Political science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Political science - Essay Example al political systems, supranationalism, peace studies, conflict analysis, strategic studies, public administration, political psychology, socialization studies, legislative processes, public law, and more. The issue of how globalization is impacting citizenship is one of great significance within the field of political science, and it is as well one which is highly relevant to the world today. In order to be able to understand about globalization and how it is affecting citizenship today, not only must each separate issue be discussed, but as well any and all other key issues must be addressed and thoroughly examined. By doing this, we will be able to gain a more informed and knowledgeable understanding on the subject matter at hand, and as well we will be able to attain the information which will answer the question of how globalization is affecting citizenship. This is what will be dissertated in the following. Globalization is a term which refers to a process that involves the increasing of global connectivity and the integration between organizations, and it is really an umbrella term which covers a variety of different ideals. Recent emerging literature and studies on the quality of democracy have suggested the fact that economic globalization greatly affects the quality of citizenship, and there are three particular of facets of globalization which must then be discussed here, as well as two facets of social citizenship. The three globalization facets are trade level, trade liberalization and debt ratio; the three social citizenship facets are social spending and employment quality. The problems that are considered to exist between globalization and citizenship are not considered as being new, as in fact there have been many steps that have been taken in the past, particularly over more recent years, in order to try and create solutions for these specific problems. For instance, in December, 1996, UNRISD (United Nations Research Institute for Social

Primary education Essay Example for Free

Primary education Essay The World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal approved a comprehensive vision of Education for All (EFA) to be achieved by 2015 based on the six goals. The six goals relate to the areas of early childhood care and education, universalising primary education, gender, youth and adolescents, adult education and quality of education. The main focus is on ‘reaching the unreached’ for ensuring complete coverage of education. With this background the Mid- Decade Assessment of Education for All was initiated to take stock of the progress made with respect to EFA Goals. Corresponding to this exercise, a comprehensive review of the progress made with respect to Education for All in India was conducted jointly by Government of India and the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA). The present work which is a sequel to the National Report consists of a series of thematic and state review papers. There are nine thematic review papers covering all the six goals including three additional papers on three other themes, namely, Teacher and Teacher Education, Management Strategies for EFA and Financing of EFA in India. These thematic review papers are further followed by a series of analytical papers covering progress of EFA in twenty seven states of India. State reviews attempt to present a quick picture of the current level of progress in each state of India assessing the magnitude of the task involved in achieving EFA goals and projecting a realistic time frame as well as strategies needed to reach the goals. Each thematic review as well as state-specific analytical review paper has been prepared by an established expert in the respective area/state in close collaboration with national and state governments. The review papers along with the National Report present a comprehensive and disaggregated picture of the progress made towards EFA goals in the country. The papers are coming out at a very opportune time when the Parliament is engaged in debating the legislation to make education for all children a Fundamental Right. While the thematic papers highlight state of development of education with respect to different goals of EFA, the State papers present the diversity of the situation across the country. The whole series  would serve as an invaluable independent documentation on various aspects of EFA ranging from early childhood care and education to universal elementary education and adult literacy programmes using authentic data sources accompanied by a review of relevant empirical research. The whole Project involving the National Report along with the series of thematic and state analytical review papers were conceived and executed by Prof. Education for All – Mid-Decade Assessment 3 Early Childhood Care and Education R. Govinda, NUEPA who led the entire exercise and would like to thank him profusely for his leadership. Dr. Mona Sedwal who as a part of the Project Team at NUEPA contributed immensely to the whole exercise also deserves appreciation. The Team immensely benefited by the advice given by the Technical Advisory Group set up under the Chairmanship of Professor A. K. Sharma for guiding the entire exercise. I would like to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to Prof. A. K. Sharma for his invaluable guidance. Finally, I would also like to acknowledge the generous financial support provided by UNICEF and UNESCO. Ved Prakash Vice Chancellor. National University of Educational Planning and Administration 4 iv Education for All – Mid-Decade Assessment Early Childhood Care and Education Editorial Note Indian Constitution directs the State to provide free and compulsory education for all children upto the age of 14. This goal has been pursued by the country for nearly six decades through successive development plans. The last two decades have witnessed significant improvements in children’s participation in schooling, accompanied by substantial increase in investments. The recent effort to raise resources for the sector through imposition of an education cess is major effort in that direction. Even though school education has traditionally remained a subject for action by State Governments, Government of India has, during the last two decades following the National Policy on Education – 1986, begun to play a leading role. This culminated in the launching of the national programme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in 2001. Despite all these efforts, the final goal of providing quality education for all has eluded the country. Urgency of reaching the goal has been heightened in recent years due to several national and international developments, including commitments made under the Dakar Framework for Action for providing quality Education for All by 2015, which not only covers primary education but also focus on literacy goals, gender equality and quality concerns. The Dakar Framework of Action listed the following six specific goals to be achieved by all countries. 1. Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children. 2. Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality. 3. Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills programmes. 4. Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literary by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults. 5. Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality. 