Xtras Web Based System Project Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Xtras Web Based System Project - Case Study Example Company has local net worked PCs for the eight full time staff. They also have two part time employees appointed. As the recessions took the toll of the company’s revenue lately, company has decided to come up with an idea of internet web page to offer and sell all products in order to generate the income. They also aimed this eBusiness project to help collect more market data and thus improve the customer service. Keeping it in view an independent study was carried out by an external e-business consultant six months ago. The study came up with the following conclusions such as a) Staff lack the IT skills use the new system, b) Staff fearful of changes in job roles and responsibilities, c) introduction of e-business will require restructuring, d) IT system will lead to increased market share, e) new marketing strategy will be required, and f) staff afraid management may use IT system to make staff redundant. Since the company was running in loss, the company has decided to develop a web based ecommerce platform as early as possible. They worked based on a project of designing, developing and implementing the web based business system. They raised fund allocated money for furnishing and purchasing to develop the web based system. The project plan has been presented in the following task.

Growth and Potential of International Luxury Fashion Brands Essay Example for Free

Growth and Potential of International Luxury Fashion Brands Essay

A Study On The Role Play Development Teaching Essay

A Study On The Role Play Development Teaching Essay Play is almost universally recognized as an integral factor in childrens learning and development. For example, Macintyre (2001, 4) quotes Isaacs 1933 description of play: Play is the crucial component in childrens development, and adds that everyone concerned with young children should recognise and value the different kinds of understanding developed through play (Macintyre 2001, 3-4). Although different play activities promote childrens in different ways, Keenan (2002) identifies a number of areas of development that are impacted or enhanced by play, including cognition, language and communication, social, and emotional. The recent Curriculum guidance for children from three through the reception year (Foundation Stage) ephasizes learning opportunities and experiences ; for example, the area of language and literacy was broadened to include communication and emphasized the importance of developing literacy through play and advocates play and exploration as a basis for literacy learning in the early years (Miller and Smith 2004, 122). Within the Early Years curriculum, role play is an excellent example of a play activity that promotes many areas of development. Before examining the ways role play promotes development in children, it is helpful to define both play and role play. Macintyre (2001, 3) defines play as activity that is enjoyable, gives pleasure, and undertaken by the player freely, that is, it can be abandoned at any time without blame. Play further has no preconceived outcome; the agenda can develop as play goes on (Macintyre 2001, 3). Additionally, play allows the player to develop skills which are important in non-play situations, such as development of social skills (Macintyre 2001, 3). Children around age three and four begin to enjoy imaginative role play in twos or small groups (OHagan and Smith 2004, 36). As a particular play activity, role play is a type of imaginative play, where children assume roles outside their real world place. Role play allows children to construct proximities between themselves and others in their lives. Piagets theory of development contends infants first engage in pretend play around eighteen months, acting out imaginary activities and using real objects to represent imagined objects, such as pretending a television remote is a telephone (Keenan 2002, 123). Children may participate in limited role play at this point if directed by an older person. However, cooperative role play, where children instigate their own roles and story line, are rarely undertaken by children before three years of age (Keenan 2002, 200). According to Vygotsky, children engage in pretend play roles beyond their current stage in life, such as taking on adult roles, such as a parent, teacher or doctor, or roles as adolescents or older children(Keenan 2002, 135). Through pretend play, children place themselves in a zone of proximal development, where they play at a level which is in advance of their real capabilities (Keenan 2002, 135) Cognitively, role play promotes development in several ways. First, it allows children practice in ordering their thoughts and develop understanding. Piaget believed that children were active agents of their own learning and that the major task for them was to develop an ability to organize experiences and learn from them in a way which enables them to make sense of the world (OHagan and Smith 2004, 10). Role play activities are the highest form of symbolic play, encompassing two types of cognitive operation which are necessary for conservation, namely reversibility and decentration (Umek and Musek 2001, 56). Children are able to freely leave the roles they take on, as indicated in the free participation concept introduced in the definition of play above. This reversibility indicates cognitively children are awareness that they can abandon their assumed role and return to reality at any time (Umek and Musek 2001, 56). The cognitive ability of decentration involves childrens understanding that the person in the role play scenario is really them, yet is also simultaneously the role undertaken (Umek and Musek 2001, 56). Cognitively, this means children must preserve the imaginary identity of toys or play materials despite the fact that they are perceptually and/or functionally inadequate (the issue being the conservation of identity) (Umek and Musek 2001, 56). In such pretend play, children learn that the objects they use can be separated from their normal referents, and that they can stand for other things (Keenan 2002, 135). This object will typically be similar in some way, such as size or shape, to the pretend object in the role play, causing the children to practice analogous thinking skills where they related an item not available to them to another available object (Keenan 2002, 135). The development of language and communication skills are recognized as closely linked to childrens thinking and conceptual development (OHagan and Smith 2004, 18). In addition to cognitive development, role play offers important development opportunities in the areas of language and communication. This can be intentional, such as when parents or other older players in the role play intentionally support vocabulary development by introducing names of things during the context of play (Keenan 2002, 154). However, the opportunity to talk and verbally interact with others in the role play further presents a powerful way of learning even when no intentional instruction occurs (OHagan and Smith 2004, 18). In role play, children learn to use language as a form of symbolic representation, and also communicate symbolically through dramatic play (OHagan and Smith 2004, 25). Such symbolic play encourages the development of language comprehension (Umek and Musek 2001, 56). Fantasy role play encourages explicit and expressive speech due to its symbolic nature. Role enactment and the use of various objects have different functions in play and in real life, therefore the child-player-must define these symbolic transformations verbally, so that they have a clear (recognisable) meaning and are comprehensible to his or her playmates (Umek and Musek 2001, 56). In this way role play promotes the communicative skills of its players. The symbolic elements of fantasy play, like role and object transformations, enable the child to use lexicographic meanings and explicit speech (Umek and Musek 2001, 56). Socially, role play typically involves several other children and/or adults. Keenan (2002) discusses Partens theory that such cooperative play is the most complex form of play, as it includes behaviours such as social pretend play where children take on pretend roles (Keenan 2002, 200). The children involved in the role play talk to one another as part of the play, developing their imaginative situations in a co-operative manner. Umek and Musek (2001, 56) report Smilanskys (1968) contention that role play activities promote the childs social development. When children use role enactment, they have to reach a consensus about the play theme, the course of events and the transformation of roles and play materials. This can only be achieved when individuals transcend their egocentrism and develop the ability to empathise (Umek and Musek 2001, 56). Children further build relationships with the other children or adults with whom they play. Although such relationships are often temporary, such play causes children to express a preference for certain friends and play regularly with them; during the Early Years period there is usually, but always, some preference for play with children of the same sex, but there is still a good deal of mixed play (OHagan and Smith 2004, 36). Role players share symbolic meanings with each other and assign imaginary roles in their pretend play, both providing opportunities for social development (Keenan 2002, 203). Co-operative pretend play also is usually based on the childrens understanding of the social rules of their culture (Keenan 2002, 135). Therefore, a child behaving badly in the role play will be punished by the child in the parent role. Vygotsky held that as such role play was an important context in which children learned about the social world (Keenan 2002, 135). Childrens play is constrained by the rules which guide behaviour in these roles, and, because of this, they learn about the social norms that are expected of people (Keenan 2002, 135). Role play can be an important component in childrens emotional development. Around eighteen months, the increase in language and symbolic thought allows some feelings to be expressed through imaginative play (OHagan and Smith 2004, 27). Prior to this childrens options were limited to physical displays such as crying, hitting, or facial expressions. This can promote childrens emotional development, as it allows them to learn to express their wants and needs, and become emotionally aware of the wants and needs of others. For example, role play can allow children to act out their fears, such as going to the doctor or being punished (OHagan and Smith 2004, 36). These fears might develop from an experience the child has had, such as having a painful injection at the doctors office, or a perceived fear, such as concern over anticipated punishment. Role play can also help chilren develop self-efficacy. Even young children have a strong desire to be right or successful, and will avoid areas where they expect to fail (Macintyre 2001, 4). However, if children can try things with no fear of failure they are more likely to stretch out and tackle things they might otherwise avoid (Macintyre 2001, 4). Since there is no defined end product, there is no fear or experience of failure. Children are empowered through the communication skills developed in role play, as they can express their feelings freely, can negotiate their wishes and needs and develop self-confidence and self-esteem (OHagan and Smith 2004, 18) This self-efficacy can both be encouraged in actions and in emotional expression; role play teaches children healthy and appropriate expressions of emotion. OHagan and Smith (2004, 38) studied groups of young children who viewed adults handling a situation, with each group seeing a different emotional response. One group viewed the adults as dealing with the issue by becoming angry and physically aggressive, and were later observed to emotionally deal with a similar situation in a similar manner, i.e. with anger and physical aggression. OHagan and Smith (2004, 36) contend this reinforces Banduras claim that children learn from models in their lives, particularly those they view as similar to themselves, who have a nurturing relationship with them, or who they perceive as powerful and competent (OHagan and Smith 2004, 39). Symbolic play, such as role play, should certainly form an important part of the preschool curriculum but preschool teachers should bear in mind that the quality of a childs play will be determined by general characteristics of development as well as by the play context (Umek and Musek 2001, 63). In the classroom, role play can be encouraged through the use of story and related play objects. For example, reading stories that include a kitchen and having a play kitchen available encourages children to first repeat the story through role play, then diverge and develop their own story lines. OHagan and Smith (2004, 58) present a typical classroom element, a home corner complete with dressing-up clothes and various objects for domestic play. Role play can be used for many learning purposes, such as to reinforce desired behaviour or assess childrens understanding of material. A teacher is trying to encourage sharing amongst her pupils. In this scenario, the teacher could role play with the children, demonstrating and reinforcing that sharing is a desireable activity. The activity could then be extended, with children being allowed to continue the play without teacher involvement, by later drawing pictures, and/or talking about the role play in a circle time or similar sharing opportunity. Back to: Example Essays Finally, role play can also enhance a teachers evaluation of childrens attainments, as the children will demonstrate their abilities in a number of areas during a typical role play activity. In practice, children can achieve higher levels of individual cognitive functions (conservation, one-to-one correspondence, decentration) in their symbolic play than they demonstrate when the same mental operations are tested and measured in formal, non-play, situations (Umek and Musek 2001, 64). As such, observations and assessment based on role play can be highly valuable in the classroom environment. REFERENCES Keenan, T. 2002. An Introduction to Child Development. London: Sage. Macintyre, C. Enhancing Learning Through Play. London: David Fulton. Miller, L. 2001. Shaping Early Childhood through the Literacy Curriculum. Early Years, 21(1): 107-116. Miller, L. and Smith, A.P. 2004. Practitioners beliefs and childrens experiences of literacy in four early years settings. Early Years, 24(2): 121-133. OHagan, M. and Smith, M. 2004. Early Years Child Care and Education: Key Issues. Edinburgh: Bailliere Tindall.

