Design a Trussed Bridge to Measure Strength to weight ration Essay

Design a Trussed Bridge to Measure Strength to weight ration - Essay Example Design a Trussed Bridge to Measure Strength to weight ration In this design competition, two models of Warren truss (Bridge A and Bridge B) are presented. The aim of the competition is to provide an analytical approach to the bridge design by subjecting the prototypes to damaging failures. In the designs of Bridge A and bridge B, â€Å"scientific principles, mathematical tools, and engineering concepts† are considered. Experimental testing gave the results as follows; Bridge A with a mass of 0.1892 Kg and 0.3m supports a mass of 25.251Kg, whereas Bridge B with a mass of 0.2003 Kg supported a mass of 5.729 Kg. 1. Introduction Bridges are solutions to complex puzzles. They help in overcoming common problems presented by rivers and lakes. Application of basic engineering principles results in the design of a model to mimic the actual bridge structures. The best bridge structure the one designed to be â€Å"most efficient, elegant, and safest† (Cronn-Mills 215). A truss is a common and basic design in bridge structures. It is a compi lation of straight members organized to transmit any load to entire structure (Zureick 51). The design used here in the Warren truss (Figure 1). Figure 1: Truss Bridge Geometry Materials Common truss bridges are from steel. However, in cases of minimal loads wooden truss bridges are used. When designing a bridge from any material, material stress is calculated. (Kappos 70). When the stress value is too high then the designer remains with only two options; increasing cross sectional area of the structure or redesign the geometry to allow even distribution of loads (Cronn-Mills 252). Either of the choice has a negative impact on the structure. Increasing cross sectional area will increase the weight of the structure to the truss (Zureick 52). (Zureick 52). This might cause more geometrical problems leading to poor performance of the bridge structure (Jurado 103). On the other hand, redesigning the geometry introduces more connections, which increases the possible failure points (Zurei ck 52). Objectives The main objective of the bridge design task is to design a final prototype bridge structure that can support heavy loads before undergoing damaging failure. Two structures are designed with the same material but in different ways. (i) Bridge A is designed with more triangle structures and a combination of both hollow cylindrical and rectangular members in the structure. (ii) Bridge B is designed with less triangular structures and larger cross section area than bridge B. It uses only the rectangular hollow members in the entire structure. Truss Loads There are three types of loads all bridges must withstand, the dead loads, live loads, and dynamic loads (Zureick 53).. (i) Dead Load The weight due to the bridge structure is the dead load. It comprises of the weight of truss â€Å"members, gusset plates, and road deck† (Kappos 71). Dead loads will not change during the life span of the bridge. This load can be computed by computing the weight of one truss me mber. (ii) Live Load This is the weight due to things moving over the bridge. Live loads are temporarily on the bridge and changes from time to time (Zureick 53). (iii) Dynamic Load Temporary load tends to perturb the bridge structure for a short time. Such load includes wind load acting against the side faces of the truss (Jurado 111). It results in the truss experiencing a drag force. 2. Methodology 2.1. Model Bridge designing Bridge A and bridge B are designed

