Statistics Essay Example for Free

Statistics Essay 1. Age, income, length of labor, return to work and number of hours working per week 2. Mean and standard deviation were used to describe the length of labor. These were appropriate since mean and standard deviation can be calculated on an interval level of measurement. 3. Range could also be used to describe the length of labor since this statistic can be used on interval data with no natural zero point. 4. The distribution of scores was similar for the experimental and control groups for length of labor. The experimental group had a mean of 14.63 hours and the control group had a mean of 12.79 hours which is a difference of less than 2 hours with a SD of 7.78 for experimental and 7.2 for control. 5. The experimental and control groups were similar in the type of feeding. More people fed with a bottle than breast or breast and bottle in the experimental and control group. The percentages in both were lowest for breast and bottle with 6.3% for experimental and 5.6% for control. 6. Married was the marital status mode for the experimental group and control group since it was the largest group. The frequency and percentage are 25 and 78.1% for the experimental group and 31 and 86.1% for the control group who are married. 7. Yes a median can be determined for the educational data. The median for the experimental and the control group are the people in the some college group. The median is the â€Å"middle† category and can be determined for ordinal data like education. 8. The findings from this study cannot be generalized to Black women since the sample size is so low in the experimental group and there are no Black women in the control group. Black women might have different self- care interventions to manage post- partum fatigue than white women. 9. There is a note at the bottom of the table that mentions that there is missing data. Perhaps some mothers did not reveal that data. 10. The sample was adequately described. However, adding information about any complications before or during birth, the type of delivery for example C-section vs. natural, or if the women had any help such as a nanny would add to the description.

Making Sense of Facts and Theories

Making Sense of Facts and Theories Facts are needed to establish theories but theories are needed to make sense of facts. Discuss this statement with reference to two areas of knowledge. Facts are things believed to be true. There are different types of facts that can be distinguished, real facts and said facts. Real facts are those that are always true like not being able to walk through walls and said facts are just plain statements which declare something as a fact but can be either true or false. One needs to be careful when declaring a fact because declaring makes it a said fact. Facts themselves need no declaration, not even in a theory, said facts if true, are made true by facts. Theories, on the other hand, can be made up of facts or can be used to explain them. Theories do not depend on facts but their truth does. This had led me to explore the following knowledge question: how are facts needed to establish theories? While looking at history and natural sciences, we will see that facts are usually necessary to be able to come up with a theory. I will be exploring my knowledge question by looking at reason and language as the ways of knowing and natural scien ces and history as the areas of knowledge. In the area of knowledge of natural sciences, facts are needed to establish theories. Sciences rely on the scientific method which involves doing background research looking at previously known real facts -, constructing a hypothesis based on the facts obtained from the background research and testing it doing an experiment which is based on observation. During the observation process, one realises real facts, those that do not need to be declared because they are demonstrated through the experiment. Therefore, once a series of facts are compiled, a theory can be established explaining those facts. The theory would not be able to be reliable if it did not have facts that made it a true theory. One decides if a fact is indeed a true fact by using reason which is what allows us to form a logical argument from the observations made. Also, language helps to portray the facts and compile them into a theory since if there were no language, we would not be able to establish theories from a ny real facts since there would not be a way to transmit or communicate them. Theories need to be tested and they must be able to be replicated by following the original process that was done to establish the theory, so in order for it to be explained or replicated, it needs the assistance of language and reason to communicate the theory and evaluate if it is logical, respectively. A real life example is when we tested Newtons theories of motion in my physics class by doing an experiment with toy cars looking at inertia and impulse, we had access to the facts that made up those theories and hence, we were able to put it into practice and see how they behave. However, it is possible that give access to the same facts, different theories may result. This is perhaps because the facts were not necessarily true because they could have been said facts, just plain statements declaring something as a fact but can be false (as well as true) or because they did not encounter any exceptions through the method they used in their investigation if they did not try in different situations. If they were said facts, then the researchers, most likely, did not follow the scientific method and simply derived a theory from an assumption for a specific hypothesis. Since all theories are subjected to at least one exception, they might not be a hundred per cent true because the same theory does not apply to every possible situation that may affect the outcome. An example of this in the natural sciences is on the laws of gases which only apply if the temperature is kept constant. But then again, the temperature having to be kept constant may be a key fact part o f the theory. It was previously mentioned that reason is needed to make sense of the facts obtained. Reasoning methods may vary from a researcher to another which is why some theories are created but are reviewed after a few years because they did not put the facts together in a more logical manner. An example of this is Newtons Universe theory in which he stated that the universe is infinite and static and contains and infinite number of stars equally dispersed however, it was many years later discovered by Olber that if there was an infinite number of stars equally dispersed then, the night would not exist since the universe would be bright in all directions at all times. However, how is it possible to tell if one theory is really true since they are occasionally subjected to sudden changes due to further research and more accessibility to facts into the field? Can we then believe all of the theories we are presented with? Language also has an important role to play since it can b e interpreted differently by different researchers and also, when it is translated into other languages to make it accessible for other individuals, some of the sense might be lost and might stop being a true theory composed of true facts. It is therefore clear that facts are needed to establish theories in the area of knowledge of natural sciences but often, the theories might be subjected to changes due to further facts being discovered. In History, facts are needed to establish theories too. History needs to look at the facts as the evidence obtained from wars and past events to then evaluate and create a theory on what have been the motifs behind that specific event. This is a more controversial area of knowledge because even though we are all presented with the same facts, they can be put into a theory in different ways regarding to the individuals beliefs or background. Given access to the facts about a war, the theory resulting might differ from one person to the other depending if the person is from a country that was more affected by it or not. A real-life example is the Spanish Holy Inquisition in which Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon forced everyone in their kingdom to be Catholics and executed those who refused to convert. From an open-minded point of view it seems clear that religion cannot be enforced on people. However, I have come across many strong Catholics who believe that the Spanis h Inquisition was a good thing to enforce good values onto people and that they even made them a favour helping them to get into heaven. Different people reason the facts in different ways and this is why extremely opposite theories for the same event are established. Also, these facts rely just on language found in manuscripts and stories passed down since none of us was alive at that time and hence, we cannot be sure if these facts are indeed true or if they have been subjected to any sort of manipulation. It is important to know about how facts are needed to establish theories because they are the smaller bits of information we can obtain and make sense of to arrange them into theories. It is necessary to know that even though theories may seem to be true, they can still be subjected to changes once more research is done and more facts are discovered due to perhaps using a different way of reasoning or following a different investigation method. Additionally, different theories might result from the same facts due to someones beliefs or background and are therefore not always reliable but still, facts are needed to establish a theory, whether it is true or not.

