beach Community College (PBCC, 2008), noise that distracts students rom studying should be minimized, however there are some students who need some sound or some silence. Studying with music can cause distraction (Sigafoos, 2012). On the other hand, Donnell (1999) stated that music helps a person to express what he is thinking. He shared a little known fact that Albert Einstein was very poor in school before, but because of music, he was able to improvise his figured out problems and equations. Now, he was known as one of the smartest people in the world. Writing an outline for studying is a good habit of students. This ma y serve as notes for them o review especially if they need to prepare for an exam. Writing is another way of memorizing because as students take down notes, they are already putting those words in their minds. This is the same with reading a loud or even reading silent. Students can gain more knowledge through it. Teachers do not always discuss all the topics, so some questions are left in students’ mind. In order to understand some of those, reading is very essential. There are also cases in which students choose to study with peers. Statistically, students who study in group, earn higher grades than those who study independently.This is because in this way of studying more brains are exchanging of thoughts and ideas and students are able to share their knowledge to others. Figure . Comfortable place to study Figure 5 comprises the comfortable place for the students to study. Based on the research, 64% used to study inside their bedroom, 40% at home, 10% at the library, 6% a t the classroom, 4% at the coffee shop, 4% at the campus and 8% chose others. One of the most important factors in studying properly is choosing where you can study more effectively. Many students sell themselves short from the very beginning by choosing to study in laces such as their dorm room, their bed, in the dorm lobby, and other places which are not always the most conducive to effective studying (Singal, 2012). According to K. Roell (2012), many places are good venue to study; only that student has to take a look three things when finding a good study place: comfort, appropriate noise levels, and information access. In his article entitled Top 10 Places to Study, library is the number 1 best place to study, while bedroom is just second to it. Library is a silent place where students can concentrate in studying; and is easy to access the information they needed.Next to the two are the coffee shop, bookstore, park, classroom, friend’s house, community center, and tutori ng center. According to PBCC (2008), bedroom is not a proper venue to study because it is a place where to sleep not to study, but it can be seen in the figure above that most of the students are comfortable in their bedroom for their studying matters. In this case, it depends on the students choice where they want to study as long as they are comfortable, can concentrate well in studying, have access of information, and of course far from distractions. Figure . Comfortable time to studyIn Figure 6, comfortable times for the students to study are listed. Majority chose evening from 6 pm to 9 pm, which holds 54% of the respondents. There are 20% of the students study at morning from 6 am to noon, 16% at the afternoon from noon to 6 pm, while 10% answered others. Maybe are studying whenever they want or they are at the mood. Based on the gathered data, most of the students find to study better at the evening. However, some of them are tired right after school, so they do not study in the evening and prefer at the morning. Some says that it is better to study in the morning because it is still fresh in mind and asy to remember. There are some who do not study in the afternoon because they tend to fall asleep. Figure . Spending vacant time Figure 7 shows the answers listed by the students on how they spend their vacant time. Based on the data gathered, there are 34% answered playing which includes playing computer games, playing guitar, and so on. There are 32% of the students spend their vacant time by surfing the net which includes visiting social networking sites such as facebook, yahoo, google, etc. There are 26% of the students hang out, and only 18% said that they study, review or do their assignments.There are also 18% who answered they sleep during vacant hours. Eating and watching movie or television are of the same percentage which is 14%. Texting, earning money and doing household chores are also the same percentage which is 2%. This survey shows that o nly few of the