Dangers of Vaccinations Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Dangers of Vaccinations - Research Paper Example Vaccination is defined as the injection of a killed microbe in the body as a way of stimulating the immune system against the microbe, thereby preventing a disease. Sometimes called immunization, vaccinations work to stimulate the body’s natural disease-fighting system, the immune system. When healthy, this system is able to detect invading bacteria and other viruses and respond by producing antibodies to fight and destroy them. Vaccination, therefore, prepares the immune system to keep a disease away. A killed or weakened virus is used to immunize against a viral disease, while if the intention is only to immunize against a bacterial disease, a small portion of the dead bacteria is often used to stimulate the formation of antibodies to ward off any invasion of the whole bacteria. Childhood vaccinations are common and most parents prefer them because they help in protecting the kids from a range of deadly diseases. It is, however, difficult to know whether the vaccine itself is safe. While the vaccines have been successful, there have been persistent concerns that vaccinations lead to autism and other dangerous diseases and conditions. Even with the efforts of the public health officials from the United States to shed light on the misconceptions of vaccine safety that have existed for more than twenty years, little success has been realized in the change of perception. A number of parents are becoming reluctant about taking their children for vaccination even though various studies have found no proof that vaccination leads to autism and other diseases

Culture,power,globalisation and inequality Essay

Culture,power,globalisation and inequality - Essay Example Power relates to which classes, groups, organisations, parties as well as individuals have the greatest influence over what happens within their own respective countries, and sometimes upon an international or even global basis. Power can be cultural, military, naval, political, religious, or social in its origins and actual usage.2 Globalisation is the way in which cultural, economic, political, religious, and social factors interact with each other in order to increase the power of non-state actors at the expense of nation states and also individuals. Inequality is a result of the ways in which the process of globalisation and the capitalist economic system operate and make some countries, organisations, or businesses richer whilst making others poorer.3 The United States was mightier than a superpower, and the term ‘uberpower’ was developed to describe American dominance over the international system. In other words the United States is the mightiest nation upon the earth and no single nation can hope to overturn its dominance of the global economy or the spreading of its liberal culture and values throughout the world. It is the capitalist economic system encouraged by Britain and then the United States that has done much to shape culture, power, globalisation, and inequality within the modern world.4 Conversely the sheer apparent might, economic and cultural influence of the United States meant Al-Qaeda saw it as their greatest enemy in a bipolar military contest between the militantly Islamic and un-Islamic. Al-Qaeda had made increasingly daring attacks on American targets and interests during the 1990s that meant they wished to carry out bolder attacks. The United States maybe an uberpower or the global hegemon, that is the greatest power within the international system but all Al-Qaeda has to do is survive and the war continues. The Americans are left with the

