Biography of Aristotle (384 -322 BC) :: essays research papers

Aristotle (384 -322 BC) ARISTOTLE'S LIFE Aristotle, Greek philosopher and scientist, is one of the most famous of ancient philosophers. He was born in Stagira, Greece to a physician to the royal court. When he became eighteen, Aristotle entered Plato's School in Athens and remained at this academy for twenty years, as a student and then as a teacher. He was recognized as the Academy's brightest and was given the title of "The Intelligence of the School". When Plato died in 347 BC, Aristotle left Athens and joined a group of disciples of Plato, with his friend Hermias. Hermias became ruler of a city called Assos, a city in Asia Minor. Aristotle married Hermias' adopted daughter, Pythias. In 343 or 342 BC, Philip II, king of Macedonia, told Aristotle to supervise the education of his son, Alexander (later known as "Alexander the Great"). He taught him until 336 BC, when Alexander became the ruler of Macedonia. Alexander the Great later became the ruler of all Greece, and over threw the Persian Empire. In 334 BC, Aristotle returned to Athens and started his own school, the Lyceum. Because he taught while walking around, his students were called the Peripatetic students, meaning "walking" or "strolling". When Alexander died in 323 BC, Aristotle was charged with impiety (lack of reverence to the gods) by the Athenians. The Athenians probably did this because they resented Lu-2 Aristotle's friendship with Alexander, the man who conquered them. Aristotle fled to Euboea. He died there the next year. ETHICS Aristotle believed that there was no way to make an accurate resolution of human

Starting a Business vs Franchise

Explain the differences of establishing a business from scratch and setting up a franchise. Evaluate the success of franchises in Australia (refer to examples). There are significant differences between establishing a new business and setting up a franchise. Starting a business from scratch often takes a long time and a large amount of capital to accomplish, but the rewards can be substantial. A franchise is a business that is licensed to trade under a recognised brand name for payment of a fee (e. g. McDonalds, 7-11, etc). A franchisee purchases the franchise from the franchisor and operates under their name while paying fees. The factors involved in choosing one of these two options differ considerably and include the amount of risk, cost, operations and reputation. Establishing a new business involves the highest amount of risk due to the entrepreneur being solely responsible for everything that occurs in the business. In addition, there is a significant threat of failure for any new business which can result in huge losses for the business owner. Without a previous business reputation, it may prove difficult for entrepreneurs to secure finance which in effect significantly limits their access to funds to pay for establishment costs. Starting a new business gives the owner greater control over all key decisions and operations, as a result allowing the owner to set up the business exactly how they wish. Establishing a reputation for a new business is a slow process since a customer base and marketing campaign needs to be developed to generate sufficient sales for the firm. As a result, a new business will experience a slow growth in profits and may not be able to achieve a high level of profits at the start. Setting up a franchise presents the lowest risk due to already being established and generally selling widely recognised products. The costs associated in purchasing a franchise vary significantly depending on a number of factors such as type and size. Due to the general success of a franchise, it is much easier for a franchisee to obtain finance. However, franchisees must pay ongoing costs such as royalties to the franchisor which may lead to a reduction in overall profits. Setting up a franchise heavily restricts the owners control over business operations which prevents them from making their own decisions. This is due to the fact that the franchisor has total control over the business operations and ultimately determines how the owner runs the franchise. It is also much easier for a franchisee to generate sales due to the widely established reputation of the franchise and the products sold may already be advertised and marketed by the franchisor. Most franchises have been extremely successful in Australia and have become the fastest growing area of small business – in 2004 there were approximately 850 franchise operations in Australia. Franchises such as Gloria Jeans and Jims Mowing have grown tremendously in the past few years – between 1999 and 2004, the number of franchises grew by 25%. This is due to the effective business formula, well-recognised name and established trademarks of franchises which have attracted numerous investors in Australia. Another reason regarding the enormous of franchises in Australia is the fact that most of them offer comprehensive training and support to franchisees. For example, McDonald’s provide franchisees with uniforms, staff training packages, the ingredients and equipment for production and conducts extensive advertising on their behalf. As the success of franchises continues to grow in Australia, it is becoming an attractive option for many potential entrepreneurs in starting a business.

