Two dads are better than none

Life would always have Its way to prove that two is better than one. And partners would always almost remain partners. A spoon would always come with a fork, as a pencil would always have an eraser. A tooth paste would only be used with a tooth brush and a shoe has to be worn with a sock. Such things are typically seen as one. Though mammals the other would be fine, difficulties would still follow. Complete Is synonymous to perfect. And a complete family consists mainly of a father, a mother and their children.Two dads are better than none – a saying that goes against the natural law of marriage when you read between the lines. What happens when a family lacks a mother, and is rather replaced by two dads with their motherly big heart? It may not look complete. It may even seem peculiar. Or worse, unethical. But nothing would be more immoral than hurting someone physically and emotionally. A lot of children nowadays came from a broken family. As a consequence, they suffer depre ssion and attitude problems towards the people around them. They often feel alone and Incomplete.There are also a number of children left in an orphanage for their parents are not responsible and mature enough to keep them. Indeed It Is difficult to live alone or to live with people one Is not related with. And If two men are willing to live together and create a wholesome and loving family for a deserted child, why would I disagree? I personally believe that love knows no boundaries and that it knows no gender. Though I am a Christian, and the bible is strictly against same sex marriage, I find it acceptable but at the same time regrettable for they would never eve their own child.And thus no family of their own. But as I watch the pride march and heard their voices, I came to an understanding that they are happy with those consequences. Having a family with two dads may not be perfect. But the love that will be built inside a house, more likely a home, is enough to make everything complete. The sacrifices that these two men give the moment they decided to adapt a child and make a family may be equal or even more than the sacrifices a mother and a father can provide. For doing so, they are ready to face all discriminations, allInjustices, and all hardships In order to protect their child. They do not only need to be financially-prepared, but most especially emotionally- and mentally-prepared. People do change together with their perspectives. And everyone has all the rights to change. Being gay is not a negative thing. It comes all with acceptance not just by them but also by us. Moreover, being gay is not a hindrance to dream and pursue a family. Two dads are better than none By syllabicating Life would always have its way to prove that two is better than one.And partners Though missing the other would be fine, difficulties would still follow. Complete is alone and incomplete. There are also a number of children left in an orphanage for their parents are not responsible and mature enough to keep them. Indeed it is difficult to live alone or to live with people one is not related with. And if two men are injustices, and all hardships in order to protect their child. They do not only need to change. Being gay is not a negative thing.