Human Resource Planning and Development: Tesco

Human Resource Planning and Development: Tesco Introduction of Tesco Jack Cohen founded Tesco in 1919 when he began to sell surplus groceries from a stall in the east end on London. The Tesco brand first appeared in 1924. Jack Cohen made new label using the first three letters of suppliers name (TES) and the first tow letter of his surname (Co), forming the word TESCO. The first Tesco store was opened in 1992 in Burnt oak, Edgware, Middlesex. Tesco was floated in London stock exchange in 1947 as Tesco Stores (Holding) Limited. The first self service store opened in St. Albans in 1951 and the first supermarket in Maldon in 1956. Tesco is one of the worlds leading international retailers. Nowadays it deals in different sectors like telecom, online services, clothing, insurance, electronics, fuel etc, but the principal activity of the Tesco group is food retailing and it has over 2,500 stores worldwide. Tesco is public owned company its major shareholders as of 2004 were [1] Barclays Global Investors (3.82%) Legal and general (2.79%) Schroder investment Mgt Ltd (2.87%) State street global Advisors (2.73%) Axa Investment Manager (2.63%) Threadneedle Investments (2.63%) Scottish windows (2.08%) M G Investment Mgt Ltd (1.99%) Morley fund Management (1.88%) USB Global Asset Company Profile It is one of the biggest retailer companies in the world which has 702 stores in UK and employee 240,000 people. It originally caters in food but expanded it scope of services to clothing, finance services, electronic, etc. Company strategy is to focus on long term business. Tesco start self service supermarket in US in 1930s. After 20 years Tesco has become a familiar name not only for groceries but also for fresh food, clothing and hundreds of household goods in 1940s. Tesco has built its 100th superstore by 1985 and in 1987. By 1991 the success of its petrol filling station earned for the company Britishs biggest independent petrol retailer. It broke new level in food retailer in 1995 the first customer loyalty card, which offer benefit to regular customer and other different kinds of offers was given to customer like Tesco Baby club for new parents. Tesco acquire the HIT chain of hypermarkets in Poland in July 2002. By the end of 2002/2003 Tesco had 45 percent of its space overseas. Tesco has developed various kinds of Tesco stores like Tesco Extra, Metro Tesco, and Tesco Express. The grocery store is also offer club card for the customer from which a significant 80% of the sales are transacted.after certain points Tesco gives voucher to the customer to met with a similar success as over a billion vouchers are already given away. The market share is now 16.2%. Tesco operate 4 store formats in the UK. Introduction to Human Resource Management Human resources are the people that work for an organisation, and Human Resource Management is concerned with how these people are managed. However, the term Human Resource Management (HRM) has come to mean more than this because people are different from the other resources that work for an organisation. People have thoughts and feelings, aspirations and needs. The term HRM has thus come to refer to an approach, which takes into account: The need of organization The need of its people Different individuals have their own needs and aspirations. HRM therefore involves finding out about the needs and aspirations of individual employees, for example through the appraisal process and then creating the opportunities within the organisation (e.g. through job enlargement) and outside the organisation for employees to improve themselves. HRM therefore relates to every aspect of the way in which the organisation interacts with its people, e.g. by providing training and development opportunities, appraisal to find out about individual needs, training and development needs analysis, etc. Three key activities of HRM in TESCO Manpower planning: Planning staff levels requires that an assessment of present and future needs of the organization be compared with present resources and future predicted resources. Appropriate steps then be planned to bring demand and supply into balance. Thus the first step is to take a rough sketch of the existing workforce profile (number, skills, ages etc) of existing employees and then audit for 1,3 and 10 years ahead by amendments for normal turnover, planned staff movements, retirements etc in line with the business plan for the corresponding time frames. What future demands will be is only influenced in part by the forecast of the personnel manager, whose main task may well be to scrutinize and modify the crude predictions of other managers. Future staff needs will derive from: Sales and production forecasts The effects of technological change on task needs Variations in the efficiency, productivity, flexibility of labour as a result of training, work study, organizational change, new motivations, etc. Changes in employment practice Variation which respond to new legislation, eg. Payroll taxes or their abolition, new health and safety requirements Changes in government policies. What should emerge from this blue sky gazing is a thought out and logical staffing demand schedule for varying dates in the future which can then be compared with the crude supply schedules. The comparisons will then indicates what steps must be taken to achieve a balance. That in turn will involve the further planning of such recruitment, training, retraining and labour reductions or change in workforce utilization as will bring supply and demand into equilibrium, not just as a one off but as a continuing workforce planning exercise the inputs to which will need constant varying to reflect actual as against predicted experience on the supply side and changes in production actually achieved as against forecast on the demand side. Recruitment and selection: The overall aim of the recruitment and selection process should be to obtain at minimum cost the number and quality of employees required to satisfy the human resource needs of Tesco. The three stages of recruitment and selections are Defining recruitments Attracting candidates Selecting candidates The number and categories of people required should be specified in the recruitment programme, which is derived from human resource plan. In addition there will be demands for replacements or for new jobs to be filled, and these demands should be checked to ensure that they are justified. It may be particularly necessary to check on the need for a replacement of the level of type of employee that is specified. These provide the basic