Colombias dispossessed Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Colombias dispossessed - Essay Example This social problem plagued almost all of the population everywhere in Latin America, and so as in Colombia. Stories of hardships of families and ethnicity of some native groups and communities of Colombia were best described and stated on books of Latin American authors such as Alfredo Molano. In his The Dispossessed it is clearly stated how the many families and ethnic groups were impoverished and are unlawfully forced out of their homes to work to coca fields and production of drugs though the violent acts of the military and the paramilitary forces. Molano stated the example of the inequality and violence of the military, paramilitary or sometimes local policemen which forces innocent families, communities or sometimes regions to flee for their own safety, not knowing if the next place they settle will mean salvation. For the desterrados, dispossessed families and ethnic groups of Clombia, there is a constant feeling of struggle between whether their original home where they stayed and lived for a long time or the home they make when they are forced to leave is the safer option. It is obvious and frightening that the dispossessed people cannot feel safe due to the ongoing violence of the paramilitaries as well as the guerillas. Either side of the violence could attack any innocent barrio at any time. The violent acts of the military and paramilitary forces some people into hiding in the wilderness where there is no chance of stability. Toà ±ito from Molano’s book: â€Å"I ran until I couldn’t hear the screams anymore† (105), but later he realizes the jungle will not save him either, â€Å"†¦I thought to myself, no, it’s better to go back and look for death than wait for it to find me† (107). Another example of the oppression of the paramilitary and military forces is the forcing of the families to abandon their homes. Imagine how you could live to see that you are being forced to abandon and leave the home you built and stayed for a very long time,

Dorothea dix crusader for the mentally ill Term Paper

Dorothea dix crusader for the mentally ill - Term Paper Example While there, at the age of only 14, she organized her own school and taught neighborhood children. At the age of 19, she moved back to her Grandmothers home in Boston and started a second formal school for older children she named "The Hope," which catered primarily to poor children of the area. As a creative and caring thinker, she wrote a book for children entitled Conversations on Common Things (Brown, 1998). The school was forced to close when Dorothy became seriously ill and during her convalescence over the next two years, she continued with her writing including Hymns for Children and American Moral Tales for Young Persons (Gollaher, 1995). In 1830, Dorothea was engaged by Reverend William Ellery Channing and his wife to be a tutor and governess for their children. She traveled with the family to the Virgin Islands and stayed for nearly a year. Upon returning to Boston, she opened another school in the same location as "The Hope" school. However, within a few years, she became seriously ill with tuberculosis and was forced to retire from teaching in order to rest and recover. She spent the next 18 months recovering from her illness in England with close friends of Reverend Channing, William and Elizabeth Rathbone III. As she recovered from her illness and began to feel well enough to travel, she took advantage of an opportunity to tour York Retreat, a well known insane asylum in England. It was here that she observed patients being treated with dignity and respect, and it is thought that she formed many of her beliefs associated with compassionate care and proper treatment for the mentally ill (Herstek, 2001). In 1837, both her mother and grandmother passed away. Her grandmother left a fairly substantial inheritance to her and her brothers, which was instrumental in supporting her life's work. In 1841, she was invited by a friend to teach inmates Sunday school at the East Cambridge institution. It was there that she observed inmates that were mentally ill and housed in the general population with criminal inmates without regard to age, sex, or their ability to cope in any social environment. She was appalled that men and women were housed together in squalor with little food, heat or sanitary options (Brown, 1998). It was at this point that she embraced the concept of the pressing need for society to provide assistance to the mentally disadvantaged, and embraced the role of crusader for the mentally ill. For the next two years, she visited nearly all the institutions in the State of Massachusetts and documented the treatment of inmates and their living conditions. One example of the horrib le conditions was when she found that it was a common belief by prison and institution management that mentally ill patents couldn't feel extreme hot or cold temperatures, so there was no need to make provisions to protect them from extreme temperatures. She found this incomprehensible, and began documenting finding and thoughts she compiled

