Development of the Montessori Method Essay -- Maria Montessori ISD Met

Maria Montessori and the ISD Model: Development of the Montessori Method Summary The paper I prepared begins with a description of the Montessori Method and a historical narration of the professional career of Dr. Maria Montessori. I also included some biographical information as to her origins and the identity of her parents. I then drew a comparison of her methods for developing the Montessori Method and her career to the ISD model. I compared significant events in her career to the analysis phase. Explaining that her experience with children lead her to develop her programs. Then I drew a comparison to her work with the design and development phases, citing her materials that she uses in her classrooms and the classrooms themselves. Finally I compared her implementation and subsequent discoveries to the implementation and evaluation phases in ISD. I concluded with my own personal opinion, that Maria Montessori was an innovator and mostly responsible for modern education. I used four directly quoted sources, one solely paraphrased, and one merely for research a nd background information. Since the late Nineteenth Century, educators and medical professionals have been concerned with the physical and mental development of children between the ages of two and seven years. During the first part of the Industrial Revolution and through the beginning of the Twentieth Century, conditions in the cities and industrial centers were deplorable. Adult workers were forced to work long hours and under extreme conditions, likewise children were made to endure arduous working environments with little or no concern for their well being, short of their ability to contribute to the work force. In Upton Sinclair's book, The Jungle, he des... ...ontessori, there is a distinct pattern to her development that is remarkably similar to those proposed by the ISD model. References Works Cited Gettman, D. (1987). Basic Montessori : learning activities for under-fives. New York: St. Martin's Press. Montessori, M. (1964). Dr. Montessori's own handbook. Boston: Robert Bentley, Inc. Pines, M. (1967). Revolution in learning: the years from birth to six. New York: Harper and Row Publishers. Sinclair, U. (1960). The Jungle. New York: The New American Library of World Literature. Standing, E.M. (1962). Maria Montessori: her life and work. New York: The New American Library of World Literature. Other Sources Braun, S. J. (1974). Nursery education for disadvantages children: an historical review. In Montessori in perspective. (pp. 7-24). National Association for the Education of Young Children: New York. Development of the Montessori Method Essay -- Maria Montessori ISD Met Maria Montessori and the ISD Model: Development of the Montessori Method Summary The paper I prepared begins with a description of the Montessori Method and a historical narration of the professional career of Dr. Maria Montessori. I also included some biographical information as to her origins and the identity of her parents. I then drew a comparison of her methods for developing the Montessori Method and her career to the ISD model. I compared significant events in her career to the analysis phase. Explaining that her experience with children lead her to develop her programs. Then I drew a comparison to her work with the design and development phases, citing her materials that she uses in her classrooms and the classrooms themselves. Finally I compared her implementation and subsequent discoveries to the implementation and evaluation phases in ISD. I concluded with my own personal opinion, that Maria Montessori was an innovator and mostly responsible for modern education. I used four directly quoted sources, one solely paraphrased, and one merely for research a nd background information. Since the late Nineteenth Century, educators and medical professionals have been concerned with the physical and mental development of children between the ages of two and seven years. During the first part of the Industrial Revolution and through the beginning of the Twentieth Century, conditions in the cities and industrial centers were deplorable. Adult workers were forced to work long hours and under extreme conditions, likewise children were made to endure arduous working environments with little or no concern for their well being, short of their ability to contribute to the work force. In Upton Sinclair's book, The Jungle, he des... ...ontessori, there is a distinct pattern to her development that is remarkably similar to those proposed by the ISD model. References Works Cited Gettman, D. (1987). Basic Montessori : learning activities for under-fives. New York: St. Martin's Press. Montessori, M. (1964). Dr. Montessori's own handbook. Boston: Robert Bentley, Inc. Pines, M. (1967). Revolution in learning: the years from birth to six. New York: Harper and Row Publishers. Sinclair, U. (1960). The Jungle. New York: The New American Library of World Literature. Standing, E.M. (1962). Maria Montessori: her life and work. New York: The New American Library of World Literature. Other Sources Braun, S. J. (1974). Nursery education for disadvantages children: an historical review. In Montessori in perspective. (pp. 7-24). National Association for the Education of Young Children: New York.