information required to draft advertisements, brief agencies or recruitment consultants, and assess candidates. A role profile listing competences skill, educational and experience requirements produces the job criteria against which candidates will be assessed at the interview of by means of psychological tests. Attracting candidates: Attracting candidates is primarily a matter of identifying, evaluating and using the most appropriate sources of applicants. However in cases where difficulties in attracting or retaining candidates are being met or anticipated, it may be necessary to carry out a preliminary study of the factors that are likely to attract or repel candidates the strengths and weakness of the organization as an employer. Advertising is the most obvious method of attracting candidates. Tesco basically advertise its vacancy on its web site. This means looking at the alternative sources mentioned above and confirming preferably on the basis of experience, that they will not do. Consideration should be given as to whether it might be better to use an agency of a selection consultant. When making the choice, refer to the three criteria of cost, speed and the likelihood of providing good candidates. The objectives of an advertisement should be to attract attention, create and maintain interest and stimulate action. Employee Motivation: Tesco employees are encouraged to ask themselves strategic questions in order to assess their skills and ability to progress. Employee motivation is important for the organisation. It is one of the basic activities needed for the smooth running of an organization. To retain good staff and to encourage them to give of their best while at work requires attention to the financial and psychological and even physiological rewards offered by the organization as a continuous exercise. Basic financial rewards and conditions of services are determined externally in many occupations but as much as 50 % of the gross pay of manual workers is often the result of local negotiations and details of conditions of services are often more important than the basics. Hence there is scope for financial and other motivations to be used at local levels. As staff needs vary will vary with productivity of the workforce so good personnel policies are desirable. The latter can depends upon Other factor but unless the wage packet is accepted as fair and just there will be no motivation. Following are the motivation techniques Celebrating annual holidays: the regular celebration of annual events help form the company culture, the environment you provide for people at work. Tesco gives pay holiday for its employee which will motivate its employee. If the workers are involved in creative work by which they share their ideas and culture with each other which helps keep the culture of an organization well. Tesco provides different kinds of bonuses and voucher to its employee which helps to motivate them. Ranking the workers and giving them the rewards which help employee to spend all their time at work place and company gain good profit from this. Providing benefit, medical treatment and basic requirement facilities to the workers motivate workers to give good output to an organization Human Resource Management Models of Tesco: This company has introduced a high commitment model which offers training and development to all employees. They have developed their culture through extending their logo every little helps to prove commitment. This organisation was chosen, through their introduction of strategies which has led to an increase in business. This has demonstrated they are a first class provider of training to their employments, and has given opportunity to expand into new markets. The matching Model The early HRM model developed by Fombrun emphasizes the interrelatedness and the coherence of human resource management activities. The human resource management cycle in their model consist of four constituent components: Selection, appraisal, development and reward these four human resource activities aim to increase organizational performance. Rewards Performance Performance Management Selection Human Resource Development This model also ignores different stakeholder interests, situational factors and the notion of managements strategies choice. The strength of the model however is that it express the coherence of internal HRM polices and the importance of matching internal HRM policies and practices to the organizations external business strategy. The HRM cycle is also a simple model that serves as a pedagogical framework for explaining the nature and significance of key HR practices and the interactions among the factors making up the complex fields of human resource management. As we progress through the book, we will refer to the HRM cycle to explain the relationship of each individual HRM function to other HRM practices. The Harvard model of HRM The analytical framework of the Harvard model offered by Beet consists of six basic components: Situational factors Stakeholder interests Human resource management policy choices HR outcomes Long-term consequences A feedback loop through which the outputs flow directly into the organization and to the stakeholders The situational factors influence managements choice of HR strategy. This normative model incorporates workforce characteristics, management philosophy, labour market regulations, societal values and patterns of unionization, and suggests a meshing of both product market and socio-cultural . The framework is based on the belief that the problems of historical personnel management can only be solved when general managers develop a viewpoint of how they wish to see employees involved in and developed by the enterprise, and of what HRM policies and practices may achieve those goals. Without either a central philosophy or a strategic vision- which can be provided only by general manager- HRM is likely to remain a set of independent activities, each guided by its own practice tradition. Beer and his colleagues believed that today many pressures are demanding a broader, more comprehensive and more strategic perspective with regard to the organizations human resources. These pressures have created a need for a longer- term perspective in managing people and consideration of people as potential assets rather than merely a variable cost. They were the first to underline the HRM tenet that HRM belongs to line managers. They also state that Human resource management involves all management decisions and action that affect the nature of the relationship between the organization and its employees- its