What are the key elements of cbt

What are the key elements of cbt According to Beck, the cognitive approach to psychotherapy is best viewed as the application of the cognitive model of a particular disorder with the use of a variety of techniques designed to modify dysfunctional beliefs and faulty information processing characteristic of each disorder. At its current stage of development, CBT is considered one of the best validated psychotherapies available (Bennett-Levy et al. 2004, Salkovskis 1996), indeed, surveys indicate that CBT is fast becoming the majority orientation of practising psychologists (Gaudiano 2008). The fundamental premise of CBT is that emotional experience, behaviour and physiological sensations are influenced by individuals cognitive processes. Each of these realms of human experience is synergistically co-determining, with cognition mediating their reciprocal interrelationship (Sanders and Wills 2005); Clark Steer in Salkovskis, 1996). CBT asserts that the appraisal or meaning assigned by an individual to these processes t hat will determine their impact on psychological well-being (Beck 1976). Essentially, there may be several alternative ways of looking at experiences (Salkovskis 1996), that individuals actively construct their realities (Clark Steer in Salkovskis, 1996). The crucial role of cognitions in predisposing and maintaining psychological difficulties is emphasised, cognitive techniques are therefore viewed as a key element of the intervention process (Clark Steer in Salkovskis, 1996). The CBT model proposes that psychopathology is the product of faulty information processing that manifests itself in distorted and dysfunctional thinking which directly leads to negative emotions and maladaptive behaviours. Therapy aims to help clients identify and modify these distorted patterns of thinking (Bennett-Levy et al. 2004) by empowering them to choose alternative ways of interpreting and reacting, drawing from the fullest possible range of alternatives available. Psychopathology is conceptualise d as occurring on a continuum, symptoms being viewed as extreme variants of relatively common human experiences. For example, in anxiety disorders, cognitive models specify circumstances under which otherwise normal cognitive processes become stuck resulting in pathological levels of anxiety (Salkovskis 1996). Furthermore, CBT postulates the existence of cognitive styles and biases characteristic of particular psychological disorders known as the cognitive content specificity hypothesis. In practice, CBT is a collaborative, time limited, structured, educational, empirical and active form of therapy utilising a variety of methods, some specific to CBT, others adopted from other therapeutic approaches. Not only has CBT developed rapidly since Becks seminal work on depression, it has also changed greatly over the last 15 years with the emergence of CBTs 3rd wave approaches (Mansell 2008). Therapies falling under the CBT umbrella now include problem-solving therapy, DBT, ACT, rational-emotive behaviour therapy, cognitive processing therapy, MBCT and cognitive behavioural analysis of psychotherapy (Gaudiano 2008). Initially, this paper will explore the defining characteristics of conventional, mainstream CBT providing a brief overview of therapys structured format, its emphasis on collaborative therapeutic relationships and its cognitive and behavioural intervention techniques. The paper will endeavour to highlight throughout the defining characteristics of CBT, namely, i ts empirical, educational, parsimonious and adaptable approach to treatment using examples from a variety of clinical disorders. Examination of the main tenets of CBT will be followed by discussion of limitations associated with the approach. CBT has been criticised on multiple fronts, both from within CBT and from alternative therapeutic perspectives (Andersson and Asmundson 2008). A number of CBTs critiques will be examined including CBTs coherence as a theoretical framework, the role of the therapeutic relationship, its applicability across various populations and its current status within the broader socio-political context of mental health care provision. Limitations will be evaluated given recent developments within the discipline, primarily the emergence of the complementary therapeutic approaches heretofore mentioned. This paper will examine whether recent developments have sufficiently addressed CBTs limitations and will conclude with a discussion of possible areas of futur e research and development within the discipline. Case Conceptualisation CT is not a technique driven treatment, it should be driven by individual case conceptualisations that are based on a specific cognitive model (Wells 1997). The CBT assessment is a valuable opportunity to engage and socialise the client in the CBT approach, in which the therapist encourages the client to view therapy as a no lose experiment. In contrast to other therapeutic approaches, CBT assessments primarily focus on a detailed description of the current presenting problem (frequency, circumstances/situational aspects and associated distress levels), analysis of symptom, cognitive and behavioural details, historical and aetiological factors (primarily predisposing or triggering factors) and social/environmental influences. The majority of assessment is devoted to the identification and objectification of current presenting problems. Symptom presentation may be analysed in terms of its antecedents, associated appraisals and beliefs and emotional or behavioural consequences (Wells 1 997). In panic disorder, assessment would focus on the nature of catastrophic misinterpretations, a detailed description of the primary feared symptoms and the nature of safety and avoidance behaviours (Wells 1997). During assessment and indeed throughout the course of therapy, symptom and mood measures are used to establish base line rates and to assist in monitoring progress over time. Assessment is an important element of the formulation or cognitive case conceptualisation process. Case conceptualisation is envisaged as the process whereby client and therapist reach a shared understanding of the origins, development and maintenance of the clients problems. The formulation is an overview, essentially a working hypothesis, which is open to testing and verification throughout therapy and provides a tentative intervention plan. Conceptualisation is an active and continuing process throughout therapy, thus, the formulation is open to addition and revision as therapy proceeds (Sanders and Wills 2005). As the client becomes increasingly socialised in the CBT approach, SBs and cognitive biases may be incorporated into the initial formulation to aid clarity, understanding and planning. Crucially, the evolving formulation educates the client in the interaction between thoughts, emotions, behaviour and physiology, illustrating how the elements interact, trigger and maintain their problems. The assessment and formulation process allow the therapist to draw upon their knowledge of cognitive models of psychological difficulties, tailoring these models and associated protocols to the individuals case conceptualisation, thereby creating a bridge between theory and practice. At its simplest level, the formulation may be a diagrammatic representation of the clients problems, in which therapist and client plot the sequence of events in symptom presentation, often using vicious cycles (Wells 1997). The formulation represents the first stage in creating a cognitive set for the processing of alternative explanation of the clients problems (Wells 1997). However, there is a scarcity of evidence linking quality or style of formulation and therapeutic outcome (Sanders and Wills 2005); its value lies, from a practitioner viewpoint, in representing a roadmap of how therapy might proceed and possible intervention avenues. Structure and Format The brief nature of CBT necessitates a highly structured and goal directed format to be adopted from the outset. Through the negotiation of agendas, goals, a problem list, summaries and completion of self-guided activities (homework) (Padesky and Greenberger 1995), CBT maintains a focused, results oriented approach. At the beginning of each therapy session, an agenda is collaboratively devised and agreed upon, each session typically including a review of the clients mood, feedback, client and therapist agenda items, review and agreement of homework tasks (Sanders and Wills 2005). In early therapy sessions, the generation of a problem list (a practice inherited from behaviourism) highlights the main areas in which the client wishes to see improvement and guides target areas (Sanders and Wills 2005). Goal setting, which typically occurs at the end of the assessment, allows client and therapist to clearly define and operationalise the gains the client wishes to make by the end of therap y (Sanders and Wills 2005). A central component of CBT practice is self guided activity or homework. CBTs educational and self-help ethos seeks to empower the individual to ultimately become their own therapist, the completion of homework tasks outside session reinforce this learning experience. Homework can be enormously varied, from reading self help material to conducting behavioural experiments. Ideally, homework is devised collaboratively with a clear rationale for treatment gain. As therapy proceeds and the client becomes increasingly socialised to CBT, the client can adopt an increasingly independent role in devising homework with decreasing levels of therapist input. CBTs brief duration is greatly aided by the completion of homework outside session, enabling therapy to occur continuously in the clients own time. Successful homework completion has been associated with improved therapeutic outcomes, with clients who consistently complete homework between sessions improving more than patients who do not (B urns Auerbach in Salkovskis, 1996). Treatment including homework produced improved outcomes than treatment consisting entirely of in-session work (Kazantzis et al. 2003) Collaborative Therapeutic Alliance CBTs core competencies (Roth Pilling, 2007) affirm the importance of a collaborative therapeutic relationship within clinical practice. Competency as a CBT practitioner requires not only knowledge of cognitive models of psychopathology but also the ability to apply its theory in a structured manner. In practice, therapists must be able to formulate a useful case conceptualisation and apply empirically based clinical interventions within a collaborative therapeutic relationship (Padesky and Greenberger 1995). The collaborative element of the therapeutic relationship necessitates the adoption of a team work approach. This is underscored during therapy through the elicitation of client feedback, joint agreement of goals and frequent summaries by therapist and client to check understanding and learning. Collaboration is fostered by curiosity and inquisitiveness on the therapists behalf, both parties working in parallel towards achieving therapy goals. In contrast to alternative therapeutic approaches such as Psychodynamic, the therapeutic relationship is not conceived in of itself, to be the primary vehicle of clinical change in CBT. Beck, 1976, argued that although the qualities of a good therapeutic relationship are necessary, they are not sufficient as therapies active ingredient. Once the basic elements of the therapeutic relationship are established, CBT interventions may proceed (Burns Auerbach in Salkovskis, 1996). The importance of the therapeutic relationship within CBT has been reasserted over recent years. Demonstration that non-specific therapy factors, that is, the therapeutic relationship have an additive contribution to clinical improvement independent of CBT techniques has emphasised the importance of the alliance within CBT. These research findings illustrate that client subjective appraisal of the quality of the therapeutic relationship and therapist empathy are crucial (Squier 1990). Clients of practitioners wh o where rated as warmest and most empathic improved significantly more than patients of therapists with the lowest empathy ratings. Therefore, the quality of the therapeutic relationship, even in a technical form of therapy like CBT, has a significant impact on clinical improvement (Sanders and Wills 2005). As with other forms of therapy, the fundamental characteristics of a good therapeutic relationship such as accurate listening, empathy and congruence are vital for effective CBT practice (Sanders and Wills 2005). Guided Discovery Guided discovery, the primary learning process within CBT, teaches clients to question their own thoughts and beliefs (Padesky and Greenberger 1995). Therapists guide discovery verbally through questioning and experientially through BEs. Through this process, clients evaluate alternative perspectives or information which may be outside their immediate conscious awareness but when considered informs and impacts their existing thoughts, predictions and beliefs. Through the practice of collaborative empiricism, client and therapist adopt an experimental approach (Wells 1997), treating thoughts as hypotheses open to testing and verification (Padesky and Greenberger 1995). CBT encompasses interventions targeting cognitive content, from NATs to schema level and cognitive processes known as metacognition. Using Socratic dialogue, the therapist guides the client to uncover new information, integrating and generalizing these new insights into their thinking. The use of synthesising questions allows the therapist and client to extrapolate from the concrete to the abstract, applying information gleaned in the current discussion to previous ideas, thus facilitating generalizability and the construction of new beliefs. Socratic dialogue has been conceptualised as a means of loosening NATs, priming clients to consider alternative possibilities, increasing their range of attention, memory and highlighting cognitive biases in action. Thought records, a content focused intervention, enables the examination of evidence for and against a negative automatic thought, the identification of alternative perspectives and associated belief levels. The identification of the most salient or affect inducing thought (hot thought) focuses client and therapist on emotively charged and potentially debilitating or maintaining thoughts. Belief ratings assist in the distancing process, emphasising that thoughts are not true or false in a dichotomous sense. Moreover, thought records allow client and therapist to identify predictions which can be subjected to testing (Wells 1997). Whilst working with DAs, it may be more appropriate to emphasise the construction of new, more adaptive alternatives rather than attempting to disprove old rules using evidence for/against or examining pros/cons (Padesky and Greenberger 1995). Cognitive techniques targeting the core belief and schema levels such as positive data logs and retrospective though t records enable the generation of new helpful, alternative beliefs over a prolonged time period or the re-evaluation of past experiences using present day focus. Traditionally, CBT has tended to focus upon language content; metacognitive perspectives (thinking about thinking or the meaning of thinking) assert the importance of maladaptive cognitive processes in the development, maintenance and treatment of psychological problems. Advocates suggest that challenging of negative thoughts or beliefs targets the output or end product of dysfunctional metacognitive processes. Metacognitive awareness therefore highlights process level maintaining factors, for example, through the use of frequency counts; the client may record the number of intrusive thoughts or duration of ruminative thinking and associated impact on mood (Sanders and Wills 2005). Imagery based cognitive techniques are used when the clients thoughts and emotions present in visual rather than verbal form or when imagery