Neuromarketing: A Brave New World of Consumerism

Introduction t this point in our social history we are experiencing trends in marketing and consumerism that no cultural phenomena in antiquity has prepared us for. Each day between the hours of waking and sleeping we are exposed to 3000 – 5000 marketing messages across every shape and flavor of media mankind has been able to devise In good conscience (Story 2007). Every niche, of every segment, of every market, for every product, has a multitude of competitors vying for space of mind, seeking to differentiate, remind, inform, or persuade themselves into our lives and shopping trellises (Copley 2004).This clutter, consternation, and competition has taken the humble consumer transaction to be something more akin to game theory, and contemporary marketing strategy has become a battle of minds and wills (Lee, Frederick, and Chamberlain 2007). Each new generation of consumer finds themselves delivered deeper Into an environment of Increasing media and message saturation.But, with every generational cycle a further sophistication In the adaptive discretionary filtering system is created in order for these individuals to preserve some degree of highly guarded ‘psychic space', and as such ‘marketing professionals re keenly aware of the obstacles posed by both information-processing limitations and viewer opposition' (Rumba 2002). ‘The multiplicity of advertising messages to which each consumer is exposed dictates that advertisers place a lofty premium on the much-coveted psychic space of their Intended message recipients.Moreover, marketers Increasingly find themselves trying to reach target audiences who have an arsenal of cognitive, behavioral, and mechanical strategies for ad avoidance at their disposal' (Speck and Elliott 1997). Further adding to this already encumbered media/ immunization sphere is also the weight and complexity of the postmodern condition in which Goldman (1992) speaks of ‘relentless scrambling of signified and sig nifier, mixing and matching meanings' and Brown (1995) goes on to highlight ‘practices such as fragmentation, De-deliberation, hypnotherapy, chronology, pastiche, pluralism and anta-functionalism'.This escalating complexity of exchange devised for increasingly more sophisticated and media salt-Ð’Â »,' consumers attempts to side-step any ‘predictability of antiquated advertising conventions that could no longer pass through the filters of seasoned postmodern nonusers' (Goldman and Passion 1994).What remains is the perfect storm of social complexity, ever-changing message filtering, and big-business ‘sign wars' which has left some marketers believing that turning to the dark arts Is the only way to get ahead in marketing communications, with notably one energy drink brand literally and comically commissioning a Haitian priestess to channel a foul-mouthed voodoo deem-god to help design their advertising campaign (Panamas 2010). Enter stage left – marketing' s. Thin such a relatively young field of inquiry the precise definition of marketing's s still finding its footing with conflicting definitions still being proposed and utilized by divergent agents within the realm (Fisher 2010). Perpetuating this conflict is the notion that academia and industry share limited cohesion in exploring this field, that private enterprises do not tend to publish findings or share proprietary information, and that more has been published about marketing's across the popular media, relative to the traditional tome of recognized peer-reviewed publications (Fisher 2010).In spite of this, Lee (2007) proposes that ‘marketing's as a field of study an simply be defined as the application of neuroscience methods to analyses and understand human behavior in relation to markets and marketing exchanges' and Fisher (2010) notes that marketing's ‘can be tentatively defined as marketing designed on the basis of neuroscience research'. These proposed definit ions avoid the subjective bias embraced by some proponents and detractors and are a suitable explanation of the topic for the purposes of this discussion.As brain sciences increasingly inform our daily lives, social practices, and intellectual discourses, ornamenting has become one of a collection of developing fields to gain the ‘neuron' prefix along with neuroscience, neurasthenics, neuropathology, and neurotically – these fields now collectively earning the moniker ‘neuromuscular', ‘and the brain-based explanations arising from it are progressively influencing public notions of personal identity, responsibility, and causation' (Fisher 2010).Why Marketing's? He most acute advantage thought to stem from the utilization of neuroscience in examining an individual's response to market based inquiries is its unfiltered objectivity and unbiased honesty. Typically the self-assessment measures commonly used in marketing research rely totally on the ability and wil lingness of the respondent to accurately report their attitudes and/or prior behaviors' (Petty and Caption 1983).However, it is believed that the brain approximately expends only 2 percent of its energy on conscious activity with the remaining majority devoted to unconscious thought and processes, thus, neurotransmitters believe, traditional market research methods ? like consumer surveys and focus groups ? are inherently inaccurate because the participants can never articulate the unconscious impressions that whet their appetites for certain products' (Singer 2010).In addition to this intrinsic inability for an individual to access all relevant perceptual data, this error factor cumulatively adds to any conscious or even unrecognized desire the respondent may have to please or deceive the information gathering unit, even further exaggerating the potential for inaccurate measurements. In contrast, physiological responses can be collected when respondents are actively partaking