Viruses Essays - Virology, Virus, Non-cellular Life,

Viruses The word virus means "poi-son" in Latin. Viruses are submicro-scopic intracellular parasites that consist of either RNA or DNA, and a protective coat of protein. It has caused countless diseases in vari-ous organisms. The term virus was first used in the 1890s to describe agents that caused diseases that were smaller than bacteria. The ex-istence of viruses was established in 1892, when Russian scientist Dimity I. Ivanovsky discovered microscopic particles later known as the tobacco mosaic virus. Over the years, scientists have debated whether viruses are alive. Some scientists argue that the virus is lifeless. On the other hand, other scientists argue that viruses are lifeforms and should be classified into a kingdom. However, many sci-entists have agreed that things must have seven characteristics of life to be considered alive. The character-istics of life are all living things are composed of cells, all organisms are organized at cellular and molecular levels, energy use, and response to the environment, growth, reproduc-tion, and adaptation. From research and observa-tion, scientists have found that vi-ruses can perform some of the life processes. They found that viruses have organization, the ability to re-produce, and adaptations. First, they found that viruses are generally organized and composed of a nu-cleic acid core, either RNA or DNA, surrounded by protein. Next, they found that viruses could reproduce. It does not reproduce by sexual or asexual production, but by injecting its genetic material into the nucleus of a living cell. Finally, they found out that viruses have adaptations. They have the ability to mutate into different strains to resist man-made drugs. In short, these are some views and facts about the virus. To this day, scientists are still fiercely debating whether viruses are alive. Should we consider them alive since they perform some life processes or simply consider them lifeless?

Games to Support Skills for Children with Disabilities

Games to Support Skills for Children with Disabilities Games are an effective tool to support instruction in special education. When your students know how to play a game, they can play it independently. Some board games and many electronic games are available commercially or online, but they dont always support the skills that your students need to build. At the same time, many online computer games fail to support social interaction, which is an important benefit of supporting instruction with board games. Reasons for Games Drill and Repetition: Students with disabilities often need lots and lots of practice on skills, beyond what they would receive in a general education class, in a more naturalistic approach to instruction. We also know that students have difficulty generalizing skills, so games that use math or reading skills in a game will motivate children to use those skills across more social settings.Social Skill Training and Practice: Many children with disabilities, especially developmental disabilities such as autism spectrum disorders, have difficulty with social interactions. Board games support waiting, turn taking, and even losing gracefully, which both typical, and children with special needs struggle with. Games can even be designed to support social skills, such as a social skill game that requires students to complete a social task successfully (Say hello to a friend, etc.), to stay on a square on the board, or you can make some social skills cards for existing games (Chance cards on Monopoly?). Peer-Mediated Instruction:  Children with disabilities benefit from having skills modeled by typically developing, non-disabled peers. Those skills will include both academic and social skills. The typical peers will be sure to check the work of their challenged peers and can supervise play. Games as part of inclusion give both groups opportunities to practice skills, exercise some socially appropriate behavior, and build positive peer relationships. Bingo Kids love bingo. Kids with disabilities love bingo because it doesnt require knowing lots of rules, and since everyone plays through every game, it scores well on the engagement scale. It requires that they listen; identify the numbers, words, or pictures on the card; place a cover on the squares (fine motor skills), and recognize the pattern of covered squares. Many bingo games are commercial and available through online or brick and mortar stores. Teaching Made Easier, an online subscription tool for making games is an excellent way to make sight word, number, or other sorts of bingos, including picture bingos. Kinds of Bingo Games Vocabulary Building Bingos: These bingos have children cover pictures of animals or items in other categories to build receptive language.  Number Recognition Bingos: Teaching Made Easier makes it possible to customize the range of numbers used for Bingo. You can make one set of cards that uses numbers from twenty to forty to give students practice in recognizing numbers larger than twenty, but not the whole shooting match up to 100. You can also ask students with strong number recognition to read the cards, as it helps them build their skills in reading numbers aloud. Educators often recommend that some recitation in math instruction is included to be sure the numbers also get into students mouths.  Math Fact Bingo: Call numbers and have students cover matching math facts (i.e., call 12 and students can cover 2 x 6 or 3 x 4) Board Games You can build a board game based on any number of different games: Parchesi, Sorry, Monopoly. The simplest games are simple games that start at one place and end at the finish line. They can be used to support counting, or they can be used to support specific skills. You can use dice, or you can create spinners. Many Math series provide spinners that you can adapt: Once again, Teaching Made Easier provides a template for spinners. Kinds of Board Games Counting Games: An example is Halloween Rumble. Start with a serpentine path divided into squares, use dice (to building counting and adding skills) or a spinner. You can use a spinner for skip counting games (by 2s and 5s).Social Skills Games: Design this after games like Life or Monopoly, where students take cards to complete a social skill. Perhaps you might have a stack of requests such as, Ask a friend for help on your math, or a greeting: Greet a teacher in school. Quiz Show Games A great way to help students prepare for a test is a Quiz Show format. Build your game like Jeopardy and make you categories support whatever topic your students are preparing for. This is an especially good tactic for a secondary teacher who can pull a group from a content area class to prepare for a test. Games Create Winners! Games are a great way to engage your students, as well as give them lots of opportunities to practice skills and content knowledge. They seldom realize that the whole time they are competing with their classmates, they are supporting learning with their peers. It can provide some formative assessment information, letting you see whether a student understands a skill, a content area or a set of concepts.