A Note on the Growth of Research in Service Operations Management

PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT Vol. 16, No. 6, November-December 2007, pp. 780 –790 issn 1059-1478 07 1606 780$1. 25 POMS doi 10. 3401/poms.  © 2007 Production and Operations Management Society A Note on the Growth of Research in Service Operations Management Jeffery S. Smith †¢ Kirk R. Karwan †¢ Robert E. MarklandDepartment of Marketing, Florida State University, Rovetta Business Building, Tallahassee, Florida 32306, USA Department of Business and Accounting, Furman University, 3300 Poinsett Highway, Greenville, South Carolina 29613, USA Management Science Department, Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina, 1705 College Street, Columbia, South Carolina 29208, USA [email  protected] fsu. edu †¢kirk. [email  protected] edu †¢[email  protected] sc. edu e present an empirical assessment of the productivity of individuals and institutions in terms of service operations management (SOM) research.We reviewed ? ve mainstream operation s management journals over a 17-year time period to generate a sample of 463 articles related to service operations. The results indicate that SOM research has been growing and key contributions are being made by an array of researchers and institutions. Key words: research productivity; research review; service operations Submissions and Acceptance: Original submission: Received November 2005; revisions received July 2006 and October 2007; accepted October 2007 by Aleda Roth. W 1. IntroductionThe transformation of industrialized economies from a manufacturing base to a service orientation is a continuing phenomenon. The trend is readily apparent in the United States where, by virtually all accounts, over 80% of private sector employment is engaged in some sort of service work (Karmarkar, 2004). Despite this, observers of research in operations management (OM) have long been critical of the ? eld for not transitioning in a similar manner. One study by Pannirselvam et al. (1999) revi ewed 1,754 articles between 1992 and 1997 in seven key OM journals and reported only 53 (2. 7%) addressed service-related problems.Roth and Menor (2003) also voiced concern about a paucity of research in presenting a Service Operations Management (SOM) research agenda for the future. Regardless of the exact ? gures, there is clearly enormous potential and need for research in the service operations arena. Recent developments within the discipline are encouraging. For example, Production and Operations Management (POM) and the Production and Operations Management Society (POMS) have taken several steps to facilitate research in service operations. First, the journal recently published three focused issues on 780 service operations.Second, POMS created a society subdivision, the College of Service Operations, that has hosted several national and international meetings. Finally, the journal now has an autonomous editorial department dedicated to service operations. Other initiatives to promote the service operations management ? eld include the establishment of IBM’s Service Science, Management, and Engineering initiative (Spohrer et al. , 2007) and the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science Section on Service Science. To a large extent, the service operations ? eld has long been considered to occupy a niche within operations management.If service operations management researchers are to establish themselves ? rmly within the OM community, it is our contention that their theoretical contributions to leading academic journals must be more widely recognized and their relevance to practice acknowledged. As a part of the effort to encourage this progress, the purpose of this note is twofold: (1) to demonstrate that published work in the key operations journals is indeed showing an upward trend and (2) to facilitate research of individual scholars by identifying the individuals and institutions that have contributed most to the ? ld of service operations. Smith, Karwan, and Markland: Growth of Research in Service Operations Management Production and Operations Management 16(6), pp. 780 –790,  © 2007 Production and Operations Management Society 781 2. Methodology and Results Although much more complex mechanisms exist to measure â€Å"contribution,† we relied on a straightforward approach to assess contributions by individuals and institutions. We considered four issues: (1) the time frame for the review, (2) the journals to be included, (3) the metric for productivity, and (4) the means to identify the articles to be included.First, we selected a 17-year time frame beginning with 1990 and running through 2006 because we believed that this interval would provide a comprehensive picture of the service operations ? eld as it has developed, as well as an opportunity to detect any overall trends. Next, we limited our assessment to the outlets identi? ed by the University of Texas at Dallas as the premier journ als in operations management (see http://citm. utdallas. edu/ utdrankings/).These include 3 journals dedicated to OM, the Journal of Operations Management (JOM), Manufacturing and Service Operations Management (MSOM), and POM, and two multidisciplinary journals, Management Science (MS) and Operations Research (OR). Third, we assessed scholarly productivity by counting the number of research articles attributable to both individuals and their academic institutions, assigning a weight of 1/n to an author and his or her institution if an article had multiple (â€Å"n†) authors. The ? al issue to determine was what constituted a SOM article. We ? rst eliminated any article or research note that centered on agriculture, mining, or manufacturing. Then, two authors served as independent judges to determine whether an article employed an operations focus while addressing a service-speci? c problem or situation. In cases where there was disTable 1 Year 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 19 96 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Totals Service % agreement between the two raters, the third author made the ? al decision. Consequently, an article was excluded if it developed a generic operations model or involved an operations topic that was discussed in a general way and was applicable in either a manufacturing or a service environment. When an article made speci? c reference to service contexts and elaborated on them, it was included. To clarify this point, consider the case of an article investigating an inventory-positioning policy between a manufacturer and a series of retailers.The article would be included as pertaining to service operations if it took the perspective of the retail operation but would be excluded if it took the manufacturing viewpoint. Using this methodology, we identi? ed 463 distinct service operations articles (see the Appendix for a complete list) and recorded information on the author(s) and author af? liation(s) at the time of p ublication. The numerical summary of articles is shown in Table 1, with each journal’s share of service operations articles.Over the 17-year period JOM, MSOM, and POM all exceeded 15% of service articles with respect to the total number of articles published, with OR and MS publishing somewhat smaller percentages. Additionally, there is an upward trend in the total number of service articles appearing in all ? ve journals, with a marked increase in the past 3 years (see Figure 1). With regard to JOM and POM, part of this move is attributable to the publication of special issues, which is a positive development because it demonstrates a heightened emphasis originating at the editorial level.The total number of individuals appearing in the sample pool was 799. In Table 2, we list 27 individuals Distribution of Service Operations Publications by Selected Journal and Year JOM 4 1 n/a 2 1 4 3 1 3 3 6 5 8 3 7 11 13 75 15. 4 MS 3 9 5 4 5 12 4 8 11 15 5 7 3 4 11 16 13 135 6. 5 MSOM n /a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 0 3 5 3 1 5 5 6 28 16. 8 OR 10 5 10 12 6 8 6 7 10 5 9 5 8 6 11 16 16 150 10. 1 POM n/a n/a 3 1 2 3 3 2 3 11 2 4 4 14 11 3 9 75 17. 9 Total 17 15 18 19 14 27 16 18 27 34 25 26 26 28 45 51 57 463 Service % 7. 0 6. 7 6. 6 7. 8 5. 9 8. 9 6. 3 7. 0 9. 2 12. 5 9. 0 9. 2 8. 8 10. 7 15. 17. 2 17. 2 10. 0 Note. n/a (not applicable) indicates that no issue was published in the speci? c journal in the target year; totals indicate the sum of all service operations articles in the noted year/journal; service % indicates the representation of service articles in comparison to the total number of articles published. 782 Figure 1 Smith, Karwan, and Markland: Growth of Research in Service Operations Management Production and Operations Management 16(6), pp. 780 –790,  © 2007 Production and Operations Management Society Distribution of Service Articles over the Investigation Period 70Number of Service Articles 60 50 40 30 20 10 2001 2004 1990 1993 1995 1998 2000 2002 2003 1994 1999 1991 1992 1996 1997 Year who contributed the most articles on SOM in the ? ve journals. We conducted the same analysis by institution, and it resulted in 343 organizations appearing in the sample. Columbia University contributed the most articles, with a score of 16. 17. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Pennsylvania followed with productivity scores greater than 12. Table 3 lists the remainder of the 26 most productive institutions.Although clearly dependent upon the journals within the sample, an important conclusion that might Table 2 Name Ward Whitt Gary Thompson Stefanos Zenios Scott Sampson Richard Chase Arnold Barnett Kenneth Boyer Arthur Hill Aleda Roth Robert Shumsky Dimitris Bertsimas Susan Meyer Goldstein Julie Hays Ananth Iyer Andreas Soteriou Cynthia Barnhart Vishal Gaur Deborah Kellogg Larry Jacobs Marshall Fisher Francois Soumis William L Cooper Jean Harvey Serguei Netessine Gerard Cacho n Kingshuk Sinha Avishai Mandelbaum Individual Author Contributions Productivity score 8. 0 5. 50 3. 33 3. 33 3. 17 2. 90 2. 67 2. 67 2. 67 2. 53 2. 50 2. 50 2. 50 2. 50 2. 50 2. 42 2. 33 2. 25 2. 20 2. 17 2. 03 2. 00 2. 00 2. 00 1. 83 1. 83 1. 83 be drawn from Tables 2 and 3 is that the key contributions in SOM research are diverse and originate from a broad array of authors and institutions. Many of these authors and institutions are known to approach the ? eld from normative or prescriptive perspectives and others from more empirical or descriptive perspectives.In fact, Gupta, Verma, and Victorino (2006) recently noted that much of the growth in service research has come from studies that completely or partially employed empirical research methodologies. This increased emphasis on empirical studies bodes well for the â€Å"new† and growing ? eld. Table 3 Institution Institutional Contributions Productivity score 16. 17 16. 05 13. 41 12. 17 8. 75 8. 15 6. 75 6. 67 6. 67 6. 17 5. 77 5. 67 5. 67 5. 58 5. 50 5. 42 4. 95 4. 87 4. 75 4. 70 4. 50 4. 50 4. 42 4. 33 4. 33 4. 08Columbia University Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of Minnesota University of Pennsylvania University of Southern California Michigan State University University of Texas at Austin Stanford University Purdue University Cornell University Carnegie Mellon University University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Georgia Institute of Technology University of Utah New York University Harvard University Northern Illinois University University of Rochester Southern Methodist University Naval Postgraduate School AT&T University of Cyprus University of California at Los Angeles University of Maryland Vanderbilt University University of Michigan 2006 2005Smith, Karwan, and Markland: Growth of Research in Service Operations Management Production and Operations Management 16(6), pp. 780 –790,  © 2007 Production and Operations Management Society 783 3. Concluding Comments â € ¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ A variety of forces appear to be stimulating a longexpected increase in research emphasis on service operations management. Because service organizations and issues increasingly dominate the global economy, a greater emphasis on SOM research seems important and inevitable. With operations management journals and related professional societies simultaneously providing visibility for researchers and their efforts, it is likely that we will move forward toward a clearer and more robust SOM research paradigm.Acknowledgments We thank the anonymous reviewers and the editorial team for their insightful comments on earlier drafts of this paper. †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Appendix Journal of Operations Management †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Davis, 1990, An analysis of customer satisfaction with waiting times in a two-stage service process. 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Gunes, 2004, Value creation in service delivery. Lariviere, 2004, Strategically seeking service. Su, 2004, Patient choice in kidney allocation. Cachon, 2005, Retail assortment planning in the presence of consumer search. Chen, 2005, Quantifying the value of lead time information in a single-location inventory system. Gaur, 2005, Hedging inventory risk through market investments. Harrison, 2005, A method for staf? ng large call centers based on stochastic ? uid models. Wallace, 2005, A staf? ng algorithm for call centers with skill-based routing.Caggiano, 2006, Integrated real-time capacity and inventory allocation for repairable service parts in a two-echelon supply system. Cooper, 2006, Stochastic comparisons in airline revenue management systems. Elhedhli, 2006, Service system design with immobile servers, stochastic demand, and congestion. Ferguson, 2006, Supply chain coordination for false failure returns. Schwarz, 2006, On the interactions between routing and inventory-management polices in a one-warehouse n-retailer distribution system. Whitt, 2006, The impact of increased employee retention on performance in a customer contact center. Operations Research †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Manufacturing & Service Operations Management †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Pinker, 2000, The ef? ciency– quality trade-off of crosstrained workers.So, 2000, Price and time competition for service delivery. Soteriou, 2000, A robust optimization approach for improving service quality. Cachon, 2001, Managing a retailer’s shelf space, inventory, and transportation. Fisher, 2001, Optimizing inventory replenishment of retail fashion products. Heim, 2001, Operational drivers of customer loyalty in electronic retailing. Menor, 2001, Agility in retail banking. †¢ †¢ Barthol di, 1990, Scheduling interviews for a job fair. Berg, 1990, Customer delay in M/G/(in? nity) repair systems with spares. Brown, 1990, Annual scheduling of Atlantic ? eet naval combatants. Daduna, 1990, Exchangeable items in repair systems.Ferland, 1990, Decision support system for the school districting problem. Ford, 1990, Estimating the impact of ef? ciency standards on the uncertainty of the northwest electric system. Gopalan, 1990, Modeling equity of risk in transportation of hazardous materials. Hamblin, 1990, Optimizing simulation for policy analysis in a residential energy end-of-use model. Sherali, 1990, A two-phase decomposition approach for electric utility capacity expansion planning including nondispatchable technologies. Yamani, 1990, Single aircraft mid-air refueling using spherical distances. Altinkemer, 1991, Parallel savings based heuristics for the delivery problem.Smith, Karwan, and Markland: Growth of Research in Service Operations Management Production and Opera tions Management 16(6), pp. 780 –790,  © 2007 Production and Operations Management Society †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ 787 †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Hof, 1991, A multilevel analysis of production capabilities of the national forest system. Kent, 1991, Natural resource land management planning using large-scale linear programs. Kraay, 1991, Optimal pacing of trains in freight railroads. Kwun, 1991, Joint optimal planning of industrial congeneration and conventional electricity systems. Agnihothri, 1992, Performance evaluation of service territories.Avery, 1992, Optimization of purchase, storage, and transmission contracts for natural gas utilities. Hartley, 1992, Military operations research. Jack, 1992, Design and implementation of an interactive optimization system f or telephone network planning. Klimberg, 1992, Improving the effectiveness of FDA drug inspection. Ng, 1992, A multicriteria optimization approach to aircraft loading. Oren, 1992, Design and management of curtailable electricity service to reduce annual peaks. Stroup, 1992, A fuel management model for the airline industry. Weatherford, 1992, A taxonomy and research overview of perishable-asset revenue