Information Storage and Retrieval Essays

Information Storage and Retrieval Essays Information Storage and Retrieval Essay Information Storage and Retrieval Essay Introduction Information retrieval is a science related to documents and information searching. Information retrieval deals with the storage and representation of knowledge and the retrieval of information relevant to a specific user problem (Mandhl, 2007). Information retrieval technology mostly used in universities and public library to help students or information users to access to books, journals and other information resources that they needed. It also applies at organizations which having large collection of documents or information. In â€Å"The Seven Ages of Information Retrieval† article written by Michael Lesk, mentions the idea of information retrieval starting popular in year 1945. However, the use of information retrieval was started in 1880, where Herman Hollerith invents the recording of data on a machine readable medium (Wikipedia). This article has made good contribution to the field by describing the history of the IR systems from 1945 to 1996 with abundant information on the various technologies developed, IR systems built, and how they affected the research in IR. Based on his article, I observed and learned three important elements of information retrieval. Elements Observed and Learned from the Article 1. Effectiveness of Information Retrieval System One of the important things when developing a system is how it can help to human managing the tasks effectively. Technology provides a tool used to help information users to search for information or documents. The general objective of an Information Retrieval System is to minimize the overhead of a user locating needed information (Kowalski Maybury, 2000). Overhead can be expressed as a processed that users need to go through to seek the information. Even the success of systems is subjective; in my opinion the important element of information retrieval system is the accuracy of information provided to information seekers. Precision can be defined as a fraction of the documents retrieved that are relevant to the users information need (Wikipedia). In this article, we can found many researches were done to enhanced accuracy for information retrieval. One of it is a research by Cyril Cleverdon from Cranfield College of Aeronautics (now Cranfield Institute of Technology) has develop the athematics of `recall (fraction of relevant documents retrieved) and `precision (fraction of retrieved documents that are relevant) to measures the precision of information retrieval systems in 1960s. He found that if an information retrieval system simply retrieves more documents, it is likely to increase recall (with more retrieved documents, a larger fra ction of the relevant ones are likely to appear) but to decrease precision (there are more chances to get more not relevant documents). 2. Flexibility of Information Retrieval System When dealing with information retrieval one of the important things is the flexibility to search the information. Information seekers may not know what exactly that they looking for. Hence a flexible information retrieval system can help them to overcome this problem. In 1970s, a group of Artificial Intelligent (AI) experts from Yale come out with programs to mapped information into standard patterns. This program allows phrase of word mapped into keywords. For example, the word â€Å"apple† can be mapped to the company Apple, the fruit apple, and the tree apple. As another example, the phrase â€Å"Harry Potter† can represent a movie, a book, a character, a game, etc. AI researcher group constructed such schemas for a number of common activities, e. g. ordering in restaurants, and then took natural language descriptions of these activities, picked out the information that appeared to fit slots in the frames, and thus constructed a semi-formal representation of the information. They could then take queries about such subjects, e. g. vehicle accidents on the United Press newswire, and retrieve actual answers. These programs ran on a restricted set of examples, and produced much argument about whether they were in the end going to develop into practical retrieval systems. This flexibility can help information seekers to broader their finding while searching for information. Another criterion of information retrieval searching flexibility which was mentioned in this article is the free-text search option. Full text search refers to a technique for searching a computer-stored document or database. In a full text search, the search engine examines all of the words in every stored document as it tries to match search words supplied by the user (Wikipedia). The good example of free text search in information retrieval is a web search engines. One of the search engines using full text search technique is AltaVista. Even the free text provide flexibility to do searching, the results are not good as controlled vocabulary searching. 