Thesis: Design and Fashion

Fashion may strike the public as of little importance and even refer to it as a luxury. However, fashion is evident everywhere especially in today's society where fashion has become a meaner of self-expression. The popular society of today are becoming more and more aware of the importance of fashion in their daily lives or, to the least, in important occasions where first impression already matter. The widespread awareness of fashion entails creative minds to innovate and design not only aesthetic wise apparel and accessories but also for functional and racial purposes.In order to produce competent designers and artisans demand an institute which can address the proper training of these artistic and skilful work forces. Zebu is full of potential fashion designers and artisans therefore gaining its title as the â€Å"Creative City' of the Philippines by the London based â€Å"Creative Cities Campaign. † This campaign aims to preserve, promote, and develop the existing potenti al creative mindset of a chosen city. Living up to the standards of this campaign are schools inclined to the arts and a fashion institute would add up to this elopement as we have several internationally acclaimed fashion designers. Fashion schools will improve the acceptance of our local fashion designers and artisans professionally through proper certification of educational attainment. An institution duly credited and recognized by the academic society will boost the fashion industry in Zebu and hopefully pioneer in the whole Philippines. Existing fashion schools in the Philippines have recently branched out to other regions of the country hoping to cultivate potential fashion designers. Their curriculum strictly focuses on clothing design.There are also other schools offering courses which are related to fashion namely: make-up, styling, and fashion photography. The fashion schools in the Philippines specifically in Zebu city cater only to the involvement of designing skills wi thout the incubation of these designs. On the other hand, the training for artisans only revolve around the technical skills of production without the exposure of working with designers. Combining these two elements in one facility creates a unique academic system which promotes sustainability among students.Educational attainment in the field of the arts have unfortunately long been selected and seen only as a hobby in the Philippines. Its is only up until now where schools focusing on the arts have sprouted all through out the country. This is due to the uprising digital and commercial age. Fashion in particular is beginning to take its mark in the Philippine academic and professional scene. Putting up a fashion institute strategically located in the center of the Philippine map would cater those who aspire to become professional designers and artisans.Therefore, lessening or eliminating the need to go abroad to acquire proper education and training. In order o successfully teach and train students, who are artistically inclined to fashion, will be the use of architecture as an instrument to provide an efficient facility. The current set-up of fashion schools in Zebu are vocational trainings that prepare them only in small scale enterprise and are trained in spaces where they tend to dwell in their own personal space resulting to the elimination of learning opportunities. This type of set-up risks the sustainability of students in their future careers as designers.This imposes the need to create additional spaces that examine their learning experience. The proponents of this study intend to design a facility tailored to accommodate the spatial needs of a fashion design institute which takes advantage of learning opportunities. The proponents of this study also intend to correlate the flow of curricular activities and spaces required to attain maximum efficiency of both the architecture of the institute and the curriculum/educational system to be adapted. Thu s, this study aspires to answer the following questions: 1. What are the factors to consider in designing the proposed project? . How do paces interact with each other? 3. What configuration of spaces is most efficient for both indoor and outdoor circulation considering curricular activities and institutional operations? 4. What amenities and facilities are necessary? 5. What atmosphere is conducive for students to conveniently improve their talents and skills without influencing their aesthetic? The study seeks to introduce a new type of educational system aided with the proper facilities specifically and efficiently designed to accommodate the needs of the institute's specialized curriculum. The study aims to envision: 1 .Aims to adapt a curriculum leaning towards a holistic and comprehensive system of education. 2. Aims to improve and/or develop raw talents and skills in the field of fashion. 3. Aims to provide adequate facilities and other amenities necessary to achieve the utmo st fulfillment of the institute's educational system. The main objective of this study is to come up with a functional and effective design solution for a fashion institute in Zebu city and in the Philippines as a whole. The following is intended to be accomplished by the end of the study: 1. Research the needed space requirements for the project proposal. Research on potential industries that the community can adopt a sense of having a fashion institute. 3. Design an institution for fashion and other related courses with the proper and efficient planning of spaces in coherence with its operational and educational system. 4. Establish an actuarially design concept.