is their preferred form of expression (Sanders Wills, 2005). For example, in social phobia, the clients fear of social rejection and perceived lack of coping skills may come to mind as an image of themselves blushing and being publicly humiliated. Therapeutic interventions focus upon restructuring or altering the form or content of images. The client can be encouraged to re-imagine an image, altering its appearance or creating a new ending finishing out (Wells 1997). In PTSD, in which intrusive memories and images maintain the current threat cycle, imagery techniques are used to contextualise the trauma image, embedding it within its historical context, thereby disabling its contribution to current threat perception. Behavioural techniques Behavioural intervention techniques such as activity scheduling and BEs have been described as the most powerful means of cognitive change (Wells 1997). The effectiveness of behavioural activation (BA), graded increases in activity levels and exercise has been demonstrated, particularly in depression (Westbrook et al. 2007). BA promotes improvements in mood and feelings of self-efficacy through focus upon increasing opportunities for enjoyment, mastery and pleasure. Activity schedules enable a baseline level to be established, plan future activities, increase problem solving and demonstrate to the client their current activities and achievements (Beck in Salkovkis, 1996). BA is typically the first intervention target in depression, progressive increases in activity levels and associated improvements in mood allow therapy to proceed to more cognitively focused tasks which may have been initially impossible. BEs are experiential exercises which enable clients to test hypotheses through action, reality check their predictions and generate new perspectives thus facilitating emotionally grounded change (Bennett-Levy et al. 2004). BEs are highly adaptable in design and implementation, in which the client may be an active participant or observer, can occur independently or with therapist support either in session or in vivo. BEs are most successful, that is, produce maximum cognitive change if outcomes that support the various hypotheses are clearly operationalised, results are reviewed in detail and their impact on existing beliefs openly discussed (Bennett-Levy et al. 2004). The potency of BEs as learning experiences means that a limited number of well designed BEs can not only target NATs but also begin to undermine dysfunctional assumptions and beliefs. Informed by the experiential learning cycle and adult learning theory, BE design is envisaged as containing four key elements: planning, experiencing, observing and reflecting. Each stage represents an opportunity to question predictions, generate new ideas and test them in everyday life. Theoretical considerations of the mechanisms of change underlying BEs invoke multilevel information processing models such as Teasdales ICS model (Teasdale in Salkovskis, 1996). ICS outlines two qualitatively different information processing systems, a propositional, logical, rational, verbal, affect-free processing system and an implicational, non-linguistic, rapid, experiential, emotionally salient learning system. According to the ICS model, the value of BEs is their ability to create enactive procedures that activate different schematic models. Essentially, BEs enable enactment of different ways of being rather than solely providing evidence which when rationally considered leads to belief chang e. In contrast to the cognitive techniques previously discussed, BEs are though to operate on both the propositional and implicational levels enabling a felt sense of their results. It is assumed that verbal cognitive techniques exclusively operate on the propositional level unless affect is stimulated. Research conducted with trainee practitioners has demonstrated that BEs produce significantly greater cognitive and behavioural change than thoughts records (Bennett-Levy 2003), although evidence for their specific effectiveness is sparse (Bennett-Levy et al. 2004). CBTs oft quoted limitations have been described as myths by those within mainstream CBT (Westbrook et al. 2007), critiques have originated however both within and external to the discipline (Andersson and Asmundson 2008). The following discussion will examine some of the main themes of this somewhat polarized debate, contextualising views within the reality of present day evidence-based, cost/efficiency focused, stepped care service delivery. It will argue that recent developments within CBT have done much to counteract its limitations and that CBTs future course will be defined by its ability to integrate increasingly fragmented perspectives into its ever evolving framework. Coherence According to Salkovskis, 2002, theory and empirical evaluation are central to developments within CBT; there is a continuous reciprocal relationship between science and practice. In recent years however, the necessity of cognitive intervention techniques, one of CBTs defining characteristics which differentiates it from other therapeutic approaches has been questioned (Jacobson et al. 1996). The necessity of logico-rational strategies to directly challenge and modify maladaptive thoughts has been questioned (Longmore and Worrell 2007);(Ilardi and Craighead 1994). A number of empirical anomalies within CBTs outcome literature have inspired this debate (Hayes et al. 2004). Component analyses investigating the necessary and effective elements of CBT have in some cases failed to demonstrate added value of cognitive intervention techniques. In a study of major depression, comparison of treatment conditions comprising of BA, BA with challenging of automatic thoughts and CBT resulted in equ ivalent performance across conditions at conclusion of therapy, 6 month follow up and in relapse rates at 2 years (Jacobson et al. 1996). The ambiguity has further intensified due to CBTs delay in researching its mechanisms of change, which according to (Burns and Spangler 2001) often fail to conform to cognitive model predictions. Additionally, measuring changes in the cognitive mediators of a disorder (thoughts and beliefs implicated by a cognitive model in disorder maintenance) do not appear to precede symptomatic improvement, thereby challenging cognitions assumed mediating role in therapeutic change. The course of this ongoing debate would appear to be directly in contrast with Salkovskis description of CBTs empirical focus above. The clarification of the essential and effective components of CBT practice across ranges of severity and CBT formats appears to be required (Waddington,) This equivocation is further exacerbated by characteristics instilled by CBTs integrative development. CBTs foundations in BT and CT have resulted in the development of a diverse and at times contradictory nomenclature (Mansell 2008). Its roots in clinical observations rather than empirical research, led to a disconnect with cognitive science and neuroscience (Gaudiano 2008). Furthermore, CBT has been criticised for its inability to define itself and its lack of coherence as a theoretical framework (Mansell, 2008). Although there is general agreement on the key characteristics of CBT, outlined earlier in this paper, there is not an accepted definition of the essential elements that comprise CBT. The recent proliferation of competing theoretical frameworks such as ICS, SPAARS, S-REF RFT has propelled CBT further from its foundations and towards increasing complexity and fragmentation. A reductionistic, mechanistic model of distress CBTs opponents have argued its approach is mechanistic, overly rationalistic (Greenberg and Safran 1987), fails to address the entire individual and has limited utility for people with long term or complex problems (Gaudiano, 2010). Critics cite its focus on the here and now, its lack of attention to developmental history, interpersonal relationships and CBTs technique driven focus governed by rigid protocols (Sanders and Wills, 2005). CBTs response has been two fold, further research and refinement of its cognitive models and intervention enhancements tackling enduring and complex problems utilising Schema Focused Therapy (SFT). For example, Becks initial schematic model of depression was augmented to include the concepts of modes and charges to account for findings of diathesis-stress, the relationship between cognition and personality and the phenomena of sensitization and remission (Beck in Salkovkis, 1996). This pattern can be observed in many cognitive models in which research findings have been integrated to provide a more comprehensive account, for example, the finding that self-directed attention is a critical mediator in social phobia. Schemas are unlikely to become a primary therapeutic target in conventional, short term CBT unless necessitated by client material or pose a significant risk factor for relapse. SFT developed from studies of CT non-responders and relapsers, so called treatment failures. These individuals were characterised as having more rigid cognitive structures, a history of chronic, lifelong psychological difficulties and deeply engrained maladaptive belief systems. These schemas were formed in troubled or abusive childhoods, resulting in the childs development of maladaptive coping or survival styles. Developed for the treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), SFT builds upon its CBT foundations assimilating elements from attachment, psychodynamic (particularly object relations) and emotion focused perspectives, incorporating a range of therapeutic techniques from these approaches (Kellogg and Young 2006). A primary mechanism of change within SFT is limited reparenting, therapist and c lient dialogues enable the nurturing of the client as an abandoned child thereby challenging harsh and punitive adult relationships from early childhood. The therapeutic relationship is the antithesis of traumatic childhood relationships, an arena for clients to identify and test beliefs about relationships, practice alternative new behaviours and learn new ways of relating (Sanders and Wills, 2005). Patients are guided to generalise what they have learned in the therapeutic relationship to relationships outside of therapy. Confrontational, adversarial and dehumanizing Critics have asserted that CBT frames the client as a passive recipient of technical interventions (Strong et al. 2008), the CBT practitioner as controlling, medicalising, concerned with employing techniques and seeking evidence (Mansell, 2008; Sanders Wills, 2005). The use of technical terminology such as administered and implemented within CBT does little to assuage these concerns. Conversely, CBT advocates maintain that it is not an assembly of techniques applied mechanistically (Salkovkis, 1996). Research has demonstrated that CBT patients rate their therapists higher on various relationship variables (interpersonal skills, accurate empathy and support) than psychodynamic therapists, their level of active listening was found to be equivalent to insight-oriented therapists (Keijsers et al. 2000). The integration of a compassion based focus within CBT has further enriched and reinforced the importance of the therapeutic alliance. Compassion focused therapy (CFT) developed from observations that people with high levels of shame and self-criticism find it difficult being warm, compassionate and kind to themselves (Gilbert 2009), that they often use a harsh, bullying manner when attempting to change their thoughts and behaviours. People who are unable to self-sooth find it difficult being reassured or remaining calm when considering alternative thoughts or engaging in new behaviours. In CFT, the role of the therapist to help the client experience safety in their interactions, to feel safe with what is explored in therapy and to ultimately replace self-criticism with self-kindness. In compassionate mind training, the client learns the skills and attributes of compassion through modelling of the therapists compassionate abilities. CFT focuses upon the client experiencing alternativ e thoughts as kind, supportive and helpful. Throughout therapy, the client is taught to use warmth, compassion and gentleness as their foundation from which to move into more challenging activities. Limited applicability to certain populations: the psychologically minded Critical evaluations of CBT have highlighted its potential weakness and limited evidence-base for children, older adults (Kazantzis et al. 2003) and people with intellectual disabilities (ID). Critics argue whether CBT models and techniques can be applied to these disparate populations or whether CBT is best suited for the population in which it was developed. The extant literature has highlighted particular characteristics that engender suitability for CBT including, the ability to access thoughts, recognise, differentiate and label emotions, link events and emotions, understand the mediating role of cognitions and assume responsibility for change (James et al, 2001). Within ID, research is required on potential barriers to treatment that may or may not arise from capacity and motivational factors. CBT being an essentially linguistic method presents unique challenges within ID, cognitive techniques being more difficult to apply as verbal ability decreases (Willner and Hatton 2006). Furthermore, there has been a paucity of research within mainstream CBT regarding the applicability and validity of CBT models to ID (Willner and Hatton 2006). NICE guidelines for children indicate CBT, in either group or individual format for depression (NICE, 2005) and moderate to severe ADHD (NICE, 2006). Research investigating child focused CBT interventions have been almost exclusively derived from adult treatment protocols, with insufficient attention devoted to their applicability to children (Cartwright-Hatton and Murray 2008) or developmentally appropriate intervention techniques (Doherr et al. 2005); (OConnor and Creswell 2008). For example, it has not yet been demonstrated, that a childs developmental stage predicts treatment outcome. The role of family in child-focused CBT is receiving increased attention. Research investigating parental cognitions as triggering or maintaining factors in childhood problems have resulted in their incorporation within child-focused models. A recent study demonstrated that socially phobic mothers encourage their infants to interact less with a friendly stranger than mothers with GAD, which is predi ctive of the extent to which the child subsequently shows anxiety in the presence of a stranger (de Rosnay et al. 2006). Parental anxiety has also been found to be a significant predictor of treatment failure of individual child treatment. Preliminary evidence suggests that treating one family member whether it is parent or child can have secondary effects on other family members difficulties. A panacea for psychological distress Clinical significance analysis reveals that one third to a half of clients achieve recovery following CBT (or any other form of psychological therapy) (Westbrook et al, 2007). Therefore, it is clear that CBT and other therapeutic approaches cannot be conceived as a panacea for psychological problems. For a number of disorders, specifically tailored variants of CBT are recommended, often in parallel with family centred approaches, for example, anorexia and bulimia nervosa (NICE, 2004). CBTs impressive evidence base for depression and anxiety disorder treatment has encouraged the creation of the Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme in the UK (Ghosh 2009). IAPT focuses upon rapid throughput of patients aiming to reduce waiting list times and move 50% of people treated towards recovery (Rachman and Wilson 2008). IAPT draws heavily upon the NICE depression guidelines and Layards work on happiness (Layard, 2006) which outlined the social and economic costs of depre ssion and psychological problems. Mental health research has been dominated by symptom based

