Flex Time Initiative Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Flex Time Initiative - Assignment Example Some professions like doctors and lawyers spend a lot of their time in their work and sometimes their social life or marriage life might be interfered. Looking from both angles, one is required to perform at both places, and failure to do so always leads to great repercussions. A person who concentrates more in his or her workplace than his or her home, sometimes have familial issue. A person who concentrates more on his family than on his or her job often have job problem. Hence finding a way to balance between the two components is vital in maintaining these two places in harmony (Ralston, 2006). In modern life, it is quite challenging to achieve a balanced professional and personal life. Times are really changing and people are trying to squeeze time to do other stuffs (Ralston, 2006). Some people do have passions they would like to achieve, studies they would like to pursue, secret affairs they would like to establish, management between personal life and work life can be essenti al. A person who draws a line between these two places and manages them well is a happy person since he or she is able to experience the thrill of all places at the right time and place. One way of one achieving such balance between work life and personal life is by achieving flexibility. This is a concept where one plans on how to be flexible between the two areas. One way one can accomplish this in busy situation is by job sharing. Flexibility is usually an added advantage to a person in terms of establishing a balance between job life and personal life. A person whose work is more involving till he does not get time to go home, can arrange with his or her co worker to carry some of his or her on agreed dates. One would also do the same for them in other times (Shallenbarger, 2010). Flex time, a concept that implies having flexible work arrangements can also be beneficial to some people in balancing between person al life and job work. Flex time could be represented by letting wor kers work where they would want to work. This practice is becoming more popular in many institutions like the legal departments and law firms (Ralston, 2006). This flex time initiative, also allows workers who work full-time to enjoy some time off at certain times of the year. The notion of flex time could include hours, workdays, weekends, holidays and other work arrangements. In this case, one is given some time outside the normal work place to straighten to establish a rapport with his or her personal life. In some jobs, people tend to work until they lose their head, but with flex times, at least one is relieved of his or her duties on some days. By so doing, flex time helps workers meet the demands of their personal lives (Ralston, 2006). As an initiative established in high risk or involving jobs, flex time is an initiative that relieves someone of work stress and increasing productivity by establishing a balance between personal life and work place. According to studies carri ed out on the relationship between working at work place and personal life, researchers found out that the two are related. When a person has work problems, he or she has a tendency of extending it into his or her personal life, the same when he or she has a problem in his or her personal life. Hence maintaining a balance between the two aspects is healthy in providing a good working environment (Lee, 2010). Another flex time initiat

Science in an Educational Context Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Science in an Educational Context - Essay Example Apart from discussing the philosophy of science, this paper would reveal the true extent to which national framework over the years has matched the aims of the science subject. It would discuss how far it has been capable of evolving scientific philosophy into the curriculum while improving the youth. Of course, the paper would analyse scientific philosophical implementations into modern day curriculum and the analysis of the depth as to how far the curriculum has addressed scientific theories and practical on different levels. After all, according to White (2003) it is through the anticipation of school subjects that young minds are able to achieve certain end points (White, 2003, p. 1). It would be better to discuss first the philosophy of education and the role it has played in developing National curriculum. Education not only demonstrates societal values but reflects the true morals of any society, therefore reshaping education standards elucidate the kind of society one want to be. Science in this context plays a vital role in recognising a set of common values and applying those values in the school curriculum so that the upcoming generation produces scientists and philosophers rather than producing simple graduates. Resolving the debate about the role science plays in education, most authors believe in the notion that among school subjects, science is usually the best subject which serves as a guide to nourish the minds by providing them the opportunity to observe future behavior of things, for example comets, bridges and power plants. Modern day example also includes different levels of technology. Philosophy of science has enabled our