Take home quize Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Take home quize - Coursework Example The authors Jones and Barnett (2009) description, the authors strongly suggest the importance of the theory to the health educators that makes the theory become very interesting. Moreover, the authors give practical example to support the theory. The authors stated that a health educator needs to identify the intention of a person regarding a particular behavior. In order to successful determine the intentions of a person; it is important to comprehend the following factors as a health educator. Firstly, understand the attitude of the individual towards the behavior. Secondly, the subject must understand the subjective norms and lastly identify how the person perceived the behavioral control. These factors make the theory be of interest as they suggest critical parts in the stages of a change model. b) Contemplation stage: this is a point where a person starts to consider a behavior change someday. For example a smoker and an alcohol drinker who considers quitting the practice of stopping to drink alcohol or smoking someday but still not very ready for it then. The article states that health educators have a responsibility to educate people purposefully to promote, maintain, and improve individual and family and the community health. In a case where the conflict of issues come up, the health educator must consider all the issues in question. Health educators should then give priority to the issues that uphold and promotes the healthy and quality of life through the principles of self-determination and freedom of choice. In section two of this article, it states that as a health educator it is important to encourage actions and social policies. The activities should support and facilitate the best balance as so long as the decisions pose no threats to the health of others. As a health educator, I would take into actions policies that will be of benefit to the community. For example, if in case an immunization is affecting the people, then I would

Cultural bias in the assessment of english language learner students Essay

Cultural bias in the assessment of english language learner students - Essay Example English language countries have many rich cultural traditions and features that must be reflected in the assessment of English language learner students and other parts of the learning process. It is also pay attention to the students of different cultures who study English as the second foreign language and their possibilities to understand English through its culture expressed in the language and to compare their native cultures with the English one. It helps to make the learning interesting that improves the results of English language learner students' assessment. 2. It is better to consider the role of culture in English teaching and learning on the examples of some concrete countries cultures of which differ from that of English. The examples of Russia and Japan show considerable features in English language learning and teaching. "Native speaking English language teachers are very much needed in Russia and in most cases they are met with traditional Russian hospitality, get a decent pay according to Russian standards and receive good evaluations and references" (Millrood). Cultural features of Russia influence the teaching process and assessment. English lesson in Russia has some features. "A lesson usually has three-stages, including homework check up, presentation of the new material and reinforcement of the new material" (Millrood). ... "In pairs and small groups learners need a very detailed description of what they are supposed to do, otherwise tending to work individually and/or waiting to be asked by the teacher and to give the prepared answer" (Millrood). In pair and group activities in Russia learners must follow the teacher's instructions, and their assessment directly depends on task performance accuracy according to it. "Whole-language approach is not universally supported. A good lesson is considered to be competence-building. In every lesson, the teacher is expected to organise balanced activities in learning lexis and grammar, as well as in speaking, listening and reading" (Millrood). The learners' assessment is tightly connected with their skills of taking part in these balanced activities. In Russia "a lesson is usually result-oriented and it is the result, which is considered primary, not the activity, which may be very motivating and activating the learners" (Millrood). So, good assessment and a posi tive result are the main orients of the English language lesson in Russia. "At the end of the lesson, each learner usually gets a mark on a five-point scale with a detailed comment from the teacher" (Millrood). This kind of assessment of a five-point scale form doesn't reflect the whole depth of learner's knowledge and cannot be considered as the objective assessment of learning results. In Russian schools "a lesson is usually declared as communicative though in reality, teachers and learners spend a lot of time dealing with grammar structures, bilingual exercises and text understanding" (Millrood). Because of that the learners' assessment is often

