Education †Gymnasium Essay

Education in India today is nothing like it was in Pre-Independence and Post-Independence Era. Education System in India today went through a lot of changes before it emerged in its present form. Present education system in India is also guided by different objectives and goals as compared to earlier time. Present system of education in India, however is based around the policies of yesteryears. After independence, it was on 29th August 1947, that a Department of Education under the Ministry of Human Resource Development was set up. At that time the mission was the quantitative spread of education facilities. After, 1960’s the efforts were more focussed to provide qualitative education facilities. The present research focus on steps through which our indian education system had gone through. The basic moto of this research is to show that india has done serious efforts in education nd has shotremendous development but it is still lacking in comparison with developed nations. This study is an effort to suggest some measures for its improvement. INTRODUCTION Education in every sense is one of the fundamental factors of development. No country can achieve growth without substantial investment in human capital. Education improves the quality of their lives and lead to broad social benefits to individuals and society. Education including formal education, public awareness and training should be recognized as a process by which human beings and societies can reach their fullest potential. The pre british indian Education system comprised of three types  Elementary education Secondary education Higher education Although Higher education is seen as the producer of elite class in society which largely contribute in the system of governance. The dawn of independence saw the significance of higher education in its reach and coverage. At the time of independence, there was bleak situation of higher education in India as the three important indicator:the number of Educational institutions, the number of teachers and the students enrollment in Education. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY First objective of the research is to get a understanding of various Educational changes that have taken place in India from pre Independence era. To study various Act launched for Education growth. To Find current scenario of Education sector in India To suggest some meaningful meausures to improve our Education sector. MYTHODOLOGY The study is based upon secondary data. Data has been collected from various sources like www. world bank. in,UNESCO,UNTDA. Statistical figures are main vehicle to achieve objective. It has studied internet research as well as policy papers and other official documents. CHANGES IN EDUCATION The changes which we are watching today due to education are may be because of various policy of government . Few of them are following: The National policy on Education 1986 had underscored the constitutional resolve to provide quality Education to all. under this policy government decided to review the growth and development of higher Education through five year plan which paid rich dividend in promoting education in India. The Eighty sixth constitutional amendment act in December 2002,made elementary Education a fundamental right for all children in the age group of 6-14. The Government initiated the scheme of area intensive program for Educationally backward minority and scheme of financial assistance of madrasa Education as part of its revised programme of action(1992). Taking into consideration the need for technical Education so that skill is acquired, the Government took steps to open industrial training Institute, medical colleges,polytechnics. At present there are 1500 such Institutes. National adult Education programme was taken up in 1978. The aim was to reach 100 percent literacy (age 15-35) by the year 1990. Its basic pupose was to promote small family. As a result of announcement of national policy on Education priority is given to vocationalisation of secondary Education to make Education relevant to work. A central Institute of Education technology was set up in NCERT to purchase equipment for state Institute of Educational technology. UGC was set up in 1955 for coordination and determination of standards. UGC  has taken steps to implement the recommendations of new policy on education such as autonomous colleges,centers of advanced studies in universities, establishment of education media research center and audio visual research center for the use of media and setting up academic staff colleges for training and orientation of college teachers National program for nutritional support to primary Education was launched in 1995 under which food grains is provided to children’s in primary classes. The program assures 199 gm of grain per day for attending school for at least 80 percent of total school days in a month. Following India independence a number of rules were formulated for backward scheduled caste and scheduled tribes of India. Special reservation are also provided for scheduled caste and scheduled tribes example a reservation of 15 percent in kendriya vidyalaya for scheduled caste and another reservation of 7. 5 percent in kendriya vidyalaya fot scheduled tribe. CURRENT STATUS There were 20 universities and 496 college at the time of Independence At present universities and university level institutions-504 State universities-243 State private universities-53 Central universities-40. Deemed universities-130 Institutions of National importance established under act of Parliament-33 Institutions established under various state legislation-5 In addition there are 25951 college including atound 2565 women college Table-1: All India Growth of institutions Year. Universities Colleges. Total 1947-48. 20 496. 516 1950-51 28. 578. 606 1960-61. 45 1819. 1864 1970-71. 93 3227. 3320 1980-81. 123. 4738 4861 1990-91. 184 5748 5932 2000-01 266 11146. 11412 2004-05 348 17625. 17973 2005-06. 355. 18064. 18419 2006-07. 367. 19000 19367 2007-08. 416. 20677 21093 2008-09. 480 22000. 22480. 2009-10 504. 25951. 26455 Source: UGC To promote higher education, college were established to provide specialized professional or vocational training. The first ever college in india was during the British rule in 1817,the CMS college kottaysm in kerela. After induction of new education policy, college education got flip and has increased manifold. Women enrolment was less than 10 percent of total enrollment on eve of Independence and it was risen to 41. 40 percent Number of teachers in 1950 were 15000 , in 1991 teachers were 272 thousand and in 2004 it was 457 thousand , in 2010 it was 699 thousand. Number of students enrolled in 1950 was 0. 1 million , in 1991 it was 4. 9 million,in 2004 it was 9. 95 million and in 2010 it reaches to 14. 6 million. EVIDENCE As India’s higher Education system is one of the world largest, enrolling nearly 22 million students in more than 46000 institutions. The changing landscape of higher education should be noted by key administrator, particularly government should be aware of the opportunity for institutions to nurture entrepreneurial growth and establish partnership with various organization to address community needs. India’s government currently plays a command and control role in higher Education. Under government oversight, public universities set curricula, determine courses offering, administer exam and grant degrees. But in 12th five year plan government key policy for economic development theory 2017 proposes a steer and evaluate role that allows a greater degree of self regulation and enforces higher level of accountability across the education system institutions The Economic development through Education is clearly evident in market ,demand for service which have pace. ADVANCEMENT Today development of Education in India has attained new level essentially after the independence of country. India is developing nation and it has been expanding in every field. Development of Education in India brought about a transformation and the concept of Education got modified. India got well known Educational institutions such as IITs,IIMs,AIIMS,, ISB,ISI. India’s higher Education system is the third largest in world after China and Uk. The Development of Education has traveled a longway and thus Indian Education system introduced certain advantageous system such as online Education in India. Online Education is a system of Education training which is delivered primarily via the Internet to students at remote location. Online Education enables the students to opt for many online degrees or courses from various university In the modern times, students are provided with extensive scope and courses to choose from and they enjoy the opportunity of selecting the required field. The system of distance Education in India is becoming increasingly popular. The student choosing distance learning process are benefitted with modern pattern followed. Development of Education in India ensures that all Indian citizens will receive Education in spite of financial constraints or unavailability of college and school. In addition the non formal Education is launched which is about acknowledging the importance of Education, learning and training which takes place outside recognized Educational institutions. It is the process of learning throughout life. PROBLEMS Undoubtedly India has made a vast improvement in education sector but stilk it lacks in some or the other way like  1)The enrollment rate in India had shown progress of gross enrollment rate in higher education to 17. 2 percent over the years yet it was short as per the world standard as seen,the Country was behind China 19 percent and UK 60 percent and USA 82 percent 2) The teacher strength in institutions of higher education was far from adequate. 3)Gross enrollment has increasd but were not matching anywhere with developed countries 4)Wide variations are seen in rural and urban areas 5)Regional disparities are also visible. 6)Education given is irrelevant according to job market  7)Innovation and creation are missing from the field 8)Education is seen as a object of providing immediate skills and tools, not means for future growth 9)By far one of the most pressing problem is that unavailability of money or inadequate funding of Indian Education system. RECOMMENDATIONS Our Education system still in this era faces many problems. funny thing is that from colonial times, few things have changed. we have established IITs,IIMs and other Institute of excellence. Students now routinely score 90 percent marks still find difficult to get into college of their choice. we live in a country where the people see Education as means of climbing the social and economic ladder. Some of the useful measures to improve our education system are following: 1)Private capital should be allowed in Education to reach at excellence level and compete with developed nations 2)Personalize education should focused as one size does not fit all humans. So Education should be given according to its demand. 3)Implement massive technology infrastructure for Education 4)Focus on skill based technology according to modern era 5)Reward creativity, original thinking, research and innovation. 6)Redifine the purpose of Education system 7)Take mediocrity out of the system 8)Policy makers in India should continue to develop and implement an accreditation system that can over time become a key measure of quality. 9)An Effort is needed to gradually phase in methods to link funding to quality measure. 10)Raising the level of Education, to be competitive like developed nations. 11)Identify the need of business and industry, then supply Education to fulfill their demand REFERENCES Ministry of Human Resource Development. (2001). Selected Educational Statistics 2001-2002, Government of India, New Delhi. Ministry of Human Resource Development. (2001). Annual Report, 2003-2004, MHRD, Government of India, New Delhi. Shukla, Snehlatha, et. al (1998). Attainment of Primary School Children in India, NCERT. Strides in Education in India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India Registrar General and Census Commissioner. (2001). Census of India 2001. Provisional Population Totals Paper-I of 2001, Controller of Publications, New Delhi. Ministry of Human Resource Development, Analysis of Budgeted Expenditure on Education 2000-01 to 2002-03, Government of India,New Delhi.