Long-Term & Short-Term Budgetting Essay Example for Free

Long-Term Short-Term Budgetting Essay Introduction Budgeting is indeed a key component in managing short and long term planning. To define a broad objective such as wealth maximization is clearly not sufficient to achieve the goal. It is very important for an entity to get into more details over how to work towards the objective. Businesses typically do this by crafting a long-term plan and short-term plan which I will be explaining in details. Budgeting Before I proceed, it is very important for us to understand what is budget and how it works. A budget is a formal written summary (or statement of management’s plan for a specified future time period, expressed in financial terms. A budget becomes an important basis for controlling operations and evaluating performance. Thus, it promotes efficiency and serves as a deterrent to waste and inefficiency (Carlon, et al., 2009, p. 882) Types of budget There are several types of budget namely trade receivables budget, sales budget, finished inventories budget, trade payables budget, production budget, direct labour budget and many more. The list continues and varies from industry to industry. Budget usefulness Budgets are generally regarded as having four area of usefulness. * Budgeting promotes forward thinking and the possible identification of short-term problem. * They can also be used to help co-ordinate various sections of the business. * They play an integral role into motivating managers to perform better. * Providing basis for a system control, and lastly * Budgets can provide a system of authorization for managers to spend within the limit. (Merchant, Hawkins, Anthony, 2006, p. 560) The Planning process Figure 1 the planning process Source: (Banham, 2000, p. N.A) The above shows the relationship between budgets, long-term planning and short-term planning. The budgeting process The development of the budget for the coming year generally starts several months before the end of the current year. The budgeting process usually begins with the collection of data from each of the subunits of the entity. Past performance is often the starting point in budgeting, from which future budget goals are formulated. The budget is developed within a framework of a sales forecast that shows potential sales for the industry and the entities expected share of such sales. Sales forecasting involves a consideration of such factors as: I. General economic conditions. II. Industry trends III. Market research studies development IV. Anticipated advertising and promotion V. Previous market share VI. Changes in prices VII. New products VIII. Technology Short-term planning Short-term planning or budgeting is a process that focuses on short term, commonly one year, and results in the production of budgets that set the financial framework for that period. It is likely to be expressed mainly in financial terms and is designed to convert the long-term plan into an actionable blueprint for the future. The short-term planning is mainly carried out by Tactical managers and Operational managers. The budget will define precise targets for sales revenues and expenses, cash flows, short-term credit to be given or taken, inventory requirements, personnel requirements, increase profits, control costs, and invest for the future. Long-term Planning â€Å"Exercise aimed at formulating a long-term plan, to meet future needs estimated usually by extrapolation of present or known needs. It begins with the current status and charts out a path to the projected status, and generally includes short-term (operational or tactical plans) for achieving interim goals.† (Business Dictionary, n.d.) The above is a definition of Long-term planning or Strategic planning is usually carried out by senior management. The long-term plan covers a period of at least three years (some go up to five years) on a quarterly basis, forcing the organization into that discipline of thinking further out than one year. These plans should be updated when the short-range plan is prepared. Long-term strategies defines its overall effort in building market share, increasing revenues, decreasing costs, issues such as business take overs, expansion plans, deletion of business segments and radical product/service segment. (Budgeting, 2010) The way in which planning process is conducted depends on the industry and culture of the entity. Nevertheless, the entity outlines its long-term goals and specifies its short-range plans in quantifiable terms which detail how it expects to accomplish its goals (Hillstrom, 2013, p. 4) Long term planning Vs. Short-term planning Now that I put the definition and the functions of long term and short term planning before you. We will now see the advantages of long term and short term planning. * The main difference is the time period involved. The maximum length of a budget (or short term) is usually one year, and these budgets are prepared often for shorter period of time. In contrast, long-range planning usually encompasses a period of 3-5 years. * A second significant difference is the emphasis. Budgeting is concerned with the achievement of specific short-term goals. Long-range planning, on the other hand, is a formalized process of selecting strategies to achieve long-term goals and developing policies and plan to implement the strategies. Management is also responsible to respond to opportunities and challenges with strategic response that arise from anticipated trends in the economic and political environment. * Thirdly, there is difference between the details in the planning. Short term planning can be very detailed, this is to provide a basis for control. While long-rang plans contain considerably less details, because the data are intended for a review of progress towards long-term goals rather than for an evaluation of specific results to be achieved. The main objective of long-range planning is to develop the best strategy to maximize the entity’s performance over an extended future period. * Lastly, many entities today use a continuous 12-month budget by dropping the month just ended and adding a future month. One advantage of continuous short-term budgeting is that it keeps management planning a full year ahead, compared to just one-time planning for long term. Conclusion The preparation of budget is a valuable exercise as it forces management to look ahead and plan long term goal rather than to look back at the past. Once the long term goal has been set, a detailed short term planning can then be created. It is hence vital that budgeting is created as accurately as possible, as an error in data collection could affect the whole of the company’s operational and financial activities. The full benefits of budgeting can only be gained when the actual results are compared with the budgeted results then corrective actions are in place. Thus budgeting is a key component in managing short and long term planning. References Banham, R. (2000). Better Budgets. Journal of Accountancy, N.A. Budgeting. (2010). Retrieved from Entrepreneur: http://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/term/82266.html Business Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved from Defination of Long-term Planning: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/long-term-planning.html Carlon, S., Mladenovic-Mcalpine, R., Loftus, J., Palm, C., Kimmel, P. D., Kieso, D. E., Weygandt, J. J. (2009). Accounting building business skills. New York: John Wiley Sons. Hillstrom, E. K. (2013, Jan 27). Budgets and Budgeting.. Retrieved from Encyclopedia of Small Business.Vol. 1. Gale Cengage: http://www.enotes.com/budgeting-reference/ Merchant, K. A., Hawkins, D., Anthony, R. (2006). Accounting Text Cases. Australia: McGraw-Hill Education.