management. Wollmer, 1992, An airline seat anagement model for a single leg routine when lower fare classes book ? rst. Ball, 1993, A reliability model applied to emergency service vehicle location. Berge, 1993, Demand driven dispatch. Bradley, 1993, Measuring performance in a multiproduct ? rm. Brumelle, 1993, Airline seat allocation with multiple nested fare classes. Caulkins, 1993, Local drug markets’ response to focused police enforcement. Caulkins, 1993, The on-time machines. Fleurent, 1993, Allocating games for the NHL using integer programming. Franz, 1993, Scheduling med ical residents to rotations. Martin, 1993, Design and implementation of an expert system for controlling health care costs.Rautman, 1993, Scheduling the disposal of nuclear waster material in a geologic repository using the transportation model. Soumis, 1993, A stochastic, multiclass airline network equilibrium model. Terrab, 1993, Strategic ? ow management for air traf? c control. Blanco, 1994, A sea story. Reisman, 1994, Operations research in libraries. Ringel, 1994, A stochastic analysis of state transitions in an air-space management system. Russell, 1994, Devising a cost effective schedule for a baseball league. Vranas, 1994, The multi-airport ground-holding problem in air traf? c control. Weintraub, 1994, A heuristic system to solve mixed integer forest planning models.Barnhart, 1995, Deadhead selection for the long-haul crew pairing problem. †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Bitran, 1995, An application of yield management to the hotel industry considering multiple day stays. Brusco, 1995, Improving personnel scheduling at airline stations. Kaplan, 1995, Probability models of needle exchange. Keeney, 1995, Evaluating improvements in electric utility reliability at British Columbia hydro. Peterson, 1995, Decomposition algorithms for analyzing transient phenomena in multiclass queuing networks in air transportation. Richetta, 1995, Optimal algorithms and a remarkably ef? cient heuristic for the ground-holding problem in air traf? c control.Robinson, 1995, Optimal and approximate control policies for airline booking with sequential nonmonotonic fare classes. Barnhart, 1996, Air network design for express shipment service. Bitran, 1996, Managing hotel reservations with uncertain arrivals. Eisenstein, 1996, Separating logistics ? ows in th e Chicago public school system. Maclellan, 1996, Basing airtankers for forest ? re control in Ontario. Rosenthal, 1996, Optimizing ? ight operations for an aircraft carrier in transit. Thompson, 1996, DEA/assurance region SBDC ef? ciency and unique projections. Ahmadi, 1997, Managing capacity and ? ow at theme parks. Bevers, 1997, Spatial optimization of prairie dog colonies for black-footed ferret recovery.Bukiet, 1997, A Markov chain approach to baseball. Day, 1997, Flight attendant rostering for short-haul airline operations. Eppen, 1997, Improved fashion buying with Bayesian updates. Griggs, 1997, An air mission planning algorithm using decision analysis and mixed integer programming. Vance, 1997, Airline crew scheduling. Andreatta, 1998, Multiairport ground holding problem. Bertsimas, 1998, The air traf? c ? ow management problem with enroute capacities. Bixby, 1998, Solving a truck dispatching scheduling problem using branch-and-cut. Caprara, 1998, Modeling and solving the cre w rostering problem. Chatwin, 1998, Multiperiod airline overbooking with a single fare class.Gopalan, 1998, The aircraft maintenance routing problem. Lederer, 1998, Airline network design. Mason, 1998, Integrated simulation, heuristic and optimisation approaches to staff scheduling. Nemhauser, 1998, Scheduling a major college basketball conference. Savelsbergh, 1998, Drive: Dynamic routing of independent vehicles. Gamachea, 1999, A column generation approach for largescale aircrew rostering problems. Hobbs, 1999, Stochastic programming-based bounding of 788 Smith, Karwan, and Markland: Growth of Research in Service Operations Management Production and Operations Management 16(6), pp. 780 –790,  © 2007 Production and Operations Management Society †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ expected production costs for multiarea electric power systems. Keeney, 1999, Identifying and structuring values to guide integrated resource planning at BC Gas. Mingozzi, 1999, A set partitioning approach to the crew scheduling problem. Murty, 1999, The U. S. Army National Guard’s mobile training simulators location and routing problem. Barnett, 2000, Free-? ight and en route air safety. Barnhart, 2000, Railroad blocking. Bashyam, 2000, Service design and price competition in business information services. Feng, 2000, Optimal policies of yield management with multiple predetermined prices.Haight, 2000, An integer optimization approach to a probabilistic reserve site selection problem. Hoffman, 2000, A comparison of formulations for the single-airport ground-holding problem with banking constraints. Smith, 2000, Management of multi-item retail inventory systems with demand substitu tion. Van Slyke, 2000, Finite horizon stochastic knapsacks with applications to yield management. Zenios, 2000, Dynamic allocation of kidneys to candidates on the transplant waiting list. Barnett, 2001, Safe at home? Cai, 2001, Solving large nonconvex water resources management models using generalized benders decomposition. Cordeau, 2001, Simultaneous assignment of locomotives and cars to passenger trains.Feng, 2001, A dynamic airline seat inventory control model and its optimal policy. Henz, 2001, Scheduling a major college basketball conference—Revisited. Baker, 2002, Optimizing military aircraft. Camm, 2002, Nature reserve site selection to maximize expected species covered. Caprara, 2002, Modeling and solving the train timetabling problem. Cooper, 2002, Asymptotic behavior of an allocation policy for revenue management. Cooper, 2002, An illustrative application of IDEA (imprecise data envelopment analysis) to a Korean telecommunication company. Gans, 2002, Managing learn ing and turnover in employee staf? ng. Netessine, 2002, Flexible service capacity. Powell, 2002, Implementing real-time optimization models.Bertsimas, 2003, Restaurant revenue management. Brumelle, 2003, Dynamic airline revenue management with multiple semi-Markov demand. Cohn, 2003, Improving crew scheduling by incorporating key maintenance routing decisions. Deshpande, 2003, An empirical study of service differentiation from weapon system service parts. Erhun, 2003, Enterprise-wide optimization of total landed cost at a grocery retailer. Rajaram, 2003, Flow management to optimize retail pro? ts at theme parks. †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Armony, 2004, Contact centers with a call-back option and real-time delay information. Armony, 2004, On customer contact centers with a callback option.Bollapragada, 2004, Scheduling commercials on broadcast t elevision. Bollapragada, 2004, Scheduling commercial videotapes in broadcast television. Borst, 2004, Dimensioning large call centers. Cappanera, 2004, A multicommodity ? ow approach to the crew rostering problem. Gaur, 2004, A periodic inventory routing problem at a supermarket chain. Hamacher, 2004, Design of zone tariff systems in public transportation. Karaesmen, 2004, Overbooking with substitutable inventory classes. Qi, 2004, Class scheduling for pilot training. Zhu, 2004, Imprecise DEA via standard linear DEA models with a revisit to Korean mobile telecommunication company. Armstrong, 2005, A stochastic salvo model for naval surface combat.Ata, 2005, Dynamic power control in a wireless static channel subject to a quality-of-service constraint. Bertsimas, 2005, Simulation based booking limits for airline revenue management. Brown, 2005, A two-sided optimization for theater ballistic missile defense. Chardaire, 2005, Solving a time-space network formulation for the convoy movem ent problem. Dasci, 2005, A continuous model for multistore competitive location. De Vericourt, 2005, Managing response time in a callrouting problem with service failure. Holder, 2005, Navy personnel planning and the optimal partition. Jahn, 2005, System-optimal routing of traf? c ? ows with user constraints in networks with congestion. Maglaras, 2005, Pricing and design of differentiated services.Savin, 2005, Capacity management in rental businesses with two customer bases. Shu, 2005, Stochastic transportation-inventory network design problem. Su, 2005, Patient choice in kidney allocation. Wu, 2005, Optimization of in? uenza vaccine selection. Yang, 2005, A multiperiod dynamic model of taxi services with endogenous service intensity. Zhang, 2005, Revenue management for parallel ? ights with customer-choice behavior. Agur, 2006, Optimizing chemotherapy scheduling using local search heuristics. Bassamboo, 2006, Design and control of a large call center. Cook, 2006, Incorporating mul tiprocess performance standards into the DEA framework. Cordeau, 2006, A branch-and-cut algorithm for the diala-ride problem.Dawande, 2006, Effective heuristics for multiproduct partial shipment models. Smith, Karwan, and Markland: Growth of Research in Service Operations Management Production and Operations Management 16(6), pp. 780 –790,  © 2007 Production and Operations Management Society †¢ 789 †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Deshpande, 2006, Ef? cient supply chain management at the U. S. Coast Guard using part-age dependent supply replenishment policies. Fry, 2006, Fire? ghter staf? ng including temporary absences and wastage. Ghiani, 2006, The black and white traveling salesman problem. Green, 2006, Managing patient service in a diagnostic medical facility. Mannino, 2006, The network packing problem in terrestrial broadcasting.Marcus, 2006, Online low price guarantees. Marklund, 2006, Controlling inventories in dive rgent supply chains with advance-order information. Netessine, 2006, Revenue management through dynamic cross selling in e-commerce retailing. Perakis, 2006, An analytical model for traf? c delays and the dynamic user equilibrium problem. Romeijn, 2006, A new linear programming approach to radiation therapy treatment planning problems. Washburn, 2006, Piled-slab searches. †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Production and Operations Management †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Easton, 1992, Analysis of alternative scheduling policies for hospital nurses.Ernst, 1992, Coordination alternatives in a manufacturing/dealer inventory system under stochastic demand. Schneeweiss, 1992, Planning and scheduling the repair shops of the Deutsche Lufthansa AG. Rajago palan, 1993, Allocating and scheduling mobile diagnostic imaging equipment among hospitals. Malhotra, 1994, Scheduling ? exibility in the service sector. Sainfort, 1994, A pavement management decision support system. Cox, 1995, A new learning approach to process improvement in a telecommunications company. Roth, 1995, Hospital resource planning. Schneider, 1995, Power approximations for a two-echelon inventory system using service levels. Chase, 1996, The mall is my factory.Crandall, 1996, Demand management. Joglekar, 1996, A pro? t maximization model for a retailer’s stocking decisions on products subject to sudden obsolescence. Cachon, 1996, Campbell soup’s continuous replenishment program. Clark, 1997, Reengineering channel reordering processes to improve total supply-chain performance. Harvey, 1998, Building the service operations course around a ? eld project. Kolesar, 1998, Insights on service system design from a normal approximation to Erlang’s delay for mula. Lee, 1998, Effects of integrating order/backorder quantity and pricing decisions. Boronico, 1999, Reliability-constrained pricing, capacity, and quality.Cheng, 1999, Optimality of state dependent (s,S) policies in inventory models with Markov demand and lost sales. Cook, 1999, Service typologies. Dasu, 1999, A dynamic process model of dissatisfaction for unfavorable non-routine service encounters. †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Dube, 1999, Adapting the QFD approach to extended service transactions. Hays, 1999, The market share impact of service failures. Kapalka, 1999, Retail inventory control with lost sales, service constraints, and factional lead times. Metters, 1999, Measurement of multiple sites in service ? rms with data envelopment analysis. Nie, 1999, How professors of operations management view service operations.Soteriou, 1999, Resource allocation to impro ve service quality perceptions in multistage service systems. Stewart, 1999, The impact of human error on delivering service quality. Anderson, 2000, A simulation game for teaching servicesoriented supply chain management. Petersen, 2000, An evaluation of order picking policies for mail order companies. Chaouch, 2001, Stock levels and delivery rates in vendormanaged inventory programs. Devaraj, 2001, Product and service quality. Hays, 2001, A longitudinal study of the effect of a service guarantee on service quality. Van Woensel, 2001, Managing the environmental externalities of traf? c logistics. Agrawal, 2002, Multi-vendor sourcing in a retail supply chain.Boyer, 2002, Drivers of Internet purchasing success. Heim, 2002, Service process con? gurations in electronic retailing. Tagaras, 2002, Effectiveness of stock transshipment under various demand distributions and nonnegligible transshipment times. Akkermans, 2003, Ampli? cation in service supply chains. Alfaro, 2003, The value of sku rationalization in practice. Athanassopoulos, 2003, Modeling customer satisfaction in telecommunications. Baker, 2003, The bene? ts of optimizing prices to manage demand in hotel revenue management systems. Cayirli, 2003, Outpatient scheduling in health care. Giloni, 2003, Service system design for the property and casualty insurance industry.Goodale, 2003, A market utility-based model for capacity scheduling in mass services. Green, 2003, An improved heuristic for staf? ng telephone call centers with limited operating hours. Kassinis, 2003, Greening the service pro? t chain. Keizers, 2003, Diagnosing order planning performance at a Navy maintenance and repair organization using logistic regression. Meyer-Goldstein, 2003, Employee development. Mondschein, 2003, Appointment policies in service operations. Roth, 2003, Insights into service operations management. Stewart, 2003, Piecing together service quality. Boyaci, 2004, Supply chain coordination in a market with customer serv ice competition.Craighead, 2004, The effects of severity of failure and customer loyalty on service recovery strategies. Field, 2004, Managing quality in the e-service system. Gavish, 2004, Dynamic policies for optimal LEO satellite launches. 790 †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Smith, Karwan, and Markland: Growth of Research in Service Operations Management Production and Operations Management 16(6), pp. 780 –790,  © 2007 Production and Operations Management Society †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Hur, 2004, Real-time work schedule adjustment decisions. Jack, 2004, Volume ? exible strategies in health services. Lapre, 2004, Performance improvement paths in the U. S. airline industry. Napoleon, 2004, The creation of output and quality in services.Sampson, 2004, Practical implications of preference-based conference scheduling. Tsay, 2004, Channel con? ict and coordination in the ecommerce age. Tsikriktsis, 2004, Adoption of e-processes by service ? rms. Chakravarthy, 2005, Optimal workforce mix in service systems with two types of customers. Gaur, 2005, In-store experiments to determine the impact of price on sales. Miller, 2005, A learning real options framework with application to process design and capacity planning. Anderson, 2006, Stochastic optimal control for staf? ng and backlog policies in a two-stage customized service supply chain. Berling, 2006, Heuristic coordination of decentralized inventory systems using induced backorder costs.Boyer, 2006, Analysis of effects of operational execution on repeat purchasing heterogeneous customer segments. Chambers, 2006, Modeling and managing the percentage of satis? ed customers in hidden and revealed waiting line systems. Ferguson, 2006, Information sharing to improve retail product freshness of perishables. Hays, 2006, An extended longitudinal study of the effects of a service guarantee. Rajamani, 2006, A framework to analyze cash supply chains. Sampson, 2006, Foundations and implications of a proposed uni? ed services theory. Whitt, 2006, Staf? ng a call center with uncertain arrival rate and absenteeism. References Gupta, S. , R. Verma, L. Victorino. 2006.Empirical research published in Production and Operations Management (1992–2005): Trends and Future Research Directions. Production and Operations Management 15(3) 432– 448. Karmarkar, U. 2004. 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Main Challenge in International Staffing

