AIG Current Issues Pertaining to Business Law

AIG (American International Group Inc) has most recently been a common feature on American as well as international headlines following its possibility of going into liquidation as a result of financial difficulties. The federal government bailout extended to the company to help it in reviving its activities has also been a topic of discussion.Following all these, issues related to business law have been a common occurrence as AIG fights legal battles and accusations from enraged customers demanding their investment monies. AIG has as a result lost clients, employees and business in general. This paper focuses on these and other current events pertaining to business law at AIG.AnalysisAIG was recently faced with an economic downturn as a result of the current economic crisis. AIG is said to have made losses worth $62 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008 (Sorkin, 11-14). As a result, it has not been able to pay its credit dues on time.Creditors are constantly knocking on AIG's doors to obtain their money as they fear that the company could fail to pay them under the current financial difficulties it is experiencing. AIG has resulted in selling its assets in order to meet its obligations to creditors and beginning 2008 it obtained bailout from the government.Following the government bailout, AIG is no longer a wholly private company. The majority shares of AIG are now in the hands of the government hence it expects to receive more government control.AIG traded 79.9 percent of its shares for the federal government bailout. The government now possesses the rights to suspend dividends to the previously common and preferred stock.This is an indication that the company has ceased from being a fully private company to a nationalized one. It therefore owes the citizens who are represented by the government to operate profitably as well as repay the loan advanced by the government from the tax payer's money.As a result of the government bailout, AIG has to adjust itself to the government's requirements and laws that have been set for companies obtaining bailout.For example, The House of Representatives passed a requirement that all companies receiving federal government bailout exceeding $5 should pay 90 percent on bonuses given by companies. The companies must also operate with positive net value so that they can be able to pay up the loans advanced. If this is not so, the government will force companies that cannot pay up into liquidation Mich, 23-25).AIG has been under scrutiny following the handsome benefits that were issued to its more than 400 employees in the financial products division ranging between $1 million and 6.4 million. This follows the fact that AIG received $170 billion as federal government bailout which has necessitated investigations on how AIG was spending the taxpayer's money.(Turkish Weekly, 22-29). The government owns 79.9 percent of AIG now and as a result the public is the major shareholder of the company and this is wh at has created a major uproar in the public about AIG's activities. There are claims that the company is not taking its responsibilities towards shareholders in a serious manner.Edward Liddy, AIG's chief executive officer told the congress in March, 2009 that the company had asked the employees to return half of the bonuses received (Sorkin, 19-23). Further, he argued that the reason for the hefty bonuses was an attempt to retain employees in the financial products division.

From Julius Caesar to Hamlet Essay

The comparison between Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Hamlet in terms of how implied, or latent elements and themes in one were transmitted and developed in the other can lead to unveiling the transformations Shakespeare was envisaging with the writing of Hamlet. In the Introduction to the 1987 Oxford University Press edition of Hamlet, G. R. Hibbard stated that â€Å"Hamlet was written after, but not long after, Julius Caesar, which can be dated with unusual accuracy as having been compose in the late summer of 1599† (4). From the arguments that Hibbard gives to support his argument (that there are two allusions in the text of Hamlet to Julius Caesar) we can see the strong connections between the two plays. In a way, both Julius Caesar and Hamlet represent thresholds in the development of Shakespeare’s dramatic art.   However, Hamlet moves in a different direction.   If Julius Caesar is set in a distant past and can only hint to the humanist themes in Shakespeare’s world, Hamlet shifts the tone of Shakespeare’s plays to a more private and Elizabethan center of interest. This paper argues that the themes and motifs that were merely suggested or hinted to or implied in Julius Caesar and which were elaborately developed in Hamlet   are significant in determining the specificity of Shakespeare’s later historical tragedies. The analysis of devices, motifs and themes in the two plays will illustrate this argument. The device of foregrounding is employed in Julius Caesar in the first act as a warning sign to Caesar from the Soothsayer. It is a clear and unmistakable omen of Julius Caesar’s death, especially given the drama’s historical grounding. This device is used in this play only to trigger the conflict – the death of Caesar will generate the actual drama. Because of its lack of ambiguity and its limited dramatic span, the foreshadowing in Julius Caesar does not have the same impact as it does in Hamlet. In Hamlet, the device of foreshadowing becomes a trigger for the play’s resolution and also represents the dramatic subtext which drives the whole chain of events towards the tragic end.   In Act 1 Scene 1, we witness the apparition of the ghost of Hamlet’s father. This episode is marked by the use of special imagery and allusions. Horatio gives the decisive argument in identifying the ghost with tthe murdered king. The ghost figure is clearly employed in this first act as a means of   foreshadow ing not only the conflict of the story but also its resolution: â€Å"This bodes some strange eruption to our state† (The Tragedy of Hamlet 148). The image of Fortinbras is another ominous motif by which Shakespear alludes to the later developments in the play. Moreover, the reader is given a preliminary explanation of the Medieval code of honor, by which the king’s son has to avenge his father’s death. The story of Fortinbras and his father parallels and motivates the complex relationship between Hamlet and his own father. Duty is presented as a crucial motivation, which determines the hero’s actions and even consciousness. Another element which is only suggested in Julius Caesar is the characters’ ambivalence – no character is essentially â€Å"evil† or â€Å"bad†. Brutus, before deciding to join the conspirators, condemns this act: They are the faction. O conspiracy Shamest thou to show thy dangerous brow by night, When evils are most free? O, then by day Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough/ To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none, conspiracy;† (Julius Caesar, Act 2 Scene 1). Brutus is therefore shown to have a moral conscience, a conscience dramatically and fatally opposing his actions. The paradox of a noble man’s evil actions might find its explanation through an analysis of Hamlet’s soliloquy at the end of the first act. Hamlet’s soliloquy and corruption in the forth scene points to a specific image idea Shakespeare had about the human mind and behavior: it appears that the seeds of evil can be ingrained in the most noble of spirits or, conversely, that goodness can be the host of evil. This feature is presented in fatalistic and deterministic terms and becomes another motivation for the tragic resolution: So, oft it chances in particular men That for some vicious mole of nature in them As, in their birth – wherein they are not guilty [†¦] Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason Or by some habit that too much o’er-leavens [†¦] Shall in the general censure take corruption From that particular fault (The Tragedy of Hamlet, 181) The chain of events leading to the fatal ending is thus linked to the dictum of â€Å"blind fate†. By foregrounding the ambivalence of human nature, Shakespeare gives a more complex perspective on his characters’ motivational resorts and transcends the limitations of a completely â€Å"good† or a completely â€Å"evil† model. In another scene, the King admits to his having murdered Hamlet’s father. He is presented as having pangs of guilt – â€Å"May one be pardoned and retain th’offence?† (The Tragedy of Hamlet, 273): O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven. It has the primal eldest curse upon’t – A brother’s murder. Pray can I not. (The Tragedy of Hamlet, 272). Cluadius’ questions show the character in a new, humanizing light, which eliminates the image of the stereotyped villain. Many of the elements that are only latent, or implied, in Julius Caesar, are to be fully found in Hamlet’s soliloquies. The motif of Brutus’ suicide, for instance, which is not fully developed in the play, becomes one of the themes of reflection in Hamlet’s soliloquies. Hamlet’s considerations on suicide, on the other hand, elaborate much on this theme. There are several acceptions which are discussed in the protagonist’s soliloquies and they are testimony to Shakespeare’s insight of the human mind: For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, [†¦] To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscovered country, from whose bourn No traveler returns, puzzles the will. (The Tragedy of Hamlet, 240-241) Moreover, in another passage, Hamlet gives another interpretation of his own reluctance to commit suicide, which is presented in light of the protagonist’s fear of God and social status: The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely, The pangs of disprized love, the law’s delay, The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes,† (The Tragedy of Hamlet, 240). Closely linked to this theme, there is the notion of the vanity of existence which is only implied in Julius Caesar through the foregrounding of the emperors’ rise and fall and in the parallels drawn in this respect among Julius Caesar, Mark Anthony and Brutus. However, this theme is not fully problematized in the play – probably because it does not come in agreement with the historical and philosophical repertoire of Ancient Rome. In Hamlet, however, this theme becomes predominant and one of the character’s privileged objects of reflection. The â€Å"What is a man† soliloquy hints to the vanitas vanitatum of Renaissance and humanist philosophy of the finitude of man and of the ultimate insignificance of all earthly possessions. Moreover, Hamlet’s soliloquy incorporates another one of the humanist concerns, which was that of the perfectibility of man’s spirit and destiny through God-given language and thought: What is a man If his chief good and market of his time Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more (The Tragedy of Hamlet, 298).   To conclude, this paper has illustrated the ways in which themes and motifs which were latent in Julius Caesar are given prominence in Hamlet, especially through the protagonist’s soliloquies. In a way, it is the very shift from the predominance of the oratorical speech and its dialogic character in Julius Caesar to the primacy of the soliloquy and its monological quality in Hamlet that provides the key for understanding the reasons behind the amplification of devices and themes from one play to the other. With Hamlet, Shakespeare’s historical tragedies become more intimate and, at the same time, more openly philosophical and universal.

