Asymmetric Synthesis Of 13 Diols And Chiral Sulfoxides

Chapter 1 Review on Asymmetric Synthesis of 1,3-Diols and Chiral Sulfoxides 1.1. Importance and applications of chiral 1,3-diols Optically active 1,3-diols are very important compounds in asymmetric synthesis, since they represent chiral building blocks for many polyketide-derived natural products, and have frequently been used as valuable intermediates in the synthesis of drugs and natural products with important biological activity. Such diols have shown promise as chiral derivatising agents and less frequently as chiral ligands. 1.1.1. As chiral ligands Unlike 1,2 and 1,4 diols, 1,3-diols are less frequently encountered as chiral ligand. A few C2-symmetric chiral 1,3-diols are known in the literature, none have proved to be very good sources of chirality. It is important that the diol is conformationally rigid for it to be an effective chiral auxiliary / ligand. Chiral 1,3-diols 20 21 were obtained from the yeast-reduction products of 2-oxocyclopentane-and 2-oxocyclohexane carboxylates and excess MeLi, BuLi or PhLi. These ligands form titanium complexes 22 with TiCl(i-Pr0)3 which are effective catalysts for enantioselective nucleophilic addition of MeMgCl to benzaldehyde and 1-naphthaldehyde yielding 1-phenyl ethanol and 1-naphthyl ethanol respectively in good enantioselectivities. Recently Matsuo and coworkers have reported effective use of a chiral 1,3-diol ligand for brà ¸nsted acid catalyzed asymmetric reduction of ketones and acyl silanes. 1.1.2. As chiral

Analysis Of The Film The World s Classroom - 1727 Words

The film The World in Claire’s Classroom, 2000, shows us an alternative first and second grade classroom dynamic that Claire helps facilitate by her teaching style and beliefs.While certain parts of the film are socially problematic, in regards to some methods when learning about other cultures, Claire practices very progressive teaching methods and concepts that our class has covered. Because of using these varied teaching methods, Claire is also creating a more indepth and engaged learning environment that appears to have a positive impact on her students. Two concepts that I will be introducing and comparing to Claire’s classroom are Self-directed Learning and The Four Aspects of Engagement. Both of these concepts connect to multiple†¦show more content†¦They can also help motivate student’s desire to learn by being engaged with both the content and students themselves. As we discussed in class, motivation plays an intrinsic role in creating successful self-directed learning. Those who practice this form of learning, in various ways, are driven by personal or external incentives, such as the desire to learn something, or simply for curiosity s sake, self-esteem and self-efficiency. Because of this self-directed learners are known to take initiative, view issues as challenges to overcome, become confident, have a desire to evolve, and appreciate and seek out learning opportunities (Taylor, 1995). The students frequently practice self-directed learning through multiple assignments, experiences and activities in their class. Through a homework assignment students learn about India in interdisciplinary and in depth ways when Claire asks them to go home and find items that come from India. By doing this they are making real world connections, further enforced since they are familiar with these objects, and therefore reinforcing their comprehension of the topic. Because the children also present their finding to their peers, they are also exercising cognitive elaboration. An experience the students had was going on a trip to a hindu temple in Massachusetts, we get to watch the students run to different shrines, dedicated to godsShow MoreRelatedThe Work Of Brenda Weber Essay1662 Words   |  7 Pages . . (s)econd, I listened to them (students)† (Weber, 135/136); these steps seem easy enough, yet in my experience as a student and as a teacher, I have hardly witnessed such an occasion. I would hypothesize that is because the larger institution wants to see a final syllabus by, I believe, the end of the first week it does not allow instructors ample time to adjust for student input. As Weber describes her experience she not only emphasizes an easy strategy to create a feminist classroom, but sheRead MoreIB Classroom Analysis1474 Words   |  6 PagesThe classroom for IB Media, Media one and film is in the brand new wind of the remodel. 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Ethics Aids Patients Free Essays

Can he refuse to assist in this procedure? The dental assistant cannot refuse to assist in this procedure. Besides it being unethical to refuse helping this patient solely because he has AIDS it is also illegal (Anderson, 2009). Dental assistants are bound by a code of professional conduct, adopted in August 2007 by the Dental Assistants National Board. We will write a custom essay sample on Ethics Aids Patients or any similar topic only for you Order Now Justice and fairness is one of the codes of conduct. This states the dental assistant has a duty to treat people fairly, behaving in a manner free from bias or discrimination on any basis. All DANB individuals must abide by the code of professional conduct and must maintain high standards of ethics and excellence. Violating this code may result in disciplinary actions and imposition of sanctions as listed below. (DANB CC, 2007) a. deny or revoke the Respondent’s eligibility, certification, or recertification b. suspend Respondent’s certification for a period of time; c. require the Respondent to engage in remedial education and/or training, or to perform community service; d. require the Respondent, if Certified, to participate in a mandatory audit of continuing education for a period of time; e. ecommend that DANB take legal action against the Respondent; f. assess a disciplinary fine; or g. take a combination of any of the above actions or such other action that may be deemed appropriate in the particular circumstances. (DANB DP, 2007) The dental assistant has a moral obligation to the patient and his colleagues to treat this patient as he would any other patient. The golden rule is always a good motto. Do unto to others as you would have them do unto you. His professionalism will be questioned as well. If he refuses to assist in the procedure, he puts the dentist and the dental practice in a position where they also could be sued for discrimination under the ADA Act of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. 2. What role would risk-management play in this case? â€Å"Risk management would play the role of identifying, analyzing and evaluating the risks and selecting the best method to deal with them†(Towsley-Cook, 2007). In this case, identifying there may be a risk of transmitting AIDS along with the chance the patient may not receive high quality patient care.Taking this into account the risk manager must make sure that staff is educated and trained in universal precautions (standard precautions). Staff that is educated is less likely to have misconceptions about HIV, the transmission of it and have a more positive response to those with HIV. Standard precautions are a set of infection control practices used to prevent transmission of diseases that can be acquired by cont act with blood, body fluids, non-intact skin (including rashes), and mucous membranes. These measures are to be used when providing care to all individuals, whether or not they appear infectious or symptomatic (Borlaug, 2010). Universal (standard) precautions involve hand washing and the use of protective barriers such as gloves, gowns, aprons, masks, or protective eyewear which can reduce the risk of exposure of the health care worker’s skin or mucous membranes to potentially infective materials (Department of Health, 1999). Practicing standard precautions addresses the risk of transmitting AIDS and making sure the patient receives high quality of care along with avoiding losses that may incur from either of these issues.Using these precautions assures all patients, regardless of whether they have an infectious disease or not, receive the same high quality of care. Patients that receive quality health care are more likely to be satisfied and remain patients at the facility and not sue the facility. 3. How does the† antidiscrimination statute† apply to this case? The antidiscrimination statute in this case refers to AIDS discrimination (refusing to treat a person with AIDS) being illegal throughout the United States under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973(Towsley-Cook, 2007). Antidiscrimination statutes are in place to make sure that no person on the grounds of race, color, national origin, disability (AIDS is considered a disability); socioeconomic status, religion or creed will be denied the benefits of medical treatment or be subjected to discrimination(Towsley-Cook, 2007). This doesn’t just apply to medical treatment but for this case it does. 4. Describe which ethical† school of thought† you would subscribe to as it relates to this case and why. I would subscribe to the virtue ethics school of thought in this case.Choosing to assist in the procedure is the morally right thing to do. We know that using standard precautions virtually eliminates any chance of getting AIDS in this case. By eliminating the fear of getting AIDS, the concentration can now be on helping the patient. Also, the consequences for not helping could be detrimental to the patient, the dental assistant, the dentist and the facility. So it is â€Å"incorporating both teleology and deontology to solve this ethical dilemma†(Towsley-Cook, 2007).We choose to do the right thing and also take into consideration the long term consequences of the action.Anderson, B. A. (2009). Op-ed hiv stigma and discrimination persist even in health care. Virtual Mentor american medical association journal of ethics, 11(12), Retrieved from http://virtualmentor. ama-assn. org/2009/12/oped1-0912. html DANB. (2007). Retrieved from http://www. danb. org/PDFs/CodeofConduct. pdf DANB. (2007). Retrieved from http://www. danb. org/PDFs/DisciplinePolicies. df Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (1999). Universal precautions for prevention of transmission of hiv Atlanta,GA: USA. Gov. Retrieved from http://www. cdc. gov/ncidod/dhqp/bp_universal_precautions. html# Borlaug, G. (2010, July 12). Standard precautions. Retrieved from http://www. dhs. wisconsin. gov/communicable/InfectionControl. htm Towsley-Cook, D. M. , ; Young, T. A. (2007). Ethical and Legal Issues for Imaging Ethical and Legal Issues for Imaging, (2nd ed. ), St. Louis: Mosby, Inc. , How to cite Ethics Aids Patients, Papers

