Observing a worship service In APA Style Essay Example for Free

Observing a worship service In APA Style Essay Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism) encompasses a broad variety of beliefs and practices, not all of which are shared by all Hindus, and many of which actually contradict each other. It is probably unique among the religions of the world in its tolerance of diversity. It is a completely decentralized religion, with no hierarchy of clergy and so supreme authority. It had no single founder whose teachings have been propagated by his disciples. Although most of the basic beliefs of Hinduism achieved their present term about the time of Christ, the roots of the religion are much older; some of the same gods worshiped by Hindus were being worshiped by their ancestors nearly 4, 000 years ago. As Hinduism developed, it continually absorbed and reinterpreted the beliefs and practices of the different peoples with whom it came into contact. The church named Masjid Al-Rahim performs five times daily prayers and may gather on Friday as the major assemble of believers for the week. Actually they have ten types of worship and some of these are performed as a group or individually and sometimes both. What is good on this is that Hindus can perform it in the temple or at home whatever they want to. The worship service is called arti which means â€Å"a greeting celebration with a lamp† and each of them will worship Tulsi by walking around her as part of the ritual and each one of them will have a kirtan. Afterwards, an individual will join with other believers or devotees for the meditation for their beads called japa. They have more than one priest that performs the rituals and the priests dressed the deities according to their day-to-day outfits. In a while, after the priests dressed these deities, the curtains will open and the congregation will greet them with an arti. Next to this is the guru-puja. It is a time in which the congregation has the chance to offer different flowers to their spiritual leader. After this, one of the priests will sing a song called bhajan and gives a sermon to the congregation as part of their worship service. The congregation also has the chance to raise questions to the priest regarding the spiritual life at the end of the sermon. Moreover, According to them, they have 10 important holidays that are carefully observed but actually only gave me five out of ten which are the most important ones and these are the Diwali which is celebrated from September to October, Holi and Mahashivaratri (two different festivals but celebrated from February to March), the birthday celebration of Lord Rama during the month of April, Kumbh Mela happens during the months of July to August which is a kind of pilgrimage to India. In addition, they said that their religion helps them to direct their lives especially in making their decisions. It helps them shape their characters as good believers and have strong belief with their gods. There are times that other people may misunderstand on what they believe in and this challenges most of them because it will enable and push them to share on what they believe and convince others that there religion has so much to offer beyond everyone’s comprehension. Also, showing good conducts to others is one of their challenges too because their present actions also determine their future lives after they died and will be reborn. For most of the believers, they believe that earthly existence in the present depends on their past lives. The fortunes of the soul in each rebirth are determined by its behavior in former lives. This law of karma states that no sin ever goes unpunished and no virtue remains unrewarded; if a man does not receive punishment or reward in this life, he will in some succeeding life. By his behavior a man determines whether his rebirth will be a higher station or lower, whether he will be reborn as a man, as a god, or as the lowest insect. Furthermore, they said that it didn’t matter with them if their religion is called Sanatana Dharma or Hinduism because there is no much difference in their practices and beliefs thus they believe in the same gods although may differ in practices to some degrees. In addition, the names or titles for their religion are just an identification that they believe in Hinduism. In Hinduism, men and women have different functions. The women’s role is important in upholding the social and cultural values of the family and they are not given much attention with regards to their education on the other hand, men’s roles are to take care of the family and his wife and must be respectful and show affections to relatives.

Geographic Information System (GIS) Benefits and Constraints

Geographic Information System (GIS) Benefits and Constraints Benefits and Constraints of Using Geographic Information System (GIS) 1. Introduction 1.1 Research Background This is no more evident than in the proliferation of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) across a variety of disciplines, with the common goal of capturing, storing, analysing and visualizing spatial information. GIS in practice, by virtue of its technical complexity and cost, has traditionally been limited to the operations of Governments and commercial organisations (Craig et al., 2002). Despite these barriers non-profit organisations and community groups are increasingly looking to adopt GIS on the premise that it will be able to positively transform their operations through better decision making and influencing public policy through greater analysis and the presentation of professional visualisations (Sieber, 2000b, Sieber, 2000a). Given this burgeoning interest, there has been a concerted effort by GIS and Society (GISoc) research groups to develop and espouse concepts such as Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) which provides a unique approach to make GIS and spatial data availa ble to non-traditional users allowing them to integrate local knowledge and engage in decision making (Sieber, 2006). 1.2 Research Objectives The focus of this research project is to investigate the benefits and constraints for the application of a Geographic Information System (GIS) within a community based project. Specifically the research considers a reframing of PPGIS to help better guide the processes, resources and characteristics required to implement a community based GIS. The following questions will guide the research and development of the community-based GIS: Do contemporary PPGIS pragmatic approaches address the original ontological debates of GIS and Society? Can psychogeographic principles help better guide the requirements for a community based GIS? What spatial data sets are available and usable for community groups within Melbourne, Victoria? Do available datasets satisfy the requirements of community groups? Can community knowledge be effectively integrated with traditional spatial data sources? 1.3 Research Rationale As people become more aware of local, regional and global issues through the mainstream media and the Internet they, as a result, expect to be better informed by Governments and organisations and allowed to contribute to decisions that shape their own lives and the society in which they live. If those issues comprise spatial knowledge, then a GIS is a natural option for facilitating discussions and conveying local knowledge (Carver, 2003). Despite this opportunity to empower communities many GIS practices (including PPGIS) and available spatial data often do not adequately represent community needs and concerns (Elwood, 2006). This research thus aims to explore and develop a framework for which current GIS and related technologies can be successfully reconstructed to allow communities to express their own knowledge about place and spatial relations through visualizations and narratives. Specifically, the proposed research has been designed to assist the Blackburn Lake Sanctuary (BLS) Advisory Committee to implement a GIS which will be enable them to store and map the location of various vegetation and salient features within the BLS in Melbourne, Victoria. By integrating publicly available data sets with community knowledge it is hoped that it will further legitimise the activities of the BLS Advisory Committee while not compromising their goal of contributing to local government policy and increasing the effectiveness of their activities. 1.4 Research Methodology Contained here is an outline of the subsequent chapters and research methodology. The research will be organised into three major chapters literature review; case study; and discussion and conclusions. Chapter Two Literature review examines the relevant literature regarding GIS and Society, PPGIS and psychogeography providing an overview of the historical background and ontological framework of these research paradigms. An examination of the principles of psychogeography and the research design of previous PPGIS studies will be completed, providing a comparative study of their different methodologies and methods. These comparisons will assist in developing a theoretical framework for a community-based GIS which will guide the case study to follow. Chapter Three Case study introduces the Blackburn Lake Sanctuary case study and attempts to implement the methods established within the theoretical framework introduced in chapter two. An exploratory case study has been employed because it is a valuable method for investigating the nature and effects of implementing technology within a complex milieu (Sieber, 2000b). In order to increase the rigour and validity of the case study observations, open-ended interviews and questionnaires will be conducted. Chapter Four Discussion and conclusions reviews the research objectives in relation to the major research findings as well as the limitations of the methods and theories employed. Pattern matching techniques will be employed to compare the observed and verified information with the framework developed through the research project. If the observed and predicted information correspond then the research methodology maybe strongly validated (Sarantakos, 1998). This chapter also addresses the limitations of the research and future research opportunities. 