human resources. They suggest two characteristic features one is line managers accept more responsibility for ensuring the alignment of competitive policies that govern how personnel activities are developed and implemented in ways that make them more mutually reinforcing. Human Resource Planning and Development for Tesco Every organisation has its own HR planning and development process under consideration. Human resource planning is indeed concerned with broader issues about the employment of people than the traditional qualitative approaches of manpower planning. Appraisal of HR Planning Training and Development Programme Selection Process Recruitment Plan Determine Job Requirement Work Study Demand forecasting Inventory of HR skills (Findings Gaps) Objective of HR Planning Fig: The Process of Human Resource Planning Objectives of Manpower Planning:- The persons concerned with manpower planning must be clear about goals of manpower planning because once the wrong forecast of future requirement of human resources are made, it may not be possible to rectify the errors in short-run. Inventory of Skills: Assessment of demand for operating personnel presents less problems of uncertainty current manpower supply can be adjusted accordingly. But for supervisory and managerial levels projection is complex problem because required talents are not available at a short notice. This will also help in drawing recruitment development plans to meet the needs of certain skills future. Demand Forecasting: A proper forecast of manpower required in future say, after one year, two years so on must be attempted. The factors relevant for manpower forecasting are as follows. (i) Employment Trends: Manpower planning committee examine number of employees on pay roll during past 5 year to know trend within each group to determine whether particular group has been stable or unstable. (ii) Replacement Needs: if staffs leave the job due to death, retirement, resignation termination of employees. It may relate to supervisory, skilled, clerical groups and must be anticipated in advance. In this case the HR planner set a develop plan to replace staff. (iii) Productivity: Gain in productivity will also influence requirements of manpower. Planning for productivity has several aspects. The first aspect relates to effective utilisation of manpower. The second aspect relates to installation of more productive tools, equipments. The last aspect relates to matching of skills with requirements of jobs. (v) Absenteeism: Means a situation when a person fails to come for work when he is scheduled to work. Due to absenteeism work get upset leading to overtime work which in turn leads to increased cost of production. The management should go into cause of absenteeism attempt to reduce absentism as far as possible. (vi) Work Study: Can be used when it is possible to apply work measurement to know how long operations should take amount of labour required. This is also known as workload analysis. Job Requirements: Job assessment is done to find out the requirements of the worker, like if employee needs any help from the managerial side, if they need any type of benefits and support from other. If they need to transfer form one department to another, whether the number of staff is low or high and so on. Employment Plans: This phase deals with planning how organisation can obtain required number of right type of personnel as reflected by personnel forecasts. Training Development Programme: Training is essential not only for new employees but also for old employees for improving their performance. Similarly executive development programmes have to be devised for development of managerial personnel. The talent of employees are not fully productive without a systematic programme of training development. Appraisal of Manpower Planning: After training programmes have been implemented, an appraisal must be made of effectiveness of manpower planning. Deficiencies in programs should be pointed out catalogue of manpower inventory should be updated periodically. Connective actions should also be taken whenever it is necessary to remove deficiencies in manpower planning. Evaluation of HRM planning and development methods of Tesco According to the method described is one of the best methods for HR planning and development method. By following the above method an HR department of an organization is good at organizing the manpower. It covers the methods form the beginning of the recruitment process to management level. It first evaluate whether the employee is needed or not then after is set up a plan for the recruitment process and goes on to the recruitment process. After that it analyse whether employee needs any training, transfer, motivation etc. So this method is effective development method. Performance Appraisal Tesco measures the abilities of its employees to check it has the correct skills for the future. After reviewing and career discussion if staffs need training then they can apply for training. Tesco mainly focus on three things Customer, working with other and own behaviour. This will help to select the leader. Decision is taken for giving training or promoting the staff according to the performance audit of the employee. In this step job performance of an employee is evaluated typically by the corresponding manager or supervisor. A performance appraisal is a part of a guiding and managing career development. It is the process of analysing, obtaining and recording information about the relative worth of an employee to the organization. It is also the judgement of an employees performance in a job based on considerations other then productivity alone. There is the long process of evaluating the performance of an employees in Tesco. Managerial team prepare an appraisal sheet where individual employee fills in the form in monthly basis. Which includes the feedback on performance of the employee and then manager analyse the sheet collected from different employee and identify whether training is needed and document the criteria used to allocate organizational reward. It also analyse the personal evaluation and decide whether to improve salary, promotion, disciplinary action, bonus etc. It also provides opportunity for organization to diagnosis and develops in facility provided to the communication facilities between employee and administration. Its main aim is to provide performance through counselling, coaching and development of organization. Methods of Performance Appraisal: A common approach to assessing performance is to use a numerical or scalar rating system whereby managers are asked to