3. Copyright Issue in Digital Storage In digital era, mostly all types of information are available in digital format. In today world, we can purchase book online, purchase an e-book, journal or article from internet, and reading news paper/magazine online. It was noted that online publish won’t pose a problem for academic publishing, but will do for commercial. The most obvious problems relate to digital information is some potential problems such as illegal copying (pirating in today’s terms) and copyright law. This problem destroyed the computer games industry in the late 1970s, and is extremely serious for the software industry right now in many countries including Malaysia. Lately, many researchers done a study to review current copyright and related laws and their impact on digital preservation, as well as to make recommendations to help libraries, archives and other preservation institutions sustain digital works. Analysis of Information Retrieval Transformation The transformation of information retrieval parallels such a life. This article uses Shakespeare’s concept of seven ages of man to describe/predict the evolution of Information Retrieval from 1945 to 2010. In my opinion, technologies play an important role in the transformation and development of information retrieval. Started in childhood era in 1950s, the first systems of information retrieval were built based on technology available on that era, such as the use of overlapping codes on edge-notched cards by Calvin Mooers. In schoolboy era starting from 1960s, the first large scale information systems were built. NASA researchers introduce a mechanical machine for searching of manual indexing. This machine helps to facilitate search of indexing documents rather than manually searching which take longer time. Throughout this period, there was relatively little actual computerized retrieval going on. Computers can search indexes must better than human, which demanded more detailed indexing. During 1970s, the development of computer and word processing technology improving the way information retrieval works because lots of text was available in machine-readable form. Another key technology during 1970s is the availability of time sharing system which make retrieval system more practical especially to librarian. In 1980s, the widespread use of CD-ROM was a key technology change, which fit well with traditional information publishing economics and developed into a real threat to the online systems. Computer networking technology also develops in this decade and as a result there was an enormous increase in the number of databases available online. Lastly, the internet technology revolution in 1990s also helps to improve the way people retrieving information. In other hand, internet revolution also cause information overload problem. We can see most people sharing their information to internet but admittedly much of the information available in internet is low in term of quality because no authority responsible to evaluate the published information. From the facts above, it shows that the technology have influences to the transformation of information retrieval. REFERENCE Kowalski, G. and Maybury, M. T. Information storage and retrieval systems: theory and implementation. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000. Mandhl, T. (2007). â€Å"Recent Developments in the Evaluation of Information Retrieval Systems: Moving Towards Diversity and Practical Relevance†, Informatica, pp. 27-38. Wikipedia (2011). â€Å"Information retrieval†, Retrieve from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Information_retrieval

Tourism Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Tourism Project - Essay Example This tourism sector is worth Singapore dollars 12.4 billion (2006) annually. On the other hand, Hong Kong, with its proposed Disneyland and a new cultural centre at West Kowloon that is seven times the size of the Esplanade, Dubai Japan and Bangkok are Singapore's greatest competitors in the tourism sector. Their multimillion dollar tourism projects to lure tourists from all over the world are ominous enough to make any forward thinking government which is driven by economic consideration, plan to think of new ideas to attract tourists to their country. One of them is to think up new tourism based themes which can make investors think that Singapore is transforming itself into a diversified service-based economy. One of these steps is by opening up an integrated resort. The basic objective of an integrated resort is to attract tourists. It would not be limited to just casinos. They should include convention centers, hotels, restaurants, shopping, convention space, theatres, museums and theme parks. The government can thus hope to be able its overall goal to generate tourism receipts of $9. 5-billion annually by 2015,1 which is half the target set by the Singapore tourism board. Apart from this, the other completion of a project successfully and its performance at Marina South can be targeted to bring in the international convention market. This can eventually boost up the Singaporean tourism sector and economy to make it on par with its nearest competitors. Business Objectives The project aims to complete the