schools as well as students to seek around the most reliable means for predicting scientific explanations and various discoveries about science that occur in the world around us. It is through the contributions of scientific philosophy that new curriculum 2000 has added subjects like 'scientific literacy' as compulsory science education (SIS, 2009a). The same awareness in the longer run leads to diversify subjects like genetics and brain science that offer students to analyse the prospect of a physical science of human beings and their behaviour. It is through the miracles of science that philosophers have aided us with such entities that are hypothesized by modern science, such as genes, viruses, atoms, black holes, and most forms of electromagnetic radiation that remain unobservable. So, whatsoever the scientific method is adopted to equip our generation and however the subject is justified, teachers ought to believe in the practical and theoretical approach that the curriculum tells us about scientific reality beyond the appearances of things (Ladyman, 2002, p. 129). National Curriculum in the context of Historical development In the pages of educational history, the Foster Act 1970 set a foundation of a national school system but was still unable to fill in the gaps left by religious institutes. Foster's 1870 Education Act, though provided an edge to a growing economy but on a political basis where the main aim was to educate laborers. This way children aged 5 to 12 started getting education with an intention of acquiring a least standard of education for everyone. Since the main aim was to provide industrial efficiency to the state under the umbrella of political diplomacy, therefore British government lagged behind

Effect of Colours on Blood Pressure

Effect of Colours on Blood Pressure ABSTRACT This project was designed to determine the effect of different colours on blood pressure. A total of 24 subjects were required to look at specific colour for 2 minutes. Their respective blood pressure was measured respectively before and after each experiment. Time interval of 3 minutes after each measurement was set up to ensure blood pressure falls back to normal value before the next colour exposure. Friedman test was carried out to test the data and this led to the rejection of null hypothesis. To conclude, there was sufficient evidence from the statistical testing to suggest that different colours in our daily life can affect our blood pressure. RESEARCH AND RATIONALE Colour is perceived by human eyes when different wavelengths composing white light are selectively interfered by matter.1c Humans can see colours due to the cones present mainly in the middle of our retina and a few on the periphery.1a Each eye contains six million cones with pigment that is sensitive to either red, green or blue.1b Sensation of light and visual sharpness are created through transmission of high levels of light intensity.1a Colour with wavelengths between that of primary colours stimulates a combination of cones. As a result, all colours can be detected in the visible spectrum which is about 400 to 700 nanometers.1b,1c One interesting fact about our eyes is that they can perceive more variations in warmer colours than cooler ones as almost two-third of the cones process the longer light wavelength.1a The picture below shows the respective wavelength each cone is sensitive to. Both scientific and psychological effects of colour are suggested by many top scientists or researchers. The study of psychological effect of colour is defined as chromology.1d Maryland study by University of Loyola stated that colour increases brand recognition up to 80 percent.1g Improvement of readership, learning and comprehension with the help of colours is also noted.3a,3b Another interesting observation is recorded by Paul E. Boccumini, director of clinical services of San Bernardino County Probation Department in California. Children under detention are observed to cool down within 10 minutes after they are put in a room of bubble gum pink.4a Meanwhile, scientific application of colour in medical field is the usage of lights in full spectrum to cure depression for Seasonal Affective Disorder especially during winter months when the people are deprived of light.1e,2a Hence, the ancient and once dishonoured field of chromotherapy is regenerated. Red is used to stimulate the body and increase circulation while yellow is thought to play a role in body purification. Blue soothes illness.1f This experiment was carried out to investigate the true effect of colours on blood pressure and whether different colours affect us differently. If colours are found to really affect our body differently, then more attention should be put into colour consideration in fields such as marketing, education, art, and medicine. A person of high blood pressure should be more aware of the colour of their living and working environment. Colour surrounds us all the time. If we can fully understand and use it, it will undoubtedly influence and change our everyday life. Statistical analysis showed that there is a significant difference in the effect of different colours on blood pressure. Red and yellow increases blood pressure, blue decreases blood pressure while green and black have fluctuated stabilising effect. This proved