The Fools in William Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet :: Romeo and Juliet Essays

The fall of Romeo and Juliet is a culmination of many factors. A controlling father, an ongoing feud and a gullible friar all contribute to this catastrophe, but, for the most part, it was Romeo and Juliet themselves that lent a hand to their own doom. The two lovers were fated to meet and die, but this never could've happened without their help. Had they been patient and rational, perhaps the situation would've worked itself out, but what can one expect from a couple of thirteen year olds who insist that they are in love? The first instance of Romeo's immaturity occurs when he first encounters the lovely Juliet. He know that the party is hosted by the Capulets, and yet he still chooses to attend anyway. As a teenager, he loves to party and is sure that there will be pretty girls there in which to flirt with. Instead of being rational and realizing that this party was a bad idea for a Montague, he and his friends enter without fear. Once the party is over, Romeo hears Juliet on her balcony talking of how she loves Romeo and together they speak of their impending marriage. What? It seems that they are obsessed, not in love. How could they love each other when in fact they have just met hours earlier? They are children who have crushes and plenty of melodrama to enhance it. Romeo demonstrates his immaturity again when he slays the Capulet, Tybalt. Being an idealist, he does not think about the consequences of his actions. He knows that Tybalt is Juliet's cousin, and that injuring him would wreck any chance of them getting together legitimately, yet he does it anyway. Instead of pausing a moment and thinking about the situation in an adult manner, Romeo allows "fire[ey'd] fury be [his] conduct..." and instantly kills Tybalt. Although a bit more realistic than Romeo, Juliet has instances of emotional drama and impatience that symbolize a thirteen year old girl with a terrible infatuation. True, her father is insisting that she marry Paris, but Juliet never lets her feeling for Romeo be known to her parents. Instead of telling the truth about her marriage to Romeo, she leads her parents to believe that it is

Burmas Stateless Minority under the Tip of Globalizations Spear Essay

Bangladesh and Burma, two of Asia’s poorest nations, displaced and stateless people of rohingya suffer in silence at the hands of the military government in Burma’s Orwellian new capital of Naypyidaw, Bangladesh caretakers are being less sympathetic to them. People of rohingya are being crashed to death . there are children starving in the darkness of dawn in these Asian century. India and China are interested in resuscitating decrepit colonial era ports and WWII era transport routes in their weak states in the name of securing resources for their respective domestic economic progress. Discussion Complex patterns of today’s transnational human exodus across political and cultural boundaries examples of massive underground movement Rohingya are people they are never heard of they live in a place no one could never want to live they inhabit a violent landscape of crisis completely devoid of human rights. Women and children struggle to get clean water and food but after a long struggle and suffering they end up getting a pool of muddy stagnant water. They have no choice but to drink the dirty staff. There have been a lot of plight of human migration portrayed in the media now days known as â€Å"South to North†. Some of the odds that come to our minds are for example Cameroonians traversing thousands of miles up the African continent to look for work in a Parisian suburb and Guatemalans passing themselves off as Mexicans trying to enter California’s vast produce engine. Many parts of the world now days suffer a problem of lack of basic needs such as food, water, clothing and shelter. These has been as a result natural calamities such as floods, earth quark, land slides etc Political interest has also contributed to some extend. Complex patterns of today’s transnational human exodus are examples of underground movements referred to as â€Å"South to South† migration in think tank parlance. There has been a lot of genocide in the current would and oppressions of human rights. In ten years of travel and reportage of civilization’s fraying and violent crossroads, there have been witnesses of an array of struggles of people burning in the smoldering embers of post-World War II decolonization and the last great upheavals of the post-Berlin Wall paradigm shift. The far south of Bangladesh the situation there is dire and people live in a desperate situation. Desperate Iraqis refugees live in dark coastal hotels in Syria. Rohingya a minority group from western Burma are Muslims but are not welcomed, since Burma’s independence from the British Crown in 1948, they have been persecuted over the last six decade by the central government in several violent fits, and this all dispute came as a result of junta not recognizing Rohingya being the real citizens of Burma. and being Muslims therefore justify ethnic cleansing and forcing them out of their farms and off their villages in Rakhine. Rohingya therefore sought refuge in Bangladesh as refugees but they were not welcomed they were referred as â€Å"illegal economic migrants†. The darfurist have at least their leader but the minority Rohingya has none. Conclusion The world leaders have to come to understanding that because of their political differences the innocent children and women are suffering under their own hands.Genocide is not the solution to political differences. References 1. Derek Flood: From South to South: Burma’s Stateless Minority Under .. www. huffingtonpost. com/derek-flood/from-south-to-south-burma_b_98865. html – 81k – Cached – Similar pages 2. Derek Flood: From South to South: Burma’s Stateless Minority Under †¦ Derek_Flood_From_South_to_South_Burma_s_Stateless_Minority_Under_the_Tip_of†¦ – 25k – Cached – Similar pages

Coping with Stress

Stress can be defined as â€Å"an unpleasant and arousing experience that fills people with negative and unhealthy emotions† (Assassin, Feint, Markus, 2014). Lazarus and Folkway (1984) designated two general types of coping strategies, problem-focused coping, and emotion-focused coping. Problem- focused coping is cognitive and behavioral efforts to alter a stressful situation, and emotional-focused coping is cognitive and behavioral efforts to reduce the distress produced by a stressful situation.A third alternative has been presented by Shells Taylor and and Lisa Spinally, this alternative is known as reactive coping. Proactive coping is up-front efforts to ward off or modify the onset of a stressful event. Then there is social support, the helpful coping resources provided by friends and other people. (Assassin, Feint, Markus, 2014) Of the four types of coping strategies mentioned, use all of them. I use problem-focused coping when I feel like the situation either could have been avoided or could be remedied with a deal of effort on my behalf.Like most people do like stress, and try to do everything that I can to end it, and I try o do so without causing myself additional stress. When it comes to financial stress, will try to find ways to either work more hours or do something to make more money. Of course, taking that approach can cause me additional stress, especially while going to school full time. That's when I may find myself contemplating on taking a semester off from school to free of time to work more and create a financial cushion for myself. I use emotion-focused coping when I feel like the stressful situation is out of my control.While being in the litany, I missed a lot of holidays and birthdays with my family, to cope with this, reminded myself why I chose to serve, that it was only temporary, and that holidays are just another day and focused on the positives, like the fact that had a stable job during the holidays while a lot of people did not. (Assassin, Feint, Markus, 2014) After a while, we tend to recognize when a previously experienced stress is about to show up, or when we find ourselves engaging in certain activity that we know will end up with us in a stressful situation, we utilize proactive coping.We use this probably more often than realize, whenever I feel myself procrastinating with any kind of important business, but then think of the consequences, I get to work to avoid those consequences. I obey the law to avoid the stress of tickets or jail time. There are many different scenarios that proactive coping can be used, and to me it is the best strategy so we can nip it in the bud. (Assassin, Feint, Markus, 2014) Social coping is probably the most utilized strategy of all. With such an influx of social media portals, we see a lot of venting and request for opinions.

Free The Monk and the Riddle Book Review Sample

Free The Monk and the Riddle Book Review Sample Question One: What was surprising or different about this book relative to what you know about entrepreneurship? Before reading this book, the aspect of entrepreneurship that I had in mind was that of looking for opportunities in which to achieve financial satisfaction in life. Growing up, I understood that being an entrepreneur entailed setting up businesses and ventures, which will bring about major financial returns. However, reading The Monk and the Riddle gave me a different perspective on the subject of being or becoming a successful entrepreneur. The author gives detailed expectations from the entrepreneurship field that is very different from what I had in mind. According to the book, being an entrepreneur should not be all about the result which most people bank on financial achievement but should focus mainly on the journey towards attaining the set goals (Komisar and Kent 21). Entrepreneurship should lay emphasis on leadership, management, passion, and drive which help define an individual. In the end, an entrepreneur will be rewarded from the journey undertaken in the business rather than the outcome. Being a successful entrepreneur means that a person, through the business, gained satisfaction not only financially but also in experience. Any would be entrepreneur needs to set up goals which allows for achievement of satisfaction in work itself. Another notable difference on the subject is the ability of any entrepreneur to let go off control. The mentality of all entrepreneurs is that they need have control and influence in their ventures. However, the author categorically explores the advantages of giving out control to other able people in order to allow for the growth of the business. While discussing about leadership, the author advises entrepreneurs to get people to do what needs to be done for the business and this could end up being done better. L eadership is an art and entrepreneurs must encourage people to exceed their own expectations, inspire people to be great and get them all to work together in harmony. Question Two: What are your impressions of Lenny? Why was Randy willing to give Lenny his time? The impression I got of Lenny is that of any contemporary entrepreneur striving to have his venture to pick up in the market. Lenny has great ideas of what he wants his venture to be but has his eyes closed to the reality of entrepreneurship. From the discussion presented by his interaction with Randy, it is evident that Lenny seems sure of his approach to business and the proposed business plan but lacks sight on the sound fundamentals of the initial business idea. Lenny has the mentality of working towards attaining financial objectives from his venture. From the idea presented to Randy, the would-be entrepreneur has misguided anticipations on the business front hoping to attain everything without support from other people. Lenny believes as an entrepreneur, he should be in control of everything in his business from development to implementation. However, this is a wrong impression of the journey towards attaining satisfaction in work. Lenny portrays a typical Eastern pushy-salesma n-suit, involved in the business for the money rewards only. (Lambing and Charles) Despite the ambition presented to Randy by Lenny, the latter is ready and willing to help him because as an established entrepreneur it is essential to pass on guidelines to other would - be entrepreneurs. Randy carefully listens to Lenny because he wants the young entrepreneur to drop the potential monetary rewards perspective and focus on satisfaction. More so, Randy provides direction, contacts, and leadership for entrepreneurs in need of experience like Lenny. The main role Randy plays is helping would-be entrepreneurs through the initial phase of business development and then retires to the less central role of advisor. Randys advice to Lenny is that a leader with many ideas but lacks vision and passion will lead his business to the drain. Question Three: What do you think about the Deferred Life Plan? In the book, the author notes the tendency of people in the contemporary world sacrificing their present life to hard work and earning a living to protect their future existence. In simpler terms, this is living a deferred life plan whereby one denies himself or herself a decent lifestyle in the name of protecting the future. The author argues that people do not have to sacrifice their lives in order to accomplish things they are passionate about, be it at work or in business. In my understanding, the theory and practicability of deferred life plan is real amongst young people especially those joining the labor market. Most people engage in activities, work, or business, which they have little passion but hang on to them for the sake of financial satisfaction. Interestingly, this financial satisfaction does not come about and the very people end up losing on other satisfactions they could gain at work. Putting off what you really love to do and engaging in other activities or business, which is less; satisfactory is the beginning of leading a deferred life plan. By not working on work and business, one is passionate about means deferring sense of excitement and passion for what you really care about in life. Komisar further explains thats working hard is not inconsistent with the deferred life plan but working hard for things that bring less excitement and interest is part of deferred life plan (Komisar and Kent 35). Comparing the theory with the actual life setting, with the deferred life plan, one ends up succeeding on things, which do not matter in his or her life. More understandably, deferred life plan leads to achieving at something, which has no definition of the real, you. As human beings, we need to ensure that we get satisfaction in whatever we do and this should be at a reasonable age. It is not satisfaction when we have to wait up to sixty years and above to start enjoying life. Question Four: What do you think about the evolution of Lennys opportunity? What value does Lenny get from Randy and the VCs? The evolution evidenced in Lennys opportunity is great as it offers him and other workers to engage in activities, which bring about satisfaction. The opportunity created does not only promise financial rewards but also work satisfaction. The opportunity further presents Lenny with a chance to engage in a business venture for the right reasons rather than seeking financial satisfaction only. In seeking help from people advanced in the matters of entrepreneurship, Lenny gains more information on other aspects of business. Randy gives Lenny in-depth advice on what venture capital firms require, focusing on the characteristics of CEOs during various phases of the establishments. In so doing, Lenny understands the difference between a good manager and a good leader, which as a future CEO of a business is necessary information. Management and leadership skills are a prerequisite for anyone hoping to establish any kind of venture. With time, the owner of the business will have to let go off the control of the business and this, Randy explains requires major management skills. Lenny learns that the essence of entrepreneurship is for the entrepreneur to acquire all round satisfaction at all stages of life. The activities engaged in by the entrepreneur should not limit the workers from attaining satisfaction at all levels. Being an entrepreneur means embarking on a journey for irrational and passionate people who believe in the face of doubt. More so, the significance of sharing ideas on entrepreneurship with other experienced people will help boost the initial goals. VCs are driven by risky ideas hence need potential leaders to guide them and not just followers.

Knock the writers block - Emphasis

Knock the writers block Knock the writers block Most people have felt the curse of the dreaded writers block: that plummeting feeling of panic that takes hold as you stare hopelessly at a blank page, or at that accursed flashing cursor. If youre afflicted with this condition, youre in good company. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Ralph Ellison and F. Scott Fitzgerald are all said to have been fellow sufferers. So dont despair just read on to help release the report (or proposal, letter, webpage) within. The block explained The main reason for writers block is anxiety. And our worries may stem from several causes for example, we: dont understand the brief want our document to be just too perfect have too much information have too little information have too little time. A second reason for not being able to get going is boredom we may feel totally uninspired by the piece we have to write. Finally, and quite understandably, we might just have too much going on in our lives outside work and cant concentrate on the task in hand. The block strikes Wherever it comes from, that horrible state of blankness can be utterly debilitating. The times were most likely to have difficulty are right at the beginning and around the conclusion of our piece of work. Breaking the block Luckily, there are many ways to solve this problem. And here are some that will save your document and your sanity. Plan properly You can reduce your anxiety enormously by planning properly. To do this well, make sure you ask your line manager or reader enough questions about the brief before you begin. You may start off feeling quite confident, but this can quickly evaporate if youre not entirely sure where youre headed and why. Try drawing a spidergram: put the topic or title at the centre and make each leg an important aspect you need to cover. Ask yourself what you need to say about each of these aspects: asking yourself the who-what-why-how-where questions will help to make sure youve got it all down. Leave off the hair shirt Dont beat yourself up, itll only add to the feeling of frustration. Instead, put it in perspective and consider the readers point of view. This will take your focus away from your own fears, as well as producing a document that will be best for your intended audience. If youre just feeling a bit fed up with it all, try to remember what made you enthusiastic about your subject in the first place or why it is a worthy topic. After all, if youre bored with what you write, why should anyone else want to read it? Manage your time If your problem is procrastination, then set a time to start and stick to it. If the whole task seems huge and overwhelming, tell yourself you will just do fifteen minutes then have a break. Chopping assignments into chunks makes the whole process feel more manageable. Find out more on a writing skills course You can boost your business-writing confidence still further by attending one of our High-impact business writing courses. You can learn a surprising amount from our expert trainers in as little as one day, and become much more able and enthusiastic about your writing.

