How to Improve the Eduacation System in America - 2457 Words

Student Resources The condition and availability of resources at a school can play a major factor. A number of studies have shown that many school systems, particularly those in urban and high-poverty areas, are plagued by decaying buildings that threaten the health, safety, and learning opportunities of students. Good facilities appear to be an important precondition for student learning, provided that other conditions are present that support a strong academic program in the school. A growing body of research has linked student achievement and behavior to the physical building conditions and overcrowding. Working conditions in urban schools conclude that â€Å"physical conditions have direct positive and negative effects on teacher morale, sense of personal safety, feelings of effectiveness in the classroom, and on the general learning environment† (Taylor 2012). Building renovations in one district led teachers to feel â€Å"a renewed sense of hope, of commitment, a belief that the district cared about what went on that building.† (Corcoran et al) old buildings in another district, the atmosphere was punctuated more by despair and frustration, with teachers reporting that leaking roofs, burned out lights, and broken toilets were the typical backdrop for teaching and learning. If a high school had a combination of old historical buildings and new buildings, it can be inspiring and motivating when students are learning in funded classrooms. The buildings can give the students,Show MoreRelatedThe Sucessful Factors of Toshiba3437 Words   |  14 Pagesthis period, Toshiba brought a lot of â€Å"first† for the world. They manufactured Japan’s first fluorescent lamps in 1940 and completed Japan’s first radars in 1942. Then, Toshiba completed Japan’s first TV broadcast transmitters and microwave relay systems for television in 1952. In 1954, Toshiba developed the digital computer which will be the firt step to take Toshiba ’s involvement in the personal computer industry. Toshiba later brought entertainment to a new level with the introduction of Japan’s

Nathaniel Gordon Was A Successful Slave Trader - 926 Words

Imagine being taken from your home, forced to board an overly crowded ship, not knowing the destination or what is the future entails for you. This was the case, for countless Africans that endured horrible treatment, as they were ultimately sold into slavery throughout the United States. In 1807, the United States Congress, passed new legislation that made it illegal to import slaves (Finkelman, 2008). This law became effective in 1808, still most people did not believe that importing slaves was considered unlawful. Including a man named Nathaniel Gordon, who was a successful slave trader, that believed himself to be untouchable by the law put forth. He was the mastermind behind taking African slaves against their will, which began their journey of enslavement in the United States. He was eventually captured, put to trial, and ultimately hung for his wrong doings. Nathaniel Gordon was used as an example, for all others that believed they were above the law, and that capturing people with the intent to sell them into slavery would no longer be considered a tolerable act in the United States. Born about 1834 in Portland, Maine, Nathaniel Gordon was deeply engaged as a slave trader (Gordon, 2008). Gordon was the captain of ship Erie that was finally revealed â€Å". . .by the United States steamer Mohican, on the morning of the 8th day of August, 1860; that she was then about fifty miles outside the River Congo, on the West Coast of Africa. . .† (Punishment of a Slave