Peer Assessment Essay

Introduction This paper discusses the implementation of peer assessment strategy that I carried out in a primary school in Dar es Salaam during my practicum. It consists of a background, rationale, the implementation process and conclusion. The challenges encountered and their possible solutions on how to overcome them.. Background Black and William (1998) define assessment as all those activities undertaken by teachers, and students in assessing themselves, which provide information to be used as feedback to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged. There are two major types of assessment, formative assessment and summative assessment. And thus, Peer assessment is one of the forms of formative assessment. Besides, Higher Education Academy- UK, (2006) is an alternative form of assessment in which learners are given the opportunity to measure and evaluate each other’s compliments of the specified learning outcomes. It is used to involve students more closely in their learning and its evaluation and enable them to really understand what is required of them. (Phil et al 2006) This is a form of formative assessment which teachers can use in class assignments, tests, presentations, project based work and practical tasks. These tasks can be performed by learners either in pairs, by multiple assessors’ or in groups. It is where learners consider and specify the level, value or quality of a product or performance of other equal status learners (Topping, 2008). This therefore means that learners are able to learn better because they assess their peers work and give appropriate feedback which helps them to improve their own work. It also leads to a number of benefits in terms of the learning process for instance encouraging thinking, increasing learning and increasing students’ confidence Gardner (2006), students find it easier to make sense of criteria for their work if they examine other student’s work alongside their own. It is uniquely valuable because the interchange is in language that students themselves would naturally use, because they learn by taking roles of teachers and examiners of others (Saddler, 1998) Rationale. Eckstein and Noah (1992) argue that teachers teach to the test therefore leaving out some non-examinable but important skills set out in the curriculum. This is evident because most schools in the developing world concentrate on exams which is summative assessment and because of the backwash of this type of assessment, it impedes rather than promote social justice by locking many young people out of the education system, (Cunningham 1998). This summative assessment limits potential in enhancing teaching and learning which makes learners not to get prompt feedback to help them improve on their performance (Brooks, 2002). PA saves the teachers’ time because it takes a shorter time to mark and grade assignments using it than when a teacher marks all the books. This gives the teacher ample time to prepare for other lessons. By using PA, the teacher is able to give feedback to the pupils in a littler time than when the teacher uses traditional method of marking. PA was introduced with an intention to encourage students to take responsibility for their learning. It makes them feel valued because their suggestions are put into account. According to Irons (2008) PA encourages dialogue between the teacher and learners themselves as they negotiate the best assessment criteria when making a rubric to evaluate their work. This makes students really understand what is required of them. Phil Race et al, asserts that students learn deeply when they have a sense of ownership of the agenda and if PA is done using the students design, there tends to be a sense of ownership of the criteria used than when they apply the tutors’ criteria. Furthermore, PA allows students to learn from each other’s successes. In some instances students notice that the work they are assessing is better than their own efforts, therefore they can benefit from the work of the most able in the group. Similarly, it helps students to learn from each other’s weaknesses too. When they discover mistakes in their peers work, it is usually good for them as the awareness of ‘what not to do’ increases and therefore refrain from making the same mistake. (Phil et al 2006) Development My practicum was in a primary school in Dar es Salaam city. I was allocated standard seven to teach English. Standard 7A is rather a large class with a roll of fifty three pupils. Boys were twenty eight while girls were twenty five. All were present. This was a double English lesson of forty minutes each. The Topic was Comprehension, Sub-topic; The library; Lenders and Borrowers. My main objectives were; by the end of the lesson, pupils should be able to read, understand, formulate questions, discuss and be able to evaluate their peers work using a rubric. I made a detailed lesson plan showing the teachers and learners activities. My teaching and learning resources were standard seven text books, dictionaries, flash cards with new words written on them, pictures of a library. The lesson started at 8. 00am to 9. 