6. Improving every aspect of the quality of education, and ensuring their excellence so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills. The National Plan of Action for Education for All (2002) in India reflects this sense of urgency felt within the country by proposing to reach the targets much ahead of the international dateline. At the national level, the Constitutional Amendment in 2002 declaring education in the age group 6-14 which corresponds to the elementary education stage of schooling a fundamental right has brought the issue of universal elementary education (UEE) to the centre stage of public discourse. The country is in the process of drawing up the legislation for effective implementation of the right for Education for All – Mid-Decade Assessment 5 Early Childhood Care and Education translating the constitutional provision into reality. With the progress made in recent years the goal seems to be achievable by the international time frame of 2015. But this requires systematic assessment of the various goals the present exercise is one such effort. UNESCO has been bringing out annual review of the progress made in moving towards the goal of EFA through the Global Monitoring Report. These assessments do not reflect an encouraging picture of the Indian scene. This is an issue of serious concern for the national leadership as one sixth of the world population lives in India. With around 65% adult literacy rate, there are more around 350 million adult illiterates in the country. This should not be taken to imply that no efforts are being made to meet the challenge of EFA. Besides, the national averages do not fully reflect the diverse reality characterizing educational progress in India. In fact, it is paradoxical that while certain pockets of the country are emerging as the international hub for creating a knowledge society, certain other regions and sections of the population continue to be deprived of even basic education. It is clear that in pursuing EFA goals, not all states and regions of the country are in the same league. The variety is too wide to draw any generalization. While some states have made remarkable progress in education, practically eradicating illiteracy and achieving near universal participation of children in elementary education, several other states continue to remain far from the final goal. What is needed to progress faster in moving towards the 2015 EFA deadline in all parts of the country? This obviously demands an analytical exercise goal wise as well as statewise. It is with this objective in view that the present exercise was taken up to make an independent assessment of the progress achieved in different states and with respect to different EFA goals. The present series of papers constitute the outcome of such a comprehensive exercise carried out by independent experts, in collaboration with Central and State Governments. The main purpose of the exercise is to place before policy makers, planners and the civil society as a whole an analytical picture of the progress made towards EFA goals and the challenges ahead for reaching the goals in a realistic fashion. The exercise consisted of three parts. The first part consisted of presenting an overview of progress in the country with respect to six goals highlighted in the Dakar Declaration. This was largely based on the technical guidelines for assessment prepared by UNESCO. A national report entitled â€Å"Education for All Mid-Decade Assessment: Reaching the Unreached† has been prepared and published jointly by NUEPA and Government of India. The Second Part consists of a series of nine thematic review papers dealing with different dimensions of ‘Education for All’ keeping in view the Indian context and priorities. These include: (i) Early Childhood Care and Education; (ii) Universal Elementary Education; (iii) Adult Education; (iv) Towards Gender Equality in Education; (v) Education of Adolescents and Young Adults; (vi) Quality of Education; (vii) teacher and teacher education; (viii) Management Strategies for EFA and (ix) Financing of EFA. Each of these papers has been prepared by an expert or experts 6 vi Education for All – Mid-Decade Assessment Early Childhood Care and Education in the respective area. The papers were reviewed by another independent expert and revised based on the observations. The third part consists of analytical papers covering all states of India. Each thematic review as well as state-specific analytical review was prepared by an established expert in the respective area/state in close collaboration with national and state governments. The state level reviews are prepared on lines similar to what was followed for preparing the national review. Each of them deals with comprehensively on all six goals of EFA specified in the Dakar Declaration. The present paper by Venita Kaul and Deepa Sankar examines the situation with respect to Early Childhood Care and Education comprehensively dealing with school based pre-primary education programmes as well as the more widespread ICDS programme. In fact, this is an area of critical importance as increasing empirical evidence points to the value of providing pre school experience to children not only for improving their readiness for schooling but also as part of meeting their basic growth and development needs. Providing early childhood care and education is the first goal stated in the Dakar Framework for Action, and the National Plan of Action promises to take an integrated view of early childhood care and education. This elaborate exercise of assessing the progress in EFA should be viewed in the context of repeated assertions by the UNESCO Global Monitoring Report on EFA that Indian is at the risk of not making the global targets with respect to several EFA goals. The findings of the review clearly points out that the situation across the country is very diverse. While some States have registered fast progress on all fronts, some others continue to lag behind. Also in general, access to schooling has improved every where even though much remains to be done with respect to other goals of EFA. It is hoped that the various volumes brought out through the exercise would together present a realistic analysis and a disaggregated picture of the Education for All process and achievements in the country. R. Govinda Professor and Head Department of School and Non-formal Education National University of Educational Planning and Administration Education for All – Mid-Decade Assessment. vii 7 Early Childhood Care and Education Acknowledgements This comprehensive exercise of reviewing the progress of EFA has been done through active involvement and support of a large team of experts and officials from Government of India as well as various State Governments. The exercise was carried out under the constant guidance of the members of the Technical Advisory Group under the leadership of Professor A. K. Sharma. The task could not have been completed without the commitment and support of Professor Ved Prakash, Vice Chancellor, NUEPA. Special thanks are due to Smt. Anita Kaul, Joint Secretary, MHRD, Government of India who played a central role in conceiving and implementing the whole exercise. Financial support for the exercise came from UNICEF and UNESCO; in particular, thanks are due to Mr. Samphe Lhalungpa who took personal interest in ensuring that the Project is completed smoothly. We would like to record our appreciation for the technical support and cooperation given by the NUEPA Publication Unit and for printing and publishing the volumes. EFA Project Team National University of Educational Planning and Administration 8 Education for All – Mid-Decade Assessment. Early Childhood Care and Education Technical Advisory Group Professor A. K. Sharma Former Director NCERT Chairperson Professor Ved Prakash Vice Chancellor NUEPA Member Joint Secretary (EE) MHRD Member Professor R. Govinda Head Department of SNFE NUEPA Member Deputy Secretary MHRD Coordinator NUEPA Project Team Professor R. Govinda Head Department of SNFE NUEPA Project Director Dr. Mona Sedwal NUEPA Project Associate Fellow Education for All – Mid-Decade Assessment 9 Early Childhood Care and Education About the Authors ix Venita Kaul is Senior Education Specialist in World Bank. Prior to joining the Bank she was Professor and Head of Department of Preschool and Elementary Education at the NCERT. She has written extensively in the areas of Early Childhood Education and Early Primary education in the Indian context and has several books and papers to her credit. Deepa Sankar is an Education Economist with the South Asia Human Development Department of the World Bank. 10 Education for All – Mid-Decade Assessment Management of Elementary Education Contents Preface iii Editorial Note v Acknowledgements viii Technical Advisory Group ix About the Authors x Section I Introduction 1 Section II. Early Childhood Development (ECD) – The Indian Context 2 Section III ECCE –An Equity Issue 9 Section IV Providing for the Child in India Section V Coverage of ECCE Services 25 Section VI Public Spending on Children 30 Section VII Some Significant Issues and Concerns in ECCE 36 References 11 15 43 Education for All – Mid-Decade Assessment Early Childhood Care and Education SECTION I INTRODUCTION The first six to eight years of a child’s life last a lifetime!! Known as the early childhood stage, these years are considerably, and often irreversibly, reduced. This research finding places a very large percentage