students spend their vacant time in studying and most of them are in front of their computer playing or surfing the net. Figure . Opinions of the students if study habits help them Figure 8 shows how many percent of the students are helped by their study habits. There are 80% of them answered â€Å"yes†, 6% said â€Å"no†, and 8% answered â€Å"maybe†.There are 4% of the respondents answered â€Å"not much† and 2% said â€Å"sometimes†. Study habits played a significant role in achieving good grades. The dependent variable, which is the academic performance of IT students, is really affected by the independent variables, which are the study habits. This elaborates that proper study habits lead to better understanding and achieving passing grades, while incorrect way of studying results to poor understanding and receiving failing grades. CONCLUSION To sum it up, majority of the students are affected by their study habits positively.Mo st of them passed during their midterm period and had a great improvement during the finals although a large percentage of the respondents are studying in 1 to 2 hours only. In this paper, the researchers have investigated the relationship of the two variables involved and found out that good study habits as the independent variable directly affect the academic performance of the students (Bagongon & Edpalina, 2009). This research also shows that every student has different studying styles. However, the findings do not imply that studying in a long period of time always esults to a better academic performance. Sometimes, a short period of time is enough to achieve a better academic performance provided that they are comfortable with the time, place, and strategy of studying. RECOMMENDATIONS The researchers would like to suggest to students to establish a good study habits which may help them attain good academic performances. Spending at least 2 to 3 hours in studying per day is rec ommended as an average amount of time for the students to study. In addition, this research advises to find a place where no one or nothing will distract them from studying; choose a omfortable time to study wherein, they will not get bored or tend to sleep; apply some strategies on how they will be able to understand their lessons; and also spend their vacant time in a productive way. Following this will help students manage good academic performances. For other personnel who will perform a study on the same field and will use this paper as their guide, the researchers would like to suggest that they improve and know other possible method of data gatherings; construct a framework for better outputs; and to study very well the factors that affect the academic performance of the students and relate them to each other.REFERENCES Bagongon, C. K. & Edpalina, C. R. (2009). An example of a research paper. Retrieved July 28, 2012, from scribd. com Web site: http:www. scribd. com/doc/118222 91/example-of-a research-paper Purdue Online Writing Lab (1995). Guide of APA style of writing. Retrieved August 5, 2012, from http://owl. english. purdue. edu/owl/resource/560/07/ The Coastal Researchers Group (2010). A survey about how many hours do you study per day. Retrieved August 8, 2012, from http://forums. studentdoctor. net/showthread. php? t=704431 Sigafoos, S. (2005). The bad effects of listening to music while studying. eHow: Discover the xperts in you. Retrieved August 13, 2012, from ehow. com Website: http://www. ehow. com/info_8767350_bad-effects-listening-music-studying. html Donnell, L. (1999). Mind and the brain. Brain and mind: Mind behavior. Retrieved August 13, 2012, from http://www. cerebromente. org. br/n15/mente/musica. html Palm Beach Community College (2008). Reviews on related literature. Retrieved from August 28, 2012, from Web site: http:www. scribd. com/doc/11822291/example-of-a-research-paper Conjecture Corporation (2003). Is group study more efficien t than independent study? Wise Geek: Clear answers for common questions.Retrieved August 30, 2012, from wisegeek. com Website: http://www. wisegeek. com/contest/is-group-study-more-efficient -than-independent-study. htm Singal, A. (2012). Study skills: Choose a good study area. Power to Change: Students. Retrieved September 3, 2012, from http://powertochange. com/students/academics/studydorm/ Far Eastern University – East Asia College (2010). Grading System of FEU – East Asia College. Student Handbook. (rev. ed. ) p. 18 – 19. Benfield, G. , Ramanau, R. , & Sharpe, R. (2009). Student learning technology use: preferences for study and contact. Brookes eJournal of Learning and Teaching, 2(4).