1.5 Conclusion This chapter has established the objectives and rationale for conducting research into developing a community-based GIS. A research methodology has also been proposed to describe how the research statement and associated objectives will be achieved. The next chapter will review the relevant literature including theoretical models and research methodologies used by previous researchers in the field of PPGIS and psychogeography. 2. Literature Review 2.1 Introduction In the previous chapter, the objectives, rationale and methodology were presented to help guide the research into developing a community-based GIS. The research outlined in this thesis covers a number of interdisciplinary fields all of which are continually evolving. These fields include public participation GIS (PPGIS), community mapping and psychogeography. This chapter begins by investigating the role of GIS in society including the motivation and foundation for PPGIS and the advantages and disadvantages of PPGIS praxis. The chapter also explores the topic of psychogeography and the reasons why its principles may help characterise and drive the successful development of a community GIS. 2.2 GIS and Society a brief history Mountains dark with forests rose above the rooftops, the jagged black summits silhouetted against the evening light. Higher than them all, though, was the tip of the Schneeberg, glowing, translucent, throwing out fire and sparks, towering into the dying brightness of a sky across which the strangest of greyish-pink cloud formations were moving, while visible between them were the winter planets and crescent moon. (Sebald, 2002: 50) Storytelling is an extremely powerful means for conveying an image of the world and in some way or another every story takes place somewhere and relates knowledge of geography and a sense of place (Cartwright, 2004, Erle et al., 2005, Cartwright et al., 2009). One way to represent geographic stories and our understanding of the spatial organisation of the physical environment and its relationship with humans is through a map. An attempt to bring together the science of geography with the art of map making has been the Geographic Information System (GIS) which is a computer system for capturing, storing, querying, analysing and displaying geographically referenced data (Chang, 2008). What differentiates a GIS from other databases and computer systems is its ability to combine large amounts of spatial data from diverse sources, group the data into layers or categories, analyse the data for patterns or relationships and produce improved visualizations (Sieber, 2000a, Sieber, 2000b). Fo r these reasons GIS technology has become an important tool for use by many levels of Government, Universities and organisations involved in activities ranging from conservation, advertising and marketing, health, crime, land-use planning and social services or any activity containing a spatial component (Sieber, 2006). However it is only recently that GIS use has expanded to non-traditional users such as non-profit organisations and community groups. This accessibility has been the result of decreased costs in hardware, software and improved user interfaces which means the user no longer has to learn specialised command languages (Craig et al., 2002). The attraction to the utility of GIS, by non-traditional users, is much the same as traditional users in that it can assist in new ways of understanding a problem, but it may also help in influencing public policy through more sophisticated analysis and the presentation of professional looking images (Sieber, 2000b). Despite this perceived ease-of-use and increasing ubiquity, the GIS has been criticised by some circles as being an elitist technology which merely enhances existing power structures (Carver, 2003). This critique is heavily influenced by postmodernist principles, which place an increasing emphasis on the contributions of wider society and recognises that knowledge and values are constructed through a multiplicity of social and cultural forces. These arguments first surfaced within the paradigm of critical cartography which exposed the inherent subjectivity in, and rhetorical content of maps, thus implying that maps are as much a reflection of (or metaphor for) the culture that produces them, as they are an abstraction of the physical environment (MacEachren, 1995). These examinations have also been employed within social and critical GIS debates which challenge the use of GIS in decision making as being objective and neutral. Instead it has been maintained that GIS utility is often c onfined to experts whom produce privileged knowledge given their unique access to data, technology, resources and position to structure the inquiry and design the output (Duncan and Lach, 2006). This view of GIS as a return to the principles of technocratic positivism may be construed as anti-democratic because decisions reliant on a GIS may exclude diverse forms of spatial data, such as community knowledge, in favour of ordered Government data conceptualised into points, lines and areas (Crampton and Krygier, 2006). Many academics, such as Pickles (1995), believe that the increased popularity of GIS within the geography discipline has meant that the availability and access to geographic data has become more influential than knowledge or experience of a unique environment or subject (Craig et al., 2002). Concerns regarding the hegemonic and subjective role of GIS lead to a number of workshops in the mid-nineties on GIS and Society (GISoc) sponsored by the National Centre for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) (Craig et al., 2002). GISoc was focused on how the spread of the technology was affecting the political, economic, legal and institutional structures of society; and how societal processes affect the form taken by the technology itself (Carver, 2003: 65). GISoc research furthermore questioned whether current GIS practices and available spatial data adequately represented community needs and concerns and whether a new ontological framework was needed to help empower less privileged groups in society (Elwood, 2006). It was questioned whether it would be possible to develop a bottom-up GIS which could successfully incorporate community participation and thus either displace or validate decisions made with top-down GIS approaches, implemented in most Government and commerci al GIS projects (Craig et al., 2002). From these reflections the notion of Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) was developed and defined as a variety of approaches to make GIS and other spatial decision-making tools available and accessible to all those with a stake in official decisions. (Schroeder, 1996) In other words, the intention of PPGIS praxis was to incorporate local community perspectives into decision making, ideally leading to solutions which might otherwise not have been attained using traditional data sources and esoteric problem framing and analysis (Carver, 2003). Even though PPGIS was initially seen as a reconstructed democratic GIS, there is still much polarized debate regarding whether GIS technology is empowering or marginalising. These opinions, however, can often be seen as a reactive and predisposed view of information technology (IT) in which individuals and groups must react to the technology as having a positive or negative social effect (Sieber, 2000a). The effectiveness and social and political implications of GIS use within communities, however is much more complex and is generally contingent on a set of unique local factors such as culture, policies, standards, people and technology (Duncan and Lach, 2006). While PPGIS applications are an extremely positive move to address the original GISoc concerns regarding the social, political and knowledge practices of GIS contemporary PPGIS have seemingly introduced new contradictions concerning data access, representation and hegemony (Elwood, 2006). For instance, although much literatur e acknowledges the importance of bridging the gap between technology and community knowledge, many PPGIS applications continue to adopt a technocratic view of GIS and are often lacking extensive public interaction let alone the integration of community data (Sieber, 2006). The next section of this thesis examines more closely the current contradictions in PPGIS applications, paying particular attention to the ambiguities in the use of the terms public and participation. The purpose in critiquing the underlying assumptions of these terms is to further an understanding of the original ontological meaning of PPGIS and how the varying use of the terms has affected the incorporation of community knowledge in PPGIS projects. 