score an individual against a number of objectives. In some companies, employees receive assessment from their manager, subordinates and customers while also performing a self assessment. Establishing performance standards: setting up of the stanandards which will be used to as the base to compare the actual performance of the employees. This step requires setting the criteria to judge the peroformance of the employee as succesful or unsuccesful and the degees of theri comtrubution to the organizational goal and objectives. The standards set should be clear, easily understandable and in measurable terms. In case the performance of the employee cannot mesasured, great care should be taken to describe the standards. Establishing performance standards Communicating standards and expectations Measuring the actual performance Comparing with standards Discussing Results Decision making-taking corrective actions Communicating the standards: Once set, it is the responsibility of the management to communicate the standards to all the employees of the organization. The employees should be informed and the standards should be clearly expained. This will help them to understand their roles and to know what exactly is expected form them. The standards should also be communicated to the appraisers or the evaluators and if required, the standards can also be modified at this stage itself according to the relevant feedback from the employees or the evaluators. Measuring the aperformance: it is difficult to measur the work done by the employees during the specified period of time. It is a continuous process which involves monitoring the performance throught the year. This stage requires the careful selection of the appropriate techniques of measurement, taking care that personal bias does not affect the outcome of the process and providing assistance rather than interfaceing in an employees work. Comparing the actula with desired performance: the comparision tells the deviations in the performance of teh employees from the standard set. The result can show the actual performance being more than the desired performance or the actual performance being less than the desired performance depiciting a negative deviation in the organizational perofrmane. It includes recalling, evaluating and analysis of data related to the employees performance. The result of the appraisal is communicated and discussed with the employees on one to one basis. The focus of this discussion is on communication and listening. The results, the problems and the possible solutions are discussed with tha aim of problem solving and reaching conssensus. The feedback should be given with a positive attitude as this can have an effect on the employees future performance. The pressure of teh metting should be to solve the problem faced and motivate the employees to perform better. The last step of the process is to take decisions which can be taken either to improve the performance of the employees, takes the required corrctive actions, or the related HR decisions lile rewards, promotions, demotions, transfers etc. Conclusion: Tesco  is a succesful organization in UK. They have incresase market share and retails unit over the last five year. Their model of HR is strong and highly practiced and highly commited. Their main focus on the training issues and also on vital to the success of the organisation, without commitment, it would amount to a wsate of resources. The entire organisation is involven in training and is offered to all levels within the organisation.Give good training and development of its employees is necessary for Tesco to continue its work and sustain in the world as a world leading retailer. It uses same approach with both existing and new employees. This ensure the staff of this comapay have right skills to provide a strong base to support future growth of the business.

Egypt :: essays research papers

Egypt The majority of people have various ways of viewing cultures. Because of close-mindedness and lack of cultural education, people have a difficult time interacting with different societies. I feel that people shouldn't stereotype because this might lead to misjudgment. For example, I have personally experienced this type of stereotyping of my Egyptian culture. Although people view Egypt as a plain desert with camel riders, my experience from living there shows Egypt to be a developing civilized country with a great history . People think about Egypt in this manner because of the media. The news primarily exposes the uncivilized parts of the country. For instance, the well known news broad-casting channel CNN showed the circumcising of a young girl on the television screen. This is a harsh way to introduce a culture to people. Often, CNN shows cases of the Egyptian desert with camel riders. This narrow perspective influences the society's view of our culture. Another example is an article in the National Geographic magazine about Egypt (written by Peter Throux in April 1993). The writer described the country as smoggy, dirty, over-populated and with traffic problems. The article introduced Egypt as a superstitious culture which was graphically proven in a picture shown in the article. This picture showed the head of a woman with the body of a snake. This picture gives the reader the impression that Egyptians believe in black magic. Whenever the media introduce a culture, they should mention all the positive and the negative aspects of that specific culture. For instance, whenever you watch a program about the United States of America back home, you see only sky-scrapers and big luxurious cities. This doesn't portray the entire United States. In reality, Egypt is a mixture of well educated and uneducated people. I have lived there for many years and from experience, I think it's an interesting country. Egypt has the Nile River which supports the cities around it with water and green areas. In Egypt, the government encourages the people to move away from the cities and start agricultural communities with great facilities. This encouragement helps provide more agricultural areas and more jobs for the Egyptian people. This enrichment has stabilized the currency for six years and has also improved the growth of the national income. In Egypt, there are the "pyramids" which are symbols of the Egyptian pride. Temples, churches and mosques show a great art of design. These buildings are not just constructions, they are decorations and a history for all generations. This history has motivated the Egyptians to continue their modern progresses. It has also influenced the Egyptian traditions.