Preparation for Teaching ICT Classes

Preparation for Teaching ICT Classes Name: Pauline Mulvaney 16212813 Description I applied to tutor MT118 IT Skills Software Tools for Managers, to first year business undergraduate students in DCU as I would like to lecture in the future and this fits with my PDP. Additionally, I want to improve my presentation skills and presenting to a large group on a weekly basis in beneficial. Mark Woods, a teaching assistant at DCU interviewed me to assess my suitability for this position. I had to prove I was competent in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel and sign a signatory code. The weekly laboratory sessions covered file management, spreadsheets, document and presentation preparation and visualisation tools. I was provided with access to a shared folder on Google Drive containing a list of students, module objectives and lab sheets for each weekly session. I was required to take attendance and update the teaching assistants if there were any issues in my weekly sessions or if there were students constantly missing class. Each week I prepared by going through the lab sheet for that week and making notes to ensure we moved through the material in a timely manner. I also completed the tasks that students would be required to complete in the class to ensure I could deal with any student issues that many arise in class. This also enabled me to show students what the finished work should look like. I was very anxious before the first tutorial as I had no experience in teaching such large numbers before. I also get very anxious when speaking in front of large groups. I struggled to get my head around the fact that not so long ago I was the student sitting watching the screen and trying to follow, I overcame this very quickly. I chose to take part in this activity as it links directly to my PDP, in that I hope to lecture at some point in the future. The experience gained will help me to achieve this ambition. It also links to the presenting skills and time management competencies as it requires me to present a substantial amount of information and to help students complete the weekly class exercises in a short space of time. Each week in preparation for the class I would complete the class exercise and time myself, noting how long each exercise took and I maintained that pace in class to ensure I had enough time to help students if required. 3.1 Week 1 Week 1 was an introduction to Microsoft Word. The day before I was due to present I did a technology check in the lab to ensure my laptop was compatible with the overhead connections. I also spent some time the night before preparing an introductory presentation for the class and also ran through all the exercises as I was a little anxious about giving my first tutorial. First impressions last and I was aware that the first few minutes of my initial tutorial was extremely important. I made sure I was on time (to set up and start) and to put myself at ease, I dressed appropriately and endeavoured to be as open and confident as possible given my anxiousness. The Centre for Teaching and Learning (2014) says first lectures are important. Students should be welcomed, lecturers should clearly introduce themselves, the module and their expectations of students. To promote engagement in students, lecturers should appear enthusiastic and interested in the module and in the students. They should also ensure that they are organised and in control of the technology. I learned that presenting for an hour isnt as difficult as I had imagined. Before this the longest I had presented for was 15 minutes, my voice always cracked and I let my nerves get the better of me, however, after the initial nervousness settled down I found myself enjoying the experience. The students were all engaged and I answered any questions they had with ease. I gave them hints and tips I had picked up during my own studies and explained how important well formatted documents are and how they can be used to create a good first impression with lecturers during and professionals in the future. I feel its important to link class material to something students can see benefitting them now and in the future. Students should see the value of your module in how you set the context using a relevant problem or example and possibly link the content to a personal research/interests/news story etc. (McGrath, 2014). 3.2 Week 2 This weeks tutorial focused on PowerPoint, again, I spent some time the night before preparing the required material and completing the exercises to enable me to show students how they should look when complete. I presented two contrasting sets of slides to show students how much more effective a well-structured and thought out presentation looks and to demonstrate the effects of colour in presentations. 3.3 Week 3 This week we moved onto Excel with an introduction to the basics.