Software Architectures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Software Architectures - Essay Example Logic tier is associated with the manipulation of the data in use by the application. It is commonly referred to as the implementation of "business logic", the "brains" of the application. Presentation tier is associated with the displaying of the manipulated data on the screen. (Scott Rosenthal, 2007) In the beginning, all three functional tiers were located at the central server, the Mainframe. Users could access this centralized computer by the means of dumb terminals. Applications in which the three tiers are located at the user's local system are known as Desktop applications. The commonly used Microsoft Office application is an example of desktop application. The 1980s saw the advent of the popular two-tier, client-server architecture. In this arrangement the application running in the client machine interacts with the server, most commonly, a database management system. The client contains the presentation logic and the business rules. Thus making changes to the business rules caused changing and redistributing the application. This gave rise to the implementation of the three-tier architecture which visualized the separation of the presentation logic and the business rules. (Scott Rosenthal, 2007) Adopting of any particular architecture for a software application is based on what that a... It depends on the number of users trying accessing the application. Two-tire client-server architectures work fine if the number of users is expected to be low, less than 100 and when non-real-time information processing is required. Today, however, the increasing complexity of client/server applications, the sophistication of technologies available and access to the internet all contribute to the high performance demand of the application. The trend today, therefore, is evidently towards more complex three-tier architectures. Examples Today, the IS (information systems) organizations prefer to buy certain applications such as those for accounting and human resources instead of developing them themselves. The vendors of packaged enterprise software, such as SAP, Oracle etc. that make these applications have implemented them on three-tier client/server architectures because to them the sophistication of available technologies required a three-tier architecture to provide adequate performance. (Gill, 1998) The advent of internet giving rise to millions of users requesting for information processing and companies adding back-end databases have given rise to the adoption of three-tier architecture or conversion from two-tier to three-tier architecture in application development in order to provide the increased scalability needed. Today, over the internet, real-time information processing is required everywhere. Be it sending/receiving important e-mails for business purposes, playing online games with people in different parts of the world or even browsing for information for school assignments. This demand for real-time information processing has obligated the web application developers to

Lego Mindstorms Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Lego Mindstorms - Essay Example Normally diversification strategies can lead to strategic competitiveness and above-average returns. In general firms using related diversification strategies outperform those employing unrelated diversification strategies. At some point of time the firms can become over-diversified. The level at which over-diversification occurs varies across companies, because each firm has different capabilities to manage diversification. Irrespective of the type of diversification strategies implemented declines in performance result from over-diversification. Even when a firm is not over-diversified a high level of diversification can have a negative impact on the long term performance of a firm. For instance the scope created by additional amounts of diversification often cause managers to rely on financial control rather than strategic controls to evaluate business units’ performance. Without a clear understanding of the objectives and strategies of the business the top level executives tend to rely on financial controls. Though this will ensure short-term gains are generated it may have a severe impact on the long-term investments and prospects of the firm.  In the case of Lego several mistakes in its history of last twenty and odd years and the biggest of such mistakes were to confuse growth with success. The sales growth of Lego was phenomenal during the 10 year period from1978 to 1988 with the sales increasing from Danish Kroner 1 billion to 5 billion which is a five fold increase. This sales growth made Lego look great. While during the 1980s VCRs, video games, cable Television and computers started to have their influence on the children Lego was busy expanding its sales to its target market across the world.   The main problem with the operations of Lego was that the company became a slow company with its complacency. For instance the company formed an association with MIT in 1984 but until ten years later the company could not invent any ‘intelli gent brick’. Though the programmable brick became popular the company could not market it as a mass market product since the company was unable to reduce the price. The real problem was that Lego lost its audience who the children loved at one point of time. It seems that the company had a core play values ‘encouraging the imagination and putting the child in charge’.  