Marketing - fainal essay- Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Marketing - fainal - - Essay Example The competition in the retail industry is tough. Especially in the grocery sector where Tesco is competing because margins continue to shrink with more and more players entering the industry that intensified the already competitive environment. In order to survive and thrive, retailers have to add value to their customers otherwise perish in the competition. To add value, discounting for product does is not that potent work anymore. This marketing implement has its limits also because if frequently used, retailers will enter in a destructive cycle of cutting each other’s throat with the diminishing margins wrought by excessive discounting. In addition, excessive discounting might negatively affect the image of the retailer as â€Å"cheap† and thus, undermining its position to sell at a premium. In the case of Tesco, they employed several unique approaches in adding value to their customers. First is differentiation, or creating new selling proposition that would be differentiate the retailer from its competitors and be successful in the market. Second is the strengthening of the infrastructure of its customer service delivery to enable the retailer to better satisfy its customer as a value adding proposition. With differentiation, Tesco concentrated on the â€Å"white space market† when it entered the United States retailing industry. Many experts predicted that Tesco cannot replicate its success in the US retail market because the industry is already saturated. But instead of competing head on with the established retailers such as Walmart, Tesco differentiated itself by offering the added values of good food, good value, convenience and environmental sensitivity to the American consumer (Lowe and Wright, 2010). Also, Tesco invested in intangible value adding facilities that would enable it to better serve its customers with enhanced customer service as a value proposition. It invested heavily

How to Govern Effectively In a Corrupt Society Essay Example for Free

How to Govern Effectively In a Corrupt Society Essay Corruption can be simply defined as an act of dishonesty for the sole purpose of personal gain or selfish interest. It invariably means dishonest exploitations and manipulation of power for personal gains. Again, it means an immoral act of manipulation or depravity of material, power etc for ones selfish interest. To divorce the third world countries from corruption is literally a Herculean task. In as much as corruption, a great social vice, is not only found in third world countries, it is quite peculiar and most profound in these nations. It afflicts all nations with bad leaders, which eventually spreads to other citizens. In any government, be it democratically elected or otherwise, it is almost impossible not to have at least a single corrupt individual in the ruling government. Corruption is a vicious circle, it inhibits development in nations, and thus bestowing such nation a third world country features. There are several types of corruption, which include; Bribery; illegal collection of money or material before doing one’s official duty Graft; illicit and illegal request of things by public office holders. Patronage; misuse of public position. Embezzlement; misappropriation and mismanagement of fund Kickbacks nvolvement in organized crime etc. Other type of corruption apart from and political corruption include; â€Å"Corporate corruption, as the abuse of power by corporate managers against the shareholders or consumers†. Causes of Corruption include; i. Lack of transparency in the government; when the governments’ activities are not easily accessible by the general public, the government tend to mismanage the public’s fund and also indulge in all sort of corrupt practices. ii. Bad leaders; Corruption leaders do not only embezzle, them also do all sort immoral acts while in government. iii. Masses lack of interest in the government; when the general public is not charismatic and is not particular in electing good leaders in to government, it results in corruption. iv. Irresponsive government; when government do not have programs that take care of the welfare and economic affairs of it citizen, citizen tend to take care of themselves in all sort of ways both fraudulent and corrupt ways. v. Weak accountability, lack of timely financial management. vi. Poverty; in a society where poverty is vast, the masses tend to indulge in corruption to improve their finances. However, Political corruption is the most severe type of corruption for it affects not only the political system, it affects the entire economy of the nation. The Economic effects include; In the government, corruption undermines both economic and social development by creating distortions, extortion of the masses and inefficiency in the public office. It also brings about nepotism, which kills creativity and a value of self achievement. In the private sector, corruption simply increases the cost of production through the price of â€Å"illegal payments and the management cost of negotiating with officials†. It also leads to breached agreements, distrust and inflation. In several cases, the masses are the victims of corruption, it results into economic distortions in the public sector by diverting public investment into capital projects where bribes and kickbacks are more plentiful. Again, tax payers money are diverted into private use by corrupt leaders. Social amenities are either not provided or the few available are not maintained. Public â€Å"Officials may increase the technical complexity of public sector projects to conceal or pave way for such dealings, thus further distorting investment. Corruption also lowers compliance with construction, environmental, or other regulations, reduces the quality of government services and infrastructure, and increases budgetary pressures on government†. Types of leaders that could handle Corruptions; The leaders that should be elected to tackle corruption are leaders which are well vast in democratic process. They should be well educated both in the history of their people and the development of democracy in the western world. To take a tip from the philosophers, a true ruler must highly intelligent, learned and well expose to democratic precedents. Again such leaders should be contentious, level headed, god fearing, incorrigible and most especially must be ready pursue democratic due process in all cases. A patriotic leader would not want his/her nation to be backward, hence would fight all corrupts advances proffered towards the development of the nation. Reference Dipo Irele, Corruption the evil against development. University press,Oyo state,Nigeria. 2002