A Report on Lifeline for Children’s Choir Directors Essay -- Choir Cho

Mrs. Bartle employs a little bit of four of each of the methods shared in (the vocal pedagogy) class. She uses a lot of the Westminister method but borrows from the others. The others she borrows from are Christiansen, Fred Warning and Wilson/Klein. Much of what she writes, is from her own life’s career experiences as a choral director. The first subject she deals with is the director’s attitude. A director should have a positive attitude. (p. 3, Bartle) In chapter two she discusses the development of a child’s voice in a mechanistic way. She wants the ’flutety’ sound of a child’s voice developed, between the ages 6-8. (ps. 7-9) This reminds me of the Westminister method. She tells how to help a child that has problems sing on ’center’. (ps. 13-15.) She tells how to help children pronounce their vowels when they sing. She does this by demonstrating the position of the jaw with a rubber band. She also teaches children how to form vowels and diphthongs with their mouths. (ps. 19-21) She gives some mechanistic methods on how to develop good diction with nonsense word drills and by exaggerating consonants as they whisper words. (ps. 22-3) This reminds me of the Fred Warning emphasis on good pronunciation. She gives some reasons why a children’s choir may sing flat or sharp, and then gives some mechanistic ways to fix them. (p. 27) A choir director must fix his own hearing, before they can get to ’first base’, with their choir members. They can do this by listening to some Bach chorales, then leave them for a week, come back and play them several times, then write them down on a manuscript. (p. 27) She discusses the many ways of teaching children rhythm, but she also advises, †let us not disregard the old†. (ps. 28-9) She a... ...aguar the loyalty of a Dog the charm of a Kitten and the appearance of a Sea It would also be helpful if he has: a bag full of tricks a head full of Tools a lifetime of Ideas a background of a few failures as well as success and a heart full of hope and faith in people.† (ps. 155-6) At the very end of the book, she has a bibliography of twenty-six sources, and six commentators of note such as Sir David Willcocks. (ps.157-9) I enjoyed reading this book. This book would be a handy aid in assisting any Children’s Choir Director. I like the way she borrows from a lot of methodologies to develop her own. By burrowing she has developed a very good way to direct choirs. Work Cited. Bartle, Jean Ashworth Lifeline for Children’s Choir Directors. Published by Gordon V. Thompson Music, a Division of Canada Publishing Corporation. Toronto, Canada. 1988.

Examine the theme of Love Essay

Love. A word familiar to everyone. Love has the power to control ones mind and body. It sometimes provokes a good, healthy and passionate relationship or could be the vital ingredient that leads to obsession, possessiveness or even betrayal. Poetry is a powerful tool that many use to convey love’s true meaning. It is a unique and special way to help us understand love and what it really is. With clever and emotive wording, love can be experienced by anyone. Like love, poetry has many different forms and in this piece of coursework I shall explain each one and show how they can create different atmospheres. You will also realise that poets have certain styles and often one’s work can be spotted just through context. I will examine sonnets first. They are all fourteen lines and usually about an abstract subject. The lines are fairly long and don’t tell a story. Sonnets also have many different themes. There are two forms of sonnet, Petrarchan and Shakespearean. Petrarchan was a form named after a Roman poet called Petrarch. He divided his poems into eight lines and six lines. The eight lines are the same, like eight notes in music, these are called an octave. The following six are called a sestet. The octave will consist of one particular thought or idea. After these eight lines the writer changes the direction in the last six, the sestet. The turn in meaning is called a Volta. Shakespearean is the second form of sonnet. It is divided up differently into three sections of four lines called a quatrain. This leaves two lines at the end that rhyme, a rhyming couplet. ‘Shall I compare thee . . .’ (William Shakespeare) â€Å"Shall I compare thee . . .† is a sonnet written by William Shakespeare and has a very similar theme to many of his other sonnets. He portrays how cruel time can be. This poem allows Shakespeare’s love live forever, maybe not physically but mentally. His poem defeats the meaning of time by letting people have eternal life. The first two lines show Shakespeare comparing his loved one with a summers day. â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a Summers day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate:† Here he uses a summer’s day as something beautiful and questions the comparison between this and his loved one. He goes on to say she is more temperate. Shakespeare means that his loved one is not too much and avoids excess. â€Å"Rough windes do shake the darling buds of Maie, And Sommers lease hath all too short a date† These two lines display Shakespeare pointing out the disadvantages of summer. A strong wind can spoil the buds of May and summer doesn’t last long. â€Å"Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dim’d,† The sun can sometimes be too hot. The eye of heaven is not only used as a metaphor but also displays personification. The sun can be hidden away by the clouds whereas their love for one another will not let anything get in the way. Lines seven and eight how beauty is affected at certain times under certain circumstances. The beauty on the outside never lasts and will eventually fade either by age, chance or illness etc. â€Å"And every faire from faire some-times declines By chance, or natures changing course untrim’d† After these two lines Shakespeare conveys a picture of his love that has eternal beauty. â€Å"But thy eternall Sommer shall not fade, Nor loose possesion of that faire thou ow’st† Here it also describes the beauty she owns shall never fade like everyone else’s. â€Å"Nor’ Shall death brag wondr’st in his shade When in eternall lines to time thou grow’st† This is where the poem focuses on the everlasting nature of his poetry. Personification of death is used. Death cannot claim his love if these lines exist. â€Å"So long as men can breath or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee† The poem ends with this rhyming couplet which is seen in many of Shakespeare’s sonnets. Let Me Not (William Shakespeare) This sonnet by Shakespeare describes the nature of a lasting love between two people. He argues that true love denies any ‘impediments’ especially as it is a marriage of true minds. He also mentions that it cannot be altered. It does not ‘alter’ or ‘bend’. This sonnet reflects a theme similar to that of ‘Shall I compare thee†¦.’. Using love as a tool for immortality and eternal life. The theme of everlasting love develops further. Love is stronger than tempests and alters not even with the passage of time, which it describes as brief. The poem finishes with an emphatic couplet, which claims that if he is mistake then his poem was never written, and ‘no man ever loved’. A clever statement that displays his confidence in loves eternity. Porphyria’s Lover (Robert Browning) â€Å"Porphyria’s Lover† is one of the earliest and most shocking of Browning’s dramatic monologues. The poem is about an obsessed and possessive lover who lives in a cottage in the countryside. Realizing his love, Porphyria, will eventually give in to society’s constraints, he kills her. â€Å"Porphyria’s Lover† has an unusual structure. Not only does it lack the colloquiualisms of Browning’s other poems but takes the form of highly patterned verse which rhymes ABABB. This strange structure helps convey how tragic and dramatic the poem is. The poem is a dramatic monologue, a fictional speech presented as the thought of a speaker who is separate from the poet. It opens with a scene that brings fear, loneliness and emptiness to the heart of the reader. â€Å"The rain set early in tonight, The sullen wind was soon awake, It tore the elm-tops down for spite, And did its worse to vex the lake: I listened with heart fit to break.† These opening lines seem to set the scene almost instantly yet it is changed just as quickly. â€Å"When glided in Porphyria; straight She shut the cold out and the storm, And kneeled and made the cheerless grate Blaze up, and all the cottage warm: Which alone, she rose, and from her form.† From being so dark and desperate there is an immediate switch of feelings from the speaker and the atmosphere also reflects his emotions. Porphyria herself has the ability to bring happiness to her lover immediately, without breathing a word, the very presence of Porphyria fulfills her lover’s heart. Browning’s first few lines are like a roller coaster to the reader and this proves how dramatic monologue can convey love so clearly and dramatically. However, once Porphyria begins to take off her wet clothing, the poem leaps into the modern world. â€Å"Withdrew the dripping cloak and shawl., And laid her soiled gloves by, untied Her hat and let the damp hair fall, And, last, she sat down by my side And called me. When no voice replied, She put my arm about her waist, And made her smooth white shoulder bare, And all her yellow hair displaced.† These lines show Browning’s interest in the body and what pleasures it brings. Since Robert Browning lived in Victorian times he couldn’t question the morality of sex and violence. I think this is mainly he explores the subject of love and sex in his poems. In these lines it mentions Porphyria baring her shoulder and holding him. Porphyria is seen to be flirting with her lover yet it doesn’t give the impression that anything immoral is happening. As the poem continues, the lover grows more possessive over Porphyria. â€Å"Be sure I looked up at her eyes Happy and proud; at last I knew Porphyria worshipped me; surprise Made my heart swell, and still it grew While I debated what to do.† The speaker is realising Porphyria has just as much love for him and wants the moment to last forever. The next line portrays the lover’s possesiveness by using repetition of the word ‘mine’. â€Å"That moment she was mine, mine, fair;† The speaker then comes to terms with the fact his love, Porphria, will give in to pressures of society and decides to kill her. â€Å"In one long yellow I wound Three times her little finger throat around, And strangled her. No pain felt she;† The lover speaks as though he was giving something to Porphyria she wanted. He then goes on to prove himself innocent. He tried to bear no guilt for his actions and reassures himself. â€Å". . . . . . No pain felt she; I am quite sure she felt no pain.† Being afraid to open her eyes, he tries to recapture the moments they shared together. â€Å"As a shut bud that holds a bee, I warily opened her lids: again Laughed the blue eyes without a strain.† He then tried to convince himself that what he had done was what Porphyria wanted. â€Å"And all night long we have not stirred And yet God had not said a word!† The poem shows how possesive love can lead to the death of the person you love most. Can murder be justified to someone you love? Porphyria’s Lover shows how obsession with someone can sometimes result in death. My Last Duchess (Robert Browning) Another poem which is written in the form of dramatic monologue is â€Å"My Last Duchess†. The duke is the speaker of the poem and is negotiating his marriage with an ambassador. As he shows his visitor around his palace, he stops before a picture of his last duchess. He explains how lovely she was. However he also describes her bad behaviour and how she didn’t appreciate his name. As the dramatic monologue continues it becomes apparent that the Duke was the cause of her early death when he couldn’t tolerate her behaviour any longer. The Duke then returns to the subject of the marriage. As the duke and the ambassador depart from the painting, the Duke points out more pieces of art in his collection. â€Å"My Last Duchess† is structured around rhyming pentameter lines. The lines do not use full stops. They are sentences which don’t conclude at the end of a line and this gives the impression that the rhymes is not complete. The personality of the Duke makes horrifying information seem quite fine. The poem is a good example of dramatic monologue as the speaker is clearly distinct from the poet and the real character of the Duke is the aim of the poem. This poem also makes the readers become part of poem as we only hear it through the Duke’s own thought and so we must put the story together ourselves. Ballad (Anon) This poem reveals the tale of a dishonest lover. The poem is by an unknown author. It was passed down through oral tradition. This ballad is told by a girl, who at the start of the poem is an innocent maiden with no experience too the opposite sex. However, her innocence is lost to a shepherd and she becomes pregnant. She doesn’t profit from being resentful to the shepherd who no longer takes interest in the girl. It’s clear to see the shepherd is experienced in love and the poem describes him as faithless. When he finds out the girl is pregnant, he deserts her at a time when she needs him most. Throughout the poem we can see contrasts of a love affair and its aftermath. It uses summer as the love affair and winter when the affair is over. The maiden is deeply distressed and contemplates taking her and her child’s life. She can’t reason the situation she has been placed in. The poem is flooded with mixed emotions that show anger, resentment and dishonesty.