2.3 What does the Public and Participation in PPGIS really mean? Any process or technology which enhances a communities access to information and provides the chance to participate in decision making should be seen as a step in the right direction; however the original ontological framing of GISoc has become misconstrued by some practices of PPGIS (Carver, 2003). The original concept and application of PPGIS has been reshaped and become more disparate over the years as a range of disciplines (such as urban planning and conservation), have applied different approaches and technologies to achieve a unique set of priorities and goals (Sieber, 2006). Furthermore the growing enthusiasm of Governments and commercial organisations for participatory planning has lead to a number of diverse initiatives which vary in terms of the inclusiveness of community knowledge and empowerment potential (Elwood, 2006). However, public participation is a complicated concept that can have multiple meanings which lead to numerous interpretations and societal expectations (Schlossberg and Shuford, 2005). An examination of the nature of public and participation practices in GIS applications is thus critical in developing a greater understanding of the ambiguities in the PPGIS process and how these may have diverged from the original vision of GISoc. It is extremely important to identify whom the public is when engaging a PPGIS project because it will ultimately determine who is included within the project and what types of outcomes and goals may be achievable (Schlossberg and Shuford, 2005). The Collins English Dictionary (1982) defines public (adj) as a means of relating to, or concerning the people as a whole reflecting the intended meaning within PPGIS; and many applications do continue to be developed for a general public (Sieber, 2006). There is however a number of PPGIS projects who take a more ambiguous view of public and often use it interchangeably with definitions which more loosely resemble a stakeholder. In other words many projects deem their public to be those who are affected by, bring knowledge or information to, and possess the power to influence a decision or program (Sieber, 2006). The public and their interests are often, however, very different from stakeholders and thus would heavily influence the problem f raming and objectives of a GIS project (Wood, 2005). Furthermore a public can be demarcated by a range of factors such as geographical, economic, social or political; and the composition of a public may change over time (Schlossberg and Shuford, 2005). Determining what constitutes the public has become especially complicated as technology has become more pervasive. For instance a web-based GIS may potentially be accessible by a wider portion of society however it raises questions around digital divides and geographic scale. Thus, is anyone who is able to access the application still deemed part of the public even though they maybe geographically distant to the issue and decision making? (Sieber, 2006) In general people local to an issue should be interested enough to get involved in a debate given their geographic proximity. It has been demonstrated however that as scale increases not only do people at regional, national and global levels become interested and involved in an issue but also a higher percentage of people at the local do as well because it has amplified into a wider discourse (Carver, 2003). Consequently Aitken (2002) suggests that instead of perceiving issues or decision making as being scale dependent and developing PPGIS projects for stakeholders which have their scale fixed, GIS projects should, alternatively, be directing their attention towards developing a GIS which would enable community issues and knowledge to jump scale from local to larger public discourses or vice versa (Aitken, 2002, Sieber, 2006). This is an important aspect because there is often a concern that local activities are dismissed as being part of community politics and are denied significant advancements by State and Federal Governments and thus the opportunity to emerge and engage individuals at all scales (Aitken, 2002). From this perspective a community-based GIS, where community is defined as a group of individuals who are bound together by a common characteristic or a common intent and who enjoy a relatively high degr ee of mutual social interaction (Jones et al., 2004: 105) offers the prospect of transcending the rigid scale conceptualised upon community politics and local activism enabling them to contest structures of power and dominance at the very scales they exist (Aitken, 2002, Gaile and Willmott, 2005). Harris and Weiner (1998) acknowledged in their research on the power relations associated with GIS use that participatory GIS practices have the potential to simultaneously empower and marginalise groups (Sieber, 2006). As a result it is imperative to understand the nature of the participatory process and who benefits and why (Craig et al., 2002). One such way to help conceptualise the levels of public participation is through a ladder metaphor. First conceived by Arnstein (1969), the basic premise of the participation ladder is that each rung of the ladder represents a different level of participation the bottom rung represents zero opportunity to participate while each rung above represents increased level of participation in the decision making and thus greater public empowerment (Carver, 2003). Wiedemann and Femers (1993) later produced an adaptation of the ladder which conceived of public participation as not only providing access to information but also suggesting that inform ing the public of decisions is another form of participation (Tulloch and Shapiro, 2003). This concept is significantly flawed as it firstly misrepresents the commonly understood meaning of the word participation in PPGIS which The Collins English Dictionary (1982) defines as to take part, be or become involved, or share. Secondly the ladder metaphors do not acknowledge the potential for participation to change over a period of time (Schlossberg and Shuford, 2005). Thirdly, the participation models fail to include oppositional groups whom do not cooperate with public decision making but participate in the formation public policy through other influential methods such as protests (Sieber, 2006). The incorporation of the word participation in many GIS projects implies a method of consensus building which presupposes a level of top-down decision-making as well as a degree of homogenization between participants. Certain individuals however may be better able to participate or contribute to decision making than others. Consequently, disproportional levels of participation may effectively disempower individuals and adversely affect the desired outcomes of a community (Sieber, 2006). Consequently some scholars have insisted on applying participatory for autonomous grassroots activities and employing participation to describe those projects which are more top-down in their approach (Elwood, 2006). Again while this is a neat way to demarcate GIS projects which employ various degrees of top-down and bottom-up methods these definitions fail to acknowledge that both methodologies are crucial to any successful GIS project and community decision making. In fact it is fervently maintained that in order to enable citizens to better identify and comprehend how the role of GIS and technical discourses are bound up in decision making and how decision making can be informed by GIS knowledge, communities must have access to spatial information developed by Governments and commerc ial organisations as well as contributing their own spatial knowledge (Brown, 1998). Within this section it has been demonstrated that the attitudes and arguments that frame many PPGIS projects have succeeded in producing an illusion of influence and contribution by communities to decision making when actual control still resides with the traditional powers, such as Government. Instead of attempting to build an impossible consensus amongst a public with disparate tastes, values and experiences, a community-based GIS should concentrate on developing a communitys ability to construct their own facts with the aid of available third party resources, from which their personal geographic stories may emerge and translate to various members of society (Wood, 2005). Another way forward could be to draw upon principles of Situational psychogeography which also attempts to combine subjective and objective modes of study by positing that ones self cannot be divorced from the urban environment and that ones psyche and knowledge of the city must transcend the individual if it is t o be of any use in the collective rethinking of the city (Sadler, 1998, Wood, 2005). In the following section an examination of the origins of psychogeography will be conducted clarifying how the principles behind this practice may help establish a framework for practice of GIS and Society and specifically the incorporation of local knowledge in GIS. 2.4 What exactly is Psychogeography? During the 1950s a number of highly politicised groups emerged in opposition to the ideals of modernism; these groups promoted programs that would reform the practice of art and life by directly intervening in the human environment and bringing about a social revolution (Sadler, 1998). One such group were the Lettrist International who conceived of the notion of Unitary Urbanism, which would later be the developed into the praxis of Psychogeography. Unitary Urbanism was envisaged as the theory of the combined use of arts and techniques for the integral construction of a milieu in dynamic relation with experiments in behaviour. (Knabb, 2006: 52) In other words, Unitary Urbanism was considered a social project whose vision was the unification of space and architecture with the social and individual body (Sadler, 1998). In 1957 the Lettrist International and the International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus (IMIB) merged to form a new artistic-activist movement known as the Situationist International (SI). The SI was similarly critical of modernist principles which anteceded the rational mind at the expense of the imagination. These