that it the effects of colours are biological and not merely due to psychological effect or experimental error. From the table we could conclude that yellow showed greater increase in blood pressure with a higher mean and median of 11.54 and 10.50 respectively. However, it had results over a big range of data from minimum increase of +4 to a maximum increase of +29 and a highest standard deviation of 5.93 compared to other colour, which limited the creditability of the data. By plotting a box plot, we could determine that +29 is an outlier. Psychological effects that have been suggested for this colour are anger provoking and activeness. Nevertheless, compared to yellow colour, a significant increase was also noted for red colour. But, red colour recorded shown a smaller range of data, and hence, smaller value of standard deviation, which made the data more reliable than the yellow colour. Furthermore, it was also interesting to note that the box plot of red colour was positively skewed with more people showing greater increase than the median. Red colour is more commonly associated with excitement and awareness of danger. Blue colour, which is always linked to sadness and calmness, showed a neutral box plot with no skewing of data on the other hand. It was more concentrated with most people showed decrease between -3.00 and -7.00. Therefore, it could be concluded that blue decreases our blood pressure. The range of data is also smaller than that of yellow colour. Green colour, a colour of stability, showed a positively screwed data of a mean of -0.17. Therefore, the effect of green is hard to be explained and might have slightly opposing effects under different circumstances. The differences and fluctuations of data could be due to cultural association and personal experience as well. Some fluctuation could be due to experimental error. Last but not the least, three outliers were calculated for black colour. Though having a very small inter-quartile range, black colour portrayed the second largest standard deviation (5.52). Black is suggested to be a neutral colour. Yet, a few subjects displayed a very high increase of blood pressure when exposed to black colour. It could be due to sleepiness, or fear of dark environment. Although the real scientific mechanisms of colours on our body are still undefined, but effects of colour are not directly psychological. This opinion was also voiced by Mr. Birren, an expert of colour. Alexander Schauss, a CEO and Senior Director of Natural and Medicinal Products Research at AIBMR Life Sciences, found interaction of colours in some unknown way with pituitary and pineal glands and hypothalamus deep in the brain which controls basic body functions and emotional responses. One or more brain neurotransmitter are affected by minute amount of electromagnetic energy according to Professor Harold Wahlfarth, president of Colour Science in German Academy and photo-biologist at the University of Alberta.4a Exposure to pure red light has been shown to stimulate the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. Pure blue light, on the other hand, lowers the heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure with special effect on the parasympathetic branch.2aÂÂ   In conclusion, colours can affect our blood pressure and different colours affect blood pressure differently. EVALUATION OF EXPERIMENT Limitation Firstly, the subjects were of different cultural backgrounds and could have different life experiences that lead to change of mood and blood pressure when subjected to a certain colour which links to their past. Results obtained could be due to personal psychological effect instead of the pure biological effect of colour. Furthermore, digital blood pressure monitor was used. Small fluctuations of data could occur and might be assumed to be change of blood pressure. Besides, the subjects involved in this investigation were of small sample and involved merely college-aged students. It was not an exact representative of the true population of general-aged students. Limited availability of participants also occurred as the students tested were only from one college. Moreover, a humans feelings are not controllable. Subjects might feel nervous or bored throughout the whole experiment even though a briefing was given beforehand. Sources of error and ways to improve The blood pressure might not be measured at exactly 2nd minute as there could be slight delay or increase of reaction time. In order to increase the validity and reliability of the result, reaction time is trained before the experiment. Second data cannot be taken as this will influence the time of measuring and also time of exposure to colours. Blood pressure of normal humans also varied slightly throughout the day due to hunger, sleepiness and also a full meal. Therefore, all the experiments should be carried out within the period of 2p.m. to 5p.m. to prevent fluctuations of data. Besides, the colour intensity exposed to the subjects might have varied a little bit due to the surrounding light although clothes were used. The environment could have changed throughout the experiments as not all the subjects data are collected in one day. Fluctuating weather, sunlight intensity, temperature and humidity all might influence the mood and feeling of subjects which