in re search activities and are difficult for subjects to control, although not difficult to affect (Petty and Caption 1983).In many ways marketing's is the lie detector of the marketing industry, but the potential application is much greater than simply extracting truthful responses, it may prove instrumental in uncovering the processes and transparent way than marketers have previously had access to. The benefits of marketing's are obvious when framed in the above context. This field creates the possibility for marketers to understand consumers to an extent that a myriad of techniques over many decades of investigation have only ever been able to scratch at the door of.Felt (2007) believes that, assuming the science can be translated into meaningful technology the power and the precision of the retrieved data as a management tool could prove sublime, it would finally enable marketers to reach out and pinprick consumers without using broad strokes'. â€Å"In fact, exploring exactly what elements of an advertisement are critical to awareness, attitudes and evaluations of products, and whether these differ for different groups, should reduce firms' reliance on the ‘blunt instruments' of blanket coverage, shock tactics, or sexual imagery' (Lee 2007).The Marketing's Mix he research generated by any given marketing's firm is of course a product article and as such marketing mix considerations are a requirement of presenting to the market, however, the more significant discussion is the current and conceivable application of this technology to play a major role in guiding and optimizing each of the up's of the marketing mix for utilities. Them Noble, Managing Director of ‘Neurotics' a major player in the burgeoning marketing's industry, has stated that ‘all the biggest brands are using it†¦ But most of them are keeping it to themselves†¦ Even so, marketing's has become a key part of today's marketing ix' (Fagan 2011). The technology is believ ed to be equally applicable to each of the seven aspects of the mix provided a suitable interpretation model is utilized to rationalist the raw data. The up's the literature most commonly discourses are reviewed below. Product Typically product designers refer to consciously generated studies of consumer preferences to inform the process, in such inquiries subjects are likely to be influenced by ‘normative expectations and social influences' (Figurate 2007).For example, survey research typically reports that women find wrestler-turned-action ere ‘The Rock unattractive ‘but their brain activity says otherwise: areas associated with attractiveness light up when women watch him on screen' (Singer, 2004). Bruit (2004) mentions that some tests conducted for Demolisher's showed that certain products can activate the self-reward centre of the brain which is the same region that natural stimulants such as sex, chocolate, and cocaine trigger, this action is aroused by the r elease of the molecule dopamine and releases endogenous opiates – substances linked to lust and pleasure'.Whilst this trigger is not a guarantee of arches, all other things being equal – designs that create pleasure are far more likely to be purchased than those that do not (Figurate 2007). Price Lee (2007) states that ‘pricing seems to lend itself almost perfectly to normalizing research' and believes that age old questions like why â€Å"prices such as ‘$4. 99' are perceived as significantly cheaper than those such as ‘$5. 00† could be answered by simultaneously exploring the temporal and spatial nature of brain activity.Through utilizing this technology marketers can not only underpin optimal pricing strategies but also understand how and why pricing perceptions are formed. Place customers to seeing, hearing, feeling, touching, tasting, and smelling stimuli, stores may be able to customize environments to enhance the consumer experience, or weight the chances of a sale. ‘For example, if normalizing data suggest a positive response to the touching of Jewelry, the consumer may experience a personalized discount prominently displayed in their sightline in order to provide encouragement for purchase' (Wilson 2008).Promotion Measurement of advertising messages and their success in provoking emotional responses can be gauged, and assumptions can be made about the subject's unconscious thought patterns depending on which areas of the brain ‘light' up (Figurate 2007). The reaction an agency wishes to evoke with a given advertisement e. G. Excitement, passion, hostility, humor, attention, etc. ; can be transposed to the brain map where these concepts are processed. If that brain area is unaffected after exposure to the advertising stimulus, it is obvious that the advertisement has failed this crucial test' (Figurate 2007) Schafer (2005) also states that ‘neural scanning might be able to predict the strength of advertising recall for specific advertisements'. The History he earliest reported use of the term marketing's first appeared in a press release in July 2002 by Atlanta based advertising agency ‘Birthrights' announcing the creation of a new business division which utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fem.) for purposes of marketing research (Wilson 2008; Fisher 2010).However, the Economist (Inside the Mind of the Consumer 2004) duly notes that Harvard Professor-Emeritus Gerald Coalman filed a patent for ‘normalizing as a marketing tool' in the late sass's approximately four years prior to Brightness's suspicious press release. In spite of this, some observers consider this technology to be part of a continuum that has been ongoing for much longer. â€Å"Marketing's is simply the latest incarnation, says Joseph Throw, a professor of communication at the Ennobler School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. There has always been a holy grail in a dvertising to try to reach people in a hypodermic way,' he