Marvel Inc Strategy free essay sample

?Marvel Enterprises, Inc. evolved from bankruptcy in 1997 to the best performing stock on The Wall Street Journal. This marvelous shift in Marvel Enterprises, Inc. is due to its strategic decisions in acquiring creative talent, a wide portfolio of super heroes and characters, synergetic acquisitions, strong control over the characters created by Marvel, very profitable value chain, and successful business model. Marvel History Marvel Comics started as an exclusive comic book company and was acquired by Perelman in 1989. Perelman tried to foster the growth of the company through acquisitions and diversification. He increased the number of titles under Marvel name and resulted in a reduction of overall quality of the comics. He led the company to a bankruptcy in 1997. Marvel was then acquired by Toy Biz and got saved from closure. Toy Biz purchase of Marvel was strategically very good move. Toys and comics have a lot of synergies because success of a character in comics can be translated to success of that character in toys. And Toy Biz emphasized on the core industry of Marvel comics. Its under Toy Biz that Marvel created most successful characters and changed the course of Marvel. Strategies of Marvel Enterprises, Inc. : 1 . Monetize the content library via licensing characters for use with media products and other consumer products. Marvel licensed the characters for movies, television, video games, toys, apparel, collectibles, advertisements etc. and earned royalties from the respective licensees. This was a very successful strategic move because: Create: This move created value for Marvel and Marvels customers (the licensees). Marvel earned royalties and the licensees promoted their business using the characters licensed from Marvel. Capture: Marvel captured the value in terms of further promoting its characters and further increasing its comic book sales. Marvels most successful super hero Spider-Man created a sensation through movies by Sony Pictures. Marvel introduced more issues of Spider-Man (Amazing Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man etc. ) and increased the revenues from its core business. The success of the character also translated into additional revenues from royalties. Benefit: Marvels super heroes blend into the audience and created a bond with a wide range of people. The licensees benefitted from this craze through advertising, including the super hero fgures in wide range of products, and making blockbuster movies with the characters. This craze increased the customers willingness to pay for licensing the character and increasing their sales. Differentiation: Using the well- known characters on various products (toys, apparel, etc. ) gave a competitive advantage for their products in terms of marketing. The success of the character easily translates to success of the product that uses that character. Marvels characters are used as a differentiator for promoting their products. 2. Manage the library of characters to foster long-term value. Marvel has a portfolio of over 4,700 characters with distinct abilities and characteristics. Marvels success depends on the uccess of the characters Marvel creates. Having a wide range of characters under different super hero families is critical for Marvels long-term sustenance and success. Invention followed by innovation is always a necessity for creative company like Marvel. This strategy proved success for Marvel because: Create: Having more wide range of characters that can create value for many businesses. Capture: The value captured by Marvel in terms of royalties/brand name directly relates to the success of the characters it creates. More successful characters attract more licensees and success of the licensees further increases the success of Marvel. Benefit: Having more characters diversify the portfolio and increases the long-term strength of Marvel. More successful super heroes increase the brand equity for Marvel and also increase the probability of the success of the characters it creates. Having more brand equity and a successful portfolio of characters increasing the customers willingness to pay. Differentiation: Unlike DC Comics characters where most of the successful characters except Batman are aliens/born with super human abilities, Marvels most of the successful characters are normal humans turned super heroes due to some accident. This element elevates Marvel character and creates a sense of thrill in the audience. The audiences develop a bond with the human turned super heroes and increase the probability of success. This is the differentiating factor for Marvel from its main competitor DC Comics. 3. Retain some form of control over the creative process to ensure the quality of the content that featured Marvel characters. Marvel characters are blend into its admirers and audience. The licensees must respect this bond while using the characters in their businesses. No one but the creators of the characters understands the importance of this bond. So its critical for Marvel to monitor to the licensees products to ensure quality and integrity of the story of the character. Create: Marvels customers customers are people that admire the characters. Marvel can create value from its characters only if it creates value to its customers and customers customers. By having control over the licensees products, Marvel can protect the quality and integrity of the characters creating value to customers customer. Capture: High quality of the products encourages the collector market and increases the admiration over the characters. Marvel captures value in terms of the craze people develop over the characters it creates. Benefit: Higher quality of the products obviously increases the success of the products. Marvels customers benefit from the services provided by Marvel and are willing to pay Marvel for their values add services. It also gives Marvel control over the licensees and their business with respect to its characters usage. Differentiation: Having control enables Marvel protect the story of the characters and maintain a sync between the characters identity in all the media. Marvel was successfully able o create value for the customer and the customers customer, capture in an equitable manner the value created, benefit from the customers willingness to pay, and differentiate its products through its core strategic dimensions. Marvels Business model: Marvels core business is comic books. Although the core business is comic publication, Marvel makes most revenues and profits from licensing the characters it creates in the comic books. Creating more characters, increase the awareness of the characters and linking the character with an exciting story defines the success of Marvels business. Maintaining the integrity of these characters is the main strategy of Marvels business. Value proposition: The target market for Marvel is predominantly kids and male teenagers. Marvels the excitement its characters create in the target audiences and the bond they develop with these characters. Marvel characters are NOT a target for females predominantly. Competitors: Prime competitor for Marvel is DC Comics. There are also many small comic publishers that are competitors for Marvel within the industry In general, fairy tale and short story publishers can be competitors for comic book companies Analysis: Profit Model Revenue Architecture Comic book sales + Royalties from licensing for toys, apparel, etc. + Fees from advertising that uses the characters + Revenue share from movies + Revenue share from sales of video games Cost Structure Salaries for the creators of the characters and comics + Comic book publishing cost + distributor fees + marketing + quality control team cost Target margin The main target for Marvel is licensing the character for movies. Movies are widely reached medium. Success of the character in movies automatically increases the sales of all other products that use that character and increases the overall business f Marvel. Resource velocity Marvels net income in 2003 was over 43. 1% of its net sales from all its operations. This is the one of the best profitability index. Marvels key resources are its writers. Its important for attract and retain creative and talented writers for Marvels long term sustenance and success. Value chain confguration This table gives the outsourcing matrix for Marvel. According to the outsourcing matrix, Marvel keeps in-house the critical components of value chain, while outsourcing non-critical components. Long term ability of Marvel to compete High Medium Low Criticality of component process in Marvels products Comic books Character creation and story Toy creation (concept development) Quality control of toys and character integrity Marvel Select toys promotion Toy manufacturing Apparel that uses the character licensing Character branding for marketing Marvel and licensee Marvel maximizes the use of its core competency creativity by creating more interesting characters. The success of the characters it creates translates to the success of Marvel. Key Resources and Capabilities that should be focused Marvel is a company that lives on creativity. Creating successful super heroes and omics is the key capability that dictates Marvels long term growth. Marvel should focus on creating characters and maintaining their integrity. Competitive strategy In the entertainment industry, as long as Marvel can create interesting and exciting characters, success is guaranteed for Marvel. A character once admired by masses never dies. Marvel has to work on protecting the admiration over the character and this gives Marvel a competitive advantage. Industry analysis Marvel is an entertainment company. Entertainment industry is extremely wide and all Marvels businesses fall under entertainment industry. Marvels core business is creating super hero character and inducing the character into various forms of entertainment. The attractiveness of super hero industry can be assessed by Porters five forces analysis. Porters 5 forces analysis of super hero industry: Threat of Entry : High Any writer with a story and an exciting super hero can enter the industry through numerous publishers. Bargaining power of Suppliers : High Suppliers of Marvels business are creative writers and artists. The industry runs on them and their stake in the character and its success is extremely high. Bargaining power of Buyers : Low The demand for super hero industry depends on the success of the super hero. And these characters are exclusive copyrights of the company that creates them. So bargaining power of buyers is very low. Substitutes : High Super heroes are very exciting, but they have a large number of substitutes. Normal movies are their biggest substitutes. Movies like The Matrix, for example, a fusion of technology and virtual human abilities, can be biggest substitutes for fictitious super heroes. These factors make the fantasy industry very unattractive, but Marvel, as a very well established player with numerous characters in its portfolio, has a clear ompetitive advantage over rivals. Risks The major risk of Marvel is its ability to attract and retain creative writers. As long as Marvel can create new, exciting characters in regular intervals, Marvels success is The comics and characters introduced by Marvel can be either success or failure. The success/failure is linked only to the character and the loss due to failure of a character is nothing compared to the profits Marvel generates by the success of the character. Marvel plays it safe, Blackjack style. Marvels Business units: Marvel has three business units. All the business units Marvel owns have excellent ynergy. All the businesses are based on the characters and stories they create, predominantly in the comic books. The success of the character in any of Marvels business vertical immediately results in the success of other business units pertaining to that character. The three business units of Marvel are: 1. Comic Book Publishing 2. TOYS 3. Licensing Comic Book Publishing Comic Book publishing is the core business of Marvel. The characters and their stories are created in comics and the success of those characters is transferred into other businesses. Comic books decide the success of the character and thereby the uccess of other business units of Marvel. Comic book publishing business comprised 21% of total sales and had a profitability index of around 34% in 2003. Attractiveness of Comic book industry: Porters 5 forces analysis gives the attractiveness of the comic book industry Threat of entry: High Entry into comic book industry is very easy. Anyone with an exciting story can get the support of numerous publishers and get the advantage of the established network of publishers. Bargaining power of suppliers: High Writers are the major resources/suppliers of comic book industry. Companies should e able to attract and retain various writers and should give them freedom to come up with new stories. Again, providing too much freedom to employees results in running the risk of producing nothing of substance. Bargaining power of buyers: Low If buyers like a comic story, they are obliged to buy that comic only from that company. So the bargaining power of buyers is very low. Substitutes : High Short stories for kids, novels, etc. can be substitutes for comic books. Due to the above factors, comic book industry is not an attractive industry for new entrants due to high rivalry. But Marvel being a well-established company, can make this a trategic advantage due to low number of competitors. Conceptualization of comic book publishing business Comic book business is a three dimensional concept. According to Abell framework, the three dimensions can be analyzed. Scope Costumer Group: People interested in fantasy, super human characters and comics Costumer Function: Generate excitement, thrill Technology: Color printing, art technology Differentiation Customer Group: Male kids, teenagers, and mid-30 adults Customer Function: Technology: Customer Group: Customer Function: Generate a bond between readers and comic characters and reate a craze for the character Technology: Toys Toys business is predominantly based on the success of the characters developed in the comic books. The success of toy business is dependent on the success of the respective comic books and the characters. Toy business comprised 24. 5% net sales and had a profitability index of around 25% in 2003. Attractiveness of toys industry: Porters 5 forces analysis gives the attractiveness of toys industry Threat of entry: Low Entry into toys industry is fairly tough. Due to high initial investment in plastic molds and plastics, new entrants into the industry can be restrictive. Bargaining power of suppliers: Low The suppliers of plastic, which is most used material in toys, are very high making their bargaining power very low. Bargaining power of buyers: High Due to large number of players in the toy industry, the bargaining power of buyers is very high. Substitutes : High Online games and video games can be substitutes for toys. Based on the above factors, toy industry is not an attractive industry for new entrants due to high rivalry. But Marvel being a well-established company, and most of its toys are based on the famous characters it created, Marvels toy industry is protected by opyrights making this a strategic advantage for Marvel. Conceptualization of toys business Toys business is a three dimensional concept. According to Abell framework, the three dimensions can be analyzed. Scope Costumer Group: People interested in fantasy Costumer Function: Fun, excitement Technology: Molding technology Customer Group: boys from four to 12 years old and adults who are crazy about action figures Customer Function: Competitive Differentiation Customer Function: Generate excitement while playing with the toys (Hulk Hands, Spider-Man web shoots) Technology: Licensing Licensing is the most profitable business for Marvel. Licensing comprised 54. 5% of net sales and had a profitability index of around 72%. Licensing derives its profits from the success of the characters in comic books and it in turn helps market the comic books. So licensing is extremely profitable and crucial for Marvels success. Marvel has a tight control on licensing its products and no product can hit the market without Marvels approval. Tight control, as previously mentioned, enables Marvel maintain the integrity of the action figures and preserve their story. Attractiveness of licensing industry: For any company to enter into licensing business, the company must first have a high brand equity and their products should be well-established in the market. This makes licensing industry very attractive for established businesses. Bargaining power of suppliers: Low The licenses are protected by strict copyright laws and company holds the rights on using the product. Bargaining power of buyers: Low Once the products are famous in the customers, buyers dont have to spend additional marketing money and they get the brand equity along with the license. This makes the bargaining power of buyers very low. Substitutes : High Normal movies, celebrities, etc. can substitute licensing super heroes. Based on the above factors, licensing industry is not an attractive industry for new entrants due to high rivalry. New entrants must be established first to license their products, which make it tougher for them. But Marvel being a well-established company, and most of its licenses are over well-established super heroes, Marvel has a competitive advantage in the industry. Conceptualization of toys business Licensing business is a three dimensional concept. According to Abell framework, Costumer Group: Business that use super heroes to promote their business Costumer Function: Promote business using famous fictional super heroes Technology: Copyright technologies Customer Group: Movie producers, apparel manufacturers, and advertisers Customer Function: Customer Function: Generate revenues for the licensees Marvel Industries based on the assessment by various strategic frameworks presented has perfect strategy and maintains excellent synergy within all the business units. Marvel is one of the most profitable companies in the world and its possible because of their perfect portfolio of businesses and new products planned over the timeline. Positioning Marvel for the Future Marvel executives realized two marketing challenges critical to Marvels future success. 1. Use its library of characters and continue the existing business model based on licensing the characters to third-party businesses 2. Venture beyond the current business model and take on capital-insensitive but potentially more profitable activities in value chain for entertainment products Id support option 2, which allows Marvel to further diversify their portfolio, mainly into content production and distribution business. This will open up a huge market movies, television, video games, etc. for Marvel. Besides, this market is not new for Marvel. Marvel has been one of the strongest players in the entertainment business and this industry: Movies are a major part of entertainment industry one of the biggest industries in the world. Marvel has a lot of experience with movies. Movie industry is one the major customer for Marvel and a key for Marvels success. Marvel entering the industry would be inline and synergetic to Marvels core businesses. Attractiveness of the industry Since movies are enjoyed all over the world, PESTLE analysis would be irrelevant to measure the attractiveness of the industry. Porters 5 forces model could be applied o interpret the attractiveness of the industry. Porters 5 forces model Threat of entry: Production High; Distribution Low Producing a typical movie is not very expensive. But distributing the movie is very expensive and only established players control the distribution market. Bargaining power of suppliers: Production Low; Distribution High Movie producers suppliers are production team, director, actors, etc. Marvel, an established creative company in entertainment industry can build a movie team easily. But distribution is the key for running the movies and they have high bargaining power since they control most of he theatres. Bargaining power of buyers: Production High; Distribution Low Distributors are the customers of movie producers. They control the market and they have high bargaining power with producers. Whereas theatres are the customers of distributors and they dont have a high bargaining power with the distributors. Substitutes : High Television series, Internet. Considering the above factors, Production is more attractive and easy to enter than distribution. Id suggest Marvel to enter the production business for its most famous characters. Marvel can estimate the success of the character based on the comic ook sales and surveys. A movie of a famous super hero generally has a natural hype and craze in the market. Most such super hero movies are at least commercially hit, if not admired by people. But this would affect Marvels comic book sales and characters reputation. Nonetheless, this risk persists even with the existing business model. Since distribution is tough to enter and most prone to risk, Id suggest Marvel to outsource the distribution of their movies to established players like Warner Brothers, Universal Pictures etc. Risks Diversification often increases risk. Marvel pursuing content production aligns to its usiness model and is a strategic and synergetic move. Both movies and comics are creative works. Marvel being in the creative industry for many decades, have writers that could script a very good movie. Or Marvel can use the comic books as script and reach wider audience. Types of risks Marvel has to encounter Demand Risk Super hero movies often have natural hype and craze. These movies are always most awaited and people are crazy about. Marvel line of movies will generally have a very good demand. Regulatory risk Movies have general regulation and movies/comics must adhere to the regulatory ramework established by the respective countries. Marvels main target is kids and Political risk As a well-known company, Marvel should not have any major political risk. Tax structure affects the profitability, but every industry/company has this risk Financial risk The fame of Marvel characters reduces the financial risk of Marvels movies. Marvel should go into production business, but not into distribution business at this time. Marvel can earn the profits entirely by producing a business, but is also liable to losses if the movie fails to run rather than having a minimum guarantee amount according to the existing business model.