Drilling Engineering Lab Report

Lab Report: DRILLING FLUID (MUD) DENSITY Objective: The aim of this experiment is to determine the mud density, specific gravity and hydrostatic pressure gradient for water-based-mud, WBM (Drilling fluid) using the OFITE mud balance. Theory: Drilling fluids are used during the drilling of boreholes, either for oil wells or water boles holes. One of the major functions of a drilling fluid includes providing hydrostatic pressure to prevent formation fluids from entering the wellbore. To ensure that the hydrostatic pressure balances out with formation pressure and that the wellbore is stable, the mud density has to be taken into consideration. Higher formation pressure require higher mud density (this can be achieved by adding more barite to the drilling fluid) and vice versa. Using an incorrect drilling fluid (in terms of its mud density), can result in a formation damage thereby leading to a well blowout. Equipment and Materials: The mud density is determined using the mud balance shown in Fig. 1. This 4-scale instrument provides an accurate way to measure some parameters which are: Fig. 1 * Density in ppg and pcf * Specific gravity * Pressure gradient in PSI/1000ft) The balance uses the cantilever design (fixed somewhere on the lever arm). The cup is attached to one end and the counter weight on the other end. The lever arm is calibrated, the rider also acts as a counterweight and there is a level glass to determine when the instrument is balanced. A thermometer is also required to measure the temperature of the drilling fluid to be tested. Procedure: The instrument was wiped down and then place in the carrying case. * The temperature of the first drilling fluid (water) was noted down * The mud cup got filled up with the drilling fluid and covered. It got wiped down due to the overflowing liquid from the sides and the opening on the lid. This overflowing shows that the trapped gas/air bubbles, if any, have been expelled and the cup is properly full. * The rider is then moved on the arm to find the equilibrium position i. e. when the bubble in the level glass is in the middle. * The readings are then taken. The cup is rinsed out and wiped down, ready for the next drilling fluid. * The procedure is repeated again, to find the details of the drilling fluid and all results are recorded in a table. Table of Results: | WATER| MUD SAMPLE| Temperature, ? | 19. 60| 17. 00| Specific Gravity | 1. 00| 1. 04| Density, lbm/ft3 (pcf)| 62. 00| 65. 00| Density, lbm/gal (ppg)| 8. 30| 8. 70| Density, Kg/m3| 1000. 00| 1043. 00| Pressure gradient, psi/1000ft| 430. 00| 455. 00| Mud gradient = 8. 7 x 0. 052 = 0. 45 psi/ft Density in g/cm3= 8. 7/8. 345 = 1. 04 g/cm3

Biography of Arthur Miller, Major American Playwright

Biography of Arthur Miller, Major American Playwright Arthur Miller (October 17, 1915–February 10, 2005) is considered one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century, having created some of Americas most memorable plays over the course of seven decades. He is the author of Death of a Salesman, which won the 1949 Pulitzer Prize in drama, and The Crucible.  Miller is known for combining social awareness with a concern for his characters’ inner lives. Fast Facts: Arthur Miller Known For: Award-winning American playwrightBorn: October 17, 1915 in New York CityParents: Isidore Miller, Augusta Barnett MillerDied: Feb. 10, 2005 in Roxbury, ConnecticutEducation: University of MichiganProduced Works: All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, A View From the BridgeAwards and Honors: Pulitzer Prize, two New York Drama Critics Circle Awards, two Emmy Awards, three Tony AwardsSpouse(s): Mary Slattery, Marilyn Monroe, Inge MorathChildren: Jane Ellen, Robert, Rebecca, DanielNotable Quote: Well, all the plays that I was trying to write were plays that would grab an audience by the throat and not release them, rather than presenting an emotion which you could observe and walk away from. Early Life Arthur Miller was born on October 17, 1915, in Harlem, New York to a family with Polish and Jewish roots. His father Isidore, who came to the U.S. from Austria-Hungary, ran a small coat-manufacturing business. Miller was closer to his mother Augusta Barnett Miller, a native New Yorker who was a teacher and an avid reader of novels. His fathers company was successful until the Great Depression dried up virtually all business opportunities and shaped many of the younger Millers beliefs, including the insecurity of modern life. Despite facing poverty, Miller made the best of his childhood. He was an active young man, in love with football and baseball. When he wasn’t playing outside, Miller enjoyed reading adventure stories. He also kept busy with many boyhood jobs. He often worked alongside his father; other times, he delivered bakery goods and worked as a clerk in an auto parts warehouse. College After working at several jobs to save money for college, in 1934 Miller left the East Coast to attend the University of Michigan, where he was accepted into the school of journalism. He wrote for the student paper and completed his first play,  No Villain, for which he won a university award. It was an impressive beginning for a young playwright who had never studied plays or playwriting. Whats more, he had written his script in just five days. He took several courses with