indirectly affect the reliability of the experiment. Human are complex subjects. The experiment should be carried out in a constant air conditioned room with the same fluorescent light so that minimum changes of colour intensity can be achieved. Further research Study can also be done on the effect of colour on mood, stress, work performance and memory. As colour can affect our blood pressure, it might affect our daily mood and performance. Therefore, a good choice of colour in our surroundings can be made in order to achieve greater and better performance. A comparison between effects of colour on different gender can also be made as males and females have different anatomy. Hence, there could be interesting findings. CONCLUSION There is significant difference between the effects of different colours on blood pressure. Red colour and yellow colour increase blood pressure while blue colour decreases blood pressure. Green colour and black colour have fluctuating effects. Experimental hypothesis was accepted. EVALUATION OF SOURCES Sources 1 (b), (e), and (g) are all operated by educated professors. Source 1(e) is operated by Judie C. Snelson who is a Holistic Health Practitioner with a Masters Degree in Behavioural Science and a PHD in Religion. Source 1(g) is operated by Professor Jill Morton who gives seminars about colour and marketing, colour theory and everything that colour impacts. Lastly, Source 1(b) is established in 1997 by Professional Colour Therapist and Colour consultant- Valerie Logan-Clarke. Therefore, all the information of these sources is highly reliable. On the other hand, Source 1(a), (c), (d), (f) and (h) are supported by big company and are very experienced. Source 1(a) is established by Pantone LLC, world-renowned authority on colour and provider of colour systems. It is a leading technology for the selection and accurate communication of colour across a variety of industries. Source 1(c) is funded in part by the U.S. Department of Education. Source 1(d) is based in UK and has been practising for over 10 years. Source 1(f) is a part of New York Times Company. Source 1(h) offers clear understanding of statistics basic learning. It is new with copyright 2010. All of this sites and companies are awarded and are ranked trustworthy. Besides, newspapers, journals and books are all published. Therefore, they are definitely valid as sources of references. The authors are knowledgeable and are well-regarded. The newspapers and journals are peer-reviewed and have been cited by other people. Therefore, I feel that they are strongly valid as a choice of references.

Suffering in Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses Essay -- Cormac M

Suffering in Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses In All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy tells the tale of John Grady Cole’s quest to capture the ideal qualities of a cowboy as he sees them: laid-back, unfettered, nomadic and carefree attitudes. These qualities soon clash, however, with the reality of darkness, suffering and mystery that seems to follow him. Reality constantly subverts his ideal dream. Time and time again, John Grady Cole works to be this fantasy, but through reality’s constant rejection of his fantasy, he lives the dream. John Grady Cole starts on his journey to live the dream of a cowboy with his companion, Rawlin. Both are searching for a better life as they wander the plains waiting for adventure. The bump in the previously smooth road arises from Blevin, a thirteen-year-old boy, eager to join the adventurous party. Only after persistent persuasion, a valuable horse and an impressive demonstration of skill, John Grady and Rawlin allow Blevin to join them. Not long after, the characters face their first challenge; during a thunderstorm Blevin stripes himself of any metal and clothing because of his fear of lightning. When morning comes, naked Blevin has lost everything: clothes, horse and rifle. Continuing their journey, they ride into the village of Encantada to discover someone else has possessed Blevin horse and rifle. Eager to recapture his own possessions, Rawlin predicts trouble because of Blevin’s prides, however, John Grady decides to be true to his heart and help Blevin to retrieve his horse and rifle. The situation creates tension between the reality of the consequences and the fantasy of a cowboy. The tension results in disaster. The friends leave Encantada b... ...er and roam. In this vast land uninhabited between the United States and Mexico, John Grady encounter three men. â€Å"The man studied his eyes in the firelight† (McCarthy 281), looking for truth and honesty. This is who John Grady wanted to be. â€Å"Men of the country† (McCarthy 281). This was John Grady’s dream, his quest, laid out physically in front of him, but a struggle is created from the dream-like image of these men and the reality of becoming these men, although, John Grady has yet to reach this point. As the curtains close, John Grady rides off into the sunset, into vast plains, searching for the ideal qualities of a cowboy he will never find because of the unrealistic nature of his fantasy. For John Grady to live the dream, conflict between reality and fantasy leads to pain, suffering and darkens, forcing John Grady on a never-ending search for his fantasy.