The Influence of Teaching Experience on Student Dropout

Introduction Schooling institutions are regarded as the primary grounds to certify and empower human development (Kohn, 2011). The teachers have the responsibility of certifying, socializing educating and empowering the learners (Lovitt, 1991).Advertising We will write a custom thesis sample on The Influence of Teaching Experience on Student Dropout specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, the teacher can only archive these obligations if s/he is supported by creation of a good learning environment. Furthermore, the teacher is a key factor in sustaining the education system. Therefore, the role of ensuring that education system delivers full baked graduates does not fall entirely on the teacher’s competencies but the general schooling environment (Meece Eccles, 2010). Government schools are predominantly occupied by people from the lower social status in life. In addition, these schools are characterized by inadequate fun ding’s that leads to poor teaching and consequently higher dropout rates (Lovitt, 1991). Methods that are certain in determining potential school drop outs have not been established. Furthermore, there is lack of risk factors that has a direct correlation to the rate of drops. This means that drop out is caused by a combination of factors across multiple domain (Lamb, 2011). There is a higher chance that a student will drop out due to multiple situations compounding on each other (Milliken, 2007). To understand this phenomenon further, the study will review the three forms of drop out. Status dropout rate refers to percentage of individuals who are between the ages of 16 to 24 but do not have any formal education.Advertising Looking for thesis on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More They could be people who have not been enrolled in the formal education system at high school level, without high school accreditatio n certificate, without a diploma or a certification that can be equated to a general education development certification (Randall, 1999). Status dropout is measured using two methods namely American community survey and current population survey. Data that relates to these types of population have been collected over few decades. This data is being applied in analyzing the finer details of this educational misfortune especially in civilian population (Randall, 1999). This form of drop out pays no attention to the time. This means that it pays no regards to when a person was schooling. In addition, this method separates immigrants from other populations. This is because immigrants are deemed to have little experience in United States education system as compared to their counterpart citizens of the United States (Ehlers, 2010). In general, those individual who are born outside the United States have higher dropout status than those who are born and raised in the United States. Cohort dropout rate relates to determination of dropout rates with a group being the base (Kohn, 2011). This means that cohort by definition means a group of student who joins the ninth grade with the hope and expectation of graduating after a four-year curriculum. Students who transfer from one institution to the other are included in the calculation since the number is subtracted from the initial school and added to school they are joining (Lovitt, 1991).Advertising We will write a custom thesis sample on The Influence of Teaching Experience on Student Dropout specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The cohort dropout rate is calculated by computing the number of students in a group that dropped schooling with a number of similar cohorts joining the school in a particulate period. The opposite is known as cohort graduation rate (Milliken, 2007). Event dropout rate This refers to the rate of student dropout in a school annually without compl eting their 12th grade education (Schargel Smink, 2001). This measure yields a small rate since it is computed on a yearly basis as opposed to the other two methods which are cumulative in nature. Event drop out has been used in determining the legal age where youths can drop out of school (Gordon, 2005). This is because the analysis can easily determine where majority of the youths drop out of school. In addition, the event dropout has been used to study high school experience during a given period in time (Wentzel, Wigfield, 2009). Furthermore, this method has been used to evaluate the educational policies that exist among the various states since the event dropout rate is different in each state. The teacher’s perceptions of the dropout rate Teachers agree that the adult-student relationship is fundamental in accessing and understating resilience (Gilman, Huebner Furlong, 2009). A student is most likely to succeed in gaining and sustaining resilience considering the cha llenging environment if there is an adult who takes a personal and dedicated initiative to offer guidance, recognition and support to such a student (Seligman et al, 1995). The presence of at least one concerned individual can make a lifetime impact on the development of a child. The role of a school comes in this situation since the school is a place for supportive environment (Christenson Reschly, 2010).Advertising Looking for thesis on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This occurs because the teacher-student relationship is supportive in nature. The teacher plays the role of a concerned adult who recognizes and supports the efforts of students who are learning (Shaul, 2004). Students have a role to play in minimizing the dropout rate (Provenzo McCloskey, 1996). The secret to success is the ability to define goals and set a mechanism that will help the learner archive the set goal. The teachers should play their professional role of guiding the students through the technicalities of life and the education system. However, student must remain committed to the path of success through hard work and self-discipline (Porter, 2008). Parents, also, have roles to play. They should complement the teacher role in instilling virtual and morals in the student. The education process is a triangle that involves the parent, student and the teacher. Issues There are various reasons that are associated with drop out cases. 35% of students feel that failing in scho ol will make them drop out, 43% will drop out of school if they missed too many classes, 45% feel they were not prepared for high school education and 32% will drop out of school if they are compelled to repeat a grade (Franklin, Harris Meares, 2008). These are the leading issues that are associated with school dropout. Prevention in rural school district Teachers, student and policy makers should form part of the system that is capable of building student’s confidence through provision of success opportunities, empathizing the need of education in relation to the future, developing student’s internal motivation, nurturing student’s problem solving skills, identifying and responding to student personal and family issues, and establishing a safe, supportive and caring environment for the youth (Porter, 2008). The system is meant to rationalize the student’s thinking capacity which will enable him/her to make better decisions especially in teenage and earl y adulthood years (Smink Schargel, 2004). This will facilitate their abilities to perceive information and digest it towards their own benefits References Christenson, S., Reschly, A. L. (2010). Handbook of school-family partnerships. New York: Routledge. Ehlers, C. S. (20082010). Encyclopedia of cross-cultural school psychology. New York: Springer. Franklin, C., Harris, M. B., Meares, P. (2008). The school practitioner’s concise companion to preventing dropout and attendance problems. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Gilman, R., Huebner, E. S., Furlong, M. J. (2009). Handbook of positive psychology in schools. New York: Routledge. Gordon, E. E. (2005). The 2010 meltdown: solving the impending jobs crisis. Westport, Conn.: Praeger. Kohn, A. (2011). Feel-bad education: and other contrarian essays on children and schooling. Boston: Beacon Press. Lamb, S. (2011). School dropout and completion international comparative studies in theory and policy. Dordrecht: Springer. Lovitt , T. C. (1991). Preventing school dropouts: tactics for at risk, remedial, and mildly handicapped adolescents. Austin, Tex.: PRO-ED. Meece, J. L., Eccles, J. S. (2010). Handbook of research on schools, schooling, and human development. New York: Routledge. Michael, D. B. (2005). Promising practices for family involvement in schooling across the continents. Greenwich, Conn.: Information Age Pub.. Milliken, B. (2007). The last dropout: stop the epidemic!. Carlsbad, Calif.: Hay House. Porter, L. (2008). Teacher-parent collaboration: early childhood to adolescence. Camberwell, Vic.: ACER Press. Provenzo, E. F., McCloskey, G. N. (1996). Schoolteachers and schooling: ethoses in conflict. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Pub.. Randall, L. (1999). Schooling for success: preventing repetition and dropout in Latin American primary schools. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe. Schargel, F. P., Smink, J. (2001). Strategies to help solve our school dropout problem. Larchmont, N.Y.: Eye On Education. Seligman, M. E., Reivich, K., Jaycox, L., Gillham, J. (1995). The optimistic child. Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin. Shaul, M. S. (2004). School dropouts: education could play a stronger role in identifying and disseminating promising†¦. S.l.: Diane Pub Co. Smink, J., Schargel, F. P. (2004). Helping students graduate: a strategic approach to dropout prevention. Larchmont, N.Y.: Eye On Education. Wentzel, K. R., Wigfield, A. (2009). Handbook of motivation at school. New York: Routledge. This thesis on The Influence of Teaching Experience on Student Dropout was written and submitted by user Dorothy R. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Manifest Destiny Essays