of children in  globally acknowledged to be the most critical years for life-long development, since the pace of development in these years is extremely rapid. Recent poverty contexts, particularly in the developing world, ‘at risk’, in terms of their life chances. â€Å"By the time poorer children in many countries reach school research in the field of neuroscience has provided convincing evidence that â€Å"experience-based brain development in the early years sets neurological and age, they are at a significant disadvantage in cognitive and social ability† (The World Bank, 2005b:132). This early childhood stage is also biological pathways that affect health,  learning and behaviour throughout life†. (Mustard, 2007:40) It is in these early years of life that critical periods are important as a foundation for inculcation of social and personal habits and values, which are known to last a lifetime. It follows logically that these located for development of several cognitive, social and psychomotor competencies, which significantly contribute to later success in life. If years are crucial and important for investing in to ensure an enabling environment for every child and thereby a sound foundation for life. This is not these critical periods are not supported by, or embedded in a stimulating and  enriching physical and psycho-social environment, the chances of the child’s only the right of every child, but will also impact in the long term, on the quality of human capital available to a country, like India, whose main asset in the brain developing to its full potential are years to come will be its ‘youth power’. Education for All – Mid-Decade Assessment 1 Early Childhood Care and Education SECTION II EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT (ECD) – THE INDIAN CONTEXT Our Cultural Heritage: Early Childhood Development (ECD) programs for children in the age group of prenatal to 6 years, derive their importance from the next. This  wealth of developmentally appropriate childcare practices is gradually becoming extinct, in the humdrum of more modern this rationale, and from the changing social, economic and demographic contexts over the last few decades that have often rendered homes ill-equipped provisions for children and changing social realities. to ensure optimal childcare. A look into India’s past cultural heritage indicates that traditionally, the early childhood years (from prenatal to five years) were are more specifically associated with changes in the family structure, from joint to nuclear, so that parenting, which was earlier a shared family  considered to lay the foundation for inculcation of basic values and social skills in children. It is believed that these values are imbibed from the responsibility, is now solely the responsibility of the parents; this responsibility is again often further delegated. While children from the family as the ‘sanskaras’ and the scriptures advocate an attitude of lalayat or indulgence, as the desirable mode of child rearing at this stage, as compared higher socio-economic strata are often left with paid surrogate care givers, in the lower socio-economic communities the responsibility of childcare gets to more disciplinary approach for the  older child! Much of the early care and education of the child was informal, within the family and largely through loaded on to the older sisters, thus keeping them often out of school and robbing them of both their childhood and basic education. In addition, the grandmothers’ caring practices, stories, lullabies and traditional infant games, handed down from one generation to growing urbanization and increase in maternal employment outside the home has further affected the possibilities of 2 Education for All – Mid-Decade Assessment In India, as elsewhere, these changes Early Childhood Care and Education  ensuring â€Å"quality informal early care and education’ for the young child within the home. It was this changing social context, over the years, which laid the however, the concept of early childhood care and education (integrating health, nutrition and education aspects) has been widely accepted. India has in this seeds for the introduction of the concept of organized Preschool Education /Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) in the country. context, been able to put together a fairly supportive policy framework and has launched some major initiatives for children for this stage of development, ECCE-The Beginning: The earliest  formal documentation of preschool/early childhood education, as an organized which are discussed later in the paper. As a result, there has been noticeable, though not adequate, progress over the last fifty years, in both public and private initiative in India, dates back to the latter half of the nineteenth century when Gijubhai Badheka and Tarabai Modak, among others, became the pioneers of provision for young children. this movement in the country. Influenced by Madame Montessori’s visit to India, they established preschool education centers in Gujarat. In 1946 Three important principles of Child Development, substantiated by  research, have steered the evolution of programs for young children from just Madame Montessori met Mahatma Gandhi, who asked her to ‘indianize’ her method to make preschool education available to a large majority of children. ‘preschool education’ to the concept of more integrated and holistic Early Childho od Development programs. These principles assert that: (i) A child’s That was the beginning of ‘pre basic education’ in the rural parts of the country, largely through voluntary effort. Till India’s independence in 1947, early experiences and outcomes will determine the extent to which s/he will gain from subsequent interventions,  since child development is a continuous voluntary agencies and private institutions primarily fulfilled the need for ECCE, particularly in the form of preschool education. The first and cumulative process. A recent study in US demonstrated that by the age of 3 years, gaps in learning as measured by vocabulary are already large among government initiative in this area was the setting up of a Central Social Welfare Board in 1953, which started a grant–in–aid scheme for voluntary children from different social groups (The World Bank, 2005b); (ii) A child’s cognitive learning is affected by his/her socio-economic status, through the  agencies. Over this half century, child’s health (malnutrition, iron and Education for All – Mid-Decade Assessment 3 Differentiating ECD, ECE and ECCE Early Childhood Care and Education micronutrient deficiency, and parasitic infections) and the quality of the home environment. Health, nutrition and education/ psycho-social development education has been one of its six components, in addition to health and nutrition. The nomenclature, Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) are all synergistically inter-related, and this makes a case for addressing all needs of children through a holistic approach; and (iii) The child’s  found its due place in the policy framework in India later in 1986 when an exclusive chapter of the National Policy on Education was devoted to it. development gains will be optimized and more sustainable, if the programs address not only the child, but the child’s overall context, including the ECCE was defined, in the policy in ways similar to ECD, as an integrated and holistic concept of care and education of children between 0-6 years from socially family. Consequently, Early Childhood Development (ECD) and/or ECCE as disadvantaged groups. This provision was seen as facilitating to lay the child’s foundation for life and also a support  service for girls and working mothers. understood by Indian professionals working with young children, refers to a holistic and integrated program of nutrition, health and early childhood The policy emphasized the joyful nature of ECCE, especially for the 3-6 years olds, and discouraged any formal instruction of the 3R’s at this early stage education which caters to children from prenatal to 6/8 years and which addresses the all round development of the child from a lifecycle perspective of education. In practice, however, ECCE programs for children have assumed various nomenclatures and definitions, depending on the priority a  (See Fig 1 for an Indian Conceptual Framework). While this nomenclature of ECD is relatively recent, India has the distinction of having conceptualized and particular program serves. These include Early Childhood Education (ECE) /preschool education programs which are focused only on preschool floated perhaps the world’s largest program for children, modeled on this definition, as early as in 1975. Known as the Integrated Child Development education for 3-6 years olds (e. g. prenurseries, nurseries, kindergartens, preparatory schools, pre primary etc). These do not have any health or Services (ICDS), this program targets  children, pregnant and lactating mothers and adolescent girls from a lifecycle perspective. Non-formal preschool nutrition component, are ‘stand –alones’ or part of primary schools and generally in the non-governmental or private sector. 