Age Discrimination Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Age Discrimination - Research Paper Example As our nation is multicultural in its democratic set up, the policy has both legal and ethical significance in HRM. From a social perspective, in order to maintain the socio-economic stability, we should allow people to work as long as they wish. It has been assumed that diverse workforce (ethnicity, culture, language, sex, and age) would avail potential individuals with a variety of talents who will also have experience and knowledge about wide rage of customers (Weightman, 2004, p.25). For example, we have hundreds of employees who are above the age of 65 still working zealously. Moreover, it helps us save time and money to test and train new recruits. In fact, the older workers are the proven asset which can help employers in the long run. Moreover, retaining older staff would be a reasonable solution to the growing labor shortage. Obviously there are certain situations when age discrimination policy would lead to organizational crisis. However, the issue depends on the effectiveness of the HR strategy. For instance, the company should have well defined vision on individual goals and role assignment. There are certain exceptional tasks in which youngsters can outsmart elders. Therefore, elders should not be assigned to services that require high physical and mental skills. In the UK, According to the Default Retirement Age Act of 2006, employers can force workers to retire exactly at their age of 65 without paying any redundancy (BBC News). Although 65 had been considered as the common age for retirement in the United States, mandatory retirement was completely abolished since 1986 (Kerley, 2001, p.208). As mentioned earlier, we therefore, neither discriminate nor force workers to retire at their old age; instead, workers are given the privilege to choose their retirement. It would be a fallacy if we assume that young labors would perform better than the older workers. On the other hand, new candidates may not be always

Addresssing human resource issues at Utiliscan Essay

Addresssing human resource issues at Utiliscan - Essay Example Human resource issues at Utiliscan identified by the survey. Paul, the former Director for Utilitiscan conducted a survey and th result revealed some troubling issue in the company that caused its employees to leave. The survey that Paul conducted reported that; Most employees view their job at Utilitiscan as career dead end. Meaning, most employees felt that their careers are not advancing in the company as Paul’s survey result revealed that 87% of the employees felt that there were no promotion opportunities in the company. 74% of the employees also felt that their pay does not increase even if they perform well. Employees were also complaining that performance appraisals were not done anymore. Some respondents commented that there were favoritism in the company. Most employees also no longer feel challenged by their jobs. This is corroborated by the fact that a resounding 89% of respondents also complaint that opportunities to grow and improve were rare in the company. 56 % of the employees felt that their non wage benefits were below industry standard. Only 55% of all employees felt safe working in Utilitiscan. Meaning, the other half or 45% felt that there is an occupational hazard associated with their physical environment and that safety is less than adequate. In sum, the problem of the employees at Utilitiscan was that they felt that their job is a career dead end without any prospect for advancement and non-challenging where there are no incentives to do a good job. The proposed conceptual plan as a solution to the problem Employees are leaving Utilitiscan, including the very person who conducted the survey which was Paul, because the company was perceived to be a dead end and that the jobs were boring thereby making employees not motivated to perform because there are no incentives available when they do a good job anyway. Thus, to address these issues, management has to; a. Make job interesting for the employees to engage b. Institute promotio nal plans for the career advancement for employees c. Provide incentive for good performance (including promotion) d. Perform performance appraisal to address the need for basis of incentive and to encourage high performance in the organization. These conceptual plan does not necessarily â€Å"breaks the bank† of Utilitiscan. Addressing the employees issue about their jobs as non-challenging by making their jobs interesting jobs do not have to cost the company a huge amount of money. This can be done through job-rotation whereby employees move through the various functions in the organization laterally doing functions other than they are accustomed to. This is consistent with the idea of a classical management theorist Frederick Herzberg that it is not only money that motivates people to work as what Taylor posits in his scientific management theory. Herzberg argued that it is intrinsic rewards such as challenging work and growth that gets employees motivated. True, pay can m ake people work better but they will only endure the drudgery of work until the next pay raise or promotion and will again be back to mediocre performance after taking the pay raise or promotion. This principle in motivating employees is corroborated by a more recent study conducted by Dan Pink. In his study, Pink illustrated how monetary rewards failed in motivating employees. It may sound baffling but the Pink experiment showed that the obvious does not always work. Giving monetary rewards as a basis for motivation on jobs that requires even the slightest cognitive skills such as the jobs of programmers and engineers in Utilitiscan do not always work. It can even be a source of demotivation as what Pink found out when he did the experiment of giving financial incentive to motivate people to do tasks that involves thinking. The same experiment was done in other countries and other cultures and the result are the same, money as an incentive is a demotivator to tasks that invol

Vodafone international strategic development Essay

Vodafone international strategic development - Essay Example The initial acquisition move of the company was a merger with AirTouch Communications Inc. of the United States in a $61 million deal. The company briefly renamed itself as Vodafone AirTouch in a gradual move towards aligning AirTouch to its global strategy (Johannes and Ashok, 2009, P.263). The company’s North American branch was integrated into a new entity branded Verizon Wireless together with Bell Atlantic’s mobile business with the company retaining 45% stake in the new venture. Verizon wireless was the largest mobile phone operator in the North American market with 36 million customers and 24% market share in 2003. The targeting of large firms is in line with literature that suggests that large scale acquisitions provide potential scale economies and are expected to outperform small scale acquisitions (Risberg, 1999, P.76). The targeting of large firms is also observed in the acquisition of Mannesmann in a deal that helped it own D2 mobile phone business, which w as the private market leader in Germany. This deal made Vodafone one of the 10 largest companies in the world helping it achieve scale and scope economies (Johannes and Ashok, 2009, P.264). ... was a good strategy as mobile companies shared some similarities with Vodafone in capabilities and were likely to exhibit some level of homogeneity with its structure. Such acquisitions also helped Vodafone secure a platform for acquiring the existing business position (Risberg, 1999, P.82). Unlike its competitors, the company used shares for its acquisitions. This strategy helped the company emerge from the telecom crisis relatively early so that it could concentrate on growth while virtually all of its competitors were preoccupied with debt reduction (Johannes and Ashok, 2009, P.264). The company had acquired other businesses along with the mobile phone business as was the case of Japan Telecom and Mannesmann where it owned fixed line operations. Vodafone had an explicit desire to concentrate on its core business of mobile telecommunications, and this made it look for ways to dispose of the other non-core businesses. Vodafone insisted that it was mobile focused and intended to stic k to that strategy in all of its acquisitions and subsidiaries. The emphasis on only retaining those operations in the acquired firm that were core to its expansion strategy is in line with literature that suggests that strategic fit is important in creating shareholder value (Risberg, 1999, P.81). Vodafone’s strategy was to increase revenue growth and margin improvement by providing enhanced services to its customer base. This principle had three tenets. The company would increase voice and data revenues through increased marketing focus on its established high-quality customer base. It intended to extend its operational leadership of the mobile industry through maximizing the benefits of scale and scope by using partner network agreements, increasing equity investments in firms where

Business Environment in United Kingdom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Business Environment in United Kingdom - Essay Example An economic system are the consists of the people, institutions, processes, procedures that must be followed when making economic decisions to help solve the economic problems that face different economies. The different types of economic systems will determine the decisions on what to produce, how to produce, and who to consume the output. Economic Concepts and Problems The major economic problems that face economies include: the scarcity problem, competition, choice, resources, opportunity costs, needs, efficiency and wants. These are the key concepts that are fundamental in the understanding of the economic problems and that influence the kind of economic decisions that must be made for economic stability purposes and for the attainment of the solutions to the economic problems. The first concept is scarcity. This is a major economic problem that states that human needs are unlimited and resources are insufficient to satisfy all the diverse needs. The society is therefore faced wi th the challenges of the allocation of the scarce resources to attain maximum satisfaction of the unlimited needs. The economic system will therefore determine what to be produced and who to consume. It therefore also mean that a trade off must be made while making the economic decisions. Due to scarcity problem, the individuals in an economy will compete for the limited resources in order to survive. Competition is the scramble for the limited resources in order to acquire a fair share. Businesses and individuals both have to compete for the limited and scarce resources in order not to get eliminated in the system. When competition arises, the government agencies may formulate policies that are aimed at ensuring that the allocation of resources and that the competition is fair for all the participants. Competition has always been desired in order to increase efficiency and improve on the quality. The third important concept is opportunity cost. In economics the pursuance of one dec ision will mean a sacrifice to another possible action. Opportunity cost is the cost forgone for selecting the best alternative. Because the resources that are available in each economy is not enough to produce enough goods and services for everybody, some decisions must be made while others will be sacrificed. Economic systems will assist in the determination on what to produce and what to sacrifice. Needs are the requirements for existence or survival. Individuals in an economy will need food, shelter and good infrastructure for them to have a good life. Businesses as well will need resources e.g. raw materials in production or economic conditions that are favourable for operation. In addition, resources are the commodities or assets that are needed for production of goods and services that are demanded by individuals. Resources have the characteristics that they are limited, get depleted and have utility. The allocation of resources in production determines the manner in which th e economy performs and the output that will be attained. Economic systems are instrumental in the allocation of these scarce resources to maximize the satisfaction that will be achieved in the economy. Moreover, the scarcity of resources in production and in the satisfaction of human needs will mean that a choice must be made in relation to what to produce, quantity to produce, when to produce and who to consume. Choice can be defined as the choosing from among alternatives. In economic problems, a choice must be made on what to pursue among the various alternatives that are existing. The economic system influences the choices that are adopted in the

Fashion and Muslim Traditional Dress Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Fashion and Muslim Traditional Dress - Essay Example The essay "Fashion and Muslim Traditional Dress" discovers the fashion in the context of Muslim Traditions. Muslim women are trying to be saved by both external and internal cultures. Western society seeks to liberate Muslim women from the shackles of oppression and bring them into a world where they have opportunities, but would be vulnerable without the protections offered in Muslim culture. Muslim cultures are attempting to shield women from Western values that objectify the body and strip from them their protections that define their status in Muslim society. Clothing is an integral part of how women are defined by both societies. Western societies see ‘the veil’ as a symbol of oppression while a Muslim woman who is inappropriately dressed loses respect and status within her community. The following paper will examine the position of Muslim female dress in modern contexts. The development of fashion that is acceptable outside of the Muslim community comes into confli ct with the purpose of dress within that community. Through innovative and creative design, fashion for Muslim women is becoming modernized while retaining its modest purpose. In defining female dress for modern contexts, the nature of fashion and Muslim tradition comes together to place women of Muslim into relationship with modern ideals while retaining elements of tradition that are important for Muslim identity. While female Muslim dress has a specific purpose as a representation of faith and adherence to tradition and law.