A Study On Barbie Global Market Marketing Essay

A Study On Barbie Global Market Marketing Essay International marketing is the performance of a company’s product and services to consumers in more than one nation to produce profit. It is one of the most vital elements of marketing functions to trade their company’s products or services internationally rather than locally. This brings more advantages and benefits the organization itself as well as the country. However, trying to trade internationally influences by many factors and cause difficulties. And it is the task of these companies to study these factors prior in order to initiate business or trade with other countries effectively. These factors include the culture, economic and political factors. This essay’s discussion base on the case study, â€Å"Barbie: The American Girl Goes Global.† â€Å"Barbie is worldwide brand name invented by Ruth Handler defining as a small scale anatomically improbable modelled plastic figure of a human being especially a child’s plaything and collectable dolls.† It is the brand name for Mattel Inc., the organization for producing these toys and dolls. Barbie effectively starts its operation and selling out of its products at the American Toy Fair in New York City in 1959. Since then, Barbie become popular and operate effectively due to its increasing sales and revenues thus earning high profit compare to other American toy markets. Therefore, Mattel Inc expands its marketing situation and trade internationally where Barbie is currently selling out in more than 150 countries. These include European countries, Middle East, India and Japan. Therefore, this writing will discuss how Mattel Inc. deals with different culture issues, economic environment and political factors in these different countries in trying to market its products, the American Barbie doll. Throughout the given case study, it was basically talk about how different culture affects Mattel in trying to sell Barbie in the above mentioned countries. â€Å"Culture i s the acquired knowledge that people use to interpret experience and generate social behaviour† (Keegan & Green 2003). Each country has its own culture values and different from one another. And because Barbie trade worldwide, Mattel tend to carefully study the culture environment in those countries and analyze culture issues arise. The cultural issues of these countries affected the selling of Barbie can be reflected from different things. These include the language use, the religion involves, the social behaviour and the traditional dress code of each country. However, some economic issues and political factors appear to influence its international trading. Barbie is a worldwide brand and they first entered the US market for selling their products because it was the place of founder. Since then, Ruth Handler realizes the importance of children then decides to produce Barbie to motivate her daughter’s dream of her future. These products were three dimensional adult fe male dolls using by children to play with and it was popular in America because they initiate with high amount of sales of total 351,000 dolls at $3 each for the first year on the market. This occurs because Mattel identify its target market such as the group of children up of 1 to 11 years old and they fully satisfy their needs for toys made of plastic and long lasting rather than the first available dolls were made of paper and cardboard.