Discourse Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Discourse Analysis - Essay Example These advertisements promote an ideal way of life and manipulate the audience into accepting those ideals as their reality. This analysis intends to break down how agencies have reformed the idea of beauty through countless magazine articles, billboards and other media. They do this by enforcing the stereotype that those beauty products are a better way of life. They send the message that youth is beauty, and that beauty is very important yet they set the bar for beauty so high that clients would always depend on their products. The people behind these advertisements have found ways of controlling peoples’ minds using language in the advertisements. The focus on this study is print advertisements done by Nivea, a company synonymous with the manufacture of beauty products allover the world. They portray a message that they care deeply about the real people and their beauty through their advertisements. Introduction â€Å"Discourse refers to the codes, rules and systems that un der-gird a particular message and thus shapes its meaning and interpretation†. Language is all around us whether written or spoken. It is a core part of our day to day activities and has a profound effect on people and how they behave. This influence is seen in the field of advertising and marketing. Language is employed in these two fields to relay certain messages to the public. Language is used as a tool to not only pass on information about a product but also convince and influence the product choice of the customers. The competition for consumers is very high among product manufacturers. This has led to the revolution of how advertisements are designed. They use not only words but color, pictures and lighting to appeal to the consumer. It is the use of such tools as visual and linguistic means to persuade their audience that has led many a scholar to argue that, â€Å"advertising is the most influential institution of socialization in modern society† (Jhally, 1995) . Cook (2001) points out that advertisements inform, persuade, remind, influence and perhaps change opinions, emotions and attitudes. It is used to emphasize the uniqueness of a product and give reasons why a person should consider it over others already in the market. Advertising can be seen on food packages, billboards, newspapers, magazines, on buses and the Internet just to list a few. This kind of aggressive advertising ensures the audience is aware of a product at all times and remembers it. Advertising is â€Å"any type of form of public announcement intended to direct people’s attention to the availability, qualities and/or cost of specific commodities or services† (Fairclough, 2001). The stakeholders of the products are responsible for what we see in these advertisements. They reserve the power to use advertising to further their goals, good or otherwise. They pick advertising media according to their target audience. Magazines are popular with the youth and a slightly older demographic. The Internet on the other hand is popular with the younger generation. The language and depictions used in advertisements is also influenced by the target population. Advertisements have evolved from direct methods being shouted by mouth to the public in open spaces to being transferred indirectly form of print, videos, audio messages in the radio or sound and video together.

The McLawsuit Essay Example for Free

The McLawsuit Essay FAST FOOD INDUSTRY OVERVIEW McDonald has spread across the globe, and emerging markets are one of the fastest growing areas in the industry. But the fast food industry is facing its challenges, especially in the United States. From rising food costs, economic recession and changing perceptions about health, many fast food franchises have been under great pressure. Despite of the challenge, the rise in disposable income of middle class consumers and the demand for quick bites in emerging economies are expected to drive the demand for fast food. In addition, increasing number of workingwomen and their changing lifestyles is another factor contributing to the growth of this market. The fast food industry has been adopting new practices and offering new products. There is plenty of demand for a quick bite at all times of the day in modern society. However, fast food contains high amounts of trans-fats and saturated fats, which consequently hamper human health as they lack nutritional value. This factor is expected to have an adverse effect on the growth of the market. Thus, an amplifying demand for healthy fast food such as salads is expected to open the new opportunities for the fast food market. Fast food is expected to rapidly gain market in Asia Pacific and Europe due to its affordability, easy accessibility and huge investment in promotional activities by leading players of the industry. Currently, burgers constitute the largest fast food segment and are expected to maintain their escalation in the upcoming years. Some of the key participants in fast food industry include McDonald, KFC, Bugger King, Pizza Hut and Dominos among others. In addition, a large number of local fast food vendors are present worldwide. CHALLENGES There are challenges for the fast food industry in recent years that have been pressuring profit margins. The industry as a whole has proven robust enough to withstand these challenges, though some players have done better than others. Over the last decade there has been increased focus on the quality of food served in fast food restaurants. Typically highly processed and industrial in preparation, much of the food is high in fat and has been shown to increase body mass index (BMI) and cause weight gain. Popular books such as Fast Food Nation and documentaries like Super Size Me have increased public awareness of the negative health consequences of fast food. Fast food  companies have responded by