Distinctive Human Resource Are What Firms Need Essay

Introduction Benchmarking is a crucial management tool that guides the stakeholders on the overall performance of the organization as well as mobilizing the employees on a continuous improvement of the organisation’s environmental and social performance. Bench marking is considered to have an impact when the results of the organization performance are immediate (Vorhies and Morgan, 2005). It is essential to recognize that benchmarking and the transfer of the best industry practices are supposed to help an organization in the long run through maximum utilization of the available resources and filling in the gaps associated with an organization poor performance (Drew, 1995). The notion of a single best practice may be overstated. Distinctive human resource practices help to create unique competencies that differentiate products and services and drive competitiveness in organizations. People management practices are the drivers of efforts to create distinctive competencies and, in turn, business strategies. There are various human resource management models that have been used by companies to benchmark and stay competitive in the turbulent business environment and they include the Industrial Organization Model and McKenzie’s 7s Strategy which include shared values, structure, strategy, systems, style, staff and skills. Shared Values Shared values are commonly held beliefs, mindsets, and assumptions that shape how an organization behaves and its corporate culture. Shared values are what engender trust. They are an interconnecting centre of the 7Ss model. Values are the identity by which a company is known throughout its business areas, what the organization stands for and what it believes in, it central beliefs and attitudes. These values must be explicitly stated as both corporate objectives and individual values. Structure Structure is the organizational chart and associated information that shows who reports to whom and how tasks are both divided up and integrated. In other words, structures describe the hierarchy of authority and accountability in an organization, the way the organization’s units relate to each other: centralized, functional divisions (top-down); decentralized (the trend in larger organizations); matrix, network, holding among others. These relationships are frequently diagrammed in organizational charts. Most organizations use some mix of structures: pyramidal, matrix or networked ones to accomplish their goals. Strategy Strategies are plans an organization formulates to reach identified goals, and a set of decisions and actions aimed at gaining a sustainable advantage over the competition. Systems Systems define the flow of activities involved in the daily operation of business, including its core processes and its support systems. They refer to the procedures, processes and routines that are used to manage the organization and characterize how important work is to be done. Style Style refers to the cultural style of the organization, how key managers behave in achieving the organization’s goals, how managers collectively spend their time and attention, and how they use symbolic behaviour. How management acts is more important that what management says. Staff Staff refers to the number and types of personnel within the organization and how companies develop employees and shape basic values. Skills Skills refer to the dominant distinctive capabilities and competencies of the personnel or of the organization as a whole. Industrial Organization (I/O) Model The external environment is primary determinant of the organizational strategy rather than internal decisions of managers. The environment presents threats and opportunities all competing to have equal access to resources. Resources are highly mobile between firms. Organizational success is achieved by offering goods and services at lower costs than competitors. Professional sports 49ers †¢ The 49ers have succeeded by using a strategy of long-term player development by recruiting through college drafts rather than trades. This helps the team cement loyalty to the club by the players. Raiders †¢ The Raiders scoop up talented players who fail or do not fit in elsewhere. The club reinforces its strategy through autocracy where the members are not supposed to participate in decision making. The system of the club embraces outside recruit of experienced players. Retailing: Sales as the Service Sears †¢ The Sears selection system requires extensive training. The style keeps track of employee attitude and morale through employee surveys, pay programs to match other retail business through industrial organization model. Nordstrom †¢ The Nordstrom structure of hiring is decentralized and uses no formal selection tests. There are continuous stream of programs to motivate employees with very little attention paid to the staffs in terms of training and commissions when retailing. †¢ The link between employees and product market strategy is sometimes less direct in services, but there are still relationships between the way employees are managed, the competencies employees help produce, and the way companies compete. Professional Service Firms; Information and Advice as the Product Boston Consulting Group (BCG) †¢ The style of BCG is to hire the best undergraduate and MBA students to work for them. †¢ The firm’s system requires rigorous selection procedures and through industrial organization Model provides exceptional compensation to the employees as compared to other organizations. †¢ The firm develops its staff through formal training. †¢ BCG shared value approach expects each team to come up with innovative ways to reinforce its entrepreneurial culture. McKinsey †¢ The professional firm develops its distinctive capabilities through on-campus recruiting and employee skills and development through extensive training model. †¢ The firm’s strategy lies in providing clients with consistent services. The core competency is also consistent with the products and the techniques of the company. Business Schools Harvard Business †¢ The business school staff development represents internal skills development. The school hires employees and turns them into experts. †¢ The business school invests a lot on employee development through the staff model. Wharton School †¢ The school recruitment strategy model relies on external environment to recruit its employees from a network of academicians. †¢ The system model that is used to make the institution maintain a competitive edge in the market is by hiring employees with superior technical skills and by making use of its outside market. Financial Services Chubb †¢ The insurance firm success is based on its shared value model of becoming the insurance of choice. †¢ The firm makes substantial staff investment through its recruitment, intensive training and testing before hiring. American International Group (AIG) †¢ The success of the insurance firm is through its industrial orientation strategy model where the company identifies new areas of business, creates new products, and benefits from the first mover advantage as a result of exploiting the market. †¢ The company’s competencies are its ability to respond to the turbulent business environment. †¢ The company hires from its competitors and invests less on staff development. The Shipping Business FedEx †¢ The shipping business has a strategy model of empowering its employees in the implementation of its vision. †¢ First service company to win the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award †¢ Intensive orientation program for staff development. †¢ One hub at FedEx meant that there were fewer coordination problems, allowing for autonomy and participation through it structural model. †¢ This model highly enhances loyalty in employees. UPS †¢ The orientation of the company structure model takes an autocratic approach where the employees have no direct say over work organization matters. †¢ Company standards for each task through its shared value model. †¢ Pays the highest wages and benefits in the industry (Industrial Organization Model). †¢ Productivity of UPS’s drivers is about three times higher than that at FedEx due to its high compensation. †¢ UPS’s business demands a level of coordination that is incompatible with individual employee involvement and a â€Å"high commitment† approach through it structural model. Food and Beverages Coke †¢ Coke builds on employee skills and hangs on them through staff development model. †¢ Coke hires college graduates with little or corporate experience and provides intensive training. †¢ There is promotion and seniority based salary incentives. †¢ Decision making is centralized Pepsi †¢ The company relies on employees’ innovativeness to identify market niches †¢ Pepsi hires employees with experience and advanced technical skills through industrial organization model. †¢ Decision making is decentralized. †¢ Employees have little job security. †¢ Less loyal employees. References Drew, S. A. W. (1995). Strategic Benchmarking: Innovation Practices in Financial Institutions. International Journal of Bank Marketing 13 (1),4-16. Vorhies, D. W., & Morgan, N. A. (2005). Benchmarking Marketing Capabilities for Sustainable Competitive Advantage. Journal of Marketing 69 (January Issue), 80–94.

Free Essays on Why Winston Is A Critical Thinker

he wrote in his small diary, a diary which could get Winston in lots of trouble with the Thought Police. But to Winston expressing ... Free Essays on Why Winston Is A Critical Thinker Free Essays on Why Winston Is A Critical Thinker Being a critical thinker isn’t easy. It’s a skill that has to be acquired over time and practice. Being a critical thinker means that you don’t only look at the facts but you look at an idea from every possible angle, while formulating your own thoughts and meanings. The character of Winston from George Orwell’s 1984 is a perfect example of a critical thinker. Winston is able to think critically about Big Brother, because he is able to formulate his own ideas on what is right and wrong about the parties’ policies. Winston’s ideas formulated through thinking critically cause him to revolt against the parties’ suppression of sex, truth and free deliberation. Although Winston’s actions lead to his torture, it is safe to say that his critical thinking brings him real life because he is able to think outside the bubble and become an individual. Orwell in relation to Winston was also a critical thinker. In fact, Orwell used the cha racter of Winston to express his own critical views on government, and to influence his audience to become critical thinkers At the start of 1984, the reader learns that Winston the protagonist is living in a harsh and oppressive world, a world were everyone has been brain-washed to think as Big Brother wants them to think, and not as individuals. From the start of the book Winston shows that he doesn’t conform to how the government wants him to act. He is a critical thinker because he doesn’t think like everyone else. All the other citizens just accept that there are telescreens spitting out propaganda and watching their every move, or that Big Brother controls and monitors all actions of their lives. Winston doesn’t conform his ideas like Big Brother wants him to, instead Winston thinks of rebellion and freedom. â€Å"Down with Big Brother,† were the words he wrote in his small diary, a diary which could get Winston in lots of trouble with the Thought Police. But to Winston expressing ...