Chemistry Percent Composition Report

Percent Composition Report Hypothesis: By using seperation techniques properly, the 3 substance such as; water, sand, and salt can be seperated and the percent composition of each substance. Which will then be calculated theoritically and after comparison with the actual result, the accuracy of the 2 result can be found. Aim: The aim of this experiment is to compare the gravimetric result of the original mixture and the separated substance. The other objective is to calculate each percent composition of the substance that was in the mixture.Introduction: Percent composition is about calculating the percentage of a specific substance in a mixture or compound. It is used mostly to calculate the percentage of an element in a compound using moles. To find percent composition in a mixture, the first thing need to be done is by using separation technique to separate the substances. In this experiment, by knowing that salt is soluble in water and salt do not, determining the technique that is to be used is not a difficulty anymore.Finding composition is also important in daily lives, such as finding impurities in a material such as gold. People have found that most golds are not completely composed of gold, but it is also composed of other elements which becomes an alloy. It involves basic mathematical calculation, but the percentage that is found can be beneficial for the researcher depending on his intentions on what to do with it. Materials: -Mixtures of sand and salt -Aquades -Filter paper – Filter tunnel -Filtration apparatus -Stirer -Wired gauze -Beaker Procedure:The beaker, evaporating disk, filter paper, and the mixture is weighted using the provided equipment -Water is then added into the mixture which was in the beaker -The whole mixture that was poured by water is stired -The equipments for filtration was prepared -The mixture was poured to the filter paper and was allowed to be filtered -The sand residue was taken to the heater device to be heated o vernight -Equipments for the evaporation process is prepared beforehand -The filtrate was then heated, resulting only the salt as the water evaporizes -The sand was then weighted after a night Results : Object name Mass (grams) Beaker 60Beaker + Mixtures 86. 3 Beaker + Mixtures+Water 102. 7 Water 16. 4 Mixtures 26. 3 Filter paper 0. 5 Evaporating disk 34. 8 Crystallized Salt 0. 87 Analysis : Sand + salt + water = 25. 74 grams % composition: % of salt: % of sand: % of Water : Discussions: -Gravimetric analysis can only be applied on the experiment if it involves mearusing the mass of the objects or substances that are used in the process -The cause of inaccuracy in this experiment could be the wrong measurement of the water added, the salt substance that didn’t get soluted by the water because of the amount of the salt is more that the solubility rate of water can take. avoid inaccuracy in the records, precise measurements of every single thing is required, concentration on th e process, and correct mathematical calculations. Conclusion: Even if the inaccuracy of the gravimetric analysis is inevitable, the percent composition that can be pulled through the calculation gives us a better picture of how much each substance is in a mixture. Correct separation techniques are also used, which means separation process affects the result greatly.