4 Education for All – Mid-Decade Assessment Early Childhood Care and Education Figure 2. 1: An Indian Conceptual Framework for Integrated Child Development Determinants  ¦Maternal health, nutrition adequacy and quality of care of newborn  ¦Safe delivery, family and community support for the mother and baby  ¦Environmental hygiene, safe water and sanitation Prenatal to one month Outcomes  ¦ Healthy, responsive  newborn Indicators  ¦Mother not anemic or underweight  ¦Child weighs more than 2500 grams  ¦Child moves head side to side on being stimulated Determinants One month to three years Outcomes  ¦Freedom from intermittent diseases (diarrhea acute respiratory infection)  ¦Nutritional security  ¦Curiosity, sociability  ¦Confidence selfhelp and sensory motor skills Indicators  ¦Full immunization by end of year one  ¦Completion of all prophylaxis (e. g. vitamin A) by end of 3 years  ¦Toilet trained  ¦Ability to communicate clearly and confidently  ¦ Sociability and ability to stay away from family for a few hours  ¦Appropriate height and  weight for age  ¦ Age-appropriate gross motor and auditory-visual skills Three to six years Outcomes  ¦ Interest in learning school readiness skills (language, numeracy psychosocial skills)  ¦ Activeness, selfconfidence, awareness of environment  ¦ Freedom from intermittent diseases, nutritional security  ¦ Management of any identified disability Indicators  ¦Active participation in early childhood care and education activities.  ¦ Ability to narrate experience confidently  ¦Demonstration of curiosity  ¦Age-appropriate self-help social skills  ¦Age-appropriate height weight  ¦ Regular preschool attendance  ¦Nutrition adequacy, including  exclusive breast-feeding  ¦ Responsive complementary feeding, quality of mother/caregiver-child interaction  ¦Immunization, management of diarrhea and other illnesses  ¦Health and hygiene practices  ¦Sensory motor and language stimulation and opportunities for play and exploration  ¦ Cultural attitudes and stereotypes Determinants  ¦Quality early childhood care and education.  ¦Basic healthcare services including disability screening  ¦Nutrition adequacy and incidence of intermittent diseases  ¦Literacy level of parents, educational environment at home Education for All – Mid-Decade Assessment 5 Early Childhood Care and Education Determinants.  ¦ Early childhood care and education experience/ school readiness  ¦Access to schooling  ¦Nutritional adequacy  ¦Quality of school  ¦Socio-cultural factors – extent of inclusion (gender, tribe, caste, etc. )  ¦Early detection of learning disabilities  ¦Social norm, role models and supportive home environment  ¦Safe water and sanitation, incidence of infestation and infection affecting regular attendance  ¦Female teachers Six to eight years Outcomes  ¦Sociability, selfconfidence/ selfesteem  ¦Ability to read and write, with a continued interest in learning  ¦Freedom from anemia and intermittent diseases Indicators  ¦ Demonstration of  competencies for Class 2 by end of age 8  ¦Regular attendance  ¦No worm infestation or anemia Determinants  ¦Quality of school  ¦Socio-cultural factors – inclusion (gender, tribe, caste), social norm  ¦Health promoting school  ¦Early detection of learning disabilities  ¦Infestation and infection occurrence, nutritional levels, particularly in girls  ¦Supportive home environment, community Eight to twelve + years Outcomes  ¦Successful completion of primary school with appropriate literacy and numeracy skills  ¦Active learning capacity  ¦Good health, nutrition  ¦Positive self-image  ¦Coping and social skills Indicators  ¦Regular school attendance.  ¦Eagerness to learn  ¦Sociability, activeness  ¦Demonstration of competencies for Class 5 at end of age 11  ¦Motivation and confidence to continue education Source: World Bank, 2004, pp. 12. It is now being increasingly realized that the ECCE stage itself has within it more than two distinct sub-stages, each with the first sub-stage of prenatal to three years, the developmental priority is ensuring health and nutritional wellbeing its own developmental priorities (See Figure 2. 1). ECCE can thus be further classified into the sub-stages of (a) prenatal to two and a half to three years; of the mother and child, since this is the  vulnerable stage for growth faltering and is also critical for brain development. This stage requires more of home- (b) 3- 4 years and (c) 4 to 5/6 years. For targeted 6 Education for All – Mid-Decade Assessment parent counseling in nutrition Early Childhood Care and Education and health education and in ‘early psychosocial stimulation’. For the 3-4 years olds, the priority shifts to early learning and all round development include the more structured school readiness elements. Within this integrated framework, this paper focuses especially on the latter two sub- through a more organized center-based ECCE program, using the play way  method. For the 4-6 years olds, this program gets further expanded to stages within Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), i. e. for the 3-6 years olds. Graph 2. 1 Child Development Index 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 CDI- 1993 CDI 1999 Kerala Gujarat HP Haryana Punjab Orissa UP MP Bihar 0 CDI 2006 Graph 2. 1 shows that although almost all states showed improvements in child development related parameters, the improvements varied. The states, which had already reached higher levels of child development, improved marginally, while states with very low base indicators improved faster – like Bihar and UP. However, Bihar, UP, Rajasthan and MP continue to be below the all India average figures. These states are the laggard states in terms of child development and need more focused approach to develop child related outcomes. For that, it is also important to address their provision needs, as well as the socio-economic barriers to improve child development. Education for All – Mid-Decade Assessment 7 Early Childhood Care and Education Graph 2. 2 Comparative difference in CDIs using immunization Vs malnutrition indicators (2004-06) 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10  4 indicator CDI Nagaland JK Arunachal Rajasthan Assam Manipur Bihar Uttarakhand MP Mizoram Tripura Sikkim Meghalaya Punjab All-India AP UP Orissa Delhi Chattisgarh Goa West Bengal Karnataka Gujarat Haryana Maharashtra Kerala Jharkhand TN HP 0 5 indicator CDI However, if malnutrition indicators are taken into consideration in the CDI instead of immunization, the profile in terms of absolute CDI values changes. Interestingly, this shift is more significant in the case of states which are at the higher end, for example, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala (Graph 2. 2). Possibly, with better governance, literacy levels etc, these states demonstrate higher CDI levels when education and immunization indicators are included since both and related to the quality of service delivery. However, when impact in terms of child development outcomes are included (e. g. , underweight and stunted children), the inter-state variations get narrowed down. With states like Tamil Nadu, which have a history of effective feeding programs, the deterioration in CDI values indicated in Graph 2. 2 may well raise the question â€Å"Is feeding enough to address malnutrition in children? 8 Education for All – Mid-Decade Assessment Early Childhood Care and Education SECTION III ECCE –AN EQUITY ISSUE ECCE is now emerging as a significant equity issue in the Indian context. largely an outcome of a rapid expansion of private facilities, particularly in the Despite significant expansion of the ICDS program from the eighth plan onwards, the recent NFHS-3 data shows that the status of children in the urban sector. On the other, children from the lower socio-economic strata, whose need is perhaps greater due to impoverish.