says† (Singer 2010). Educated observers also make note that Journalist and social critic Vance Packard (1957) wrote ‘The Hidden Persuaders' more than 50 years ago which is still considered to be a seminal work, which outlines how advertisers play(deed) on people's unconscious desires in an attempt to influence them. Run for our Lives? Neatly probing consumers for answers to every fear, desire, motivation, and preference in underpants color has begun to beg the question in some quarters, should we love this or fear it? It appears from the outset that this technology has been spawning controversy; however, some of this contention seems not to be entirely new in nature but the amplification and reinvigoration of well disputed ground, freshly driven by this new and acute mechanism.The contention largely remains in determining whether using such technology to understand the desires of consumers will be useful for serv ing them, or used for manipulating them, in short, is actions of a great many organizations and individuals, the main objective of marketing is to help match products with people (Rarely 2010; Kettle, Keller, and Burton 2009). ‘Marketing serves the dual goals of guiding the design and presentation of products such that they are more compatible with consumer preferences and facilitating the choice process for the consumer' (Rarely 2010).Marketing as ethical or unethical in practice is a purely a determination to be made on a case by case basis, not generalized in overarching sweeps. Rallies (1999) surmises that the organizational factors contributing to principled business undertakings or in fact impeding a unified ethical framework are moral reasoning, organizational ethical climate, level of economic development, and cultural dimensions, Murphy (2005) suggests on an individualistic level that indicative qualities can be determined from virtue and character ethics utilizing me asurements of the five core virtues of – integrity, fairness, trust, respect and empathy.In comprehension, understanding the afore is to recognize that marketing's (like most industries,) exists within a context of moral heterogeneity and the concerns that exist toward the frayed edge of the ethical fabric, underpin a movement of anxiety toward the potentiality of neuron-techniques to probe the subconscious mind, and the conceivability of these vehicles to unduly influence consumers, turning them into shopping robots without their knowledge and consent' (Singer 2010).Singer (2010) states that â€Å"marketing's is setting off alarm bells among some consumer advocates, who call it ‘brainwashing ? an amalgam of branding and brainwashing†. ‘Our contention is that neuroscience findings and methods hold the potential for marketing practices that threaten consumers' abilities to follow preferences and dictates according to free will' (Greene 2003).The controversy and paranoia surrounding a field that is yet to be evidenced or indicted of unethical practice is so potent that Senior and Senior (2008) have felt compelled to draft ‘A Manifesto for Marketing's Science' to guide the ethical functioning of practitioners, quell some f the fears of alarmists, and address potential dilemmas arising on this new frontier.The Advertising Research Foundation has also seen fit to undertake a collaborative study with the major operators in the marketing's industry to establish and implement the ‘Northeastwards Initiatives' agenda and determine ethical working canons for the field (ARP Announces Groundbreaking Northeastwards Study 2010). In addition to this above, the exploratory academic discipline of neurotics has continued to grow in unison with the developments in neuroscience research and neuromuscular, informing it all the while.Irrespective of the development in ethical governance, detractors warn that we do not have a current legal and so cial structure equipped to address technologies that are intentionally designed for subconscious persuasion. Singer (2010) states that ‘if the advertising is now purposely designed to bypass those rational defenses, then the traditional legal defenses protecting advertising speech in the marketplace have to be questioned'.We are also warned that many legally and morally ambiguous issues will arise with the increase in marketing's usage such as Who ultimately owns brain scans, whether scans can e sold to other persons or institutions, and what happens to extraneous information, such as health problems, revealed by the scans' (Wilson 2008). The array positron emission tomography (PET), magnetoencephalography (MEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fem.), electroencephalography (EGG) galvanic skin response (USSR), eye tracking technology, electrocardiography, and electromyography (Figurate 2007; Lee 2007).It is noted that any corporeal measurements gained through the use of these instruments are strictly limited by the skill the interpreter has in correlating bio-readings to mental/emotional states, and therefore into actionable ATA. There has been some research to show that imagery favored in traditional research preference tests are often not the ones that stimulate the emotional centers of the brain (Uncommon 2007), according to People (quoted in Harris 2006) however, emotion is one of the major keys to all marketing and by monitoring brain activity we can get very good indication of when an emotional connection has been made.Unfortunately, these results can only reveal activation correlated with particular imagery but cannot predict outcomes with certainty, and it does in fact highlight the actuality that there is ‘no direct link between arousal and behavior; no measure of purchase intent' (Figurate 2007). According to James (2004) the only time a human being cannot help acting on arousal is as a toddler'.Some critics throughout the literatu re have argued for the existence of a ‘buy button' in the brain, the above