Of Mice and Men Chapter Summary Essay

Chapter One Two itinerant workers, George and Lennie, are introduced. They rest in a small clearing by the Salinas River, on their way to a nearby ranch where they expect to sign on for work. They have hurriedly left the last ranch, following an incident involving Lennie in Weed. Lennie pleads with George to tell him over and over again about their dream ranch, where Lennie’s main task will be to tend the rabbits. Lennie’s Aunt Clara, whom he refers to as â€Å"that Lady†, is briefly introduced to the novel, as is Lennie’s love of petting mice. Key Points: †¢ Introduction of George and Lennie – character descriptions (p.19-20) †¢ We first hear about the American Dream (p. 31-33) †¢ First hints of what happened in Weed (p.24, 29) Chapter Two The next day George and Lennie arrive at the ranch and go to the bunk house, where they meet most of the other main characters in the novel: Candy, an old â€Å"swamper† with only one hand; Curley, the boss’s son; the boss, who is suspicious that George will not let Lennie speak for himself; Curley’s â€Å"purty† young wife, who flirts with the other men; Slim, the top ranch hand who is respected by all the other ranch hands; and Carlson, another of the established hands. Slim is friendly towards George and Lennie. His bitch dog has recently given birth to pups and begs George to ask him if he will give one to Lennie as a pet. Key Points: †¢ Introduction of the other characters (and mention of Crooks, the stable buck) – character descriptions are throughout the chapter †¢ We can begin to see the hierarchy on the ranch – introduction of Curley (p.46-48) – introduction of Slim (p.55-57) – CONTRAST †¢ Introduction of Curley’s wife – important for the theme of sexist attitudes towards women? (p.53-54) Chapter Three George reveals to Slim the real reason why he and Lennie travel together. Slim realises that Lennie has the mentality of a child. George tells Slim about the supposed rape in Weed involving Lennie. Carlson bullies Candy into allowing him to shoot his ageing, smelly, rheumatic dog. George, at Lennie’s insistence, describes to him again their dream farm, and Candy who is listening in, also becomes enchanted by the idea. Curley starts a fight with Lennie and at George’s command Lennie eventually unleashes his strength and crushes Curley’s hand with ease. Slim persuades Curley that to avoid further humiliation, it would be in his best interests to pretend that his hand got caught in a machine. Key Points: †¢ Further character development of George and Lennie – reader gets more of an insight into their past together – George’s â€Å"confession† of how he used to treat Lennie ( p.65-66) †¢ Shooting of Candy’s dog – a forewarning of what is to happen to Lennie? Because the relationship between Candy and his dog could be seen as similar to George and Lennie’s. (p.70-72†¦74-76) †¢ George and Lennie realise their dream could become a reality, as Candy gets involved, and the three realise they could save the money together (p.83-89) Chapter Four All the men go into town on Saturday night except Lennie, Candy and Crooks. Crooks reluctantly allows Lennie into his room where they talk and Crooks taunts Lennie that George may not return, leaving Lennie on his own. Lennie begins to panic at this thought and Crooks is forced to apologise in an attempt to calm Lennie down. Candy joins them and he and Lennie let slip to Crooks their intention to buy a farm. They are interrupted by Curley’s wife, who is looking for company. Candy and Crooks resent her presence and when Crooks orders her out of his room, she attacks him verbally, using her superior social status as a white woman. Key Points †¢ Proper meeting of Crooks’ character – insight into life as a coloured man in 1930’s America and the hardships he has suffered. (p. 98-105) †¢ Character development of Curley’s wife – a sense of vulnerability is revealed about her as she describes how her life could have been if she wasn’t married to Curley – the grim reality of life is shown when she attacks the three men when they tell her to leave. (p.109-115) Chapter Five Most of the men are outside the barn playing at throwing horseshoes. Only Lennie is in the barn, where he has just accidentally killed his pup by stroking it too hard. Curley’s wife comes in and starts to flirt with Lennie who confesses to her his liking for stroking nice things. She invites him to stroke her long, soft hair, but as his stroking becomes harder, she panics; the harder her strokes the more she panics and in the end, Lennie accidentally breaks her neck. He half buries her body in the hay and runs off. Candy discovers Curley’s wife’s body and informs the rest of the men. Curley is furious and decides to seek revenge, organising a man-hunt to pursue and kill Lennie. Slim suggests that Curley stay with his wife, but Curley shows his true feelings for her as he is more concerned about getting revenge on Lennie that grieving for the loss of his wife. Reluctantly, George joins the hunt. Key Points: †¢ Further development of Lennie – a violent side to him which was always present is shown in the extreme, although it is made clear that Lennie meant no harm – killing the pup (p. 121) – killing of Curley’s Wife (p. 127-128) †¢ CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT – Curley’s Wife’s dream to become an actress, how her dream never worked out (p.124-125) – in death she appears more vulnerable and innocent, and the most positive way in which Curley’s wife is portrayed throughout the novel is in death – (p.129) †¢ Character development of Candy – the importance of the dream to him in particular is shown (p. 132) †¢ Curley’s lack of love for his wife even when she has been killed – all he thinks about is revenge (p.133, 135) Chapter Six George meets up with Lennie at the clearing where he had instructed Lennie to go in the event of any trouble. Lennie is panicking and George attempts to calm him down by telling him once again about their dream ranch. George distracts Lennie’s attention and shoots him in the back of the head with Carlson’s Luger pistol which he had stolen from the bunk house. The other men come running to where George and Lennie were on hearing the gun shot. When Carlson asks George how he killed Lennie, George replies tiredly â€Å"I just done it†. Slim kindly tells George he â€Å"hadda† kill Lennie, and the two go for a drink. The novel ends: â€Å"Curley and Carlson looked after them. And Carlson said, â€Å"Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?† Key Points: †¢ The novel ends where it began – by the Salinas River with George and Lennie by the brush †¢ CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT of Lennie – for the first time, the reader gets an insight into Lennie’s mind as he hallucinates, whereas before throughout the novel Lennie appears simplistic and not much feeling is shown. (?) †¢ Lennie’s death – like Candy’s dog, but George does it himself – Candy wishes he had killed his dog himself. †¢ Bond formed between Slim and George, which, like George and Lennie’s bond, seems unusual and strange to the other men – Carlson, who perhaps has never known such a close bond between itinerant workers, says â€Å"Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?† – He will never understand the close bond Slim and George now share.

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

Reaction - Essay Example The Empire needs to fulfill its resources and looking for ways to increase a revenue. Taking into the account that the war and the win were happening in inter-American region, William Pym’s claim seems quietly fair: â€Å"The benefits form the war was mutual, and consequently, the disadvantages should be mutual too† (Pym). It’s most unlikely for colonial opposition to argue Colonies’ duties to the Empire, because there’s no discussion on a fact of taxation. Moreover, Benjamin Franklin stresses that Americans already pays â€Å"many and very heavy taxes† (Franklin). Instead, there’s a controversy about who should have a power to set a needed taxation. In the light of the above, what William Pitt filmily defines due to The Stamp Act as â€Å"the errourness of founding principle† appears to be a concern that taxation is setting by authorities which don’t represent Colonies’ interests (Pitt). From American point of view, The Stamp Act is considered as an imposed issue, a higher hierarchical order which has in mind to tighten the control upon Colonies. To lighten the reasons of such a perception, a historic post- war look should be taken. Acts are coming out while the Great-Britain military presence on American continent, and when setting new duties, military forces can be used for imposing, despite that Benjamin Franklin in his Testimony doubts such an outcome of the case (Franklin). What seems important, along with taxation The Stamp Act doubts authority of American paper based operations. By imposing a stamp paper as the only legitimate one it proclaims above the law any other American stamped operations. In this context Colonies’ concerns on their Rights and Liberties to be encroached reasonably lead to The Stamp Act crisis. Yet, when reading William Pym’s article, no understanding of these concerns from a side of the Crown can be found. Then two most logical explanations can

Personhood and Severely Invalid Persons Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Personhood and Severely Invalid Persons - Essay Example These debates would be linked to the position of severely invalid persons like persons with Acute Dementia in the ward I did my practical work in. Questions to be addressed include, who are they? What is their position in the society? And what moral and ethical obligations do health professionals like nurses owe to such persons. In my study of philosophy, I had on question on my mind and this was from my practical work. The question was, what is the position of people with acute dementia. The are seriously invalid and have a tough existence. I therefore began to wonder how their rights to health care accrued and why the state decided to respect their rights as human beings. I began to find out why we are required, as health professionals to take good care of them. I found a lot of answers about the fundamental rights of seriously invalid persons in my study of philosophy and readings on the theories on personhood. From my readings, I identified that personhood has been debated thoroughly in history. The Founding Fathers of America decided to grant equal rights to all the colonialists to kind of liberate them from the harsh rules of the British colonialists. This became the fundamental principles of human rights which became part of the United Nations' conventions over 170 years after America gained independence in 1776. Merrill (1998) argues that in the world today, personhood is the basis of rights. She states that â€Å"the person is to ethics as the cell is to biology: the minimal basic unit† (Merrill, 1998). Personhood therefore forms the basis for the definition of moral theory. The society depends on the mutual recognition of personhood (Elridge, 1989). Thus, the fundamentally flawed societies failed to attribute respect to the personhood of certain people. Examples include Nazi Germany which killed six million Jews, Gypsies and homosexuals because in their view, these persons did not have rights that guaranteed them life and justice. Aside these people, Germans with acute mental issues like those with down syndrome and acute dementia like those I cared for during my practicals were a blotch to the pure Aryan race the Nazis sought to raise. They were separated and most of them were killed. This is because they were not viewed as humans or persons, under the Nazi philosophy. Also, there is evidence of several people in the Nazi concentration camps being used for experiments like twins, blue eyed person and midgets/dwarfs. This is because such persons were not considered to be 'persons'. Eventually, Nazi Germany was invaded by the Allies and this was seen as a triumph of good over evil. The United Nations was formed in 1945 to protect the rights of people in all parts of the world. In the long run, it is clear that the nations that led the United Nations and Allied course had studied important elements of 'personhood' and that forms the basis of moral ethics today which defines the fundamental rights of patients including people with severe dementia. Locke, who was one of the earliest philosophers whose concepts supported human rights argued that an individual defines himself in a given way. That is what sets the foundation of his identity. Once this is done, the individual is viewed as he defines himself or herself and define him or her as a 'person' (Locke, 2003) . Thus, it is more of self which evolves to the person. In Locke's second treatise, it was concluded that a society is a collection of persons (2003). Due to this, persons come together to collectively define the structures of a society. As such, they should have rights in order to live a meaningful life. Kant on the other hand, believed in the theory of individual