Mothers

The parent teacher meeting is an activity which fosters good interaction between the parents of the children and the school teachers. Most of the time, these interactions provide very beneficial effects to the total welfare of the students. Apparently, there are three major groupings which can be observed among mothers who attend these kinds of meetings-the â€Å"social†, â€Å"reserved† and the â€Å"unconcerned†. The social mother is the one who actually has all the energy in order to completely devote herself to the parent-teacher meeting. In terms of expenses, she actually manages to impart more amounts of money that what is required in fulfilling a project for the benefit of the whole class, in effect of her child. She is always willing to participate in upcoming school activities. It is also a fact that this type of mother will commit right away at the earliest possible time to an activity which is still to be scheduled. When it comes to interactions with the teacher, she always manages to ask questions about the performance of her child. To get more information, and possibly some commendations from the teacher is her prized reward. The next type of a mother who attends parent-teacher meetings is the reserved one. This kind of mother pays the exact amount needed in order to fund a certain school project. When it comes to school activities, she does not commit right away but will make sure that the teacher will be able to know her compliance as soon as possible. Although she manages to go to school activities, the intention is to serve as the guardian for her child and not for any other reasons. In terms of interacting with the teacher, this kind of mother will just accept whatever the teacher will tell her about the child and would not dare elaborate more about his performance. She will just take into considerations whatever advices the teacher would give. The last type is the unconcerned mother. Since she considers her child’s welfare less of a priority, she is the one who will always complain about the expenses to be incurred for school projects; would even demand for a detailed breakdown of where the money contribution is going to be used. When it comes to school activities’ planning, this type of a mother will almost always give out reasons just to skip those important child-parent interactions in school. These reasons are closed ended and would take no other course but to deny the invitation for a school activity. The unconcerned mother would not even care to talk to her child’s teacher for any other info about his performance in class. It is very clear that doing so is just a waste of time for her. Motherly care is considered to be the most effective factor in bringing up a well rounded child. Programs such as the parent-teacher meetings will definitely provide some more good avenues to improve whatever the conditions of school children are based on the assessment of the teachers. The three groups of mothers who attend the parent-teacher meetings in schools are the core individuals who will practically influence how their respective child will develop to become good citizens.                              

Big Fish

The father would tell a story to his son about his life. However, his son thinks his father is full of lies. It brings the conflict between reality and fiction. In Southern Gothic, it doesn’t matter because it combined reality and fiction into one story. Although, it is hard to see the reality behind it because in the movie, the father make up a lot of stuff even though it is almost true. Imprisonment is found in The Big Fish, because the father is imprisoned in his room and in the hospital. Also, the villiage kept all of its people until Ed left the villiage. Those people could’ve been there for years because they love their home so much. The giant was in his cave because he was shunned and feared by the people until Ed befriended the giant. Imprisonment is found in Southern Gothic, and is in found in the story as well. Supernatural is everywhere in The Big Fish, because there was a woman who turned into a fish during the movie. The twins were conjurned but at the end they were serparated. Also, the giant was a huge person who was isolated for a long time. The circus was filled with strange people. Even the headmaster is a wolf at night, and The Eye shows a person’s future death. Also, the way the son was born was very There was a lot of supernatural involved with the movie. Freakiness is all around in the movie, because the villiagepeople had no shoes nor socks on. They walked around barefoot. Even the father was telling a story with his wild imaginations. He even made his death the way he saw in The Eye. He accepted his death from the beginning he saw his death. The father never once freaked out but rather looking foward to the day he dies. Everyone was there at his funeral. By everyone he knows in his life showed up for his funeral. Big Fish The father would tell a story to his son about his life. However, his son thinks his father is full of lies. It brings the conflict between reality and fiction. In Southern Gothic, it doesn’t matter because it combined reality and fiction into one story. Although, it is hard to see the reality behind it because in the movie, the father make up a lot of stuff even though it is almost true. Imprisonment is found in The Big Fish, because the father is imprisoned in his room and in the hospital. Also, the villiage kept all of its people until Ed left the villiage. Those people could’ve been there for years because they love their home so much. The giant was in his cave because he was shunned and feared by the people until Ed befriended the giant. Imprisonment is found in Southern Gothic, and is in found in the story as well. Supernatural is everywhere in The Big Fish, because there was a woman who turned into a fish during the movie. The twins were conjurned but at the end they were serparated. Also, the giant was a huge person who was isolated for a long time. The circus was filled with strange people. Even the headmaster is a wolf at night, and The Eye shows a person’s future death. Also, the way the son was born was very There was a lot of supernatural involved with the movie. Freakiness is all around in the movie, because the villiagepeople had no shoes nor socks on. They walked around barefoot. Even the father was telling a story with his wild imaginations. He even made his death the way he saw in The Eye. He accepted his death from the beginning he saw his death. The father never once freaked out but rather looking foward to the day he dies. Everyone was there at his funeral. By everyone he knows in his life showed up for his funeral.

Pay for Performance Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pay for Performance - Research Paper Example Therefore, effectiveness of pay for performance can be measured with surveys aims at findings about employee satisfaction and motivation levels (Gomez-Mejia, 2010). Furthermore, their on job performances and achievement of their goals may also help in knowing that whether or not certain pay for performance program is effective. Lastly, financial numbers and ratios, such as revenues, sales, expenses, profitability, operating income, profit margins, return on investment and others remain as major tool to measure their effectiveness. If any pay for performance plan is motivating employees but not adding to the financial success of the company then it is better for the company to revisit the plan and the processes (Schuler & Jackson, 2007). There are many advantages of pay for performance programs for the employees and that is why many companies opt for it. First, by paying employees for their efforts and performances, employers motivate them to improve their performances in order to ear n more (Gerhart & Rynes, 2003). Despite the fact that money is not the only motivator, it is biggest motivator, which means that employees are highly likely to work harder and bring more profits to the company to earn more.

Influence of Colonialism on Politics and Economics of Africa Nations Essay

Influence of Colonialism on Politics and Economics of Africa Nations - Essay Example A lot of literature exists on the influence of colonization on countries. However, most political science and history research analyzes the implication of colonialism in a holistic manner. Ziltener and Kunzler observe that this analysis is not sufficient as different colonial methods were used in different colonies (305). Moreover, the debate of the political and economic influence of colonialism in Africa is still open with some school of thoughts arguing that colonialism has assisted Africa more than exploited it. The assistance in form of infrastructure, education, urbanization, new political and economic systems is often cited. This paper will attempt to weigh in on the debate by using secondary data to explore the influence of colonialism in Africa by observing three African countries with distinct colonial history. This study will look at the historical and current political and economic structures of three African countries (Algeria, Liberia and South Africa). Since Liberia was not colonized by Europeans, Algeria attained independence in the late 60s and South Africa attained independence in the 1990s, the study assumes that the trends in their political and economic structures are directly linked to the nature of colonization. In order to

Violence in Movies Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Violence in Movies - Research Paper Example One of the most viewed and produced genres include violent and action packed movies which are purely entertaining in nature. However, the first years of violent movies were tightly regulated by the Production Code and therefore between the years 1939-1959, the genre of violent movies was in its lag phase; however produces recognized the potential of violence movies in the market and post 1960 production of such movies started though the concept of bloodshed was uncommon. It was only much later in the 1980’s that blood, guns and true violence was visible onscreen i.e. the depiction of violence changed drastically and till date the trend continues in American cinema. It needs to be admitted that though today violent activities are shown more in number, the actual visibility of blood was much raw in the older movies while today blood shedding is represented in a more sophisticated manner because the subject itself has become really common and the audience today have evolved too. It was in the 1980’s that the transition of movies into violence movies actually started since this was a drastic transitional period for the Hollywood film industry itself. One of the quintessential violent movies was the pure action movies whose basic structure and plot forms the basis of action movies that are made today. One of the first violent movies to be censored during this period was Conan, the Barbarian (1982) which was an action packed, adventurous and thriller. The concept of man-alien conflict also started in this period with the making of the Predator in 1985 where â€Å"the entire film literally boils down to a mano-a-mano standoff between Major Dutch Schaeffer, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger and the alien predator who has hunted and killed his platoon soldiers one by one† (Kendrick,2009,p96). However, Cannibal Holocaust (1980) which is predominantly the most violent documentary movie that has

What can coins excavated at a roman villa tell us about the site and Essay

What can coins excavated at a roman villa tell us about the site and it's wider context - Essay Example It takes a lot of effort to divine some of these social dealings by the use of numismatics. Besides archaeologists and academicians, other groups of people are also very interested in studying these coin finds in ancient Roman sites such as social scientists, numismatists, and economists who try to impute social contexts using these Roman coins as guides for their study. However, it is often the case where there is no standard way of how to properly and scientifically catalogue these finds and moreover, and also no set standard for their coinage analysis. Be that as it may, it is still possible to know how the people in a Roman villa had lived and in relation to the surrounding communities through the study of these archaeological coins. It just takes some time and lengthy effort for archaeologists and others interested in these sites to come up with their findings and conclusions based on a careful consideration of all the artifacts in an excavation site but admittedly, there are no set standards for doing this but rather only some set patterns which may be useful to make any comparable analyses with other similar sites. This paper examines and discusses how the coin assemblage can give some useful and pertinent ideas of the wider social context in which these people lived in relation with their neighbors. A case in point of how Roman coins determined the wider context of social living in an area surrounding an ancient Roman villa is the fairly recent excavations at the San Felice Villa, which is located in the Basentello River Valley of Italy that separated the ancient vicus (Roman word for neighborhood) of Apulia from Lucania. This site is a rich archaeological dig in terms of the old architectural remains (buildings and houses), artefactual assemblage, and environmental evidence within the site itself. Preliminary evidence suggests it was a part of a larger estate; it was important in fostering local and regional connections for the villa’s

Leadership Theory of Situational Approach Research Paper

Leadership Theory of Situational Approach - Research Paper Example ys strategies that gives the manager the capabilities to deal with a wide range of people hence creating a more employee centric and innovative organization through the level of direct contact that the manager has with the employees at all levels. Situational Leaders adjusts their leadership style according to the behavior and level of their employees. The different leadership styles used by different leaders include: Directive, Coaching, Participating and Delegating (Fielder, 1967) Directive or Telling leadership approach is a leadership style where the leader instructs subordinates on what to do and how to do it. It focuses on goal achievement and less support. It is used mainly within the law enforcement, manufacturing assembly lines and Military. It provides a means of managing diverse group of people that span a wide range of experience and maturity levels. Coaching or selling is another leadership style where the manager provides information and direction. This form of leadership focuses on goal achievement and is supportive that is it gives instructions on how goals are achieved and supervises it. It is mostly used in an internship situation. Participating leadership on the other hand is a leadership style where leaders focus more on relationships than direction. In this style of leadership, the manager works closely with the team and shares decision making responsibilities. It is characterized by listening, praising, asking for input and giving back hence highly supportive and low directive (Hersey and Blanchard, 1977). It is used mainly by corporate leaders in an attempt to influence the board of directors towards developing a new policy. Delegating is also another leadership style where the manager is usually less involved with decisions, he or she tells the subordinates what need to be achieved and therefore he or she is able to focus on the work and achievements of subordinates. This style is applied mostly to university professors who are given