criticisms are most clearly evident in the SIs opposition to modern architecture and urban planning which they argued shaped people into rigid patterns of behaviour (Sadler, 1998). Furthermore they believed that increasing urbanism and capitalism had reduced life to mere production and consumption behaviour that ensured that everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation. (Debord, 1964) In other words experienced space had been reduced into mere representations of spaces and in turn re-envisaged as capitalist spaces (McDonough, 2002). SI believed that members of society were increasingly experiencing life as spectators devoid of dialogue and wi thout a sense of being involved or interacting with one another. Once this spectacle of modernity and urbanism, represented through images, products and activities, and authorised by the state, had been unveiled, society would be able to rediscover the authenticity of city life underneath (Debord, 1964). By resisting the hegemony of the state the SI sought to radically transform urban spaces through different practices including the subversion of cartography. Specifically by directing the spectators senses towards the contradictions in the abstractions and mediations of the state, the aim was to draw the spectator into activity by provoking his capacities to revolutionize his own life (Debord, 1957: 25). Taking from the original methodology of Unitary Urbanism, psychogeography was proposed as a method of urban investigation which studies the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organised or not, on the emotions and behaviour of individuals. (Debord, 1955) In other words, psychogeography was intended as a methodology to help make people aware of the ways in which the urban environment and everyday life is conditioned and controlled and encouraged the exposing of these concerns (Plant, 1992). Psychogeography in practice utilised a technique conceived as the Theory of the Dà ©rive, in which individuals dà ©rive (literally: drifting) through an environment letting themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain while still seeking to unmask the contradictions in the abstracted space (Plant, 1992). The dà ©rive was an attempt to reappropriate the meaning of the city by removing the myths in the states representations by having people walk and experience the landscape first hand, thus constructing through narratives a more concrete collective space (Mcdonough, 1994). While the dà ©rive offered a new way of surveying urban space, a new way of representing these spaces had yet to be found. The SI were not disillusioned with the idea of mapping practices, in fact they regarded mapping as an important component to aid in the changing and organisation of urban spaces (Pinder, 1996). They believed however, that the structures and imperatives utilised in mapping exposed the desires of those wishing to impose order upon the city. The SI ambition was thus to illustrate the strange logic and apparent disorder of cities by producing maps which demonstrated those intimacies of the city typically absent from a traditional street or topographic map (Sadler, 1998). Consequently the SI developed a concept called Dà ©tournement, which loosely translates as a diversion or rerouting of pre-existing aesthetic elements (Knabb, 1995). An example of this is where existing maps and aerial photographs were juxtaposed or rearranged to produce a new spatial meaning; an a lternative experiential or existential truth (Ungar, 2005). Thus the SI were able to reconstruct the cartography of a city by reconciling conventional geographies, sociologies, and cartographies together with experienced spaces, producing a map which is terrestrial, fragmented, subjective, temporal, and cultural (Sadler, 1998: 82). While Debord announced the disbandment of the SI in 1972, the traditions underpinning psychogeography continue to influence many works of literature, films, urban design and geographic practices (Ford, 2005). Wood (2005) draws attention to one contemporary psychogeography project Jake Bartons City of Memory which combines psychogeographic principles with a GIS to build a collective urban memory through the participation of a number of people. In an interview with Wood, Jake Barton described his project as utilising top-down and bottom-up resources to create an emergent and curated experience. Precisely by extending these terms to form the foundation of any GIS and Society project, Wood hypothesised that what would emerge was a GIS designed by a third-party or community-based intermediary (top-down); the public would formulate a specific framework that fits their unique goals (bottom-up); the bottom-up and top-down activities and goals are not independent of each other, but rather c o-exist (curated); the outcome of the project has not been foreseen or influenced towards a specific outcome by any party, but rather emerges organically from the facts obtained and analysed (emergent). Thus resulting in a map and information which has not been exactly made by the public but which without it has no content at all and deflates into a frame around nothing (Wood, 2005: 13). Following on from this preliminary research by Wood a wider investigation of these terms will be conducted, laying the framework for a more appropriate community-based GIS as originally envisaged in GISoc debates. 2.5 Top-down Top-down integration of GIS is usually undertaken by an outside individual or agency who provides the GIS model, data, analysis and representation (Talen, 2000). Often the major distinction between a top-down and bottom-up approach, in participatory projects, is determined by where the decision making lies and by the level of commitment required by the public. With a top-down approach a Government or organisation would typically provide the data and representations which would be used in deliberation with the public, who are required to make a short-term commitment. In contrast, a bottom-up approach would require the public to have ongoing access to GIS data and the resources to capture data, conduct analysis and produce representations (Talen, 2000). Governments and commercial planners will often implement a participatory GIS with top-down goals in order to better understand a neighbourhood dynamic, improve public sector management and enhance social service provision. This process theoretically serves the public by introducing policies and services based on a communitys perception of the data, analysis and representations framed by Governments and planners (Sieber, 2006). Top-down GIS models can also help circumvent deterrents such as cost, complexity and access to data which often impeded non-profit and community groups from implementing a GIS. The cost of hardware and GIS software have decreased dramatically over the years and there are now many open source GIS solutions available for free use; however it has been shown that any cost and resources required in the implementation, operation and maintenance of equipment, no matter the amount, will be a significant barrier for adoption, especially for underprivileged groups (Brodnig and Mayer-Schà ¶nberger, 2000, Leitner et al., 2002). Furthermore many individuals may lack knowledge about the availability and means of obtaining a GIS and spatial data (Elwood, 2007). Many of the GIS packages available are user-friendly for many operations, however the more functionality a group requires for their GIS, the greater

Waste Management Of A Fast Food Restaurant Environmental Sciences Essay

Waste Management Of A Fast Food Restaurant Environmental Sciences Essay Schroeder (2007) explains operations management is a part of business that is concerned with the production of goods and services, and employs the task of ensuring that business operations are efficient and effective. It is also concerned with the management of resources and the distribution of goods and services to customers. Naylor (2002) says that operations management is the study that focuses on the effective planning, scheduling, employing, and controlling of a manufacturing or service organisation with the help of concepts from quality management, production management, inventory management, accounting, and other functional areas as they affect the organisation. The organization is basically a fast food restaurant and it is not possible to completely eradicate the waste, but lot of waste is a problem. Minimisation is the best and most cost-effective solution by changing operational activities in the organization. The organization is basically a fast food restaurant and it is n ot possible to completely eradicate the waste, but lot of waste is a problem. Minimisation is the best and most cost-effective solution by changing operational activities in the organization. According to Dr Jones, an anthropologist at the University of Arizonas Bureau for Applied Research in Anthropology: Huge amounts of food are being wasted throughout the industry. A proportion of this waste is inevitable, but a large part of it can be eliminated and lead to increased profit, not only through cutting losses but also through increasing efficiency. The organization has adapted the principals of HACCP, hazard analysis critical control point, which the European Union has issued for food hygiene and to help adopt a risk based safety management system. This Regulation with no option has to be implemented in the fast food industries (EU, 2004). This prohibits the organization to use the expired food to be used because this is illegal in the eyes of law. The research looks at the decision of forecasting the overestimation of the food by the operation managers at times. This expired food can no longer be used and it