Promoting and Protecting Public Health Free Essays

– Evaluate the effectiveness of promoting and protecting public health . Lung Cancer [pic] One of the campaigns is lung cancer campaign ‘got a cough, get a check! ’ it shows the symptoms of lung cancer, saying that if you are coughing a lot or if you cough up blood, neck pain and shortness of breath to see your doctor. This will mean that people can be checked earlier than leaving it for it to just get worse. We will write a custom essay sample on Promoting and Protecting Public Health or any similar topic only for you Order Now Lung cancer is the most common cause of death ‘’it is known that smokers and ex-smokers have a particularly high risk of developing the disease: although most lung cancers are related to smoking, 10% of people with lung cancer have never smoked. ’’ (http://lungcancercampaign. org/patient-information/). Which links to the smoking campaigns, in 2013 the department of health launches new anti-smoking campaign which highlights cancer risks. ‘’ The campaign has been developed on the back of research which shoes that more than a third of smokers still believe that the health risks associated with smoking are â€Å"greatly exaggerated†. ’ (http://www. guardian. co. uk/media/2012/dec/28/new-year-anti-smoking-campaign-cancer-risks). This campaign will be advertised on the TV and also on billboards; I think that this campaign unlike other will be a lot more effective as the images I feel are disturbing. The campaign advert shows that when y ou smoke the chemicals you inhale cause mutations in your body, a mutation are how cancer starts. Every 15 cigarettes you smoke will cause a mutation. If you could see the damage you’d stop! [pic] After the advert it shows you were to go to quit smoking, by getting help and get the quit packages. Which is free from the NHS (one of the socio economic factors), the national no smoking day proves that ‘’helping over 1. 5 million smokers quit for good since 1984. And around three quarters of a million people make a quit attempt each No Smoking Day’’(http://www. nosmokingday. org. uk). Which shows that smoking campaigns are working as more people are trying to quit and lot of them are succeeding. Quitting smoking will be a big help on the amount of people who are being diagnosed with lung cancer. Another lung cancer campaign is the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, they have a website which shows people about lung cancer and then how to get in contact for help; they have supporting group to find out how to cope and understanding lung cancer will help the individual find what they need. They have many fundraising and events to help raise money for treatments and to make more campaigns on risks of lung cancer and symptoms of lung cancer. The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation have many campaigns, one of them being supporting the plain packs on cigarettes as ‘’every year, another 340 000 children in the UK are tempted to try smoking’’ (http://www. roycastle. org/news-and-campaigning). [pic] ‘November is lung cancer awareness month’ and ‘Women against lung cancer’ is some of the campaigns that they run. They also have a campaign aimed at young people who smoke which is known as the Anti-Tobacco Youth Campaign, it is a campaign to make younger people stop smoking at a younger age as the longer a person smokes the higher the risk of cancer is. It aims at making youngsters feel strong enough not be influenced to smoke by social factors. This foundation also wrote to the prime minister, to explain the statistics that they have found about the amount of people dying each year due to lung cancer and smoking. It also says what they want the government to take action on – continue to support work raising awareness of lung cancer signs and symptoms, protect lung cancer clinical nurse specialist posts, ensure continuation of national lung cancer audit and continue to support investment in stop smoking service provision. This is the link to the letter they send to the prime minister —- http://www. roycastle. org/news-and-campaigning/Campaigns/Open-Letter-to-the-Prime-Minister. [pic] The graph above shows that the amount of deaths from lung cancer related to smoking is dropping after in 1964 it was at its highest rates, but the rate for women dying from smoking related deaths/lung cancer is increasing whereas for men it is decreasing. For lung cancer I feel like there is a lot of campaigns that are helping to minimise cancer for example the national none smoking day ‘’ helping over 1. million smokers quit for good since 1984. And around three quarters of a million people make a quit attempt each No Smoking Day’’. (http://www. nosmokingday. org. uk/). However although all these campaigns and advertising