Virgin Mary of Guadalupe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Virgin Mary of Guadalupe - Essay Example Mary was at the foot of the cross when Jesus was crucified, and from then on she has been known as the Mother of God and Mother of the Church. Mary lived for years after the crucifixion, and according to the traditions of the Church, told by the early Christians, she was instrumental in the formation of early Christianity, helping and even counseling the members. After her physical death (the Catholics believe that there is life after death), she is believed to have appeared in many instances. She is now ascribed to so many names, depending on the places where she appeared. Such places that are popular and favorite amongst the Catholic faithful are the Fatima (Our Lady of Fatima), Lourdes in France (Our Lady of Lourdes), then the recent Our Lady of Medjugourje. Our Lady of Guadalupe is also very popular in many countries. In the Philippines, the Patroness is the Virgin Mary and many replicas of Our Lady of Guadalupe are placed in churches for the faithful to venerate. She is also known as the Immaculate Conception, the image of this bears the words: "O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recoursed to thee." The feast of the Immaculate Conception is on December 8. ... We see in Mary the figure of the woman from the beginning whose offspring will strike at the ancient serpent's head (Gen. 3:15). (365 Days with the Lord) But the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is on December 12. In 1999, Pope John Paul II, in his homily from the Solemn Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, during his third visit to the sanctuary, declared the date of December 12 as a Liturgical Holy Day for the whole continent. The apparition of Virgin Mary of Guadalupe is one popular among the faithful throughout the world, and is attributed for cures and conversions, especially among the Indians of Mexico. Throughout the world, several replicas have been made of the original image of the Virgin Mary that showed in the tilma as the visionary Juan Diego presented this to the Spanish Bishop Fray Juan de Zumrraga. The origin of the name "Guadalupe" is controversial. According to a sixteenth-century report, the Virgin identified herself as Guadalupe when she appeared to Juan Diego's uncle, Juan Bernardino. It is also suggested that "Guadalupe" is a corruption of a Nahuatl name "Coathlaxopeuh", which is translated as "Who crushes the serpent". The serpent referred to is Quetzalcoatl, one of the chief Aztec gods, whom the Virgin Mary "crushed" by inspiring the conversion of indigenous people to Catholicism. (Wikemedia). In the Immaculate Conception image, the Virgin is seen crushing the head of the serpent (Satan) and this is reflective of the Old Testament, when God sent Adam out of paradise, and made a future reference of the Virgin crushing the head of the serpent. Mara Guadalupe, or just Lupe, is a common female and male name among Mexican people or those with Mexican heritage. (Wikemedia) An account of the apparition states that on

Business Environment in United Kingdom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Business Environment in United Kingdom - Essay Example An economic system are the consists of the people, institutions, processes, procedures that must be followed when making economic decisions to help solve the economic problems that face different economies. The different types of economic systems will determine the decisions on what to produce, how to produce, and who to consume the output. Economic Concepts and Problems The major economic problems that face economies include: the scarcity problem, competition, choice, resources, opportunity costs, needs, efficiency and wants. These are the key concepts that are fundamental in the understanding of the economic problems and that influence the kind of economic decisions that must be made for economic stability purposes and for the attainment of the solutions to the economic problems. The first concept is scarcity. This is a major economic problem that states that human needs are unlimited and resources are insufficient to satisfy all the diverse needs. The society is therefore faced wi th the challenges of the allocation of the scarce resources to attain maximum satisfaction of the unlimited needs. The economic system will therefore determine what to be produced and who to consume. It therefore also mean that a trade off must be made while making the economic decisions. Due to scarcity problem, the individuals in an economy will compete for the limited resources in order to survive. Competition is the scramble for the limited resources in order to acquire a fair share. Businesses and individuals both have to compete for the limited and scarce resources in order not to get eliminated in the system. When competition arises, the government agencies may formulate policies that are aimed at ensuring that the allocation of resources and that the competition is fair for all the participants. Competition has always been desired in order to increase efficiency and improve on the quality. The third important concept is opportunity cost. In economics the pursuance of one dec ision will mean a sacrifice to another possible action. Opportunity cost is the cost forgone for selecting the best alternative. Because the resources that are available in each economy is not enough to produce enough goods and services for everybody, some decisions must be made while others will be sacrificed. Economic systems will assist in the determination on what to produce and what to sacrifice. Needs are the requirements for existence or survival. Individuals in an economy will need food, shelter and good infrastructure for them to have a good life. Businesses as well will need resources e.g. raw materials in production or economic conditions that are favourable for operation. In addition, resources are the commodities or assets that are needed for production of goods and services that are demanded by individuals. Resources have the characteristics that they are limited, get depleted and have utility. The allocation of resources in production determines the manner in which th e economy performs and the output that will be attained. Economic systems are instrumental in the allocation of these scarce resources to maximize the satisfaction that will be achieved in the economy. Moreover, the scarcity of resources in production and in the satisfaction of human needs will mean that a choice must be made in relation to what to produce, quantity to produce, when to produce and who to consume. Choice can be defined as the choosing from among alternatives. In economic problems, a choice must be made on what to pursue among the various alternatives that are existing. The economic system influences the choices that are adopted in the

Virgin Mary of Guadalupe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Virgin Mary of Guadalupe - Essay Example Mary was at the foot of the cross when Jesus was crucified, and from then on she has been known as the Mother of God and Mother of the Church. Mary lived for years after the crucifixion, and according to the traditions of the Church, told by the early Christians, she was instrumental in the formation of early Christianity, helping and even counseling the members. After her physical death (the Catholics believe that there is life after death), she is believed to have appeared in many instances. She is now ascribed to so many names, depending on the places where she appeared. Such places that are popular and favorite amongst the Catholic faithful are the Fatima (Our Lady of Fatima), Lourdes in France (Our Lady of Lourdes), then the recent Our Lady of Medjugourje. Our Lady of Guadalupe is also very popular in many countries. In the Philippines, the Patroness is the Virgin Mary and many replicas of Our Lady of Guadalupe are placed in churches for the faithful to venerate. She is also known as the Immaculate Conception, the image of this bears the words: "O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recoursed to thee." The feast of the Immaculate Conception is on December 8. ... We see in Mary the figure of the woman from the beginning whose offspring will strike at the ancient serpent's head (Gen. 3:15). (365 Days with the Lord) But the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is on December 12. In 1999, Pope John Paul II, in his homily from the Solemn Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, during his third visit to the sanctuary, declared the date of December 12 as a Liturgical Holy Day for the whole continent. The apparition of Virgin Mary of Guadalupe is one popular among the faithful throughout the world, and is attributed for cures and conversions, especially among the Indians of Mexico. Throughout the world, several replicas have been made of the original image of the Virgin Mary that showed in the tilma as the visionary Juan Diego presented this to the Spanish Bishop Fray Juan de Zumrraga. The origin of the name "Guadalupe" is controversial. According to a sixteenth-century report, the Virgin identified herself as Guadalupe when she appeared to Juan Diego's uncle, Juan Bernardino. It is also suggested that "Guadalupe" is a corruption of a Nahuatl name "Coathlaxopeuh", which is translated as "Who crushes the serpent". The serpent referred to is Quetzalcoatl, one of the chief Aztec gods, whom the Virgin Mary "crushed" by inspiring the conversion of indigenous people to Catholicism. (Wikemedia). In the Immaculate Conception image, the Virgin is seen crushing the head of the serpent (Satan) and this is reflective of the Old Testament, when God sent Adam out of paradise, and made a future reference of the Virgin crushing the head of the serpent. Mara Guadalupe, or just Lupe, is a common female and male name among Mexican people or those with Mexican heritage. (Wikemedia) An account of the apparition states that on