FINAL DAIVS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

FINAL DAIVS - Essay Example The deployment of intelligence officers as undercover agents may yield valuable information. The investigations are supposed to be carried out in North Korea shipping terminals, and airports. Though it is a dangerous undertaking, South Korean intelligence can be used. This is because the Koreans have similar culture and language thus detection would not be easy. In addition to human intelligence, signal intelligence can be useful this entails detection of signals of communication between North Korea and Iran. This would enable the agents to know the shipping lines, date and time. As such interception can be easy. Signal interceptors can be schemed to tap signals emanating from North Korea key leaders and also Iran leaders, especially the military leaders. To make sure that the technology is not transported by land, the agency is supposed to alert the various governments involved along the transport corridor to Iran. By doing this, the threat of land transport could be minimized. Agents working on the ground should also have a backup plan in case the plan fails. There should be reinforcement in case their cover is blown. An effective backup may be the US Navy which can extract the persons from danger. Moreover, the navy can also be instrumental in sea interceptions. 2. You lead an analysis team for Army Intelligence. Your team has been assigned the task of determining what conditions will be like in Afghanistan after we draw down our troops, and also to determine if the Strategic Partnership agreement President Obama just signed will hold. Describe what your analysis will cover and what key questions your team needs to answer. What assistance will you need and from what other members of the IC? Afghanistan is a highly tribal country with armed groups read to destabilize the country. Since the ouster of the Taliban, the US troops, alongside NATO has been instrumental in maintaining peace. Afghanistan has a democratically elected government; however, it is

Challenges of restaurant operations in new Jersey Essay

Challenges of restaurant operations in new Jersey - Essay Example New Jersey is one of major tourist destinations in wildwood, Ocean City, Point Pleasant beach, fishing villages, beautiful barrier islands and scenic views. With all these we expect local and foreign tourists in these areas. To accommodate foreign tourists, there are several restaurants which serve as dining and accommodation avenues (Wilkerson, 2008). We shall look into details management of these restaurants and the overall effects of internal administration challenges, external factors and come up with possible mitigation strategies to these challenges. Management of restaurants is associated with several challenges due to the need of the industry to incorporate varied client needs and preference, develop and maintain the company image and to stand relevant businesswise. Managers of these restaurants and relevant stakeholders have to make decisions from administrative point of view and try to incorporate other factors such as state laws and provided statutes, demographic and geogr aphic factors to enhance operations of the restaurant. In the administration perspective managers are faced by several challenges which include; training of the staff, they should be trained to understand the menu items, how to respond to customers and overall organization flow within the restaurant. For instance, training of the front office employees may be different from those of the kitchen section otherwise known as back house operations. Training of front office employees who may include cashiers, waiters/waitresses and customer care requires diligence as they are the face of the restaurant. They need to understand different languages, be resilient to different attitudes of customers and the general customer-friendly attitude. Training of the back office staff has challenges in that they need to meet varied tastes and preferences of different customers because the kitchen section is the heart of the restaurant. To address this, employees need to be trained and attached to thei r areas of specialization. This is to bring the competitive aspect of the business in terms of quality services to the customer which is a necessity for image and brand development. Another challenge in restaurant management is cultural integration. Most restaurants employees are either immigrants from other states or from different regions with different cultures and incorporating these cultures in a single work force is a challenge. To address this challenge training and integration of cultural heterogeneity will be of paramount benefit to the restaurant and customers. Unpredictability is another challenge in a service industry where you cannot tell who is visiting today, what they will order and what is in stock. There could be a crisis if the operations for instance were expecting a thousand visitors, then the number increases and there are no radical measures to meet the increased demand. To address this, I would stand-by employees in case of an influx, gather reliable informat ion on tourist trends so as to enable procurement procedures and be flexible on duty allocation to the employees. Social concerns are another challenge facing restaurant industry in terms of amenities such as hygiene, security and incorporation of varied tastes and preferences of different visitors. These challenges can be addressed by understanding particular needs and want of the visiting clients and coming up with measures to