Measuring the Macroeconomic Impact of Monetary Policy Essay -- Economi

Monetary policy is the method by which the government, central bank, or monetary authority controls the supply of money, or trading foreign exchange markets. This policy is usually called either an expansionary policy, or a contractionary policy. An expansionary policy multiplies the total supply of money in the economy, and a contractionary policy diminishes the total supply. Expansionary policy is used to tackle unemployment in an economic decline by lowering interest rates, while contractionary policy has the goal of elevating interest rates to fight inflation. Monetary policy reposes on the relationship between the rates of interest in an economy and the total dispense of money. Monetary policy uses a diversity of tools to dominate exchange rates with other currencies and unemployment. This is done in order to influence outcomes like economic growth and inflation. A policy is called contractionary if it diminishes the size of the money supply or increases the interest rate. An expansionary policy raises the size of the money supply, or lowers the interest rate. Monetary policies are accommodative if the interest rate is intended to stimulate economic growth, neutral if it is intended to neither encourage growth nor fight inflation, or tight if its aim is to reduce inflation. There are several monetary policy tools available to achieve these results. The Fed has three of these tools. Open market operations, reserve requirements and discount window lending. Open market operations are the most important tool of monetary policy used by the Fed. These operations involve the Fed buying and selling prior issued U.S. government securities. Reserve requirements are the percentages of precise kinds of deposits that banks mus... ...sitive as well as a negative effect on everyday people. This can be manifested primarily through a shift in employment status. The government, however, has many tools in order to help the situation. These tools at time can improve or even deteriorate the dilemma. They are made to bring the economy out of crisis. But there is no doubt that monetary policy has a tremendous effect on macroeconomic factors as GDF, unemployment, inflation, and interest rates. References Anonymous (2013). Money what it is how it works. Retrieved February 18, 2014, from http://wfhummel.cnchost.com/monetarypolicy.html McConnell, C.R. & Bruce, S.L. (2012). Economics: Principles, problems and policies. (18th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. North, Gary (2012). Interest Rates and Monetary Policy. Retrieved February 18, 2014, from http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north492.html Measuring the Macroeconomic Impact of Monetary Policy Essay -- Economi Monetary policy is the method by which the government, central bank, or monetary authority controls the supply of money, or trading foreign exchange markets. This policy is usually called either an expansionary policy, or a contractionary policy. An expansionary policy multiplies the total supply of money in the economy, and a contractionary policy diminishes the total supply. Expansionary policy is used to tackle unemployment in an economic decline by lowering interest rates, while contractionary policy has the goal of elevating interest rates to fight inflation. Monetary policy reposes on the relationship between the rates of interest in an economy and the total dispense of money. Monetary policy uses a diversity of tools to dominate exchange rates with other currencies and unemployment. This is done in order to influence outcomes like economic growth and inflation. A policy is called contractionary if it diminishes the size of the money supply or increases the interest rate. An expansionary policy raises the size of the money supply, or lowers the interest rate. Monetary policies are accommodative if the interest rate is intended to stimulate economic growth, neutral if it is intended to neither encourage growth nor fight inflation, or tight if its aim is to reduce inflation. There are several monetary policy tools available to achieve these results. The Fed has three of these tools. Open market operations, reserve requirements and discount window lending. Open market operations are the most important tool of monetary policy used by the Fed. These operations involve the Fed buying and selling prior issued U.S. government securities. Reserve requirements are the percentages of precise kinds of deposits that banks mus... ...sitive as well as a negative effect on everyday people. This can be manifested primarily through a shift in employment status. The government, however, has many tools in order to help the situation. These tools at time can improve or even deteriorate the dilemma. They are made to bring the economy out of crisis. But there is no doubt that monetary policy has a tremendous effect on macroeconomic factors as GDF, unemployment, inflation, and interest rates. References Anonymous (2013). Money what it is how it works. Retrieved February 18, 2014, from http://wfhummel.cnchost.com/monetarypolicy.html McConnell, C.R. & Bruce, S.L. (2012). Economics: Principles, problems and policies. (18th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. North, Gary (2012). Interest Rates and Monetary Policy. Retrieved February 18, 2014, from http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north492.html