adopting healthier choices and have had some measure of success, but the shadow of bad press still hangs over the industry. Rising commodity prices have also significantly crunched many fast food franchises. With food and beverage inputs making up approximately 33% of costs, higher prices for livestock, corn, wheat and more have seriously shrunk margins over the past decade. In such a fiercely competitive space it is impossible to force a price increase on customers, so profit margins are often south of 10%. The recent economic recession did lower commodity prices, but the recession brought on its own complications, and now prices for commodity inputs are on the rise again. Fast food had been thought to be largely recession proof, and indeed the industry did not suffer nearly as much as other discretionary spending sectors. In fact, there was some increase in consumer visits as people choose cheaper fast food options over fast casual or traditional restaurant choices. But overall, the recession hurt spending, and consumers overall purchased less with each trip. Fast food franchises fared reasonably well but still felt some pain. Market saturation is also a relevant issue in the fast food industry today, at least in the U.S. There is a McDonald franchise is in almost every town, and it usually sits in a row with several competitors. With so many competitors who offer similar products there are fewer customers per location. Increasingly fast food restaurants are also losing market share to fast casual, a relative newcomer in the restaurant space. OPPORTUNITIES Busy citizens still need quick meal options, and fast food restaurants are fighting these challenges with gusto. Now offering healthy choices to battle the stigma of unhealthy food, some quick service restaurants now focus on fresh or organic products. From franchises focused solely on salads or healthy wraps to the lower calorie options offered at traditional burger franchises, consumers are able to make better choices. Fast food franchises are also focusing on expanding into new product lines, such as the coffee initiative in the McCafe. Intended to offer competition to Startbucks, McDonalds is luring customers back into their stores, hoping they will purchase food as well. Many franchises have been exploring other meal times such as breakfast and the mid-afternoon snack for growth opportunities and to increase real estate utilization. The industry is most effectively  battling saturation within the United States by creating a much more diverse range of offerings so that there ar e many more types of quick service restaurants than ever before. The fast food industry is still a large and diverse industry with plenty of opportunity. Challenge is being answered with innovation, and fast food franchises are responding with new offerings, pricing and strategies to lure consumers back in. Non-traditional fast food franchises are springing up and gaining traction, and more creativity will always be welcome! Consumers are now on the look-out for new ways to eat fast and healthy. And as the industry continues to evolve and the economy strengthens, fast food franchise profitability will continue to grow. Regulatory environment A study recently suggests government regulation of fast food could slow or reverse the damaging effects of the obesity epidemic, if government steps in to regulate global marketing of fast foods such as burgers, chips and sugar drinks like soda, in a report to be released Monday according to Al-Jazeera America. Unless governments take steps to regulate their economies, the invisible hand of the market will continue to promote obesity worldwide with disastrous consequences for future public health and economic productivity. ­ There have been pressures that call for governments to do more to prevent obesity from occurring initially, rather than risking the high human and economic costs of treating the health effects of obesity such as diabetes, heart diseases and cancer. The public also urges governments should regulate fast food to prevent and hinder obesity by developing policies that include economic incentives to growers to sell healthy fresh foods, and disincentives to industrie s that develop and sell highly processed foods and soda. Furthermore, the public suggests governments should reduce subsidies to farmers, growers and companies who use excessive amounts of fertilizers, pesticides, chemical and antibiotics. Also, fast-food advertising geared to children and youth markets should be regulated. GOVERNMENT ESPONSE In the United States, there are employment and labor laws that govern all businesses when it comes to the treatment of employees. The U.S. Department of Labor prescribes regulations to protect workers’ rights, specifically those who are young or those may become victims of discrimination. There are  several laws that regulate employers in the U.S. The law that are most important to businesses in the restaurant industry are the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The lack of public awareness illustrates the challenge workers face in building wider support. Workers participating in the strikes represent a tiny fraction of the industry. And fast-food jobs are known for their high turnover rates and relatively young workers. The steps of interventions by government might be regulating unhealthy food marketing; limiting the density of fast food outlets; pricing reforms to decrease fruit/ve getable prices and increase unhealthy food prices; and improved food labelling. The most commonly supported pre-selected interventions were related to food marketing and service. Primary production and retail sector interventions were least supported. The dominant themes were the need for whole-of-government and collaborative approaches; the influence of the food industry; conflicting policies/agenda; regulatory challenges; the need for evidence of effectiveness; and economic disincentives. .