MLK Letter from Birmingham Jail and President Obamas A More Perfect Essay

MLK Letter from Birmingham Jail and President Obamas A More Perfect Union Compare and Contrast - Essay Example Racism has been a problem for the people of America, which has had the Nation’s leaders up in arms trying to advocate for equality across the land. In the past, leaders like Martin Luther King thought fighting for equal rights would bring unity among the people. That was decades ago, and fast forward to today, the United States has its first African American president. The two are both icons of their times (Leeman, 2012). This paper will examine the similarity they share in some of the famous works that saw their fight across international boundaries. Both Martin Luther King and Obama have something in common. It is their fight to eradicate racism against a nation that is considered a super power. The United States has been one of the countries where racism has had a negative impact on the lives of the American people. Stereotyping has made prisons become full of people of minority groups, and this number is on the rise. Martin Luther King’s ‘Letter from Birmingha m Jail’ talks of the many issues that Americans face, and the long road not travelled. Obama faces the same opposition from the same people who were once accustomed to labelling minority groups as barbaric and incompetent (Brinkley, 2010). In Martin Luther King’s letter, he talks of the racism that affected African-Americans in the country. Often, MLK did point fingers at some of the groups involved in the segregation of the people considered the minority. Obama, on the other hand, did not talk to, or about any group of segregated individuals. He decided to go down the diplomatic route with his speech. They both use emotional appeal to attract their audience to their message. This similarity is common in the political arena as political heads are out to talk to a wider audience than just one group of individuals (Brinkley, 2010). The persuasive manner in which they talk to their audience is evident in both leaders. The manner in which Obama appeals to the wider audienc e, however, makes his speech less concise and specific. MLK’s letter, on the other hand, addresses a specific group. The reason this happens is the difference in time. King’s letter came at a time when the nation was battling seriously with the segregation issue, and there were cases where people of minority groups were being killed. In 1963, segregation laws were in effect and proved difficult for any minority group to be heard. Obama was addressing a much more diverse group of people. This is through the evolution of laws and abolition of segregation laws (Leeman, 2012). The other thing that may differ in the two scenarios is the cultural and political ties the two leaders had while delivering their messages. Obama might have had political ambitions. That made his speech much more focused on the diverse America population. King did not have any political ambition; rather, he hoped for the day that the country would allow an African-American leader to lead the nation. It was through such works from Martin Luther King that leaders like Obama have a chance to give speeches. The American public wanted to evolve from the time of segregation through people such as Martin Luther and Jesse Jackson. The two addressed the issue of special interests among people (Brinkley, 2010). Obama, however, labelled the groups involved as corporate leaders who wanted to enjoy the short period of greed. King addressed white supremacist groups, and their quest to eradicate the minority group, specifically African-Americans. Both

E-government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 12000 words

E-government - Essay Example There was a revolution in the waiting to happen and it is only with the passage of time that everyone concerned with the governmental departments will understand the true potential and advantages of implementing the E-government initiative. Surely the times have changed – for the better. (Moulder, 2001) E-government is the short form of electronic government, also known as the ‘e-gov’ and has a number of other names in digital government, online government and even transformational government. (Riley, 2003) E-government discusses the manner in which government makes use of the exchange of information and services that are pertinent with regards to the citizens, individual businesses, and other governmental agencies to name a few. (Welch, 2005) E-government thus takes care of information and communications technology, which in this paper we will call as ICT. All these processes are carried out to ensure that there is improvement within the processes, efficiency is achieved, public services are better managed and delivered and there are plenty of tasks that are done in the right manner as far as processes of democratic governance is concerned. Thus to add to the same discussion, we see that the E-governments encompass a number of different models including the Government to Citizen, also known as the Government to Customer, Government to Business and lastly Government to Government. However to coin the most significant of these activities that E-government does in the related scheme of things, we see that E-government increases efficiency between the tasks, ensures there is convenience all around and there is a better accessibility factor related with the provision of basic public services. Hence the interaction between the private sector and that of the public sector is also improved as a result of the very same. We are ascertaining as to why we are trying to incorporate E-government within the governmental ranks especially when there is

The Impact of High Oil Prices on Global Economy Essay

The Impact of High Oil Prices on Global Economy - Essay Example Goods movement across a country or between international countries depend on transporting vehicles like, ships, train, cargo planes, trucks etc; all require oil as fuel. Any price hike in oil and gas price can increase the transportation cost and thereby the cost of the goods also. Oil is also required for the production of electric power which is the most important component of every industry. Many other essential commodities of everyday life like plastics, medicines, clothing, cosmetic items; all depends on oil for its production. Thus global economy is directly proportional to oil price. 1973 -1975 oil price hike has shocked the world economy. The growth rate fell to 2.1% in 1974 and to 1.45 in 1975. The worldwide trade growth rate also dropped heavily from 12% in 1973 to -5.4% in 1974 and -7.3 in 1975. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has dropped from 40% in 1973 to half of it in 1974 (Oil prices and global economy) The above statistics clearly shows the relation between oil price and global economy. In fact oil is the blood of global economy. The world is moving with the help of the energy provided by the oil. Most of the activities in the industrial world, and the real life situations are heavily depend on the availability of oil. For example, consider the case of transportation activities without oil resources. In fact 99% of the transportation facilities depend oil for the fuel needs. All the vehicles which use petrol or diesel engines require oil and any scarcity of oil or price hike of oil may affect the transportation industry drastically. Higher oil prices affect the global economy through a variety of channels: There will be a transfer of income from oil consumers to oil producers; There will be a rise in the cost of production of goods and services in the economy (IMF Research Department) Oil price hike will positively

Misuse of Emergency Services - Particularly Fire and EMS Essay

Misuse of Emergency Services - Particularly Fire and EMS - Essay Example This paper seeks to identify the reasons why people misuse emergency services, in this case the emergency medical services and fire emergency services. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) serves to provide emergency medical care to affected people. This is a system that is well coordinated, and includes response and emergency medical care, driven by different people and agencies. On the other hand, the fire and emergency services comprises highly trained personnel, who hold the responsibility of reducing loss of life and property, which is caused by fire, natural disasters, and terrorist attacks, among others. The personnel are trained in firefighting. These are also knowledgeable and competent in rescue techniques, and sometimes in emergency medical services, search and rescue, among other. There are various conditions that qualify use of emergency services. For instance, it is right to call emergency medical services when one’s life is in danger due to an illness. In addition, one may call emergency medical services when they are sick, and unable to transport themselves to hospital. Furthermore, in case of a traffic accident involving many casualties, one may call emergency medical services. On the other hand, emergency fire services are provided in cases involving fire. Although the cases where one might call emergency medical and fire services are clearly outlined, many people have continued to call these emergency services in irrelevant cases. Nonetheless, calling emergency services in cases where they do not apply is misusing emergency services. There are various reasons why people misuse emergency services. The major reason is that the emergency lines are toll free. This means that a person can call emergency services line without being charged. For this reason, many people call emergency services for nonsense reasons, since they know that it does not cost them anything.

How can teachers Minimize Negative Effects of Computer Games on Research Paper

How can teachers Minimize Negative Effects of Computer Games on children 6-10 years old - Research Paper Example In addition, teachers can also advice parents to buy their kids nonviolent video games (Kutner and Olson, 2008). This would help reduce the probability of children learning uncouth behaviors from these games. Teachers can also reward children for good performance at school. Children will tend to spend more of their time reading in order to receive rewards in class for performing well. It is also important to ensure that children have adequate homework before heading home. Doing homework is important as it limits the time spent by a child playing computer games. It is also the duty of the teachers to encourage the parents to ensure their children complete their homework (Kutner and Olson, 2008). Encouraging children to engage in other constructive activities and games will help minimize these effects. For instance, playing football and participating in other games at school will improve the physical condition of the children. This means that chances of a child being obese or overweight are minimized. Sometimes, children spend much of their time playing computer games as a result of depression (Kutner and Olson, 2008). Therefore, offering a listening ear to these children and also encouraging them to share their problems with other teachers or parents will help alleviate or eliminate the stress children might be going through. Less stress means less time playing computer games and hence less negative

School and Society- assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

School and Society- assignment - Essay Example e and size of the American society and its level of diversity, education has a broad role to play in addressing vital issues such as the levels of education in the ethnic and underprivileged sections of the society. It is next to impossible to do so without understanding the ramifications of the range of social and administrative measures in the aid of education, adopted by the American society from time to time. Q 1. Describe the perspectives of liberal and vocational education in the development of the comprehensive high schools. Provide examples of how each has helped to shape the role of education in the United States. How do they continue to impact contemporary education? Ans. Considering the rapid changes being unleashed in the 21st century and the basic societal issues, challenges and opportunities that the students have to contend with in an American and a global context, it is important to seriously meditate on the ingredients of the curriculum that will enable the students to lead a positive, productive and meaningful life. Thus it is imperative to expose the students to a wide range of disciplines (U.S. Newswire 1). In that sense, liberal education has played a groundbreaking role in the development of comprehensive high schools in the US. The augmenting need for increasing pragmatism in the 21st century America cannot dilute the importance of traditional liberal education in the schools. However, one cannot underestimate the need for vocational education in schools. Vocational education in tandem with liberal education prepares the individuals to be productive leaders and workers who adhere to a sound ethical background. The signing of the Voc ational Education Act by President Lyndon Johnson gave way to the most comprehensive vocational education program in the history of America. Q2. Compare the major educational recommendations of James B. Conant with those advocated by Mark Van Doren in the article â€Å"Education for All†, assessing their relative