Common Computer Based Information Systems Information Technology Essay

Common Computer Based Information Systems Information Technology Essay Human resources- finds and hires people, handles such matters as sick leave, retirement benefits, evaluation, compensation, and professional development. Research- conducts product research and development, monitors and troubleshoots new products. Discuss the roles of the three kinds of management in a corporation. Top level- concerned with long-range planning and forecasting. Middle-level- deals with control, planning, decision making, and implementing long term goals. Supervisors- control operational matters, monitor day- to -day events, and supervise works. What are the four most common computer-based information systems? Transaction processing system(TPS) Management information system(SIM) Decision support systems(DSS) Executive support systems(ESS) Describe the different reports and their roles in managerial decision making. Transaction processing system(TPS)- record day-to-day transactions. For example in accounting, which handles in six activities: sales order processing, accounts receivable, inventory and purchasing, accounts payable, payroll, and general ledger. Management information system(SIM)-produce predetermined periodic, exception, and demand reports. Management information system use database management systems to integrate the databases of different departments. Decision support systems(DSS)-enable managers to get answers for unanticipated questions. Teams formed to address large problems use group decision support systems(GDDS). A DSS consist of user, system software, data-internal and external, and decision models. Three types of decision models are strategic, tactcal, and operational. Executive support systems(ESS)-assist top-level executives. An executive support system is similar to MIS or DSS but easier to use. ESSs are design specifically for top-level decision makers. What is the difference between an office automation system and a knowledge work system? Office automation systems(OAS) support data workers who are involved with distribution and communication of information. Project managers and videoconferencing systems are OAS. Knowledge work systems(KWS) support knowledege workers, who creates information. Many engineers use computer aided design/ computer aided manufacturing(CAD/CAM) systems. CHAPTER 12 : DATABASES Describe the five logical data groups or categories. Character-the most basic logical data element. It is a single letter, number or special character such as a punctuation mark or symbol like $. Field-field or group of related character. A data field represents an attribute (description/characteristic) of some entity (person, place, thing or object). Record-collection of related fields. A record represents a collection of attributes that describe an entity. Table-collection of related records. Database-an integrated collection of logically related tables. What is the difference between batch processing and real-time processing? Batch processing-data is collected over a period of time and the processing happens later all at one time. Real-time processing-happens immediately when the transaction occurs. Identify and define the five part of DBMS programs. DBMS engine-a bridge between the logical view of the data and the physical view of the data. When users request data(logical perspective), DBMS engine handles the details of actually locating data(physical perspective). Data definition subsystem-the logical structure of data-base by using a data dictionary or schema. This dictionary contains a description of the structure of data in database. Data manipulation subsystem-provides tools for maintaining and analyzing data. Maintaining data known as data maintenance involves adding new data, deleting data and editing existing data. Analysis tools support viewing all or selected parts of data, querying database and generating reports. Application generation subsystem-provides tool to create data entry forms and specialized programming languages that interface or work with common and widely used programming languages such as C or Visual Basic. Data administration subsystem manages the database; database administrators (DBAs) are computer professionals who help define processing rights. What are the five types of databases? Why does more than one kind of database exist? -Individual -Company -Distributed -Commercial Databases available for general and specific business purposes include business directories, demographic data, business statistical information, text databases, and Web databases. What are some of the benefits and limitations of databases? Why is security a concern? Two important security concers are illegal use of data and unauthorized access. Most organizations use firewalls to protect their internal networks. Some benefits are in business such as financial and marketing. Limitation is for security of the organizations.

Lewis And Clark :: essays research papers fc

The Lewis and Clark expedition across the present day United States began May 14, 1804. With the approval of President Jefferson and the U.S. Congress, Lewis and Clark gathered an exploration party of about four dozen men. These men headed off to discover Western America. On September 1, 1805, they arrived at the Bitterroot Mountains, near present day Idaho. This began a nightmare that would not end until they reached modern-day Weippe. September 1, 1805, the explorers set out traveling west, heading into rough, seldom traveled, mountainous country. They stopped at today’s North Fork of the Salmon River, known as Fish Creek to Lewis and Clark, where they caught five fish, and were able to kill a deer (MacGregor 125). Some of the men’s feet and horse’s hooves were injured due to the rough, rocky terrain. The next day, they were entering mountains far more difficult to pass than any American had ever attempted (Ambros 284). Clark describes the route: "Throuâ⠂¬â„¢ thickets in which we were obliged to cut a road, over rocky hillsides where horses were in perpetual danger of slipping to their certain distruction and up and down steep hills†¦" (De Voto 232). Traveling along the steep hills, several horses fell. One was crippled, and two gave out. Patrick Gass described the trip that day as, "†¦the worst road (If road it can be called) that was ever traveled" (MacGregor 125). To make conditions even worse, it rained that afternoon, which made the trail even more treacherous. The party was only able to travel five miles that day. On September 3, snow fell and the team’s last thermometer broke. Several more horsed slipped and injured themselves. Later that day, the snow turned into sleet. The expedition family consumed the last of their salt pork and fish and began their descent into the Bitterroot Valley. That night, was the coldest yet. The next day, the party went down a very steep descent to a river that Le wis named, Clark’s River, (Today known as The Bitterroot River.) There, they encountered a band of Salish Indians, whom the captains called Flatheads. They stayed there with the Indians the next couple of days to trade. They acquired thirteen new Appaloosa Horses, including three colts, for seven worn out horses. The Salish Indians shared berries and roots with the men for their meals. On September 6, they set off traveling northward along the Bitterroot River for about ten miles.

Contemporary issues in marketing Essay

Contemporary issues in marketing Introduction                   Tesco is a UK-based international grocery and general merchandising retail chain. In the recent past, Tesco has undertaken an array of marketing activities to benefit its marketing strategies and corporate social responsibility. The company has invested in a range of own-label products, in-depth market research with customers, established such in-store facilities as bakeries and meat counters and baby change roofs, as launched first-class training program to enable its staff to offer service to customers the best way possible (Chaffey & Smith 2008, p.55). This focus on customer-centric culture has been signified by the positive impacts of the Tesco Club Card and Tesco Direct. Tesco Club Card                   Use of customer loyalty programs has become increasingly pronounced in many industries, the retail sector being no exception. Retailers are increasingly adopting customer club cards to encourage customer loyalty by providing value to them. This tapping into customer loyalty for mutual benefit is a basic technique of relationship marketing which also involves other variables of trust, commitment, satisfaction, and value (Palmer 2005, p.125). Compared to its major competitors, Tesco has the most successful customer loyalty program known as Tesco Club Card. This has given Tesco competitive advantage as the competition has only succeeded in creating false loyalty. Whilst other companies have designed good loyalty programs, they have failed to create value to their brands in the eye of the consumer leading to customer dissatisfaction.                   