turns into waste without providing any profit but just the loss to the organization. Thus, managers seek to balance the cost of carrying high stocks with the risk of waste or non-service after a stock out and should understand the importance of inventory management (Silver et al, 1998). Control can be expensive and invasive for those engaged in the tasks. The manager, therefore, must understand how control can be exercised as well as how much is needed (ibid). Operational activities need to be monitored and controlled so that they can achieve their targets in terms of efficiency, effectiveness and, where appropriate, equity (Wild, 1991). According to Johnston et al (2006), operations management is concerned with the production of good and services and it involves the responsibility of ensuring that business operations are effective and efficient. The seven principles of HACCP: 1. List of all potential hazards Few potential hazards are associated with each step, conduct a hazard analysis, and also consider any measures to control the identified hazards. The HACCP team should conduct a hazard analysis to identify the hazards and also to know which hazards are of such a nature that their elimination or reduction is essential to acceptable levels for the production of safe food. The following principles should be included in conducting the hazard analysis wherever possible: The likely occurrence of significant hazards The qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the presence of hazards Multiplication of microorganisms is needed to be closely observed Production or continuous in foods of toxins, chemicals or physical agents. 2. Determine critical control points This step is used for the determination of critical control points in the production points in the production process. If this subsequent step further used in the production Process can eliminate the hazard or to reduce it to an acceptable level, if the answer is yes than we can say that it is not a CCP, if the answer is no then it is named as CCP. 3. Establish critical limits for each CCP Critical points are to be established for each product for the safety of the product. Critical limits are derived from scientific data, regulatory standards and guidelines. 4. Establish a monitoring system for each CCP Someone from the HACCP team needs to monitor the critical limit of the significant hazard. Monitoring can be done by measurement or observation; sample planning can be done by taking the samples. According Mortimore the most common measurements taken are Time access Temperature measurement PH measurement Moisture content 5. Establish corrective actions Corrective actions are established when the CCP is not within the established limits. The control of hazards is recovered by applying corrective actions. 6. Establish verification procedures Verification procedures should be established to know whether the system is working or not. This step determines the confirmation of all the above steps. According to Mortimore CCPs should be kept under control whenever possible to confirm the capacity of all elements of HACCP plan. 7. Establish documentation and record keeping According to Edelstein to demonstrate whether the HACCP system is working properly or not established record keeping and documentation procedures are necessary. Examples for records are corrective actions taken, CCP monitoring records and records of deviation. The management has to look towards the possible risks that might hinder the growth of the organisation which may be because of the operational inefficiencies. Managing risk is one of the primary objectives of the firms and mainly managers lack in anticipating variation or negative variation in business outcome variables such as revenues, costs, profit, market share, and so on (Miller, 1992). The concept of risk as performance variable is mainly used in operations, finance and strategic management terms which refers to variation in corporate outcomes or performance that can not be predicted (March and Shapira, 1987). Therefore, the researcher believes that the operational managers of KFC should review risks towards the brand image, market share and follow the ongoing activities and review and alter them, if required, to achieve the service outputs as determined by the organization for its future growth and survival and to get a competitive advantage over its rivals. DEFINITION OF WASTE It is hard to define waste because one person who thinks the object is waste may be the same object be valuable to some other person. According to EC waste framework directive of 1975 waste can be defined as Any substance or object which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard (in the categories set out in Annex 1 of the directive). According to the German Act of August 27 1993 waste can be defined as, wastes are portable objects that have been abandoned by the owner. Waste was defined as any substance or object in the categories set out in the original Waste Framework Directive (waste framework directive 1975) Production or consumption residues not otherwise specified below Off- specification products Products whose date for appropriate use has expired Materials spilled, lost or having undergone other mishap, including any materials, equipment, etc., contaminated as a result of the mishap. Materials contaminated or soiled as a result of planned actions for example residues from cleaning operations, packing, materials, containers, etc. Unusable parts for example reject batteries, exhausted catalysts, etc Substances which no longer perform satisfactorily Residues of industrial processes Residues from pollution abatement processes for example spent filters, scrubber sludges. Machining or finishing residues Residues from raw material extraction processing for example oil field slops. Adulterated materials i.e. oils contaminated with PCBs, etc Any materials, substances or products resulting from remedial action with respect to land. Products for which the holder has no further use these include agricultural, household, office, commercial and shop discards etc. Contaminated materials, substances or products resulting from remedial action with respect to land. Any materials, substances or product which are not contained in the above categories. CLASSIFICATION OF WASTE Wastes are classified as solid, liquid and gaseous waste by taking their physical state into consideration. According White solid waste can further be classified by its original use like food waste and packaging waste, by materials we use like paper and glass, by physical properties as combustible, compostable, recyclable: by origin like household, commercial, agricultural and industrial waste and is also classified by safety levels like hazardous and non hazardous waste. Commercial waste: the solid waste generated by offices, restaurants, warehouses, institutions and non manufacturing activities at industrial facilities. Food waste: putrescible solid material including animal and vegetable waste resulting from handling, storage, sale, preparation, cooking, or serving of foods. Primarily food waste originates in home kitchens, stores, restaurants, and other places where normally food is stored, prepared, or served. Industrial waste: solid waste generated by manufacturing or industrial processes, excluding waste resulting from oil or gas drilling, production and treatment operations; overburden, spoil, or tailings result from mining; or solution mining brine and insoluble component wastes. WASTE POLICIES AND STRATEGIES The system of waste management needs to be sustainable and likely to be integrated environmentally, economically and socially. The strategies include: Reducing the amount of waste generated Developing integrated waste management systems to handle the inevitable waste produced. Integrated waste management system combines waste streams, waste collection, treatment and disposal methods, with the objective achieving environmental benefits, economic optimisation and societal acceptability. This will lead to a practical waste management system for any specific reason. Five principles are recommended by EU for waste management Waste management hierarchy is the main intention of the European waste management policy. The first strategy is to prevent the generation of waste and also to reduce harm caused by it. Waste can be reused, recovered and to optimise the disposal finally. Producer responsibility: product manufactures also have an increased share in the responsibility of dealing with the waste that arises from their product. Self sufficiency in waste disposal facilities at regional, sub- regional and national levels. Proximity: waste should be disposed at a close point where it is being generated. Best available technique not entailing excessive costs: pollution should be prevented as much as possible, be reasonable to implement in financial terms. RESTAURANT AND WASTE Wastes from restaurants can be classified as solid waste by its physical state. It consists of different materials such as food waste, paper, plastic bottles, packaging waste etc. By origin waste generated from restaurant is included as commercial waste. Paper Paper was first produced by the Chinese minister of agriculture Tsai Luin in AD 105 And we can say that still it is the standard of communication between most offices ( waste watch 2004) Waste paper across Europe is marked into different categories based on the quality. Some of them are cardboard, newspapers, white office paper, brown paper bags, wraping papers. According to Williams, 2005 waste paper of low quality can be mainly used for packaging material and also this constitutes the main route for recycling paper and board. According to Murray, 1999 the best example