Oppressed Caribbean Culture Essay Example for Free

Oppressed Caribbean Culture Essay Caribbean culture, in so far as it is conceded to exist, is at once the cause, occasion, and result of evolved and evolving paradoxes. The psychic inheritance of dynamic response to disparate elements interacting to find ideal, form, and purpose within set geographical boundaries over time could not have produced otherwise. The 1990s have witnessed no less of this, precisely because the decade serves to encapsulate contradictions in human development over the past half a millennium. The entire Caribbean, and indeed all of the modern Americas of which the Caribbean, like the United States, is only one part, are the creatures of the awesome process of cross-fertilization following on the encounters between the old civilizations of Europe, Africa, and Asia on foreign soil and they, in turn, with the old Amerindian civilizations developed on American soil long before Christopher Columbus set foot on it. It is a development that has helped to shape the history and modern condition of the world for some half a millennium and one that has resulted in distinctive culture-spheres in the Western hemisphere, each claiming its own inner logic and consistency. The Caribbean, at the core of which are a number of island nations, themselves in sub-regional groupings, is conscious of the dynamics of its development. For it rests firmly on the agonizing and challenging process actualized in simultaneous acts of negating and affirming, demolishing and constructing, rejecting and reshaping. Nowhere is this more evident that in the creative arts, themselves a strong index of a peoples cultural distinctiveness and identity. Admittedly, other indices of culture such as linguistic communication, which underpins the oral and indigenous scribal literatures of the region, religion, and kinship patterns, reveal the texture and internal diversity that are the result of cross-fertilization of differing elements. The result is an emerging lifestyle, worldview, and a nascent ontology and epistemology that all speak to Caribbean historical experience and existential reality, in some cases struggling to gain currency and legitimacy worldwide (and even among some of its own people) for being native-born and nativebred. For this is the original meaning of Creole. Whites born in the American colonies were regarded as creoles by their metropolitan cousins. And the Jamaican-born slaves were similarly differentiated from their salt-water Negro colleagues freshly brought in from West Africa. The term was soon to be hijacked by or attributed to the mulatto (half-caste) who defiantly claimed certified rootedness in the coloniesa status not as easily claimed by the person of African or European descent whose ancestry lay elsewhere, it was felt, other than in the Caribbean or the Americas. An understanding of the shared human thirst for freedom in terms of its cultural significance is critical. For the impulses that drive the Caribbean people (like people anywhere) to freedom within nation states, to the right to choose their own friends and political systems, and to independent paths to development are the same impulses that drive them to the creation of their own music, their own languages and literature, their own gods and religious belief-systems, their own kinship patterns, modes of socialization, and self-perceptions. All plans made for them from outside must take this fact into account, whatever may be the dictates of military and strategic interests or the statistical logic of tabulated growth rates and gross national products. The Caribbean people, faced as they are with the post-colonial imperative of shaping civil society and building nations, expect to be taken seriously in terms of their proven capacities to act creatively in coordinated social interaction over centuries in the Americas. They feel passionately that their history and experience are worthy of theory and explanation and expect others to understand and appreciate this fact. They are unique, paradoxically because they are like everybody else. The Caribbean has been engaged in freedom struggles and its inhabitants have been at the job of creating their own languages, and designing their own appropriate lifestyles for as long as and, in some cases, longer than most parts of what became the United States. Recognition of this and the according of the status due such achievement is a prized wish of all Caribbean peopleBlack, White, Mestizo, Indian (indigenous and transplanted), Chinese, and Lebanese. By general critical consent, the principal women writers in English to emerge, so far, from the Caribbean are the properly varied trio of Jamaica Kincaid (Elaine Potter Richardson) and Jean Rhys. I say properly varied because the immensely mixed political and social history of the Caribbean is reflected by and in its writers. Kincaid, the most experimental of the three, is seen by her admirers as a deliberate subverted of Dead White European Male modes of narrative. Yet any reader deeply immersed in Western literature will recognize that prose poetry, Kincaids medium, always has been one of the staples of literary fantasy or mythological romance, including much of what we call childrens literature. Centering almost always upon the mother-daughter relationship, Kincaid returns us inevitably to perspectives familiar from our experience of the fantasy narratives of childhood. Kincaid genuinely expresses her regard to Caribbean as those that have been creolized into indigenous form and purpose distinctively different from the original elements from which those expressions first sprang. With some of those original elements, especially those from a European source, themselves reinforcing their claims on the region, whether through politics, economic control, or cultural penetration, the Caribbean is becoming even more conscious not only of its own unique expressions but also of the dynamism and nature of the process underlying these expressions. These in turn constitute the basis for the claims made for a Caribbean identity. Jean Rhys, of Creole Dominican descent, is a formidable contrast to Marshall and seems to me the major figure to emerge thus far among Caribbean women writers. Though she lived mostly in Paris and England, the imagination of Rhys came fully alive in her novel of 1966, Wide Sargasso Sea, a remarkable retelling of Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre from the perspective of Bertha Mason, Rochesters mad first wife. The terrifying predicament of the 19th-century Creole women of the West Indies, regarded as white niggers by colonialists and as European oppressors by blacks, is presented by Rhys with unforgettable poignancy and force. Shrewdly exploiting the modernist formal originalities of her mentor, Ford Maddox Ford, Rhys achieved a near masterpiece in Wide Sargasso Sea. Allusive, parodistic, and intensely wrought, the novel remains the most successful prose fiction in English to emerge from the Caribbean matrix. In Wide Sargasso Sea, the starting point is this placelessness. Although Rhyss novel starts with Antoinettes childhood in Coulibri, its boundaries lie outside the novel in another womans text. In Jane Eyre we have the madwoman Bertha locked up in the attic of Thornfield Hall. The significant title Wide Sargasso Sea refers to the dangers of the sea voyage. Rochester first crosses the Atlantic alone to a place which threatens to destroy him, then once more, bringing his new wife to England. Both Rochester and Antoinette are transformed through this passage. Rochester gives Antoinette a new name, Bertha, and in England she finally is locked up as mad. Rhys finds her own place in Jane Eyre, a prisoner of anothers desire. She sets out to describe that place and, in doing that, she redefines it as her own. In her challenge to Jane Eyre, Rhys draws on the collective experience of black people as sought out, uprooted, and transported across the Middle Passage and finally locked up and brutally exploited for economic gain. She uses this experience and the black forms of resistance as modes through which the madwoman in Jane Eyre is recreated. In the film version Wide Sargasso Sea develops stereotypes of Black West Indians that strongly mirror Bogles discussion of classic film depictions of African Americans. The inner stereotype in the film is that of the tragic mulatto which, the film hints, describes Angelique, the evidently White child who has been raised by Blacks. Although Angelique insists on her Whiteness, a menacing dark skinned stranger claims at diverse points in the film to be her brother through her fathers relationship with a slave. The viewer is left to consider whether the widowed plantation owner seen at the beginning of the film is actually Angeliques mother. While it does not answer this question directly, it obviously shows through Angeliques actions that her culture is far more African than European. These suspicions, actions, and Angeliques reliance on the ex-slave Christophine ultimately destroy her marriage and drive her insane. Christophine, herself, fulfills the mammy role since the film portrays her as a constant presence who fiercely guards Angelique from all dangers. In the West Indian context, though, she is given a twist, as she is not only guardian angel but also a practitioner of the magical art of obeah. This portrayal a staple of films dealing with the West Indies is never completely developed. Nevertheless, the film permits us to witness its potency, as Angelique, despairing of keeping her husbands love, calls on Christophine to develop a magical potion to bind his affections to hers. One opponent for those affections is Emily, a young Black servant who might well be characterized as a female Black buck a sexual predator who seduces a married White man into interracial unfaithfulness. Finally, there is Nelson, the long-suffering head of the household who intimately approximates Bogles Tom. In the film, insults of various sorts that are directed towards him result only in silence and a determination to remain a faithful servant. Though, in Dominican novelist Jean Rhys Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), the islands riotous vegetation and dramatic landscape are depicted with an ominous intensity that prompts the protagonists English husband to equate it with evil. Lally, the narrator of another Dominican classic, Phyllis Shand Allfrey The Orchid House ( 1953), faced with the menacing power the islands nature exerts over Stella and Andrew, ruefully concludes that the island offered nothing but beauty and disease. Rhyss protagonists, most evidently Antoinette in Wide Sargasso Sea, share a view of England as deadening, grey and emotionally destructive. England is a place of hypocrites, and the English have a bloody, bloody sense of humour. With a West Indian accent, she goes on, and stupid, lord, lord (Wide Sargasso Sea: 134). But it remains Rhyss place, the source of those English books which provided an early contribution to her construction of herself as writer. The idea of definitive national origin and affiliation is a source of anxiety for Rhyss protagonists. For Rhys herself nationality was complicated by her exile and her race: also England did not value her Caribbean origins. For Rhyss women, as perhaps for herself, England is also a place where human emotions, especially those associated with sexuality, are outlawed or repressed; she described sex in a letter of 1949 as a strange Anglo-Saxon word (Abalos, David T. 1998, 66). Hemond Brown comments that Rhyss attitude to England remained remarkably consistent over her whole writing career: For those fifty-odd years, England meant to her everything she despised (Bandon, Alexandra. 1995). But despite this, she surely demonstrated in her characterisation of working-class English chorus girls and call girls and Rochester (perhaps informed by her important attachments to Lancelot Grey, Hugh Smith, Leslie Tilden Smith and Max Hamer, all upper- or middle-class Englishmen), that the poor Englishwoman and even the colonizing, socially secure Englishman have their own areas of serious emotional damage. She may have blown off steam sometimes, but in her fiction she took pains to be fair to the country which had both given her sustained literary identity and denied her dignity. In the Caribbean, complex racial narratives are the most powerful signifiers, although class increasingly reverberates now. In England, in Rhyss lifetime, it was the class narrative which primarily constructed identity, though Rhys clearly writes the importance of race as a formative self-construction from her Dominican childhood. She sometimes sees race and class as equally important even in England, as in the case of Selina, who carries Rhyss own outlaw status during an important period of her life. In the two explicitly Caribbean novels, Voyage in the Dark and Wide Sargasso Sea, race is evidently a major source of identity. Jean Rhys had long described the cultural dialectic of his regions historical experience and contemporary reality in the following way: But the tribe in bondage learned to fortify itself by cunning assimilation of the religion of the Old World. What seemed to be surrender was redemption. What seemed the loss of tradition was its renewal. What seemed the death of faith was its rebirth. Caribbean existential reality is here portrayed as a creature of paradox. Surface appearances may well be masks for their opposites. What one sees is not likely to be what one gets. Other similar manuscript was in Goodbye Mother by Reinaldo Arenas, the grief inundated daughters Ofelia, Otilia, Odilia and Onelia kill themselves in front of their dead mum just for their cadavers to occasion a series of triumphant choruses from the legion of rats and maggots who feast on the putrefactory banquet. Neither of these authors, nor the evenly talented Rene Depestre and the former Dominican President Juan Bosch, is Anglophonic. Its usually believed that the most excellent Caribbean literature in English consists of chronological polemics On the other hand Cristina Garcia novel â€Å"Dreaming In Cuban† tells the stories of the women of a Cuban family, scattered by revolution but still connected through a shared past. The narrative is polyphony of several voices who, in turn, describe their world from their viewpoint. Characters include Lourdes, an anti-Castro exile who runs a chain of Yankee Doodle Bakeries, and Felicia, whose perceptions connect and blur the lines between insanity and santeria. Pillar, Lourdess daughter and an aspiring punk artist, is determined to return to Cuba to reconnect with her grandmother and make her present life meaningful. She laments that history does not tell the important stories and longs to recover Cuba for herself: [T]heres only imagination where our history should be (138). In the title of Dreaming in Cuban, Dreaming includes all the diverse dreams of Garcias female protagonists about the nature of being Cuban, what it is to be Cuban, to dream, not in American, but in Cuban. This necessitates Garcias taking into account all the conflicting elements of contemporary Cuban-ness for Cuban and Cuban American women. Amazingly, she never invalidates or disputes the diverse and conflicting perspectives of these different dreamers. She succeeds by giving readers a complexity of experience beyond binaries, where many diverse and conflicting perspectives circle around one another endlessly. These differences are constructed by differences in the various ideologies that the characters embrace communism, capitalism, traditional gender relations, voodoo, and feminismand also by differences in their experiences due to varying historical locations in time and place.