ÂÂ   I was aware that students may not have used a software application like Excel in the past and this might be a little more challenging than the previous two weeks material. I explained that most of the formatting functions were the same as those used in Word and Excel and went through some basic formulas and formatting exercises. I learned the benefit of having a teaching persona this week. I had a meeting with one of my course lecturers during the week and we discussed my participation in the tutorial POD and his advice to me was to act like a lecturer. Further research has shown that the persona you choose should be related to the event and speech purpose. In creating your public persona, you should consider the speed at which you speak, it should vary to fit your message. Vocal variety in terms of tone, rate and pauses should also be considered as should voice projection, eye contact and gestures (Alberts, 2010). I also assessed my ability to present knowledge this week. Teaching is characterised by descriptions that focus on presentation, in addition to background emphasis on covering the work on schedule, with the purpose of teaching seen as presenting or conveying knowledge. Thinking back to my undergraduate studies in modules similar to the one Im instructing on my motivation was at times driven by the lecturers instructional ability. I felt I was improving and students appeared to be engaged and had no issues asking questions. I also adopted a practice of walking around the room when students were completing class exercises, this enabled me to see how students were progressing and offer help if needed. 3.4 Week 4 This week we moved onto medium level exercises and it was by far the most challenging week, not least because the lab sheets had indicated that students had access to spreadsheets that formed the basis of the exercises on Loop, which they didnt. This meant students had to copy the exercise from the overhead and this severely impacted my ability to move through the required material and help those struggling with any aspect of the material, of which there were a few. Some students didnt get to finish their exercises and I was conscious that they may not have fully understood the concepts, I emailed the entire class the files that should have been on Loop and my finished exercises asked them to run through them in their own time and let me know if there was anything they needed me to go over when we next met. I also emailed the teaching assistants and asked them to ensure students had access to the required files in advance for classes in the future. 3.5 Week 5 I was absent for this class as it was my graduation. I informed the teaching assistants well in advance to ensure they had time to arrange someone to cover and passed on my class attendance list to enable them to take attendance. 3.6 Week 6 This week had been set aside for revision and to enable students to ask questions in relation to any material covered in the previous weeks and get help with their continuous assessment work for the module. I took this opportunity to recap the material from week 4 and week 5 to ensure students had grasped the material covered. I learned that my work over the previous weeks had been understood and applied to students continuous assessment pieces. It also provided me with an opportunity to show students how to add some finesse to projects. As stated in my PDP, presentation skills are a core competency within the management consultancy field. A clear and logical structure is critical to the effectiveness of your presentation. Not only do you need to walk someone from point A to point B but, along the way, you need to convince them with a data-backed argument (Skills You Need, n.d.). Taking part in this POD has enabled me to develop my presentation skills on a weekly basis and improve my delivery, in addition to helping me overcome presentation anxiety. Jaj Modi (2009), a management consultant with over 15 years experience in the industry lists the following as essential skills: Analytical and syntheses skills (e.g. the ability to delve into deep data analysis and then synthesise the key messages / so whats) Excellent written communication (to produce Word and PowerPoint reports) Strong PowerPoint presentation creation (essential for developing client presentation packs) Commitment to delivering excellent client service (i.e. the desire to put in the long hours when you have to ensure a quality deliverable for the client) Excellent verbal communication skills (e.g. being able to communicate in a structured manner during internal and external meetings) Excellent team skills- successful consultants can work in diverse teams, under tight deadlines, to deliver quality work for clients Highly organised days may include various activities. The ability to schedule and follow through with these activities is vital Participation in this POD has helped me develop and hone many of these skills. In particular, my PowerPoint creation and verbal communication skills. It was Seneca a Roman philosopher that said While we teach, we learn and in teaching this module I feel