Childhood Obesity Solutions Essay Example for Free

Childhood Obesity Solutions Essay Prevalence of childhood obesity has increased greatly in the recent years, so much so that the number of children considered overweight by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has nearly quadrupled among children aged 6-11 years old (Cawley, Meyerhoefer, and Newhouse, 2007, p.506). Many members of the public, media, and congress have declared childhood obesity as a major public health concern, considering it to be an â€Å"important cause and consequence of wider disparities in health† (Freudenberg, Libman, and O’Keefe, 2010). Director of the division of nutrition, physical activity and obesity at the CDC, Dr. William H. Dietz, went as far as to say â€Å"This may be the first generation of children that has a lower life span than their parents† (Roberts Wilson, 2012). Though it is evident steps are needed to be taken to help protect the health and futures of our youth, those with the most power to actually make a visible, long lasting environmental change are the most reluctant to do so. Policymakers have alternate interests in finances that water down their attempts to take charge. Sadly, often times playing the social problems game takes precedence over the more genuine social problems work. As a Washington Post article so boldly states â€Å"In the political arena, one side is winning the war on child obesity. The side with the fattest wallets.† (Roberts Wilson, 2012) Proposals that frame childhood obesity as being an inevitable result of increasing environmental surroundings by unhealthful foods are too often neglected by government officials more willing to frame childhood obesity as an individual problem. Indeed it is more convenient to claim providing freedom of choice to individuals who are capable of making their own decisions, emphasizing self regulation, and freeing themselves of responsibility to their nation to lead in financially beefy actions. This essay seeks to demonstrate that childhood obesity should no longer be considered an individual cause stemming from lifestyle choices which can be changed through minor solutions such as education in physical activity and nutrition. Unfortunately, this social problems ownership has become the taken-for-granted frame for this problem (Loseke, 2003, p.69). Childhood obesity really is a social problem which is a direct result from our environment, social structures emphasizing fast, unhealthy, frankly JUNK food which is readily available in any given neighbourhood and continuously marketed through all mediums to increase profits to some select wealthy individuals. I will stress that the only solutions met by this pressing issue have been solely symbolic solutions which have been prematurely praised as they are false attempts to appear loyal to the public, communities, and school systems, while truly remaining loyal to the corporations, who some may very well be held entirely accountable. Within this paper the exploration of three chosen symbolic solutions to date will include: American Government’s distribution of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans Midcourse Report: Strategies for Increasing Physical Activity Among Youth, the national law passing of requiring restaurants with 20 or more chains to provide calorie information on menus and menu boards, and lastly, the enhancement of PE requirements for school aged children. The distribution of said guidelines is reported to be important by reviewing â€Å"the evidence on strategies to increase youth physical activity and make recommendations and to communicate findings to the public.† (Rodgers, 2012, p.10) This report focuses on five settings, but in reality only offers strategies for 3 of them. Two settings (Home and Family, and Primary Care settings) received no proposed strategies to increase physical activity among youth, and focused only on areas requiring further research (p.7). Those settings which did receive proposed strategies were quite obvious suggestions which doubtfully would have any significant impact on physical activity among youth. One such suggestion is to â€Å"provide teachers with appropriate training† (p.5). Although it must be noted that this is not a report distributed solely to decrease obesity among youth, it is distributed to increase physical activity among youth, which is not the same, though admittedly similar. On the webpage this guide is provided, a number of other arbitrary tools can also be found. Webinars on online nutrition information, fact sheets, blogs, access to printable posters, and more. Educating the public, educating the parents of youth, and the youth themselves of course is important. At what point however will it be supplemented by restrictions on marketing of food and beverages to youth, which this guideline reports is estimated at a whopping $10 billion per year, but shows no indication of wanting to reduce or restrict this, and can only suggest counterbalancing with media campaigns directed to offset these unhealthy images (Rodgers, 2012, p. 3). One article is more forward in summarizing â€Å"Despite this widespread recognition of negative impact of marketing unhealthy foods, the practice continues unabated.