Key Logistics Activities and Technologies Related to Logistics

Introduction Logistics play a major role in our life. Most of the people might not be aware of the importance of logistics until there are problems appear. Under the pressure of arising competitive environment, most of the business entities are initiated to focus on the development of logistics. Logistics can be said as the transfers of goods and services from the point of origin to the point of consumptions effectively and efficiently in order to meet the requirement of the customers (Logistics World, n. d. ). Logistics include the distributions of raw materials, in-progress inventories, finished goods and other related information.Successful logistics enable the business entities to deliver the goods and services consistently to the correct customers on time. Based on the question given, I do not agree with the statements saying that ‘logistics is nothing more than getting goods from one point to another’. Logistics covered much more aspects and involved a lot other ac tivities other than what the statement above mentioned. There are still many different types of activities in logistics such as customer services, inventory management, material handling and packaging, order processing, procurement and et cetera.On the other hand, in order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of logistics management, a variety of solutions and technology advancements had been introduced to the business market. The literature below will review the other activities and the technologies improvement for logistics (Stock & Lambert, 2000). Key logistics activities One of the activities involved in logistics is the customer service. Stock & Lambert (2000) stated customer service is â€Å"a customer oriented philosophy that integrates and manages all elements of the customer interface within a predetermined optimum cost-service mix† (p. 4). To design a logistics system, companies should always start with setting a strong and clear customer service objective. W ithout having a common objective for everyone in the company, decisions about order strategies, production, transportation, inventory investment, and warehousing will not be consistent and effective. Customer service objective acts as guidelines for the logistics managers in setting up targets of their performance as well as making decisions when they encounter problems in the future.Logistics play an important role in ensuring high customer satisfaction. Getting the right product to the customers under the right condition, at the right place and the right time, as well as with the right cost are the main criteria for achieving a high customer satisfaction (Stock & Lambert, 2000). For example, Kraft Foods Incorporate make sure their customers get the right products they ordered at the right time and right place regardless of whether the customers are at the hypermarket in France or a cafe in Sweden (Kraft Foods, n. . ). Other that the five rights, excellent customer services also ne ed to make sure the order and return processes are convenient to customers. The company needs to provide accurate and consistent information to customer by selling the products and services that are worth for the price. Lastly, they need to deliver the products and services on time. By providing the best customer service and fulfilling all the five ‘right’ criteria, company will be able create higher customer satisfaction and therefore gaining competitive advantage.When customers are satisfied with the products and services provided by company, they will most likely become the loyal customers and support the products and services from the company in long term scenario (Stock & Lambert, 2000). Besides that, Banning & Gibson indicate loyal customers can act as one of the advertising medium by conveying positive messages and comments to their friends and family (Banning & Gibson, n. d. ). In that way, the market share and profitability of the company will increase and at t he same time the total costs of logistics also will reduce.Other than that, inventory management is also one of the activities under logistics. In the industries now, most of the company will hold inventory to achieve economies of scale. Company usually purchase and transport all inventory at once to reduce their cost. This is because purchase in a huge amount will reduce the cost of per-unit price while having a full truckload shipment will reduce the cost of per-unit transportation. Then, company will also choose to have a greater plant capacity so that the per-unit manufacturing cost will be lower.However, holding inventory contributed a significant amount of expenses to the companies due to high storage costs, capital cost, service cost, risk cost, and some of the product can be obsolescence in short time. Therefore, the company might try to minimize the expenses by reducing the amount of inventory without interrupting the flow of the products to the customers. Since there is co nflict between economies of scale with handling and warehousing costs, companies need to find a suitable way to balance of these two criteria.For instances, company can use Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) to determine the best amount of inventory to order (Stock & Lambert, 2000). The objective of every inventory planner is controlling the inventory they hold to meet the exact amount of customers’ demand. This is because either excess or shortage of inventory will bring up significant costs to the business affecting the operation and opportunities of the business (Management Study Guide, n. d. ). In addition to that, raw materials and parts, work-in-process, and finished goods inventories are required to be considered.These inventories require sufficient physical space, capital, and personnel time to maintain and pile up. A successful inventory management will determine the amount of inventory necessitate to meet the demand of customers and at the same time consider the costs ne eded to put in the logistic activities. Besides that, excellent inventory management can increase the cash flow and return on investment. Nowadays, many companies start paying more attention to inventory control especially