Dakota Office Products Essay Example

Dakota Office Products Essay Example Dakota Office Products Essay Dakota Office Products Essay Dakota Office Products Q1) Why was Dakota’s existing pricing system inadequate for its current operating environment? The existing policies being followed by Dakota regarding Accounts receivables are a major issue, which is affecting its payment of working capital line of credit (@10%). Customer A pays its bill within 30 days, whereas B takes up 90 days or more. Dakota can achieve sufficient liquidity, if it tightens its credit policy. | | | | | 2) Develop an activity based cost system for Dakota office products based on year 2000 data. Calculate the activity cost driver rate for each DOP activity in 2000. Activities amp; Costs| Activities| Drivers| Costs| Ship Cartons| No. of cartons| Freight( commercialamp; Own)| Process Cartons| No. of cartons| Warehouse Costs(Rent, Personnel amp; Distribution)| Desktop Delivery| No. of deliveries| Delivery Truck amp; Warehouse Personnel| Processing Manual Orders|   | Order Entry(Processing systemamp; Operators)| Entering Items(Ordered manually)| No. of lines Entered| Order Entry| EDI Processing| Per EDI Order| Quick check of order entry| Construction of Activity  Based Cost System: In the table that follows Overhead Cost Items- description of the activity performed. Source of Annual Cost- reference is provided for each cost item (either the numerical basis for the  calculation or the reference exhibit in the case study as applicable). Annual Cost contains the total cost in dollars. Estimated Annual Value- is  the volume Cost per Driver Unit-is the  calculated allocation rate. Other Costs Interest was assigned at a rate of  10% of each customer’s average accounts receivable balance. General and Selling Expenses were allocated as the fraction of  total sales 3) Using the answer to Question 2, calculate the profitability of customer A and customer B. Profitability Comparison of  Customers The results of the profitability analysis shown in Table 2 are described below. * The gross margins (Sales – Cost of Goods Sold) in the current method For customer A (from exhibit 2): $103000 $85000 = $18000 For customer B (from exhibit 2): $104000-$85000 = $19000 They differ only by $1000 and hence behaviour is similar However, compilations of relative activity-based costs indicate the difference in behaviour. Customer A utilized more commercial freight shipments (Customer A: 200 vs. Customer B: 150) due to which a higher activity cost margin is observed (Customer A: $1200 vs. Customer B: $900). * Customer A did not use any desktop delivery service as opposed to Customer B who requested 25 desktop deliveries at a relative differential cost of $5500. * Number of line items: Customer A’s 60 items, and Customer B’s 180 resulted in an allocation of $240 and $720, respectively. Customer A placed only 6 manual orders, while B placed 100 manual orders. This results in costs of $60 and $1000 for A and B respectively. * Customer A executed 6 EDI  orders at a  cost of $30. Customer B did  not use the EDI facility. * Each customer warehoused 200 cartons, for an assigned cost of $10,400. * Based on all activity-based costs, contribution margin from Customer A is calculated to be $6,070 and that for Customer B is $480. Thus, here, a huge disparity in profitability of the Customers is observed.

Chances Fat and Slim

Chances Fat and Slim Chances Fat and Slim Chances Fat and Slim By Maeve Maddox A reader wonders about two expressions: For many years I’ve wondered about Fat Chance and Slim Chance – both meaning â€Å"little chance,† but where’d they come from? The Ngram Viewer indicates that â€Å"slim chance† came along about eighty years earlier than â€Å"fat chance† and that â€Å"slim chance† is far more common in print than â€Å"fat chance.† A Google search shows the expressions in about equal use on the Web. One meaning of slim is â€Å"thin† or â€Å"slender,† but its meaning in â€Å"slim chance† is â€Å"meager, scanty, sparse.† I’d guess that the expression â€Å"fat chance† originated as a play on words. Both expressions are popular in titles for books and articles that have something to do with obesity or fitness. Slim Chance, Fat Hope: Societys Obsession With Thinness Slim Chance in a Fat World Fat Chance! The Weight Loss Workbook â€Å"Obese People Have Slim Chance of Obtaining Normal Body Weight† â€Å"Critics say mesotherapy offers slim chance† â€Å"Why dieters have fat chance of losing weight† Although many speakers share the reader’s idea that both expressions mean the same thing, the two have different meanings. If there’s a â€Å"slim chance† that something will happen, then there is a possibility, albeit a small one. That’s the meaning in this headline about the current movement of migrants: How much for a spot on a rubber raft and a slim chance at a better life?† â€Å"Fat chance† is an ironic way of saying there’s no chance at all, as in this exchange between a woman and a former boyfriend: I was just wondering - † â€Å" - if Id  come back to you  now?  Fat chance. Forget it.†    Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:45 Synonyms for â€Å"Food†50 Latin Phrases You Should KnowDrama vs. Melodrama

Importance of Establishment of Facebook by Mark Zuckerberg Case Study - 125

Importance of Establishment of Facebook by Mark Zuckerberg - Case Study Example When an entrepreneur starts a company and helps it have a global impact, this has a huge addition of value to the nation of the entrepreneur. An example of it is establishment of Facebook by Mark Zuckerberg. Mark Zuckerberg has created value for America by becoming 11th on the list of 400 richest Americans in 2014 (Anderson, 2014). He has not contributed to the sustenance of America’s image as a country that boasts some of the richest people in the world, but has also added value in terms of drawing in money from all over the world into America. Hundreds of thousands of people that use Facebook as a commercial forum pay a portion of their revenues to Mark Zuckerberg for providing them with this medium, and the money comes to America. Mark Zuckerberg has also added value to America strategically with Facebook. Being a social networking site, on which a profile is a must-have for every individual participating in and endorsing the progressive modern culture, Facebook is a rich s ource of information for America related to people all over the world, their opinions, preferences, political and religious views and opinions, and practices. This information is of huge significance to the giant corporations and political entities in America as it helps them do strategic planning in a way that they can draw maximal benefit. Facebook has been used as a medium for political campaigning, determining public opinion in voting, and to get consumers’ reviews on innovative advances in products. The efficiency and cost-effectiveness thus brought about adds value to America.

Will be privided on Friday July 1st after 6pm Essay - 1

Will be privided on Friday July 1st after 6pm - Essay Example Acting in such a manner shows how one puts his heart in his work and usually results in satisfactory jobs as others may not be able to demand for more when they see the seriousness of a responsible person. Of course, physical efforts are much needed to accomplish responsibilities because just thinking about things and planning one’s actions are not the same as doing them. One has to perform his duties to be considered responsible. In our world, whatever part of the world we live in, I think responsibility is present and comes in many forms but still are the same though different in some ways. This is so because of culture and beliefs. For instance, for some cultures, it is still widely accepted that mothers should stay at home and do the household chores, bear children and take care of them while the father is expected to do the more difficult tasks like farming or being the bread winner, going to the office and bringing home his paycheck to his wife. To them, women are expected to budget whatever amount the father brings home for all the needs of the whole family. For other cultures, women are now allowed to work alongside the men in offices, competing with them and even becoming bosses in a world that used to have been dominated by the stronger sex, as we have always known. However, the women’s responsibilities in such cultures in the house are not passed on to the men, though there are some cases of which, but that their working outside of the house is but an additional responsibility. If they are not able to perform their functions as housekeepers and babysitters, they then have to hire someone to do the task so that their primary responsibilities will not be forsaken. In another angle, there are other responsibilities we have to perform and that would be our social responsibilities. As they say, no man is an island. Indeed no man is and we can not survive without the help of the other no matter how much we hate having others help us. Men have been made

Depiction of women in the advertisements from 1950 to 2005 Essay

Depiction of women in the advertisements from 1950 to 2005 - Essay Example This "Depiction of women in the advertisements from 1950 to 2005" essay outlines how the advertisements and their depiction of women altered and reflected society throughout history, from 1950 to 2005. It was found out that in 1970, advertisements emphasised that a woman’s place was in the home, though there were 29 million women in the labour force at that time. Women were shown as independent only when inexpensive items or simple decisions were involved, sending the message that women do not make important decisions or do important things. It was observed that Women were generally isolated from their sex within the ads, thus signalling that women are dependent and constantly require men’s protection. In addition, Women were often found in decorative roles having little relationship to the product, thus saying that men regards women primarily as sexual objects and are not interested in them as people. In contrast, the portrayal of men (Lovdal, 1989) was as independent people who are intelligent and fully involved in a career. Men, shown in authoritative positions, were depicted 78% of the time in out-of-home settings. Belknap and Leanord II (1991) analysing women's magazines from 1940-70, discovered that the feminine ideal was one of child-bearer, child-rearer and homemaker, with the advertisements depicting women as possessing characteristics of passivity and dependency. For example, in the advertisement shown here, the quote runs, â€Å"you trust it’s Quality†, implying that the woman as a nurse or helper is someone you can trust.