A kpi based performance assessment system

A kpi based performance assessment system 1.0 INTRODUCTION Job performance is usually defined as â€Å"actions and behaviors that are under the control of the individual that contribute to the goals of the organization† [9]. Performance measurement-based management systems help an organization to line up its business activities to its strategy, and to supervise performance in the direction of strategic goals over time. In other words, performance management is used to keep track of the organizational progress against its strategic plan and particular performance goals. According to Campbell [7], the procedure of assigning a ranking to an individuals job performance is as follows: observation, sampling, encoding, storage, retrieval, evaluation, differential weighting, and composite scoring. Measuring the performance of a lecturer is very vital because the indication produced is used for major decisions about their future in academic career. Decisions can be of two types: formative that is used as the support to develop and form the teaching quality, and summative, that is used as the proof for summing up his/her overall performance or position to come to a decision about annual increment, award, merit pay, promotion, sponsorship and tenure [10]. The first one deals with decisions to progress the way of teaching; the second on deals with human resources decisions. Summative decisions are ultimate and they are provided by the administrators at different occasion to settle on their prospect. There is an impact of these decisions on the quality of professional career. The different resources of facts for teaching efficiency can be engaged for either of formative and summative decisions or both. To measure the performance, there should be some pre-identified and logical criteria that can be used through out the assessment process. These criteria are collectively called key performance indicator (KPI). It helps organizations to attain organizational goals by measuring and evaluating their achievement. The indicators vary depending on the organization. For a business company the percentage of net profit can be one of its KPI. For an educational institute the percentage of passed student can be one of its KPI. To establish a stable performance measurement system, the key performance indicators selection is very important. They must be selected carefully and rationally. a. BACKGROUND AND PROBLEM STATEMENT UUM is a gigantic university with three colleges CAS, COB, COLGIS. UUM have 25139 students and 1489 administrative staffs, 1216 academic staffs (as of 12th Aug. 08) and it offers 44 undergraduate programs (as of 2nd May ‘09), 59 post graduate programs (as of 16th Feb. ‘09). With the course of time the number of course and students are increasing. Consequently the number of academic staffs is also increasing. UUM has currently many automated systems such as Personnel Information System â€Å"PERSIS†, Research and Consultation Information System â€Å"ReCIS†, Graduate Academic Information System â€Å"GAIS†, Academic and Student Information System â€Å"ASIS† etc. But there is no such automated system for monitoring and evaluating the performance of the lecturer. Currently the manipulating and measuring the performance is manual the lecturers have to fill up the evaluation form, then print the form and attach the relevant documents and then submit to the evaluation committee. The criteria used for the system is teaching, research, consultation, publication and personality. This evaluation outcome is used for the promotion, scholarship for further study, and other consideration in for advance in career. However, this kind of manual evaluating system some time is biased and subject to human errors. Also it is very slow process and takes much valuable time of both the lecturers and the evaluating authority. Because of the absence of any automated system the evaluation process is not accurate and well-accepted. So it has been felt the need of a web based evaluation system that can be integrated with existing UUM systems and the data that will be used for the criteria can be extracted automatically from the Personnel Information System of UUM (PERSIS) and other related UUM systems. It is therefore necessary to develop a web based system in which the whole process will be done automatically. b. OBJECTIVE The main objective of this study is to develop a performance evaluation system for the academic staff of UUM. This system will be a web-based and can be integrated with the existing management systems in UUM. Specific objectives are: To gather the user requirements for the system. To design and develop the system. To evaluate the system c. RESEARCH QUESTION What are the requirements for the automated performance measuring system for the lecturer? What are the user requirements towards to use this system? d. SCOPE AND LIMITATION It will be developed for UUM academic staff and hereby will follow the policy and strategy that have been set by the UUM authority, so it can not be used by other universities and also not for other category of staff. It will be developed in .NET platform, so it can be used only in windows platform and it will be integrated with existing system. 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Performance Modeling Employee evaluations are used to estimate the performance level of an employee. Performance measurement is the method by which an organization fixes the parameters within which programs, investments, and acquisitions are reaching the desired results. The type of performance evaluation should be determined based on the responsibility of the employee within a company. Employee performance models used in organizations today can be categorized into four types: 1) Top Down, 2) Peer-to-Peer, 3) 360-Degree and 4) Self-Assessment [6]. 2.1.1 Top Down The most common and most effective approach is Top-down employee performance evaluation, because they engage the judgment of an employee by a direct supervisor. Top-down employee performance evaluations are most functional when it is done by the immediate supervisor someone who works with that employee everyday and knows his or her strengths and weaknesses [12]. 2.1.2 Peer to peer Peer-to-peer employee performance evaluations require employees at the same level to review each other. The idea behind peer-to-peer employee performance evaluations is that none knows an employees ability better than his/her colleagues. In this type of evaluation considering the maturity level of the employees involved and the long-term effects that could result from the source of negative assessments getting back to the team members is important [8]. 2.1.3 360 degree In 360-degree performance reviews, many different types of people are consulted about an employees performance. This includes customers, suppliers, peers and direct reports. In the case of a manager, staffs are often asked to give upward feedback on how well they are being managed. The benefits of many points of view are apparent; but there are also some challenges to these types of performance reviews. While 360-degree performance reviews are being performed, a responsible administration manager should organize the procedure; so that subordinate reviewers are assured that their performance reviews are kept secret [11]. 