Complexity of human being and their moral actions Essay

Complexity of human being and their moral actions - Essay Example question or dilemma results in a search for a method that can be used by humans in ethical decision-making and justification, a method that would give the conditions to be met by any moral or ethical decision and consequently the action. This is the complexity in human beings. This essay will attempt to explain this complexity in relation to moral and ethical actions based on the Kantian deontology theory and how it reduces and evaluates this complexity. The essay will also examine how Aristotelian-Thomistic ethics evidences this human complexity. The complexity of human beings is evidenced in their moral actions since all moral actions are a product of moral and ethical reasoning. Moral action is based on the principle of right and wrong which is preceded by reasoning. Many a times, when humans are to make decisions for actions there are to take, their reasoning and decisions are always based on either the approach of rights, duties, and obligations; consequences; and or human nature. Should morality of our decisions and actions be based on rights, obligations, and duties? Or, should it be evaluated based on its consequences or human nature? According to Kantian Deontology, the only good thing is that action which is of free will motivated by the right reasons. Kant uses reason as a faculty which he considers is the way that human complexity in terms of reasoning and decision-making can be reduced and evaluated. Kant argues that, it is not inclination, but rather, it is reason that should guide human moral action. In this sense, the resulting moral action according to Kant becomes a duty (Kant 61). Basically, Kant argues that, a purely free and good action of the will is one that is purely done not on the basis of inclination but because there are right reasons for it. For instance, let say you find a lost wallet that belongs to a stranger, Kantian deontology argues that, despite an inclination of keeping the money, one should return the wallet simply because

Teachers Attitudes towards Autistic Children Research Paper

Teachers Attitudes towards Autistic Children - Research Paper Example By doing this a pattern of behavior forms where the student either answered very quickly without thinking or doesn't even try. With autistic children, this can be absolutely critical. Autistic children are generally found to be at least average intelligence, possibly above-average. However, IQ tests simply do not work with these kinds of students, due to the requirement of quick response. When not even sure that you autistic children see the world in the same way. In fact, we know so very little about this condition that any kind of properly done and reported research will be valuable. The nature of the disorder, mainstreaming is very important, because one of the areas in which the student desperately needs to improve his social communication. In special classes, where the students suffer from this disorder, there is a double deficit in communication among students. However, by mainstreaming autistic students in a regular classroom, perhaps with the helper, the autistic student is p rovided the opportunity to communicate with other students lacking this disability. With the proper training of the teacher and the coaching of the other students, the benefits can be reciprocal. You autistic student is provided with an environment where responses can be immediately acknowledged, and the regular students are provided with an opportunity to understand this disability and learn that an autistic student is otherwise quite a normal person. One component of any research project would be the literature review. A review of the literature can give the researcher an idea of what questions have been researched and the methodology used. Furthermore, in well-done research reports, the questions themselves are generally represented. Once the literature review is completed and the results analyzed, then conclusions can be made about the suitability of the research. In order for the research to be valuable, it must investigate an area which has not been well researched or answer a question which has not been asked and answered, or use the methodology that will result in different kinds of data. In researching the above question in a literature review, a great deal was found referring to autism, nearly 25,000 responses in EBSCO database alone. The focus was narrowed to documents from the year 2006 to the present. This reduced to do just over 14,000 results. By adding the word "mainstreaming" results were cut to a manageable eighty. Fourteen of these results were found to be relevant with six dealing with attitudes and perceptions of teachers, and the balance dealing with methods of teaching. From these results, it was clear that this question has not been well investigated. Those results which dealt directly with teachers attitudes did not give much information. Therefore, it was decided from the literature review that this was a good question to investigate. Primary Research Of the various methods available to cover this research, the choice must be made amo ng quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research. Due to the nature of the question is probable that strictly quantitative will not give much useful information because it deals with attitudes. Therefore, one must choose between qualitative and mixed methods. One extremely useful qualitative method is direct observation.

Americas Global War on Terrorism Essay Example for Free

Americas Global War on Terrorism Essay At 8:46 am, on September 11, 2001, the world would take witness to an event that would change it forever. Five hijackers, with the support of a terrorist group named Al Qaeda, crashed a passenger jet into World Trade Center Tower 1, and seventeen minutes later a second passenger jet was crashed into World Trade Center Tower 2. Now, everyone can remember exactly where they were when they received the news of the attack, but, what most American’s didn’t realize is that these events would lead to the majority of the world into war. This was the first time that the United States would participate in a war against and idea, terrorism, and not a declaration of war against a country itself. In every war that the United States had been involved in, they had been faced against an enemy in the form of a country. Whether it was Spain, Mexico, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, or even against itself, the United States always had a target. These â€Å"targets† usually had a uniform; they were also in support of a dictator, king, or even a tyrant. But with the War on Terror, the United States and its allied NATO Nations were not taking actions against a country; they were taking actions against an ideology that had affected the entire planet. The route of this ideology can be traced back to one man, Osama bin Laden. Osama bin Laden, with the help of the United States, forced an invading Soviet Russia out of the country of Afghanistan in the 1980’s. Then, with the support of a radical Islamic state, and the formation of a radical group calling themself al-Qaeda, he declared war on the United States in 1996 (Lansford, Watson Covarrubias, 2009). Bin Laden was quoted saying, â€Å"If the instigation for jihad against the Jews and the Americans†¦is considered a crime, then let history be a witness that I am a criminal (Lansford, Watson Covarrubias, 2009).† With this foundation of hatred towards Western influence in the modern world, Osama bin Laden and his radical group al-Qaeda instigated a War against the world. The group al-Qaeda has taken responsibility of many terrorist attacks against the United States and its allied countries. From the World Trade Center attacks of 2001, to the Spain subway bombings of 2004, al-Qaeda has been at the center of these terrorist attacks. Unfortunately, unlike most wars declared against a country, al-Qaeda has roots in many countries. They’ve been linked to attacks in: Africa, Europe, North America; are believed to have ties to other terrorist cells like the Taliban, and the Revolutionary Armed Forced of Colombia; and are known to have cells based in Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan (Lansford, Watson Covarrubias, 2009). Former President George Bush described al-Qaeda as â€Å"a fringe form of Islamic extremism that has been rejected by Muslim scholars and the vast majority of Muslim clerics; a fringe movement that perverts the peaceful teachings of Islam (Holloway, 2008).† This declared War on Terror was against terrorist groups, like al-Qaeda, but many did believe that the Former President had a hidden agenda. With the attacks of September 11th, a new foreign policy known as, â€Å"Bush Doctrine,† was implemented by the Bush administration. The â€Å"Bush Doctrine,† which the Bush administration rarely ever called its new foreign policy was based around four ideas: to make no distinction between terrorist and the countries harboring them, take the fight to enemies overseas before they can attack the United States, confront threats before they become threats, and promote democracy instead of terrorist ideology (Holloway, 2008). At the beginning of the war, the American people being full of patriotism and wanting revenge for the 9/11 attacks were in 100% agreement with this policy, but as time passed and the years that this â€Å"war† has gone on, more and more are in less support and just want the United States military to be brought home. Towards the end of President Bush’s second term, he began to be under constant attack due to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was accused of invading Iraq under false pretenses of: weapons of mass destruction, and a direct influence of 9/11 by Saddam Hussein’s regime (Holloway, 2008), a plateau that our current President, Barack Obama, used to his advantage during his initial campaign. Yet, even though Former President Bush was attacked and scrutinized about his policies, he stood by his initial belief that his â€Å"Global War on Terror† was against an ideology, and not a certain country. Whether or not the current 10-year war was actually waged against Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Muammar al-Gaddafi, or any other tyrant is truly unknown, and if the September 9/11 attacks were hoaxed and just a coercion for the American people to be tricked into war, who knows. What can be known is this; the War on Terror is the first time that the United States has declared war on an idea, a way of life, and not against a country of its own, and because of this, the true length of this war has the ability to last forever. Holloway, D. (2008). 9/11 and the war on terror [electronic resource] / david holloway . Edinburg University Press. Lansford, T., Watson, R., Covarrubias, J. (2009).Americas war on terror [electronic resource] / by tom lansford, robert p. watson and jack covarrubias. (2nd ed.). Burlington, VT: Ashgate.