Bmw Films Essay

Where the BMW films a good idea? How successful was the campaign? In my opinion, the BMW films where a great idea at that specific moment in time. The company had no new product launches to promote. Furthermore, budget was available in order to â€Å"experiment† new ideas and innovative advertising and promotion actions. With this pure branding exercise BMW had little to lose (mainly money) and a huge deal to win. The campaign proved to be an incredibly successful one. In order to measure and justify this effectiveness I have chosen to highlight the following reasons: †¢Number of people who watched the BMW films: The films reached a great amount of people (aprox. 9 million viewers) in the early stages of the campaign. Furthermore, BMW had managed to capture the audience they were targeting †¢Feedback from the viewers: The positive feedback received proved to the marketing team that the campaign had been a success. Comments showed enthusiasm and in some cases even led to action. Feedback from the media: BMW achieved to generate the sufficient interest in order to receive praises from media publications that gave the initiative a â€Å"Hollywood movie† status. †¢Press activity: The marketing team was overwhelmed when they saw that the press activity was 10 times higher than expected. †¢Viral Campaign: One of the most unexpected achievements of the campaign was to produce a massive chain reaction amongst the viewers. 94% of viewers recommended the films to others. †¢Increase in sales: After the BMW films campaign, sales in 2001 increased almost 12% from the previous year. In this year BMW surpassed the 200,000 sold units barrier for the first time in North America. What was the motivation behind the idea? Given the opportunity to do pure branding the marketing team aimed at achieving through non-traditional promotion a memorable campaign that would remain in people’s minds for years to come. The motivation behind the campaign was to â€Å"refresh† the BMW brand by attracting the interest of a younger demographic segment and leave behind the traditionally yuppie customers related to the brand in previous years. The fact that the campaign was distributed through the Internet shows the commitment of the company to attract these younger customers. The key concepts that the campaign was trying to communicate were the excitement of driving, the performance of the BMW cars and the excitement related in driving the â€Å"Ultimate Driving Machine†. A key issue for the marketing team was also to explore new possibilities in terms of promotion and to achieve the highest impact possible amongst the target audience. The first mover advantage had been at the core of BMW’s campaigns and the BMW films were to be no exception to that rule. Who was the target market? What was the typical North American BMW customer? Is it the same as its competitor’s typical client? The â€Å"typical† BMW customer was about 46 years old with an average income of $150,000, well educate, married and with no children. Most importantly, 85% of BMW’s potential buyers were on the Internet before buying a BMW. Their customers saw driving as a pleasure and tended to be leaders. They enjoyed being in control. The competition was targeting different types of clients. The Japanese manufacturers such as Honda, Toyota and Nissan for example, were mainly targeting lower income level customers. As for the higher end brands such as Mercedes, Porsche and Jaguar they were targeting older customers with higher income level more focused on luxury and comfort. How healthy is the brand in the US compared to previous years? What are the weaknesses? At this point in time the BMW brand was healthier than ever before in the US market. In this period, out of the people that intended to buy a luxury brand, 16% said they would buy a BMW against 11% that intended to buy a Mercedes. This represented a significant turning point in BMW’s operations in the US. The strongest weakness I perceive in the BMW brand is the fact that it relates to people who are passionate about driving and look for the excitement of being in control of a car. Furthermore, I believe it is people who tend to be willing to maximize the cars attributes in order to experiment the whole experience the car can provide. In this sense, the brand is perishable, as customers tend to look for other attributes such as comfort; reliability and prestige tend to focus on other brands such as Mercedes or Jaguar. What should McDowell do? Which option is the correct one? In the short term I would recommend McDowell to produce a few more short films in order to take advantage of the momentum created by the previous films. However, this strategy would not be sustainable in the long term as the competition would start copying this format and the effectiveness of the campaign would be diluted. What I would suggest in the long term would be to organize events in the major US cities that would reinforce the BMW Films concept but more personalized towards the customers. The idea behind this would be to create a lasting bond between both parties. In order to achieve a good segmentation of customers to attend these special events I would use the www. bmwfils. com web page to select (through the previously provided information by the customers) the ones that perfectly fit the brands criteria and the ones that have the most potential of becoming BMW customers. Assuming that BMW in the short term will have new products to launch and that the advertising budget will still be low in comparison with competitors, I believe that these events would be a perfect follow up to the BMW films campaign and that expectation would be created amongst the specialized media. Furthermore, not only would BMW be innovating in non-traditional advertising and promotion formats but they would also have the capability of specifically targeting potential customers. In this way BMW would continue to expand on the BMW Films idea but in this case the customers will perceive that they are the ones at the wheels of the â€Å"ultimate Driving Machine†.