suggests that there could be no overriding of an individual's cognitive control and ‘current evidence suggests that the cognitive processes associated with purchase decisions are multi factorial and cannot be reduced to a single area of activation' (Rarely 2010). In the face of decries and skeptics Joey and Kilts Remain, Brightness's CEO and founder claim that rather than forecasting the shopping behavior of individuals, marketing's will help develop an understanding of how people develop preferences. Our goal is to change company, not consumer, behavior,† says Remain. He adds that this philosophy could improve advertising ethics. â€Å"What if you could, for example, show a company that their moral and ethical behavior has a bigger influence on consumer preference than the color of their packaging or current tag line? â€Å"‘ (Singer 2010). New Scientist magazine conducted a est. of marketing's to choose the ‘most attention getting cover for its 5th August 2010 issue.Nineteen readers of the magazine were shown three alternative covers during EGG tests from which one was ultimately selected. The ultimate result of this experiment and the ensuing cover choice, was a 12% increase in sales year-on-year and the second highest selling issue of the year which the deputy editor Graham Layton claimed was â€Å"unheard of in August† (Tartan 2010). Outside of this, virtually no other results have been published either confirming or condemning the predictive ability of marketing's in the marketplace.However, the one strong virtuous indicator that does exist, is the very fact that a multitude of global companies such as Google, CBS, Frito-Lay, Demolisher's, Brown-Foreman, General Motors, American Express, Campbell Soup, MAT, Disney Media, Heresy's, Millimeters, Colgate- Palmolive, NBC, ESP., and Turner Broadcasting are utilizing this technology as a regular co mponent of their own brand research efforts (ARP Announces Groundbreaking Northeastwards Study 2010; Rarely 2010; Figurate 2007; Bruit 2004). E detractors of marketing's see a dyspepsia future ahead, they envisage a world here we all become little more than purchase-making drones, slaves to big business recklessly pushing away at ‘buy buttons' in our brains to move their wares and their stock prices. Valid concerns have been raised from some quarters citing the potential for the increase of ‘marketing-related diseases' such as obesity, heart disease, and similarly related health issues (Fisher 2010).What we understand from the above however, is that marketing's cannot now or any currently conceivable point in the future, have any ability to override an individual's cognitive control. Marketing's may help to design a more attractive car but will never have the ability to make a man sell his children to purchase it. Even with the limitations of the technology, neurotransmi tters and researchers alike are currently exploring the ethical parameters of the field in order to create a unified framework for operation and quell concerns that vocal outliers currently raise.The primary purpose of this technology, as is the purpose of all marketing research, is to better understand the needs and wants of consumers, the biggest problem with traditional research is the intimidation by a participant's own cognitive bias, or as advertising legend David Googol once said: â€Å"The trouble with market research is that people don't think how they feel, they don't say what they think and they don't do what they say' (quoted in Scar 2011).

All I really need to know I Learned in Kindergarten Essay

I can remember my mother telling me for a few weeks before the first day how wonderful school was going to be and how I would meet loads of new friends. She also told me that the other kids are going to be scared just like I was. Turning five years old, and knowing that it was time for me to begin school already, was really very scary. The thought of waking up early and going to school and not being with my mom all morning made me feel sick to my stomach, but I just had to suck it up and go. The first day of kindergarten I was sad but also excited at the same time because I was going to meet new friends and I was going to get to play with them during recess. I remember walking into school with my new back pack; they were the ones that had to two little wheels on it so you wouldn’t have to carry it. As I was getting dropped off and hearing my mom telling me bye I started to cry. Being really close to my mom I didn’t want her to leave me there all alone. So we walked in together and she told me that I was going to be all right. My mom and my new teacher, Mrs. Fossum were having a hard time getting me to stay there. After they saw that I wouldn’t stay, my mom had to stay there with me thru out that whole day. As the first day went on I was making a bunch of friends with my new classmates. When the second day came I wanted my mom to stay at school but I realized that she had to go to work. After she had left I saw a table that had some crayons and some paper on it, so I ventured over to it and stood by the seat watching to see if anyone was going to stop me from drawing. No one came so I took a seat, a piece of paper, and of course a blue coloring pencil just like the one I had at home and started to draw. When the other children saw that I was already hard at work with my drawing, which somewhat looked like a cow, they came and sat down with me. Even the child that didn’t want to leave his father noticed me and came over and started to draw. The little boy started to ask me questions and once he started then everyone started to include me into their group. I learned at a young age that I was not very comfortable meeting new people and doing thing on my own. My mother realized that Mitchell School system was too big of a school for my type of personality and that I do better when I don’t have to adapt to much change.