The Womens Sports Foundation Essay Example for Free

The Womens Sports Foundation Essay There are initiatives in place to try and improve the number of women in senior roles. For example, the UK Strategy for Women and Sport (a three year plan that aims to increase the number of women leaders in sport by changing the culture of sport), the Sport Coach Delivery plan. The government has also developed a plan, which aims to 50% female representation on all public bodies (inclusive of all sporting bodies). The effectiveness of these proposals is yet to be discovered. Womens Sport In The Media  Since the growth of womens sport and sport in general, the main way of communicating with the general public has been through the media. Recently there has been a large increase in the different types of media available, apart from the traditional newspaper; there has been an increase in the number of specialist magazines available and numerous Internet websites available to display sporting results, match fixtures and other such information. However, even with the expansion of the media, coverage of womens sport is grossly neglected. Womens sport is rarely shown (with exception to large sports events such as the Olympics) and when it shown their accomplishments is rarely celebrated, instead their private life is often the topic.  Television Radio  The main terrestrial channels and satellite channels rarely show womens sports events; mens sport is often prioritised over womens. For example, in 1993, womens sport only made up 0.5% to 6% of the overall coverage of sports on television and even when female sport was covered, action shots were rare. Newspapers  Newspapers also have a long history of under-representation of womens sport. It is quite common to find absolutely few or no mention of female sports within many newspapers sports section (this is regardless of whether they are a broadsheet newspaper or a tabloid). This can be exemplified by a study between December 2000 to January 2001, which was conducted by The Womens Sport Foundation. After the analysis of 49 different issues of newspapers, they found that out of 701 pages of sports reports, there were 1,564 photographs of men in comparison to just 36 of women. This meant that overall; womens coverage was just 2.3%. The media overall has the ability to define and shape the views of women in sport. Often the coverage that female competitors receive, concentrates on their femininity and treats them as sexual objects rather than a powerful sportsperson. This type of coverage has the effect of undermining womens sports in general, and in limiting the amount of sponsorship that top female athletes receive. The Womens Sports Foundation (WSF) was created in 1984, by women who were concerned by the lack of representation women received in the world of sport. It is funded by the government body Sport England, however since May 2003, the Pentland Group Plc has sponsored them. The aim of the Womens Sports Foundation is to increase the profile of women within many sporting roles. This has been partly achieved by: The National Action Plan for Women and Girls Sport and Physical Activity this was designed to encourage sporting organisations to identify targets and implement actions that would help to address the imbalance between the two genders. The Women into High Performance Coaching Project this was a three-year pilot scheme, (established in 2000 by the foundation and Sports Coach UK) that was created to develop women into senior coaching positions.  The WSF also aims to increase the number of women and girls that are participating in sport.

Story of an Immigrant :: Sudan Lost Boys Immigration Essays Papers

Story of an Immigrant The focus of this paper is Shimma. His tribal home is in Sudan. He is believed to be 21 and has resided as a refugee in the USA since August 2001. He is known as a â€Å"Lost Boy of Sudan.† I met Shimma while shopping at Wal-Mart in central Phoenix. I had been fascinated by the reports of the Lost Boys that I had heard on TV and read in the newspapers. I knew that some of the Lost Boys were being relocated to Phoenix and hoped to meet some of them along the way on my travels through out Phoenix. I had seen them at bus stops and around the city walking. They have a very distinctive appearance, not your typical African-Americans. They are tall and thin with high cheekbones and dark black skin tone. While shopping at Wal-Mart I rounded a corner and there he stood tall, dark and smiling. I got excited about finally meeting one of the Lost Boys and began to ramble. I introduced myself and inquired into his status as one of the Lost Boys. He introduced himself and confirmed that he was indeed one of the Lost Boys I had been reading and hearing about. I asked him for an interview and he offered his name and telephone number. I repeatedly tried to contact him and weeks later he agreed to meet me at a local restaurant. The day of our interview after many phone calls he arrived over an hour late, which I accounted for as cultural time difference. Shimma is a very busy man. He works at Wal-Mart and attends ESL classes two days a week at Phoenix Community College. Much of our study in this anthropology class has centered on voluntary immigration due to economic circumstances. Shimma did not migrate for economic reasons, he is a refugee seeking safety and sanctuary from his war ravaged country. The book that we read in class about refugees was a case study that considered the plight of the Hmong in Wisconsin. The Hmong are refugees from Laos who fled after US forces pulled out of the Vietnam War. I also read a book about the Hmong that dealt with a case study in California and a little girl of Hmong descent that encountered great difficulties with the medical institutions after she was diagnosed with Epilepsy.