Promotional and Advertising Strategies Essay Example for Free

Promotional and Advertising Strategies Essay The author comes from Iran, with an ideological and religious fanatic government which owns and controls all of economical and industrial activities with an armed to teeth minority. In such countries they can produce and sell any low quality with any prices that they want, and actually customers have not many choices, and almost all of promotional techniques and strategies are meaningless! So here we are talking about free trade and free market countries like US. This paper review and scrutiny the circumstances surrounding the promotional and advertising Strategies for two automotive companies: TOYATA and HUNDAI. The author is very curious about those companies, because HUNDAI (1967) began car production almost 32 years after TOYOTA (1935)! But now, in all aspects both companies are equal in quality, branding, marketing, price and customer service, even HUNDAI is further! HMC (Hyundai Motor Company) was unknown brand with low quality and cheap price cars, but after it came in the US market converted its products to high quality and luxury quickly and stealing loyal customers away from many industry pioneers! But how was this late-moving car maker able to gain an advantage in this extremely competitive market? (Graf B, 2013) Introduction Definition of Advertising: The term â€Å"Advertising† first appeared in the 17th century. It has its root in the Latin word â€Å"advertere,† which means, â€Å"to make people notice or know. † It can be roughly explained as â€Å"to extensively notify the public. † According to the Dictionary of Chinese Etymology, the Chinese definition of advertising means, â€Å"openly announce to the public,† with the annotation of â€Å"such as putting up notices or publishing advertisements in newspapers. † (Yan Boqin, 1978) Definition of Marketing: â€Å"Marketing† is an economic term meaning promotion and distribution. Originally applied in agriculture, it drew more and more attention after the 19th century and spread rapidly. From economic, social, business and customers’ angles, the property of its definition can be determined (Li Zongru, 2004). For highlighting the brand in the eyes of public and attracting new customers, product promotion is one of the essentials. There are many channels to promote a product or service. Successful promotions strongly depends on believe and culture of people, style of living, income level, government policies and economical and industrial infrastructures. Some firms use multiple methods, while others may use different methods for various marketing purposes. Irrespective of the type of service or product, a strong group of promotional strategies can help position the company in a favorable light with not only current customers but new ones as well. The following are top ten promotional strategies: â€Å"1- Contests, 2-Social Media, 3-Mail Order Marketing 4-Product Giveaways, 5-Point-of-Sale Promotion and End-Cap Marketing, 6-Customer Referral Incentive Program, 7-Causes and Charity, 8-Branded Promotional Gifts, 9-Customer Appreciation Events, 10-After-Sale Customer Surveys† (Carl Hose. 2014; Small businesses; Retrieved December 2, 2014 from http://smallbusiness. chron. com/top-ten-promotional-strategies-10193. html) Comparing the promotional strategies used by Toyota and Hyundai for a similar product Today almost all of carmakers have a lot of experiences and they have access to modern and new technologies. So they can produce good quality and good design cars and also offer good services to customers, especially in US, there is no way to sell any products with low quality and low customer service. In result the best promotional strategies are those that involve culture, attitudes and beliefs of the people. The following are some examples of such strategies. Green Environment: Increasing public awareness about environmental protection, governments forced to implement hard regulation and criteria for automobile firms. Toyota published on its website: 1. Diversifying energy sources: â€Å"Toyota is developing various new technologies from the perspective of energy saving and diversifying energy sources. Environment has been first and most important issue in priorities of Toyota and working toward creating a prosperous society and clean world. † 2. Fuel Cell: â€Å"By generating electricity from hydrogen, Toyotas fuel cell vehicles are not only environmentally friendly theyre also highly energy efficient. With such eco-friendly characteristics, Fuel Cell Vehicles are the next step toward achieving sustainable mobility. † 3. Plug-In Hybrid: â€Å"Introducing the next step for eco-friendly cars; a combination of the proven engineering of current hybrids with home recharging. It has an increased electric range and produces lower emissions. † 4. Measuring environmental issues surrounding vehicles: â€Å"For more improvements in efficiency, Toyota proactively manages power train efficiency, reduces vehicle load, and controls energy management by integration of fuel-saving technologies such as charge control, idling stop, etc. † 5. Various vehicles: â€Å"Along with our emphasis of conventional vehicles and hybrid vehicles as fundamental core technology while pursuing further advancement. † 6. Alternative fuels: â€Å"Based on these core technologies, Toyota will develop next-generation vehicles utilizing alternative fuels such as gas fuel, electricity and hydrogen. † (Retrieved December 2, 2014 from http://www. toyota-global. com/innovation/environmental _technology/) Hyundai published on its website: 1. Blue Drive: Our Blue Drive ® technology gives you lower pollution and higher performance. Blue Drive is a philosophy that guides Hyundai in its effort to become the automotive leader in sustainability. Its helped focus our engineers and designers on creating lighter vehicles, developing more efficient power trains and even inventing proprietary hybrid technologies. 2. Plug-in and zero-emission: In the future, Blue Drive will expand to include plug-in hybrid vehicles, zero-emission electric vehicles and fuel-cell vehicles that run entirely on hydrogen. Their only emission is water. 3. Electric hybrid: Hyundai introduced the first electric hybrid with electrifying performance. Our engineers have invented the industrys most advanced hybrid vehicle. 4. New battery: Unlike other hybrids on the market, ours uses a patented Lithium Polymer battery. It has 40% less volume; its 25% lighter and 10% more efficient. The battery also has a longer life-span-it comes with a lifetime warranty guarantee. So you can feel good about preserving the environment for the life of your vehicle. (Retrieved December 2, 2014 from https://www. hyundaiusa. com/new-thinking/environment. aspx) Slogan: â€Å"An advertising slogan is usually a short tagline – less than five words that tells potential customers the benefits they can expect when choosing your product or service, or establishes your company brand. † (Kristen Hamlin, 2014; Retrieved December 2, 2014 from http://smallbusiness. chron. com/ importance-ad-slogans-31343. html) 1. Toyotas ownership slogans: marketing efforts in North America have focused on emphasizing the positive experiences of ownership and vehicle quality. The ownership experience has been targeted in slogans such as You asked for it! You got it! (1975–1979); Oh, what a feeling! (1979 – September 1985, in the US); Who could ask for anything more? (September 1985 – 1989); I love what you do for me, Toyota! (1989–1997); Everyday (1997–2001); Get the feeling! (2001–2004); Moving Forward (2004–2012); and Lets Go Places (2012–present). 2. Hyundai’s Brand slogan: â€Å"NEW THINKING. NEW POSSIBILITIES. †; reflects the will of Hyundai Motor Company to create new possibilities to benefit the world and its people by encouraging and developing new thinking. All members of Hyundai have the brand slogan deeply engraved in their hearts as they move forward in their effort to provide new values and experiences desired by today’s customers through innovative ways that are unique to the brand, driven by new thinking about customers and cars. ( Retrieved December 3, 2014 from http://worldwide . hyundai. com/WW/Corporate/Corporate Information/BrandSlogan/index. html) New Compact Vehicle Strategy: According to the Ford India President, compact car sales are expected to double by 2018 from around one million units in 2013. This surge in demand in expected to be fueled by rising disposable incomes in the second most populous country in the world, and also owing to the increasing demand for fuel-efficient smaller cars due to rising fuel prices. ( Trefis Team ,2014. Retrieved December 3, 2014 from http://www. forbes.com/sites /greatspeculations/2014/06/13/tata-motors-looks-to-improve-passenger-car-sales-by-penetrating-the-compact-segment/) 1. Toyota: The automobile market in emerging markets is growing each year in tandem with the economic growth of each country. Within those markets, there has been marked growth in the sales of compact vehicles, so Toyota is promoting a new compact vehicle strategy that emphasizes the compact vehicle lineup and seeks to meet the needs of consumers in emerging markets. 2. Hyundai: The South Korean automaker ranked seventh among mass-market brands in the this years U. S. Initial Quality Study by J. D. Power and Associates, topping such brands as Toyota, Infiniti, Audi and Lincoln. Hyundais Accent compact and Elantra small car were named among the top three cars in their segments. (Hans Greimel, 2011. Retrieved December 2, 2014 from http://www. autonews. com/article /20101206/RETAIL03/ 312069982/hyundai-plans-new-brand-strategy) Financial Services Strategy: Every year, millions of people around the world transition out of poverty in any number of ways—by adopting new farming technologies, investing in new business opportunities, or finding new jobs, for example. Effective tools for saving, sending, and borrowing money and mitigating financial risks can help people weather setbacks and achieve greater financial stability over the long term. (Retrieved December 4, 2014 from http://www. gatesfoundation. org/What-We-Do/Global-Development/Financial-Services-for-the-Poor) 1. Toyota: Toyota Financial Services has constructed a global network that covers approximately 90% of the markets in which Toyota sells its vehicles. Mainly concentrated on auto loans, leases and Toyota dealer floor plan requirements, TFS provides auto sales financing to approximately 5. 4 million customers. Thus effectively helping them in making their own cars more affordable to their potential consumers all around the world. Again being a strategy that helps them a stronger competitor in the market. 