Texas vs Johnson essays

Texas vs Johnson essays H.W. 46 What role did Theodore Roosevelt play in the Progressive Movement? 1. Define what Roosevelt meant by Square Deal Roosevelt meant by the Square Deal that the mining operators did not have a choice. They had to submit to what the government said and had to make a deal with the union, led by Mitchell. In a sense, they really had no end in the, consequently called the 2. Explain Roosevelt role in the a) anthracite coal strike b.) Northern Securities Case c) Hepburn Act d) conservation of natural resources Anthracite Coal Strike - Many miners were dying needlessly every year. The men received no raise in wages in 20 years. They were paid by the weight of the coal they dug, but the companies were not weighing honestly. By 1902 they could not dig anymore. John Mitchell became leader of the union with 150,000 strong. After TR. got involved they resolved the strike and the union and workers got mostly what they asked for. Northern Securities Case - It was a holding company, a corporation set up to hold a controlling part of the stock of other companies. It was formed by James J. Hill of the great northern.,the rockefellers, JP Morgan, and EH Harriman. They brought peace between the competitors over the stock of one of the railroads. These men with great wealth had plagued a whole region and disrupted the nations stock market by their fight for monopoly. So TR. sued them. He said that they violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. The court then asked that it dissolve. Hepburn Act (1906) - Gave the ICC power over pipelines, express and sleeping car companies, bridges, ferries, and terminals. Railroad rebates and free passes were forbidden. If a shipper complained about any unfair rate, the Commission could reduce the rate until a federal court ruled on its fairness. It marked a major step on the path to effective federal regulation of business. ...

Measuring Quality of Life Based on Geography

Measuring Quality of Life Based on Geography Perhaps the most important aspect of living that we sometimes take for granted is the quality of life that we receive by living and working where we do. For instance, the ability for you to peruse these words through the use of a computer is something that might be censored in some Middle Eastern countries and China. Even our capability to walk safely down a street is something that some countries (and even some cities in the United States) may lack. Identifying areas with the highest quality of life offers an important view of cities and ​countries while providing information for those hoping to relocate. Measuring  Quality of Life By Geography One way of looking at a places quality of life is by the amount of output it produces each year. This is especially handy in the case of a country considering many countries have varying degrees of production, differing resources, and distinctive conflicts and problems within them. The major way of measuring a countrys output per year is by looking at the countrys gross domestic product, or GDP. The GDP is the amount of goods and services produced within a country annually and is typically a good indication of the amount of money flowing in and out of the country. When we divide a countrys total GDP by its total population, we get GDP per capita which reflects what each individual of that country takes home (on average) per year. The idea is that the more money we have the better off we are. Top 5 Countries with the Largest GDPs The following are the top five countries with the largest GDPs in 2010 according to the World Bank: 1) United States: $14,582,400,000,0002) China: $5,878,629,000,0003) Japan: $5,497,813,000,0004) Germany: $3,309,669,000,0005) France: $2,560,002,000,000 Countries with Highest-Ranked GDP Per Capita The five highest-ranked countries in terms of GDP per capita in 2010 according to the World Bank: 1) Monaco: $186,1752) Liechtenstein: $134,3923) Luxembourg: $108,7474) Norway: $84,8805) Switzerland: $67,236 It seems that small developed countries are ranked the highest in terms of per capita income. This is a good indicator to see what the average salary is of a country but can be a bit misleading since these small countries are also some of the richest and, therefore, must be the most well off. Since this indicator can be a bit distorted due to the population size, there exist other factors which further inform quality of life. Human Poverty Index Another metric for looking at how well-off a countrys people are is to take into consideration the Human Poverty Index (HPI) of the country. The HPI for developing countries represents quality of life by formulating the probability of not surviving to age 40, the adult literacy rate, and the average amount of the countrys population who have little to no access to clean drinking water. While the outlook for this metric is seemingly dismal, it does provide important clues as to what countries are better off. There is a second HPI that is used mostly for those countries that are considered developed. The United States, Sweden, and Japan are good examples. The aspects that are formulated for this HPI are the probability of not surviving to age 60, the number of adults lacking functional literacy skills, the percentage of ​the  population with income below the poverty line, and the rate of unemployment lasting longer than 