on the products that can become obsolete in short time, such as high-tech merchandise, automobiles, and seasonal goods (Stock & Lambert, 2000).For example, in April 2005, Mazda Motor Corporation comes out with its Mazda Materials Management Planning (M3P) which is an inventory control system. The system of M3P improved inventory levels, enhanced the speed of supply, and ensure the Mazda’s retail and service operations are smooth all the time. Other than that, M3P also brings benefits to customer such as providing better customer service and shorten the length of responding time (Mazda, 2005). Furthermore, logistics need to take care of the material handling and packaging in the company.Material handling takes part in managing the flow of raw materials, in-p rocess inventory, and finished goods inside a warehouse. The costs of firm will increase for each and every item handled. Since handling the item will not increase the value of a product but incur more costs to the company, company should always try to reduce the number of material handling wherever possible by decreasing the inventory. Then, materials handling design the plan to reduce distance travelled of the materials and minimize the work-in-process of the materials.Other than that, material handling makes sure the materials can flow through the process consistently without having troubles. Lastly, material handling will find ways to decrease the possibility of getting losses from breakage, waste and spoilage (Stock & Lambert, 2000). On the other hand, packaging is the process of getting the container and wrapper to hold the products (Reference for Business, n. d. ). In logistics aspect, packaging of the products can act as a barrier to prevent the products from getting damaged during transportation of the products or storing the products.Furthermore, product with appropriate packaging is easier to be move or store. However, packaging will add up space and weights subsequently incur more cost. Thus, many people in this area always spend time in thinking ways to reduce to space and weight of the products after packaging (Stock & Lambert, 2000). A successful packaging strategy can help a firm to strengthen its competitive advantages such as optimizes service, cost, and become more convenient (Learn Marketing, n. d. ). When a product go international, the packaging will becomes more important to a company.The products are required to travel more distances and need more physically handling if compare to domestic packaging (Stock & Lambert, 2000). Additionally, order processing is taken to account when discussing about the activities of logistics. Order processing is the  process or work flow that starts with the receipt order from customer, followed by veri fying the order status and communicate about the order with customer, while lastly making order and ensure the availability of the products to satisfy customer’s needs (Jetef, n. d. ). Order processing can divide into three groups.The first group is the operational elements, including order shipping, setting preparation, order entry, scheduling, and invoicing. Next group is the communication elements, for example, order status inquiries, order modification, error correction, tracing and expediting, and product information requests. The last group of order processing is the credit and collection elements, such as accounts receivable processing and credit checking. The quality and speed of the information flow provided by company during the order processing to their customers can affect the cost and the efficiency of the entire operation.If the information flows are slow and erratic, the company will not only suffer from decreasing in customer, but also increasing transportatio n, inventory, and warehousing costs. The faster and more accurate the service the company can provide, the greater the customers satisfaction obtained by the company. Information system today can help in order processing by making the time of order processing to become shorter between order placement and product shipment. For example, customers’ order can be placed and sent to the company’s computer directly by using electronic data interchange (EDI).Decision support system (DSS), quick response (QR), efficient consumer response (ECR) and et cetera are other information system that can help the company to improve order processing and achieve customer service goals at competitive cost. Information system not only helps company to improve its speed, quality, and accuracy of order processing, but also help company to save some logistics expenses like transportation and inventory while boosting up the sales (Stock & Lambert, 2000). Finally, the last activity of logistics t hat this literature will discuss is procurement.Procurement is the effective purchasing of goods and services to make sure the manufacturing and logistics processes of the firm are run in effectiveness. In order for the company to ensure them to obtain the supplies that can meet their requirement in terms of time, location, quality and quantity, the company is required to procure suitable goods and services (Procurement, n. d. ). The procurement function includes supplier selection, determination of the form of material to acquire, purchasing time, pricing and quality control.According to WiseGEEK, while â€Å"procurement logistics are the processes used in the delivery, receipt, movement and storage of materials purchased for a business or organization†. The goals of procurement are to minimize the costs at the same time increase the service provided (WiseGEEK, n. d. ). In the purchasing process, the most important task is to choose the best supplier from all the potential v endors. The purchasing process is complicated. Decision makers and decision influencers from decision making unit (DMU) need to go through twelve steps of buying process when purchasing items from supplier.If company is doing routine buying, then some of the steps can be skipped (Stock & Lambert, 2000). When making purchasing decision, DMU also need to consider the number of orders, lead time requirements, delivery expectations, product reliability, drop-off locations and others. All of the final price of products should be including