ADRIEN KARCHER EIM4 UB1 International Human Resources Management 2nd Assignment  : Describe the main challenges in International Staffing. Ever since the globalization began, companies became more aware of the competitive environments they operate in. It is obvious that a competitive advantage such as technology, resources and quality can be imitated. It’s the peoples that a company employs that makes the difference. Making the right selection and most efficient use of it will surely provide the advantage needed.In this assignment, we will define in a first part the four main approaches to staffing within International Human Resource Management and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach to international management. In a second part we will speak about recruitment and selection of the staff in foreign subsidiaries. Heenan and Perlmutter identified approaches to manage foreign subsidiaries which are, ethnocentric, polycentric, geocentric and regiocentric.In this part we will examine the connection between this approaches and staffing practices as well as the advantages and disadvantages of this differents approaches. The first approach is called ethnocentric. Employees from headquarters base it on the occupation of a key position. It is assumed that expatriates can manage subsidiaries more efficiently. This is because expatriates are more informed about the company's goals and objectives, strategies compared to the local managers. This method is used when expanding globally and there is need of good communication, cooperation and control of activities.Consequently, PCNs are assigned to top management positions who implement strategic decisions coming from headquarters. Hence, the selection of expatriates will depend on the technical knowledge required or the type of international expansion a company is planning. The ethnocentric approach provides the parent company with more control, which is vital when expanding to a new country. The refore, expatriates are seen as more able than host country nationals. The polycentric approach will opt for HCNs manager in their subsidiary even if PCNs occupy key positions at orporate headquarters. It’s a multinational approach, there is continuity in management of foreign subsidiaries, language barriers can be eliminated and for MNEs still less expensive to hire locals than expatriates. All this elements represent advantages of this approach. But, there are disadvantages for firms and local employees, which have restricted career opportunity outside the subsidiary. With the geocentric approach, MNEs try to find the best people for key positions regardless of nationality. The mix of PCNs, TCNs and HCNs maintains the international team.That’s why HR department play an important role in the international staffing however taking into account staff availability, time and cost constraints, host government requirements and ineffective HRM policies. It’s a Global a pproach in which one each part makes a unique contribution with its unique competence. So now, let see the regiocentric approach which is similar than the geocentric approach but much more nationally focused, the staff may move outside their countries but within the particular geographic region.It’s on the way between ethnocentric or polycentric approach to a geocentric approach. Challenges for MNEs are to work with all of these different characteristics and find the most appropriate approach according to their policy. They have to take in consideration, the context specificities, the company specificities and the local unit specificities as well as IHRM practices. All these factors affect staffing choices, which represent a real challenge in international staffing.Recruitment and selection of staff for international assignments is a considerable challenge because it’s an important and crucial factor of the international expansion for MNEs. They need to find the right people to make position and particularly key managers. In fact, a selection error can lead to an expatriate contract failure and correspond to a return to home before the period of assignment is completed, then it could have long-term negative consequences in term of subsidiary performance.Several factors have to be taken into account in the failure of international assignment: the inability for expatriates to adjust to the foreign culture, the family concerns, career concerns, security concerns, the length of assignment etc. They represent a critical IHRM issues in international staffing, so the challenge is to find the right people which are consistent with all the factors of expatriate selection.Selection criteria are family requirements, technical ability, the cultural requirements, the language and the MNEs requirements. Mendenhall and Ouddou have proposed a four-dimensional approach that attempts to link specific behavioural tendencies to overseas performance. We see these day s appear another constraint for companies : the dual-career couples who are now considered as a barrier to staff mobility and it’s why the MNEs techniques are now utilized to surmount this constraint.To conclude, and according all the facts defined in this assignment, Recruitment and selection of staff still criticals because the future employees have to gather the maximum of criteria which correspond to the MNEs standards and expectations particularly in international assignments. The International staffing is a complex process in which many criteria have to be taken into consideration in order to achieve the best international assignments in the way to insure a sustaining international business operations for MNEs.