Goebbels George Bush , propaganda on the American media Essay

Goebbels George Bush , propaganda on the American media - Essay Example The government of the US has been portraying these military officers as experts in the field of war but little did the American public realize that these officers had liaised with the government. Most of them would be paid for their opinions. (Barstow, 2008a) It has also been revealed (New York Times, 2008) that there are certain personalities in the Bush administration specifically trained to deal with issues such propaganda. One such example is a certain lady called Victoria Clarke. She had a lot of prior experience in the public relations field and has been responsible for crusading about the war in Iraq. She came up with the idea of using journalists in the war live/. She argued that this was good fro democracy as it gave Americans first hand information about the goings on in Iraq. She formed a team that would assist in the process of implanting the propaganda and also hand picked some so-called ‘analysts’ to tell Americans about the war. (Barstow, 2008b) The pentagon made sure that the analyst chosen would appear frequently in media outlets this was especially common during the first phases of the war. News images were constantly splashed with the faces of these analysts (employed military men). Whenever there was a threat against the government concerning the war, the analysts would always meet Pentagon official and then counter the claims made by other military officers concerning the war. The Pentagon propaganda group decided to use military officers as their propaganda tool because they knew that most Americans respected expert opinion especially if those experts came from positions of authority. People in the United States trust groups or persons who seem independent thus getting a group of people who do not seem directly linked the White house is the best way to sway opinion. (Barstow, 2008b) The

Analyze, using examples, the argument that an informal economy will Essay

Analyze, using examples, the argument that an informal economy will always exist in any society in which there is a formal economy - Essay Example cerned about the informal economy running in parallel with the formal economy - with the legal activities escaping the tax net, and the illegal activities hoodwinking the law enforcement agencies. Hence one comes to accept the fact that in any society with a formal economy, the informal economy exists too. â€Å"The hidden or informal economy is usually taken to mean any undeclared economic activity† (Grabiner, 2000). An economic activity remains undeclared either for the purpose of evasion of taxes or because it is prohibited by law. Informal economy is thus a burden on the state, since the major part of it is illegal and even when it is legal, it leads to tax evasion or undue claims by the so-called unemployed on social security system like unemployment / medical / other benefits. Undisclosed income or black money may be put to fuel further growth of informal activities, because it cannot be openly used for any legal purpose. construction sector, consulting in professional services sector, seasonal labour in farm sector etc., all paid for by cash-in-hand. To the extent these legal activities go unreported to the authorities, they form a part of the informal economy. Coming to the illegal activities, which obviously will not be reported to the authorities, they may be financed by the undeclared profits of legal businesses (Grabiner, 2000, p.1). Trading in smuggled goods / prohibited substances like drugs, gun running, trafficking, exhibition of prohibited cinematographic works (pornography) etc. are common examples of illegal and criminal activities in the informal economy. To add to this, there are many devious ways by which black money is generated, exploiting the loopholes in the framework of legal economic activity. For example, under-invoicing of imports to cheat on customs duties, or over-invoicing of exports to claim export subsidies, are two of the common sources of generation of black money. To facilitate completion of such transactions, further

Advantages and Disadvantages of Wireless Networking Essay

Advantages and Disadvantages of Wireless Networking - Essay Example It uses technologies such as the Bluetooth as well as other unguided media such as satellite, radio and microwave transmissions among others (Tanenbaum, 2004). This essay is a critical evaluation of wireless networking, discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of this form of data information transmission. Developments in the Information technology sector have greatly enhanced the modes of doing business especially in time management and the timely delivery of results. For example, most of the companies and institutions have allowed their employees to telecommute. Telecommuting is the process through which an employee is allowed to work from his personal computer at any location be it home, vehicle etc without necessarily having to report to the office, where the company’s computers are located (Kurose, 2002). By doing so, assignments given to the employees can be completed during their own free time instead of having them work overtime thereby denying them the pleasure to be with their families, who require their presence at home as early as possible. After completing the assignments, an employee, having been allowed to access the company’s databases, can send them directly from his remote computer so that once the offices are opened, the information can be put into use without any delay. However, this may be difficult or impossible without the wireless connectivity, which facilitates remote transmission of data from one computer to the other (Smith, 2003). There is also the technology of video conferencing and VOIP, which facilitates meetings for example by the board of directors who do not have to meet physically thereby minimizing the cost of travelling or accommodation. However, this mode of communication can incorporate both wireless and wire networks. This is from the perspective that the board members may be connected to the internet by wire or wireless networks but for them to communicate

Analyze, using examples, the argument that an informal economy will Essay

Analyze, using examples, the argument that an informal economy will always exist in any society in which there is a formal economy - Essay Example cerned about the informal economy running in parallel with the formal economy - with the legal activities escaping the tax net, and the illegal activities hoodwinking the law enforcement agencies. Hence one comes to accept the fact that in any society with a formal economy, the informal economy exists too. â€Å"The hidden or informal economy is usually taken to mean any undeclared economic activity† (Grabiner, 2000). An economic activity remains undeclared either for the purpose of evasion of taxes or because it is prohibited by law. Informal economy is thus a burden on the state, since the major part of it is illegal and even when it is legal, it leads to tax evasion or undue claims by the so-called unemployed on social security system like unemployment / medical / other benefits. Undisclosed income or black money may be put to fuel further growth of informal activities, because it cannot be openly used for any legal purpose. construction sector, consulting in professional services sector, seasonal labour in farm sector etc., all paid for by cash-in-hand. To the extent these legal activities go unreported to the authorities, they form a part of the informal economy. Coming to the illegal activities, which obviously will not be reported to the authorities, they may be financed by the undeclared profits of legal businesses (Grabiner, 2000, p.1). Trading in smuggled goods / prohibited substances like drugs, gun running, trafficking, exhibition of prohibited cinematographic works (pornography) etc. are common examples of illegal and criminal activities in the informal economy. To add to this, there are many devious ways by which black money is generated, exploiting the loopholes in the framework of legal economic activity. For example, under-invoicing of imports to cheat on customs duties, or over-invoicing of exports to claim export subsidies, are two of the common sources of generation of black money. To facilitate completion of such transactions, further

Operational Amplifier (Op-Amp) Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Operational Amplifier (Op-Amp) - Lab Report Example ed, high gain, voltage amplifier. They form the basis of a wide array of electronic circuits, including amplifiers, buffers, comparators, and analogue-digital/digital-analogue converters. An op-amp is represented in schematic notation by the following symbol: Figure 1 - Circuit Diagram Element Where V+ and V- are the differential inputs, VS+ and VS-, are the positive and negative supply voltages, and Vout is the output of the amplifier. While they are represented as a single element, op-amps are in fact composed of many circuit elements, and are conventionally sold as monolithically integrated silicon chips. 1.1 Origins and Development of the Operational Amplifier The operational amplifier can trace its origins back to fledgling telecommunications industry in the United States at the turn of the 19th century. With the invention of the telephone, there was demand to carry electronic voice communications over longer and longer distances. The challenge was to build signal repeating equi pment that minimized problems like distortion and crosstalk, so that multi-channel communications could be carried from one side of the country to the other. Advances in electronic equipment and amplifier design eventually led to the development of the first operational amplifiers at Bell Labs in the 1940s. Vacuum tube devices were essential to the development of amplifier technology, because they made possible for the first time the non-linear manipulation of voltage and current. â€Å"The Fleming Diode†, patented in 1904 by J.A. Fleming [1], was the first major breakthrough in this respect because it allowed for the rectification of current. Then in 1906, Lee De Forest [2] built upon this work with â€Å"The Audion†, a three-element triode vacuum tube that was the first device capable of signal amplification. Amplifiers built in the following years suffered from stability problems, as they used a positive feedback principle, and distortion due to the generation of ha rmonics by vacuum tubes. Harold Black [3], in 1927 while searching for a means of improving linearity and stability of currently-used positive feedback amplifiers, came up with the negative feedback amplifier principle. The idea of deliberately sacrificing gain in to improve stability ran counter to conventional ideas at the time, and it took 9 years for the original patent application to be accepted. Once implemented, however, the advantages of this approach quickly became clear. Within a few years the theory for stable amplifier design was formalized by Nyquist and Bode, two names now synonymous with fundamental electrical engineering principles, during their work at Bell Labs. At this