transportation and storage cost. Company can usually try to minimize these hidden costs by requesting just-in-time delivery from supplier (WiseGEEK, n. d. ). In short, paying enough attention o the management of purchasing cost as well as the evaluation of purchasing performance can lead to increasing profitability of a company (Stock & Lambert, 2000). Technologies related to logistics Due to an increase in attention paid on the logistics, experts start ed to develop more and more ways to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of logistics through acquiring the technologies. One of the most significant improvements made by technology is the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) (Stock & Lambert, 2000).EDI is the exchange of business messages and information through computers of the trading partners via communication cables with standard protocols and standard data formats (EasyLink Services, n. d. ). For example, EDI can be used when there are purchase orders. Organizations are able to make a purchase order with their suppliers through computers. EDI is more convenient for the organizations as the usage of internet are more and more common (Stock & Lambert, 2000). According to GXS, there are a few advantages of using EDI in logistics.EDI will transform most of the paper works into electronic base. Many of the procedures can be done automatically and quickly through the advancement of technologies. Therefore, the time taken to complet e the process will be reduces significantly. It promotes the efficiency of the organizations which leads to the increase of productivity. Besides, EDI replaced human to key in the data of the organizations routinely. When there are less human works, the probability of getting error in data entry will be reduced drastically or even eradicated.Furthermore, the data transferred among the computers are using the standard and same formats. This ensures that the data transferred to the receivers will be analyzed accurately and correctly. Thus, the communication error between the sender and receiver is diminished. The diminished in error will subsequently raise the efficiency of the organizations as well since there are less likely for the organizations to repeat the procedures and make corrections on the mistakes (GXS, n. d. ).In addition to that, EDI can also increase the accuracy of inventory and reduce the cycle time and thus reduce the cost of inventory. In such, EDI increases the pro ductivity while reducing the costs as well. With the development of the internet, EDI is free if it flows through the internet instead of VAN. Many major companies such as NASA Goddard, UNISYS and AVEX Electronics are now using EDI supported by the internet (Stock & Lambert, 2000). Bar coding is another technology advancement that contributes to the improvement of logistics.Bar coding are commonly use in our daily life such as the products in supermarket. Bar codes are a row of parallel bars distanced with a number of gaps with different width. They able to convey different messages in the form of letters, numbers and special characters based on the array of gaps between the bars. A beam of light is used to interpret the information of the bar codes and sent it to the computers. These codes are used mainly on tracking and security purposes. They are important in decreasing the probability of errors compare to key in the information manually.Statistics showed that the bar codes error rate is one out of hundred thousand while the error rate of manually key in data is one out of thirty. It had clearly showed that the error rate had been improved significantly (Stock & Lambert, 2000). In relation to the bar codes, as said by Lyne, Quick Respond (QR) codes from Japan are also introduced to the society. QR codes is a two dimensional barcodes that normally stored with specific links contained with extra information. QR codes are named because it can be scanned quickly even with the smart phones that installed with QR codes reader.It is convenient for the consumers to obtain certain information about the products since it does not required a specific code reader device just like that bar code reader. Furthermore, QR codes able to store more variety of information instead of letters, numbers and special characters only such as url links and geo coordinates. QR codes are enable the customer to know about the product details, contact details, coupons or event a link to Y ouTube video for further information (Lyne, 2009).For instance, the product code, manufacturing history, expiration date and other data can be encoded in the QR codes. Coca-cola had used this feature in their logistics management at Chukyo. They are able to check for the quality and track the products easily using QR codes (Sundaramurthy, n. d. ). Management Information System (MIS) is also one of the technologies used to improve logistics. A successful MIS is able to provide sufficient and relevant information for the managers in order to make an effective decision.There are five areas that MIS need to fulfil which are the timing, accuracy, relevance, completeness and consistency (Office of the Comptroller of Currency, 1995). MIS should be able to provide the latest and current information using the shortest time. The information collected should be checked buy auditors as well as ensuring the information is useful. Unwanted information need to be filtered and the relevant informat ion need to be summarize completely. Lastly, the method in processing and compiling the information need to be consistent so that the manager will not misunderstand the information.MIS is important in logistics for collecting, analyzing and interpreting the information from various aspects such as the suppliers, resources, transportation and so on. MIS can make sure there is no interruption n the supply chain. A well managed MIS allowed the organizations to control every detail in different region in a faster time (Stock & Lambert, 2000). In real example, World Health Organization need to have an uninterrupted supply of drugs through the supply chain to ensure the increasing number of HIV/AIDS patients are able to get their treatment (World Health Organization, n. d. ).