12 months. Other Measures and Indicators of Quality of Life A well-known survey that attracts a lot of international attention is the Mercer Quality of Living Survey. The annual list places New York City with a baseline score of 100 to act as the median for all other cities to compare with. The rankings consider many different aspects from cleanliness and safety to culture and infrastructure. The list is a very valuable resource for ambitious companies looking to set up an office internationally, and also for employers to decide on how much to pay at certain offices. Recently, Mercer began to factor in environmental friendliness into their equation for cities with the highest qualities of life as a means of better qualifying what makes a great city. There exist a few unusual indicators for measuring quality of life as well. For example, the king of Bhutan in the 1970s (Jigme Singye Wangchuck) decided to overhaul the Bhutanese economy by having each member of the country strive for happiness as opposed to money. He felt that GDP was rarely a good indicator of happiness as the indicator fails to take into account environmental and ecological improvements and their effects, yet includes defense expenditures that rarely benefit a countrys happiness. He developed an indicator called Gross National Happiness (GNH), which is somewhat difficult to measure. For instance, while GDP is an easy tally of goods and services sold within a country, GNH doesnt have much for quantitative measures. However, scholars have tried their best to make some sort of quantitative measurement and have found a countrys GNH to be a function of the well-being of a human in economic, environmental, political, social, workplace, physical, and mental terms. These terms, when aggregated and analyzed, can define how happy a nation is. There are also a number of other ways to quantify ones quality of life. A second alternative is the genuine progress indicator (GPI) which is similar to GDP but instead looks to see if a countrys growth has actually made people better off in that nation. For instance, if the financial costs of crimes, environmental degradation, and natural resource losses are higher than the financial gains made through production, then the countrys growth is uneconomic. One statistician who has created a way to analyze trends in data and growth is the Swedish academic Hans Rosling. His creation, Gapminder Foundation, has compiled plenty of useful data for the public to access, and even a visualizer, which allows for a user to look at trends over time. It is a great tool for anyone interested in growth or health statistics.

South Africa Geography and History

South Africa Geography and History South Africa is the southernmost country on the African continent. It has a long history of conflict and human rights issues but it has always been one of the most economically prosperous nations in southern Africa due to its coastal location and the presence of gold, diamonds and natural resources. Population: 49,052,489 (July 2009 est.)Capital: Pretoria (administrative capital), Bloemfontein (judiciary), and Cape Town (legislative)Area: 470,693 square miles (1,219,090 sq km)Coastline: 1,738 miles (2,798 km)Highest Point: Njesuthi at 11,181 feet (3,408 m) History of South Africa By the 14th century C.E, the region was settled by the Bantu people who migrated from central Africa. South Africa was first inhabited by Europeans in 1488 when the Portuguese arrived at the Cape of Good Hope. However, permanent settlement didnt occur until 1652 when the Dutch East India Company established a small station for provisions on the Cape. In the following years, French, Dutch and German settlers began to arrive in the region. By the late 1700s, European settlements were spread throughout the Cape and by the end of the 18th century the British controlled the entire Cape of Good Hope region. In the early 1800s, in an effort to escape British rule, many native farmers called Boers migrated north, and in 1852 and 1854, the Boers created the independent Republics of the Transvaal and Orange Free State. After the discovery of diamonds and gold in the late 1800s, more European immigrants arrived in South Africa and this eventually led to the Anglo-Boer Wars, which the British won, causing the republics to become part of the British Empire. In May 1910, though, the two republics and Britain formed the Union of South Africa, a self-governing territory of the British Empire, and in 1912, the South African Native National Congress (eventually called the African National Congress or ANC) was founded with the goal of providing blacks in the region with more freedom. Despite the ANC in an election in 1948, the National Party won and began passing laws enforcing a policy of racial separation called apartheid. In the early 1960s, the ANC was banned and Nelson Mandela and other anti-apartheid leaders were convicted of treason and imprisoned. In 1961, South Africa became a republic after it withdrew from the British Commonwealth because of international protests against apartheid and in 1984 a constitution was put into effect. In February 1990, President F.W. de Klerk, unbanned the ANC after years of protest and two weeks later Mandela was released from prison. Four years later on May 10, 1994, Mandela was elected as South Africas first black president and during his time in office