Study guide for final Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Study guide for final - Essay Example For more than 30 years, Garrison expressed his views against the constitution through The Liberator. He was in favor of instant equality and freedom unlike his peers. The dreams of Garrison came true after the end of Civil War in 1865 and abolition of slavery in US as mentioned in the 13th Amendment of the constitution. However, there are some instances where Garrison hurt the cause of abolition by his uncompromising stance against slavery. In the era when slavery was commonly accepted, Garrison was against the institutional racism and always blamed that the current condition of blacks undermined the value of human equality in the Nation. During that period, most of the liberal reformers supported the idea of gradual removal of slavery. Garrison often accused these reformers on the ground of â€Å"moral lapses† and stood strong against all the other abolitionists who opposed his idea of immediate termination of slavery. IN addition to it, Garrison was against the U.S. Constitu tion in terms of laws governing slavery and he publicly declares the constitution as a flawed document. Most of the former reformers considered this firm stand of Garrison as an unproductive for the overall movement. It was quite common for Garrison to receive threats for his life because of his outspoken views on slavery. The state of Georgia even issues a reward of $5,000 for the arrest of Garrison because of his public speeches. According to the historical facts, some of the Southern counties even declared bounty on his head for his stance against slavery. 2. Mexico was facing multiple internal struggles immediately after attaining independence from the rulers of Spain in 1821, which later verged to a civil war. However, the country was very much united when it came to the independence of Texas. The Mexican government was ready to go for a war if Texas was to be annexed in the westward expansion of the U.S. However, the ideology of Manifest Destiny received great support from Pol k, America’s President, and both the nations went out for a war between 1846 and 1848. On an overall, there were several reasons that lead to this war, but the primary causes included the annexation of Texas by the U.S. government and the desire to own multiple Mexican territories. Mexico was attacked by the U.S. army on three different fronts and faced multiple defeats in the battlefield. The war ended with the capturing of Mexico City in September 1847 by the American General, Winfield Scott, and the Mexican administration’s agreeability for further negotiations. The war was particularly painful and disastrous for Mexico, which has to sign away multiple states including California, Utah, New Mexico, and Nevada along with other parts of the country. 3. Manifest Destiny found its origin in the 1840s. The main ideology behind Manifest Destination was regarding the destiny and expansion of America in the 19th century. According to Manifest Destiny, American was destined to stretch its territories from one coast to another. Manifest Destiny ideology was one of the main reasons behind the removal of Native Americans, the Mexican war, and western fuel settlement. Most of the Americans were of the opinion that expansion of their nation was a part of natural evolution. However, manifest destiny was fuelled by the racial superiority and the pervasive belief of Americans in their culture. It

Contemporary issues in marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Contemporary issues in marketing - Essay Example All the above phases mean that the strategy to be developed should effectively put the principles of the company closer to the needs of the specific consumers that the company targets. If a company puts the above in consideration then it will definitely develop unique strategies that make it competitive in the new market. This is addition to proper review and correction policies will determine the success of the adapted international marketing mix that Weny Trippes (fictional company) has developed. Weny Trippes has a really wide market appeal in the soft drink market in the United States. A company such as Weny Trippes has the ability to introduce new products that meet the demands and quality requirements of its consumers faster than any other company in the local scene. It has better consumer need responsiveness, better innovative skills, quality products and processes as well as higher efficiency that promotes its differentiation advantage in the United States market. This has ma de the company to consider developing marketing strategies that can ensure the success of its product line in other foreign markets such as those of Central America, East Africa, or Northern Europe, Chinese market and the Middle East markets. Different foreign markets have different needs and present unique different challenges that Weny Trippes has to form effective entry and marketing strategies on how to overcome them. ... Increasing competitiveness on a global ground has forced many industries to expand to foreign countries. Internationalisation, which is the process by virtue of which a firm moves from operating in its domestic market to international markets, has hence become an ongoing trend in the economy. But this however may have effects that are not evident in the domestic sector especially in terms of coping up with a foreign environment. The international market for many products is subject to many dynamic influences that can lead to changes in the volume, mix and distribution of demand and sources of competitiveness (Ofori 2000). Before this decision to venture into the market Weny Trippes only ventured the domestic market and never thought of expanding its business beyond the borders of its home country. The international penetration option for the companies is a means of expanding the profits and at the same time attempting to cash on the weakness and lack of creativity by the home compani es or firms that produce similar products (Akkaya 2006). Organizations are optimally entering into newer foreign markets mainly the onset of globalisation. â€Å"Globalisation is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment †¦. This process has effects on the environment, on culture, on political systems...† (Rothenberg 2002, p1). Thus, its wish to make an impression in foreign markets is further driven by the globalization. In addition, Weny Trippes has a really diverse range of soft drink products and energy drinks that it intends to develop an international marketing strategy so as to promote them in several foreign markets.