Manifest Destiny Essays Manifest Destiny Essay Manifest Destiny Essay The belief in Manifest Destiny. America’s right to spread out due west. was popular among the Democratic Party. which paved the way for struggle in U. S. political relations. In the 1840’s. Manifest Destiny was used as justification for the appropriation of Texas. the war with Mexico. and to get parts of Beaver state from the British. The argument over whether America truly had a manifest fate to spread out all the manner West or if it was used as an alibi to get more land led to arguments in U. S. political relations. Advocates of manifest fate. largely democratic. argued that the U. S. . as a more advanced civilization. had a God-given right to spread out its boundary lines. They believed the enlargement would educate the West and America’s democratic. cultural. and spiritual values would profit the Native Americans. In add-on. protagonists would reason that the belief would beef up the brotherhood. doing it invulnerable. On the opposing side. dwelling largely of the Whig party. the God-given right to spread out all the manner due west at the monetary value and rights of 1000s of guiltless indigens was blasphemy. The Whig party was non manifest fates merely critic. emancipationist. fearful of bondage spreading. argued that the fundamental law did non give the state the right to derive new land and the cou ntry’s critical establishments would endure as America was spread excessively thin. As more and more people migrated to the region in hope of becoming a successful farmer and becoming rich, the area became highly dense with slaves and wore out the soil very quickly. The invention of the cotton gin made it easier to harvest cotton, causing slave owners to buy more slaves and plant more plants, ventually causing them to need more land. This caused the southerners to pursue territorial expansion westward. The answer to many of these problems was the annexation of Texas, which Mexico considered a part of itself despite the Revolution of 1836. The northern states were largely opposed to the annexation of Texas because of the widespread fear of a war against Mexico and the danger of slavery growing; as Reverend William Ellery Charming wrote: l proceed now to what is to me the strongest argument against annexing Texas This measure will extend and erpetuate slavery (Document B). This disagreement led to some internal tension between the North and the South. The dispute over the borders of the new Republic of Texas and Mexico were never officially settled in 1835. Texas claimed the territory all the way to the Rio Grande River, whereas Mexico claimed that it only gave up the land past the Nueces River. After annexing Texas as the 28th state into the union in 1845, President James Polk claimed the border at the Rio Grande River, which provoked the Mexican-American War. The war was Justified by irrational reasons; for xample, an editor of the New York Sun wrote: The [Mexican] race is perfectly accustomed to being conquered e shall teach [them] that our victories will give liberty, safety, and prosperity (Document H). After a year and a half of conflict, the war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848, creating the Texan-Mexican border at the Rio Grande River and increasing the area of the United states Dy almost Oue to tne lana galnea In tne Mexlcan cession. Altnougn, efforts were made to prevent slavery from flourishing in Texas, it was declared a slave tate due to the Missouri Compromise of 1820. This enraged northerners as Texas was a gigantic state compared to any other state at the time; this would keep the House of Representatives in balance with slave states and free states but would allow slavery to grow tremendously over the period of the next few decades. The annexation of Texas put a big dent in the relationship between the North and the South. On the opposite side of the Mexican Cession, in the North-West, the Oregon Country was held in Joint occupation between Britain and the United States due to the Treaty of 1818. British trappers, farmers, and missionaries started settling in the Oregon Country starting in the 1830s. As there was no central government in the region, the residents of the region started meeting to discuss organizing a government for the area. This led to the American government being concerned and encouraging American citizens to migrate to the Oregon Country in order to prevent the British immigrants from taking over. As Thomas Hart Benton said in his speech in the U. S. Senate. . the Government will give protection and land Let the emigrants go on hey will make all quite there rive [the British] off our continent, quiet their Indians, and protect the American interests (Document A). One of the first migrations of U. S. citizens into the area was in 1839 when a group of 18 men set out to settle the area on behalf of the American government; this was followed by The Great Migration of 1843 when almost a thousand emigrants left for Oregon. Following the inauguration of James K. Polk as president after the election of 1844, the border of the Oregon Country was finally settled at 490 latitude, despite the riginal demand of 54040 latitude, in an agreement known as the Treaty Line of 1846. Emigrants flooded into the area in thousands, partly due to the California Gold Rush which started in 1849 but brought wealth to only a few. As more and more people migrated into the area, southerners started bringing slaves along with them, despite California being a free state. This, combined with the Compromise of 1850 which required all states to return run-away slaves to their owners due to the Fugitive Slave Act, enraged abolitionist and anti-slavery societies in the North causing a strain in he relations between northern and southern states. As more Americans moved westwards, many unsettled territories started being settled. Two of these territories were Kansas and Nebraska, set up in the Kansas- Nebraska Act of 1854 by Stephen Douglas. Despite the Missouri Compromise, the state government allowed voters to choose if they allowed slavery within each territory; this voting method later became known as Popular Sovereignty. Although both states were considered free states, this led to the Bleeding Kansas, a series of political confrontations about whether Kansas should enter the Union as a slave state r a free state. After a very lengthy debate, Kansas entered the Union as a free state, angering southern slave owners. This was reversed in the Dred Scott vs. Sanford case; it was brought to the Supreme Court when a slave, who was brought to a free state by his owner, tried to sue him and gain freedom. Although this was a huge failure due to the Supreme Court ruling that blacks, free or slaves, should not be considered American citizens and thus could not sue in court, it sparked wide public aeoates over slavery an IT t a ne Drea Scott vs. sanTora aeclslon was constltutlonal or ot. As it was determined to be unconstitutional, the decision to the case rendered many U. S. citizens angry due to the government breaking a constitutional law. This, in turn, angered many northerners over the fact that the government supported slavery, severely damaging the connections and associations between the North and the South. As the mid-1800s gradually went by, many events changed the relations, for the better and the worse, between the northern and southern states. Different points of views, like these, on numerous different things would eventually be the cause of he Civil War in the 1860s. Although, it united and expanded the country after the Civil War, manifest destiny divided the United States in the mid-19th century by incorporating to contrasting philosophies about social, political, and economical foundations of the new regions gained by the United States within that time period. Territorial expansion shaped many types of social divisions in the American society due to slavery, created new enemies for the States as a result of the annexation of Texas, and severed the relations between the North and the South because of the Dred vs. Scott decision.

The GI Bill of Rights Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The GI Bill of Rights - Term Paper Example The World War II veterans had an inordinate impact on the society. The US economy benefitted immensely by their services. Civil labor went up on statistics charts as the returning veterans put down their guns and started working just like other civilians. The returning veterans not only served as laborers but a significant number also went to various educational institutes with the incentives provided by the GI Bill. The returning veterans probably realized the importance of education. This show of determination is worth praising because many soldiers were picked for war services while they were graduating and therefore could not continue their studies. Their education was interrupted by the war and the G I Bill allowed them to return to school when the war was over. The GI Bill was different from other legal bills as it focused not on any tangible assets of the US citizens; instead, it focused on the intangible and the most important asset: the human brain. The bill liberated minds and pushed people to think freely and to pursue their thoughts. It was similar to teaching someone how to catch fish instead of hand feeding them. The GI Bill caused a silent revolution, not by forcing people out of their homes but by liberating their thoughts and suggesting to them to discover their own path. The returning veterans benefitted from this bill and the institutions got the freedom to teach in the way they prefer. That was the right way to deal with the great potential of the returning veterans. The author Michael Bennett tries to highlight various aspects of the GI Bill. He shows that this bill had more meaning and significance than what it is normally credited for. Bennett argues that the GI Bill served the US society in many ways. It let the educational institutes conduct their teachings and research programs the way they wanted. The bill never interfered in their business; instead, it gave them the freedom to enhance their strategies and make them more productive. I t gave the colleges an expanded student body and more funding. The strategy was either you made it or you flunked out. Colleges and universities grew dramatically during this era. Â  As a result of the GI Bill, the educational institutes became more accommodating to students of all backgrounds. Race, gender, and religion were no longer the hurdles and education was available to all. The beauty of the bill that the author highlights is when the war veterans returned from the battlefield, they had become accustomed to multicultural environment. And when Universities allowed students of all races to get educated, the veterans experienced a similar melting pot atmosphere they experienced during the war. The GI Bill had more impact on class than race. Before WWII college was mostly for the wealthy. The GI Bill allowed men who never thought they could afford college an opportunity and that include black men, but colleges in the South were segregated by race and in the North black student s were very much in the minority. The author argues that the returning veterans had to face financially challenging atmosphere upon their return home and the GI Bill helped them in more than one way to get them back on their feet. For instance, Les Faulk of Turtle Creek, a returning veteran

Cinematic Portrayal of Iranian Women Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cinematic Portrayal of Iranian Women - Essay Example The role of women in the Iranian society has greatly evolved and this evolution is easily noticeable through the significant number of changes that precipitated in the cinematic portrayal. Women all over the world have experienced immense amount of social pressures and obligations, in short simple words the plight of women has been the subject of countless literature and cinematic pieces. Iran is a highly patriarchal society since its emergence as a powerful empire to its establishment as an Islamic republic, a woman’s sole responsibility was to serve her husband and look after his well-being. Before the cinema had gained immense popularity, many literatures focused on the characteristics of a good woman and a bad woman and how a man’s fate depends on the character of his wife. (Donmez-Colin, 2004, p.155-170) Therefore, authors and poets seemed to hold the woman responsible for any sort of mishap that would befall her husband. The patriarchy was pretty evident but durin g the 30’s there were countless movies that showed a headstrong female lead but there role and discourse in the movie were especially when depicting sexuality. Women were not really treated as symbolic for sexuality; largely they played roles of young damsel in distress, however they shed significant amount of light on the strength of a woman’s to confront all her problems. The movies then followed a strict feministic theme and usually along with a female lead there were greedy and lustful antagonist that turned out to be the prime source of conflict in the movie plot. The commercial success of movies such as Dokhtar-e-Lor or the Lor Girl in 1933 showed the hardships and plight of a gypsy woman. Though the movie entailed strong factual errors and numerous directorial flaws but the heroic tale of Golonar, the Lor Girl became an instant success on an international front. The main protagonist was played by an Iranian singer and the movie propagated a progressive image of the Iranian society that the Shah wanted to establish. The plot of the movies largely revolved around the domestic problems of women and since their roles in the society was rather limited. (Lahiji, 2011) However, once the Islamic revolution had taken place the Iranian society became largely misogynistic in their practices. There was hardly any freedom given to the female population and at this point women’s participation in theater and films rapidly declined as it was compulsory for women to wear hijab and they were unable to step out of their houses without their â€Å"mahram’, which is a collective term for a woman’s male relative such as husband, brother or father. One of the main drawbacks that occurred as a result of this practice was prostitution, a problem that was further exacerbated by the Iran-Iraq war. (Donmez-Colin, 2004, p.155-170 & Dabashi, 2001, p. 7) Since most of the male members of the family had gone to war, women had no choice but to suppor t their families by resorting to prostitution. In a country governed according to religious guidelines, though prostitution dealings are done from behind a veil but all these elements are pretty rampant in Iran. Iranian women are the prime victims of domestic and marital violence. Not only on a domestic front but women have to endure great atrocities especially the criminal justice and correctional system for women is often labeled as being ruthless. Women prisoners live in awful conditions and are treated like animals. They are often subjected to brutal physical and sexual abuse, during the Khomeini era any virgin prisoner on a death row