2. Hyundai: Through our service brands, Hyundai Motor Finance and Kia Motors Finance, we provide financial products tailored to meet the needs of Hyundai and Kia dealerships nationwide, including dealer inventory and facility financing. And, through these dealerships, we provide indirect vehicle financing and leasing solutions to over 1 million retail customers. Our subsidiary, Hyundai Protection Plan, Inc.offers vehicle service contracts and other vehicle protection products under the Hyundai Protection Plan and Power Protect brands. (Retrieved December 2, 2014 from http://www. Hyundaicapital america. com/hca. aspx) Two uses for consumer-oriented promotions that could assist a company in both the short and long term for the carmaker companies What are consumer-oriented sales promotions? There are two points of view: 1- Retail Promotions consist of inducements offered by retailers to consumers includes retail coupons, price discounts, double coupons, special displays, features etc. 2- Consumer Promotions consist of inducements offered by manufacturers to consumers includes manufacturer’s premiums, bonus packs, coupons, samples, rebates, etc. There are some reasons for the importance of the sales promotion. First, the growth of retailer power in distribution channels has led to an excess in consumer promotions. Sometimes, manufacturers make special offers to consumers because a powerful retailer insisted that they do so. Another time, as a way of neutralizing retailer power by intensification the bonds of loyalty consumers may feel toward the brand. Either way, retailers frequently serve as the driving force behind consumer promotions. Second, the type of competition has converted significantly during recent years resulting in ever greater consumer price sensitivity. The growing of brands and brand extensions, intensity segmented consumer markets, and lower brand loyalty have combined to make consumers much more aware of price given that many product categories are populated by several competitors. Third, price deals have become the rule rather than the exception for many products. Rebates on certain brands of automobiles, department store sales, and coupons on many grocery items are only a few areas where consumers have grown to expect price breaks. Indeed, the expectation is more than, when possible, many consumers will wait for promotional offers rather than buy with no deal. Fourth, advertising clutter has forced marketers to find new ways of getting consumer attention. Product benefits alone frequently prove insufficient to prompt consumer action much less get their attention. Thus, marketers increasingly look to sales promotion to find ways of breaking through to customers who face a constant bombardment of promotional messages. Eventually increasing of consumer promotion can also be attributed to more pressure on marketing management for short-term results. Investors want to immediate bottom-line results rather than the long-term health or stability of the companies in which they invest. Sales promotions are tools to increase near term sales. However, as their use becomes more common, their costs become regular and recurring and therefore potentially self-defeating. (Retrieved December 5, 2014 from www. udayton. edu/ /Consumer%2520Promotion. p) The strategic manner in which the leading car company has made its pricing decisions by using one or more of the four pricing objectives â€Å"The four Ps of marketing is the combination of product, price, place (distribution), and promotion. Marketers develop strategies around these four areas in marketing to enhance branding, sales, and profitability. â€Å" (Ross Gittell, 2014, Retrieved December 5, 2014 from http://catalog. flatworldknowledge. com/bookhub/reader/3157? e=gittell_1. 0-ch06_s02#). Price is the only revenue generating element amongst the 4ps, the rest being cost centers. Pricing objectives or goals give the company direction to the whole pricing process and consider the following: 1- Survival; 2- Get competitive advantage; 3- Financial, marketing, and strategic objectives of the company; 4- Enhance image of the firm, product or brand; 5- Hold price leadership; 6- Increase market share; 7- Consumer price point and elasticity; 8- Available resources; 9- Catch target of return of investment and sales; 10- Prevent new entrants; 11- Match competitors prices. Toyota gets credit for being the most known brand on the market; however the Corolla comes up nowhere in the competitor charts in terms of price, model distinction, or performance (TrueTrends, 2012). Providing a competitive advantage for the Corolla requires differentiating the car in pricing, quality, service, innovation, brand, convenience, and anywhere else that makes it more desirable over its competition (McCrimmon, 2008). How Toyota as a leading company can offer lowest prices? i. e. $89 a month for lease! The answer is: by maintaining its lowest costs. Along with differentiation Toyota also uses low cost to try and gain a competitive advantage in the automotive industry. â€Å"Toyota is (or was at the time) the low cost producer in the industry. Toyota achieves its cost leadership strategy by adopting lean production, careful choice and control of suppliers, efficient distribution, and low servicing costs from a quality product. †(Michael E. Porter, 2013) This quote from Michael Porter sums up how Toyota achieves this low cost strategy. Through research, it is evident that Toyota is still the low cost leader in the automotive industry. Societal trends have moved away from an individualistic culture—which identified social status and hierarchy based on material possessions—to an environmentally aware society (Grewal Levy, 2012). With consumers’ minds wrapped around things like fuel mileage, cleaner emissions, and hybrid technology we find them moving further away from SUVs and trucks (Farooq, 2012). However, the 2013 Corolla is foreshadowed to be outshined by the Dodge Dart, as it loses some of its competitive edge in pricing and other award winning features (TrueTrends, 2012). By 2012 Toyota is planning to have more than 20 models that use batteries to extend fuel economy just like their Prius (Krolicki). Although they have not been as aggressive in the electric car market recently, like their competitors, they are planning to release a rechargeable version of their Prius by June 2012 (Krolicki). This re-chargeable version will position Toyota to attempt to take over as a low cost leader of hybrid technologies within the market, which supports Toyota’s overall strategy of low cost (Krolicki). Two actions that other car companies may take in order to differentiate themselves and gain a competitive advantage Hyundai rightly understood the consumer motivations to create magnetic products, price them strategically, position them sharply and keep making the magnetism more potent. Having understood the finer differences in consumer motivations, it opted for sharp arrow ‘reasons-to-buy’ differentiation over the ‘blanket-all approach’ taken by most of the other players. It is an aggressive marketer. It focuses on medium and low price products. Hyundai has also started premium products range to capture the growing market. (Anshuman goyal, pricing strategy of Hyundai, 2007; Retrieved December 9, 2014 from www. hyundai. com) The segments are based on type of customer like age group, attitude, end use of product, demographic behavior and purchasing power, status of the people of the region. Each competitor has its own strong point and value and position there product so as to attract maximum number of customers. (Kottler, Keller, Jha, Koshy, 2007, Marketing Management) Hyundai brand continues to dominate the market for premium cars, despite increasing competition. The firm should first consider the competitors price. If the company i. e. Hyundai contains features not offered by the nearest competitor, it should evaluate their worth to the customer and that value to the competitor price. Competitors are more likely to react when there is high competition. In case of Hyundai, many products are there such as Sonata, Santro, Hyundai i10, Accent etc. Hyundai continues to provide stiff competition to Honda in all the segments and poses an even bigger threat to expansion plans of Hyundai. (Anshuman goyal, pricing strategy of Hyundai, 2007; Retrieved December 9, 2014 from www. honda. com) Two examples of the most effective advertising medium for a Car company The TV advertising have been having the largest audiences in all ages, but car buyers are specific ages who have not enough time to watching TV even less than one hour per day, because they are too busy in today competitive era. Instead the internet via smart phones and computers is like a ghost became as a inseparable part of their life, at any time more than 15 hours a day, and even when they are eating, showering, walking, sporting, biking, swimming, and in any place even in high mountains and deep forests, roads and villages! Another reason for effectiveness of internet rather than TV is: new intelligence algorithms via data mining analyze the behavior of customers and put proper Ads to the web pages related to the target customers with very lower advertising costs. As a most important subject which advertisers should also pay attention to it is cultural differences, they have to be careful since cultures vary in different countries, they must understand the local audience culture before releasing new commercials, in order to avoid any misunderstanding. Another internet related way for advertising can be the online promotional games, such as Toyota’s use of MSN commercial games to promote its products, for instance. There are two interactive contents focusing on entertainment: fun activities and downloads. Both of them were found in about one third of the 100 web sites, respectively. Fun activities were also utilized to promote the brand in the sites and they are not related to scores or performance. Activities for fun included virtual test drive (www. gmc. com), virtual plant tour (www. cocacola . com), virtual auto show (www. lexus. com), e-cards (www. saturn. com), a coloring sheet (www. wendys. com), a virtual skin beauty analysis (www. neutrogena. com), and so forth. Downloads promoting and affiliated with the companys brand were also analyzed. Desktop images such as wallpaper and icons were the most offered downloads, followed by music (Seounmi Youn, 2001, Retrieved December 9, 2014 from http://list. msu. edu/cgi-bin/wa? A3=ind0209cL=AEJMCE =0P=3326464B= _T=text%2Fplain;%20charset=us-ascii) For the carmakers, another impressive promotion method is â€Å"complete test ride†. The buyers are very keen to getting experience to drive with a brand new car and having the opportunity to really feel its advantages and disadvantages. For encouraging the customers to more participating in test drive activities, offering some gifts can always increase the interest and willingness of then. Getting the best result always does not correspond with the cost of the advertising. So carmakers should choose their advertising media in accordance with today era. However as always, inviting stars to speak for different models with different appeals will have so effectiveness to increasing the public awareness. Conclusion Some observers suspect that Hyundai’s recent successes may be anomalies, abetted by the difficulties that the company’s U. S. and Japanese competitors faced after the global economic crisis, the rise in the yen’s value, Toyota’s wave of recalls, and the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan and Fukushima nuclear disaster. Others say that the company’s highly protected home market has enabled its growth, allowing Hyundai to establish a global presence while its domestic competitors restrict themselves to tiny slivers of the Korean market. But the single factor that has made the most difference is the company’s own interest in building world-class capabilities. Starting in 1998, Hyundai’s leaders set out to develop the kind of prowess the company would need to become a global automobile powerhouse, able to hold its own in the United States and other fiercely competitive markets. Early on, that meant offering a comprehensive warranty and taking specific steps to dramatically improve its quality ratings. Once customers were convinced of the brand’s reliability, Hyundai added other capabilities, such as design, which led to a more diversified product line and more stylish features. Meanwhile, it developed a knack for getting the word out through clever, consistent marketing. The result is a coherent mix of quality improvement, design, and marketing that gives Hyundai a clear advantage over its industry competitors. Although these are required capabilities at all automakers, Hyundai has excelled at combining them over the past decade, and its sales numbers reflect this success. The company’s effort to become a world-class automaker is beginning to pay off, and it’s far enough along that its story can be credibly told. (Source: Strategy Business. February 26, 2013. Retrieved December 2, 2014 from http://www. strategy-business.com/article/00162? pg=all). References Anshuman goyal, pricing strategy of Hyundai, 2007; www. honda. com Anshuman goyal, pricing strategy of Hyundai, 2007; www. hyundai. com Carl Hose. 2014; Small businesses; http://smallbusiness. chron. com/top-ten-promotional-strategies-10193. html Hans Greimel, 2011. http://www. autonews. com/article /20101206/RETAIL03/ 312069982/hyundai-plans-new-brand-strategy Kottler, Keller, Jha, Koshy, 2007, Marketing Management Kristen Hamlin, 2014; http://smallbusiness. chron. com/ importance-ad-slogans-31343. html http://www. gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-Development/Financial-Services-for-the-Poor Ross Gittell, 2014, http://catalog. flatworldknowledge. com/bookhub/reader/3157? e=gittell_1. 0-ch06_s02# Trefis Team, 2014. http://www. forbes. com/sites /greatspeculations/2014/06/13/tata-motors-looks-to-improve-passenger-car-sales-by-penetrating-the-compact-segment/ Seounmi Youn, 2001, http://list. msu. edu/cgi-bin/wa? A3=ind0209cL=AEJMCE =0P=3326464B= _T=text%2Fplain;%20charset=us-ascii Strategy Business. February 26, 2013. http://www. strategy-business. com/article/00162? pg=all.