2.1.4 Self-Assessment Self-Assessment performance reviews are successful when it is combined with any of the other three types of performance reviews. With this type of review, employees are asked to rate themselves, often using the same form that a supervisor will use to evaluate them. Self-assessment performance reviews help give the employees an opportunity for them to reflect their opinion on their own performance prior to the formal review [6]. 2.2 Role of Lecturer According to Dr. Zabokia [5], the primary role of a lecturer is to educate his/her students. However, a lecturer can appear in many aspects. Lecturers also play the roles as tutors, teachers, administrators and counselors. The normal tasks of a lecturer are: First and principal lecture Organize the teaching resources i.e. lecture slides and handouts Set up the questions for examination papers and conduct the evolution A lecturer can also provide extra care to their students as their counselor. Some students may be under severe pressure such as family problems, peer pressure, financial problem etc.When a student seems uninterested and his/her presence starts to fall off, its desirable to counsel the student. During a counseling session, a lecturer could also get feedback from the students on the course or subject matter. This may be supportive to the lecturer to progress in his/her teaching style.Documenting the counseling sessions with the students is a good habit.This will facilitate the authority to monitor the improvement of the students, and supply advice to their guardian if needed. According the â€Å"Generic Role Profile† of university lecturer published by University of Cambridge [2] the list of other tasks: Active Research Publications Research Administration Mentoring post graduate students Participating in conferences or workshops Other extra curricular activities like clubs or societies. 2.3 Key Performance Indicator Key Performance Indicator is the subject measurement in order to verify tangible and intangible result of the organizational performance [4]. It notices current business performance and also definitely identifies the future directions as accomplishing the future values. As an index reflecting business strategy and performance, KPI is derived through current strategies and goals that companies should accomplish. According to Berk [10] there are some potential sources of evidence of teaching effectiveness: (a) student ratings, (b) peer ratings, (c) self-evaluation, (d) alumni ratings, (e) employer ratings, (f) administrator ratings, (g) teaching scholarship, (h) teaching awards, (i) learning outcome measures, and (j) teaching portfolio. So these facts can be used as the KPI for this project. Some more indicators can be added which are not mentioned by Berk [10]. Those are number of publications, number of research, and number of projects, year of experience, future planning, undertaken trainings etc. 2.4 System Development methodology- Prototyping Prototyping is the process where a system can be developed based on the outputs of the previous stage. This may be done by engaging the iterative analysis, design and implementation of an evolving prototype. Learning occurs through the evolutionary system building process where insight is gained about the problem and the complexity of the system. The evolutionary prototyping development process includes regular expert/user evaluation feeding back into the systems development process [3]. Prototyping approach addresses the inability of many users to specify their information needs and the difficulty of system analysis to understand the users environment by providing the user with a tentative system for experimental purposes at the earliest possible time [1]. 3.0 METHODOLOGY The methodology that will be used in this project is the prototyping approach. That means we will build a working replica of the proposed system by performing analysis, design and implementation phases concurrently repeatedly until the system is completed. It will be useful to better understand and extract user requirements and also to limit cost by understanding the problem before committing more resources. The prototyping approach is applicable for this project because it can demonstrate technical feasibility and it can also be used to better understand and extract user requirements and also helps to more quickly refine real requirements rather than attempting to understand a system specification on paper. 4.0 SIGNIFICANCE The significance of the study finding the indicators and developing a web based system that will be used to monitor the performance of UUM lecturer based on Key performance indicators (KPI). It will make a long and uncertain process very easy and quick. This will add a new milestone for the UUM management for their future planning about the lecturer performance evaluation criteria. It will be also very cost effective and it will help to increase the education quality level of UUM. 5.0 CONCLUSION In the conclusion, we can say that this system will be very useful for the UUM authority to award the right lecturer with the right qualification and hereby maintain the education quality and prove that UUM is the â€Å"first choice university†. Project Schedule (Gantt chart) TASKS WEEK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Planning Requirement Analysis Design the Prototype Coding Process Test the Prototype and debugging Analyze results Documentation REFERENCES: [1] E. Koskivaara. Design Science Approaches to Information Systems Research, in S. Gregor and D. Hart,Information Systems Foundations: Building the Theoretical Basis, ANU Canberra, 205-216.2002 [2] â€Å"Generic Role Profile: University Lecturer†. University of Cambridge. Version 1: December 2005 [3] H. Hasan. Information systems development as a research method. Australasian Journal of Information Systems Special Issue 2003/2004 [4] H.J. Moon, S.H. Lee, S.J. Yoo, E.J. Yu, C.S. Leem. A KPI based Performance Assessment framework for Korean e-Government. In Second International Conference on Future Generation Communication and Networking Symposia, 2008 [5] http://drzabokia.wordpress.com/2007/08/23/responsibilities-of-a-lecturer/ accessed on 14th July, 2009 [6] J. H. McConnell. How to develop essential HR policies and procedures. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn, 2004 [7] J. P. Campbell. Modeling the performance prediction problem in industrial and organizational psychology. In Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (pp. 687-732). Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc.,1990. [8] K. Wolter. Formal Methods and Stochastic Models for Performance Evaluation: Fourth European Performance Engineering Workshop, EPEW 2007, Berlin, Germany, September, 2007 [9] M. Rotundo P. R. Sackett. The relative importance of task, citizenship, and counterproductive performance to global ratings of job performance: A policy-capturing approach. Journal of Applied Psychology, 66-80, 2002 [10] R. A. Berk. Survey of 12 Strategies to Measure Teaching Effectiveness. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education , Volume 17, Number 1, 48-62, 2005 [11] T. Maylett. 360-Degree Feedback Revisited: The Transition From Development to Appraisal. May 27, 2009 [12] Woodrow Kroll. Facing Your Final Job Review: The Judgment Seat of Christ, Salvation, and Eternal Rewards. Crossway Books, 2008