Governance and Public Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Governance and Public Policy - Essay Example Hence, sustainable development has become essential for the global and local bodies across the world. These factors are also seen as the major reasons for deteriorating environmental conditions across the globe. The primary role of governments is to provide a coherent guideline of governance through well defined constitution and policy framework. The policy frameworks are important part of administration processes that are designed to improve and improvise the diverse welfare programmes of the public at large. The various areas of the public welfare domain like health, education, environment, energy etc. require comprehensive understanding of the wide ranging implications of the government policies. Paul Sabatier, noted social scientist, has conceptualized ‘Advocacy Coalition Framework’ or ACF and ‘Multiple Streams Framework’ for the policies in different areas of public welfare, that have proved quite effective. The coalition broadly comprises of two major sources who seemingly reflect the welfare of the people: media, researchers and analysts; actors at all levels of government (local, state and international) (Sabatier, 1988). It takes into account the interests of various stakeholders by incorporating opinions and feedback from wide ranging external and internal resources that may significantly impact the masses in the specified areas. They facilitate the schemes to the public and the decision making bodies that are responsible for various processes for policy framework and subsequent implementation of those policies. The various countries have realized the necessity of environmental preservations and have enacted laws and guidelines for conservation and preservation of environment through stringent measures. UK is the first country that has come up with Climate Change Act 2008 which has‘a legally binding long-term framework to cut carbon emissions. It