LEGAL SKILLS CASE ANALYSIS COURSEWORK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

LEGAL SKILLS CASE ANALYSIS COURSEWORK - Essay Example 18 14 Question 19 15 Question 20 16 References 18 Question 1 The filed case of Manslaughter (Unlawful Act Resulting in Death) was conducted in a petrol filling station. The situation led to the death of the attendant of the petrol filling station, who was being robbed by three masked men. Among the three men, two robbers, who were carrying deadly weapons, threatened the 60 year old attendant, being completely unaware that he was a patient of heart disease. In order to defend himself, the 60 year old attendant had no other choice but to press the alarm button. The alarm did manage to make the masked robbers run away from the spot, but the shock later caused the death of the attendant after the police arrived due to heart attack. After 11 months, the three masked robbers confessed that they had attempted to rob the attendant. Correspondingly, the original trial took place on June 20, 1983 in the Crown Court of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (University of South Pacific, 2002). Question 2 The actu al trial began in the year 1983 at Crown Court at the Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where the trial judge was Glidewell J. (University of South Pacific, 2002). Question 3 In the original trial, Nolan was convicted for offences, which encompassed robbery, attempted robbery and manslaughter among the prime. Accordingly, it was learnt that Nolan was sentenced to a six year imprisonment for offence of robbery, seven years for attempted robbery and nine years custody for manslaughter. Also, his sentence versed that all these penalties would be executed congruent to each other. Thus, altogether, Nolan was sent to nine years of imprisonment (University of South Pacific, 2006). Question 4 In this case, there were three appellants and all of them were sent to imprisonment for more than one felony. The appellants included Brian Dawson, Stephen Thomas Nolan and Ian Walmsley. On the other hand, it has been observed that Dr. Hasan, who was the consultant doctor of Mr. Black, was aware of his patient†™s health condition. Moreover, on the day when the incident actually took place, Dr. Hasan, after a through check-up, affirmed that the heart condition of Mr. Black to be stable. Hence owing to these aspects, he was a prime individual in this case and can be considered as the main respondent in the court of appeal (University of South Pacific, 2006). Question 5 As per the instances of the event, on 20th of June1983, the court of Appeal handed down its final decision, wherein the three convicts were penalised according to their contribution in the crime. Dawson was penalized with 9? years of imprisonment; Nolan was sentenced to nine years of imprisonment; and Walmsley was sent to 7? years of imprisonment (University of South Pacific, 2002). Question 6 As per the case, it was identified that F. J. Muller, Q. C., Helen Paling and J. Evans acted as counsel for the appellants since he had all the evidences of the actual medical condition of Mr. Black, who died because of heart attack. Accordingly, Lord Justice

The Organizing Function of Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Organizing Function of Management - Essay Example With the development of IT, the role and function of organizing has been transformed from merely a management function to a tool which helps to optimize resources and organizational structure. Organizing provides the channels through which work is made to flow while planning determines the volume of the work passing through those channels. It is a branch of management in that it uses the form of organization. It endeavors to put the form of organization to its maximal use, but it does not design the organization. Following Bernard L. Erven organization is concerned with the execution of the functions whereby the product is made, the processes operate, and the machinery works. For instance, a computer service support organization, organization is concerned in the arrangement of duties between the individuals affected, so that the methods existing for the support may operate smoothly and economically (Organizing Process, n.d.) In a computer service support organization, it may be that this is to draw too fine a distinction between organizing and managing. The distinction is equally valid between the manager, in the exercise of his task of managing, and the same manager, in the exercise of his task of organizing. ... In actual practice, no single organization can be said to be founded upon one principle alone; but for purposes of clarity, it will be advisable to consider, firstly, the forms of organization resulting from the strict application of each principle, and secondly, how these principles may be judiciously combined (McNamara, 2007). If it is found in the process of organizing, that closer relationships between individuals are possible, whereby the passing of certain orders is rendered superfluous, the organizer may legitimately suggest that such change in method is desirable, so that individual duties may be more compact. That is to say, his concern in methods is only to the extent to which methods determine individual or group functions and faculties (McNamara, 2007). In a computer service support organization, organizing recasts the process of management providing powerful new capabilities to help managers strategize and plan, organize, lead, and control. For instance, it is now possible for managers to obtain information on organizational performance down to the level of specific transactions from just about anywhere in the organization at any time. Within a computer service support organization, organizing helps to stipulate certain tasks and create a positive organizational culture which meets the needs of employees and organization. For instance, the manager of the department has complete command, under the general manager, over all the factors concerned in the operation of his department. He delegates the work of the department, not by function, but by definite sections of the process of manufacture. Each section is under a foreman, who is responsible, absolutely and wholly, for the work of his section, except for those particular items which the manager does

Why did Margaret Thatcher sign up to the Single European Act Essay

Why did Margaret Thatcher sign up to the Single European Act - Essay Example These agreements included the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM). The United Kingdom was a significant player in the formation of SEA; it participated in the events that led to its creation in the mid-1980s. This paper examines some of the reasons why British Prime Minister Margret Thatcher endorsed the SEA. The very advent of SEA can be traced to the mid-20th century 1945 (Cooper and Tomic, 2007). The then integration activities happened in rather steady steps, especially following the establishment of the ECSC in 1952. Gehler (2006) notes that with six founding member countries, Belgium, Luxembourg, West Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands, the ECSC marked the first contemporary, multinational economic union in Europe. In 1958, when it became clear that economic integration in Europe was tenable, the member countries of the ECSC advanced their international cooperation through the ratification of the Treaties of Rome, which established the EEC and EURATOM (Basdeo, 1990; Moravcsik, 1991). According to Timur, Picone and Desimone (2011), the EEC’s primary objective was economic coordination of the region via a universal market and the elimination of trade restrictions. From 1970, the subsequent two decades saw the EEC activities deepen to include the United Kingdom, Denmark, Spain, Greece, Ireland, and Portugal. The new expanded economic union was faced with political and economic problems including fuel crisis that peaked in the early 1970s and pressures from the North America that needed trade liberalization to succeed (Cooper and Tomic, 2007). The European heads of governments reacted with, perhaps the clearest intent of a common platform that would foster important economic and inter-governmental cooperation. Of particular concern in this paper was UK’s adoption of the SEA following Prime Minister Margret Thatcher’s endorsement of the Treaty