Acoustics and You Essay Example for Free

Acoustics and You Essay The article is about waves; it clearly points out the importance of wave particles and energy to the survival of life on the planet with respect to the importance of sound waves; it includes the various applications to which sound waves have been put to use by man. The first and most important is communication, sound waves form the basis of our daily human interactions without which man would be reduced to mere inanimate objects strangulated in the wilderness of oblivion. The emphasis is on acoustics, the science of sound waves in relation to speech and hearing, engineering, physical acoustic and noise. The article spells out the areas of life where acoustics is applicable. It details the use of this science as a career to make a living. An understanding of these applications is an eye-opener to the opportunities that lie latent in this field. Indeed, one can make a fortune from such a carefully-thought out career. The points are well outlined by the author; his thoughts are simply and logically arranged in such a way that it is easy to understand for everyone. The presentation is really good. REFERENCES Acoustics and You. Accessed from http://nature. skku. ac. kr/~acoustic/acou-and-you. h

Shopping Malls and the Malaysian Lifestyle

Shopping Malls and the Malaysian Lifestyle 1.0 Introduction Shopping mall is inevitably the main focal point in many Malaysia city and shopping has become the Malaysian favorite pastime during weekends. Moreover, series of mega sales and discount events have encouraged the act of consumption, turning the shopping center become one of vital element in our lifestyle. The role of shopping center is gradually replacing existing public space in many modern Asian cities where the people do not have public parks or squares to hangout. Instead, a weekend family affair may just spend in the movie theatre or restaurants inside shopping mall. Therefore, shopping center is evolving into a new force whose impact should not be neglected. Nowadays, a new kind of shopping center known as the lifestyle center began emerging in Malaysia. According to International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), the lifestyle center features an open-air architecture, typically high-end retailers, may or may not include anchor stores, and has a large concentration of dining and entertainment facilities. The properties are usually well landscaped and offer outdoor artwork, music, and trams or trolleys for on-site transportation. It is intended to support a shopping as entertainment mindset and has become highly popular in affluent communities. We can see the emerge of lifestyle malls in Greater Kuala Lumpur especially suburban Kuala Lumpur such as 1Mont Kiara, The Curve, Jaya One, Wangsa Walk, Sunway Giza, Alamanda Putrajaya and the list goes on. Originated in US, lifestyle center combining the traditional retail functions of a shopping mall with leisure amenities in a town square or main street setting have become common in affluent suburban areas and are now one of the most popular retail formats in US. However, in Malaysia, the professionals are keener to recognize it as Lifestyle Mall since most of them are indoor setting but incorporated with outdoor walking mall. Thus, hereinafter, I will use the term lifestyle mall in describing the Malaysia context. 2.0 Problem Statement The emergence of lifestyle malls poses interesting question for urbanism in Malaysia. Cities in the Malaysia especially Greater Kuala Lumpur are characterized by sprawling suburban, which a pattern of development being criticized by several theorists. According to Jane Jacobs in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, she arguing that modernist planning policies that promoted highway construction has been destroyed many existing inner-city communities (Jacobs, 1961). After that, others writers such as Joel Garreau, Dolores Hayden and Robert Bruegmann agreed that suburban sprawl occurred to the destructive of urban life in America (Garreau, 1991; Hayeden Wark, 2004; Bruegmann, 2006). Furthermore, most of the critics on the rapid suburbanization that occurred in America as well as Malaysia, is the changing of urban and social fabric in several ways, both physically and socially. According to Harriet Tregoning, he states that cars have become necessary to working, shopping and living in suburban cities. The growing dependence on automobiles necessitated by low density, sprawling land use has important implications. People living in more sprawling regions tend to drive greater distance, own more cars, breathe more polluted air, face a greater risk of traffic fatalities and walk and use transit less. One of the most common arguments is that suburban development isolated residential areas from the commercial areas and working places that served them, thus creating sprawling, inharmonious mix of single family houses, shopping centers and office parks across the suburban landscape (Duanny, 2000; Kunstler, 1993). Many of the physical and social elements that constituted the spirit of the city civic art, civic life as well as public realm were lost in the process of spatial segregation (Garreau, 1991; Duanny, 2000; Hayeden Wark, 2004; Bruegmann, 2006). Suburbanization tends to isolate large groups of society preventing the contact between diverse members of the population that is common in more traditional urban settings. According to Fellmann et all, the upwardly mobile resident of the city-younger, wealthier and better educated- took advantage of the automobile and highway to leave the central city. The poorer and older people were left behind. The central cities and suburbs becam e increasingly differentiated. Krueger and Gibbs stated that Suburbanization produces enormous obstacles to the creation of a sense of identity with the neighborhood of residence, since the links generated are minimal and the lack of social ties makes the construction of a sense of belonging to a place very difficult (Krueger Gibbs, 2007). Duany writes It is difficult to identify a segment of the population that does not suffer in some way from the lifestyle imposed by contemporary suburban development (Duany, 2000). From a social perspective, most critics argue that in suburbia, the private realm is privileged over that of the public. Thus, without adequate public space, there is a severe shortage of venues where social interaction can take place because sharing the public realm, people have their opportunity to interact, and thus come to realize that they have little reason to fear each other. (Duany, 2000) The evolution of shopping center development in Kuala Lumpur began with the opening of the first purpose built supermarkets and emporiums such as Weld Supermarket, Yuyi Emporium and so on. The first shopping complex, Ampang Park arrived in 1973, followed by Campbell Complex, Wisma Stephen, Wisma Central, Sun Complex, Pertama Complex, Wisma MPI and Angkasaraya. These shopping complexes are essentially retail developments located within a podium block of a shopping cum office development. Anchor tenants are nonexistent and the complexes have poor amenities and parking facilities. The retail outlets are generally small and the layout design is poor with little pedestrian circulation and inefficient use of space. Pertama Complex in Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman is among the first generation shopping complexes in Kuala Lumpur. The second generation of 80s shopping complexes were purpose built shopping complexes such as Sungai Wang Plaza (1978), Bukit Bintang Plaza (1979), Kota Raya (1982), Yow Chuan Plaza (1983), Imbi Plaza (1985), KL Plaza (1985), The Mall (1987), The Weld (1988) and Pudu Plaza (1989). These complexes enjoy good accessibility as they are located on main roads or at busy junctions of arterial or main roads. Ample parking lots are provided and easy entrance and exit points are strategically located for the convenience of shoppers who travel by car. Sg Wang Plaza, one of the popular shopping centers situated in Bukit Bintang shopping district of Kuala Lumpur. The shopping complexes have much better design and the adoption of a balanced tenant mix has taken stage in the overall planning, leasing and design of the complexes. The size, distribution and layout of the retail lots are also carefully planned and designed. Anchor tenants such as Metrojaya, AEON Jusco, Isetan, Parkson are used as magnets and are purposely located to facilitate the flow of shoppers in the complexes. With rapid economic growth and urbanization in the Klang Valley, a wide range of social and economic factors have combined to influence the trends in shopping center development. The third generation of shopping centers, from the 1990s to the present, has seen the birth of new giants, with the size determine the winner of competition. Mega sized centers with vast retail space, often spanning more than two million square feet and with multiple anchor tenants, multiple mini anchors and a host of shop lots. Huge car parks accommodating more than 3000 vehicles are common, with a network of internal roads and access to main roads and highways. These mega shopping centers are usually located in the suburbs and they include Sunway Pyramid, Mid Valley Megamall, One Utama Shopping Center, and Tropicana City Mall and so on. Perhaps being huge assures success. All the mega sized shopping centers have their individual niche markets and are thriving even facing competition with each others. For example, Sunway Pyramid integrated with its own planned resort Sunway Lagoon. Without exception, all shopping centers must have good or exceptional merchandise mix and strong retail attractions in order to succeed in the face of stiff competition. Mid Valley Megamall, the Malaysias largest suburban shopping center with 3 anchor tenants located in Bangsar. The trend is moving towards hypermarkets, which may be supplanting some of the old pop and mom style grocery business. Hypermarkets are typically huge stand alone supermarket and department store type retail outlets. Carrefour, Tesco, Giant are mushrooming over the suburban cities throughout Peninsular Malaysia. For example, Giant, the largest retailer in Malaysia are currently operates 107 stores nationwide and there are more stores opening soon. On the other hand, Tesco has operates 36 stores throughout Peninsular Malaysia to date. Giant Hypermarket, the largest retailer in Malaysia is operating more than 100 stores throughout Malaysia. The major factors which have contributed towards the emergence of suburban shopping centers and hypermarkets are due to the suburbanization of residential development. With limited land available for residential development in the city, housing has spread to the surrounding land at the city fringes with vast