The Colonies by 1763: a New Society

Between the settlement at Jamestown in 1607 and the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the most important change that occurred in the colonies was the emergence of a society quite different from that in England. Changes in religion, economics, politics and social structure illustrate this Americanization of the transplanted Europeans. By 1763, although some colonies still maintained established churches, other colonies had accomplished a virtual revolution for religious toleration and separation of church and state.In England, the King, the head of state, is also the head of the Anglican Church, the Church of England. In the early colonial years, the Puritans had control of church and state in the northeast, mainly Massachusetts. The leaders were strict and church and state were inseparable. But during the 1730’s to the 1740’s, the Great Awakening arose and led to a decline in Puritan tradition. The Great Awakening was lead by Johnathan Edwards and George Whitefield and brought a bout an increase in religious freedom and many new churches.The Great Awakening also led to an increase of separation of church and state. The Great Awakening was only possible because the youth didn’t view religion as seriously as their predecessors. Also, the church’s power in government was weakened so they couldn’t enforce religious duties upon anyone. The Colonies had differed themselves from England religiously by being more tolerant. In a similar economic revolution, the colonies outgrew their mercantile relationship with the mother country and developed an expanding capitalist system.The colonies originally were a tool for England to collect resources and to expand its resources. This was because England believed in mercantilism. Mercantilism is the belief that there is a set amount of wealth in the world. The colonies began to trade with other nations and colonies without England’s permission because the distance between the colonies and the moth er country was enormous and made communication difficult. During salutary neglect, England did not concern itself with this, but after the French-Indian War, it needed to raise funds, so it began imposing its will upon the colonies.Several unfavorable acts in the colonies were the Stamp Act, the Sugar Act, and the Tea Act. By this time, the colonies already had a self sufficient economy and England’s intrusion was hurting that economy. They were able to become self sufficient because during the salutary neglect they were forced to take care of themselves. They had developed a free market and England imposing the Stamp, Sugar, and Tea Acts was creating monopolies. The colonies were the opposites of England economically by 1763.Building on English foundations of political liberty, the colonists extended the concepts of liberty and self-government far beyond those envisioned in the mother country. During the period of salutary neglect, the colonists could not depend on England f or government help because they were not represented in Parliament and because communication was difficult due to the Atlantic Ocean. The colonists had to learn to make decisions on their own, which prepared them to be independent. The colonists could govern themselves because the English weren’t paying attention to them.They also were forced to make decisions and laws for themselves. By the time the period of salutary neglect was finished, the colonists already were able to govern themselves. This is how the colonies had separated itself politically from England. In contrast to the well-defined and hereditary classes of England, the colonies developed a fluid class structure. Women had managed to change their status socially. Marriage was more of a means of transferring wealth than a romantic ceremony in those days. Women began getting more power in their family, although they still had little say in their government.They got this say in the family life because it was their job to care for the house and to raise the children. In Europe, they were still seen as more of a possession than a partner. Also, it was much easier for people to change classes. In England, you were born into the class you would remain in your whole life. In the colonies, one could change their social status through hard work and persistence because there was no autocracy in the colonies. No one person had absolute power. England was also different than the colonies socially.By the year 1763, the colonies already had a different society than that in England. Religiously, the colonies were much more tolerant. In terms of the economy, the two societies formed different views. The colonists were capitalist and the English were mercantilists. The colonists were also opposed to the idea of monarchy. They supported forms of democracy. Lastly, the colonies were more liberal than the mother country socially. It allowed for more flexibility in the social structure. By 1763, the colonies we re already a different society from England.