The Role Of Interactional Modification In Efl

The Role Of Interactional Modification In Efl The interaction hypothesis claims that interactional modification promotes language development through increasing comprehension. Owing to the fact that online interactive exchange offers learners many opportunities to use the target language to negotiate both meaning and form in a social context , this study is an attempt to compare the types and frequency of Interactional Modifications as employed by two groups of intermediate EFL students-one interacting via online communication and the other through regular oral class interaction to explore the potentials of text-based online chat in facilitating the development of question forms in English as a foreign language. To do so, while a total of eighteen paired intermediate EFL students used a synchronous chat program (Yahoo Messenger) over a seven week period to complete a series of communicative tasks outside their classroom time, the members of the comparison group did the same tasks using plain classroom oral interaction. The resul ts show that Iranian EFL learners in computer mediated communication (CMC) environment had over five times as many turns, and used a much greater variety of interactional modifications in comparison to the group in class environment. Data from this study also suggest that interactional modifications during online negotiation facilitate the development of question forms in English as a foreign language. Given that the current study only focused on online interaction among non- native speakers (NNSs), future studies on online negotiation including both NNSs and native speakers (NSs) are still needed. Key terms: Computer-Mediated Communication, Interactional modifications, question forms development Introduction Interaction is the key to second language learning. However one of the greatest challenges faced by the foreign language (FL) education is how to construct an interactive learning environment outside the classroom in which learners can exchange information and communicate ideas in the target language (TL). This challenge as Campbell (2004) truly mentioned is due to the fact that unlike ESL learners who communicate in TL outside of the classroom, the EFL learners re-enter a world talking their mother tongue as soon as they leave the classroom and consequently they dont have any opportunities to interact in TL and are left with little opportunity to use what theyve learned in the classroom. Many a researcher in the area of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) has suggested that text-based Synchronous Computer Mediated Communication (SCMC) is capable of providing an ideal learning environment which may be beneficial to second/foreign language learning. (Beauvois, 1992; Pellettieri, 1999; Chapelle, 2001). Pellettieri (2000) declared a logical relationship and argued that because oral interaction is considered by many to be important for second language development, and because Synchronous [CMC]. . . bears a striking resemblance to oral interaction, it seems logical to assume that language practice through [CMC] will reap some of the same benefits for second language development as practice through oral interaction.(p. ) While many studies investigated the role of oral negotiated interaction in second/foreign language development (Gass, 1997; Long, 1985; Mackay, 1995; Mackey Philp, 1998), the role of online negotiated interaction in facilitating language development has not yet been explored completely. Specifically, as far as the efficacy of SCMC medium in grammatical development is concerned, the previous findings are unsatisfactory and controversial. Moreover little research has yet been conducted into the effect of CMC in the EFL context. This study therefore, explores the role of interactional modifications during text-based SCMC in order to better understand the potential of text-based online chatting to facilitate the development of question formation in English as a foreign language. Literature review Interactional modifications in CMC environment In spite of the fact that a few studies has addressed the issue of interactional modifications in CMC environment (Lee, 2001, 2002; Kotter, 2003; Jepson 2005; Isharyanti, 2008), none of these studies have been conducted in naturalistic setting (e.g. outside of the classroom or language laboratory), thus ignoring the real potential of CMC technology which is beyond any temporal and spatial constraints. Although focusing on different categorization of interactional modifications, all of these studies have shown unanimously that CMC medium is capable of providing a conductive learning environment in which interactional modifications might be generated. Lee (2001, 2002) conducted two similar studies in which she explored the types of interactional modifications employed by Spanish Learners at intermediate level of proficiency. Considering both studies, a total of ten categories of interactional modifications were identified including Comprehension checks; Clarification checks; Confirmation checks; Use of English, Word invention; Request (for help); Use of approximation; Self corrections; Topic shift ,and Use of keyboard symbols as discourse makers. The result showed that request (for help) happened the most frequently followed by clarification checks self- correction and comprehension check (Lee, 2001, p. 238; Lee, 2002, p.280). Through a comparison of the result of her study with the literature on face-to-face communication Lee (2002) argued that the learners negotiated with each other using a variety of modification devices similar to face-to face communication (p. 280). Being one of the first studies in this area, the studies con ducted by Lee were subject to a number of limitations. For example the definitions used in coding categories are somewhat problematic (Thomas Reinders, 2010) since as Kotter (2003) stated there is substantial overlap between the definitions of clarification checks and requests (p. 157). Providing a more coherent classificatory system, the study by Kotter (2003) focused on eight types of interactional modifications including: Confirmation checks; Clarification request; Comprehension checks, Repetitions; Recasts, Overt indications of understanding; Overt indications of agreement; and Overt indications of non-agreement (p. 157). However, in contrast to Lees (2001, 2002) finding, Kotters (2003) study revealed a marked difference between conversational repair in spoken interactions and in the MOO-based exchange (p. 145). He discussed that these differences may due to a number of medium-specific factors (p.163). Jepson (2005) explored the types of repair moves used by NNSs in synchronous text-based chat in comparison to voice-based chat during 10, 5-minute sessions. (5 text-based chat sessions and 5 voice-based chat sessions). Although a number of new interactional modifications ( e.g. Self repetition/Paraphrase, Explicit Correction and Question)were identified, this study is also subject to a number of limitations. There was no information about the proficiency level of participants as this issue may affect the interaction and the interactional modifications generated during the process of negotiation. Furthermore, the duration of the sessions was limited (5 minutes). These two issues may question the external validity of the findings. In a more recent study, Isharyanti (in Marriott Torres, 2008) examined the types and frequency of interactional modifications employed by NNSs during synchronous text- based chat. Focusing on a more varied number of interactional modifications, Isharyantis study confirmed the potential of CMC environment in generating interactional modifications. The data showed that the participants engaged in online negotiation process and in order to understand and to be understood, they used a variety of interactional modifications among which confirmation check (24%) was the most frequent one followed by overt indication of agreement (21%) and clarification request (21%). Nevertheless, to examine the potential of CMC technology as a medium for negotiated interaction, the presence of a control a group (a typical class environment in which learners communicate face-to-face) would be helpful. L2 grammatical development and Text-based computer mediated communication The role of negotiated interaction in L2 development continues to be of great interest to researchers (see Pica, 1987; Gass and Varonis, 1989; Mackey, 1995). However, much of the research on the effect of negotiated interaction and interactional modifications used during negotiation process is based on data from face-to-face interaction in ESL context. Moreover, the few studies that have been conducted in CMC environment are unsatisfactory and controversial. There are three standà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.blue print Sotillo (2000) compared syntactic complexity of 25 learners output produced in synchronous versus asynchronous computer mediated communication (SCMC vs. ACMC). She claimed that because of the fast nature of interaction in SCMC, the participants did not pay any attention to form (accuracy) while negotiating meaning (97). In the meantime, due to the delayed nature of ACMC, this medium was capable of generating more syntactically complex structures. Nevertheless, as Fiori (2005) stated while Sotillo reported that grammatical accuracy may suffer in the SCMC environment, her data revealed that the synchronous groups interactions exhibited fewer errors than the asynchronous groups utterances (p. 569). Further investigation, therefore is needed to better understand the potential of SCMC environment in fostering the grammatical development. In the same vein of research, Lees studies (2001, 2002) admitted that although the participants did engage in negotiation of meaning, negotiation of form rarely happened among them. She argued that due to the rapidity of the interaction occurred in SCMC, participants produced brief utterances using simple sentence structures and ignored linguistic errors (Lee, 2001, p. 239). Thus she concluded that interaction mediated via SCMC technology fostered fluency rather than accuracy. Emphasizing on further studies on the effectiveness of CMC medium for the development of learners interlanguage, Lee (2001) suggested that students need to be advised of the need to write correctly to maintain a balance between function, content, and accuracy (p. 242). Blake (2000) examined the online discourse of 50 Spanish learners at intermediate level of proficiency in term of task type. By considering the potential of CMC environment for eliciting negotiation of meaning, Blake (2000) concluded that carefully crafted tasks stimulate L2 learners to negotiate meaning which. . . . appear to constitute ideal conditions for SLA, with the CMC medium being no exception (p. 133). However, his stand on the effectiveness of CMC medium for grammatical development is uncertain. According to Blake (2000) the predominance of incidental lexical negotiations, in contrast to the paucity of syntactic negotiations, leaves unanswered or unsatisfactorily addressed the issue of grammatical development (p. 120). Therefore, further research is to be conducted in order to declare this issue with certainty. On the contrary, Pellettieri (2000) claimed that bearing a striking resemblance to oral interaction, network based communication (NBC) is capable of facilitating grammatical development. She examined online discourse produced by 20 NNSs during 5 30-minute sessions. As far as the potential of CMC medium in stimulating negotiation of meaning is concerned, the results of her study echoed the findings reported in literature. She observed that, engaging in online negotiation process is as facilitative as it is typical to oral interaction. She also found that the learners seek mutual understanding and try to convey their meaning by using some communicative strategies. Adopting an interactionist perspective, she argued that Because through negotiation, interlocutors can zero in on the exact source of communicative problem they are trying to resolve, and because often at the root of the problem is some aspect of the L2 form, be it lexical, syntactic, or semantic, L2 learners are even more likely to notice the problem and attend to these very aspects of form in their output while negotiating meaning. (p.61) As Pellettieri reasoned, engaging in the process of negotiation of meaning, the interlocutors attention will be drawn on linguistic form and consequently they are able to notice the gap between their interlanguage and the target form. This process focus on form has been claimed necessary for grammatical development (Gass and Varonis, 1994; Schmidt, 1990; Spada Lightbown, 1993 as cited in Pellettieri, 2000). Finally Salaberry (2000) compared the efficacy of two environments: CMC environment versus face-to-face environment in fostering L2 morphosyntactic development. He analyzed the discourse produced by four NNSs qualitatively. The findings revealed that with respect to the use of past-tense verbal morphology across tasks, some initial changes in the development of morphological endings were more evident in the CMC session than in oral session (p. 17). According to Salaberry (2000), the outperforming of CMC environment over face-to-face environment in facilitating morphological development may due to medium-specific characteristic that is CMC provides a learning environment in which the learners attention will be drawn on both form and function (p. 19). Differences in the mixed findings regarding the effect of SCMC medium on the grammatical development may be due to the difference in target items used to measure development. In Sotillos (2000) study, the target feature was Syntactic complexity which was defined by Sotillos (2000) as the ability to produce writing that uses subordination and embedded subordinate clauses (p. 99). Lees (2001, 2002) measure of development was sentence structure (simple sentences versus complex ones) ,while Salaberry (2000) used past tense verbal endings as the target grammatical feature. However, as far as the researchers are aware, there is not a single study to address the effect of CMC environment on the development of grammatical development with regard question forms in English as a foreign language. Therefore, in the light of ongoing discussion as to the role of CMC in foreign language development, the present study was designed to answer the following research questions: Do Iranian EFL learners engage in meaning negotiation process through SCMC? What types and frequency of interactional modifications do Iranian learners employ in CMC environment versus of those in class environment? Is there a the relationship between group membership (Experimental group: CMC environment Vs. Control group: Class environment) and the production and development of question forms in English as a foreign language? Method Following the