space of available lands. With provision of road infrastructure, the young, mobile, rich and middle class families who demand for bigger homes and more luxurious features and better quality of living have migrated to the suburbs. Many of these residential developments have taken the form of new townships and self contained neighborhoods such as Subang Jaya, Petaling Jaya, Damansara and the list goes on. Retail followed as families continued to move from central cities to the suburbs. Besides, the increases of female employments also lead to the emergence of suburban shopping center and hypermarkets. More females are entering the workforce which will directly affect the retailing pattern. It is because the addition of household incomes has increased the purchasing power. Moreover, women engaged in full time employment have less time for shopping. Thus, it results the increase of bulk buying and reduction in frequency of shopping trips. However, the shopping has turned into a family affair. Thus, it is essential to provide all in one shopping activities including shopping, food, entertainment and leisure with more emphasize on convenience, comfort and family oriented attractions and entertainment. While suburban malls only served the retail needs of suburban residents, critics began to argue that they eliminated any chance communities have for possessing physical continuity on the urban fabric since they usually located along the main route (Torino, 2005). Developers of suburban malls tend to overlook the role of shopping center as a forum of public gathering and social interaction. However, the suburban malls are not public spaces at all; they are designed for single purpose: consumption. Victor Gruen, the architect of the first modern suburban shopping mall in United States, recognized the breakdown of traditional community bonds are driven by uncontrollable suburban sprawl. Thus, Gruen envisioned the suburban mall to serve as the new town center which is dense, mixed use environments that could take place of traditional main streets and town squares. Gruen realized that the process of suburbanization was weakening the social bonds in a society that was fostered mainly in close knit rural communities and dense urban settlements. (Torino, 2005) Gruens idea was to make shopping malls more pedestrian friendly, which he achieved by putting the entire development under one roof, with stores on two levels connected by escalators and fed by two-tiered parking. In the middle of the mall was a town square, which featured a garden court under a skylight, a fishpond, enormous sculpted trees, a twenty-one-foot cage filled with exotic birds, balconies with hanging plants, and a cafà © (Gladwell, 2004). However, Gruens vision of shopping mall failed to function as town centers due to several reasons. In contrast to traditional town centers, which were extroverted, meaning that store windows and entrances faced both the parking areas and the interior pedestrian walkways, indoor malls were introverted: the exterior walls presented a blank faà §ade, and all of the activity was focused inward (Gladwell, 2004). According to Michael Sorkin, the design of shopping malls tends to reinforce the domestic values and physical order of suburbia, r ather than rectify it. In his book Variations on a Theme Park, Sorkin states, Like the suburban house that rejects the sociability of front porches and sidewalks for private back yards, malls look inward, turning their backs on the public street (Sorkin, 1992). Since most malls are located in the middle of vast parking lots set well off the street, what Sorkin refers to as pedestrian islands in an asphalt sea, their physical setting represents yet another crack in the already fragmented suburban landscape (Sorkin, 1992). Another reason why malls have failed to function as the traditional town centers that Gruen envisioned is that they are, by and large, built for a single purpose retail. According to Kevin Mattson, Whereas in cities, towns, and villages, public space invites mixed usage and contains churches, schools, courts, theaters, civic buildings and stores, malls are exclusively commercial. Access and architecture together conspire to make buying and selling the only thinkable activities (Mattson, 2009). Mattson argues that since malls are the only public spaces left in many parts of the country, they must become more like real towns with a mixture of uses: If commerce is not to become the sole activity we engage in when we are in public, malls must offer alternative activities civic, cultural, athletic, political, and recreational that define us as citizens as well as consumers (Mattson, 2009). Many urban scholars have pointed to the obvious fact that shopping malls are not true public spaces, but privatized ones where management ultimately reserves the right to limit access. In his book The Right to the City: Social Justice and the Fight for Public Space, Don Mitchell touches on the idea that malls are exclusive places, where certain groups and behaviors are not welcome (rowdy teenagers, the homeless, and political demonstrations, for example). Mitchell also comments that malls are heavily patrolled by private security forces and are subject to constant surveillance (Mitchell, 2003). Malcolm Voyce has noted that malls do not coincide with the need for an open and democratic public space and that their private nature limits and controls diversity (Voyce, 2006). Private ownership and restricted access, therefore, undermine the shopping malls ability to function as a true, democratic public space. The recent trends mark the emergence of lifestyle malls mushrooming at the suburban Klang Valley. To be named a few: The Curve, the pioneer lifestyle mall in Malaysia; Sunway Pyramid, Jaya One, Wangsa Walk, Alamanda Putrajaya, Axis Atrium, Sunway Giza which are operating; SSTwo Mall, 1Mont Kiara, Subang Avenue, Citta, Setia Walk, Setia Avenue and the list goes on which are on construction to join the lifestyle demand. Therefore, it is not strange that Business Week Magazine has referred the lifestyle malls as the Shopping Center of the 21st Century. The above lifestyle malls share several commons. Design ambience reflecting a main street motif is great emphasized. The developers often cite a large emphasis on food and entertainment, elements that further contribute to the atmosphere of the project. Parking is also a major concern where it is usually arranged in structures or placed underground (Malmuth, 2005). Moreover, the inclusion of mixed uses also can be found in the quality of lifestyle malls. The inclusion of non retail uses is what sets apart lifestyle malls from other retail developments, to the extent that certain developer, such as Sime UEP Brunsfield, will claim that the word lifestyle is meaningless if residential component is not incorporated. The rise of lifestyle mall also raises other important questions, particularly about how and whether the shopping centers also function as public spaces. Perhaps the most important factor leading to the emergence of lifestyle malls, however, and the focus of this thesis, is the recognition of the increasing importance of shopping centers as public spaces in suburban life. Outside of urban centers, suburbia offers very few public gathering places. Therefore, strolling through suburban malls has become the favorite pastime during weekends. It is however important to realize that the main concern of shopping center is still concern about commercial activities. While the fact is, people do not only shop in a mall, they do hangout and socialize in the same time. Besides, there are also critics on the suburban shopping malls that reinforce unsustainable suburban sprawl. Some argue that lifestyle centers represent part of an effort to reduce the effects of suburban sprawl, through the reint roduction of traditional mixed use setting. Other argues that they are only tools to earn since they are privately owned, carefully controlled. Therefore, do lifestyle malls truly represent better forms of public space than conventional malls? Developers of lifestyle malls seem to have realized that improved retail design can act as a forum for social activity as well as a source of increased revenue (Torino, 2005). If so, are they alternatives to malls as models for public space in suburban? Do lifestyle malls represent a new typology of quasi public space? And how public are those lifestyle malls? 3.0 Aim This research aims to examine the emergence of lifestyle malls of their ability to function as public space. 4.0 Objectives 4.1 To examine the publicness of lifestyle malls. 4.2 To determine the perception of shoppers experiences towards the function of lifestyle malls. 4.3 To recognize the lifestyle malls as a new form of public space in suburban. 5.0 Research Questions 5.1 How public are lifestyle malls? 5.2 How do the shoppers perceive the lifestyle malls role? 5.3 How lifestyle malls represent a new form of public space in suburban? 6.0 Outline of Methodology To answer these questions, a variety of methods will be applied. The overall methods are qualitative. Research which is primarily based on journals, articles and others. Attempt to examine the characteristic of public space in order to identify the function of lifestyle malls as public space in the context of ideas by theorists such as George Varna, Steve Tiesdell, Adam Tyndall, Kevin Lynch, W. Lewis Dijkstra, Jan Gehl as well as Project of Public Space. Interviews with planners and developers, member of Malaysian Association for Shopping and Highrise Complex Management Brief discussion regarding the trend of shopping centers in Malaysia, planning and development of selected lifestyle malls. Surveys of shoppers experience at lifestyle malls. Survey on the perceptions of shoppers towards lifestyle malls as social focus and public space. Observation Observation on the physical design of lifestyle mall, degree to the mixed tenants and how the public use the spaces. 7.0 Structure of the Thesis Chapter 1 Suburban development in Greater Kuala Lumpur, trend of shopping center in Malaysia Chapter 2 Discussion on the role of public space and how lifestyle mall fit into the context of public space Chapter 3 Case Studies Chapter 4 Survey results obtained at each lifestyle malls, observation on the quality of public space, design, level of mixed use, community events sponsored by each lifestyle mall Chapter 5 Concludes with a discussion of results and implications of the research. 8.0 Expected Output The expected output will be: Able to assess whether lifestyle mall in Greater Kuala Lumpur can function as public space. Able to determine that lifestyle mall can be another form of public space in suburban Kuala Lumpur. Able to recognize the characteristics of lifestyle mall that contribute to creation of public space.