Polymerase Chain Reaction :: essays research papers

PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) is the quick and easy method of making unlimited copies of any fragment of DNA. Since it’s first introduction ten years ago, PCR has very quickly become an essential tool for â€Å"improving human health and human life (TPCR)†. Medical research and clinical medicine are profiting from PCR mainly in two areas: detection of infectious disease organisms, and detection of variations and mutations in genes, especially human genes. Because PCR can amplify unimaginably tiny amounts of DNA, even that from just one cell, â€Å"physicians and researchers can examine a single sperm or track down the elusive source of a puzzling infection† (TPCR)†. These PCR- based analyses are proving to be just as reliable as previous methods-sometimes more so and often much faster and cheaper. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a technique used â€Å"to amplify the number of copies a specific region of DNA (Brown)†, in order to produce enough DNA to be adequately tested. This technique can be used to identify with a very high-probability, disease-causing viruses, bacteria, a deceased person, a criminal suspect, and also in the event of an outbreak, â€Å"Real-Time PCR can effectively monitor the success of clean-up efforts (RAL,Inc)†. In order to use PCR, one must already know the exact sequence of a gene or the sequence of interest that lie on both ends of the DNA. While similarity among genes of organisms exists, there will always be genes whose DNA sequences differ from each other. By identifying the genes that are different and unique, one can use this information to identify an organism. DNA is a double-stranded, â€Å"consisting of two such nucleotide chains that wind around each other in the famous shape known as the double helix (TPCR)†. DNA consist of Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine, and Guanine components which can be arrange to generate a â€Å"sentence† of a gene sequence which can consists of either a few or thousands of letters long. To get this copying process started, a template molecule of the DNA or RNA you want to copy is required along with two primer molecules that make up the strands of all genetic materials. These primer molecules consists of about 20 letters long, which can be linked together in the order desired by a DNA-synthesizer â€Å"which add and link one letter at a time (Brown)† to generate the primers needed to start PCR. There are three major steps in PCR that must be met in order for the process to be successful.

What is language

Describe the functions of language. (3) Explain the relevance/importance of English Language Studies. (4) use the knowledge gained to analyses a few texts. Candela et. Al. 2012: 1-2) By working through your tutorial matter (study guide and textbooks), you should be able to provide answers to these questions. What Is language? Language is â€Å"the method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way. â€Å"l What is communication? Communication is â€Å"the imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some other medium. â€Å"2 In order to communicate (for people to understand one another) we need to use language in a structured manner. Consider the following sentences: ) I am happy because I ate chocolate. ) Chocolate I happy I because ate am. C) I ma yap succubae I tea teleological. 1 OFFS Why do you understand the first sentence? Why are the second and third sentences unintelligibl e? For meaningful communication to take place, we need to understand and apply the rules of the particular language we are studying. In this module, we learn about some of the rules which govern the English language. You will learn words, sentences and ideas that will help you to describe language. These words and ideas will be applied to real life situations where English is used.Consider how English is used in different situations: school, work, home and Twitter. You will begin to appreciate that language use varies from one context to another. As yourself the question; would you talk or write to your employer in the same way that you would address your friends? You will be introduced to the technical language terminology (such as â€Å"syntax†, â€Å"phonetics†, â€Å"phonology', â€Å"register†, â€Å"genre†, â€Å"text†, â€Å"semantics† and â€Å"pragmatics†) in order to study language. Since you do not generally use language i n isolation, we need to investigate how it is used in society.Remember that not everyone uses language in the same manner. For this reason, we need to learn varieties of language, dialects, standards, and attitudes to language. What is a text? If you refer to the dictionary, there are many definitions provided for â€Å"text†. For example, a â€Å"text† could refer to â€Å"a book or other written or printed work, regarded in terms of its content rather than its physical form. â€Å"3 In your study guide, we learn that â€Å"text† does not refer exclusively to written material. By text' we mean any piece of writing/language that hangs together from the ginning to the end.It has to have unity. Texts do not only have to be written. They can be spoken, e. G. The news that we hear on radio, or the news that we watch being broadcast on Television. A text can also be visual or audio-visual. Indeed, texts that are produced for television are audio-visual. Similarly, some written texts combine both the written and the visual, e. G. Newspaper reports. An art painting, such as, (Candela et. Al. , 2012: 3) Example of a text: Mona Lisa Leonardo dad Vinci Why do you think a painting can be regarded as a text? Provide other examples of texts. What is a domain?One definition for â€Å"domain† is â€Å"a specified sphere of activity or knowledge. â€Å"4 In your study guide, we learn that a â€Å"domain† does not refer exclusively to written Domain refers to social categories which locate all instances of language use in various situations or contexts. It can be the classroom domain, the sports field, a church, a political rally, etc. Notice that a classroom belongs to the larger sphere or domain of education, and a sermon in church belongs to the larger domain of religion. (Candela et. Al. , 2012: 4) Provide examples of a domain. Why is it important to identify a domain? ?Earlier, I provided a dictionary definition of language. On page 4 of your study guide, there are other definitions of language. In this module, language is viewed as a system of relating forms to functions. What does this mean? Firstly, can you identify the constituents of a sentence? I. E. Can you identify a verb, adverb, noun, adjective and so forth? Sentence. If you can identify these forms and how they function in a sentence, then you will begin to understand how they produce meaning in a text. Language is like a machine. If any parts are missing or are in the wrong place, the machine will not work.The following table from the study guide represents the language system: Language concept Meaning Phonetics The study of speech sounds. Phonology The study of the sound patterning system. Lexis The study of the actual words a writer or speaker chooses to use. Morphology The study of how words are formed. Syntax The study of how words combine to form sentences and the rules that govern the formations. Orthography