for waste of waste is office paper in London. Packaging We can say the major component of the commercial waste stream is packaging waste. It normally includes paper and cardboard, plastics,glass, metals, food and drink cans or bottles. According to Department of the Environment and Welsh Office, 1995 the best environmental option which can be practised for packaging waste is to minimize the usage and reuse wherever possible, which may be followed by recovery by recycling or energy recovery. Plastics Plastics are the most hazardous problem in the world. A high proportion of waste is made by plastic polymers, the range and volume used is increasing day by day. According to Williams, 2005 bottles, plastic bags, foil wraps are the main cause for waste arising in the commercial waste stream. Plastic type Typical application 1.Thermoplastics High density polyethylene (HDPE) Low density poly ethylene (LDPE) Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) Polystyrene (PS) Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) Polypropylene (PP) Bottles for household chemicals, bottle caps, toys, house wares Bags, sacks, bin liners, squeezy bottles, cling film, containers Blister packs, food trays, bottles, toys, cable insulation, wallpaper, flooring, cling film Egg cartons yoghurt pots, drinking cups, tape cassettes Carbonated drink bottles, food packaging Margarine tubs, crisp packets, packaging film Office equipment Equipments used for offices generally includes printers, photocopiers, scanners, computers, printer cartridges, cables, fasteners such as pens, staples, drawing pins, paper, diskettes etc. The need for raw materials such as oil which is used in the making of plastics can be reduced by recycling. By reformatting the diskettes they can be reused. If one staple is saved by everyone in the offices of UK it is estimated that 72 tonnes of metal material can be saved every year( waste watch 2004). Food According to EC regulation No 178/2002 food can be defined as any substance or product, whether processed, partially processed or unprocessed, intended to be, or reasonably expected to be ingested by humans. Waste minimization Waste minimization can be defined as the reduction of waste at source, by understanding and changing processes to reduce and prevent waste. This is also known as process or resource efficiency. Waste minimization includes the substitution of less environmentally harmful materials in the production process. Waste minimization programme of an organisation or industry should be an organized, comprehensive and continual effort. The technique adopted for this can be broadly categorized as Source reduction and Recycling ( on-site and off-site) The final unavoidable waste can be treated and disposed. Minimizing the amount of things that are meant to be disposed by the owner mentions third least option of waste minimization. Source reduction Source reduction can be defined as any practice which reduces the amount of any hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant entering any waste stream or otherwise released into the environment prior to recycling, treatment, or disposal and reduces hazards to public health and the environment associated with their release. The National Recycling Coalition (NRC) defines source reduction as any action that avoids the creation of waste by reducing waste at the source, including redesigning of products or packaging so that less material is used, making voluntary or imposed behavioural changes in the use of materials or increasing durability or reusability of materials. This definition implies actions intended to encourage conservation of materials. Source Reduction Programme According to Sasikumar promoting source reduction is important because it conserves the resources, reduces disposal costs and pollution, and teaches conservation and prevention. It is a practical approach consisting of the following basic elements; Reduced material use in product manufacture Increased useful life of product through durability and reparability Decreased toxicity Material reuse Reduced/ more efficient consumer use of materials Increased production efficiency resulting in less production waste. It should be noted that focusing only on recycling might give the impression that recycling will take care of all our waste problems. Source reduction and recycling can be promoted simultaneously and can be recognized as the key component of integrated waste management. A special advantage of source reduction is that it offers several opportunities for cost savings such as: Direct savings Avoided waste collection, transportation, disposal costs Decreased pollution control, liability and regulatory compliance cost Reduced product and material use and disposal costs Why waste minimization is important Few reasons for importance of waste minimization Businesses are facing stricter regulatory requirements in the management transportation, and disposal of hazardous waste. The number of hazardous waste disposal facilities has decreased. There are greater restrictions in the use of landfills. Transportation and disposal costs are rising The long- term liability associated with handling and disposal of hazardous waste is substantial. Causes of waste generation The principal causes of waste generation are categorised in the following way Manufacturing / production Production planning Employee behaviour Economic factors Others Manufacturing / production Rejection for cosmetic reasons for example colour Machinery failures especially freezers Overfilling / short filling Packaging design can encourage over-purchase Requirement to show dates on product packaging, when the product could be sold unpackaged Process by-product Production planning Errors in demand forecasting and matching production to demand Impact of weather and extraordinary events Impact of price competition Retailers changing their mind at short notice Deliveries arrive too early Employee behaviour Operator error Lack of awareness of cost of waste disposal and value of the wasted food resource Sub- optimal segregation of reject between reuse and waste Deliberate damage by disaffected employees Theft Economic factors Cost of repackaging Commercial viability of redistribution Geographical constraints on redistribution Others Cancelled promotions Product packaging trials Corporate liquidations Waste management methods The methods used for managing food waste Land disposal: includes all landfill activities plus lagoon disposal and deep injection to borehole when these are used as disposal methods. Land recovery: includes spreading waste on land and surface injection( of organic waste for beneficial treatment of agricultural land), and disposal of waste to land under provisions of waste licensing exemption. Re-use: covers only wastes that go off-site re-use excludes materials which are re-used on-site(i.e. fed back into manufacturing process). Recycling: like re-use, includes only waste that go off-site including materials such as oils and solvents which may be regenerated or re-defined. Thermal: covers incineration with and without energy recovery and the production of waste derived fuel also includes more specialised forms of recovery such as pyrolysis and gasification. Treatment: covers all physico-chemical and biological treatment including anaerobic digestion and composting. Transfer: used for wastes which do not go directly to final disposal, treatment or recovery, these wastes go through a transfer process and may be bulked -up prior to recycling, treatment or disposal in order to reduce transport costs. BENEFITS OF WASTE MINIMIZATION Long- term benefits can be provided by waste minimization. It can assist the attainment of, and improvement on, regulatory requirements firstly. Secondly, it can also provide a company with opportunities to improve profitability by: Realizing specific economic benefits; Reducing liabilities; Promoting a positive public image; Improving the health and safety of employees; Increasing operating efficiency and hence reducing production costs. The implementation of a waste minimization project is likely to incur additional capital investment, which may be rewarded by benefits such as: Reduced on-site waste monitoring, control and treatment costs; Reduced handling, pre-treatment, transport and off-site disposal costs; Reduced waste storage space, thereby creating more space for productive operations; Reduced administrative and paperwork costs associated with waste disposal; Reduced analytical costs for the identification and characterization of specific waste streams; Reduced production costs, including reduced raw material, energy and utility requirements; Reduced risks from handling hazardous materials and hence improved health and safety for employees; Reduced risks for the environment, manifested by the reduction or elimination of liability charges; Reduced risk of breaching authorization, consent or licence conditions and hence reduced risk of prosecution; Improved operating efficiency and process reliability; Improved company image in the eyes of shareholders, employees and the community. Waste minimization projects do not inevitably bring about benefits for occupational health and safety. If the initial generation of waste is reduced then clearly the risks arising from it will certainly be reduced. According to the British marine federation the waste minimization include Cost savings- production costs can be reduced through improved resource efficiency Compliance- a proactive approach ensures that the company minimizes the possibility of litigation and can anticipate requirements of new legislation. Risk reduction- control and reduction of risks and liabilities not only reduce the likelihood of fines and