Data Conversion and Migration Strategy

Data Conversion and Migration Strategy 1. Data Conversion Migration Strategy The scope of this section is to define the data migration strategy from a CRM perspective. By its very nature, CRM is not a wholesale replacement of legacy systems with BSC CRM but rather the coordination and management of customer interaction within the existing application landscape. Therefore a large scale data migration in the traditional sense is not required, only a select few data entities will need to be migrated into BSC CRM. Data migration is typically a ‘one-off activity prior to go-live. Any ongoing data loads required on a frequent or ad-hoc basis are considered to be interfaces, and are not part of the data migration scope. This section outlines how STEE-Infosoft intends to manage the data migration from the CAMS and HPSM legacy systems to the BSC CRM system. STEE-InfoSoft will provide a comprehensive data conversion and migration solution to migrate the current legacy databases of CAMS and HPSM. The solution would adopt the most suitable and appropriate technology for database migration, using our proven methodology and professional expertise. STEE-InfoSofts data migration methodology assures customers the quality, consistency, and accuracy of results. Table 11 shows STEE-InfoSoft data migration values proposition using our methodology. Table 11: STEE-Infosoft data migration values proposition Value Details Cost Effective STEE-InfoSoft adopts a cost-effective data migration solution. Minimal downtime can be achieved for the data migration. Extensive use of automation speed up work and makes post-run changes and corrections practical. Error tracking and correction capabilities help to avoid repeated conversion re-runs. Customization enables getting the job done the correct way Very Short Downtime Downtime is minimized because most of the migration processes are external to the running application system, and do not affect its normal workflow. It further reduces downtime by allowing the data conversion to be performed in stages. Assured Data Integrity Scripts and programs are automatically generated for later use when testing and validating the data. Control Over the Migration Process. Creating unique ETL (Extract, Transform and Load) scripts to run the extract and load processes in order to reduce the downtime of the existing systems. Merging fields, filtering, splitting data, changing field definitions and translating the field content. Addition, Deletion, Transformation, and Aggregation, Validation rules for cleansing data. 1.1. Data Migration Overview Data migration is the transfer of data from one location, storage medium, or hardware/software system to another. Migration efforts are often prompted by the need for upgrades in technical infrastructure or changes in business requirements Best practices in data migration recommends two principles which are inherent for successful data migration: Perform data migration as a project dedicated to the unique objective of establishing a new (target) data store. Perform data migration in four primary phases: Data Migration Planning, Data Migration Analysis and Design, and Data Migration Implementation, and Data Migration Closeout as shown in 1.1. In addition, successful data migration projects were ones that maximized opportunities and mitigated risks. The following critical success factors were identified: Perform data migration as an independent project. Establish and manage expectations throughout the process. Understand current and future data and business requirements. Identify individuals with expertise regarding legacy data. Collect available documentation regarding legacy system(s). Define data migration project roles responsibilities clearly. Perform a comprehensive overview of data content, quality, and structure. Coordinate with business owners and stakeholders to determine importance of business data and data quality. 1.2. STEE-Info Data Migration Project Lifecycle Table 12 lists the high-level processes for each phase of the STEE-Info Data Migration Project Lifecycle. While all data migration projects follow the four phases in the Data Migration Project Lifecycle, the high-level and low-level processes may vary depending on the size, scope and complexity of each migration project. Therefore, the following information should serve as a guideline for developing, evaluating, and implementing data migration efforts. Each high-level and low-level process should be included in a DataMigrationPlan. For those processes not deemed appropriate, a justification for exclusion should be documented in the DataMigrationPlan. Table 12: Data Migration Project Lifecycle with high-level tasks identified. Data Migration Planning Phase Data Migration Analysis Design Phase Data Migration Implementation Phase Data Migration Closeout Phase Plan Data Migration Project Analyze Assessment Results Develop Procedures Document Data Migration Results Determine Data Migration Requirements Define Security Controls Stage Data Document Lessons Learned Assess Current Environment Design Data Environment Cleanse Data Perform Knowledge Transfer Develop Data Migration Plan Design Migration Procedures Convert Transform Data (as needed) Communicate Data Migration Results Define and Assign Team Roles and Responsibilities Validate Data Quality Migrate Data (trial/deployment) Validate Migration Results (iterative) Validate Post-migration Results During the lifecycle of a data migration project, the team moves the data through the activities shown in 1.2 The team will repeat these data management activities as needed to ensure a successful data load to the new target data store. 1.3. Data Migration Guiding Principles 1.3.1. Data Migration Approach 1.3.1.1. Master Data (e.g. Customers, Assets) The approach is that master data will be migrated into CRM providing these conditions hold: The application where the data resides is being replaced by CRM. The master records are required to support CRM functionality post-go-live. There is a key operational, reporting or legal/statutory requirement. The master data is current (e.g. records marked for deletion need not be migrated) OR is required to support another migration. The legacy data is of a sufficient quality such so as not to adversely affect the daily running of the CRM system OR will be cleansed by the business/enhanced sufficiently within the data migration process to meet this requirement. Note: Where the master data resides in an application that is not being replaced by CRM, but is required by CRM to support specific functionality, the data will NOT be migrated but accessed from CRM using a dynamic query look-up. A dynamic query look-up is a real-time query accessing the data in the source application as and when it is required. The advantages of this approach are; Avoids the duplication of data throughout the system landscape. Avoids data within CRM becoming out-of-date. Avoids the development and running of frequent interfaces to update the data within CRM. Reduces the quantity of data within the CRM systems. 1.3.1.2. ‘Open Transactional data (e.g. Service Tickets) The approach is that ‘open transactional data will NOT be migrated to CRM unless ALL these conditions are met: There is a key operational, reporting or legal/statutory requirement The legacy system is to be decommissioned as a result of the BSC CRM project in timescales that would prevent a ‘run down of open items The parallel ‘run down of open items within the legacy system is impractical due to operational, timing or resource constraints The CRM build and structures permit a correct and consistent interpretation of legacy system items alongside CRM-generated items The business owner is able to commit resources to own data reconciliation and sign-off at a detailed level in a timely manner across multiple project phases 1.3.1.3. Historical Master and Transactional data The approach is that historical data will not be migrated unless ALL these conditions are met: There is a key operational, reporting or legal/statutory requirement that cannot be met by using the remaining system The legacy system is to be decommissioned as a direct result of the BSC CRM project within the BSC CRM project timeline An archiving solution could not meet requirements The CRM build and structures permit a correct and consistent interpretation of legacy system items alongside CRM-generated items The business owner is able to commit resources to own data reconciliation and sign-off at a detailed level in a timely manner across multiple project phases 1.3.2. Data Migration Testing Cycles In order to test and verify the migration process it is proposed that there will be three testing cycles before the final live load: Trial Load 1: Unit testing of the extract and load routines. Trial Load 2: The first test of the complete end-to-end data migration process for each data entity. The main purpose of this load is to ensure the extract routines work correctly, the staging area transformation is correct, and the load routines can load the data successfully into CRM. The various data entities will not necessarily be loaded in the same sequence as will be done during the live cutover Trial Cutover: a complete rehearsal of the live data migration process. The execution will be done using the cutover plan in order to validate that the plan is reasonable and possible to complete in the agreed timescale. A final set of cleansing actions will come out of trial cutover (for any records which failed during the migration because of data quality issues). There will be at least one trial cutover. For complex, high-risk, migrations several trial runs may be performed, until the result is entirely satisfactory and 100% correct. Live Cutover: the execution of all tasks required to prepare BSC CRM for the go-live of a particular release. A large majority of these tasks will be related to data migration. 1.3.3. Data Cleansing Before data can be successfully migrated it data needs to be clean, data cleansing is therefore an important element of any data migration activity: Data needs to be in a consistent, standardised and correctly formatted to allow successful migration into CRM (e.g. CRM holds addresses as structured addresses, whereas some legacy systems might hold this data in a freeform format) Data needs to be complete, to ensure that upon migration, all fields which are mandatory in CRM are populated. Any fields flagged as mandatory, which are left blank, will cause the migration to fail. Data needs to be de-duplicated and be of sufficient quality to allow efficient and correct support of the defined business processes. Duplicate records can either be marked for deletion at source (preferred option), or should be excluded in the extract/conversion process. Legacy data fields could have been misused (holding information different from what this field was initially intended to be used for). Data cleansing should pick this up, and a decision needs to be made whether this data should be excluded (i.e. not migrated), or transferred into a more appropriate field. It is the responsibility of the data owner (i.e. MOM) to ensure the data provided to the STEE-Info for migration into BSC CRM (whether this is from a legacy source or a template populated specifically for the BSC CRM) is accurate. Data cleansing should, wherever possible, be done at source, i.e. in the legacy systems, for the following reasons: Unless a data change freeze is put in place, extracted datasets become out of date as soon as they have been extracted, due to updates taking place in the source system. When re-extracting the data at a later date to get the most recent updates, data cleansing actions will get overwritten. Therefore cleansing will have to be repeated each time a new dataset is extracted. In most cases, this is impractical and requires a large effort. Data cleansing is typically a business activity. Therefore, cleansing in the actual legacy system has the advantage that business people already have access to the legacy system, and are also familiar with the application. Something that is not the case when data is stored in staging areas. In certain cases it may be possible to develop a programme to do a certain degree of automated cleansing although this adds additional risk of data errors. If data cleansing is done at source, each time a new (i.e. more recent) extract is taken, the results of the latest cleansing actions will automatically come across in the extract without additional effort. 1.3.4. Pre-Migration Testing Testing breaks down into two core subject areas: logical errors and physical errors. Physical errors are typically syntactical in nature and can be easily identified and resolved. Physical errors have nothing to do with the quality of the mapping effort. Rather, this level of testing is dealing with semantics of the scripting language used in the transformation effort. Testing is where we identify and resolve logical errors. The first step is to execute the mapping. Even if the mapping is completed successfully, we must still ask questions such as: How many records did we expect this script to create? Did the correct number of records get created? Has the data been loaded into the correct fields? Has the data been formatted correctly? The fact is that data mapping often does not make sense to most people until they can physically interact with the new, populated data structures. Frequently, this is where the majority of transformation and mapping requirements will be discovered. Most people simply do not realize they have missed something until it is not there anymore. For this reason, it is critical to unleash them upon the populated target data structures as soon as possible. The data migration testing phase must be reached as soon as possible to ensure that it occurs prior to the design and building phases of the core project. Otherwise, months of development effort can be lost as each additional migration requirement slowly but surely wreaks havoc on the data model. This, in turn, requires substantive modifications to the applications built upon the data model. 1.3.5. Migration Validation Before the migration could be considered a success, one critical step remains: to validate the post-migration environment and confirm that all expectations have been met prior to committing. At a minimum, network access, file permissions, directory structure, and database/applications need to be validated, which is often done via non-production testing. Another good strategy to validate software migration is to benchmark the way business functions pre-migration and then compare that benchmark to the behaviour after migration. The most effective way to collect benchmark measurements is collecting and analyzing Quality Metrics for various Business Areas and their corresponding affairs. 1.3.6. Data Conversion Process Mapped information and data conversion program will be put into use during this period. Duration and timeframe of this process will depend on: Amount of data to be migrated Number of legacy system to be migrated Resources limitation such as server performance Error which were churned out by this process The conversion error management approach aims to reject all records containing a serious error as soon as possible during the conversion approach. Correction facilities are provided during the conversion; where possible, these will use the existing amendment interface. Errors can be classified as follows: Fatal errors which are so serious that they prevent the account from being loaded onto the database. These will include errors that cause a breach of database integrity; such as duplicate primary keys or invalid foreign key references. These errors will be the focus of data cleansing both before and during the conversion. Attempts to correct errors without user interaction are usually futile. Non-fatal errors which are less serious. Load the affected error onto the database, still containing the error, and the error will be communicated to the user via a work management item attached to the record. The error will then be corrected with information from user. Auto-corrected errors for which the offending data item is replaced by a previously agreed value by the conversion modules. This is done before the conversion process starts together with user to determine values which need to be updated. One of the important tasks in the process of data conversion is data validation. Data validation in a broad sense includes the checking of the translation process per se or checking the information to see to what degree the conversion process is an information preserving mapping. Some of the common verification methods used will be: Financial verifications (verifying pre- to post-conversion totals for key financial values, verify subsidiary to general ledger totals) to be conducted centrally in the presence of accounts, audit, compliance risk management; Mandatory exceptions verifications and rectifications (on those exceptions that must be resolved to avoid production problems) to be reviewed centrally but branches to execute and confirm rectifications, again, in the presence of network management, audit, compliance risk management; Detailed verifications (where full details are printed and the users will need to do random detailed verifications with legacy system data) to be conducted at branches with final confirmation sign-off by branch deployment and branch manager; and Electronic files matching (matching field by field or record by record) using pre-defined files. 1.4. Data Migration Method The primary method of transferring data from a legacy system into Siebel CRM is through Siebel Enterprise Integration Manager (EIM). This facility enables bidirectional exchange of data between non Siebel database and Siebel database. It is a server component in the Siebel eAI component group that transfers data between the Siebel database and other corporate data sources. This exchange of information is accomplished through intermediary tables called EIM tables. The EIM tables act as a staging area between the Siebel application database and other data sources. The following figure illustrates how data from HPSM, CAMS, and IA databases will be migrated to Siebel CRM database. 1.5. Data Conversion and Migration Schedule Following is proposed data conversion and migration schedule to migrate HPMS and CAMS, and IA databases into Siebel CRM database. 1.6. Risks and Assumptions 1.6.1. Risks MOM may not be able to confidently reconcile large and/or complex data sets. Since the data migration will need to be reconciled a minimum of 3 times (system test, trial cutover and live cutover) the effort required within the business to comprehensively test the migrated data set is significant. In addition, technical data loading constraints during cutover may mean a limited time window is available for reconciliation tasks (e.g. overnight or during weekends) MOM may not be able to comprehensively cleanse the legacy data in line with the BSC CRM project timescales. Since the migration to BSC CRM may be dependent on a number of cleansing activities to be carried out in the legacy systems, the effort required within the business to achieve this will increase proportionately with the volume of data migrated. Failure to complete this exercise in the required timescale may result in data being unable to be migrated into BSC CRM in time for the planned cutover. The volume of data errors in the live system may be increased if reconciliation is not completed to the required standard. The larger/more complex a migration becomes, the more likely it is that anomalies will occur. Some of these may initially go undetected. In the best case such data issues can lead to a business and project overhead in rectifying the errors after the event. In the worst case this can lead to a business operating on inaccurate data. The more data migrated into BSC CRM makes the cutover more complex and lengthy resulting in an increased risk of not being able to complete the migration task on time. Any further resource or technical constraints can add to this risk. Due to the volume of the task, data migration can divert project and business resources away from key activities such as initial system build, functional testing and user acceptance testing. 1.6.2. Assumptions Data Access Access to the data held within the CAMS, HPSM and IA applications are required to enable data profiling, the identification of data sources and to write functional and technical specifications. Access connection is required to HPMS and CAMS, and IA databases to enable execution of data migrations scripts. MOM is to provide workstations to run ETL scripts for the data migration of HPMS and CAMS, and IA databases. There must not be any schema changes on legacy HPMS and CAMS, and IA databases during data migration phase. MOM is to provide sample of production data for testing the developed ETL scripts. MOM business resource availability; Required to assist in data profiling, the identification of data sources and to create functional and technical specifications. Required to develop and run data extracts from the CAMS HPSM systems. Required to validate/reconcile/sign-off data loads. Required for data cleansing. Data cleansing of source data is the responsibility of MOM. STEE-Info will help identify the data anomalies during the data migration process; however STEE-Info will not cleanse the data in the CAMS HPSM applications. Depending on the data quality, data cleansing can require considerable effort, and involve a large amount of resources. The scope of the data migration requirements has not yet been finalised, as data objects are identified they will be added on to the data object register.