The Tesco Club card scheme, launched in 1995, has direct benefits to card-holding customers who receive a point for  £1 spent at Tesco stores or at Tesco’s website, as well as double points right71755on special offers by the supermarket. The points are stored and accumulated and the card holder is awarded with vouchers for the value of points they have built up at four times a year (Gummesson 2008, p.55). These vouches can then be used for shopping in store or on Club card Deals where their value is quadrupled. In addition, Club Card holders qualify for free access to a number of Club card clubs by Tesco such as healthy food, baby and toddler, food and Christmas clubs. Tesco card-holding customers also benefit from the convenience of purchasing air miles using their club card points following Tesco’s partnership with Virgin Atlantic.                   The Tesco Club card system also benefits customers by rewarding â€Å"green points† to them when they contribute to environment sustainability measures through bringing their own carrier bags during shopping. This is part of Tesco’s 10-point Community Plan intended to increase â€Å"greenness† at all Tesco stores and improve the chain’s positing within the community (Charlesworth 2009, p.85). The plan also entails Tesco’s efforts to introduce thicker and degradable bags. Through this plan, Tesco customers are able to adopt environmentally friendly behavior and significantly contribute to sustainability.                   Similarly, Tesco itself substantially benefits from the Tesco Club Card scheme. The benefits afforded to the customers allows Tesco to understand consumer behavior and micro-segment them in terms of lifestyle habits. Data obtained from this enables Tesco to target the customers with more personalized promotions along with other marketing programmes (Gummesson 2008, p.86). Tesco is able to gather detailed data about individual customers’ buying habits while at the same time maintaining feedback channels by which the stores communicate directly with their customers and build loyalty. The wealth of information obtained from the Tesco Club Card system, which is constantly updated and refreshed, has significantly contributed to the supermarket chain’s knowledge of its customer base, increased sales and commitment from customers. In addition, Tesco enjoys such operational benefits as refined stock selection, display as well as staffing levels (Hu mby 2008, p.47).                   Tesco Company has also revolutionized its use of personalized club card data through online marketing strategy. Considerable changes have been made to the company’s website, Tesco.com. Club card has been turned digital, where data about individual consumer habits are correlated with other sources of data such as mobile phone data, social networking data, payment methods to enable delivery of even more personalized offers to customers (Hart 2003, p.203). As such, value offers flash up to its most price-sensitive customers whilst finest products are the core of personalized messages to the more â€Å"up-market† club card holders. Tesco’s Home Delivery Service                   Tesco.com, previously known as Tesco Direct, has attracted a huge loyal customer base as a result of the company’s excellent home grocery delivery service. It was initially targeted at time-precious consumers needing to buy Tesco products online. This was done with the understanding that only a particular subset of the customers wanted to buy online. As such, Tesco adopted a user-friendly operating system together to produce a flexible home delivery system carefully tailored to meet the needs and expectations of the target market (Hart 2003, p.206). Tesco,com has grown to become a strong business model complimented by Tesco’s Club card loyalty programme, and helped the leading supermarket chain with identifying, segmenting and incentivizing the most potential customer for less than $250 a head (Humby et al. 2008,, p.221).                   The home delivery service strives to recreate as much as possible the experience of shopping at a local Tesco store. The home delivery model is a product of Tesco’s determination to know its customer more than rival supermarkets and other internet retailers. It has benefitted Tesco’s reputation of listening to customers and responding to their wishes accordingly (Chaffey & Smith 2008, p.98). Tesco has at least 3,200-strong fleet of light commercials that facilitate about 500,000 deliveries per week. The supermarket chain’s home delivery vehicles are in operation seven days a week for a maximum 16 hours daily, resulting in substantial positive effect on their customer service levels. Using a powerful satellite navigational system, Tesco drivers follow most efficient delivery routes that enable them to meet delivery schedules at all times. This is helped by the fact that the company has a team of high skilled pickers who take care of o nline orders. Marketing Relationships Between Organization And Its Stakeholders Tesco’s Relationship Marketing                   The existence of a business depends on its ability to build relationships between employers, employees, investors, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders, and efforts done to attain success. Tesco builds marketing relationships with its stakeholders through listening to them: pursues partnership approach with suppliers, employees and suppliers due to its belief in open and constructive relationships (Thoenig & Waldman 2007, p.152). Similarly, Tesco listens and partners with communities in which they do business for the purpose of understanding local issues and needs. Tesco as a publicly trade limited company has diverse ownership, meaning that the investment community has greater degree of leverage over retailer strategy as well greater degree of freedom of the supermarket to promote sustainability even in instances where it is against short-term financial interests.                   Considering that Tesco operates in a highly competitive marketplace where products, tastes, consumer buying behaviors and even store are constantly changing, it always have to devise proactive measures to deal with these changes. The company’s slogan, ‘Every Little helps’, describes its way of working with all its stakeholders.                   Tesco has a history of appealing to both ‘up-graders’ and ‘down-graders’, which has helped the supermarket store to significantly broaden its demographic base. Tesco strives to fulfill its aims and objectives of creating value for its customers and gain their lifetime loyalty by promoting deals and sales of products via direct mail and emails to customers. The messages are tailored for individual customers depending on their history of purchases retrieved from Tesco’s customer database developed from information gathered by Tesco Club card (Humby 2008, p.87). Tesco builds strong relationships with customers by striving to understand them and be the first to meet their needs. Tesco customers constantly receive notifications about the latest new products in stores as well on Tesco.com website. The supermarket chain also offers deals and discounts on its products in line with the customers’ needs.                   Tesco also makes use of relationship marketing on its website to market special offers to customers during such holiday seasons as Easter. The website carries a range of products and presents from which customers can pick from to purchase. Customers are also afforded the option to pre-order their deliveries, enabling customers to book in advance products they desire to purchase online and be home delivered. Tesco’s Cause-Related Marketing (CRM)                   Phrases such as ‘corporate reputation’ and ‘corporate citizenship’ have increasingly become common additions to marketing speak as brands recognize the need to be perceived as responsible players by customers and the society. Cause-related marketing refers to any partnership between an organization and a charity program which markets a product, service, or an image for mutual benefit (Hassan & Parves 2013, p.6). Tesco is at the top of an illustrious group of companies that have integrated major cause-related marketing programs into their marketing activities. This has been informed by Tesco’s understanding of the significance of CRM – substantial benefits to the organization and positive impact on the community at large. CRM programs have proved necessary due to changing expectations of stakeholders who increasingly demanding greater accountability and responsibilities from organizations.                   CRM activities have positively benefitted Tesco’s communication and marketing power. For instance, the supermarket chain has utilized major advertising spending in supporting a number of community involvements e.g. â€Å"Computers for Schools† and â€Å"Sports for Schools and Clubs†. When customers spend in excess of  £10 at Tesco stores or at Tesco’s website, they are awarded vouchers than can be given to schools and clubs (Thoenig & Waldman 2007, p.149).                   