Acute Abdominal Pain Essays

Acute Abdominal Pain Essays Acute Abdominal Pain Essay Acute Abdominal Pain Essay Assessment of the patient with acute abdominal pain Karen DeLawder Chamberlain College of Nursing NR305: Health Assessment Spring 2011 Assessment of the patient with acute abdominal pain Introduction Assessment of the patient with acute abdominal pain is an article published in the Nursing Standard Journal in the June 2006 issue, written by Elaine Cole, Antonia Lynch, and Helen Cugnoni. This article gives an in depth look at common diagnosis associated with abdominal pain. With each diagnosis the article gives common statistics such as occurrence, need for urgent treatment or emergent surgery. It provides a detailed list of signs and symptoms for each diagnosis as well as what test or procedure that needs to be performed to diagnose each. The article provides very useful information on the nursing care that patients with abdominal pain may require. Summary of Article It is very hard to determine the cause of abdominal pain because of the multiplicity of signs and symptoms and all people describe pain differently. It is very important to take a good medical history as this can provide 70 per cent or more of the clues that may lead to the diagnosis. A nurse must familiarize themselves with the anatomy of abdomen. The organs located in the abdomen are: the stomach, spleen, liver, gall bladder, pancreas, kidneys, small intestine and large intestine. The organs in the pelvis are: the bladder, caecum, appendix, sigmoid colon, rectum and female reproductive organs. (Cole, Lynch, Cugnoni, 2006). It is very important for the nurse to also learn the location of each organ, as this will help pin point what actually may be causing the abdominal pain. The right lobe of the liver, duodenum, head of pancreas, gall bladder, and sections of the ascending and transverse colon are located in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen. The left lobe of the liver, spleen, body of pancreas, stomach and sections of the descending and transverse colon, are located in the left upper quadrant of the abdomen. The caecum, appendix and a section of the ascending colon are located in the left lower quadrant to the abdomen. The sigmoid colon and section of the descending colon are located in the left lower quadrant of the abdomen. Cole, Lynch, Cugnoni, 2006). â€Å"Acute surgical emergencies constitute about 50 percent of all general surgical admission. About half of these are for abdominal symptoms, predominantly pain, and half of this group resolve without operation. The rest undergo emergency surgery or a scheduled procedure during the same admission. † Birkitt and Quick 2002. (As cited in Cole, Lynch, Cugnoni, 2006, p. 68). Appendicitis i s the most common cause for emergency surgery. Some other common causes of abdominal pain are biliary colic, cholecystitis, gastrointestinal disease, ectopic pregnancies, pelvic inflammatory disease, hepatitis, abdominal aortic aneurysm, pancreatitis, peritonitis, urinary tract infection or pyelonephritis, which is when the infection in the urinary tract has reached the kidneys. Of course there many, many more disease processes that can cause abdominal pain, but these are the ones that are seen most often. (Cole, Lynch, Cugnoni, 2006). â€Å"A systematic approach to assessment should be used so that vital information is not overlooked. Questions should be asked about: pain, associated symptoms, past medical and medication history and social and family history. † (Cole, Lynch, Cugnoni, 2006, pg. 71). The nurse must ask the patient to point to the area where they are having the pain. They should determine when the pain started, if it is constant, if it is sharp, stabbing pain, dull ache, radiating or burning sensation. They should ask if there is anything in particular that causes the symptoms to worsen or better, such as position changes, certain foods or hot or