Professor Kenneth Rowe, a playwright. Inspired by Rowes approach to constructing plays, after graduating in 1938, Miller moved back East to begin his career as a playwright. Broadway Miller wrote plays as well as radio dramas. During World War II, his writing career gradually became more successful. (He couldnt serve in the military because of a football injury.) In 1940 he finished The Man Who Had All the Luck, which reached Broadway in 1944 but closed after only four performances and a pile of unfavorable reviews. His next play to reach Broadway came in 1947 with All My Sons, a powerful drama that earned critical and popular praise and Millers first Tony Award, for best author. From that point on, his work was in high demand. Miller set up shop in a small studio that he had built in Roxbury, Connecticut, and wrote Act I of  Death of Salesman  in less than a day. The play,  directed by  Elia Kazan, opened on February 10, 1949, to great acclaim and became an iconic stage work, earning him international recognition. In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, the play won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award and swept all six of the Tony categories in which it was nominated, including best direction, best author, and best play. Communist Hysteria Since Miller was in the spotlight, he was a prime target for the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), led by Wisconsin  Sen.  Joseph McCarthy. In an age of anti-communism fervor, Miller’s liberal political beliefs seemed threatening to some American politicians, which is unusual in retrospect, considering that the Soviet Union banned his plays. Miller was summoned before the HUAC and was expected to release names of any associates he knew to be communists. Unlike Kazan and other artists, Miller refused to give up any names. â€Å"I don’t believe a man has to become an informer in order to practice his profession freely in the United States,† he said. He was charged with contempt of Congress, a conviction that was later overturned. In response to the hysteria of the time, Miller wrote one of his best plays, The Crucible. It is set during another time of social and political paranoia, the Salem Witch Trials, and is an insightful criticism of the phenomenon. Marilyn Monroe By the 1950s, Miller was the most recognized playwright in the world, but his renown wasn’t only because of his theatrical genius. In 1956, Miller divorced Mary Slattery, his college sweetheart with whom he had had two children, Jane Ellen and Robert. Less than a month later he married actress and Hollywood sex symbol  Marilyn Monroe, whom hed met in 1951 at a Hollywood party. From then on, he was even more in the limelight. Photographers hounded the famous couple and the tabloids were often cruel, puzzling over why the â€Å"world’s most beautiful woman† would marry such a â€Å"homely writer. Author  Norman Mailer  said their marriage represented the union of the Great American Brain and the Great American Body. They were married for five years. Miller wrote little during that period, with the exception of the screenplay for  The Misfits  as a gift for Monroe. The  1961 film,  directed by  John Huston, starred Monroe,  Clark Gable,  and  Montgomery Clift. Around the time the  film was released, Monroe and Miller divorced.  A year after divorcing Monroe (she died the following year), Miller married his third wife, Austrian-born American photographer Inge Morath. Later Years and Death Miller continued to write into his 80s. His later plays didnt attract the same attention or acclaim as his earlier work, though film adaptations of The Crucible and Death of a Salesman kept his fame alive. Much in his later plays dealt with personal experience. His final drama, Finishing the Picture, recalls the turbulent last days of his marriage to Monroe. In 2002, Millers third wife Morath died and he soon was engaged to 34-year-old painter Agnes Barley, but he became ill before they could marry. On February 10, 2005- the 56th anniversary of the Broadway debut of  Death of a Salesman- Miller died of heart failure  at his home in Roxbury, surrounded by Barley, family, and friends. He was 89 years old. Legacy Millers sometimes bleak view of America was shaped by his and his familys experiences during the Great Depression. Many of his plays deal with the ways capitalism affects the lives of everyday Americans. He thought of theater as a way to speak to those Americans: The mission of the theater, after all, is to change, to raise the consciousness of people to their human possibilities, he said. He established the Arthur Miller Foundation to help young artists. After his death, his daughter Rebecca Miller focused his mandate on expanding the arts education program in New York City public schools. In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, Miller won two New York Drama Critics Circle Awards, two Emmy Awards, three Tony Awards for his plays, and a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement. He also received the John F. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award and was named Jefferson Lecturer for the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2001. Sources Arthur Miller Biography. Notablebiographies.com.Arthur Miller: American Playwright. Encyclopedia Britannica.Arthur Miller Biography. Biography.com.Arthur Miller Foundation.