Mona Lisa Paper

Is It Her Twin or Sister? An art collector in 1913 made a discovery that has baffled many historians for some time now. Huge Blaker, an English art collector found the Isleworth Mona Lisa shortly before World War I. The Isleworth Mona Lisa is a painting of, what looks to be, a young Mona Lisa. This painting has been identified as a Leonardo da Vinci painting, but some historians believe that this cannot be true. With some differences in the paintings they believe it may have been another small artist at the time trying to copy da Vinci.The Isleworth painting is seemed to be with an international consortium while the original painting is kept in Paris' Louvre Museum. The famous woman is this picture is Lisa del Giocondo. Lisa was from Florence and Tuscany, Italy. She married a cloth and silk merchant in her teenage years. Lisa was born in Florence on June 15th, 1479, many think that she was born on a rural property that is though to have been owned by the family. Lisa had five childre n with the merchant named Piero, Camilla, Andrea, Giocondo, and Marietta.Lisa's husband, Francesco di Bartilomeo di Zanobi del Giocondo, increased her social status because he was from a middle class family, while Lisa was from a lower class with no dowry from her family. Francesco was an art lover and commissioned da Vinci for a portrait of his wife. â€Å"He is thought to have commissioned Lisa's portrait to celebrate bother Andrea del Sarto's birth and the purchase of the family's home. † (http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Lisa_del_Giocondo#Mona_Lisa) In the painting in the Louvre, Lisa is â€Å"portrayed as a faithful wife through gesture-her right hand rests over her left. † (http://en. ikipedia. org/wiki/Lisa_del_Giocondo#Mona_Lisa) Da Vinci also represented Lisa in high fashion with dark clothing that would have come from Spain. This would have not represented Lisa in her family because she would not have been able to afford these type of clothing with her family's income. Many historians have said that Lisa is wearing dark clothes because she would be mourning the death of her first daughter, which, in many ways, is wrong. The painting took da Vinci some time to finish because he received money for the painting The Battle of Anghian, which was offering more money than the portrait of Lisa.Some historians have guessed when da Vinci finished the painting because he carried it around with him through-out his later life in France. The guesstimate is around 1516 is when da Vinci finally finished the Mona Lisa. The Isleworth Mona Lisa is what seems to be a younger Lisa, but because we do not have actual proof, that is only an assumption. Historians cannot give an exact date as to which this painting was started or even finished because they found the painting in was found with a noble family.After Blaker purchased the painting it was moved to Isleworth, England, where the name came from. Whilst the first World War was going on, the Isleworth paint ing was moved to America for preserving. â€Å"The Portrait eventually made its way back to Europe, where is was analyzed in Italy before being sent to the Swiss bank vault for safekeeping. † (http://abcnews. go. com/blogs/headlines/2012/09/second-mona-lisa-unveiled-for-first-time-in-40-years/) Since that time period the Mona Lisa Foundation has worked on the painting to prove it's authenticity and if da Vinci really painted this portrait. pic] The differences between these two paintings are not significant ones, but they are big enough that some may believe that this cannot be a true da Vinci painting. The Isleworth is painted on canvas while the Louvre Mona Lisa was painted on wood. The Isleworth also has a very plain background and columns on either side of the figure, but the Louvre painting seems to be the same background with a lot more details included and no columns. The sizes of these two painting also is making historians scratch their heads because the Louvre paint ing is narrower. pic] However there are eerily many similarities between the two paintings that have made historians and scientists believe that it had to have been painted by the same person. â€Å"It strikes us that in order for that to be so accurate, so meticulously exact, only the person who did one did the other†¦ † said art historian and Mona Lisa Foundation member Stanley Feldman. (http://abcnews. go. com/blogs/headlines/2012/09/second-mona-lisa-unveiled-for-first-time-in-40-years/) The clothing in the two paintings seems to be of the same high Spanish fashion.The pose shows that Lisa was a loyal wife with her left hand over her right, this pose is that same in both paintings. It took art historians 35 years to conclude their tests on both Mona Lisa paintings. The Mona Lisa Foundation performed many experiments comparing the two. First the foundation placed the painting side by side and found that Lisa in the Isleworth painting is smaller than she is in the Louvr e painting. â€Å"The simple graphic illustrations demonstrate that the figure in the ‘Louvre Version' is approximately 10% larger than the figure in the ‘Earlier Version'† (http://monalisa. rg/2012/09/10/leonardos-hidden-technique/) The features of Lisa in both of these paintings are exactly the same; with same positions that are perfectly aligned. â€Å"They are dramatically different compositions, and the technique of proportion and related geometric measurements employed, points to the two portraits having been painted by the same artist; someone intimately familiar with both, and who had the intention to create two different paintings of the same subject†(http://monalisa. org/2012/09/10/leonardos-hidden-technique/)With these two paintings being so eerily similar, but also having some obvious differences, art historians have drooled over these two paintings. The general population knowing the famous Mona Lisa painting in the Louvre, but not knowing unti l this year that there was another painting of Lisa del Giocondo, and earlier painting. Some historians believe that this paint could not have been done by the famous da Vinci because there were so many copies of the original Mona Lisa, but without doubt that Mona Lisa Foundation has proven them wrong. Over 35 years of test have proven them that both paintings were actually done by da Vinci.