mixed methods approach, this study adopted both a qualitative perspective to provide an in-depth explanation of the types of interactional modifications and a quantitative view point via a pretest-posttest, delayed posttest design to explore the existing relationships. Participants A total of 36 EFL learners from a Language school in Rasht, Iran participated in the present study. Their Participation in the study was voluntary and involved a commitment of 50 to 60 minutes performing some communicative tasks with their assigned partners for one session per week for 7 weeks outside of the classroom. This study was held during study periods at the language school. All participants were native speakers of Persian who were receiving two 90-minute classes of English instruction weekly. There were 30 female and 6 male students. The age of participants ranged from 14 to 32 years, with an average of 17. To meet local ethics requirements, the participants and their parents consent to contribute to this project was secured through two forms a Contract Form with an explanatory statement according to which the researchers guaranteed that participants would receive some rewards (some English books on DVD) if they accomplished the expected tasks and Parental Consent Form, in P ersian, given to all participants and their parents to be signed. Instrument Yahoo! Messenger Chat Software The software used in this study was the Yahoo! Messenger, a free program available for public use. It allows for real time, synchronous Computer Mediated Communication in Internet chat rooms. Using the text mode, the participants could record all of the written transactions entered in a chat window, which provided the researchers with an instantaneous transcript of all user exchanges. Communication Tasks The tasks used in this study were selected and developed to (a) provide opportunities for the interactional modifications to take place and (b) provide context for the targeted structures to occur. Following Pica, Kanagy Faloduns typology (1993), information gap tasks were used in this study in order to make the participants exchange information and endeavor to gain a single outcome. The selection of the communicative tasks utilized for both treatment and tests-was motivated by previous studies such as Pellettieri, (1999), Blake, (2000) and Cheon (2003). Each task was photocopied and distributed to every participant. Table 1. presents a detailed description of each task. Table 1. Task materials used for test and treatment Task Task instruction given to participants Pretest Missing information Work with your partner. Ask and answer questions to find the missing information. Treatment Complete the drawing Below is a drawing of Richards room. He hasnt had time to put all his things where he wants them. Your partner has a complete drawing of his room. Ask him/her questions where to put all the things. Complete the drawing Below is a drawing of a kitchen. Your partner has the same drawing but with a number of objects. (E.g. glasses, pots, etc.). Ask him/her questions where to put all the things. Spot the differences You both have two similar photographs but taken at a slightly different time. Work with your partner to find as many differences between the two photos as you can. Spot the differences Work with your partner. You both have a drawing of a busy yard where you can see people doing different things. Your drawings are NOT the same. There are 9 differences. Ask and answer questions to find the differences. Posttest Missing information Work with your partner. Ask and answer questions to find the missing information. Delayed Posttest Missing information Work with your partner. Ask and answer questions to find the missing information. Procedures First, the researchers explained the project to the students and expressed the hope that the students would choose to participate. All participation was voluntary, however to encourage the students to take part in the study, the instructor guaranteed that participants would receive a DVD-pack including some English books as a reward. To meet local ethics requirements, through a Contract Form with an explanatory statement and a Parental Consent Form in Persian, the students were asked if they would like to participate in this research project. Afterwards, Participants in experimental group (n=18) were divided by self-selecting into nine pairs and were asked to chat online to do a series of communicative tasks for one session per week for 7 weeks outside of the classroom. The students completed 7 tasks in total over the duration of the study. There were no time limits imposed on tasks. And the students were told that they should send copies of their chat transcripts to the researchers e-mail address for further data analysis. The participants in control group (n=18), solved the same tasks face-to-face in the classroom within the limited time imposed by à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Data collection and analysis The data were collected from students weekly online chatting together with the scripts from face-to face conversation. In order to investigate whether Iranian learners engage in meaning negotiation through SCMC technology, the data collected from the written discourse were analyzed based on the typical scheme established by Varonis and Gass (1985). In accordance with Blakes (2000) study, the number of total turns and negotiations was calculated. Accordingly, negotiation routines were identified by means of their four components: trigger, indicator, response and reaction. The example below drawn from this study illustrates the model during lexical negotiation. Student A: Its on the drawer, near the edge of it. [Trigger] Student B: what do you mean by edge? [Indicator] Student A: side or lip. [Response] Student B: ok. Thanks. [Reaction] A ratio of negotiated turns to total turns was calculated in order to make the data comparable with previous studies. Additionally, to identify the type and frequency of interactional modifications, the data were coded based on the thirteen different interactional modifications using the criteria provided in Table 2. Using a selection of interactional modifications from a number of studies on internet chatting (Lee, 2001, 2002; Kotter, 2003; Jepson, 2005), the categorization of interactional modifications in Isharyanti, (n.d.) in Marriott Torres (2008) motivated the categorization system in this study. There were a number of modifications. Three items namely Explicit correction, use of Persian, and question were added to the aforementioned category. In order to establish inter-coder agreement, a trained independent coder recoded a randomly-selected 25% of the data. A Pearson product-moment correlation revealed an inter-rater correlation of .85 (P Table 2. Categories, definition and example of interactional modifications Code Type of IM Definition Example 1 CC Confirmation check A speakers attempt to confirm that he has understood an utterance via the (partial) paraphrase (as opposed to repetition, see below) of this turn, which can simply be answered with Yes or No. Did you mean? 2 CR Clarification request An explicit demand for an elaboration or a reformulation of an idea, which requires a rerun of the troublesome utterance in question. What do you mean by X? 3 C Comprehension check A speakers attempt to prompt another speaker to acknowledge that he has understood a particular utterance. Do you Understand? 4 SR/P Self Repetition The repetition, in isolation, of part of or an entire erroneous or otherwise problematic utterance. Where is the lamp?(*2) 5 SC Self-correction To correct errors made on lexical items or grammatical structure. This has been bee, I mean been. 6 R Recast A form-focused partner-related target-like reformulation of all or part of an incorrect utterance. A: I live Iran. B: Do you really live in Iran? 7 EC Explicit correction You should say X. 8 InU Overt indication of understanding An overt indication that a speaker has understood a particular message. Ok, I got it thanks. 9 InA Over indication of agreement An overt indication that a speaker agrees with what his partner said. Yes, I agree, youre right. 10 InNA Overt indication of non-agreement An overt indication that a speaker does not agree with what his partner said. No, I think choice B is better for him. 11 P Use of Persian To use Persian to substitute words or ideas in English. second tabagheh 12 KS Use of keyboard symbols as discourse markers To signal for uncertainty or to confirm an idea or agreement. à ¢Ã‹Å" º 13 Q Question Interlocutor asks a question in order to prompt the speaker to make a question Can you try that again? Note: Adopted from the categorization of Interactional Modifications described in Isharyanti (in Marriott Torres, 2008). There were a number of modifications to this classification as mentioned before. To answer the third research question-to examine whether there is a relationship between group membership (CMC environment Vs. Classroom environment) and development in question formationall the question forms produced by the participants during online negotiation and face-to-face interactions were collected for detailed study. Question development in this study is understood from two perspectives: (1) accuracy perspective and (2) developmental stage perspective. In analyzing accuracy, because participants took considerably greater time in online chat, and thus their language output in these two modes could have been different, the researchers converted the number of well-formed questions into standardized scores by computing the ratio of each participants number of well-formed questions to the total number of questions he or she produced. These accuracy-based scores were examined for further investigation. In addition to accuracy, the analysis concentrated on developmental stages. All the questions, produced by the participants, were coded in terms of the developmental stage it represented based on categorization of the developmental stages established by Pienemann et al. (1987), shown in Table 3. Accordingly, each students questions were studied individually and assigned to the appropriate stage category in each task. Stage assignment was based on the highest stage from which a participant produced two linguistically unique questions. Question development was operationalized as a stage increase on either posttest or delayed posttest. It was then possible to examine whether the learners had improved over time. Table 3. Examples of Question Forms and Developmental Stages Stage Description of stage Examples 2 SVO? Canonical word order with question intonation. Its a monster? Your car is black? You have a cat? I draw a house here? 3 Fronting: Wh/Do/Q-word Direct questions with main verbs and some form of fronting. Where the cats are? What the cat doing in your picture? Do you have an animal? Does in this picture there is a cat? 4 Pseudo Inversion: Y/N, Cop. In Y/N questions an auxiliary or modal is in sentence initial position. In Wh-questions the copula and the subject change positions. (Y/N) Have you got a dog? (Y/N) Have you drawn the cat? (Cop) Where is the cat in your picture? 5 Do/Aux 2nd Q-word->Aux/modal ->subj (main verb, etc.) Auxiliary verbs and modals are placed in second position to Wh-Qs ( Q-words) and before subject (Applies only in main clauses/direct Qs). Why (Q) have (Aux) you (sub) left home? What do you have? Where does your cat sit? What have you got in your picture? 6 Cancel Inv, Neg Q, Tag Qu Cancel Inv: Wh-Q inversions are not present in relative clauses. Neg Q: A negated form of Do/Aux is placed before the subject. Tag Q: An Aux verb and pronoun are attached to end of main clause. Can Inv) Can you see what the time is? (Can Inv) Can you tell me where the cat is? (Neg Q) Doesnt your cat look black? (Neg Q) Havent you seen a dog? (Tag Q) Its on the wall, isnt it? Note. This table is based on Pienemann and Johnston (1987) and Pienemann, Johnston, and Brindley (1988) as cited in Mackey and Philp (1998). Results and discussion The first research question addresses the engagement of Iranian learners in meaning negotiation through SCMC. As the participants took considerably greater time in online chat, and thus their language output in these two environments was expected to be different, it was necessary to provide an overview of the number of total turns for each environment. Table 4 shows the raw number of turns, negotiations, and relative number of negotiations to total turns for both CMC and Class environments. As shown in Table 4, online environment produced about six times more turns than the class environment (4445 vs. 778). Similarly CMC environment generated more negotiations than the class environment. The relative amount of negotiation in CMC environment (2.15 %) reveals that the learners engaged in negotiated interaction in CMC environment in comparison to class environment (.38 %), although negotiations encompassed a small part of total turns in both environment. This result echoed the findings in Blakes study (2000) that is the total number of negotiations comprises only a small fraction of the overall conversational turns, ranging from .3% to 3.8 % (p. 127). Interestingly, the participants in CMC environment engaged more in negotiation process than class environment. This may due to the absence of paralinguistic and nonverbal information together with sufficient practice time which provide the participants with a learning environment to negotiate meaning. Table 4. Total number of turns and negotiated turns in CMC environment and class environment Negotiations Total turns Negotiations/ Total turns CMC environment 96 4445 2.15 % Class environment 3 778 .38 % The second research question aimed to determine the type and frequency of interactional modifications in CMC environment versus Class environment. With regard to the efficacy of CMC technology in generating interactional modifications, the result of this study supported the findings in literature and admitted the potential of CMC medium in providing a conductive learning environment for Interactional modifications to occur. Synchronous online interaction did provide NNSs many opportunities to negotiate meaning using a variety of interactional modifications. According to Figure1 which presents the percentage of each IMs in both CMC and class environment, the participants engaged in online negotiation employed a much greater variety of interactional modifications in comparison with the face-to-face interaction. In CMC environment 12 types of interactional modifications occurred among which clarification request (25%), Confirmation check (15%), overt indication of understanding (14%), U se of keyboard symbols (12%) and Self Repetition/paraphrase (11%) were the most used interactional modifications for negotiation. However just 3 types of interactional modifications occurred in class environment. Clarification request (78%) occurred most frequently, followed by C