Habeus Corpus Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Habeus Corpus - Research Paper Example Due to this reason, the Great Writ, often referred to as the writ of Habeas Corpus, constitute an important means for the protection of prisoners from unlawful governmental action and imprisnoment. (Sharpe, 1976). To ensure that the executive departments of the government are accountable to the judiciary is, by far, the overriding purpose of habeas corpus. The Latin phrase habeas corpus ad subjiciendum, is the phrase from which the term habeas corpus has been derived. The phrase literally means to â€Å"have the body to submit to the authority of the court†. The roots of the writ of habeas corpus can be traced to the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 enacted by the British Parliament. The writ of Habeas Corpus later on became a part of the Constitution of the United States of America. According to Article 1, Section 9, the Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended because it is essential for the protection of personal freedom except in the Cases of Rebellion. (Schultz, 2009). Keeping in vi ew the fact that the US Constitution states about the suspension of writ of habeas corpus in Invasion of Public Safety cases, thus, in context to the war on terror, the prisoners cannot enjoy the privileges of writ of teh habeas corpus. History The writ of habeas corpus originated in the Common Law and initially it was only viewed as a legal procedure through which the federal judiciary evaluated the legality of the authority of the federal government. In simple words, the habeas corpus was a legal proceeding through which the court determined the legitimacy of a prisoner’s detention. In such cases, the legality of the prisoner’s detention is justified by the government official in court by presenting legal documents such as a warrant or a judgment of conviction or documents which prove that the official was ordered to imprison the individual. (Schultz, 2009). The availability of the Great Writ and the nature of the claims that can be considered have been significantly expanded over the past few decades. The Great Writ was extended to include the consideration of whether the state prisoner’s detention violated any rights protected by the US Constitution, was enacted by the US Congress under the title of Habeas Corpus Statute in 1867. Later, the types of the claims which could be asserted against the state officials as constitutional violations grew substantially following the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment. Later, by the 1970s, Habeas Corpus had evolved into a means intended to be utilized for the assertion of provisions of the national constitution in an effort to challenge the legality of the detention of a prisoner. The challenges included are challenges to incarceration following a criminal conviction, detention immediately following an arrest. Moreover, the commitment to a mental institution and challenges to the nature of the detention were also became a part of the habeas corpus in the late 1970s. Most frequently, the habe as corpus is utilized by the state inmates to review their criminal convictions. The inclusion of allegations of constitutional violations occurring during trials paved way for the prisoners to request a comprehensive review of their state court criminal trials. Most importantly, through the writ of habeas corpus, the state inmates received a forum which could be utilized by the court to determine if the prisoners

International Student Support Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

International Student Support - Essay Example This research demonstrated that students from United Arab Emirates had little choice or input in the choice of course and college, and this affected the ability to motivate themselves for the course. Some of these students probably have no interest in learning English, and the research shows that there is a preference to learn more practical subjects such as engineering as they would be immediately useful in their home country. . The students from the United Arab Emirates are also restricted by their respective armies in terms of movement, and this restricts their ability to integrate with other students. For instance, the other part-time students will have experienced similar processes from pre-arrival to induction and this process would have allowed them to construct relationships. The part-time students are also able to work, and this experience increases their use of the English language as they are using it in the practical context. Therefore, the lack of integration and choice is severely hampering the ability of the UAE students to access the college's service support. Table of Contents Introduction The research on which this report is based concentrates on international students from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), who are currently enrolled on programmes that focus on teaching the English Language. This group has been selected because of the unique enrolment process they undertake. They also constitute a significant proportion of full-time English language students at Salisbury College. Most of these students are this college as it has been chosen by the military organisation they represent, and therefore they have had no choice in the selection. Salisbury College is one of twelve colleges that receive army personnel for technical training through a private army contract. These students' first language is Arabic and they were selected in their respective states for tuition at this college. As the choice to attend Salisbury College was not an individual choice, these students have not gone through the normal application route, which would have involved contact with Student Services, which would have helped them arrange their visas, police registration and other details. Instead this has all been centrally, and all they had to do was to get on a plane and attend lessons. As a result of the omission of this important step, these students are presenting with a different set of issues when compared to other international students. For instance, they feel isolated because their English is noticeably poorer than other students, and this probably stems from the lack of integration and socialising which would have been arranged by the college's Student Services. They feel no arrangements have been made to involve them with