Chemical Composition of Oil from Eremostachys Macrophylla

Chemical Composition of Oil from Eremostachys Macrophylla Chemical composition of the essential oil from aerial parts  of Eremostachys macrophylla Montbr. Auch.  from Northeast of Iran Akhlaghi H Abstract The essential oil obtained by hydrodisstillation of the aerial parts of Eremostachys macrophylla Montbr. Auch., grown wild in Iran, was analyzed by GC and GC/MS. The colorless oils were obtained by hydrodistillation, using a Clevenger-type apparatus for three hours, from aerial parts in 0.18% yield (w/w). Fourty-four compounds representing 91.6% of aerial parts oil of Eremostachys macrophylla were identified. The main components of the oil were hexadecanoic acid (27.5%), ethyl linoleate (8.5%), 6-methyl-ÃŽ ±-ionone (8.0%), isobutyl phthalate (5.8%), ÃŽ ±-cadinol (4.7%) and germacrene D (4.3%). The oil was rich in nonterpenoids (56.0%) and among them, oxygenated nonterpenes (53.2%) predominated over nonterpene hydrocarbons (2.8%). Key Word Index Eremostachys macrophylla Montbr. Auch., Lamiaceae, essential oil composition, hexadecanoic acid Introduction The genus Eremostachys of the family Lamiaceae (alt. Labiatae) contains 15 species of perennial in Iran, and five of them are endemic (1,2). During the past decade, seven investigations have been carried out on the chemical composition of the essential oils of the genus Eremostachys. These studies analyze the fresh aerial parts of Eremostachys laciniata Bunge from Jordan (3), flowers, stems, and roots of Eremostachys laevigata from Iran (4), flower, leaf and stem of Eremostachys macrophylla Montbr. Auch., and aerial part and stem of Eremostachys labiosa from Iran (5), aerial parts of Eremostachys adenantha and Eremostachys macrophylla from Iran (6), aerial parts of Eremostachys macrophylla from Central Iran (7), aerial parts of Eremostachys laevigata Bge. From Iran (8) and aerial parts of Eremostachys laciniata Bge. from Iran (9). Phytochemical investigation on a few species of Eremostachys revealed the presence of vicarin, a new isoflavone from Eremostachys vicaryi (10), eremosides A-C, New Iridoid Glucosides from Eremostachys loasifolia (11), loasifolin, a new flavonoid from Eremostachys loasifolia (12), a new acidic iridoid glucoside (13), furanolabdane diterpene glycosides from Eremostachys laciniata (14), new iridoid glucosides from Eremostachys moluccelloides Bunge (15) and Eremostachiin: a new furanolabdane diterpene glycoside from Eremostachys glabra (16). Our study dealt with the analysis of the essential oils of aerial parts of Eremostachys macrophylla Montbr. Auch grown wild in northeastern Iran. Experimental Plant material: The plant material was collected during the flowering stage in May 2012 from northern Sabzevar in Khorasan Province, Iran, at an altitude of 1580 meters. A voucher specimen has been deposited in the herbarium of Research Center of Natural Resources, Sabzevar, Iran. Essential oil isolation. Air-dried aerial parts of E. macrophylla (100 g) were subjected to hydrodistillation in a Clevenger-type apparatus for three hours to produce colorless oils. The yield of total volatiles was 0.18% (w/w). The oils were dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate and stored in sealed vials at 4  °C before analysis. GC analysis. GC analysis was performed using a Shimadzu GC-9A gas chromatograph, equipped with a HP-5MS fused silica column (30 mÃâ€"0.25 mm i.d., film thickness 0.25  µm). The oven temperature was held at 50  °C for five minutes and then programmed to 250  °C at a rate of 3  °C/min. The injector and detector (FID) temperatures were 290  °C . Helium was used as carrier gas with a linear velocity of 32 cm/s. GC/MS analysis. GC/MS analysis was carried out on a Hewlett-packard 6890 gas chromatograph fitted with a fused silica HP-5MS capillary column (30mÃâ€"0.25 mm ; film thickness 0.32  µm) . The oven temperature was programmed from 60  °C to 220  °C at 6  °C/min . Helium was used as carrier gas at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. The chromatograph was coupled to a Hewlett-Packard 5973 mass selective detector with an ionization voltage of 70 eV. Qualitative and quantitative analyses. Constituents of the volatile oils were identified by comparison of their retention indices relative to C9-C21 n-alkanes and of their mass spectral fragmentation pattern with those reported in the literature (17) and stored in a MS library (Wiley 275). The quantification of the components was performed on the basis of their GC peak area data from the HP-5MS column separation. Results and discussion Because of the variable results obtained in previous studies and as a part of on-going work on the chemical analysis of oils obtained from the wild plants of Iran, we decided to re-investigate the oils of this specific plant. Hydrodistilled volatile oils from the crushed dry aerial parts of Eremostachys macrophylla Montbr. Auch. (Lamiaceae) from Sabzevar (Iran) was studied by GC and GC/MS. The air-dried aerial parts of the plant yielded 0.18% (w/w) oil. The oil was clear and colorless. Fourty-four components were identified in the aerial parts oil that contained 91.6% of the compounds. Table 1 lists formulas, percentages, and retention indices of identified compounds in the oil. As evident from the table , the main components are hexadecanoic acid (27.5%), ethyl linoleate (8.5%), 6-methyl-ÃŽ ±-ionone (8.0%), isobutyl phthalate (5.8%), ÃŽ ±-cadinol (4.7%) and germacrene D (4.3%). In this study, GC and GC/MS analysis method revealed monoterpenoid hydrocarbon (MH), oxygenated monoterpenes (OM), sesquiterpenoid hydrocarbons (SH), oxygenated sesquiterpenes (OS), nonterpenoid hydrocarbons (NH), diterpene hydrocarbon (DH) and oxygenated diterpene (OD) in the oil from the aerial parts of Eremostachys macrophylla. One monoterpene hydrocarbon (0.1%), five oxygenated monoterpenes (8.8%), thirteen sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (13.4%), six oxygenated sesquiterpenes (10.4%), seventeen nonterpene hydrocarbons (56.0%), one diterpene hydrocarbon (2.5%) and one oxygenated diterpene (0.4%) were detected in this oil. The data lead to a rank order of constituent groups: NH>SH>OS>OM>DH>OD>MH for the aerial parts oil. The main components in this oil were hexadecanoic acid (27.5%), ethyl linoleate (8.5%), 6-methyl-ÃŽ ±-ionone (8.0%), isobutyl phthalate (5.8%), ÃŽ ±-cadinol (4.7%) and germacrene D (4.3%). The oil consisted mainly of nonterpenes and relatively small fractions of other terpenoids. Also, oxygenated nonoterpenes (53.2%) predominated over nonterpene hydrocarbons (2.8%). However, in a previous study on volatile oil from aerial parts of Eremostachys macrophylla, among the thirty-five identified compounds that have been compromised to 92.9% of the oil, spathulenol (23.4%), hexadecanoic acid (13.5%) and caryophyllene oxide (9.3%) were the major ones (6), while in other report on the aerial parts of this plant, among the sixteen identified compounds that have been compromised to 96.4% of the oil; germacrene-D (47.1%), germacrene-B (17.8%), ÃŽ ³-elemene (9.1%), myrcene (6.7%), ÃŽ ²-elemene (2.7%), and ÃŽ ²-phellandrene (2.6%) have been the major ones (7). Also, we reported analysis of the essential oils from flowers, leaves and stems of Eremostachys macrophylla (5). The specimen had been collected at different place, time and altitude from current study. The major compounds in the flower oil of E. macrophylla were 1,8-cineol (19.0 %) and germacrene D-4-ol (10.6 %), whereas the leaf oil contained ÃŽ ±-pinene (30.0 %), 1,10-di-epi cubenol (22.7 %), elemol ( 13.3 %) and bornyl acetate (11.0 %). The stem oil of the plant consisted mainly of 1,10-di-epi cubenol (34.4%) and elemol (24.0 %). Evident from the above data, there are significant differences in the results of the current study with previous studies (6,7) for the aerial parts of E. macrophylla . These discrepancies are not entirely unexpected since hydrodistillation relates to the interactions of the oil constituents with water vapor. Of course, there may also be differences related to environmental conditions such as climate, altitude, collection time, ground composition of the sampling area and different growth stages such as pre-flowering, fresh flowering and air-dried-flowering stages. Conclusion The chemical composition of the essential oil of aerial parts from Eremostachys macrophylla Montbr. Auch. (Lamiaceae) growing in Sabzevar was investigated. This study showed considerable amounts of hexadecanoic acid (27.5%), ethyl linoleate (8.5%), 6-methyl-ÃŽ ±-ionone (8.0%). These major constituents were different from previous studies on the same species 5-7. These results demonstrated that the chemical composition of the essential oil of the same species can change depending on a variety of conditions, including climate, time of collection, and the ground composition of the sampling area besides of growth stages of plant. Acknowledgment We are grateful to Dr. V. Mozaffarian (Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Tehran) for identifying the plant materials. Table 1. Constituents of the essential oils from aerial parts of Eremostachys macrophylla obtained by hydrodistillation a No. compound Formula Percentage RRIb Class 1 Limonene C10H16 0.1 1031 MHc 2 4-Terpineol C10H18O 0.1 1179 OMd 3 Fenchyl acetate C12H20O2 0.4 1223 OM 4 Anethole C10H12O 0.1 1285 OM 5 ÃŽ ±-Copaene C15H24 0.2 1364 SHe 6 ÃŽ ²- Bourbonene C15H24 0.8 1385 SH 7 ÃŽ ²-Cubebene C15H24 0.1 1390 SH 8 Tetradecane C14H30 0.1 1400 NHf 9 ÃŽ ²-Caryophyllene C15H24 0.3 1418 SH 10 ÃŽ ±-Guaiene C15H24 0.1 1439 SH 11 Aromadendrene C15H24 0.6 1442 SH 12 ÃŽ ±-Humulene C15H24 2.0 1452 SH 13 (E)-ÃŽ ²-Farnesene C15H24 0.1 1457 SH 14 Germacrene D C15H24 4.3 1480 SH 15 ÃŽ ²-Ionone C13H20O 0.2 1488 OM 16 Bicyclogermacrene C15H24 0.7 1500 SH 17 ÃŽ ³-Cadinene C15H24 0.6 1515 SH 18 6-Methyl-ÃŽ ±-ionone C14H22O 8.0 1518 OM 19 ÃŽ ´-Cadinene C15H24 3.5 1522 SH 20 Cadina-1,4-diene C15H24 0.1 1533 SH 21 Germacrene D-4-ol C15H26O 0.6 1574 OSg 22 Spathulenol C15H24O 1.5 1578 OS 23 Caryophyllene oxide C15H24O 0.5 1583 OS 24 Humulene epoxide II C15H24O 1.7 1608 OS 25 Ï„-Muurolol C15H26O 1.4 1643 OS 26 ÃŽ ±-Cadinol C15H26O 4.7 1656 OS 27 Tetradecanoic acid C14H28O2 1.8 1760 NH 28 Octadecane C18H38 0.4 1800 NH 29 6,10,14-Trimethyl-2-Pentadecanone, C18H36O 1.7 1848 NH 30 2-Hydroxy-Cyclopentadecanone C15H28O2 0.4 1853 NH 31 Pentadecanoic acid C15H30O2 0.3 1867 NH 32 Isobutyl phthalate C16H22O4 5.8 1877 NH 33 Cyclohexadecane C16H32 0.3 1883 NH 34 16-methyl-Oxacyclohexadecan-2-one, C16H30O2 0.3 1943 NH 35 Sandaracopimara-8(14),15-diene C20H32 2.5 1969 DHh 36 di-Butylphthalate C16H22O4 0.9 1973 NH 37 Hexadecanoic acid C16H32O2 27.5 1977 NH 38 Eicosane C20H42 2.0 2000 NH 39 Heptadecanoic acid C17H34O2 0.4 2065 NH 40 Methyl linoleate C19H34O2 0.6 2084 NH 41 Phytol C20H40O 0.4 2111 ODi 42 (Z,Z)-9,12-Octadecadienoic acid C18H32O2 2.7 2136 NH 43 Ethyl linoleate C20H36O2 8.5 2164 NH 44 Octadecanoic acid C18H36O2 2.3 2172 NH Total identified 91.6 a The compounds have been arranged according to their retention indices on an HP-5 MS capillary column b Kovatz retention indices given in the literature c Monoterpene hydrocarbons d Oxygenated monoterpene e Sesquiterpene hydrocarbons f Nonterpene hydrocarbons g Oxygenated sesquiterpene hDiterpene hygrocarbon iOxygenated diterpene References 1. Mozaffarian, V. (1996), A Dictionary of Iranian plant names, Frhang Moaser, Tehran, pp. 207-208. 2. Rechinger,K.H. (1982). Eremostachys, in: Flora Iranica, Labiatae No. 150. Edits., K.H. Rechinger and I.C. Hedge, Pp 290-292, Akademische Druck and Verlagsanstalt, Graz, Austria. 3. Al-Jaber, H.I., Al-Qudah, M.A., Barhoumi, L.M., Abaza, I.F., Afifi, F.U. (2012). Variation in the essential oil composition of Eremostachys laciniata from Jordan at different flowering stages, J. Essent. Oil Res. 24(3): 289-297. 4. Esmaeili, A. (2012). Biological activities of Eremostachys laevigata Bunge. grown in Iran, Pak. J. Pharm. Sci., 25(4): 803-808. 5. Rustaiyan, A., Masoudi, S., Ezzatzadeh, E., Akhlaghi, H., Aboli, J. (2011). Composition of the Aerial Part, Flower, Leaf and Stem Oils of Eremostachys macrophylla Montbr. Auch. and Eremostachys labiosa Bunge. from Iran, J Essent. Oil Bear. Pl., 14(1): 84-88. 6. Javidnia, K., Miri, R., Soltani, M., Khosravi, A.R. (2008). Essential oil composition of two species of Eremostachys from Iran (E. adenantha Jaub. et spach and E. macrophylla Montbr. et auch. J. Essent. Oil Res., 20(3): 226-228. 7.Nori-Shargh D., Kiaei, S.M., Deyhimi, F. (2007). The volatile constituents analysis of Eremostachys macrophylla Montbr. Auch. from Iran, Nat. Prod. Res., 21(8):733-5. 8. Amiri, H., Meshkat Al Sadat, M.H., Lari Yazdi, H. (2007). Chemical composition of the essential oil of Eremostachys Laevigata bung, DARU J.Pharm. Sci., 15(1):34-40. 9. Navaei, M.N., Mirza, M. (2006). Chemical composition of the oil of Eremostachys laciniata (L.) Bunge from Iran, Flavour. Frag. J., 21(4): 645-646. 10. Imran, M., Mehmood, R., Mughal, U.R., Ali, B., Malik, A. (2012). Vicarin, a new isoflavone from Eremostachys vicaryi, J. Asian Nat. Prod. Res., 14(3): 293-296. 11. Ali, B., Mehmood, R., Mughal, U.R., Malik, A., Safder, M., Hussain, R., Imran, M., Tareen, R.B. (2012). Eremosides A-C, New Iridoid Glucosides from Eremostachys loasifolia, Helv. Chim. Acta, 95(4): 586-593. 12. Mughal, U.R., Fatima, I., Malik, A., Tareen, R.B. (2010). Loasifolin, a new flavonoid from Eremostachys loasifolia, J. Asian Nat. Prod. Res., 12(4): 328-330. 13. Calis, I., Guevenc, A., Armagan, M., Koyuncu, M., Gotfredsen, C.H., Jensend, S.R. (2008). Secondary metabolites from Eremostachys laciniata, Nat. Prod. Commun., 3(2): 117-124. 14. Delazar, A., Modarresi, M., Nazemiyeh, H., Fathi-Azad, F., Nahar, L., Sarker, S.D. (2008). Furanolabdane diterpene glycosides from Eremostachys laciniata, Nat. Prod. Commun., 3(6): 873-876. 15. Calis, I., Guvenc, A., Armagan, M., Koyuncu, M., Gotfredsen, C.H. Jensen, S.R. (2007). Iridoid glucosides from Eremostachys moluccelloides Bunge, Helv. Chim. Acta, 90(8): 1461-1466. 16. Delazar, A., Modarresi, M., Shoeb, M., Nahar, L., Reid, R.G., Kumarasamy, Y., Majinda, R.R.T., Sarker, S.D. (2006). Eremostachiin: a new furanolabdane diterpene glycoside from Eremostachys glabra, Nat. Prod. Res., 20(2): 167-172. 17. R.P. Adams, (2007). Identification of Essential Oil Components by Gas Chromatography/ Mass Spectrometry, 4th Edition. Allured Publishing Corporation, Carol Stream, IL, USA.