Socrates’ Trial Defense in Terms of His Values Essay -- Plato Socrates

Socrates’ Trial Defense in Terms of His Values In his Apology, Plato recounted the trial that led to the execution of his friend and mentor, Socrates. The account revealed that values of Socrates’ accusers and his own fundamentally differed, and that they had been angered because he tried to prove that they had misplaced theirs. Those differences created conflict between the two parties that culminated in his trial. With the understanding that a jury condemned Socrates to death and his defense nevertheless pleased him because he gave it truthfully, it is most sensible to call it a good defense because he felt it was the best that he could do. In reply to the first charge against him, Socrates effectively recounted the reason that he had been privately questioning Athenians and claiming that some of their personal beliefs had been ill-founded. The affidavit read, â€Å"Socrates is an evil-doer, and a curious person, who searches into things under the earth and in heaven, and he makes the worse appear the better cause; and he teaches the aforesaid doctrines to others.† (Plato, 2) The abstractness of that accusation made it an odd one to refute, so Socrates attempted to do so by explaining how he became unpopular with his accusers. Socrates established very early in his defense that he knew he had no wisdom, and he based his investigations of Athenians’ wisdom on finding at least one person wiser than he was. He recalled a story of Chaerephon, an old Athenian friend, who went to the Oracle of Delphi to ask whether anybody had more wisdom than Socrates did, and she â€Å"’†¦answered that there was no man wiser.’† (Plato, 3) Socrates explained that since he knew he had no wisdom, he began a search to find a ... ...ur persons and your properties, but first and chiefly to take care about the greatest improvement of the soul.† (Plato, 11) His mission attempted to show Athenians that the way to do that is to live in truth and justice. Socrates’ defense maintained the integrity of the values that he lived by. He affirmed that he was not angered at being condemned to death, saying, â€Å"I would rather die having spoken after my manner, than speak in your manner and live.† (Plato, 17) He devoted himself so completely to improving his soul and the souls of others that, while he faced enormous odds in convincing jury members who considered him evil, he undoubtedly believed that his defense left his soul in its best condition before he died. In those terms, Socrates could not have delivered a better defense. Sources: http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/apology.html