Management and Illustrations Pearson Education Essay

This workbook will support you in achieving all aspects of your Apprenticeship framework. This section will help you prepare for the ? rst visit by your assessor, and forms part of the induction to your Apprenticeship. In this section you will ? nd an activity to help you prepare and gather evidence for your assessment related to this topic: 1. Preparing for a Level 3 Apprenticeship Some of the evidence you will be asked to provide will be assessed both through documents and tasks that you have completed in your work and by direct observation. You might be observed by your assessor when you are working. Your supervisor or other colleagues can also observe you at work and complete a witness statement to give to your assessor. These observations should be of real work activities and not simulated tasks. If you are recorded while you are working, you may have to get permission from any colleagues present during the recording. The tasks in this Workbook will provide further evidence for all aspects of your framework. You will also take part in professional discussions with your assessor during the visit. Your assessor may want to discuss your progress with your workplace supervisor, so your supervisor will need to know the planned date of the visit. Original text and illustrations  © Pearson Education Limited, 2011 1 1 BTEC Apprenticeship Assessment Workbook Level 3 Business & Administration 1 1. PREPARING FOR A LEVEL 3 APPRENTICESHIP As a Business & Administration Level 3 apprentice, you will play an important support role at work. You will be handling day-to-day activities in an of? ce setting within a business organisation. You could, for example, be working in a public sector organisation, a charity, a newspaper or in an of?ce in a retail setting. The exact nature of your job will depend upon your employer. However, it is likely that you will be helping the business run smoothly by doing tasks such as typing up meeting documents, handling spreadsheets, and dealing with incoming and outgoing post for the organisation. Ef? cient admininstration helps a business run smoothly. The tasks in this section of the Workbook will help you to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of your Apprenticeship. You will explore the components of the Apprenticeship, the strategies for assessment and the importance of the Apprenticeship agreement. This will help you to develop an individual learning plan (ILP), which will be reviewed on each assessor visit in a meeting you have with your tutor and your supervisor. 2 Original text and illustrations  © Pearson Education Limited, 2011 BTEC Apprenticeship Assessment Workbook Level 3 Business & Administration KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING The tasks that follow will require you to study the Business Administration Level 3 Apprenticeship framework. You will look at the components of the framework and explain why they are important and how they will be assessed. You will also explore the purpose and usefulness of the Apprenticeship agreement. WorkSkills Unit 1: 1. 1, 1. 2 1 Task 1a Each Apprenticeship has its own framework. The Business Administration Level 3 Apprenticeship is made up of four elements. These are: †¢ employment rights and responsibilities †¢ competence-based element †¢ knowledge-based element †¢ Key or Functional Skills. Complete the table on page 4 to show the quali? cations that make up each element of your Apprenticeship. State the types of evidence you will need to gather. Entries for the ? rst element of the framework have been provided as an example. Once you have done this, develop strategies you could use to gather evidence for each element and suggest ways you could prepare for any tests in Functional Skills or Key Skills, and in the BTEC certi? cate. Original text and illustrations  © Pearson Education Limited, 2011 3 BTEC Apprenticeship Assessment Workbook Level 3 Business & Administration 1 Element Employment rights and responsibilities Quali? cation Why it is important WorkSkills for It helps me to settle into my job Apprenticeships and the Apprenticeship and to understand important aspects of being employed. It helps me to assess my time management, learning and personal skills to ensure that I successfully complete my framework. It will help me to think creatively, enquire independently and solve problems. I will look at employment rights and responsibilities, current employment legislation and conditions of service. I’ll examine the role of the trades unions. I will also study con? ict situations and learn the steps to take where there is evidence of bullying or discrimination, and ? nd out about sources of support and advice both in and outside work. I will learn the skills needed to lead a team and the roles and responsibilities of a team leader. Types of evidence Completion of tasks and exercises