20am. Implementation I introduced the lesson with a vocabulary song as a brainstorming activity that was led by one of the pupils. I explained what I expected of them throughout the lesson, then used the self-selecting method to form groups of six and told them to choose a leader. We went through the guidelines that they would follow in their discussion groups. The passage had six paragraphs so I gave each group a paragraph. The learners read the passage as they listened to one another, noted down difficult or new words, and then generated three questions from their assigned paragraph. I assisted to organise the groups and how they would present. One member quickly read their paragraph as the rest of the class listened, other members gave new words that they came across and the three questions they had formulated. As they presented their findings I was writing on the blackboard the new words they had encountered, and the questions they had constructed. Together we discussed meanings of these words as pupils tried using them in sentences and checking them out in the dictionary. I noted that discussions were being led in Kiswahili though it was an English lesson. Cummins in McKay (2008) and Ellis stated that the first language (L1) is important because sometimes learners first think in it to make meaning in English. However, the discussion was very lively and everybody tried to participate. It also concurred with Goetz (2002) that different views from learners influence the direction of a lesson creating new learning experiences for both the teacher and the learner. As a class, we discussed the questions on the blackboard then I asked them to write the work in their exercise books, collect and put them on the teachers table. Together we discussed and made a marking criterion on the blackboard. I asked the class prefect to distribute the books to the learners making sure that one did not mark his or her own book. They carefully used the rubric to mark their peers work, then returned them to the owners to check and in case of any complains i moderated and explained to their satisfaction. Finally I gave each a foolscap and asked them to write down what they felt about the new method of assessment. This exercise was mainly to analyze the learners’ reflections and to evaluate myself as a teacher. Challenges My first challenge was the English teacher assigned to me was not co-operative. He was not willing to hand over a candidate class to me. I made him understand that my input would be beneficial to his professional development and the students’ grades. During group work, some learners took it for story telling time. I had a rough time controlling the noise and putting them back to focus. The chosen group leaders helped me have order in the groups and ensured participation of all members. Code switching was common as I related with the learners and as they interacted in their discussion groups. It was a challenge because they did not have the confidence to express themselves. Very few picked courage and participated in English. The rest when picked upon would request to speak in Kiswahili. I encouraged them to have confidence and to continue speaking in English because practice makes perfect. The learning environment was not very conducive. The floor was dusty and had pot holes. This was likely to cause health problems and injury. Due to the large class, desks were not enough. Learners shared four or five per desk  which was quite uncomfortable. I advised the administration to discuss the matter with stakeholders so that the class would be repaired and desks added. This class did not have any teaching learning materials on the walls. They only had text books which were inadequate in a ratio of 1:5. Sharing was a problem because not all could access them. I advised the teacher that teaching and learning aids helped students to construct knowledge for themselves and develop effective learning strategies, thus laying a solid foundation for life-long learning. I also urged him to improvise teaching aids by using locally available materials for example, carton boxes to write on vocabularies and sentence structures and hang on the walls. I realized that peer assessment can be time consuming if practiced in a large class. Grouping learners, discussions, presentations and awarding marks consumed a lot of time which affected the next lesson. Since the school had extra classrooms, I encouraged him to create an extra stream and transfer some learners from 7A and 7B to the new stream if learners were to benefit from this kind of assessment. This is because a class of fifty three was too large putting into consideration the slow learners and learners with special needs who needed special attention. Conclusion Peer assessment had good impact on the teaching learning process where the learners and I jointly got involved in the assessment process hence owning the entire peer assessment procedures integrated in the lesson. This resulted into meaningful learning where feedback was instant. However, there were some challenges which we jointly addressed with the learners. For PA to be successful, meaningful procedures have to be put in place. References Black, P. &William. (1998). Assessment and classroom learning: Assessment in education,principles, policy and practice in Irons, A. (2008). Enhancing learning through formative assessment and feedback. London: Routledge. Cunning,G. K. (1998). Assessment in the classroom: constructing and interpreting tests. London: RoutledgeFalmer. Irons, A. (2008). Enhancing learning through formative assessment and feedback. London: Routledge. Race, P. , Brown, S. &Smith. (2006). 500 Tips on assessment (2nd edition). London: Routledge. Shepherdson, D.