cold liquids. It should also be determined whether or not the patient has had any changes in appetite or weight loss without dieting, as these symptoms can be caused by abdominal malignancies. (Cole, Lynch, Cugnoni, 2006). The physical assessment would include vital signs. Increased temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate and blood pressure can be indicative of serious conditions such as: infection, hypovalemic shock, septicemia, or dehydration . Patients with increased blood pressure and pulse must have an electrocardiogram to rule out cardiac causes for abdominal pain. Other important test would be blood glucose measurement as high readings in a patient that is not diabetic can indicate pancreatitis, also blood test will be ordered to help in obtaining a diagnoses. Most patients that present with sever abdominal pain will be kept nothing by mouth, in case they need surgery and will require Intravenous fluids, pain medications and anti-emetics. (Cole, Lynch, Cugnoni, 2006). Evaluation of Article This is an excellent article for nurses it provides excellent information for nurses to utilize immediately to sharpen their assessment of patients with acute abdominal pain. With the information provided in this article, the nurse will be able to determine whether or not the patient is suffering from acute or chronic abdominal pain. This article gives detailed information on where to locate all the in the abdominal cavity and within the pelvis, it also details which organ is found in each quadrant of the abdomen. This article gives us list of the most common causes of abdominal pain. The article gives just enough information on each of these causes without overwhelming the nurse. The approach to this article is simplistic and this writer found it enlightening and very easily understood. This article would be an excellent resource for any nurse in any setting that practices patient care, since this topic is one of the most common causes for trips to the emergency room. (Cole, Lynch, Cugnoni, 2006). After reading this article this writer has developed useful knowledge that will help in completing a thorough exam and one that may determine whether the patient requires emergent care. The article also gives detailed information on how to differentiate between the diagnoses which can also help in the process of triaging the patient in the emergency room. The journal author goes on to describe the different types of fluids and why one type of fluids may be the better choice for the patient depending on their symptoms. For example; a patient with acute abdominal would need crystalloid type fluids such as 0. 9% sodium chloride which is usually first choice of doctors. Patients suffering from hypovalemic or septic shock would need colloids which will help increase the patient’s blood pressure. Cole, Lynch, Cugnoni, 2006). The author also explains the importance of administering analgesics to the patient’s suffering with acute abdominal pain and the perception that nurses that if they administer analgesia before the diagnoses is obtained can some how interfere with that process. The author states that this thought process has been unfounded. And diagnoses accuracy was no different between patients who had analgesia and those who did not. (Cole, Lynch, Cugnoni, 2006). Conclusion This article provides practical information for use by nurses in emergency room settings. It gives very detailed information on the location of every organ in the abdomen and pelvic region so the nurse can establish possible diagnoses. This article would be very useful to any level of nurses, new graduates to the experienced nurse. I found this article to be a very useful tool in helping nurses fine tune their assessment skills with the patient suffering from acute or chronic abdominal pain. References Cole, E. , Lynch, A. , Cugnoni, H. , (2006). Assessment of the patient with acute abdominal pain, 20(39), p. 67-75.