Is science the only way to discover and describe human behavior Essay

Is science the only way to discover and describe human behavior - Essay Example Intuition appears to emerge mostly from unconscious roots (Ward, 2008). Scientists, like Sigmund Freud, tried to explain the origin and nature of intuition. But the capacity of the human mind is too profound, and goes beyond any grasp of reason. In fact, the mind, and thus human behavior, is greatly related to the Divine, or the spirit. Spirit penetrates reality (Ward, 2008). Even so, intuition in people is an ability to have visions or feelings that cannot be explained by science or rigid rationality. My behavior, personally, is at times governed by my intuition. There are times, for instance, that I feel a sense of danger or threat about something that I immediately turn away. There is one particular experience I had which confirmed my belief that intuition is not something that science can explain. When I was 22 years old, while I was at a park waiting for a friend, a boy approached me and asked for some money. He said that he had not eaten for days. But a sudden feeling of threat washed over me and I so I told the child that I have no extra money to give to him. And then out of the blue an idea came into my mind: in order to help him I must bring him to a social service agency. I told the boy that I will bring him to a place where there are people who can take care of him. The boy willingly followed me. When we reached the agency, the boy suddenly cried and thanked me. And then the big revelation came: the boy told us that he was taken by a group of men three days earlier, whi le he was playing in a public playground. These men told him to ask money from people. But because of me, the boy happily said that he can now go home. Because of this experience, I decided to ask a psychologist. She told me that what happened to me may not be intuition at all, but an outcome of prior knowledge. She told me that I may have heard, read, or knew about a syndicate that takes children, and that my decision to take the child to a social service agency was influenced by

Biology as an important aspect of gender and sexuality Research Paper

Biology as an important aspect of gender and sexuality - Research Paper Example re considered to have emerged from the ramifications of biology. Gender groups in the society segregated based on male and female divisions have long occupied the larger sections of the social sphere. These groups were observed in previous times to have carved out their social identities based on responsibilities and duties assigned to them by dearth of their biological birth. Thus biology is considered to have contributed to the construction of masculine and feminine ideals in society (Lewis, 2003, p.11-12). The division of social groups into such masculine and feminine characteristics to a larger extent is observed to cause the emergence of a patriarchal society, which in turn likes to dominate over the female class. The female groups, owing to the fact of continuous oppression and due submission of their desires have started revolting to this. Further, with the rise in different heterogeneous groups, the rise of homogeneous groups is also found to have grown up in a gradual fashio n, demanding increased space in the social circles (Murrin et al., 2011, p.511). Society also observes the rise in feminine circles reflecting different demands to gain further potential in the male dominated society. This has led to the increasing politicisation of the social system constructed under the banner of gender patterns. Again, the rise in homogeneous circles like gays and lesbians have lead to further threatening of the existing heterogeneous groups pertaining to the male and females. Thus it is observed that the understandings of gender groups are being endeavoured to be segregated from its biological roots. In this light, the paper endeavours to understand that despite the attempts to segregate the study of gender groups from its biological roots, it is now considered worthwhile to return back to its biological base (Carver and Pikalo, 2008, p.168). An Understanding of the Current Debates made on Gender, Sex, Sexuality and Culture Gender as a concept has received much importance in the current era owing to the fact that it helps in creating a separate identity for the sexes living in the society. It is often considered that biology has contributed a lot in creating this gender distinction and thus is conceived to be a natural factor. It is held that Biology alone determines the role the different sex groups needs to play in the society. However it is also held that sex, biology and the nature at large work based on a continuum. They do not have any conflict between them. The conflict arises in regards to their usage in the social context. In the social fervour the concept of gender takes a more dominating position than that of sexual dynamism as reflected in the domains of biology. Gender roles in the society have led to the creation of separate identity groups focusing on separate tasks to help the society progress. However in the changing world the portrayal of different advertisements reflect the change in the socio-dynamic relationships betwe en the two genders as the feminist class rises to shoulder the responsibilities previously held to be the possessions of only their male counterparts. Yet again biology comes into front declaring that the priority of the female or the women class is to produce and rear the children and the men to work for running the family (Baines and Marrin, 2005, p.260). The issue of sex, gender