Chariots of Fire :: essays research papers

Chariots of Fire Assignment 1. In the movie, Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddell most strongly observed the 3rd commandment of not playing sport on the Sabbath, as the Sabbath is seen as a day of rest. This was seen on the Sunday of the Olympics when he refused to race. The second commandment Eric Liddell most strongly observed was the †¦ 2. The Sabbath is designed as a day of rest after working for six days, no work including sport is to be performed on this day. When God created the earth, he set aside the seventh day as a day of rest after all the hard work he had done. 3. Eric Liddell did not compete in his heat at the Olympics on the Sunday which led up to the major running event because he placed God before his sport and God’s rule was that the Sabbath was to be a day of rest. 4. Harold Abraham is a Jewish man who valued his athletics a lot more than his Jewish religion. On the other hand, Eric Liddell was the complete opposite and was a strong Christian and valued this more than his athletics. The sacrifice Eric made for Christianity was very big for him as he had to miss a vital heat. Harold on the other hand was much more focused on running than anything else in his life. He put the activity of running first even before those that he loved including his wife and his Jewish religion. Harold became depressed whenever he lost a race and took running to a serious level where he almost did not even consider religion part of his life. Even though Harold seemed to work harder throughout the film to become a better runner Eric seemed to be the victor in every encounter the two had, this could have been because of God’s blessing to Eric for following in Christianity more than Harold. 4. This movie reflects on the pictures in the ‘Two Ways We Choose To Live’ because Eric Liddell chose to put Christianity before anything else including running which was one of his passions, this is an example of what God wants us to do.

Our Dysfunctional Haverworld Essay -- Personal Narrative Descriptive P

Our Dysfunctional Haverworld As we seniors graduate and head out into the world, one of the things I bet most of us will seek is community. This seems to be one of the requirements for a sustainable society: one that is adaptive according to small, diverse regions, so that local conditions are met with appropriate technologies, and one that functions with a strong ethic based on social ties. In my future I want to feel I am included in and contributing to a supportive, caring and ethical community, whose values of sustainability determine our relationship to nature. I have not found this at Haverford College, as a collective society and an institution. (I hope you all can relate to this from Swarthmore as well. I doubt the two are really very different.) In fact, Haverford has helped me define what I do not want to be a part of--a large corporation that deals in the currency of its own prestige as well as its funding, concentrated only on maximizing the profits of this kind, rather than valuing the equity and ju stice that we have agreed should overrule economic decisions. Al Gore's comparison of US society to a dysfunctional family translates perfectly to the society at Haverford. This helps to explain the lack of ethics concerning justice and sustainability, and suggests that there is hope to resolve these problems. At Haverford and Swarthmore we embody the Cartesian model developed in the scientific revolution that focuses on the separation between humans and nature, mind and body. Our colleges contain an extreme version of what Gore calls "the disembodied intellect"(524) in which we value our abstract academic thoughts above all else, as we "encourage the fullest expression of thought while simultaneously stifling the e... ...ion of forest. We are committed to overconsumption in our extravagant use of paper, purchases of products to decorate our rooms and clean ourselves, and waste of food in the large cafeteria. I notice that most of us in this class have removed ourselves from these aspects of college culture as much as possible, to shield ourselves from it. I personally shield myself by trying to limit my interactions to those with my close friends, with whom my relationships are much less dysfunctional. I hope you all will relate in some form to my analysis, and I hope as a class we can carry this further. In pinpointing the aspects of liberal arts college life that lack the ethics that are desirable and necessary to build sustainable communities, I hope we will dare to envision in detail the situation that would make us feel fulfilled and at peace with ourselves and our environment. Our Dysfunctional Haverworld Essay -- Personal Narrative Descriptive P Our Dysfunctional Haverworld As we seniors graduate and head out into the world, one of the things I bet most of us will seek is community. This seems to be one of the requirements for a sustainable society: one that is adaptive according to small, diverse regions, so that local conditions are met with appropriate technologies, and one that functions with a strong ethic based on social ties. In my future I want to feel I am included in and contributing to a supportive, caring and ethical community, whose values of sustainability determine our relationship to nature. I have not found this at Haverford College, as a collective society and an institution. (I hope you all can relate to this from Swarthmore as well. I doubt the two are really very different.) In fact, Haverford has helped me define what I do not want to be a part of--a large corporation that deals in the currency of its own prestige as well as its funding, concentrated only on maximizing the profits of this kind, rather than valuing the equity and ju stice that we have agreed should overrule economic decisions. Al Gore's comparison of US society to a dysfunctional family translates perfectly to the society at Haverford. This helps to explain the lack of ethics concerning justice and sustainability, and suggests that there is hope to resolve these problems. At Haverford and Swarthmore we embody the Cartesian model developed in the scientific revolution that focuses on the separation between humans and nature, mind and body. Our colleges contain an extreme version of what Gore calls "the disembodied intellect"(524) in which we value our abstract academic thoughts above all else, as we "encourage the fullest expression of thought while simultaneously stifling the e... ...ion of forest. We are committed to overconsumption in our extravagant use of paper, purchases of products to decorate our rooms and clean ourselves, and waste of food in the large cafeteria. I notice that most of us in this class have removed ourselves from these aspects of college culture as much as possible, to shield ourselves from it. I personally shield myself by trying to limit my interactions to those with my close friends, with whom my relationships are much less dysfunctional. I hope you all will relate in some form to my analysis, and I hope as a class we can carry this further. In pinpointing the aspects of liberal arts college life that lack the ethics that are desirable and necessary to build sustainable communities, I hope we will dare to envision in detail the situation that would make us feel fulfilled and at peace with ourselves and our environment.