in my Workbook. Performance evidence, such as observation record and witness testimonies from my supervisor and other colleagues. Work documents, such as contract, job description, payslip, and information about projects that I have worked on. Professional discussions with my assessor. Competencebased element NVQ It will enable me to provide a service level to internal and external customers whilst taking into consideration company expectations/standards and the company code of conduct. Witness statements from my line manager an other colleagues, Planning tools such as flow charts and work plans, Diary pages, Action plans and checklists, e-mails memos and letters. Knowledgebased element BTEC It will help me to understand how Completion of tasks in my to prioritize tasks and produce a workbook and Professional sufficient standard of work. Enable discussions with my assessor. me to understand the requirements of internal and external customers whilst maintaining budgetary requirements. Key or Functional Skills. Functional Skills are to ensure that you have a good level of job supporting skills in English maths and ICT. Assessment through examination. 4 Original text and illustrations  © Pearson Education Limited, 2011 BTEC Apprenticeship Assessment Workbook Level 3 Business & Administration WorkSkills Unit 1: 1. 3 Task 1b The Apprenticeship agreement is a contract entered into between an employer and an apprentice and the Apprenticeship training provider. When you started your Apprenticeship you would have signed an Apprenticeship agreement. The main points that must be covered in this agreement have been set out in legislation. Describe the purpose of the Apprenticeship agreement. Ensure that you cover all the main aspects of the agreement. 1 Agreeing the programme – Business Administration Level 3. Setting out the aims of the programme – to acquire a nationally recognized qualification in a structured programme of work based training. Defining the Training Process – Initial assessment, Individual learning log, Assessment carried out by qualified training and assessment co-ordinators and standards verified by internal and external verifiers/moderators. Monitoring progress, At any time requested plus a formal review, Progress file continually kept up to date. Terms and conditions. Types of training including mentors. Agreed workplace training course. Employment contract and terms and conditions in like with the company policies and employment legislation. Health & Safety – Company or college? Disciplinary principles and procedures – Company or college? Assessment appeals procedure. Preston College will provide me with a competent trainer who is able to offer me the learning, teaching support the relevant work based training, assessment, monitoring and reviews required to enable me to gain the level 3 qualification also offer me an individual work plan and programme which will be validated by the awarding body. I will comply with the terms and conditions set by both my employer and Preston College including attending work and set training sessions with my teacher, whilst working through all the units set in my own time, I will present my portfolio and work assignments for verification as requested. This agreement is to protect all parties involved, the signing of the learning agreement is to show that all parties understand what is required of them throughout the duration of the NVQ training process. WorkSkills Unit 1: 2. 1, 2. 2, 2. 3; Unit 7: 1. 1, 1. 2, 1. 4, 1. 6 PLTS SM: 1, 2, 3 Task 1c You will be required to develop an individual learning plan (ILP) as part of the induction visit. To be prepared for this, you will need to understand progression routes that are available to you and be able to set goals for completion of your framework. It is important to negotiate realistic targets to be included in your ILP. Good targets are ones that meet the SMART test. SMART targets are: †¢ Speci? c – they say exactly what you intend to do †¢ Measurable – you can prove you have reached them †¢ Achievable – they are not beyond your reach †¢ Realistic – you will have access to all the resources you will need to achieve them †¢ Time-related – you have set a deadline for completion. Original text and illustrations  © Pearson Education Limited, 2011 5. BTEC Apprenticeship Assessment Workbook Level 3 Business & Administration 1 Prepare notes on: †¢ the importance of meeting deadlines at work and in learning †¢ the importance of being organised. Being organised is key to meeting targets and deadlines, if you are not organised things can easily be missed resulting in deadlines being missed, when carrying out duties that have a deadline if a person is prepared and well organised the actual task will run a lot smoother resulting in the deadline being more likely to be made if not achieved before the deadline arrives. Organisation within the workplace is key for a healthy running business if a workload is organised it is a lot clearer what the objectives of the task are and how far they have been completed. It is important to have deadlines for tasks to keep business’s running, if no one had a deadline people are more likely to have a more relaxed attitude to completing tasks and workloads thus slowing down the productivity of the business. Then review your development needs and prepare some notes setting out: †¢ your skills and learning requirements †¢ your learning goals. I have been employed by various companies over a 