he was committed to reforming race-relations in the country and strengthening its economy and place in the world. This has remained the goal of subsequent governmental leaders. Government of South Africa Today, South Africa is a republic with two legislative bodies. Its executive branch is its Chief of State and Head of Government- both of which are filled by the president who is elected for five year terms by the National Assembly. The legislative branch is a bicameral Parliament composed of the National Council of the Provinces and the National Assembly. South Africas judicial branch is made up of its Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Appeals, High Courts and Magistrate Courts. South Africas Economy South Africa has a growing market economy with a plethora of natural resources. Gold, platinum and precious stones such as diamonds account for nearly half of South Africas exports. Auto assembly, textiles, iron, steel, chemicals and commercial ship repair also play a role in the countrys economy. In addition agriculture and agricultural exports are significant to South Africa. Geography of South Africa South Africa is divided into three major geographic regions. The first is the African Plateau in the countrys interior. It forms a portion of the Kalahari Basin and is semiarid and sparsely populated. It slopes gradually in the north and west but rises to 6,500 feet (2,000 meters) in the east. The second region is the Great Escarpment. Its terrain varies but its highest peaks are in the Drakensberg Mountains along the border with Lesotho. The third region are the narrow, fertile valleys along the coastal plains. The climate of South Africa is mostly semiarid; but, its eastern coast regions are subtropical with mainly sunny days and cool nights. South Africas west coast is arid because the cold ocean current Benguela, removes moisture from the region which has formed the Namib Desert that extends into Namibia. In addition to its varied topography, South Africa is famous for its biodiversity. South Africa currently has eight wildlife reserves, the most famous of which is Kruger National Park along the border with Mozambique. This park is home to lions, leopards, giraffes, elephants and hippopotamus. The Cape Floristic Region along South Africas west coast is also important as it is considered a world biodiversity hotspot which is home to endemic plants, mammals and amphibians. More Facts about South Africa South Africas population estimates must account for excess mortality due to AIDS and its affect on life expectancy, infant mortality and population growth rates.South Africa divides its governmental power among three capitals. Bloemfontein is the capital of the judiciary, Cape Town is the legislative capital, and Pretoria is the administrative capital. Resources and Further Reading Centrail Intelligence Agency. (2010, April 22). CIA - The World Factbook South Africa. Retrieved from: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sf.htmlInfoplease.com. (n.d.) South Africa: History, Geography, Government, and Culture - Infoplease.com. Retrieved from: infoplease.com/ipa/A0107983.htmlUnited States Department of State. (2010, February). South Africa (02/10). Retrieved from: state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2898.htm

Evolution of Health Care Information Systems Paper Essay

Evolution of Health Care Information Systems Paper - Essay Example An information system may simply be defined as an arrangement of people, technology, processes and data that interact to gather, process, store, transfer and provide output in form of useful information that supports the organization. The HCIS (Health Care Information System) traditionally was developed to primarily manage financial and administrative data with an aim of supporting management functions as well as general operations of the organization that deals in healthcare services (Tan, 2005). Administrative applications of HCIS include admission, transfer and discharge registration, scheduling, accounts receivable and patient billing, utilization management, payroll, staff scheduling, material management, general ledger and accounts payable administration (Tan, 2005). The clinical information system on the other hand contains clinical/ health related information that is related to diagnosing, monitoring and treating patients. Clinical applications generally consist of the ancillary information system and other systems which include nursing documentation, medication administration, tele-health and telemedicine, electronic medical record and provider order entry. Changes witnessed in healthcare systems have become real, more as a result of advancements in information systems, medical technology and healthcare delivery, and management practices (Tan, 2005). Up to the early 1980s, HIS (Healthcare Information Systems) were more oriented towards information â€Å"supply† for purposes of conducting business. Attention however shifted over time to a system that is more â€Å"demand† oriented; information and its importance. This led to the gradual replacement of pencils, calculators, paper and cards, mechanical punches and people for performing vital tasks (Dudeck, Blobel, Lordieck & Bà ¼rkle, 1997). The typical office in the healthcare facility then was characterized by cumbersome and labor intensive work methods. These methods and systems were later