How organizational culture relates to innovation Essay

How Organizational Culture Can Support Creativity and Innovation when we think of the terms Innovation and creativity we automatically think of the Individual. We often ask ourselves, what can the Individual bring into an organization? What type of creativity does the Individual have that can support the organization and how would it help the organization grow? As we ask ourselves these questions we are often overlooking the important aspects that correlate to an individual’s capability of creativity and innovation It is important to understand the context In which the Individual functions (Mclean. 05, pg,227). one vltal aspect Is the organizational culture. organizational culture Is denned as the shared values, beliefs and traditions that exist among individuals In an organization. When we refer to the culture in an organization we should consider if everyone In the organization have shared values and beliefs that contribute towards the organization. If so what is the organiz ation doing to influence these work ethics. It is important that individuals maintain a healthy organizational culture because it is an observable powerful point In the organization. hitch has a potent effect on the company well king and Its success. Now that we have analyzed the Importance of organizational culture, lets examine In how it can be done. Creativity and Innovation comes into the organization in a form of a cycle in most cases. These two aspects are influenced by the organizational culture, while the organizational culture is mostly influenced by the organization itself and the experience the workers bring with them tom previous employers (Qwabe. 2013, P. 3). The organization Influences from the very beginning of the hiring process. From the selection process the company chooses a certain amount of Individuals In which they eel have qualities that can bring a positive outlook to the company. These qualities may include; dynamic personalities, strong values and a clear vision on how to operate the business. Another way the company influences from this point is the type of attitude the interviewer is portraying to the interviewee. During the selection process the Interviewer gives a sense out their ethos and their attitude towards the company. This approach transmits to the Interviewee and Influences them In such a way that can determine the enthusiasm on being hired (Qwabe, 2013, P. 7) The other influence the organizational culture has is the experience the workers bring with them from previous employers and other external forces. Past experience can affect the work ethics and any contribution an individual may have with the current company. The influence towards the organizational culture can also be vice versa, In which the experience the company had with the previous employees. In such case the organization learns from critical experiences from the external forces. As the learning occurred, the organizations history becomes memories that After the selection process the organization must continue the positive attitudes nd work as leaders to maintain the positive behavior to ensure long term survival for the organization culture. When the organization leaders motivates the employees, the employers are more likely to feel engaged to their work resulting from better and more satisfactorily work outcomes (Sarrows, Cooper, Santora, 2008, P. 46). There are many tactics some organizations have developed to transmit this motivation and to enhance the positive working environment within the organizational culture. There are six factors in which the organizational leaders use to promote the positive environment. These six are; articulating a vision for the future, providing an appropriate role model, fostering the acceptance of goals, setting high performance expectat ions, providing individual support and providing intellectual stimulation (Sarrows, Cooper, Santora, 2008, P. 46-147). Organizational leaders use these six factors to affiliate it into their own leadership style. This helps them with the enhancement of creativity and innovation by advocating the organizational culture. There are four functions in which help bring the organization’s culture to life. These four functions include organizational identity, sense making device, collective commitment and social system stability (Qwabe, 2013, P. 12). The first function that will be discussed is the organizational identity. When an organization has a sense of identity it is giving the employees a better sense with what the organization wants, giving the employee a more coherent vision and understanding to the organizations objective. Therefor it is providing the employee a more comfortable state where the employee can feel more part of the mission while also strengthening the establishment of what the company is really about and what they stand for. The second function is the collective commitment. When referring to collective commitment we are referring to the energy the employee drives around the important aspects of the favors the organization. It is important for an organization to articulate collective commitments because when employees assemble together and commit themselves to their goals and missions, the relationship amongst each other change for the better. They feel morally obligated to embody their own actions and motivate each other to reach their daily goals. Social system stability is another function of organizational cultural, yet it is also a very important appliance to the organization itself. Social system stability provides a more positive work environment giving the opportunity for the employees to have a more respectable work place. This function helps employees with the ability to resolve conflicts using a problem-focused approach rather than a person focused approach or a blaming mentality. These approaches help avoid any possible conflicts in the workplace creating the workplace to be less tensed and a more complaisant environment. device the organizational culture is being given a broader understanding on what the company’s strategy and values are. It gives the employee a sort of behavior shaping hat helps employees a sense of their surroundings. With this function the employees have a better comprehension in to the objective of the organization, how the organization functions and how the organization aspires to succeed their goals (Qwabe, 2013, P. 13-14). In conclusion it is set that organizational culture does indeed support creativity and innovation. These articles have also prover that the organization itself is greatly influenced within the members of the organizational culture. This is an important aspect of a successful organization. References Qwabe, N. P (â€Å"2013). University of Fort Hare Faculty of Management & Commerce Department of Industrial Psychology. (ONINE) Available at:http://www. academia. edu/1964153/ Organisational_culture_lnnovation_and_creativty. (Last Accessed 1 1. Nov. 2013). McLean, L. D. (2005). Organizational Culture’s Influence on Creativity and innovation: A Review of the Literature and Implications for Human Resource Development. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 7(2), 226-246. Sarrows, J. C. , Cooper, B. K. , Santora, J. C. , (2008). Building a Climate for Innovation Through Transformational Leadership and Organizational Culture. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies. 15 (2), pp. 145-148