Your Future in 180 Minutes Exam

Your Future in 180 Minutes Exam Everyone has the right to education and base on merit, higher education should be made available to everybody. In fact, international law recognized access to higher education as the universal human right but states over-emphasis on individual academic performance and aptitude exam denied many students of such right. YGS is Turkey’s 3 hours, 160 questions multiple-choice Transition To Higher Education Examination. The score from this exam determines which course a high school graduate should take in college. Critics of YGS argue that the 180 minutes exam is unfair. One reason according to TED or Turkish Education Association is that YGS is trying to cover all the knowledge students acquired from his or her 12 years of education through 180 minutes multiple-choice exam. Another is the fact that instead of increasing the capacity of universities, the examination limits people from getting a college education. Normalizing Exclusion of Students from Higher Education There are about 2 million high school graduates took the YGS examination this year and many of these students have difficulties  solving math questions (see How to solve Math problems), and very long  reading comprehension questions. High School graduates who will be lucky enough to pass YGS can proceed to college while the unfortunate ones can only apply for associate degree programs. HOW TO GET GOOD GRADES Problems with the transition from secondary to higher education are not unique to Turkey. In Ireland for instance, transition exams led to the development of teaching and learning centers that many believed narrowed students focus on education towards exam preparation and exam success rather than engaging in teaching and the learning process. It promotes the type of knowledge asked in the exam. It instills negative values that getting a college education is simply a matter of answering as many questions as you can. More importantly, such exams normalized the exclusion of students from higher education. Graduates Right to Benefit from Higher Education Graduates of secondary education should be allowed to pursue higher education according to their interest and ability. Historically, inequality in access to higher education is political and educational policy issue. According to OECD or the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Matriculation Examination system, a yearly exam often administered by the Ministry or Department Education of member countries, is an impediment to economic development. The pass/fail system in particular significantly reduced the number of students who can go to college and increased the number of people without formal education. In Myanmar for example, out the 469,000 high school graduates who took the Matriculation Exam, only 35% passed the exam. By analysis, the exam forced about 300,000 teenagers to move away from the education system and find work with secondary education certificate as highest qualification. Higher education appears to be a possibility rather than rights as the majority of secondary school graduates had difficulties in passing transition exams. Similarly, higher education is also not according to individual wishes or field of interest because exam passers’ college courses are dependent on their respective exam scores. Moreover, as transition or matriculation exam is the only route to higher education, secondary school graduates are likely to enter the informal sector or work illegally as minors in formal enterprises. COLLEGE STUDENTS Everyone has the right to education and base on merit, higher education should be made available to everybody. In fact, international law recognized access to higher education as the universal human right but states over-emphasis on individual academic performance and aptitude exam denied many students of such right.

Louisa Adams, First Lady 1825 - 1829

Louisa Adams, First Lady 1825 - 1829 Known  for:  Only foreign-born First Lady Dates:  February 12, 1775 - May 15, 1852  Occupation: First Lady of the United States 1825 - 1829 Married to: John Quincy Adams Also known as: Louisa Catherine Johnson, Louisa Catherine Adams, Louise Johnson Adams About Louisa Adams Louisa Adams was born in London, England, making her the only US First Lady who was not born in America. Her father, a Maryland businessman whose brother signed the Bush Declaration of Support for Independence (1775), was the American consul in London; her mother, Catherine Nuth Johnson, was English. She studied in France and in England. Marriage She met American diplomat John Quincy Adams, son of American founder and future president John Adams,  in 1794. They were married on July 26, 1797, despite the disapproval of the grooms mother, Abigail Adams. Immediately after the marriage, Louisa Adams father became bankrupt. Motherhood and Move to America After several miscarriages, Louisa Adams bore her first child, George Washington Adams. At that time, John Quincy Adams was serving as Minister to Prussia. Three weeks later, the family returned to America, where John Quincy Adams practiced law and, in 1803, was elected a US Senator. Two more sons were born in Washington, DC. Russia In 1809, Louisa Adams and their youngest son accompanied John Quincy Adams to St. Petersburg, where he served as Minister to Russia, leaving their older two sons to be raised and educated by John Quincy Adams parents. A daughter was born in Russia, but died at about a year old. In all, Louisa Adams was pregnant fourteen times. She miscarried nine times and one child was stillborn. She later blamed her long absence for the early deaths of the two older sons. Louisa Adams took up writing to keep her mind off her grief. In 1814, John Quincy Adams was called away on a diplomatic mission and, the next year, Louisa and her youngest son traveled in winter from St. Petersburg to France a risky and, as it turned out, challenging journey of forty days. For two years, the Adams lived in England with their three sons. Public Service in Washington On returning to America, John Quincy Adams became Secretary of State and then, in 1824, President of the United States, with Louisa Adams making many social calls to help him get elected. Louisa Adams disliked the politics of Washington and was fairly quiet as a First Lady. Just before the end of her husbands term in office, their oldest son died, perhaps by his own hands. Later the next oldest son died, probably as a result of his alcoholism. From 1830 to 1848, John Quincy Adams served as a Congressman. He collapsed on the floor of the House of Representatives in 1848. A year later Louisa Adams suffered a stroke. She died in 1852 in Washington, DC, and was buried in Quincy, Massachusetts, with her husband and her in-laws, John and Abigail Adams. Memoirs She wrote two unpublished books about her own life, with details about life around her in Europe and Washington: Record of My Life in 1825, and The Adventures of a Nobody in 1840. Places:   London, England; Paris, France; Maryland; Russia; Washington, D.C.; Quincy, Massachusetts Honors: When Louisa Adams died, both houses of Congress adjourned for the day of her funeral. She was the first woman so honored.