Definition and Examples of Secondary Data Analysis

Definition and Examples of Secondary Data Analysis Secondary data analysis is the analysis of data that was collected by someone else. Below, we’ll review the definition of secondary data, how it can be used by researchers, and the pros and cons of this type of research. Key Takeaways: Secondary Data Analysis Primary data refers to data that researchers have collected themselves, while secondary data refers to data that was collected by someone else.Secondary data is available from a variety of sources, such as governments and research institutions.While using secondary data can be more economical, existing data sets may not answer all of a researcher’s questions. Comparison of Primary and Secondary Data In social science research, the terms primary data and secondary data are common parlance. Primary data is collected by a researcher or team of researchers for the specific purpose or analysis under consideration. Here, a research team conceives of and develops a research project, decides on a sampling technique, collects data designed to address specific questions, and performs their own analyses of the data they collected. In this case, the people involved in the data analysis are familiar with the research design and data collection process. Secondary data analysis, on the other hand, is the use of data that was collected by someone else for some other purpose. In this case, the researcher poses questions that are addressed through the analysis of a data set that they were not involved in collecting. The data was not collected to answer the researcher’s specific research questions and was instead collected for another purpose. This means that the same data set can actually be a primary data set to one researcher and a secondary data set to a different one. Using Secondary Data There are some important things that must be done before using secondary data in an analysis. Since the researcher did not collect the data, its important for them to become familiar with the data set: how the data was collected, what the response categories are for each question, whether or not weights need to be applied during the analysis, whether or not clusters or stratification need to be accounted for, who the population of study was, and more. A great deal of secondary data resources and data sets are available for sociological research, many of which are public and easily accessible. The United States Census, the General Social Survey, and the American Community Survey are some of the most commonly used secondary data sets available. Advantages of Secondary Data Analysis The biggest advantage of using secondary data is that it can be more economical. Someone else has already collected the data, so the researcher does not have to devote money, time, energy and resources to this phase of research. Sometimes the secondary data set must be purchased, but the cost is almost always lower than the expense of collecting a similar data set from scratch, which usually entails salaries, travel and transportation, office space, equipment, and other overhead costs. In addition, since the data is already collected and usually cleaned and stored in electronic format, the researcher can spend most of their  time analyzing the data instead of getting the data ready for analysis. A second major advantage of using secondary data is the breadth of data available. The federal government conducts numerous studies on a large, national scale that individual researchers would have a difficult time collecting. Many of these data sets are also longitudinal, meaning that the same data has been collected from the same population over several different time periods. This allows researchers to look at trends and changes of phenomena over time. A third important advantage of using secondary data is that the data collection process often maintains a level of expertise and professionalism that may not be present with individual researchers or small research projects. For example, data collection for many federal data sets is often performed by staff members who specialize in certain tasks and have many years of experience in that particular area and with that particular survey. Many smaller research projects do not have that level of expertise, as a lot of  data is collected by students working part-time. Disadvantages of Secondary Data Analysis A major disadvantage of using secondary data is that it may not answer the researcher’s specific research questions or contain specific information that the researcher would like to have. It also may not have been collected in the geographic region or during the years desired, or with the specific population that the researcher is interested in studying. For example, a researcher who is interested in studying adolescents may find that the secondary data set only includes young adults.   Additionally, since the researcher did not collect the data, they have no control over what is contained in the data set. Often times this can limit the analysis or alter the original questions the researcher sought to answer. For example, a researcher who is studying happiness and optimism might find that a secondary data set only includes one of these variables, but not both. A related problem is that the variables may have been defined or categorized differently than the researcher would have chosen. For example, age may have been collected in categories rather than as a continuous variable, or race may be defined as â€Å"white† and â€Å"other† instead of containing categories for every major race. Another significant disadvantage of using secondary data is that the researcher doesnt know exactly how the data collection process was done or how well it was carried out. The researcher is not usually privy to information about how seriously the data is affected by problems such as low response rate or respondent misunderstanding of specific survey questions. Sometimes this information is readily available, as is the case with many federal data sets. However, many other secondary data sets are not accompanied by this type of information and the analyst must learn to read between the lines in order to uncover any potential limitations of the data.