are helping, what happens if people don’t watch the TV much as they are working most of the day then have children, they don’t pay attention to the advert s and also don’t have time to go to different events like the national no smoking day holds. Therefore I think for the future the government should have more advertising on the risks of smoking around the public for example on the windows of the local shops, so when people go in to buy their packs of cigarettes they notice the warning. Also the price of cigarettes should continue to go up, with less jobs these days if people are having to pull out more and more money they may realise cigarettes are too much and they need to spend the money on supporting their family. Sexually Transmitted Diseases Unfortunately there are not many campaigns for sexually transmitted diseases; one of the most popular ones that people know about is about chlamydia. The chlamydia campaign is the chlamydia screening campaign; it is encouraging people the age of 16-24 to get tested for chlamydia as there are no obvious symptoms for this STI. [pic] There is also a TV advert, from the health protection agency saying that how many people do you need to sleep with before you get chlamydia. I think this campaign is affective as it is confidential, all you need to do it test a number to get a test send out then you post it in – no one needs to know hat you have taken one. Because it is confidential I think more and more people will feel confident to take the test after having sex with someone. However, because this is only for 16-24 year olds this is the bad point that if you are over 24 then you cannot take the test? So what happens if someone is over the age of 24 and think they have chlamydia, ho w do they get tested and treated? And the age of woman who are catching STIs are rising as there are more divorces these days, so this means they are finding more sexual partners. pic] ‘’Data from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) indicates a worrying increase in sexually transmitted infections with sexual health clinics reporting 482,700 new cases in 2009, which is an increase of around 12,000 on the previous year’’ (http://www. guardian. co. uk/society/2010/aug/25/sexually-transmitted-infections-hit-record-high). The government issuing C cards which is free condoms to attempt to address STI’s. However there are competencies around this, in this case it is called Gillick competencies i. e. he person needs to be assessed as capable and knowledgeable etc. Gillick competence is a term from the law to indicate if a child under the age of 16 is able to consent their own medical treatment. Relating to contraception the Gillick came up with the decision that the prescription of contraception was a matter for the doctor’s discretion, and that they could be prescribed to under sixteen’s without parental consent. This is good as many sixteen year olds or under who are sexually active, don’t want to inform their mam or dad that they are having sex. So if they can go and get contraception without parental consent they it will be proven that more kids are having protected sex. [pic] The chart above shows that over the 4 years from 2006 to 2010 rates aren’t decreasing; in fact there are more people now with chlamydia. There also was a huge increase in those affected with syphilis; although it did decrease a little it isn’t totally decreased. This makes me believe that what the government is doing to prevent STIS and make more people have safe sex isn’t working. They need a different or bigger approach to it! There aren’t enough campaigns on sexually transmitted infections the only one that people know of is the one on chlamydia, which is not linking with gonorrhoea as the test now covers both. I think that the government need to advertise more campaigns on the TV, as there isn’t many that is scaring people of what sleeping with many sexual partners is doing to them. I think it should be more disturbing, not just the symptoms advertised there should be adverts that show what it is doing to the body especially in the long run if the infection is not treated. Reference ttp://lungcancercampaign. org/patient-information/ (accessed 8. 3. 13) http://www. guardian. co. uk/media/2012/dec/28/new-year-anti-smoking-campaign-cancer-risks (accessed 8. 3. 13) http://www. nosmokingday. org. uk (accessed 8. 3. 13) http://www. roycastle. org/news-and-campaigning (accessed 8. 3. 13) http://www. roycastle. org/news-and-campaigning/Campaigns/Open-Letter-to-the-Prime-Minister (accessed 8. 3. 13) http://www. guardian. co. uk/society/2010/aug/25/sexually-transmitted-infections-hit-record-high (accessed 8. 3. 13) http://www. nosmokingday. org. uk/ (accessed 27. 3. 13) How to cite Promoting and Protecting Public Health, Papers