The debate about a woman's appearance and sexuality Essay

The debate about a woman's appearance and sexuality - Essay Example However, sexualizing the woman imagery has led to increased immorality. Speaker 1: I totally differ with based on your support for sexualized imagery of women in popular culture. Portrayals of women in modern media are becoming hyper-sexualized, and this has such daunting repercussions as escalated legitimization of violence against women, increased sexual harassment as well as increased anti-women attitudes amongst males (American Psychological Association (APA) Task Force, 2007). In addition, increased body dissatisfaction and eating disorders among males and females as well as reduced sexual satisfaction among men and women. Speaker 2: I do agree with your assertions on the consequence attached to sexualized depiction of women in the modern culture. However, my contention is on the notion that there is something wrong with sexualized imagery of women since to me I only see this as a representation of power. Right? Speaker 1: Hmmm. Let me help uncover something that you seem to be missing. As discovered by a study by University at Buffalo, sociologist unearthed that depiction of women in the popular media has even been pornified. Speaker 1: Let me try to accommodate your viewpoint. However, I will draw your attention to Hatton’s quote on the findings of the research at the University at Buffalo.† We don’t necessarily think it’s problematic for women to be portrayed as sexy. But we do think it is problematic when nearly all images of women depict them not simply as sexy women but as passive objects for someone else’ sexual pleasure.’ Speaker: According to my understanding of Hatton’s assertion is that, depiction is not the issue but the issues lies with the audience. It is the audience own evaluation of the imageries as objects for sex; however portrayal is not bad. Speaker 1: The concern arises from the representation. The consequential damage is attached to those portraying

Westerhoff Book Critique Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Westerhoff Book Critique - Assignment Example (Westerhoff 1994, ix) The ideas presented in the book are logical, simple, and realistic where the professor uses a lot of examples and related life stories to explain his point. Rev. Dr. John Westerhoff, III taught at Harvard and Duke University Divinity School and was also part of the ministry first at the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA, and later became a priest in the Episcopal Church. (Bramer 2009) The professor is an author of a number of books already which are also about faith and spirituality. Spiritual Formation focuses on how living a spiritual life affects preaching and teaching in our time and the issues concerning them. In the same way that we cannot give what we do not have, the professor said in his book that the best teachers and preachers he has known were persons who taught and preached out of the depths of their own life experiences. (Westerhoff 1994, 32) Most educators I know do believe that experience is indeed the best teacher. I guess I can say they were also very good at their profession. Yet teaching and preaching in the light of spiritual formation is not achievable by the mentor alone. One word that links the sender (the preacher or the teacher) and the receiver (students and other recipients) is the word â€Å"learning†. Learning is a two way process. It involves not only the participation, but also first of all the interest, more so the willingness to learn of the student. As the professor out it in his book introduction, â€Å"Today, spiritua l formation is a major concern of faculty and students† (Westerhoff 1994, ix). He also quoted Nouwen that â€Å"someone must be willing to let his or her life be a resource for the other’s learning; and if there is any truth, it will break in from the outside and illuminate both the teacher and the learner.† (Westerhoff 1994, 41) In this process both teacher and student learn and in this sense, Westerhoff added that the learner needs to be