Sophocles Oedipus the King and Cocteaus The Infernal Machine Essay

Sophocles' Oedipus the King and Cocteau's The Infernal Machine   Ã‚  Ã‚   Sophocles' Oedipus the King and Cocteau's The Infernal Machine relate the same story, yet from quite different angles. Sophocles' play is written in heightened language and spends 1,530 lines on an hour of time. On the other hand, Cocteau's characters speak colloquially, and his 96 pages cover 17 years, putting much more emphasis on the events prior to where Sophocles begins his play. Sophocles and Cocteau present Oedipus' character in different lights, and through these characters express contrary themes. Sophocles' proud yet wise Oedipus reveals that a human's future is determined by his actions, while Cocteau's haughty yet immature Oedipus suggests that mortals' fates are completely predetermined by the gods. In both plays Oedipus appears to have extreme pride; while Sophocles' clever Oedipus has reason for his pride, Cocteau's foolish Oedipus is arrogant without cause. Sophocles' Oedipus solves "the (sphinx's) riddle by (his) wit alone."(Soph .O.T. 397) The Sphinx sits on the road to Thebes and kills anyone who can not answer her riddle until Oedipus appears, solves the riddle, and saves Thebes. It is at this point that he becomes King of Thebes and rules his people well. He does not know that he has killed his father, the former king, and married his mother. When his presence in Thebes causes a plague to strike the city, he sincerely seeks out the cure for his city's plight. <block quote>I know you are all sick, yet there is not one of you, sick though you are, that is as sick as I myself. Your several sorrows each have single scope and touch but one of you. My spirit groans for city and myself and you at once. You have not roused m... ...sary of Literary Terms, 7th ed. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999. Cocteau, Jean. (1963). The Infernal Machine and other plays. (Bermel, Albert.). New York: New Directions. Ehrenberg, Victor. â€Å"Sophoclean Rulers: Oedipus.† In Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, edited by Michael J. O’Brien. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. Jaeger, Werner. â€Å"Sophocles’ Mastery of Character Development.† In Readings on Sophocles, edited by Don Nardo. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1997. Sophocles. (1991). Sophocles I: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone (Grene, David.). Chicago: University of Chicago.   Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. Transl. by F. Storr. no pag. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/browse-mixed new?tag=public&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&part=0&id=SopOedi       Sophocles' Oedipus the King and Cocteau's The Infernal Machine Essay Sophocles' Oedipus the King and Cocteau's The Infernal Machine   Ã‚  Ã‚   Sophocles' Oedipus the King and Cocteau's The Infernal Machine relate the same story, yet from quite different angles. Sophocles' play is written in heightened language and spends 1,530 lines on an hour of time. On the other hand, Cocteau's characters speak colloquially, and his 96 pages cover 17 years, putting much more emphasis on the events prior to where Sophocles begins his play. Sophocles and Cocteau present Oedipus' character in different lights, and through these characters express contrary themes. Sophocles' proud yet wise Oedipus reveals that a human's future is determined by his actions, while Cocteau's haughty yet immature Oedipus suggests that mortals' fates are completely predetermined by the gods. In both plays Oedipus appears to have extreme pride; while Sophocles' clever Oedipus has reason for his pride, Cocteau's foolish Oedipus is arrogant without cause. Sophocles' Oedipus solves "the (sphinx's) riddle by (his) wit alone."(Soph .O.T. 397) The Sphinx sits on the road to Thebes and kills anyone who can not answer her riddle until Oedipus appears, solves the riddle, and saves Thebes. It is at this point that he becomes King of Thebes and rules his people well. He does not know that he has killed his father, the former king, and married his mother. When his presence in Thebes causes a plague to strike the city, he sincerely seeks out the cure for his city's plight. <block quote>I know you are all sick, yet there is not one of you, sick though you are, that is as sick as I myself. Your several sorrows each have single scope and touch but one of you. My spirit groans for city and myself and you at once. You have not roused m... ...sary of Literary Terms, 7th ed. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999. Cocteau, Jean. (1963). The Infernal Machine and other plays. (Bermel, Albert.). New York: New Directions. Ehrenberg, Victor. â€Å"Sophoclean Rulers: Oedipus.† In Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, edited by Michael J. O’Brien. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. Jaeger, Werner. â€Å"Sophocles’ Mastery of Character Development.† In Readings on Sophocles, edited by Don Nardo. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1997. Sophocles. (1991). Sophocles I: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone (Grene, David.). Chicago: University of Chicago.   Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. Transl. by F. Storr. no pag. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/browse-mixed new?tag=public&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&part=0&id=SopOedi      

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) Essay -- essays research papers

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) One of the leading causes of mental retardation in the United States is fetal alcohol syndrome or FAS. Alcohol is the most commonly abused substance by pregnant women because it's legal and socially acceptable. A greater majority of young women are not aware of the complications that are involved with pregnancy. They see pregnancy as a way of bringing a life into the world but do not use the necessary safety measure in their dietary habits to prevent such damage or inhibitions of such a life. By continuing on their drinking binge throughout their pregnancy, they can cause an inexplicable damage to herself and the fetus she is carrying. In my opinion, any amount of alcohol combined with pregnancy can cause devastating effects to the fetus. "Neurobehavioral deficits have been found in infants whose mothers reported fewer than seven standard drinks a week, and the effects of drinking in early pregnancy (the first trimester) are among the more severe of alcohol's effects on the fetus, causing irreversible facial malformations and neurological damage" (Kaskutas & Graves, 2001). Lee Ann Kaskutas and Karen Graves believes that the precision of measurement of how much a woman drinks throughout pregnancy is very important to the assessment of fetal risk (2001). The title of their study, "Pre-pregnancy drinking: How drink size affects risk assessment", can help us conclude that the independent variables are the drink sizes and the dependent variable is the risk assessment. From the introduction section, I have learned that in the United States, American Indians and African Americans are at the highest risk for FAS. Even though there have been advances in research methodology, people can have a misconception on the concept of what is a standard drink. When asked how much they drank on previous surveys, previous participants had a misconception on the drink sizes. "This has implications for FAS risk assessment, as underestimates of alcohol consumptions could lead researchers to conclude that increasingly lower safe thresholds of consumption are called for" (Kaskutas & Graves, 2001). The authors found that half of the subjects under study have underestimated the amount of alcohol in their various drinks. The authors believed that most women ... ...ance on standard drinks results in considerable underestimation of alcohol consumption, especially among the heavier drinkers and those consuming higher alcohol content beverages" (Kaskutas & Graves, 2001). It is concluded in this research that standard drink sizes assume a much smaller size than self-defined drink sizes. The authors did note that this study has several limitations. First, their sample included only few white subjects with no Hispanics, Asians and other ethnic groups. Also, "the vessels methodology should be used with expanded samples to determine whether large drink sizes are represented among other groups of pregnant women" (Kaskutas & Graves, 2001). Future research could include specifications of standard drink size for different types of alcohol when assessing risk for FAS. "Consideration of drink size represents a promising avenue both for alcohol research and for alcohol prevention and education, with pregnant women and more broa dly with the general population" (Kaskutas & Graves, 2001). Reference Kaskutas, L.A., Graves, K. (2001). Pre-pregnancy: How drink sizes affects risk assessment. Addiction, Vol 96(8), 1199-1209.