† (Harvard School of Public Health, 2012) Mandated menu labelling of calories in some American jurisdictions was passed in 2008, requiring restaurant chains with 20 or more facilities to post calorie information next to each item on their menus and menu board (Kuo, Jarosz, Simon and Fielding, 2009, p.1680). This new law was backed by evidence that â€Å"eating fast food has been shown to increase caloric intake and the risk of becoming obese† (Harvard School of Public Health, 2012). As an alternative to restricting what is sold in these fast food chains, restricting advertising of these products, or perhaps even zoning restrictions on how many fast food restaurants were permitted to be within a certain range of schools, this new law appears to be the most liberal of solutions, and the most beneficial for the companies selling these high calorie foods. Findings from a health impact assessment are as follows: â€Å"mandated menu labelling at fast food and other large chain restaurants could reduce population weight gain, even with only modest changes in consumer behaviour.† (Kuo, Jarosz, Simon and Fielding, 2009, p.1683) As promising as this is, it is followed by a stronger and more realistic assessment stating â€Å" if nonobese restaurant patrons were more likely to order reduced calorie meals than were obese patrons, the impact on the obesity rate could be less than what we reported†. Because there was no study conducted on the weight of those opting for calorie reduced items, it is difficult to say if this solution is beneficial to the target audience, obese people in these jurisdictions. If changes are being made that is great, but there is no evidence to date to support this influencing the rising issue of obesity. It is just another means of essentially saying that the government is willing to educate on the food being provided and it is the choice of the individual, to consume or not consume. One solution offered by government recognizes that with the majority of youth enrolled in schools, school is an ideal place to provide much needed physical activity to students (Rodgers, 2012). In implementation, many state policies require schools to â€Å"have a PE unit requirement that constrains students to spend a minimum amount of time in PE class† (Cawley, Meyerhoefer, and Newhouse, 2007, p. 508). A study evaluating the effectiveness of such policies revealed that, naturally, a required PE unit is correlated with a higher probability that the student participates in PE (Cawley, Meyerhoefer, and Newhouse, 2007, p. 511). Although this is clearly a positive outcome of enforcing requirements among youth to enroll in PE classes, this same study goes on to say that â€Å"a requirement is correlated with students reporting fewer minutes spent active in PE†(p.511). Yes, you read that correctly, specifically 15.1 fewer minutes active in PE for boys, and 3.1 fewer in PE for girls (p.511-512). In conclusion, this report sums up the opposing information by stating that â€Å"curriculum development is not significantly associated with the amount of time spent active in PE†. As such, the implementation of these programs sounds a lot more effective in theory then it is in practice. All three of these solutions offered by government are certainly steps in recognizing that childhood obesity is in fact prevalent in our society. These solutions also claim that something can be done to reduce the level of harm to children’s health, and that actions should be implemented in correcting this epidemic. Essentially childhood obesity is a recognized social problem in our society. Unfortunately because the victims, (obese children), are politically powerless individuals, proposals to decrease the harm attributed to them have been, and will continue to be symbolic. Sadly, effort from interest groups with good intentions can be overshadowed by the social problems game of politics. This concept is not lost in an article posted in The New York Academy of Medicine which reads as follows: â€Å"private interests generally have more resources and skills than public health reformers to achieve their policy goals, and are more successful in resisting changes than advocates are in implementing them. These structural barriers are a powerful deterrent to reducing childhood obesity. Creating cities where health rather than business concerns take precedence will require new approaches to governance and democracy.† (Freudenberg, Libman, and O’Keefe, 2010, p.761) It appears as though, for now, the social problems game of proposing symbolic solutions for childhood obesity is being accepted by audiences. Since Loseke claims that â€Å"the goal of social problems game is persuading audience members† (p.51), government officials, the players, are succeeding. References Cawley, J., Meyerhoefer, C. and Newhouse, D. (2007), The correlation of youth physical activity with state policies. Contemporary Economic Policy, 25: 506–517. doi: 10.1111/j.1465-7287.2007.00070.x Fredenberg, N., Libman, K., O’Keefe, E. (2010), A tale of two obescities: The role of municipal governance in reducing childhood obesity in New York city and London. Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 87:5 doi:10.1007/s11524-101-943-x Harvard School of Public Health, (2012), The obesity prevention source toxic food environment. Retrieved from: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/ Kuo, T., Jarosz, C., Simon,P., Fielding, J. (2009), Menu labelling as a potential strategy for combating obesity epidemic: A health impact assessment. American Journal of Public Health, 99:9 doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2008.153023 Loseke, D. (2003), Thinking about social problems. New York: Walter de Gruyter, Inc. Robert, J., Wilson, D., (2012, April 27), Special report: How Washington went soft on childhood obesity. Reuters. Retrieved from: http://www.reuters.com/ Rodgers, A., (2012), Physical activity guidelines for Americans mid-course report: strategies to increase physical activities among youth. US Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved from: http://health.gov/paguidelines/default.aspx