12 year period mainly in administrative rolls but each business has had a variety of different administration needs, there have been customer based, reception based, retail based, admin for a single department and admin for several departments within the business, whilst I do find it beneficial to have a broad knowledge of administration skills most of my abilities are either a basic knowledge or abilities I have developed myself, I would like this course to improve the skills I have already acquired and improve my ability and standard of what I am currently capable of as well as learning new skills to develop my current profession to a very high standard. My goals are to complete the level 3 to a high standard, gain further knowledge of administration & business skills to broaden my capabilities and to be able to give a better work based performance on a day to day basis. 6 Original text and illustrations  © Pearson Education Limited, 2011 BTEC Apprenticeship Assessment Workbook Level 3 Business & Administration Finally, produce targets that you can discuss with your assessor when you meet to ? nalise your individual learning plan. These should be SMART targets, with each having clear deadlines for when they should be achieved. They should relate to: †¢ learning to be undertaken for the completion of the Apprenticeship framework †¢ managing commitments at work and in personal life while on the Apprenticeship †¢ contingency planning for learning not being completed on time. 1 I plan to complete the NVQ with a 17 month period giving myself a month per section, so I can take my time to fully absorb all information required to complete my NVQ to a high standard, to achieve this I plan to spend four hours a week of my personal time, 2 hours on research and planning and 2 hours on practical, written and presentation work, I plan to use any other free time I have in my own time to make sure I am progressing forward at a timely manor which fits in with my out of work commitments, I also plan to use any spare time I may have during working hours to achieve this. As the course must be completed in 24 months I feel that my plan for completion within 17 months gives enough time for any difficulties or unforeseen circumstances I may come across. When you have agreed your plan with your assessor, you should use your targets to check your progress. Remember to ask your assessor on each visit to sign off any targets that you have achieved and completed on time in your individual learning plan (ILP). Do this on every visit. WorkSkills Unit 1: 3. 1, 3. 2 Unit 2: 3. 1, 3. 2, 3. 3 Task 1d When deciding on progression routes, you can look at moving vertically – by going up your career path step by step – or you can move laterally – by looking to see what other careers are open to you at the same level. Administrators develop transferable skills and can ? nd jobs in many different organisations and sectors. You could also go on to further learning in full-time education. Original text and illustrations  © Pearson Education Limited, 2011 7 BTEC Apprenticeship Assessment Workbook Level 3 Business & Administration 1 To complete the ? nal section of your individual learning plan, you will need to look at possible progression routes following successful completion of your Apprenticeship. In advance of your assessor’s visit, ? rst research useful sources of information on progression routes. These should cover information on further training and education as well as jobs and careers. List the most useful sources of information here. EducationCollege, adult learning – Various college websites Open University – www. open. ac.uk Full time Education through college or university – Various college and university websites TrainingIn house company training – Line Manager /HR Department Outsourced training such as day / week courses with companies such as Hemsley Fraser or GBS Corporate Training – www. hemsleyfraser. co. uk/ & www. gbscorporate. com/. CareerIn house job shadowing – Line Manager /HR Department Applying for in house promotion Applying for a similar role with better progression opportunities – www. gov. uk/jobsearch Use these sources to identify the occupational opportunities in administration and related sectors that particularly appeal to you. Compare the progression routes that you could take to access these opportunities. Administration can relate to many sectors of a business, personally I like that my current role involves admin for most of our departments as it offers a day to day variation, it also gives a broad knowledge of skills required for each department as the duties are not all the same, the variation offers the opportunity to undergo many different day / week courses to gain more knowledge of a particular department which could lead to a preferred area of the business, you could therefore concentrate on gaining knowledge for that department by job shadowing and taking more intense courses such as adult learning and further education to develop the skills to progress to a higher level in your chosen area of business. 8 Original text and illustrations  © Pearson Education Limited, 2011 BTEC Apprenticeship Assessment Workbook Level 3 Business & Administration Finally, make a note of your preferred career pathway. You should be prepared to discuss your choice when you meet with your assessor. To help you prepare for this meeting, use the space below to set out the steps required to achieve your career ambitions. 