Instructional Materials Essay

Social Studies can be defined as a discipline in which we can learn about our world and man’s interaction with his immediate and remote environment. Since Social Studies deals with how men interact with its social and physical environments, how can this interaction of physical and social environment be learnt by the pupils? This can be learnt in the classroom where teaching and learning cannot be conducted by the teacher by merely feeling his pupils with facts and information. There is need to expose the pupils to varied activities. The environment of the child is rich in varied resources. The teacher should utilize these varied resources to promote or stimulate learning among his pupils. Pupils learn positively not by hearing alone but by seeing and doing. How can the teacher stimulate the pupils’ interest? This can be done by the use of instructional materials. Instructional materials are meant to stimulate pupils’ interest in the classroom for meaningful learning to take place. They also afford the pupils the opportunity to make use of more of their senses in the process of learning experiences which are not available in the classroom or school environment, are â€Å"brought† to the classroom for pupils’ attention through the use of instructional materials. For example, the use of the map of the world in teaching some topics in social studies enables the teacher to bring to class these learning experiences. â€Å"This is why instructional materials is said to be aids to learning rather than teaching†. 1.2. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The study was planned mainly to: a. Provide useful information which will contribute in some ways to the improvement of the teaching of social studies in Nigeria primary schools through the effective use of instructional materials. b. Generate data that will help school administrators in their policy formation as regards the use of instructional materials in schools. c. Make available valuable information that will be helpful to educational technologist in their design of appropriate instructional materials for schools. 1.3. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY Nigeria is a potentially a great Nation. But for the Nation to fully attain the enviable position of greatness, her citizens must be dedicated honest, patriotic and hardworking. This is why the federal Government of Nigeria is at present embarking on the project of re-branding the country with the theme, great Nation, good people. Educators have rightly identified social studies as one subject that can help to make these lofty dreams of greatness a reality. Therefore, it cannot be overemphasized on the need to effectively teach this subject through the use of instructional materials. Here has the importance of this study. It will be expected that result of this study may be useful in the following ways: a. Enabling social studies teacher to realize more than ever before the importance of the use of instructional materials while teaching especially social studies. b. Providing more useful information for social studies teacher as regards the various instructional materials they can employ in teaching. c. Providing more useful information for prospective designs of instructional materials on the need to provide suitable instructional materials for use in schools. 1.4. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM It is the consensus among scholars in Nigerian that social studies is one subject that is crucial to the realization of the Nigeria dream of greatness. This is the reasons why social studies in one of the cone subjects at the primary school and junior school levels. However, it seems the teaching and learning of the subject is hampered by the problem of lack of in adequate use of instructional materials. Therefore, the problem of this research is to look at the problems surrounding the use of instructional materials in the teaching of social studies in primary schools. Specifically, this study has attempted to provide answers to the following research questions. 1.5. RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1. Do primary school teachers use instructional materials while teaching social studies? 2. Are primary school social studies teachers aware of the benefits of using instructional materials in teaching? 3. Does the use of instructional materials in teaching have any impact on pupils’ performance in primary school social studies? 4. Could the non use of instructional materials in the teaching of social studies in primary schools be as a result of their being inadequate? 5. What contribution does the use of instructional materials have on the teaching and learning of social studies? 1.6. SCOPE OF THE STUDY The scope of this research has been limited to some selected primary schools in Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Area of Lagos State. The project is to examine the impact of instructional materials in teaching of social studies in selected primary schools in Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Areas. And also to know how learning can be stimulated in primary schools pupils. The limitation is due to financial and time constraint. 1.7. DEFINITION OF TERMS 1. SOCIAL STUDIES: Social Studies can be defined as a study that equips learners with tools such as attitude, values and skills necessary in solving personal and community related problems. Social Studies is also a study of a man and his environment. It is also the study of many interactions with his physical and social environment. It is a study of how man lives in the society, what he does, how his life is affected by things, people as well as social practices around him. 2. INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS: These are the resources used to facilitate teaching and learning. 3. TEACHING: This can be defined as the conscious and deliberate efforts by a matured or experienced person to impact knowledge, information, skill, attitude and beliefs to an immature or less experienced person. Is also a systematic way of impacting knowledge on to the people. 4. ENVIRONMENT: These are what we interact within our surroundings likes highlands, lakes, rivers and vegetations e.t.c. 5. LEARNING: Advanced knowledge gained by careful study. Is also a permanent changes in behavior due to past experiences. 6. FACILITATING: Make learning easy without any difficulty 7. ABSTRACT: These are what we cannot see in our surroundings 8. IMPACT: The important or the value one devices from doing something 9. STIMULATING: The art of reasoning quickly and thought and feeling CHAPTER TWO 2.1. LITERATURE REVIEW The art of teaching and learning involves the interaction of both the human and materials resources in a classroom setting. Since human beings are social animals and they cannot live in isolation, they have to socialize and interact among themselves and with environment. This brings us to the question† What is Social Studies†? Social Studies can be defined as study that equips learners with tools such as attitudes, values, skills necessary in solving personal and community related problems. Information and knowledge gathered from reading books, journals, research works may reveal the area which have not been adequately researched into to us. Furthermore, reviews of literature sometimes provoke the urge to carry out a research based on what we read in the books or journal. Teaching and learning materials can be defined as any device piece of equipment, graphic representation, sound reproduction or illustration that helps the pupils to learn. Generally, instructional materi als are used to reinforce and to enrich the mastery of the subject matter. The roles of instructional materials have been of great importance to teaching in primary schools. According to Awosolu et al (1997), quoting Alani et al (1995) he said that since most pupils in primary schools are still very young, their intellectual abilities may not allow abstract presentation in facts without having to complement the content with concrete materials. It is in this regard that instructional materials are perceived as â€Å"aids to learning rather than aid to teaching†. Lawton and Dufour and Dahunsi (1979) classify social studies instructional materials in the following: 1. PICTORIAL MATERIALS: These include globes, maps, posters, flip and well charts diagrams. 2. PRINTED MATERIALS: These include textbooks, reference books, supplementary books, work books, journals, newspapers and magazines. 3. BOARDS LIKE: Chalkboard, Flannel or felt boards 4. MECHANICAL AIDS: These are audio-visual equipment and materials. Having known the various instructional materials, they serve as information carriers which are designed specifically to fulfill objectives in a teaching learning situation. In fact, learning resources in social studies are multi various and limitless. Social studies by its nature and content deals with the realities of men living in his complex environment. Hence, anything has to do with man’s behavior and interaction as a social behavior qualifies as an instructional materials in social studies. It is therefore possible to employ as many instructional materials as possible when teaching any topic in social studies because they help to stimulate pupils’ interest and reduce the numbers of verbal responses. A lot has been written on the impact of instructional materials in teaching and learning of social studies. Agun (1988) asserts that many curriculum innovations like inquiry or problem solving method of instruction or learning how to learn may not be meaningfully and effectively implemented without the use of a wide variety of learning resource. Generally, instructional materials are used to reinforce and enrich the mastery of the subject matter. As a matter of fact, Durojaiye (1978) declared that there is a large number of failure due to the fact that teacher are not doing their work as conscientiously as they should. The critics feel that schools no longer offer true learning and creativity to their pupils. Supporting the vies of these critics. Popham (1971) feels that social studies teachers and curriculum designers in the schools do not make any significant impact on pupils due to the lack of the use of instructional materials. According to Adusual (1982), instructional materials size could affect teacher’s effectiveness because, the smaller the shape the greater the degree of contact, and more effective the teaching and learning interaction. Assuming that there were adequate number of teaching aids it can be give to each of the pupils, therefore, the teaching of social studies without making use of instructional materials is not helping his pupils to learn. 2.2. THE IMPORTANCE OF USING INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS It is pertinent for teachers to become aware of the benefits that accrue from the utilization of instructional materials in order to intensity their efforts at achieving effective result in their teaching activities. Weaver and Bollinger (1949) identified the following advantages: 1. They attract and hold intention: A verbal explanation become more effective in attracting and creating interest when supplemented by a visual aid. 2. Instructional materials help retention of information and visual images. The major part of the things people heard are forgotten in a relatively short time and it becomes difficult to recall accurately what is heard. On the other hand, the things they see make a more lasting impression and they experience considerably less difficulty in calling the object or process with increased accuracy. 3. They help informing correct images: People often interpret information in term of their own background of experiences. Consequently, it is possible and quite probable for a group of learners to form entirely different ideas about the same things as a result of verbal description. The use of instructional materials helps to eliminate this inconsistency. 4. They assist in understanding proper relationships of components parts. 5. More of the benefits, teachers can reap when instructional materials are used in the teaching process: According to Ogunmilade (1984) the ability it provides in the share of expertise, helping knowledge to reach a lot of people. Simultaneously preservation of records and documents. Bringing before us what otherwise could have looked imaginary or far-fetched; enriching learning and allowing students to learn at their own rate. Furthermore, using of instructional materials makes teaching more effective and facilitates also to master the topic taught to the learner. Finally, using of instructional materials make learning easier and pleasurable at the same time concretize the learning process in the learners. 2.3. PROBLEMS FACING THE USE OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS IN SCHOOLS In spite of the numerous benefits accruing from the use of instructional materials in teaching and learning situation its application in our schools has been discouraging because of the following process: 1. Lack of Direction: This is characterized by lip service, paid to use to educational technology in high quarter. Apart from the meager budgetary provisions often made by governments for instructional materials, when it comes to implementation, the funds are hardly released. 2. Resistance to change on the part of the teachers. 3. Lack of readiness of teaching staff to use audio-visual techniques and charge their methods and tools within the classroom. 4. Lack of insfrastructures and facilities that might make the use of instructional aid more meaningful such as lecture halls, audio-visual, libraries, studios, independent study spaces, audio-visual resource centre e.t.c. 5. Inadequate personnel or specialist to train users of instructional materials in schools. 6. Fear of failure in their use 7. Fear that new technology would replace teachers. 8. Inadequate instructional materials: Since the inception of social studies programme, teachers have consistently complained about the problems of quality and quantity of instructional materials. The problem is traceable to lack of good textbooks, cost of textbooks, commercialization of materials, non-functional libraries and resources centres, gap between publication and dissemination of instructional materials, lack of quality control of textual materials and so on. In most cases, teachers rely on outdated and stereotyped textbooks which hardly reflect the needs of pupils. 9. Lack of Fund: This is one of the big problems confronting teachers in general, and social studies teacher in particular. The problem here is lack of motivation and incessant agitation by teachers for improved condition of service. Thus, primary school teachers including social studies teachers have lost interest in teaching even though they are still called teachers. Those who have the slightest opportunity leave the classroom for greener pastures. The incessant replacement that follows such frequent resignations leads to lack of continuity in social studies classrooms. The pupils are usually the worse hit by this. Furthermore, funds are not available for the provision of instructional materials, thereby leaving teachers to either improvise or teach without any in majority of the cases. CHAPTER THREE 3.0.RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This chapter is concerned with the techniques used by the researcher in the collection of data for investigation. It covers explanation on the choice and description of instrument employed for the collection of data. Also included are the sampling techniques, method of administration of the questionnaire and the data analysis method. 3.1.RESEARCH INSTRUMENT The research instrument used for this study is the questionnaire. The choice of the questionnaire is because of its advantage of allowing respondents to answer questions without any outside influence such as facial appearance that may influence respondents as in the interview method. The questionnaire used is in two parts. The first part deals with the personal data of the respondents while the second part contains ten statements which attempt to find out the impact of the use of instructional materials have in teaching social studies. 3.2.SAMPLE AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUE The sample of this study consists of 60 primary school teachers. The sample was chosen from five primary schools in Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Area of Lagos State. The sampling technique used in selecting the sample for the study was the systematic random sampling. The sampling technique removes bias in the selection of the elements, and it is convenient and more accurate than the random sampling. 4.3. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS 1. Most social studies teachers aware of the need for instructional materials in teaching of social studies. 2. Most primary schools have inadequate instructional materials in the teaching of social studies 3. Majority of the social studies teacher do not make use of instructional materials during their lesson 4. Most of the social studies teachers agree that the chalkboard is one of the instructional materials which aid effective teaching of social studies. 5. Most of the teachers take their pupils on field trips majority of social studies teachers use community resources like red objects and resources persons because they promote learning in social studies. Most social studies teachers do not have overhead projectors, audio-visual equipment which can promote learning in social studies. 6. Almost all the teachers of social studies said that inadequate equipment is one of the problems which they face. 7. Most social studies teachers agree that effective use of instructional materials contribute positively to learning process. 4.4. DISCUSSION From the research study most primary school teachers are aware of instructional materials for the teaching of social studies. This observation is consistent with the assertion of Nduanya (1986) that teachings are more effective when teachers locate and use appropriate resources. Furthermore, it is observed that most primary schools lack instructional materials be it concrete or abstract to teach social studies. This shows that most primary schools in Ibeju-Lekki Local Government either lack or have inadequate instructional materials for the teaching of social studies. From the research study, it can be observed that majority of social studies teachers do not make use of instructional materials during social studies lessons. This is as a result of inadequate instructional materials which is due to lack of fund to provide instructional materials. This findings agrees with Agun (1988) who asserts that many curriculum innovations like inquiring or problem solving method of instructional or learning how to learn may not be meaningful and effectively implemented without the use of a wide variety of learning research. In fact, it can be deduced from the research study that most social studies teachers make use of chalkboard as an instructional material which is most important aids to effective teaching. This implies that the chalkboard is one of the instructional materials that is the most available instructional materials in every school. There is no school which will have inadequate instructional materials and will not have a chalkboard. Indeed, the chalkboard as one of the instructional materials is commonly used by the teachers. This findings on the use of chalkboard agrees with Ajimoko (1973); Dahunsi (1979), Akanbi (1982) and Osofisan (1982) they said apart from the chalkboard, the textbook was the next most frequently used of the instructional materials. Consequently, from the findings it can be observed that majority of social studies teacher take their pupils out on field trips. Pupils are taking out on excursion to relate their experience with the theory they have been taught in the classroom. When pupils are taking out on field trips they learn more about their surroundings as the nature of social studies and learning becomes more permanent in them. From the findings it shows that majority of social studies teachers makes use of resources centres. This indicates that pupils need to be taken out of the classroom to appreciate the fact that learning does not end within the premises of the classroom. When pupils go out, they need to be trained to observe event and learn without the teacher being around them. This finding agrees with Preston and Herman (1981). These resource centres become social studies laboratory in which pupils becomes young social scientists. From the research study, it can be deducted that most social studies teachers do not make use of audio-visual materials because they don’t have them. This finding agrees with Akibote (1983) on the very limited uses of electronic materials in school within Ondo Local Government Area. This is as a result of the teacher’s inabilities to manipulate any of the equipment since they do not have teacher training. Another related problem may be due to lack of electricity because majority of the schools do not have electricity. Another finding of the study deduced that in teaching of social studies, inadequate equipment is one of the problems faced by social studies teachers. This implies that some social studies lessons are done in abstract. So, effective learning cannot be facilitated. This negative effect may be as a result of lack of funds to provide adequate instructional materials in schools and teachers are not ready to improve because of their salaries are very inadequate. The results also shown that most of the social studies teachers agrees that most of the social studies teachers agrees that the effective use of instructional materials combine positively to learning process. The effect is that when instructional materials are effectively used, they facilitate learning and stimulate pupil’s interest. They also make their lessons more interesting and relief the pupils from the burden of tiredness while learning. CHAPTER FIVE SUMMARY, SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of instructional materials in the teaching of social studies in primary schools. In this chapter, the summary of the major findings will be highlighted. The discussion will also include suggestions for policy making and areas where future research on the topic may be directed. 5.1. SUMMARY One of the major findings of this research is that most social studies teachers agreed on the importance of teaching the subject with instructional materials. Another outcome of this project is that there are inadequate instructional materials for teaching social studies in primary schools. So many instances, teaching is done without instructional materials. It was also revealed from the research that the chalkboard that is always available in schools is one of the instructional materials which aids the effective teaching of social studies. This study also reveals that although most primary schools do not have audio-visual aids, social studies teachers compensate for this by making use of real objects, resource persons and by taking their pupils on field trips. Finally, from this research, it was revealed that the use of instructional materials in teaching social studies contribute positively to the learning of the subject 5.2. SUGGESTIONS Although this study has not claimed to be complete, some suggestions based on its findings could be made on how to improve the teaching of social studies in primary schools through the effective use of instructional materials. In the first place, because of the importance of instructional materials in the teaching and learning of social studies in primary schools, the various ministries of education and school boards in the country should ensure that adequate instructional materials are supplied to primary schools. Secondly, the government should ensure that there is regular supply of electricity and schools in the villages that lack electricity should be provided with generators. This will enable the schools to make use of audio-visual aids such as television, projector and VCD. Thirdly, regular workshops and seminars should be organized by the various school boards for primary school teachers on how to make simple instructional materials and on the use of the various instructional materials. Finally, inspectors of education should constantly visit schools to ensure that the instructional materials available are judiciously used by teachers for teaching. 5.3. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES Like with most researches, this study cannot claim to have exhausted all that is to be said on the use of instructional materials in teaching social studies in primary schools. Instead, this survey should be regarded as a guide for further research. Therefore, as regards the future, this researcher suggests some specific projects. First of all, a further investigation should be carried out to find out how use of instructional materials or lack of this affects pupils’ academic performance in social studies. In addition, social studies teacher should consider the instructional materials when teaching social studies at the same time there is need for education technology practitioners to write texts more relevant to Nigeria situation and needs such texts should contain model and samples of instructional materials and the procedure for making them by individual teachers. Furthermore, there should be a study on the suitability or otherwise of the available instructional materials that are being used in teaching social studies in primary schools. DEPARTMENT OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES ADENIRAN OGUNSANYA COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, EPE CAMPUS, EPE. RESEARCH PROJECT 2013 QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE IMPACT OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS ON THE TEACHING OF SOCIAL STUDIES IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN IBEJU-LEKKI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF LAGOS STATE REFERENCES Alani, R.A; Oduyemi, O.G and Agagu A.A. (1995): Teaching Aids; Reading in Subject Methodology; Ijebu-Ode, Olaf Association, Page 29-34. Awosolu, E.O. and Fasasi A.K.(1996): â€Å"Teacher’s use of Instructional materials in Primary Social Studies in Epe Metropolis† The Beagle, Journal of Primary Education,, Vol. 1 and 2, page 71-77. Awosolu, E.O. and Fasasi A.K. (1996) â€Å"Teacher’s use of Instructional Materials in Primary Social Studies in Epe Metropolis† quoting Agun 1988, Nduanya 1986, Imogie 1988, Alani et al 1995, Dufour and Dahunsi 1979, Ajimoko 1973, Preston and Herman 1981, Akibote 1983, Akanbi 1982, and Osofisan 1982 in the Beagle, Journal of Primary Education, Vol 1 and 2, page 71 – 77. Olowoye, B. (1996): Principle and Method of Teachings. Ibadan, Afolabi Press Limited Page 107 – 120 Osunkalu, A.S. (1973): Instructional Media quoting Adesina 1982, Durojaiye 1978 Welberg 1970, Nwaogu 1980 and Pophas 1971 in a Journal of Teachers Guide Vol. 2 page 21 – 26. View as multi-pages