Physical Activity Among School Age Children

Physical Activity Among School Age Children I am looking at physical activity among school ages children K-12. Physical Education programs and recess are being cut across the country, so that more time and can be spent on increasing test scores. It is no secret that, todays kids are much less active than in past generations and their health is suffering due to their lack of activity. I want to create a survey, or try to combine ones that already have been used, to assess how kids feel towards physical activity. I also am interested in their opinions on what types of activities they would like to be doing in physical education classes. Research questions: I think that if kids were given the ability to choose the activities offered in Physical Education class, they will be more actively involved in the activity since they picked it. I think that if given the choice, kids will pick lifestyle activities as opposed to team sports, which is the current popular focus of physical education. There will be no difference in the amount of physical activity between inner city kids and rural kids. Abstract There is an epidemic brewing in this country now, with the lack of physical activity among children and adults. This lack of activity has lead to an exponential increase in obesity related diseases. The lack of physical activity is being confounded by school districts that are cutting recess and physical education programs. At this point nearly 40% of American elementary schools either eliminated or were considering eliminating recess [1]. It has been documented many times that lack of physical activity leads to a decrease in the quality of life for the individual not partaking in any physical activity. The CDC found that the amount of TV that children watch directly correlates with the measures of their body fat [1]. I think that children should be given a voice in what types of physical activity they would like to do in school since it is to their benefit to exercise. Introduction It is no secret that there is a major problem with obesity in America today. One of the biggest contributing factors to this epidemic is the lack of physical activity in children. I consider myself more active than most of my peers however; even I struggled to do all the requirements for the presidential fitness test in primary school gym class. Today, two thirds of American children cant pass a basic physical: 40 percent of boys and 70 percent of girls ages six to seventeen cant manage more than one-pull-up; and 40% show early signs of heart and circulation problems, according to a recent report by the Presidents Council on Physical Fitness and Sports [1]. More than just a lack of overall physical activity, children today are much more likely to be found inside. When fourth graders were asked why they play indoors rather than outdoors, one responded by saying I like to play indoors better cause thats where all the electrical outlets are [1]. Although it may have always been the case, today it seems politicians are the ones who are deciding what is really important in schools and what should be left out. There is an obsession going on right now about improving math and science test scores. To increase class time for these subjects the schools are cutting out recess and physical education classes. This emphasis has led to many schools dropping their recess programs and reducing their Physical education time to a minimal. A teacher was asked about the Physical Education of her students at the school where she worked, in which she responded that with all the testing in schools there is no time for physical education, let alone exploring the outdoors. In one of my kindergarten classes, the kids get to run to a fence and then run back. Thats their PE [1]. I have been unable to locate any evidence that show scores on math and science tests have increased due to more time spent in the class. I have come across multiple papers cl aiming students that are more physical active have higher test scores than students who do not, but I have not found any scientific evidence to prove these claims. Without scientific proof I can only predict that students that are physical active will have higher test scores based on personal experience. I know that the more physically active I am the better I feel dealing with the stresses of school life. The point of this study is to find out how we as a society can increase physical activity levels in children. It is extremely frustrating to me to think of how kids today do not have the ability to have recess and blow of some stress that has built up over the course of the day. I know from personal experience that recess was a very fun time for me and I was excited about what type of non-structured activity my friends and I were going to do that do at recess. I do not know why it does not shock more people but I cannot believe that more is not being done over the fact that todays children are going to have a shorter lifespan than their parents generation. If my study finds that kids are more inclined to choose lifestyle activities in PE class as opposed to team sports, I feel that should be taken into account on a national level. Physical activity levels need to be increased regardless of the location of the school (inner city vs. rural). Three research questions of particular inter est to me are; 1) I think that if kids were given the ability to choose the activities offered to them during Physical education class, they will be more actively involved in the activity since they had a role in selecting it. 2) I think that if given the choice, kids will pick lifestyle activities as opposed to team sports, which seems to be the focus of physical education today. 3) I also think there will be no difference in the amount of physical activity between inner city kids and rural kids. I will select schools from Northeastern Pennsylvania. I want to select schools that represent all types of income levels. To select the schools I will simple draw a quadrant over the state of Pennsylvania, if the school district falls in the Northeast section, a survey will be sent to that school. I will then take into account the location of that school by zip code and make sure that I have a balanced ratio of rural and inner city schools. I am doing this to determine what relationship th e area in which the children live has on their levels of physical activity. Review of the Literature Authors Jan Fenczyn and Czeslaw Szmigiel conducted a study to determine attitudes towards physical activity among girls and boys with simple obesity. Their study found that the attitudes of the young people towards compulsory physical exercises and active movement outside of school were tested by means of an original questionnaire developed by the authors. The results of the research show that overweight young people of both sexes attempt more often to avoid physical activity (movement) than their non-obese peers, both during physical education classes and outside school. Sex turned out to be a factor that differentiated attitudes towards physical activity. Almost total avoidance of physical activity by obese girls as compared with obese boys was observed. The boys to a greater extent than the girls did engage in physical exercise. The results of the research show the necessity for increased interaction to strengthen motivation to take up physical activities by obese pupils, particul arly girls. What is also worth considering is ones potential for physical fitness amongst young people when choosing activities, which becomes limited due to existing obesity [2]. It has been determined from literature reviews of peer-reviewed literature that interventions focusing on increasing activity performed during physical education were more effective than those targeting overall levels of physical activity. Strategies to promote activity during adolescence are needed to combat the decline in activity during the transition from school to work [3]. The amount of time students participate varies, depending on the school district. There is also a variation among grade levels, on the amount of time required in Physical Education. A study published in the SportsMed Journal found that, PE times range widely from 30 minutes to 5 hours/week in the lower school grades, but in many high schools, PE is not required during of the final 2-3 years of education. Minor adjustments to current PE and/or school based PA programmes have yielded a variety of potential short-term benefits. Relative to traditional PE, it has been observed in grade 9 girls that PE classes that were oriented toward personal fitness instruction (conceptual PE) resulted in a decrease of sedentary behaviour 1 year later. Other programmes resulted in an enhancement of school spirit, increased participant self-esteem, greater academic progress, alleviation of learning disabilities, short-term amelioration in various components of physical fitness, improved fundamental moto r skills and a reduced risk of juvenile delinquency. School PE interventions have also been used to control blood pressure, and cardiovascular risk factors, and to increase bone mass in both pre-pubescent children and early pubertal girls. However, not all of the benefits claimed are documented by well designed experimental studies. Furthermore, a number of controlled investigations of PE programmes have found little difference in body fat between experimental and control groups. One study showed that one additional weekly hour of PE during kindergarten was associated with a decrease of body mass index (BMI) the following school year in a sample of American overweight and borderline schools overweight girls. However, in girls with adequate BMI or in boys, no such effect was measured [4]. An important study that was reviewed by Francois Trudeau and Roy. Shephard was The Trois-Rivieres Growth and Development study. For this growth and development study, A total of 546 primary school students, both boys and girls, were recruited for their study. Approximately equal numbers of students were allocated to experimental and control programmes, based simply on their year of enrollment in school. Immediately preceding and succeeding years served as controls for the experimental cohort. The experimental students received 1 hour/day of a quality, specialist taught PE programme in grades 1 through 6. In the first 2 years, emphasis was placed on the learning of motor skills, and in subsequent years, a wide variety of indoor and outdoor activities were practiced with a view to developing both aerobic and muscular endurance. The primary objective of the intervention was to keep all students as active as possible throughout the nominal class hour of PE. The intensity of activity was checked by telemetry and further proof of an effective intervention was seen in significant increases of physical fitness. The experimental intervention was terminated when the children left primary school for high school, at an age of 11-12 years, but participants were recalled when they had reached the age of 30-35 years. At this later stage in their life course the authors examined perceived PA, lifestyle, attitudes towards PA and selected physical fitness variables in a sub sample of participants and controls. The long term effects of the intervention were assessed by two types of comparison: (i) between members of the original experimental and control cohorts; and (ii) between experimental subjects and a matched cohort of controls from other parts of Quebec who had participated in a province wide survey of PA and health. The latter comparison was intended to check for potential cross contamination between experimental and control subjects. Such contamination was minimal during the intervention phase of the study, but remained a distinct possibility in subsequent years particularly for the rural cohort. Although >20 years had elapsed since the intervention, 76.8% of experimental subjects were able to recall the name of their PE teacher in primary school and 71.4% remembered that they had received five PE classes per week. Among women from the experimental group, the percentage currently participating in at least three sessions of strenuous activity per week was substantially higher in the experimental than in the control sample (42.1% vs. 25.9%). However, no such difference was observed among men. One question asked of the subjects was: do you exercise or perform physical work at least three times a week? In females only, a positive answer to this question (i.e. a higher frequency of current weekly PA) was significantly associated with previous participation in the enhanced primary-school PE programme. Females exercising more than three times per week had previously also been more involved in intense, organized intense, non-organized intense and recreational intense PA as well as in PE instruction. The association between enhanced primary school PE and an exercise frequency higher than three times per week as an adult confirmed previously reported findings [4]. Trudeau and Shephard also found a survey of retrospective questions of adults in Dallas, Texas. This revealed a surprising prevalence of negative attitudes towards exercise imposed at school. Adult PA was lower when the frequency of being forced to exercise before adolescence was higher. However, it was unclear if PE was considered as much an imposed PA as organized sports [4]. There are many different types of interventions that have tried to increase Physical activity. It was found that among children, studies that focused on increasing physical activity during physical education lessons, as well as incorporating curriculum and/or environmental changes, were more effective than curriculum only interventions. Previous research suggests that children may compensate for higher levels of PA during school by reducing their PA outside school. Interventions that utilized activity breaks and those that made simple environmental changes in the school setting also showed promise. Although not always reported, such strategies are likely to be sustainable, little training is required, and they are likely to promote less structured types of physical activity that can be performed any time with little equipment [5]. Although PA decline among boys is becoming smaller, among girls it seems to be increasing. PA decline was basically the same 21% between self reported (questionnaire) and objective (accelerometry) measure in an analysis of a sub sample of adolescents from 11-12 to 13-14 years old. The decrease in PA may be positively associated with its baseline level, although a possible effect of regression to the mean phenomenon may not be ruled out. That is, those with high levels of baseline PA can potentially present a large decrease in PA levels, compared with those who start with lower PA levels. The decline seems to be higher in adolescents of low socio-economic level and lower in adolescents with more social friend support. It was presumed that physical activity level declined during the lifespan, particularly in adolescence. However, there were no studies quantifying this change or pooling results for a common interpretation. Having conducted a systematic review of the international litera ture, we found consistent evidence showing that physical activity declines over adolescence. On average, the mean percentage physical activity decline per year, across all studies reviewed, was 7.0% (95% CI: 8.8 to _5.2). Although earlier studies revealed a higher physical activity decline among boys, the decline has been greater among girls in more recent studies. Moreover, although the decline among girls was greater at younger ages (9-12 years old), among boys it was greater at older ages (13-16 years old). Interventions that attempt to attenuate the physical activity decline, even without an increase in physical activity levels, could be considered as effective [6]. Purpose and Rationale The purpose of this study is to find out why kids are not as physical active today as kids of previous generations. Some barriers as to why they do not like to do physical activity are listed as lack of facilities, such as playgrounds, gyms, sporting grounds, swimming pools, green spaces or cycle lanes, as well as safety issues that include too much traffic, the presence of teenage gangs, no or unclear traffic signs and bad condition of cycle lanes and footpaths. Conditions at school are often not optimal either, due to too short breaks and lack of space to play. Lack of organized activities for younger children and lack of sports organizations contribute to children doing little physical activity. Low-income families regarded the price of doing sports in a sports club as a major obstacle, although they would see the participation of their children in organized activities as a way to keep them in a safe environment [7]. It is very important that this epidemic be understood and fixed in todays society. The independent variables for my study will be gender, age and zip code of the school districts involved in the study. The dependent variables of my study are how much physical activity do they participate in daily, if the children do any physical activity, and what types of physical activity do they choose to do. If it comes back that students would rather play team sports, more research needs to be done to figure out why then do students have such low physical activity levels if they are most interested in team sports. Perhaps liability issues have discouraged schools from allowing students to play pick-up basketball and football games on school grounds, so kids have nowhere to play their team sports that interest them the most. I do not really understand why common sense cannot be employed by people today. If my kid(s) were playing pick-up basketball and broke an arm or were injured some other way, I would not even think of it being anyones fault. Things someti mes happen when kids are being kids and it should not be the schools fault. Without threat of legal action, kids may be provided use of school grounds during time off from school, thus being able to play teams sports with their friends. However if my hypotheses do come true it is extremely important to implement this studys findings. Children today need to be given the opportunity to be physical active and start reversing the health complications that they may have started by being so inactive. Methods A search of relevant peer reviewed literature was conducted by using EBSCOhost. Academic Search Complete, Alt HealthWatch, CINAHL, Education Research Complete, Health Source, MEDLINE, SocINDEX, SPORTDiscuss were selected for use on this topic. Physical activity in youth, attitudes towards physical activity, effectiveness of physical activity interventions, effectiveness of physical activity campaigns, youth and outdoor education were all different searches I did in order to find relevant sources. Sources were used if the seemed to provide information specifically on physical activity in youth or they provided insight on the barriers between youth and physical activity. I am interested in increasing physical activity in all children grades K-12. I had to piece together different studies because the ones I was able to find were very specific on ages. For example, ages 9-11 or ages 6-10 or high school students only were what some studies were focused on. Physical activity levels are a p roblem for all ages of children today and it needs to be increased for all ages of people infant to adult. I would like to sample schools from varying economic backgrounds. I do not believe there will be a difference in the amount of Physical activity between inner city children and rural children, however the activities they might wish to do, may differ. I will provide students K-12 with a survey so that their attitudes, what they would like to have offered, and what they would like to change can be accessed. I will select 250 schools, equally representing inner city, rural, and suburbs schools. They will be put into groups based on the median salaries for each town that the schools are located in. I think that rural schools will choose activities that are less expensive and more outdoors in nature, such as hiking, fishing, camping etc. I predict that inner city kids may choose activities such as wall-ball, or playing in the park. I predict that children going to schools in the sub urbs will choose to do activities that tend to cost more money, such as skiing or snowboarding, indoor rock climbing gyms and fitness centers. I also am predicting that regardless of the area each student lives, they will pick one of these lifestyle activities as opposed to organized team sports where it can be more embarrassing for students that do not possess the skill level needed to do team activities, like football, volleyball and baseball to name a few. At this point I am gathering data to show that there is a need to provide alternatives to the current curriculum in physical education. Kids should have the choice on which physical activities they wish to pursue so that they are more likely to find activities that they continue to do for the rest of their lives. It is highly unlikely that team sports, such as football and volleyball, will be played by anyone once they get out of high school and college. People at that point in their life are much more likely to run, bike, or hike, and if they have prior experience doing these activities they will be much more comfortable doing that by themselves when they are out of grade school. I will not manipulate the experiment in any way. I wish to find out what students with ranging demographics, want to do for physical activity and why they do not do any now. I am looking to provide participants with the ability to have input on what they would like to see being taught to them. I think that students know that it is not healthy to not exercise, but that they are not interested in what they are being provided with as options for physical activity. Once information is collected on what types of activities they wish to be given the opportunity to do, I believe that their opinions should be taken seriously and be given significant consideration by the teachers when creating their lesson plans. The information from my research will be more for the benefit of the teachers and other physical activity instructors, so that they can see how to best provide others with the information that they need to be the most physically active that they can be in their daily lives. Statistical Tools to be Employed Data gathered from my survey comparing grade level vs. grade level, ordinal data, and the amount of physical activity ( ratio data, min/day), will need to use a T-test independent samples to analyze this data. Data from my survey set it up comparing gender, nominal data, and the amount of physical activity (ratio data, min/day), a T-test independent sample like above to analyze the data. Information comparing zip code (inner city vs. rural, nominal) and amount of physical activity (ratio data, min/day), will also need to use a T-test independent sample. I will create a survey, Likert type scale, and then look at how those scores ranked when comparing gender and zip code with the type and amount of physical activity. A Mann-Whitney U test will need to be preformed when looking at the data generated from my likert scale when comparing zip code and gender with this scale. The data collected will help determine what factors impact Physical Activity levels in kids in relation to their difference in gender or zip code. I also will be able to draw conclusions on what type of Physical Activities that kids would prefer to do if given complete control over what activities they were offered at school. From this, it can be recommended what could possibly be done in order to increase the levels of PA among children. Summary of data If my data confirms my predictions, I will be able to see what some of the reasons are as to why kids are not active today like they used to be in previous generations. I think that the increase in availability of technology has a role in why kids would rather be inside than outside. I also think parents are showing a lack of interest in spending time doing physical activity as a family now-a-days. If parents do not wish to increase physical activity levels then it must be left to the school to increase the amount of activity. In addition to physical education, schools can promote physical activity in a variety of other ways. For example, physical education teachers might provide ideas for fitness breaks to classroom teachers, where 5-minute aerobic activities could be used to break up the school day. Extracurricular physical activity programs may also be employed, which could coordinate physical activities with community agencies and provide physical and social environments that enc ourage and enable physical activity. If there is a difference between kids living in different areas, more opportunities could be offered to expose kids from each area to more activities that they previously had no experience with. I also think more unstructured physical activity time during school or after school would go a long way in promoting physical activity for fun rather than for a specific sport or reason.