I have further enhanced my PowerPoint skills. Having to stand in front of a large group on a weekly basis has greatly improved my ability to communicate in a structured manner. When I applied to be a tutor for this POD, I didnt realise how important leadership would be to my role. Most successful tasks require leadership. Within this role, I was both a leader and follower. I learned from the teaching assistants, whilst also working to motivate and help the students. In the past I have studied contingency and relationship leadership theories to enable me to become a successful leader. Throughout the semester, I found myself relying on the behavioural and situational theories in addition to those previously mentioned. Bass (1985) transformational leadership theory focuses on the idea that leaders motivate and inspire by helping group members see the importance and higher good of the task. His work is an extension Burns (1978) transforming leadership theory, Bass explained the psychological mechanisms that underlie transforming and transactional leadership. He also explained how transformational leadership could be measured, in addition to, how it impacts follower motivation and performance. I thoroughly enjoyed interacting with the students over the six weeks. I endeavoured to link class material to their assignments and future careers. I also sent out emails to remind students about weekly CAs and for larger assignments. I always included reasons as to why these assignments are important. For example, I reminded the students that the weekly quizzes individually amounted to a few small marks that may seem insignificant but when they are graded collectively they can increase or decrease overall grades significantly. I am of the opinion that giving students an understanding of how important their individual pieces of work is to their overall grade will help them motivate them to do their assignments. I would consider emotional and intellectual fulfilment to be two very important factors for me in a career and this was shown to be true in the personality tests undertaken for a previous NGM assignment. Having had the opportunity to tutor a class I can see that it is about much more than showing up and completing a series of tasks. You get the opportunity to make a difference in a students life. Unlike my previous career in hospitality where you cater to the needs of customers who dont necessarily appreciate the work you are doing. Each week I left the class with a huge sense of personal pride, satisfaction and increasing confidence. The role also requires you to remain knowledgeable and academically inclined it is intellectually and mentally stimulating. It was an interesting experience to be on the other side of a class, it has definitely made me appreciate the work that goes into putting together a large lecture hall style class. In this case, it will be both action and application. The experience gained through this POD has already enabled me to get paid tutoring in another academic institution. I am also currently waiting to hear back from DCU regarding paid tutoring on another undergraduate course. I might not have had the confidence of experience required to secure paid work from this but for my participation. My self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations have definitely improved over the last five months. I am also hoping to build on my presentation skills over the coming months. The weekly presentations helped build my confidence and I am currently considering Toastmasters to help me maintain this confidence. References Alberts, J.K. (2010) Communication in Society: Communication, Written communication. Available at: https://catalogue.pearsoned.co.uk/assets/hip/gb/hip_gb_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/0205627870.pdf (Accessed: 24 January 2017). Bass, B.M. (1985) Leadership and performance beyond expectations. Available at: http://web.a.ebscohost.com.dcu.idm.oclc.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=6dcc4b97-dc83-43f9-89d5-b93a62e9eff2%40sessionmgr4010vid=1hid=4206 (Accessed: 24 January 2017). Burns, J.M. (1978) Leadership, Leadership, 1(1), pp. 11-12. doi: 10.1177/1742715005049347. Linder, C. and Kung, R.L. (2010) An exploratory study into the complexity of relations between physics lecturers crafting of practice and students expectations of quality teaching, Instructional Science, 39(4), pp. 513-526. doi: 10.1007/s11251-010-9136-3. McGrath, K. (2014) Guidelines for engaging students. Available at: http://www3.ul.ie/ctl/sites/default/files/Guidelines%20for%20Engaging%20Students_0.pdf (Accessed: 24 January 2017). Modi, R. (2009) Develop essential Skillset for strategy consulting strategic support for investors, businesses and entrepreneurs. Available at: http://www.strategyexpert.com/categories/consultingskills (Accessed: 24 January 2017). Skills You Need (2011) Commercial awareness. Available at: http://www.skillsyouneed.com/general/commercial-awareness.html (Accessed: 24 January 2017).