Writing systems Semantics The study of meaning, how meaning is made and understood. Pragmatics The study of the use of language in communication – I. E. Sentences as used in contexts and situations. Discourse What is Language? The question above at first glance seemed easy to answer especially that we all have preconceived idea of what really language is. Language is talking. Noam Chomsky contends that more than any other characteristics, the possession of language distinguishes humans from animals (Chomsky). He argued that to understand humanity, one must understand the nature of language that makes us human. Language is not merely the ability to talk, rather, it is the capacity to produce sounds that signify certain meanings and to understand or interpret the sounds produced by others (Chomsky, p. 2). Thus, if one do not know the language, the words of that language will be mostly inconceivable. Language is more than speech as deaf people can produce languages without words just as normal persons generate and understand verbal languages. Language is what makes people understands each other, it is makes nations to unite for a common goals and it is the very foundation of progress and achievements. Thus understanding language is an essential task that every one must undertake. The world has perhaps thousands of different language that for most of us we can only speak five or the most is ten of these languages. Our limited knowledge of such languages is hindering us to achieve our goals to live in peace, unity, and, in cooperation with each other. Linguistic study therefore is an essential step towards this purpose of achieving, unity, cooperation, and mutual understanding with each other. Knowing what is Language Knowing a language involves knowing what sounds are in that language. It means that when one is not an English speaker he or she cannot substitute the pronunciation of a certain word to make it appear the word is pronounced in English. Taking for example the case presented by Chomsky, he noted that French people often pronounced the English word this and that as if they were spelled as â€Å"Zis† and â€Å"Zat. † knowing the sound system of the language therefore includes more than just the record of sounds. It involves knowing which sounds may start a word, end a word, and follow each other. According to Chomsky, knowing the sounds and the patterns of sounds amount to only one part of our linguistic knowledge. While it may be true that certain sequence of sounds denote certain concepts or meanings, if this is the case, knowing a language is not an easy task. One has to learn the sequences of sound if he or she has to learn language. That is, the words in that language which is also the sound sequences that are related to particular meanings. Thus, if one do not know a language, he or she cannot understand the meaning of the words or sentences of that language, because the relationship between speech and sounds is very subjective or an arbitrary one. Acquiring a language therefore needs one to identify that the sounds represented by the letters signify the concept. Sign Languages The relationship between form (sound) and the meaning (concept) of a word is true even in sign languages (Chomsky, p. 5). It is doubtful someone who is using Chinese sign language CSL) can comprehend the message of the one who is using American Sign Language (ASL), the same with the other. The author noted that not all the movements of the hands reveal the meaning of the gesture in sign languages. He point out that there is some sound symbolism in language, which is the words whose pronunciation suggest meanings. These words or sounds in a language sometimes imitate other sounds, however, although there may be some sounds that are similar to the objects or actions they refer to, the sounds differ from language to language because each language has its own particular system of language. However, Martin Hann emphasized that in understanding the message of the language both the sender and the receiver needs shared meanings of the gestures tones, and other communication symbols (Hann, M. . Hann pointed out that all the information and messages that we receive is being organized by our minds into a mental map that correspond to our perception of reality. The Importance of Sound Sequences To some extent, the author noted that some particular sound sequences seem to relate to a particular notion. Citing as example, the English words beginning gl such as glare, glint, gleam, glitter, glossy, glaze, glimmer, glimpse, and so forth, seemed to be related to sight. However, another set of words beginning with the same two letters, such as gladiator, glucose, glory, glutton, etc. ave nothing to do with sight. The point here is, it is important to know the sound sequences that relate to a particular idea. It does not matter for any one even if he or she can memorize all the 472,000 entries in the Webster dictionary unless he or she can learn the uses of each of those words. In other words, one cannot learn to speak foreign language by buying a dictionary and memorizing all the words, because one will not be able to construct even a simple sentences or phrase in a particular language that can be understand by a native speaker of that language. To understand the words in a language it is important to know where the words begin and where it ended. The Linguistic creativity As some one said, language is a gift of God to humanity. It is through language that humans communicate with each other regardless of race, and nationality. However, we cannot deny that there are language barriers to this communication. One of the most identified barriers is culture diversity. Portland State University, Sociology professor Sharon Lee noted that culture includes language and communication system and is often been used as alternative for culture (Lee, Sharon 2003). The language barrier caused by our cultural differences divides us in many aspect of our civilized social life because everyone has a unique perception and the ideas or the messages, and gestures being expressed differ from others. . Hence, the linguistic creativity is an essential initiative understanding language. Knowledge of language made it possible to combine sounds to construct words and to form phrases to make a sentence of the language. Knowing a language then, means being able to construct sentences and to understand sentences never heard before. This ability to construct and to understand sentences in a language is referred to as the creative aspect of language use. Linguistic creativity is a knowledge hungry process in which metaphors, poems, and jokes are just some of the typical forms. However, our creative ability is reflected not only by what we say, but it also includes our understanding of new sentences (Chomsky p. 9). Linguistic Knowledge and Performance The rise of linguistic in the 19th century has led to the formation of linguistic as a science, which means that linguistic is now a study. For Noam Chomsky Linguistic competence is a linguistic performance, which suggests that it is a process towards achieving such objective. For Chomsky, linguistic competence is the knowledge that we have of a certain language, or the ability to speak such language, which in turn becomes our linguistic performance. In