Tesco has also build reputation as a â€Å"responsible business† due to proprietary involvement in healthy eating initiatives such as it inclusion of glycemia index on food-product labeling and a Gi guide lifestyle book for customers. CRM activities through Tesco club card and home delivery services have proved to be an intrinsic component of Tesco’s marketing strategy for enhancing its corporate reputation, brand equity, loyalty, sales, and corporate social responsibility (Thoenig & Waldman 2007, p.157). CRM has strength over more conventional forms of marketing in the sense that it provides both emotional and rational connection with the customer, thus building a much stronger and sustainable relationship between the organization and customer as a stakeholder. Tesco Information Exchange (TIE)                   Tesco has also made significant efforts to boost its previously confrontational relationships with its suppliers as a result of the company’s competing on price with its supplier brands through use of copycat store brands (Thoenig & Waldman 2007, p.150). Since 1997, Tesco has been partnering with its suppliers to jointly develop a differentiated marketing approach – the Tesco Information Exchange (TIE). Through TIE, Tesco supplies its supplies with real-time information pertaining to store sales of their products. This would help in marketing analysis together with logistical planning. This arrangement enables Tesco’s supplier to give input that contributes to the improvement of Tesco’s marketing efficacy.                   Furthermore, the Tesco-suppliers partnership extends into development of certain products for their customers, undertaking store-specific promotions or incorporation the vendor’s offer to the company’s customers at the store-specific level. The result of this relationship has been its suppliers’ general perception of Tesco as professional, fair, consistent, and committed to its customers (Thoenig & Waldman 2007, p.151). Role of Customer Relationship Management (CRM)                   In recent years, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has become a powerful marketing tool that has led to massive increase in sales and profit maximization in the retail sector (Stair & Reynolds 2010, p.47). This has especially been the case due to the increasingly competitive modern marketplace in which customers continue to gain vigour, translating that business have to focus more on their customers in order to retain them and attract more others. Customer Relationship Management refers to any initiative or application developed to help a firm optimize its interactions with customers, suppliers, or protests through one or more touch points such as a salesperson, distributor, call center, store, branch office, e-mail, Web etc for the purpose of acquiring, retaining and cross-selling customers (Hassan & Parves 2013, p.2).                   CRM is designed to develop and continuously improve an organization’s relationship with its customers in their real-time transactions, with the greater help of information technology. CRM utilizes such tools as databases, personalized engines, targeted marketing, response function analysis, online preference surveys, and programs designed to track and analyze customer behavior (Hassan & Parves 2013, p.3). It builds on conventional marketing principles and much emphasis is on recognizing and defining what customers perceive as value and strive to deliver it. CRM goes beyond marketing as it involves a range of business practices designed to put the organization into closer touch with its customers so as to learn more about one another, where the overall objective is to make each other more valuable to the firm. Retailers greatly rely on the implementation of CRM policy approaches and frameworks to ensure their business success (Hassan & Parves 2013, p.5).                   Tesco adopted CRM in the early 1990s when the supermarket chain started working with a marketing services firm, Dunnhumby, leading to the launch of the preliminary test of loyalty card scheme in its six stores in 1994. In relation to the Tesco Clubcard, CRM can be best termed to as initiatives designed to improve the supermarket chain’s performance at every point of contact with their customers, to make them happier while making the company richer at the same time. The main motivation behind the Tesco Clubcard was to gain insight into the shopping habits of Tesco’s customers as well as give something back to them. This scheme established a new point-of-sale (POS) technology at Tesco along with a call centre dedicated to handle customer queries. Generally, Tesco has utilized CRM in its processes to create, maintain, and expand relationships with its customers. Tesco’s CRM initiatives involve loyalty cards, home delivery services, comp any service desk, mobile shopper and Point of Sale (POS) till.                   To a larger extent, success of CRM in creating value and benefits for all concerned is dependent on both the supplier and consumers of products or services. However, with the rapid technologies changes, leading companies like Tesco have been able to utilize CRM as a strategic approach best placed to improve the value of its shareholders by achieving proper relationship with key customer bases or customer bases. This is especially because the implementation and affectivity of Customer Relationship Management are strongly dependent on the effective utilization of information technologies together with strategies of relationship marketing to deliver profitable goals in the longer term (Hassan & Parves 2013, p.8).                   Strategies of CRM have greater potential of delivering value for the business organization and its stakeholders because they are exclusively customer oriented. Through CRM, Tesco’s business practices have enabled it to appeal to its existing and potential customers more closely, creating an opportunity for mutual understanding and offering better worth to each other. At the end every three month, more than 150,000 loyal Tesco customers are delivered with magazine from the supermarket chain highlighting the latest and exclusive offers of the company’s products and services, while more than 8 million Tesco shoppers are reached by the CRM tools.                   By and large, Tesco can be termed as the most excelled practitioner of CRM pertaining to its knowledge of the customer thoughts, their perception and feeling regarding grocery shopping. Using demographic data, lifestyle data, information on total dollars spent on food items, and customer response to offers and promotions facilitated by the Tesco Clubcard, Tesco has put much focus on customer satisfaction by developing customer needs segments to which personalized coupons are awarded to individual segments.                   Tesco has also successfully applied CRM approaches to its home delivery services. They have contributed to creation of value for both the company and its customers in the sense that new technology applications (Microsoft-developed website) have resulted in reduced flexibility of delivery time and improved order-picking process. The company uses special software that manages the picking operations including routing and substitution (Stair & Reynolds 2010, p.47). Use of CRM has ensured greater availability of products most likely to be ordered by different customers given that each Tesco store’s server is equipped with each customer’s favourite product history. Also, Tesco stores add value by fine-tuning wholesale order and maintaining regional variation in terms of pricing for the benefit of the customer. Value of extended marketing mix                   As with all types of marketing activities, retail marketers need to developed concrete knowledge of their markets, needs of their customers and the competitive pressures they face in order to develop clear targeted market strategies and considered brand positioning. This requires that an organization devotes significant amount of attention to its marketing mix (Stair & Reynolds 2010, p.79). In the recent past, the traditional 4Ps marketing mix has expanded to extended services marketing mix to include additional 3Ps – physical evidence or in-store atmospheres, people, and processes. Physical evidence                   The physical evidence element refers to the tangible elements or in-store atmosphere that customers can evaluate. The physical layout is crucial today as customers increasingly come into contact with products or services in retail stores they expect high standard of presentation (Charlesworth 2009, p.211). While Tesco has not committed large amounts of money in store-design relative to its competitors, its stores are reputed for their warmth and excellent layout of products. Tesco ensures a customer who enters their stores gets exceptional personal experience through adequate amount of lighting, proper sign boards and neatly dressed employees highly knowledgeable about the products on sale in the store. As such, Tesco customers can always expect find their way and locate products around the stores with exceptional ease. The products on the shelves are supplied with sufficient information relating to prices and manufacturing ingredients besides being clea n. High quality physical layout of Tesco is evident at its virtual stores and websites which have simple design and are relatively user-friendly. In addition, Tesco has made effort to provide its customers with tangible evidence about of the quality of their products and services through brochures and magazines given after every three months. People                   The people element relates to the evaluation of personnel providing services in terms of their knowledge, competence, customer relations etc. According to Gummesson (1999), everyone in firm in the service industry is a â€Å"part-time marketer†, thus their every actions have great direct impact on the output received by customers. Thus, employees can be said to be the business and are a vital component of the marketing mix. In this regard, Tesco has strived to enrich its human resource by refining its recruitment methods, training, motivation and rewards schemes for its staff so that they can in turn give excellent service to customers. Tesco staff is divided in six specific groups with particular skills, knowledge and resources to execute their roles to the satisfaction of the customer. Ð ¼Tesco is committed to its values that state â€Å"No one tries harder for customers† as well as â€Å"We treat people how we like to be treated.