Affects of childhood trauma

Trauma as a child has developing effects, mentally and physically when growing Into an adult. BACKGROUND: The ma]orally of abused or neglected kids have a harder time building relationships with anybody who is trying to help them. It is proven kids without a healthy attachment are more prone to be vulnerable stress. We all know that stress can lead to a more severe lifestyle. Depression, anxiety and aggressive behavior are all medical problems following stress and traumatic trauma. Healthy development needs a healthy foundation. I am hoping to accomplish more education and a better understanding on this certain topic. With the online library, personal experience and the many other resources available, will be the biggest factor in the development of this research paper. There are a lot of opinion, facts and psychology papers written on this topic so it is going to be important to look for plagiarism. The more credible resources I look into the better the coherence and the less likely of committing plagiarism.The more aware we are of our behaviors and what our kids take from us, the better he understanding we have about their development. 1 . Some kids take a lot more from parents than others. 2. Some kids are more mentally traumatized to neglect than a lot of others are. 3. Some kids are born more emotionally sensitive than their siblings and friends. If you are an involved member of your community such as a minister, coach or school teacher you are going to deal with others personal situations. 1 .Understanding the mindfulness behind traumatic emotions the better educated and prepared you are for that certain situation. 2. The more educated you are on the behaviors that follow aromatic experiences the more of an open eye you will have for the situation. 3. Traumatized children are more likely to engage in high risk behaviors including, self- harm and aggression towards others. The education on human behavior and emotional intelligence gives us a better self-aw areness for ourselves and others. 1 . The more education we have on our emotions the better explanation we can give ourselves. 2.Self-awareness will give us a more open eye for the actions and behaviors we see in our kids and others. 3. Understanding the responsibility of our actions and how they have an influence on our kids, plays a major role in the way they perceive life. A lot of childhood trauma come from classmates and not the parents. 2. A lot of children are â€Å"spoiled† and act out because there is no discipline. 3. Some kids are just born that way and they will grow out of It â€Å"they are not depressed nor do they have anxiety† there Just kids and there are to many parent putting kids on medicine.Response to counter-arguments: 1. Yes correct, but if you are not aware of the change in your child's behavior because f what is going on in school, then you cannot correct the problem. 2. There are differences in behaviors when your child is not getting there w ay compared to you child going through a traumatic experience. 3. That's why educating yourself is so Important to understanding the differences. Already learned to live with the emotion and start to Just act out. Sometimes medication is what's needed, Just educate yourself on the medication and get different opinions.

Aggression and gender on sports and exercise psychology

Aggression in sports can be looked at from different perspectives like hostile aggression or violence which is intended to harm someone or psychologically, or instrumental aggression with a goal twin and not to harm and assertive aggression which is a legitimate force with no intent to harm.In some cases sports and exercises are seen as means of controlling aggression in the society. Some argue that sport allows someone to pen up their aggression in an assertive manner. This notion however creates an argument on whether violence in the society is controlled by sports or it’s the sports that facilitate more violence (Weinberg, & Gould 2007).Various theories can be used to explain the nature of aggression in sports and exercises: the instinct/ biological theory which is bent on people are born aggressive which is not believed anymore, the frustration drive theory where one commits an act of aggression as a release, the revised frustration concept which determines if one will rep eat that behaviour for example, the reaction of a coach toward your aggressive behaviour and social learning theory which involves reinforcement and influence and repeating actions that one sees in sports (Weinberg, & Gould 2007).There are various factors that promote aggression in sports and exercise like heat when temperature exceeds the optimal, loud noise and crowding like when riots occur. Psychological factors like low scoring sports and alcohol which can impair the judgement and induce violence.Other key factors include sociological factors like hooliganism and the media. Sport related factors like point spread, playing at home or away, a win or a loss and the standings of the game or sport (Weinberg, & Gould 2007).Aggressive acts are highly motivated, have tremendous release of physical energy and people not afraid of failure or getting hurt. Acts of aggression take place when official appear biased in low scoring games, fans unrealistic expectations of the team, early fouli ng game, player frustration, strong fan attachment to teams, where standings or records are highly different, losing, pain, embarrassment and playing poorly or unusual excitement when one cannot calm (Weinberg, & Gould 2007).There are various recommendations to reduce aggression in sports. The management should deal with alcohol at sporting events, choose calmer colors and make sports events family oriented. The media can help people approach sports in a more humanistic way.Coaches should promote sportsmanship while the officials need to be objective and change the rules of punishments. Players and fans should have individual responsibility (Weinberg, & Gould 2007).On the gender aspect the tendency for men to manifest a higher level of aggressiveness than men is quite evident. In connection to that men perceive aggression in sports to be more legitimate than men. In most cases in sports that are considered male oriented men display more aggression.Generally women tend to be less inv olved in violent or aggressive sports and exercises. Sports whose officials are female also tend to record less cases of aggression than those officiated by men. Again in most games gender has displayed impacts on instrumental aggression because men display more instrumental aggressive acts than females especially in those games are masculine characteristic (Weinberg, & Gould 2007).In other studies men have displayed more stereotypes in officiating than women, for example they tend to penalize women more than men especially in the male dominated sports.In conclusion aggression and gender greatly influence sports and exercise psychology. Gender also influences aggression in some sports.