Legalization of Marijuana Essay -- Illegal Drugs Narcotics essays rese

Marijuana   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marijuana is a big topic these days. Many people want to make sure that marijuana stays illegal. Yet they do not know all the facts about marijuana. They just think that marijuana is bad. I believe that marijuana should be made legal.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First of all, marijuana refers to the dried leaves and flowers of the cannabis plant, which contain the narcotic chemical THC at various potencies. It is smoked or eaten to produce the feeling of being "high". Marijuana has been used for thousands of years for medical, social, relaxation, and religious reasons. Several of our presidents are believed to have smoked it. Those presidents include Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and many others. John F. Kennedy smoked it to relieve his back pain. Also, many of America's great leaders were hemp farmers. This includes good ol' George Washington. Archeologists believe that cannabis was possibly the first plant farmed by humans.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many people think that marijuana is addictive, but this is false. Marijuana is less habit forming than either sugar or chocolate. When users take marijuana, it doesn't lead to violence-related crimes. Most users commit crime because they want to get marijuana, but this problem can be easily solved if the government would legalize marijuana again. When you take marijuana, it doesn't make you violent, in fact it leads to non-violence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There has never been a case that a person died from smoking marijuana. THC is one of the few chemic...

Symbols and Symbolism in The Great Gatsby :: Great Gatsby Essays

Symbolism in The Great Gatsby What is unknown is often talked about as being mysterious, perhaps even ominous. Naturally, many people become curious and want to find out what lurks about in the dark and be able to say that they know what others do not. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, the main character, Jay Gatsby is quite enigmatic. Seclusion and isolation are well known to Gatsby, especially when it comes to his personal life and his history. Throughout the novel, except when with Nick or Daisy, Gatsby asserts himself as an observer, who would rather watch others than to join in with the crowd. The silhouette of a moving cat wavered across the moonlight, and turning my head to watch it, I saw that I was not alone--fifty feet away a figure had emerged from the shadow of my neighbor's mansion with his hands in his pockets . . . (p. 21) Being the absolute mystery that he is, Gatsby is this "silhouette of a moving cat," and lives his life this way. As this quote shows, Gatsby emerges from the shadow to reveal himself to Nick (who is one of a very few amount of people that he confides in with the truth of who he really is). Whether Gatsby is throwing extravagant parties in his own home or with a small group of people, who he is remains a secret. Gatsby is constantly encompassed by darkness and secrecy When Gatsby threw his large parties, he was rarely seen amongst his guests and was most often alone, observing them. "Gatsby, standing alone on the marble steps and looking from one group to another."(p. 50) The one time that Gatsby is noticed talking to his guests is when he introduced himself to Nick and started a conversation with him. Yet, most of the time that he throws these parties at his own home, he is alone and does not socialize with the people who attend. Trying to understand Gatsby is a very difficult thing to do, because there is so much to grasp. Entering into the upper class of wealthy people, Gatsby not only held onto a secret past, but also had the hidden agenda of trying to get Daisy back, whom he had fallen in love with while in the war.

Race and Native American Essay

Identify and briefly explain the dimensions by referencing both textbooks. Some of the different primary dimensions of diversity include age, gender, mental and physical abilities, race, ethnic heritage, and sexual orientation. These are primary due to the fact that they are more fixed, visible, and relevant to an identity. For example, a male in his mid-thirties are all primary dimensions. There are also secondary dimensions such as geographic location, military/work experience, family status, income, religion, language, education, communication, and work style. For example, a male in his thirties who plays piano while drinking apple cider for a hobby would be secondary. As we learned in class the difference between these are easily remembered by thinking visible and invisible. At first glance one would be able to guess age and gender, however the secondary dimensions are wide and welcome judgments to a closed mind. ?With what ethnic, cultural, or other groups do you identify? Describe what members of your social circle have in common. My ethnic background is Native American and Portuguese. On my mother’s side of the family I get the Native American. Our tribe is the Karok tribe. Its origins are Northern California. I am not registered; however I get bit and pieces from my mom sometimes. She tells me that I am an 8th Native American. This if I am not mistaken is enough to qualify for the federal benefits for health care and school funds. I have just not done the footwork to find out. This leads me into the second piece of the question. I am not a part of this social circle and I cannot answer what we all have in common other than the physical appearance. Generally, we all have dark hair and olive skin tone, and also having brown or hazel eyes. I notice from the members of my family that the woman age very well. Not so much the men. Inclusion is described as an addition. For example relative to thus class, an African American child being adopted by a Hispanic family and ten years later the African American child adapting to the rituals and cultural expectations if the Hispanic culture. This word can pertain to a wide variety of situations. Another example would be a defect in a precious stone such as a ruby or diamond. ?What is the difference between diversity and inclusion? Idictonary defines diversity as a noun meaning the condition of having or being composed of differing elements; variety. ?What is the importance of workplace diversity training? ?What is your experience with workplace culture? Could there be, or could there have been, more inclusion?