The Stakeholder Engagement Process Management Essay

The Stakeholder Engagement Process Management Essay A person, group of persons, or organization that has a direct or indirect stake in an organisation because it can affect or be affected by organizations action, objectives, polices. (Business dictionary, 2012) Stakeholder engagement process: The word stakeholder and engagement both have different meanings for different people therefore it is difficult to understand what people are trying to think and say about these words. These words are used together to define a procedure which is theoretical a transparent process Stakeholder is only defined in a reference to a particular issue e.g. as a local resident in a particular area you may be a stakeholder in a decision about what will be the opening and closing timing of the restaurant. But you will not be a stakeholder in a decision about what kind of restaurant/food they will serve but health and local authority might a stakeholder in both decisions. Many authors described this phrase in different way. According to (Glicken, 2000) A stakeholder is an individual or group influenced by and with an ability to significantly impact (positively or negatively) the topical area of interest. However, according to (Slocum et al, 1995) Active involvement of people in making decisions about the implementation of processes programmes and projects which affect them. Freeman (1984) explains that any person or group of people who can directly or indirectly affect or can be affected by the organisations actions, objectives and policies. Shareholders including investors, owners, partners, directors, people owning shares or stock, banks, anyone having a financial stake in the business purchasers, consumers and end users. Stakeholder engagement is the process used by an organisation to engage significant stakeholders for a clear purpose to attain accepted results and stakeholder engagement is the process used by an organisation to engage relevant stakeholders for a purpose to achieve accepted outcomes. It is now also known as a fundamental accountability tool, since it obliges an organisation to involve stakeholders in classifying, understanding and answering to sustainability issues and concerns, and to report, explain and be accountable to stakeholders for decisions, actions and performance. Quality stakeholder engagement process should include: Clearly define the scope and have an agreed decision making process; Focus on issues material to the organisation and/or its stakeholders; We need to identify the important stakeholder and their interest relating to our restaurant. We need to assess the power and influence of stakeholders in connection to our restaurant. Define appropriate project to each stakeholder and we need to identify the stakeholders risk relating to our restaurant. Create opportunities for dialogue and be integral to organisational governance; Have a process appropriate to the stakeholders engaged Be timely; be transparent, flexible and responsive. Stakeholder engagement must be rooted in the culture and main functions of the organisation. To accomplish this, this requires an assurance to the principles and incorporation of stakeholder engagement with organisational governance, strategy and operations. Through this assurance and incorporation, the outputs of stakeholder engagement lead to strategic and operational outcomes. Whenever we start a project or business it is very important for us to identify key stakeholders and their type and also identify their interest relating to our business or project. Different kind of stakeholders: Usually stakeholders have three types Primary stakeholder Secondary stakeholder Key stakeholder Primary stakeholder: A primary stakeholder includes any group of people or an organisation which are eventually affected by the actions of the organisation both in positively or negatively way. In our restaurant business primary stakeholders are customers, lenders, suppliers and owner of the building. Secondary stakeholder: Secondary stakeholders are those who could be indirectly affected by the actions of the organisations. In our restaurant business secondary stakeholders are city council and environmental authorities. Key stakeholder: Key stakeholders can belong to first two groups and these peoples or organisations can have substantial impact upon within our restaurant. Key stakeholder includes; City council Customers Suppliers Lenders Owner of the building Environmental authorities and trade authorities. The Importance of Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement: Stakeholder engagement is premised on the concept that those groups who can affect or are affected by the succession of an organisations purpose should be given the opportunity to observe and input into the expansion of decisions that affect them. In todays society, if they are not actively sought out, sooner or later they may claim to be consulted. Situations could arise when organisations do not aggressively engage but are forced to do so by the demands of society as a result of a crisis situation. In response, organisations hire crisis management procedures, and are often forced into a defensive negotiation with stakeholders, leading to a substantial and long lasting loss of reputation. This type of interface is often opposed and damaging of trust. Meaningful engagements take place in organizations as many organizations are well aware of current changes in the wider society and how they pass on to organisational performance. A relation with stakeholders is a mean to manage the impact as a result of those changes, many of which are shaped due to vast negative impact of global economic downturn. Organisations can either seek to diminish risk through the use of stakeholder management, or through the use of meaningful stakeholder engagement exploit new trends to identify and establish new opportunities; the latter is characterised by a readiness to be open to change. As with any other business process, engagement process should be systematic, logical and should be applied thoroughly. A process is provided by stakeholder engagement which takes in to account organisation from the starting point of planning and identifying objectives through to post monitoring and evaluation. This process is represented as a circle as it is constant where lessons are learned from past experience and will then shape the future planning and engagement. Stakeholder mapping and their importance: Stakeholder mapping is process of listing the entire stakeholders according to their interest and power or influence on a particular organisation. (Bjorn Andersen, 2008) Each stakeholder is different from other in terms of their power and their interest. Some stakeholders have more power and more interest in an organisation and some stakeholders have more power with less interest in an organisation. Therefore, stakeholder mapping provides us a framework which helps organisation in term of stakeholder management. By using stakeholder mapping organisation categorise each stakeholder in different category and then spend more time and money on those stakeholders who have more interests and more power and organisation also saves time by spending less time on those stakeholders who have less power and less interest. Stakeholders Mapping http://open.jorum.ac.uk/xmlui/bitstream/handle/123456789/650/Items/B324_1_004i.jpg http://open.jorum.ac.uk Key players: Key players are those stakeholders who have more power and more interest in our business or organisation. In key players stakeholder management process organisation need to actively involve these stakeholder in almost in every part of the project. Because these are the stakeholders who have more power, influence and interest in our organisation. In our project suppliers, lenders and property owner has high power and high interest therefore, these stakeholders are key player in our project. Keep satisfied: These are the stakeholders who have less interest but more power in our organisation. Therefore, organisation always needs to try to keep these stakeholders satisfied at all the time and organisation always need to feed these stakeholders with the information which they need. Keep informed: These stakeholders have with high interests but low power. There is a very less chance that these stakeholders will create any trouble in our project, but these stakeholders have high interest in our project. Therefore, organisation always needs to try to spend relatively less time on this stakeholder and keep them satisfied. For example, local community and neighbourhood people who have most interests and low power and they cannot create any trouble but their interests level is quite high. Minimal effort: These are the peoples with less interests and low power. Organisation should need to spend less time and money on these stakeholders. Understanding stakeholder: Engagement process includes the understanding of the different stakeholders and also understanding their needs and demands. In this process we need to know how best we can engage all different stakeholders and how to communicate with them. We need to consider some key questions to find out how we can perform this process efficiently. This key question includes; What financial and non-financial interest they have? We need to know if stakeholders go against our restaurant project then how we are going to manage their negative attitude towards our project? What is their current judgment about our restaurant project? What kind of information they require from us? How we need to communicate with them? To get the answer for all of the above questions we need to ask directly to the potential stakeholders. Stakeholders are quiet open about their opinion and they feel free to comment on an organisations policies and actions. By asking these questions and interacting with stakeholders helps organisations to build a strong relationship with the stakeholders which will help organisation in a long run. Being a project runner we need to ensure that stakeholders are aware that things will get better once the project is completed and there will be now extra financial cost or any other burden on them. If we dont ensure them there will be resistance in future and this resistance could affect our project. Stakeholder management: Successful project requires a careful stakeholder management. Therefore, we need to ask questions who are the stakeholders? Stakeholder is any group/person or any organisation that has direct interest in our restaurant and they can be directly affected by the output of our restaurant. Therefore, it is necessary for us to understand the principles and issues which stakeholders have in order to address them and keep everyone on board for the duration of our restaurant project. (www.projectsmart.co.uk) In stakeholder management process we need to identify our key stakeholders then we need to find out whats their needs, demands, interest and power relating to our restaurant and then we need to know how to manage these stakeholders. Therefore, managing these stakeholders is different from managing other stakeholders. For example in our project of opening a restaurant on oxford road we have some stakeholder e.g. city council which could be directly affected by the output of our restaurant and if we affect this stakeholder our restaurant could be closed before it opens. Purpose of the stakeholder management: Purpose of stakeholder management is apparent however this idea has been ignored by most of the organisations. We need to consider all those stakeholders who can make an impact on our project in later period. In recent years we have noticed many examples that many organisation those who were ignoring their stakeholders now they are considering their stakeholders with more care and acting more responsibly towards their stakeholders. (www.triplepundit.com) Fast-food giant Burger king and McDonald faced criticism for supporting the cutting of the Amazonian rain forest from beef suppliers. Now Burger king and McDonalds started to act responsibly by altering their policies and improving their CSRs and they are reporting more carefully and they are taking care of their stakeholders relationship. (Buzz, 2012) Advantages and disadvantages of stakeholder management: An organisation can receive many advantages and disadvantages for managing the stakeholders carefully. Stakeholder management reduces the risk of failure of a project. Quality of a project can be improved by engaging the stakeholders. Serious issues which can affect our project can be diminishing at early stage by engaging all the stakeholders. Managing and identifying all the stakeholders is a costly process because every stakeholder has different demands and needs from other. Managing all stakeholders is not easy it is really hard job to manage all stakeholders because every stokehold aspect something extra ordinary output from your project. Conclusion: After extensive study and research; researcher is able to draw a conclusion that stakeholders are important and integral part of an organisation and organisation cannot deny form carrying out stakeholder analyses in every stage of the project. Because organisations future depends on better stakeholder management if organisation fails to do so they will end up facing extreme pressure from stakeholders and they might lose their business too and project may fail and we have seen many examples in past. Bjorn Andersen, T.F.L.E.O., 2008. Mapping work progress. 2nd ed. USA: Quality press. Freeman, R.E (1984). Strategic Management: A stakeholder Approach. Boston, MA: Pitman. Glicken, J. (2000), Getting stakeholder participation right: a discussion of the participatory processes and possible pitfalls. Environmental Science and Policy, 3, 305-310. Slocum, R., Wichhart, L., Rocheleau, D. and Thomas-Slayter, B. (eds) (1995) Power, Process and Participation. London: ITDG Publishing. http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/stakeholder.html [Accessed on 24th November 2012] http://www.triplepundit.com/2009/04/purpose-vs-profit-stakeholder-management/ [Accessed on 24th November 2012] http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/stakeholder-management.html [Accessed on 23rd November 2012] http://www.triplepundit.com/2009/04/purpose-vs-profit-stakeholder-management/ [Accessed on 23rd November 2012]

Censorship - We Must Not Restrict Speech -- Argumentative Persuasive E

We Must Not Restrict Speech      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Racism, sexism and homophobia is growing on college campuses around the country.   In response, many universities have adopted policies that address bigotry by placing restrictions on speech. The alternative to such restrictions, many administrators argue, is to allow bigots to run rampant and to subject their targets to a loss of equal educational opportunity. The power of a university to eliminate bias on campus ultimately depends not on its ability to punish a racist speaker, but instead on the depth of its commitment to the principles of equality and education.   Many universities, under pressure to respond to the concerns of those who are the objects of hate, have adopted codes or policies prohibiting speech that offends any group based on race, gender, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   That's the wrong response, well-meaning or not.&nb...