bad publicity but can also boost investor confidence. Market positioning- eco-friendly products can give supply chain confidence and improve customer relations. ABOUT KFC AND POSSIBLE WASTES AT RESTAURANT We can say that KFC is one of the leading organisations in the fast food sector. The annual budget of the restaurant will be nearly 30 millions. Waste generated by the restaurant A lot of food is wasted in the restaurant daily, which may be sometimes due to overproduction. And also food is wasted when the customer returns back with the food saying they didnt like or its not fresh. The food wastage also occurs when the member of staff could not handle it properly during the time of packing. The wastage which can be given second place after the food waste in restaurant is dipping sauces wastage. A lot of paper in the office is also wasted in the form of packing bags and food wrappers. HIERARCHIES OF WASTE MANAGEMENT The various waste management options can be placed in an order known as the waste management hierarchy, which reflects the relative sustainability of each. One of the key principles underlying waste management policy in the UK is to ensure that waste is dealt with as high up the waste management hierarchy as possible. Since all waste disposal options have some impact on the environment, the only way to avoid impact is not to produce waste in the first place, and waste reduction is therefore at the top of the hierarchy. Reuse, followed by recycling and composting follow, while disposal to landfill or by incineration, the worst options, are at the bottom of the hierarchy. The waste management hierarchy can be defined as a set of five options in general dealing with waste. We can say that waste hierarchy is an interpretation of Reduce- Reuse- Recycle. According to sashikumar waste is an inevitable by-product of society. Society must take necessary steps that waste is disposed or recovered without any risk. East European developed waste legislation outlines hierarchy of waste management and principles. Waste management of hierarchy which identifies management options based on their desirability. sashikumar says that one of the most desirable option is waste minimization and prevention of waste generation. The directive requires governments to apply five principles in waste management. The principle of best available technology not involving excessive cost The principle of proximity of treatment and disposal to the source of waste. The principle of self sufficiency in waste disposal Application of polluter pays principle to the disposal of waste to ensure that the cost of waste disposal is borne by the producer-holder Duty of care for producers of waste Waste prevention Reducing the amount or pollution potential of municipal solid waste and the other waste produced in a given area is a preventive action, which means that it is fundamentally different function to waste management proper. It is to be noted that reducing the amount of waste offers many potential benefits such as: Fewer environmental problems with waste management Lower waste management costs Increased conservation More efficient use of resources Increased public confidence in industry and government. Waste reduction One of the most important objectives of the waste management plan has to be prevention and minimization of waste going to the treatment and landfill. The minimization of quantities of waste being treated and disposed to landfills is a challenge that may be addressed through the implementation of an integrated waste management system, which is based on following principles: Prevention and minimization of waste generation Provision of a recycling infrastructure Separate source collection of recyclable components of municipal solid waste Centralized separation of recyclables for mixed waste. Prevention Reuse Recycling Other recovery Disposal Prevention- measures taken before a substance, material or product has become waste, that reduce (a) the quantity of waste, including through the re-use of products or the extension of the life span of products; (b) the adverse impacts of the generated waste on the environment and human health; or (c) the content of harmful substances in materials and products. Re- use- checking, cleaning or repairing recovery operations, by which products or components of such products that have become waste are prepared so that they can be re-used without any other pre-processing Recycling Any recovery operation by which waste materials are reprocessed into products, materials or substances whether for the original or other purposes includes the reprocessing of organic material, but not energy recovery or the reprocessing into materials that are to be used as fuels or backfilling operations Other recovery it normally includes energy recovery

Teaching Philosophy Essay -- Education, Higher Education

Teaching Philosophy Stephen Brookfield (2006) defines a teaching philosophy as â€Å"†¦a set of values, beliefs, insights, and convictions about the essential forms and fundamental purposes of teaching† (p. 255). A teaching philosophy should serve to support a teacher and guide his or her actions so that the students’ best interests are always of primary focus. It should also come from within and be an extension of the teacher’s identity. When we consider the difficult environment and circumstances that students face today, the authenticity and actionability of a teaching philosophy is paramount. Students decide to attend college for a variety of reasons, but the essence within these reasons is a desire to grow (Shultz & Higbee, 2007; Cabgrera & La Nasa, 2000). Growth in education has often been defined as accumulating knowledge. This outdated way of thinking about higher education must give way to a different paradigm that focuses on developing the whole student. As our world becomes more connected and complicated, students have an increasing need to reach higher levels of cognitive development. In turn, teachers need to become student centered in their approach. Teachers are no longer tasked with imparting knowledge, but helping students develop abilities to understand and apply knowledge. The increasing needs of our students require an even deeper personal commitment by teachers. Parker Palmer (1998) believes that teaching is a deeply personal activity. I started teaching without much personal consideration. However my dedication to teaching today has grown out of my personal interactions with students. As a result, teaching has become a significant part of my identity. I realize my role in a student’s life is one of a ment... ... fluid and revisited. Dynamic environment demands constant organizational change. Training future business leaders demands a higher level of student analytical ability. Help them construct that through project based learning, dialogical interactions, and cross disciplinary cases. I feel that I am already a good teacher. The question now is how to become a great teacher. Me – I like dialogical – modeling, especially with different topics. ME : Teaching shouldn’t be routine Vaclav Havel (1998), former president of Czechoslovakia and of the Czech Republic, spoke often of seeing the world from a global perspective. Regarding intellectuals, Havel (1998) said, â€Å"Their increased sense of responsibility for this world has not made such intellectuals identify with an ideology; it has made them identify with humanity, with its dignity and its prospects† (p. 208).

Networking Computers :: Technology Business

There are many kinds of networks, however this paper will be about networking computers. As we move further and further into the paperless society, the need for people to be connected and able to exchange data just as fast as they could by handing a paper to someone increases. This can be accomplished by having a group of computers connected by a network, so that as soon as data is entered into one computer, it can be immediately accessed by someone else on a connected computer, no matter how far away it may be (though usually it is in the same building). There is much work involved in this and it in includes a lot of math, from equations to basic problems. This report will be based around the mathematical aspects of setting up a network.The first mathematical question in setting up a network is very basic. How many computers will be connected to this network and how many guest computers might come on at one time is the question. An example of a guest computer is if someone brought a laptop and connected it for a short while to download or access data. To find the answer to the question, simply count the desktop computers that will be connected and how many guest computers you expect to be connected at one time. The second mathematical problem that occurs is best solved using an algebraic equation. Let x=the amount of desktop computers that will always be connected, y=the amount of guest computers that you expect to be connected at one time. So, the equation is: x+y+1. The one added on the end of the equation is another guest file just to make sure you don't fall short. So, this tells you how many files you need to create. The guest files will all be generically named so that all guests have the same access privileges, and all the permanent computers will have their own named file so they can have more personalized access privileges. These files are put on one main computer, the server. This controls all access privileges and any data put into a computer branching off from it in it's network can be accessed from this all-powerful server computer. The previously stated problems are a large part of networking, although I couldn't possibly tell about all the math involved without going on for another 3 or 4 pages.