Causes of WW1 :: World War I History

Causes of WW1 I think that the First World War was the product of long-standing rivalries rather than a badly mismanaged Balkan Crisis because it was these rivalries that led to the Balkan Crisis. The Balkan Crisis may appear mismanaged because previous crises such as those in Morocco in 1905 and 1911 did not result in war. In the July Crisis Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) despite not having conclusive proof. Austria-Hungary asked for German support to "eliminate Serbia as a power factor in the Balkans". Germany agreed, offering her full support for Austria- Hungary to start a war with Serbia, and this became known as the "blank cheque". Austria-Hungary and Germany could not have failed to realise the possibility of Russian intervention and a European war, suggesting to me that war was their objective. Austria-Hungary issued an impossible ultimatum to Serbia, which was likely to provoke a war. Serbia was given only 48 hours to reply, so was forced to think quickly, or other countries would be mobilized and ready to attack. Serbia accepted all but one point of the ultimatum. Consequently war was announced. If given more time Serbia could have discussed the issue further in a conference. The British fo reign minister, Grey suggested a conference, but this was rejected by Germany and Austria-Hungary, suggesting that they had deliberate aims for war during the Balkan Crisis, rather than the Balkan Crisis being mismanaged. There was a long-standing rivalry between Austria-Hungary and Russia due to their interests in the Balkans. Russia saw her role as leading and supporting her fellow Slav peoples in the Balkans. This Pan-Slav concept provided an ideal excuse to interfere in the Balkans and to extend Russia's influence towards the Eastern Mediterranean. Ideally Russia wished to open the Dardenelles straits to its warships. Austria-Hungary was concerned that this Russian encouragement of nationalism may threaten her borders and inspire nationalism within her own empire. In turn, Germany recognised that as Austria's closest ally her fate was linked with that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Austria-Hungary was anxious to prevent Russian encroachment in the Balkans. This aim would be best served by the elimination of Serbia, Russia's Balkan ally. In 1878, Russia was humiliated at the Congress of Berlin when her proposal for a Greater Bulgarian state was rejected and Austria-Hungary occupied Bosnia to maint ain order amongst the nationalist revolts.