Amazon analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Amazon analysis - Essay Example We regard this action as a negative reinforcement that Amazon leadership apply on their employees. In the article, â€Å"Amazon Lawsuit Filed for Unpaid Integrity Staffing Overtime Wages,† Jesse Busk, who is a former employee at Amazon, exposes the odds that workers face at the warehouse. After a 12-hour shift in the warehouse, he is incapable of going home early because security checks take more than 30 minutes. Moreover, the company does not pay for the lost time. The managers expected that the security checks could prevent employees from stealing and that they would stop this checkpoint when stealing stops. Nevertheless, this concept sometimes leads to undesirable behavior. For instance, employees get angry because there is no extra wage since the waiting time is long after a busy day. Another problem with Amazon’s leadership is that Amazon employees do not receive rewards for their performance. According to the careers page on Amazon’s website, Amazon states that â€Å"At Amazon, we offer employees the chance to work with great people on exciting projects with lots of opportunity for growth. We also provide a full range of benefits for you and your eligible family members (including domestic partners).† Amazon commits to pay a salary that is 30% higher than their competitors and innovative programs to its employees. It sounds attractive, but the reality does not reflect their commitment. In fact, employees start to complain about the working conditions at Amazon soon after employment. In the article "I Do Not Know One Person Who Is Happy at Amazon", a current employee complains that no employee feels satisfied at Amazon. The employee is frustrated because he feels that Amazon uses him and does not appreciate his hard work. He mentions the high employee turnover, tough working condition and boring atmosphere at Amazon. He reports that he feels completely exhausted due to the extreme

Data Security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Data Security - Essay Example In case, the server is online, it transmits that signal straight back to the computer, letting us enjoy secure communications. Both the computer and the server send out heartbeats during regular intervals to ensure that both the user and the server i.e. the service aren’t offline (Kerner 2014). Heartbleed exploits this â€Å"heartbeat† by sending out, a kind of heartbeat signal to servers that is malicious in nature. That malicious heartbeat more or less tricks the server into sending a random amount of its memory to the user who sent the malicious heartbeat. A random collection of email addresses, usernames and passwords can be enclosed in that memory. Some of those records troublingly, could belong to the company running that server. This affords hackers with a method of infiltrating and exploiting information across the Internet. The Shellshock issue is a sample of ACE (arbitrary code execution) vulnerability. Classically, ACE vulnerability attacks are carried out on running programs and entail an extremely advanced understanding of the internals of assembly language, code execution and memory layout—the kind of attack that calls for an expert, to be concise (Sampathkumar, Balasubramani 2014). The attacker employed an ACE vulnerability to run a program granting them an easy way of dominating the targeted machine. This is accomplished by means of running a "shell". A shell is a command-line where commands can be executed or entered. The Shellshock vulnerability is a big concern since it eliminates the necessity for specialized knowledge and in turn offers a simple (unfortunately, very basic) means of taking control of another computer or even a web server to make it run code. The attack seemingly looked to have been triggered by a malicious computer code referred to as malware, according to people familiar with such matters. Some people suggested, a probable Russian or

Tata Steel in India Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Tata Steel in India - Research Paper Example Tata Steel is recognized as India’s first Iron and Steel company, having been founded in the year 1907 during the British colonial era. (Indicus Analytics, 2009) Tata Steel operates as part of the Tata Group, allowing it to pursue integrated supply and distribution facilities to automotive manufacturing, heavy industry, and consumer goods production within the conglomerate’s structure. (Economy Watch, 2010) Tata Steel competes with a large number of different Iron and Steel companies within India’s domestic economy and internationally, including the Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Arcelor-Mittal, POSCO, Hindustan Steel, JSW Steel, and other companies. The Indian Government has pursued a policy of progressively opening India’s local economy to foreign competition, and there is currently no levy or tax restriction on the import and export of iron and steel products. (India Ministry of Steel, 2009) The consequence of this is considered to be increased compet ition in the sector, and lower prices, particularly as set by Chinese steel producers for export. China produced over 10 times the steel capacity of India, at 567 million metric tons in 2009 compared to 56.1 million metric tons produced by India in the same period. (India Ministry of Steel, 2010) Nevertheless, Tata Steel has produced a corporate strategy to meet these competitive challenges, and this includes sustainability policies directed at the greater welfare of workers, the environment, and community. Tata Steel and Economic Conditions in India Tata Steel states publicly that â€Å"the primary purpose of a business is to improve the quality of life of people.† (Tata Steel, 2011) This tenet constitutes the cornerstone of the company’s sustainability policy and represents the wider mandate held by corporate management on behalf of stakeholders. In India, there is a need for social and economic development that uplifts people out of poverty. One of the main processe s that enable individuals to improve their living condition in the modern, globalized economy is the possession of a professional, well-paying job. Another factor is the level of education that an individual receives in the formative years of development. Education is recognized as vital to the long-term sustainability of business and industry, as well as being one of the main constituents of what is required of a good employee. As India’s economic development needs change on a national level from addressing the dire threats of the poverty situation of the post-colonial era through socialist policies to supporting the booming economy expanding at a rate of 8% to 10% annually in the 21st century through progressive market policies, it should be expected that the sustainability policies at Tata Steel are also updated and analyzed by management teams to reflect the changing requirements of the communities themselves that are being served.