other words linguistic competence and linguistic performance are basically inseparable. That is, When one is linguistic competent, it is a result of a long process of studying language. One’s mastery of language therefore as a result of such study is the linguistic performance. However, For Chomsky, linguistic competence is the unconscious knowledge of grammatical system. The linguistic system such as the sounds, the structures, words, and rules for putting them all collectively is acquired with no conscious awareness. Chomsky emphasized that we are unaware of the rules of language. Our knowledge of the rules of language is revealed by our ability to speak and understand, and to make judgment about the grammaticality of the sentences. Roumyana Slabakova and Silvina Montrul noted that grammatical competence is the unconscious, inherent knowledge that a speaker has about language. The Use of Grammar Grammar according to Chomsky has been defined as â€Å"that which authorized us either to converse a language or to talk about a language. † The way we use the word grammar differs from it most common usage. For Chomsky, grammar includes the knowledge that speaker have about the rules of the language for combining sounds into words which is called phonology while the rules of forming a word is called morphology and the rules for combining words into phrases and phrases into sentences is called syntax, the rule for giving meaning is called semantics. Linguistic competence in this regard is the ability to understand the nature of grammar, which then lead to the understanding to the understanding of the nature of the language. There are two ways linguist use grammar, first, grammar refers to the mental grammars that speakers have in their brain. The second is the model or the linguists’ description of this internalized grammar. Grammatical sentence according to Chomsky is when it conforms to the rules of the mental grammar and the so-called ungrammatical sentences are those who deviate from the rules in some ways. However, Chomsky pointed out that every language variety has its own grammar and no language is superior to any other language in linguistic sense. That is every grammar is equally complex, equally logical and capable of constructing an endless set of sentences to express any thought that can be equally expressed in any other language or dialect, too. It may me expressed using different words, phrases, and sentences, but what is important is that it can be expressed. However, not every grammarian shared that all grammar are equal as there are those who believed even from the earliest times that some account of language are better than others and that there are correct forms that the educated people should use in speaking and writing, and to change language is corruption. Among those who shared this view were the Alexandrians in the first century, the Arabic scholars at Basra, in the eight-century, and the combined batch of numerous English grammarians of the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Chomsky contends that these people wished to prescribed rather than describe the rules of grammar that paved the way to the rise of the writing of prescriptive grammars. This prescriptive grammar has become the language grammar of the upper classes. Conclusion Language is very important regardless of how others would view it. There are may be language for the elite rich and famous, or for the intellectuals, or even for the street people. What ever, language we use, the most important is we understand the people whom we are talking with. It is where that language is said to be a gift, for if we cannot understand others merely because they do not speak our language does not constitute is what is meant of misunderstanding. While I believe in the importance of leaning language but it should not be a hindrance towards understanding each other. However, for the improvement of our society and we must all strive to learn as much language as we can. In this way we can communicate well and can understand each other well. There is nothing wrong ig we utilized our ability to learn language instead, there plenty of benefits if we do so.

Food waste Essay

FOOD WASTE Fresh vegetables, ready-to-cook meals, and cheap meat is what a modern consumer’s supposed grocery list comprises of! Dump it all into your fridge full of deals, discount offers and feel happy. This is how the shop keeper gets a loyal customer. At the end o the story, it’s the food industry’s creed that the customer is always right†¦.. If food became it s own pungent country, it would be the world’s third biggest contributor to climatic changes. According to United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, one-third of the world’s total food is wasted around the world, literally to fork direct from the farm. In West, most of the food waste occurs because usually the leftover ingredients are tossed out. The major reason for food wastage is that the harvest of a farmer does not meet the retailer’s specific demand. Considering tomatoes, if too small or even too big to be sold to retailer will be left to rot in fields. Whilst, in developing countries the scenario is a little different because the food rots between fields and markets due to shortage of storage capacity. Awareness campaigns regarding food waste have already begun in the Western part of the world. Organizations are educating people about the waste of food at household level and how can it be eliminated or reduced to an extent. This is just the bit of the whole chunk. Even supermarkets are playing their part by producing recipes to use leftover food and pamphlets to store your food in the best possible manner. Likewise, many grocery stores have initiated redistribution of unsold stocks and excess to charitable organizations. Looking at food waste in local context, Pakistan is also the culprit for this wastage in spite of the fact that underfeeding and food shortage are areas of serious concern. Although we produce adequate food for our nation but still the wastage level is at its peak. This is because of careless attitude of our state and our society’s love for excess food. When we talk about consumption of food, negligence by society also needs to be tackled. At social events as well as weddings, it is quite usual for people to pile up a mountain of food on their plates and eat just a portion of it as if this is the last time they  are eating food. Much is needed to done to store perishable items such as fruits and vegetables. State needs to look into this matter with utmost care and also to preserve grains by creating extra facility for storage purpose. On collective basis, way of thinking needs to be changed. It is not only unethical but also an act of being socially irresponsible to waste food when millions around the world sleep empty stomach. According to Tim Lang, professor at City University London, food waste is a symptom, not a problem. So to eradicate these symptom governments, non-governmental organizations like UN can discourage wasteful exercises by producers of the food, farmers, consumers and grocery stores. Food spoiling and wasting is causing physical destruction to mother earth. So let’s join hands to exterminate wastage of food for those who starve and are under privileged.