Differentiation & Education Essay

A few decades ago the world of education was very exercised by the forerunner of differentiation which was called ‘mixed ability teaching’. Then people began to realise it was not just ability that could be â€Å"mixed’’ and that teachers had to cope with a plethora of differences: learning style, age, motivation, prior learning and experience, gender, specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, and so on. Consequently the term ‘mixed ability’ began to be replaced by the less vivid term: ‘differentiation’. But what does differentiation mean exactly? Differentiation is an approach to teaching that attempts to ensure that all students learn well, despite their many differences. Catch phrases which go some way to capturing this concept include: ‘Coping with differences’. ‘Learning for all’ or ‘Success for all’. There are a number of common misconceptions about differentiation. Some believe that it is something ‘added on’ to normal teaching and that it just requires a few discrete extra activities in the lesson. In fact, differentiation permeates everything a good teacher does and it is often impossible to ‘point’ to a discrete event that achieves it. It is not what is done often, but the way it is done that acheives differentiation. For this reason differentiation may not show up on a lesson plan or in the Scheme of Work. However some teachers try to show their intentions to differentiate by setting objectives in the following format: All must†¦. Some may†¦ A few might†¦ This may help novice teachers to think about the diversity of their learners, but having such objectives does not guarantee differentiation. It is the strategies, not the objectives that achieve differentiation, and this should  be the focus of our interests. Differentiation is not new, good teachers have always done it. However, it does chime with a new conception of the teacher’s role. Once we teachers taught courses, subjects and classes. But no more. Now we are teaching individuals. Once education was a sieve. The weaker students were ‘seived out’ and they left the classroom for the world of work, while the able students were retained for the next level. ‘Drop outs’ were planned for, and seen not just as inevitable but as desirable. Put bluntly, the aim was to discover those who could not cope, and get rid of them. But now education is a ladder, and we expect every learner to climb as fast and as high as they are able. ‘Drop outs’ are seen as a wasted opportunity, for the learners, and for society as a whole. Underpinning these conceptions of education as being a sieve or a ladder, are assumptions about the capability of learners and the nature of learning. Once learners were thought to have a genetic disposition for learning, or not, which was measured by their ‘IQ’. This placed an upper limit on their possible achievement. Some students were thought to reach their ‘ceiling’ after which further teaching would be in vain. This is no longer thought to be the case. Experts on the brain and on learning now stress that everyone can learn more, if they are taught appropriately, whatever they have previously acheived. A vivid illustration of this is provided by the work of Professor Reuven Feuerstien. He teaches learners with what we call ‘moderate learning difficulties’, using a very special and unusual programme involving intensive work for one hour a day every day. Four years later these learners have ‘caught up’ and are found to have an average ‘IQ’. They can live independent lives, learn normally, and are indistinguishable from average members of their societies.* Needless to say, remnants of the ‘ceiling’ model of learning can still be found in many teachers’ conceptions of teaching and learning. These ideas need to be tackled. Luckily in most colleges examples can be found of students who entered the college on a level 1 programme, and progressed well, eventually leaving for university. These are persuasive role models for other learners and for teachers. Teachers can make much greater differences than they themselves realise, and we are only just beginning to scratch the surface of what is possible. (((Box))) For more information on Professor Feuerstein’s methods: Visit the website of ‘The International Center for the Enhancement of Learning Potential’ http://www.icelp.org/ *Howard Sharron 1996 ‘Changing Children’s Minds: Feuerstein’s revolution in the teaching of intelligence’ 3rd Ed Imaginative Minds 27 Grederick Street Hockley Birmingham B1 3HH Adey P. and Shayer M. (1994) ‘Really Raising Standards: cognitive intervention and academic achievement’ Routledge (((End of Box))) If every learner achieves at their maximum rate this has huge consequences for their own lives, but also for society at large. Social inclusiveness, welfare to work, and the reduction of crime, drug abuse, and even ill health all require an educated citizenship and workforce. Many of the ills in our time have a remedy in the classroom. But differentiation has economic consequences beyond that of ensuring that citizens can provide for themselves through work. Economists stress that the market is now global, and that an industrialised nation like ours cannot compete on the basis of low wages, only on the basis of the skill, knowledge, and adaptability of our workforce. Industrialists have long known that a better educated workforce is much more ‘trainable’, and so can adapt to the rapid change now facing most places of work. The Economist, a journal not noted for valuing the public services, once dedicated a whole issue to education, making the case that economies were highly dependent on skills and knowledge, and that the big global economies were now competing for their futures in their classrooms. Differentiation has a lot to offer individuals, society and the economy, so it’s worth getting it right. Introducing differentiation Background These activities allow you to explore what is meant by differentiation and consider some of the barriers to achieving it. Three activities are given below. These are alternatives, so please choose the most suitable for the participants you will train. The first two assume some knowledge of differentiation and to factors that might prevent it taking place. The third activity assumes no knowledge of the subject. Activity: ‘Snowballing’ a definition of differentiation. Aims To explore individual and group understanding of differentiation To identify perceived obstacles which may hinder differentiation in practice To identify catalysts which may stimulate differentiation in practice. Resources Flip chart/s, post-it notes, standard pens and flip chart pens, OHP. Organisation The first stage is organised as a ‘snowball exercise’ commencing with each participant writing a personal definition of differentiation on a post-it note. Participants pair up and combine/ revise their definitions .Two pairs then combine /revise their definitions and so on to a maximum of 8 in a group. Each group then writes their definition on a flip chart. The definitions can then be compared and discussed with mediation from the facilitator. The facilitator may wish to show some academic definitions (see the box) for further discussion/ clarification. Teachers often produce a more useful definition that those in the box. Individual definitions of differentiation (3 mins) Pairs merge / develop definitions (5 mins) Pairs get together into groups of four or more and again merge / develop a common definition and write this on flip chart for discussion (10 mins) Facilitator –led discussion (15 mins) The next exercise, ‘obstacles to differentiation’ follows on from this activity very well. (((Box))) Some definitions for ‘Differentiation’. Teachers often come up with clearer and more useful definitions that these: ‘Differentiation is†¦.. the process of identifying, with each learner, the most effective strategies for achieving agreed targets’.1 (Weston 1992) ‘Differentiation is the process whereby teachers meet the need for progress through he curriculum by selecting appropriate teaching methods to match the individual student’s learning strategies, within a group situation’. (Visser 1993) ‘Differentiation should be seen as integral to learning, not an add-on for those situations when things do not go as well as planned and problems occur. Differentiation is not about troubleshooting. It is a concept that has to be seen in an inclusive way, applying to everyone.’ Obstacles to Differentiation This follows on well from the previous activity, but can also stand alone, and requires each of the working groups to identify up to 3 major obstacles which could prevent differentiation in practice. You may want to ask them to identify one obstacle at each of the following levels in College: Institutional Systems Operational Each obstacle is written on a flip chart sheet with ample space for further comments . The groups, or the flip chart sheets, then rotate in a ‘round robin’. Each group now has another groups’ list of obstacles and the task is to find solutions or catalysts to overcome these obstacles. The facilitator should then summarise the findings. a. Each working group identifies and writes on their flip chart up to 3 major obstacles in making differentiation happen in FE ( 5 mins) b. Groups rotate and try to identify solutions / catalysts to overcome the obstacles identified by the other group/s ( 10 mins) c. Groups move on to next flip chart and try to add to solutions / catalysts identified by the previous group ( 5 mins) d. Facilitator- led discussion and summary (10 mins) Note: This session may serve as a ‘barometer’ to measure attitudes and understanding. It may identify some key organisational issues which need to be addressed in order to promote differentiation in practice. How do you cope with difference? Aims: To develop an understanding of differentiation To share common differentiation difficulties To share effective differentiation strategies Organisation The facilitator introduces the activity by describing ‘mixed ability teaching’, and then pointing out that it is not just ability that can be ‘mixed’. They establish that there are many differences between our students that affect their learning and so should affect our teaching. The term ‘differentiation’ is explained as meaning to cope with such differences. Stage 1 Pairs exploring the meaning of ‘differentiation’? (approx 10 mintutes) In pairs, participants brainstorm the differences between students that they must cope with. ‘Mixed ability’ is given as one to start them off. They are given two minutes. Then the facilitator goes round from pair to pair, getting one idea from each until most ideas have been presented. There is a very short discussion of any difference the facilitator believes everyone might not understand. The importance of some ideas is stressed by the facilitator and extra explanation added if necessary. The facilitator concludes by saying that ‘differentiation’ is about ‘coping with these and other differences’. ‘Coping with difference’ could be a quick definition for discussion. Task 2 Small groups sharing differentiation strategies(20 minutes) In groups of 3-5 participants share ways of coping with the differences outlined in task 1 by telling their group one or two strategies that they have found to work. The facilitator takes one suggestion at a time from each group, gives it a name if necessary, and writes it on a flip chart or OHP. They go round the groups until most suggestions have been heard. There is a very short discussion of each method if it is necessary to ensure that everyone understands it. The facilitator can offer to type up this list of strategies. The facilitator concludes that differentiation is coping with difference something we have always done, important if all learners are to benefit from our teaching  can make the difference between passing and failing for many students, and so is the ladder to success for all. if a student passes because of effective differentiation, that will make a real difference to that student’s life. They might get a job, a career, indeed a life they would not have got otherwise. â€Å"Teachers touch lives for ever† Teachers have important jobs and differentiation counts Tutor notes: You might like to do this before you pass out the packs of materials to prevent staff reading out strategies from the pack! It is important to value the ideas in a very positive manner if they could be effective in some context If most teachers come from a similar curriculum area there would be some merit in typing up their suggestions.