Assessments for Early Childhood Programs Essay Example for Free

Assessments for Early Childhood Programs Essay William J. Wilson once said, â€Å"The person who scored well on an SAT will not necessarily be the best doctor or the best lawyer or the best businessman. These tests do not measure character, leadership, creativity, or perseverance†. Why do we test students? What is the purpose of assessments? Do these tests and assessments benefit the students? These are questions educators have been asking for years. It is impossible for one to determine a child’s academic abilities based solely on a test. Yet there still needs to be some form of assessments performed in order to evaluate the academic level each student has reached. But how much assessing is too much? How heavily do educators rely on the results of these assessments? The main issues, when it comes to assessing early childhood students, are the consequences of the assessment results and how they affect the child. According to The National Academies of Sciences, there are two key principles that support the success of assessment. The first is that the purpose of an assessment should be a guide for assessment decisions. â€Å"The purpose for any assessment must be determined and clearly communicated to all stake- holders before the assessment is designed or implemented. Most important, assessment designed for programs should not be used to assess individual children. Because different purposes require different kinds of assessments, the purpose should drive assessment design and implementation decisions† (The National Academies of Sciences, 2008). The second principle is that any assessment performed should be completed in a â€Å"coherent system of health, educational, and family support services that promote optimal development for all children. Assessment should be an integral part of a coherent system of early childhood care and education that includes a range of services and resources† (The National Academies of Sciences, 2008). These two principles explain the main purpose of why assessing is important and how assessments should be conducted. After having an understanding of the purpose of assessments, why is it so important to begin evaluations at such a young age? What is the purpose of evaluating infants and toddlers? Author Sue Wortham explains evaluating toddlers and infants determine whether the child is developing normally or if they show any signs of delay and need assistance. All in all, the main purpose of assessment is to benefit the child (Wortham, p. 32). The NAEYC believes that during a child’s early years, evaluating and assessing their development should be the primary focus. They want to study how young children grown and learn. All the â€Å"results of assessment are used to inform the planning and implementation of experiences, to communicate with the child’s family, and to evaluate and improve teachers’ and program’s effectiveness† (Wortham, p.34). Teachers also use assessment results to in order to plan their curriculum accordingly. So exactly do assessments search for? Assessments look not only for what the child is already capable of doing independently but also what they can do with the help of a teacher or another student (Wortham, p. 35). So how are they assessed exactly? There are many different assessments given to children across the U. S. everyday. These may be administered orally or as written works, such as questionnaires, surveys, or tests. These may include: standardized tests, observations, checklists, rating scales, rubrics, interviews, or portfolios. Each of these serve a different purpose in order to give different pieces of information needed to evaluate the child in question. Standardized tests, though many disagree with them, are meant to measure individual characteristics. Observations, on the other hand, are one of the most effective ways to measure students’ characteristics. When children are young, it can be hard at times to determine if there are any developmental delays (Wortham, p. 39). Developmental checklists, or scopes, are mainly used at all levels of education. These checklists are lists of the learning objectives that have been established by the teacher in order to keep track of their learning and development. Items on a checklist are rated with a negative or positive response from the teacher. Rating scales, unlike checklists, provide measurement on a continuum and are used when a collection of criteria is needed to attain specific information. Another form of assessment teachers commonly use is Rubrics. Rubrics were created to â€Å"evaluate authentic and performance assessments† (Wortham, p. 41). Rubrics, like rating scales, have a range of criteria that must be met. However, unlike rating scales, rubrics can be used to not only determine the quality of performance required, but are also used to assign grades. Rubrics make it easy for students to understand what is expected and is makes it easier for teachers to grade assignments. The final types of assessments that are most frequently used are performance and portfolio assessments. These evaluations might be administered through interviews given directly by the teacher in order to understand the child’s thinking and understanding (Wortham, p. 41). Teachers may present these evaluations through directed assignments, activities, or games. The performance results are typically kept in a student or teacher portfolio. These portfolios contain samples of student’s work and are used as a sort of progress report card. Keeping detailed reports of student’s work in the portfolios help teachers keep track of their student’s progress and help determine which areas of learning are lacking attention (Wortham, p. 41). Overall, according to Wortham, these tests, whether administered to an individual child or a group of students, are meant to determine a student’s â€Å"abilities, achievements, aptitudes, interests, attitudes, values, and personality characteristics† (Wortham, p.39). Now having an understanding of the different types of assessments used to evaluate students and the purpose, let us turn to the negative and positive effects of these evaluations. It is crucial for educators to administer tests and evaluations carefully, because it they are poorly articulated, it can lead to decisions that are unfair or unclear, and they may do harm to programs, teachers, and, most importantly, children (Snow, C. E. Van Hemel, S. B. , p. 341-342). Evaluations and assessments are not meant to punish a child, and therefore, should never be overseen lightly. It is important that the information gathered outweighs any negative effects. Editors of Early Childhood Assessment: Why, What, and How, Catherine E. Snow and Susan B. Van Hemel, explain that â€Å"although the same measure may be used for more than one purpose, prior consideration of all potential purposes is essential, as is careful analysis of the actual content of the assessment instrument. Direct examination of the assessment items is important because the title of a measure does not always reflect the content† (Snow, C. E. Van Hemel, S. B. , p. 346). So what are some negative effects? Negative consequences of assessment findings may include program de-funding, closing a center, firing a teacher, mislabeling a child, or a reduction in program resources (The National Academies of Sciences, 2008). These effects, such as mislabeling a student, can follow students for the rest of their education career. Once a child is entered into a program, it can be difficult at time for teachers to look past that label. Children all develop at different his or her own pace. No one child will develop and learn the same way as another child. They all grow up and develop at different stages. Yet educational theorists have been able to observed and gather enough information to conclude that children, if divided in age groups, do tend to follow a certain development pattern. The problem is, it is hard to determine which children are the outliers in these results without carefully administering proper assessments. Assessments are not used to necessarily judge student or punish them. Their main purpose is to help students, teachers, and parents. So what are some positive effects of assessment and evaluations? Students that benefit from assessments and evaluations are those that are properly observed and tested. Teachers also benefit from the use of assessments because it helps them create an appropriate curriculum for their students. Evaluating children at a young age can have a positive effect if a delay or disability is in fact found, and because it was caught early, the student has a better chance of exceeding their potential in school. Catching developmental delays or disabilities at a young age is the same as finding cancer at an early stage in the sense that the earlier the cancer is found; the chances of survival are greater. Assessment results are used to plan for instruction, evaluate instructional programs, and report student progress. These are all positive results of assessments. Without the results of assessments and test, how can educators determine what to teach their students? Evaluations, if planned and administered properly, can be more beneficial than harmful. Unfortunately, not all teachers evaluate children fairly or appropriately. So it is important for parents to stay involved in their children’s education in the event that the results of an evaluation do not match the potential of their child. Parents should know the norms and abnormalities of their child’s behavior. Therefore, it is always beneficial to the child for parents and teachers to communicate. This way if a child is acting up in class, and the teacher notifies the parent, the parent may confirm any fears right away by simply saying, â€Å"that isn’t like him† or â€Å"he’s just nervous†. Avoiding drastic measures and not jumping to conclusions is the proper way to evaluate a child fairly. What are the predicted long-term benefits to Early Childhood Assessments? Are assessments and student evaluations accurate? Should teachers be required to assess and evaluate students as much as they already do? These are just a few of the questions that plagued educators for years. Too much assessing has placed so much pressure on students and teachers, inevitably taking away a child’s desire to learn for the sake of learning. The purpose of assessments and evaluations is a great concept, but placing too much pressure and emphasis on the test results is tainting the original purpose of learning. References Bers, T. H. Mittler, M. L. (1994). New Directions for Community Colleges. Assessment Testing Myths and Realities: A Critical Review of Student Assessment Options, 69-83. Brink, M. (2002). Involving Parents in Early Childhood Assessment: Perspectives from an Early Intervention Instructor. Early Childhood Education Journal, 29(4), 251-7. Retrieved from Education Full Text database Early, D. M. , McKenna, M. , Slentz, K. L. (2008). A Guide to Assessment in Early Childhood; Infancy to Age Eight. Washington State: Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. The National Academies of Sciences (2008). Early Childhood Assessment: Why, What, And How. Retrieved October 19, 2011 from http://www. bocyf. org/head_start_brief. pdf. Early Learning Standards Task Force and Kindergarten Assessment Work Group. (2005). Early Childhood Assessment For Children From Birth To Age 8 (Grade 3). Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania’s Departments of Education and Public Welfare. Snow, C. E. Van Hemel, S. B. (2008). Early Childhood Assessment: Why, What, And How. Washington, D. C. : The National Research Council Of The National Academies Wortham, S. (2012). Assessment in Early Childhood Education, (6th ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

A Look At Greek Lyric Poetry And John Cage Essay Example for Free

A Look At Greek Lyric Poetry And John Cage Essay Music goes beyond language barriers; it speaks no language but that of the heart. However, like all art forms it has tenets and principles as to what is good music and what is simply noise. How about when artists claim that their works are music when it seems that these are perceived to be avant garde, not the kind of music that dominates the cultural period and worse, does not come from tradition? This paper seeks to take a look at the music in Hellenistic Greece, in particular a lyric by one of its known muses, Sappho, with her only surviving complete work, Ode to Aphrodite, and compare it with what is considered to be experimental composition from John Cage, his 4’33†. Both pieces were meant to be performed – although how these are performed also raised questions. Ancient Greece is revered to be a center of learning, where arts and culture flourished. It was one of the places where the earliest treatises on the different art forms were written, and they were keen to what constituted good and bad art, giving raise even to debates as to what is the function of art. Plato was known to promote the arts that will inspire people’s thinking, not their emotions, for he considered human emotions a weakness, and also because during that time musical scales developed from the study of the harmony in the universe, the mathematical equations used by the Pythagoreans (Henderson, 1957). It was because of this that he did not approve of the poets’ lyrics, because it deviated from the musical modes they were used to and relied on what sounded good to the ear, making music became accessible to the people (Anderson, 1966). Sappho was one of those poets whose lyric poetry when sung communicated the love and sensuality it contained, as with her work Ode to Aphrodite, deviating from their traditionally highly mathematically composed melodies where people were supposed to be quiet and listen to rigidly, for her lyric love poems were made to be felt and inspire emotion. In this way, Sappho, and her contemporary poets at the time helped create a turn for Greek music. Like Sappho, John Cage contributed to music with his compositions, characterized as avant-garde especially his chance pieces. However, his work that challenged perceptions and definition of music is his notorious 4’33†, a piece where for four minutes and thirty-three seconds the orchestra plays nothing. John Cage wrote this piece when he realized that there will always be sound, and deliberately wrote â€Å"Tacet†, to instruct the musician not to play. What Cage wanted for the audience to hear was the different sounds that occur during the interval the piece is played – all the various sounds that one does not pay attention to because they listen to something else. This is different from silence, unless the figuratively the sound of silence, since Cage’s point was that there is always sound if one listens intently (Cage, 1973). Both Sappho and Cage’s music differed from one another in that Sappho was expressing herself through her poetry, while Cage was making the listener turn to his environment. Although created in different environment and cultures, both musical pieces can be interpreted in a personal way, making it a unique experience. Sappho’s Ode to Aphrodite can mean something else to a modern listener than it used to in ancient Greece, and of course Cage’s 4’33† would always conjure something unique for each individual. What this shows us is that although music is made in a certain era, it can transcend the boundaries of time as long as it resonates with what is human and universal, as an appreciation for the sounds around us and those that speak of love, and that although music is governed by principles of what makes it good, it will always be a matter of personal experience. SOURCES: Anderson, W. (1966). Ethos and Education in Greek Music. Cambridge, HUP. Cage, John. (1973). Silence: Lectures and Writings, Wesleyan Paperback. Henderson, Isobel (1957). Ancient Greek Music in The New Oxford History of Music, vol. 1: Ancient and Oriental Music, Oxford, Oxford University Press. http://homoecumenicus. com/ioannidis_ancient_greek_texts. htm, Accessed on June, 15, 2009. http://www. greylodge. org/occultreview/glor_013/433. htm , Accessed on June 15, 2009.