The Individual and the Court System Essay -- essays research papers f

The Individual and the Court System - Essay The Australian jury trial system is said to have many merits and defects, and as Winston Churchill once said about democracy the Australian jury system is â€Å"not a perfect system, it is just the least worst of all the others†. In analysing the system several major strengths can be seen, but many weaknesses can be found also. It is a matter of great interest in the general community and many people have written on it, ranging from past jurors to university students. Some of the main strengths seen are that juries have established philosophical and historical importance within our community. The jury system is a centuries old tradition of our legal system and in the eyes of the community it remains a vital expression of the importance of justice being adjudicated upon by ordinary citizens. Without a jury system, it is claimed that the liberties of individuals would be adjudicated upon by unrepresentative experts who would further remove the workings of the legal system from those it is meant to serve in the wider community. It is also seen that the random selections of jury members from a cross section of society ensures that the law remains adjudicated upon by a representative sample of society who can reflect the values of the community they serve. In recent years it is argued that juries have effectively expressed community attitudes on diverse matters including passive smoking, reckless drunk driving and self defense claims in murder trials b y women who had suffered repeated physical and mental abuse. The existence of a jury means that lawyers must ensure that their cases are presented in a way that enables community understanding of important issues and principles. Without a jury it is argued the evolution of the principles of our legal system would become increasingly complex and removed from the understanding of the community. In general the community is more likely to have confidence in the decision of a representative group of that community than one made by a single judge or a court appointed panel of experts. If the system was removed it would open the adjudication process of civil and criminal trials up to the possibility of political or monetary influence - the jury is a vital institution for ensuring that 'open courts' remain truly open to public scrutiny. It is also argued by some that 'in diversity... ... and feeling it limited their ability to absorb evidence. "They felt that the barristers hadn't given them information that they required through the evidence," One juror mentioned that "It was a bit like being thrown pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and there were pieces that were missing and they had to fill those pieces with their own experience". It is arguable which side holds more sway, while it seems that the majority of published reports deal with the defects of the system there are a number of reasons for it's continuation. This seems to fate that it unlikely to be abolished entirely in either civil or criminal courts. It seems to me that any changes that are to be made will be focused on the need for specialised jurors and the ability for civil juries to award damages. As crimes become increasingly more complex it seems that changes will need to be made to the system but it will be a heatedly debated subject when it's change is made. Bibliography Structures and Systems, Willmott. J and Dowse. J, 2001, Western Australia, Politics Law Publishing Bulletin with Newsweek, 7/6/2004, Vol. 122 Issue 6428, p22, 4p www.ebsco.com - Jury Problems