Challenges faced by non profit organisations in developing performance Essay

Challenges faced by non profit organisations in developing performance measurement systems - Essay Example profits, and the metrics that measure the efficiency, such as revenue, productivity, rejection, manpower costs, and marketing costs are known and measuring these parameters is possible (Emerson, 2009). Non-profit organisations (NPOs) are organisations that have a social impact mission; they take up charity work, and some are cooperatives, created for the mutual benefit of a community. Such organisations may earn profits from their activities, but these profits are redistributed among people they serve (Drucker, 2005). In the case of NPOs, implementing PMS is different since the objectives are not to make profits but to increase social benefits or help community members, served by the NPO. Implementing PMS in NPOs therefore becomes a challenge since the standard metrics of revenue, cost, market share, productivity, etc., have different values (Poister, 2003). This paper critically reviews the literature on effective PMS, examines the differences in PMS requirements of for profit and NPOs and discusses the implications to ensure that PMS are made effective for NPOs. An important aspect of NPOs is that they need to be efficient, since they operate with a limited budget, and many of them hire people, who must be paid wages. Performance management systems are different for profit oriented and NPOs, and the systems depend on products, and markets addressed, objectives of the organisation, and nature of operations. However, certain common elements are observed in both types of organisations. Differences are seen in the manner in which metrics are identified and evaluated (Bradach, et al, 2008). This section critically examines the literature on PMS and tools used to implement the practice. While the objectives of for profit and NPOs are different, both must be effective, utilise resources efficiently and meet their goals. A very important aspect of PMS is that it is a comparative tool, and this means that performance is measured with reference to a benchmark; else, the

Difference between British Sign Language and English Essay

Difference between British Sign Language and English - Essay Example This is because everything in BSL including the phonetics defines elements such as the hand shape, location, motion, and orientation. However, in English, it is different in that the phonetics of English language are defined by the phonologic characteristics like voicing; that which makes the sounds either silent or voiced, also the lip shape, and the position of the tongue. From other studies in linguistics, people have also established that the English language follows a given order of the three main components of a sentence; subject, object, and predicate. However, the grammar of BSL is different whereby the order used is the topic-comment structure of a sentence. In BSL also, some words are treated as different parts of the sentence as it ends up splitting a sentence into different parts. For example, in a sentence like; why was the brown cow eating grass in your garden yesterday? When we translate this into BSL, then the order of the sentence will follow the order of; timeline, location, object, subject, verb, and finally the question. Thus in BSL, the sentence will be, yesterday your garden grass brown cows eat why?, These are some of the differences between BSL and English. It is said that at there is a significant difference between the British sign language and the English language. According to( Sutton-Spence and Woll 1999) an example like; I take some plates from the table if this sentence is translated into English, the order of the sentence changes. As stated earlier, BSL has the structure of topic-comment whereby the main topic is placed first, and the doer comes at the end of the sentence. In this sentence then, the main topical subjects are a table’ and plate’ and the doer of the action is ‘I’. the I in the sentence comes at the end of the sentence, and it is equal to pointing in BSL.  Ã‚