Orion Shield Project free essay sample

Scientific Engineering Corporation (SEC) had decided to compete for Phase I of the Orion Shield Project. The Director of Engineering Henry Larsen, wanted to employ an engineer to the role of project manage instead of an experienced project manager. Enter Gary Allison an experiences Project Engineer with absolutely no formal Project management experience. Gary was known around the organization as a knowledgeable with numerous years of Project Engineer expertise. It appears Henry intentional wanted someone with limited Project Management knowledge in the hopes of being able to easily control the situation and to get his way without much resistance. The ethical and management challenges faced by Gary in the implantation of the Orion Shield Project will be discussed in this analysis. Gary wasted time doing administer work and did not focus enough attention on properly managing the project. Due to the poor management of time and resources benchmarks were not meet which caused production and cost delays. Henry’s decision to select new materials without consulting Gary was extremely inappropriate and caused major disruptions with the SEC and the client. Gary should have never been offer the role of Project Manager. Project Management is a job that requires a great deal experience which Gary lacked. Henry put Gary in very difficult position when he offered him the role. If Henry truly believed Gary had the potential to be good Project Manager he should have an offered Gary an assistant project management role. This position would have allowed Gary to learn on the job and gain experience. A Cost-reimbursable contract would have been a better option for SEC. This contract would have required detailed budgets that indicate the intended use of the funds as this detail helps define appropriate and allowable expenditures. A Cost-reimbursable contract would have better motoring, accountability and incentive to meet deadlines. The saying â€Å"lead by example† speaks volumes in this case. In a sense Gary was doomed for failure because he lacked guidance and support from Henry. There were no guidelines set of what was expected causing the project to become disorganize. Introduction: In this analysis I will discuss the technical, ethical, legal, contractual and other project management issues which occurred during the execution of the Orion Shield Project. In order to put new NASA regulation Henry felt it necessary to change the strategy of the organized without fully brainstorming the cause and effects of his actions. One of the major mishaps was hiring Gary to lead and manage this project. Ethical and Legal Issues: Gary had no project management experience so it was unsuitable for the Director of Engineer Henry Larson to hire Gary to take on seem an important project. Henry intentional wanted someone with limited Project Management knowledge in the hopes of being able to easily control the situation and to get his way without much resistance. One example of Henry using his rank over Gary to be unethical was when Gary mentioned the present model would not support required temperatures over 130 degrees. Henry dismissed Gary’s concerns and instructed Gary not to admit this noncompliance issue with the client in order to maintain the NASA contract. Even with no project management experience Gary should have known this disclaimer was not ethical and been a whistle blower and reported Henry to his superior. Henry was aware it was â€Å"Unethical† to conceal and misrepresent the actually specification results. With this knowledge he still he proceeded concealing and misrepresenting results which resulted in the clients being forced to change their specifications under pressure In the ninth week without informing or advising Gary, Henry presented a type of new material to the project. Henry introduced this new material in hopes of it meeting the heat specifications. Henry had good intentions but he never reviewed this important change with Gary or anyone on the team. Gary only discovered this critical change when they were weeks from a crucial milestone. SPI understandable was not pleased unexpected change in the project. No one likes being caught off guard especially when you are paying for a service. This event also made Gary seem incompetent in leading this project to completion. All this could have been avoided if Henry would have followed protocol. Another important unethical issue is Gary had concealed the short shelf life of five years of the new material to top management of SEC and client. In essence the client is not really getting what they are paying for. PMI notes the importance of conducting work in an ethical manner (Schwalbe, 2009, p. 23). This allows workers to develop confidence in the project which increases moral and performance. (Schwalbe, 2009, p. 23). A good project manager should be transparent and exhibit truthfulness in business dealings (Schwalbe, 2009, p. 23). Contract issues: A Cost-reimbursable contract would have been a better option for SEC. This contract would have required detailed budgets that indicate the intended use of the funds as this detail helps define appropriate and allowable expenditures. A Cost-reimbursable contract would have better motoring, accountability and incentive to meet deadlines. SEC was offered a fixed price contract for ten months. The fixed contract as well as mis management caused the project to go over budget. Thus the risk was on the shoulder of SEC if it costs more to provide the goods or services than originally assumed. SEC did not foresee any problems arises with the project therefore the settled on a fixed contract. SEC had to spent money for testing the new material that was not called out in the program plan. From the start Gary did not submit the required meeting minutes which resulted in the customer insisting on daily calls to track progress. This caused in more administrative work hours and budget over run. Project Management Issues: The management structure for the Orion Shield Project did not allow Gary the project manager full authority over the project and project funding. Gary had limited control over schedule and process of tasks throughout the duration of the project. Although a balanced matrix structure organization notes the importance for a project manager, giving the project manager total over the project an money does not exist in this model (PMBOK, 2008, p. 30). At the start of the project Gary had challenges finding appropriate and qualified team members. This critical task during project planning sets the foundation for a successful project. This complication in his staffing management plan was stressful for Gary as a result costing him time and money. For example, since Gary did not have adequate administrator staff we wasted a lot of time doing administer work instead of Project Management work. It is essentially that a project manager communicates with other managers within the company to balance and share resources so the staffing needs can be meet throughout the company (Schwalbe, 2009, p. 225). Gary did not work with the other managers to acquire the staff he needed set a well-rounded team. Gary also did not have the negotiating skills required to gain access to vital engineering staff for the production of the Orion Shield Program The top executives in the company should have realized that Gary’s team was under staff and step in to get him the appropriate resources he needed. The failure of an important project like this makes the whole organization look bad so it is in top managements best interest for allocation resources fail. Gary also struggled in terms of his balance between RD and administrative task. Due to his lack of experience and staff he was not able to concentrate his time and energy on his project management activities. A project manager has to maintain balance in terms of – scope, schedule, and cost. Due to Gary’s lack of experience he failed to use a cost management plan to track and monitor expenses. There was no cost check and balance system in place. With this project any changes to the budget should have been reviewed and approved by a delegate of both the company and the client. On more than one occasion Gary was blindsided because he was not made aware of changes in the project. Both Gary and Henry did not look at the long terms results of their decisions. Focusing on short term objectives in project management and dismissing risk in the future will produce a failed project. It is the role of project management to foresee potential risk and find suitable solutions. (Schwalbe, 2009, p. What should been done for successful Project Completion: Henry should have offered Gary the opportunity to attend project management training and allowed him to work as an Assistant Project Manager to get on the job training. Customer and employees should have been involved in major decision making. Do not conceal or misrepresent information to employees and customer. Roles and responsibilities need to be clearly defined by Project Manager. This is especially true for staff being brought in from other departments. Document action items at meetings, meeting minutes, focusing on key decisions and send them out quickly. Project schedule must be realistic and risks need to be managed. Conclusion: In conclusion a seasoned Project Manager should have been selected to a positive and effective completion of this project. The top executive at the company should have provided a checks and balance and recognized Gary was not qualified for the role of Project Manager. SEC should have negotiated a Cost-reimbursable contract.