† The supermarket chain believes that by managing its people well, in a culture of respect and trust, employees will deliver their best to customers while customers will develop loyalty to the company (Tesco 2012, p.2).                   Tesco has also worked hard to establish excellent buying processes for its customers by providing them with an option of visiting their brick-and-mortar stores in different locations or ordering online at Tesco.com. In Tesco stores, customers are presented with two efficient options of checking out their products: till payment or self-service. Tesco has made significant strides in improving the shopping experience of its online consumers by working to decrease the total amount of time spent on completing an order – from the previous one hour to about half an hour. The supermarket chain has also improved its home delivery service by increasing the number of delivery truck, personnel and the overall time it takes to make the deliveries. Processes                   The process element relates to the assessment of the entire experience as provided by the service (Charlesworth 2009, p.215). This is particularly crucial as most consumes increasingly perceive the process of shopping as important as the product they purchase, whether it be the calm efficiency of professionally-run department store or the overall excitement of the sale. An effective marketing process entails a variety of processes such as processes of identifying customer needs and demands, processes of handling customer complaints among others. Tesco is committed to its vision of satisfying customers with their products. In general, there are several rallying calls that attest to Tesco’s utilization of the processes element in its service marketing mix. They include: â€Å"we try to get it right first time†, â€Å"we deliver consistently everyday†, â€Å"we make our jobs easier to do†, and â€Å"we always save time and money †, and â€Å"we know how vital our jobs are†. References Chaffey D. & Smith P.R. 2008. E-Marketing excellence. 3rd Ed. Butterworth Heineman. Charlesworth A. 2009. Internet Marketing – A practical Approach. 1st Ed. Butterworth Heineman. Gummesson E. 2008. Total Relationship Marketing. 3rd Ed. ButterworthHeineman. HART, S. J. (2003). Marketing changes. London, Thomson. Hassan, A. & Parves, M. 2013. A Comparative Case Study Investigating the Adoption of Customer Relationship Management (CRM): The Case of Tesco and Sainsbury’s. International Journal of Managing Value and Supply Chains (IJMVSC) Vol. 4, No. 1.HUMBY, C., HUNT, T., & PHILLIPS, T. (2008). Scoring Points How Tesco Continues to Win Customer Loyalty. London, Kogan Page. Palmer A. 2005. Principles of Services Marketing. 4th Ed. McGraw Hill. STAIR, R. M., & REYNOLDS, G. W. (2010). Principles of information systems: a managerial approach. Boston, Mass, Course Technology, Cengage Learning.THOENIG, J.-C., & WALDMAN, C. (2007). The marking enterprise business success and societal embedding. Basingstoke [England], Palgrave Macmillan. Source document

Leonard Susskind - Theoretical Physicist

Leonard Susskind - Theoretical Physicist In 1962, Leonard Susskind earned a B.A. in physics from City College of New York after transitioning from his plan to get a degree in engineering. He earned his Ph.D. in 1965 from Cornell University. Dr. Susskind worked at Yeshiva University as an Associate Professor from 1966 to 1979, with a year at University of Tel Aviv from 1971 to 1972, before becoming a Professor of Physics at Stanford University in 1979, where he remains to this today. He was awarded the Felix Bloch Professorship of Physics since the year 2000. String Theory Insights Probably one of Dr. Susskinds most profound accomplishments is that hes credited as one of the three physicists who independently realized, back in the 1970s, that a certain mathematical formulation of particle physics interactions seemed to represent oscillating springs ... in other words, hes considered one of the fathers of string theory. He has done extensive work within string theory, including the development of a matrix-based model. Hes also responsible for one of the more recent discoveries in the exploration of theoretical physics, the holographic principle, which many, including Susskind himself, believe will provide great insights into how string theory applies to our universe. In addition, in 2003 Susskind coined the term string theory landscape to describe the set of all physically possible universes that could have come into being under our understanding of the laws of physics. (At present, this could contain as many as 10500 possible parallel universes.) Susskind is a strong proponent of applying reasoning based upon the anthropic principle as a valid means to evaluate which physical parameters its possible for our universe to have. Black Hole Information Problem One of the most troubling aspects of black holes is that when something falls into one, it is lost to the universe forever. In the terms that physicists use, information is lost ... and that isnt supposed to happen. When Stephen Hawking developed his theory that black holes actually radiated an energy known as Hawking radiation, he believed that this radiation would be insufficient to actually resolve the problem. The energy radiating out from the black hole under his theory would not contain enough information to fully describe all of the matter that fell into the black hole, in other words. Leonard Susskind disagreed with this analysis, believing quite strongly that the conservation of information was so important to the underlying foundations of quantum physics that it could not be violated by black holes. Ultimately, the work in black hole entropy and Susskinds own theoretical work in developing the holographic principle have helped to convince most physicists - including Hawking himself - that a black hole would, over the course of its lifetime, emit radiation that contained the full information about everything that ever fell into it. Thus most physicists now believe that no information is lost in black holes. Popularizing Theoretical Physics Over the last few years, Dr. Susskind has become more well-known among lay audiences as a popularizer of advanced theoretical physics topics. He has written the following popular books on theoretical physics: The Cosmic Landscape: String Theory and the Illusion of Intelligent Design (2005) - This book presents Susskinds view of how string theory predicts a vast string theory landscape and how the anthropic principle can be applied to evaluate the various physical properties of our universe against all of the assorted possibilities. This is described above in the string theory section.The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics (2008) - In this book, Susskind describes the black hole information problem (described above), framed as an intriguing narrative about a disagreement within the theoretical physics community ... one which has taken decades to resolve.The Theoretical Minimum: What You Need to Know to Start Doing Physics with George Hrabovsky (2013) - A math-based introduction to the fundamental concepts within classical mechanics, such as conservation of energy and symmetries in physical laws, which is intended to lay the groundwor k for what someone would need to know to proceed to the next level in physics. This is based on lectures that are available online, as described below. In addition to his books, Dr. Susskind has presented a series of lectures that are available online through both iTunes and YouTube ... and which provide the basis of The Theoretical Minimum. Here is a list of the lectures, in roughly the order that I would recommend viewing them, along with links to where you can view the videos for free: Classical Mechanics (YouTube) - A 10-lecture series focusing on the fundamentals of classical mechanicsThe Theoretical Minimum: Quantum Mechanics (YouTube) - A 10-lecture series that tries to understand what physicists know about quantum mechanicsSpecial Relativity (YouTube) - A 10-lecture series explaining Einsteins theory of special relativityGeneral Relativity (YouTube) - A 10-lecture series that lays out the modern theory of gravity: general relativityParticle Physics: Standard Model (YouTube) - A 9-lecture series focusing on the Standard Model of particle physicsCosmology (YouTube) - A 3-lecture series focusing on what we know and understand about the history and structure of our universeString Theory and M-Theory (YouTube) - A 10-lecture series focusing on the fundamentals of string theory and M-TheoryTopics in String Theory (YouTube) - A 9-lecture series focusing on the fundamentals of string theory and M-Theory As you may have noticed, some of the themes repeat between lecture series, such as the two different lecture sets on string theory, so you shouldnt need to watch them all if there are redundancies ... unless you really want to.