Card Game Essay

The study was commenced inside the Computer Shop at Dasmarinas, Cavite. After we discussed our first topic we planned to come up with a Card Game as our second topic for the sake of our thesis project in Software Engineer Subject. We picked Card Game as our second topic because we feel that it’s more challenging rather than hunting some companies around Dasmarinas. Some of the reasons why we picked Card Game as our second topic are because in this topic we own our time performing the codes of the program any time before the day of our defence without such pressure. Statement of the Problem From some of the research and data we gathered. We found a few application and websites that is running a similar online game like our propose topic. From what we’ve seen some major problem that they have is that the game is not quite user friendly. It’s difficult to use the control. Because of the lack of visual control buttons. There is also limitation on how many game can it accommodates at the same time. Of course keeping the gamers idle for so long they might lose interest in the game Research Objectives The Objectives of this research is to develop a game that will be entertaining and at the same time, a game that will be educational that may enhance thinking and decision-making skill in the following ways: * To make unique cards in the game that will allow diversity for the players to think of their own strategy. * To ensure that players will have no advantage against each other by making cards balance. * To allow multiplayer (online) for players to play against each other in different parts of the world. Significance of the Study Cardfight vanguard is a trading card game there are also people who wants to experience playing this game but doesn’t have the luxury of buying the needed cards and also looking for people to play with. Since people now are more often browsing the internet people who want to play Vanguard can play the game without buying the necessary cards needed and having to worry of looking for someone to play with. Conceptual Framework * PHP Hypertext Preprocessor. * Randomized * Easy access * Less hassle Electronic Trading Card Game The model above explains on what and how will be the process of the study. Trading Card Game is a game played using specially designed sets of playing cards. While trading cards have been around for longer, TCGs (Trading Card Games) combine the appeal of collecting with strategicgameplay, but in our study we will do it in a different way by using PHP Hypertext Pre-processor as our scripting language for this study and for our main function for this logical game is the random() function. The researchers will assure an easy access program for the user and it lessens hassle because rather than bringing your deck of cards using your bare hands, just bring your portable computer and start playing the game on your most comfortable place.

Competencies Difference Between Adn vs Bsn

Running head: Differences in competencies between ADN and BSN The Differences in competencies between nurses prepared at the associate-degree level versus the baccalaureate-degree level in nursing Mini Anthony Grand Canyon University: NRS 430v Professional Dynamics 01/08/11 ? The Differences in competencies between nurses prepared at the associate-degree level versus the baccalaureate-degree level in nursing The nursing training or education started in 1860, after the Crimean war. This program was started by Florence Nightingale, based on her experience caring for the sick and injured soldiers during the war. The first nursing school was established in London. During the United States civil war, the American women proved the capability of skilled nursing to provide better care for the sick and injured in the war. There was decrease in morbidity and mortality in the war camps. This motivated the women in the United States to form training schools for nurses based on the nightingale model (Woolsey, 1950; Dock, 1907). In the year1923 there was a recommendation, that the entry level of education for a professional nurse be a Bachelor of Science in nursing degree. As the years passed there was a severe shortage of nurses, to compensate this Mildred Montag, in the year 1951, found the Associate Degree in Nursing program. Associate degree nursing was a two year program. As the Associate Degree nursing flourished, the diploma education in nursing started to disappear. Associate degree programs produced more graduate nurses, than the Bachelor of Science and diploma nursing. Both associate degree graduate and baccalaureate degree graduate take the same NCLEX board exam for licensing and enter the same job. The fast growing complex health care and broadening clinical knowledge are forcing nurses have educational preparation appropriate to the various demands. Since health care is moving towards primary and preventive care in the community, it requires nurses who can work both in the hospital care setting as well as the community. Nurses need to function independently, making clinical decisions, providing direct bedside care, case management, and providing education to patient and family in regards to treatment, disease condition and how to adapt a healthy life style. The nurses with baccalaureate degrees are prepared for this. Difference between associate degree nurse and baccalaureate degree nursing The associate degree nurses are capable of working in a structured environment. They are good at bedside care, handling the equipment, and providing basic nursing care. The baccalaureate prepared nurses are good at what the associate degree nurses do, in addition to more complex care, leadership, management skill and patient education. They also construct and plan a thorough nursing care plan during the entire stay of a patient from the time of admission to discharge. Practice The graduates from associate degree programs work in the hospital environment. The baccalaureate graduate can work in the hospital, as well outside the hospital in the community, providing primary and preventive care needed in the community. Technology The A D N graduate does not have research skills that are used in nursing, also technological advances that enhances the medical care delivery. When it comes to BSN graduate they are trained to handle technical problems that need critical thinking, leading to research and the use of technology to provide nursing care. Education The associate degree in nursing is fast and easily available. It can be completed in two years if all the pre-requisites are completed. It costs less and prepares nurses clinically competent at bedside care. The baccalaureate degree nursing is expensive, and takes four years to complete. It prepares nurses for acute care and community care, and also trains in leadership and management. As the health care system is moving forward for primary care and management, prevention and cost effective care, it needs nurses who can work in a non-structured environment and be involved directly with the community providing health and prevention care. This requires baccalaureate nursing graduates. The demand for BSN is increasing and some states are making it mandatory. In the future the associate nursing degree may disappear as the diploma in nursing program disappeared. Many hospitals are moving towards getting magnet status; this poses an importance on nurses getting baccalaureate degrees. They encourage their nurses to achieve it by providing tuition reimbursement and other incentives. The employment opportunity for BSN nurses are increasing and A DN opportunities are decreasing slowly. Research has proved the need for baccalaureate nurses, based on the studies in acute care hospital where the mortality rate is reduced, and improved patient satisfaction was noted. Now the universities provide various choices for nurses who want to pursue their higher education as to meet the upcoming changes and standards. It can be done while working and at our pace and we get our degree with advanced knowledge and skills to meet the changing health care system. ? References Creasia, Joan L. , Friberg, Elizabeth E. (102010). Conceptual Foundations: The Bridge to Professional Nursing Practice [5] (VitalSource Bookshelf), Retrieved from http://pagebursts. elsevier. com/books/978-0-323-06869-7/id/b9780323068697100029 _p0100 Taylor, D. (2008). Should the entry into nursing Practice be the Baccalaureate degree? AORN Journal, 87(3), 611. Lane,S. , & Kohlenberg,E. (2010). The future of baccalaureate degrees for nurses. Nursing Forum, 45(4) 218-227 doi:10. 1111/j. 1744-6198-2010-00194. x Disparities in competencies between bsn and adn, rn nurses. (2011, september 12). Retrieved from http://academicwritingtips. org/competent/k2/item/4113-disparities-in-competencies Nursing articles to bsn or not to bsn-that is the nurse's question. (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://www. nursingdegree. net/articles/se060326-bsn-nurse-htm