1. I personally would like to continue with my career as I feel full time education is not right for me, I would like to continue in my current role for the next approximately 2 years to acquire all the skills I feel I would need to progress, I would then like to look at team leader / junior management positions within the office / administration environment looking after a small team as I feel this would be a natural progression route, once secure in a junior management role I would like to take a further education course such as NVQ level 4 and also job shadowing to gain the skill required for a higher management position. BTEC Unit 9: 1. 1, 1. 2, 1. 3, 1. 4, 1. 5, 1. 6, 2. 1, 2. 2 WorkSkills Unit 4: 1. 1, 1. 2, 1. 3, 1. 4, 2. 1, 2. 2, 2. 3, 2. 4, 3. 1, 3. 2, 3. 3, 3. 4. PROFESSIONAL DISCUSSION Your assessor will conduct a professional discussion with you that will capture evidence necessary to prove your level of knowledge and understanding of relevant topics. Some topic areas you will need to consider when preparing for the professional discussion include: †¢ employment rights †¢ the responsibilities of the employer and the employees †¢ agreed ways of working in your organisation †¢ health, safety and security in the business environment. Your assessor will plan the content of your professional discussion and will offer advice to help you to prepare beforehand. The professional discussion may cover more than the topics considered in this section of your Workbook. Original text and illustrations  ©. Pearson Education Limited, 2011 9 BTEC Apprenticeship Assessment Workbook Level 3 Business & Administration 1 Discussion process The questioning process will offer you the opportunity to show your knowledge and understanding of employment rights and responsibilities and to assess your own performance at work. To prepare for this discussion, you should think about how you could answer the type of questions that might be asked. †¢ What is the purpose of a contract of employment? †¢ What terms and conditions are included on your own contract? †¢ What are the main areas of legislation that affect employees and employers? †¢ What are the main employer and employee responsibilities in relation to equality, diversity and discrimination? †¢ Why is it important to ensure that equality and diversity procedures are followed? †¢ What are your employer’s responsibilities for ensuring health, safety and security where you work? †¢ What are your health and safety responsibilities? Why must you comply with health, safety and security procedures? †¢ Where would you ? nd out about employment rights and responsibilities? What are the main sources of information at work, and what are the useful sources of information outside your organisation? †¢ What are the purpose, function and responsibilities of representative bodies that support employees? †¢ What procedures would you follow in the event of a grievance? †¢ What personal information must you keep up to date with your employer? †¢ What are your agreed ways of working? †¢ What information is contained in your pay statement? †¢ What are the main areas of public concern relevant to the sector in which your organisation operates? †¢ How have these concerns altered public views about the sector? 10 Original text and illustrations  © Pearson Education Limited, 2011.

Prostitution, Premature Ejaculation, and Abortion...

Introduction The reason I am writing this paper is to share the information I attained about human sexuality by learning about sexuality in a college setting and by exploring my sexuality through personal experiences. I do not consider myself to have experienced much exposure to sexual behavior but I do have a cultural bias to what I consider a heavy amount of exposure because the North American culture is considered more promiscuous and sexually active than other cultures. In order to further understand my experiences one must acknowledge the cultural background, which constructs my opinions towards sex, sexuality, and gender role. My opinions about sexuality shifted quickly as I moved from Israel, a middle-eastern society, to the United†¦show more content†¦After reading William Yarber’s discussion on prostitution in â€Å"Human Sexuality and Culture† I adopted new values toward prostitutes. After learning of the background of prostitutes I was shocked that they can separate sex from their intimate and romantic lives but I sympathize and relate to the emotional struggles that prostitutes experience at an early age such as having a negative outlook, feeling insecure, being economically disadvantaged, and not given adequate emotional support from their parents I definitely developed a more positive outlook on prostitution as a whole after reading and researching the topic. Before, I had a lot of hatred toward prostitutes because o f the effect my family withstood due to my father affiliating with prostitutes. I also found great comfort in the information I discovered about what prostitution could be like if it prostitution were to be legalized like in some rural counties in Nevada or like in some cities such as Amsterdam. By requiring legal brothels to be subject to licensing and registration by police and health departments we can benefit society by preventing the wide spread HIV’s, preventing brutal working conditions for prostitutes that permit abuse, rape, and brutality, and also, a new legal approach toward prostitution could help prevent adolescents from becoming