Damnation of a Canyon Essay -- Edward Abbey Nature Environment Essays

The Damnation of a Canyon   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Not many people know of the used-to-be 150-mile excursion that the Glen Canyon had to offer. Not many people know how to sail a raft down a river for a week. Not many people know how to interact with nature and the animals that come with it. We seem to come from a world that is dependent on time and consumed in money. Edward Abbey is what you would call an extreme environmentalist. He talks about how it was an environmental disaster to place a dam in which to create Lake Powell, a reservoir formed on the border of Utah and Arizona. He is one of the few that have actually seen the way Glen Canyon was before they changed it into a reservoir. Today, that lake is used by over a million people, and is one of the biggest recreation hot spots in the western United States.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First of all, Edward Abbey admits to being a certain bias and that he is a, â€Å"butterfly chaser, googley eyed bleeding heart and wild conservative.† So, in other words he is intending this article to be read by environmental activist who will support his opinion and the action that he is trying to take. Edward Abbey worked as a seasonal park ranger for Glen Canyon National Recreation Area back in 1967, so of course he would be against any environmental action taken to change the canyon. He stated that before the damnation of the canyon that there were streams, waterfalls, plunge pools, and plenty of wildlife. Now you can only find that on a small scale and that these thing...

Mathematical Education: A comparison between Japan and America Essay

Mathematical Education: A comparison between Japan and America The mathematical education provided in the United States has proved to be inferior compared to that of other countries. Specifically the Japanese and other Asian educational systems produce more educated mathematics students than the United States. American children tend to score lower on standardized testing than Asian students do. Many studies have been done by research groups such as the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education and the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement showing the differences in teaching methods between the United States and Japan. The teaching styles and the cultural differences can account for the gap in performance. One of the most famous studies of its kind is called Pursuing Excellence, the Third International Mathematics and Science Study. This study was conducted in 1995. The Mathematical knowledge of half a million students from forty-one countries was tested. Of these countries, the test shows that American students performed below average in mathematics. During the same research project, classrooms in America, Germany and Japan were videotaped and analyzed. (1) When the curriculums in various countries were reviewed, researchers consistently found that American teachers spend a small amount of time on many topics where as other countries focus on fewer topics with more depth of topic and more repetition. Another variation is that American teachers, for the most part, have received more formal education than Japanese teachers, but have less classroom training and experience. Japan has a much higher focus on teaching quality than the United States. Most of t... ...needed to solve the problem at hand. Japanese teachers provide their students with the knowledge they need and the ability to think so that they can apply this knowledge in various situations. For this reason, Japanese students have been able to perform better in studies than American students can. Bibliography "Inside Scoop: a worthwhile international comparison." National Education Association of the United States. 1997. (website- address unknown) Ibid "Understanding and Improving Classroom Mathematics Instruction: an overview of the TIMSS video study." Phi Delta Kappa Inc. 1997. (website- address unknown) Ibid Steffe, Leslie, Nesher, Pearia, Cobb, Paul, Goldein, Gerald, Greer, Brian. Theories of Mathematical Learning. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, 1996. P. 6. Ibid, p. 6-7. Peer reviewed by Melissa Lenzi and Helen Hunt

Deception Point Page 78

â€Å"Anyhow, Mike,† the message went on, â€Å"tonight was incredible. Kind of makes you proud to be a scientist, doesn't it? Everyone's talking about how good this looks for NASA. Screw NASA, I say! This looks even better for us! Amazing Seas ratings must have gone up a few million points tonight. You're a star, man. A real one. Congrats. Excellent job.† There was hushed talking on the line, and the voice came back. â€Å"Oh, yeah, and speaking of Xavia, just so you don't get too big a head, she wants to razz you about something. Here she is.† Xavia's razor voice came on the machine. â€Å"Mike, Xavia, you're a God, yada yada. And because I love you so much, I've agreed to baby-sit this antediluvian wreck of yours. Frankly, it will be nice to be away from these hoodlums you call scientists. Anyhow, in addition to baby-sitting the ship, the crew has asked me, in my role as onboard bitch, to do everything in my power to keep you from turning into a conceited bastard, which after tonight I realize is going to be difficult, but I had to be the first to tell you that you made a boo-boo in your documentary. Yes, you heard me. A rare Michael Tolland brain fart. Don't worry, there are only about three people on earth who will notice, and they're all anal-retentive marine geologists with no sense of humor. A lot like me. But you know what they say about us geologists-always looking for faults!† She laughed. â€Å"Anyhow, it's nothing, a minuscule point about meteorite petrology. I only mention it to ruin your night. You mig ht get a call or two about it, so I thought I'd give you the heads-up so you don't end up sounding like the moron we all know you really are.† She laughed again. â€Å"Anyhow, I'm not much of a party animal, so I'm staying onboard. Don't bother calling me; I had to turn on the machine because the goddamned press have been calling all night. You're a real star tonight, despite your screwup. Anyhow, I'll fill you in on it when you get back. Ciao.† The line went dead. Michael Tolland frowned. A mistake in my documentary? Rachel Sexton stood in the restroom of the G4 and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked pale, she thought, and more frail than she'd imagined. Tonight's scare had taken a lot out of her. She wondered how long it would be before she would stop shivering, or before she would go near an ocean. Removing her U.S.S. Charlotte cap, she let her hair down. Better, she thought, feeling more like herself. Looking into her eyes, Rachel sensed a deep weariness. Beneath it, though, she saw the resolve. She knew that was her mother's gift. Nobody tells you what you can and can't do. Rachel wondered if her mother had seen what happened tonight. Someone tried to kill me, Mom. Someone tried to kill all of us†¦ Rachel's mind, as it had for several hours now, scrolled through the list of names. Lawrence Ekstrom†¦ Marjorie Tench†¦ President Zach Herney. All had motives. And, more chillingly, all had means. The President is not involved, Rachel told herself, clinging to her hope that the President she respected so much more than her own father was an innocent bystander in this mysterious incident. We still know nothing. Not who†¦ not if†¦ not why. Rachel had wanted to have answers for William Pickering but, so far, all she'd managed to do was raise more questions. When Rachel left the restroom, she was surprised to see Michael Tolland was not in his seat. Corky was dozing nearby. As Rachel looked around, Mike stepped out of the cockpit as the pilot hung up a radiophone. His eyes were wide with concern. â€Å"What is it?† Rachel asked. Tolland's voice was heavy as he told her about the phone message. A mistake in his presentation? Rachel thought Tolland was overreacting. â€Å"It's probably nothing. She didn't tell you specifically what the error was?† â€Å"Something to do with meteorite petrology.† â€Å"Rock structure?† â€Å"Yeah. She said the only people who would notice the mistake were a few other geologists. It sounds like whatever error I made was related to the composition of the meteorite itself.† Rachel drew a quick breath, understanding now. â€Å"Chondrules?† â€Å"I don't know, but it seems pretty coincidental.† Rachel agreed. The chondrules were the one remaining shred of evidence that categorically supported NASA's claim that this was indeed a meteorite. Corky came over, rubbing his eyes. â€Å"What's going on?† Tolland filled him in. Corky scowled, shaking his head. â€Å"It's not a problem with the chondrules, Mike. No way. All of your data came from NASA. And from me. It was flawless.† â€Å"What other petrologic error could I have made?† â€Å"Who the hell knows? Besides, what do marine geologists know about chondrules?† â€Å"I have no idea, but she's damned sharp.† â€Å"Considering the circumstances,† Rachel said, â€Å"I think we should talk to this woman before we talk to Director Pickering.† Tolland shrugged. â€Å"I called her four times and got the machine. She's probably in the hydrolab and can't hear a damn thing anyway. She won't get my messages until morning at the earliest.† Tolland paused, checking his watch. â€Å"Although†¦ â€Å" â€Å"Although what?† Tolland eyed her intensely. â€Å"How important do you think it is that we talk to Xavia before we talk to your boss?† â€Å"If she has something to say about chondrules? I'd say it's critical. Mike,† Rachel said, â€Å"at the moment, we've got all kinds of contradictory data. William Pickering is a man accustomed to having clear answers. When we meet him, I'd love to have something substantial for him to act on.† â€Å"Then we should make a stop.† Rachel did a double take. â€Å"On your ship?† â€Å"It's off the coast of New Jersey. Almost directly on our way to Washington. We can talk to Xavia, find out what she knows. Corky still has the meteorite sample, and if Xavia wants to run some geologic tests on it, the ship has a fairly well-equipped lab. I can't imagine it would take us more than an hour to get some conclusive answers.† Rachel felt a pulse of anxiety. The thought of having to face the ocean again so soon was unnerving. Conclusive answers, she told herself, tempted by the possibility. Pickering will definitely want answers. 92 Delta-One was glad to be back on solid ground. The Aurora aircraft, despite running at only one-half power and taking a circuitous ocean route, had completed its journey in under two hours and afforded the Delta Force a healthy head start to take up position and prepare themselves for the additional kill the controller had requested. Now, on a private military runway outside D.C., the Delta Force left the Aurora behind and boarded their new transport-a waiting OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter. Yet again, the controller has arranged for the best, Delta-One thought. The Kiowa Warrior, originally designed as a light observation helicopter, had been â€Å"expanded and improved† to create the military's newest breed of attack helicopter. The Kiowa boasted infrared thermal imaging capability enabling its designator/laser range finder to provide autonomous designation for laser-guided precision weapons like Air-to-Air Stinger missiles and the AGM-1148 Hellfire Missile System. A high-speed digital signal processor provided simultaneous multitarget tracking of up to six targets. Few enemies had ever seen a Kiowa up close and survived to tell the tale. Delta-One felt a familiar rush of power as he climbed into the Kiowa pilot's seat and strapped himself in. He had trained on this craft and flown it in covert ops three times. Of course, never before had he been gunning for a prominent American official. The Kiowa, he had to admit, was the perfect aircraft for the job. Its Rolls-Royce Allison engine and twin semirigid blades were â€Å"silent running,† which essentially meant targets on the ground could not hear the chopper until it was directly over them. And because the aircraft was capable of flying blind without lights and was painted flat black with no reflective tail numbers, it was essentially invisible unless the target had radar.