Nicaragua Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Nicaragua - Essay Example Of the remainder, 17% are white and 9% are black The coastal plains rise to form a mountainous interior. The weather is warm and tropical, though it may be cooler in the mountainous areas. Nicaragua was settled by the Spanish in the 16th century and gained its independence in 1821. US Troops were sent to Nicaragua beginning in 1909 to quell uprisings and political unrest. The Samoza family ruled Nicaragua from 1936 until they were overthrown in 1979 by the Sandanistas. The religion is mostly Catholic which about three fourths of the people follow. Most of the rest are Evangelicals and less than 9% say they practice no religion. Nicaragua has a 68% literacy rate and Spanish is the official language. The government is formed as a republic with an executive, legislative, and judicial branch and they hold free elections on a regular basis. In 1978, due to corruption and government manipulation the people elected Daniel Ortega, a Marxist candidate. He ruled until 1990 when he was voted out when business was opposed to the slow pace of reforms. He was returned to power in 2006 in a free election. Nicaragua is one of the poorest nations in the hemisphere. It has a $2,900 per capita income and experiences high unemployment. It exports agricultural products such as bananas, coffee, rice, and tobacco. It has industries in chemicals, machinery and metal products and tourism is becoming more important. In 2004, they had a $4.5 billion dollar international debt forgiven. Though Nicaragua is poor, elementary education is free for all Nicaraguans. Elementary education is mandatory and many tribal areas have access to education in their native language. Nicaragua treasures academic freedom and Universities have autonomy in regards to the subjects taught. This respect extends to freedom of speech and ideas are openly welcome, as are diverse viewpoints. 30% of the

Week 2 Hand-in Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Week 2 Hand-in Assignment - Essay Example It consequently follows your every activity on the website that initiated it and the website proprietors receive this information. In E-commerce websites, cookies can and are frequently used to help in keeping the purchase details of each customer. E-commerce website requests for any present cookies when a customer accesses a page. The cookies tell the sites shopping cart what items are in the cart, and when the customer adds a new product or removes it, the server sends a new cookie to the browser that is up to date. When its checkout time, the updated cookie, tells the shopping cart what products have been purchased (Greenstein, 2001, p 35). The transport control protocol (TCP) is a connection-oriented service. This means that it usually has the client and server exchange transport-layer information with one another prior to the flow of the application level messages. Consequently, the client has the responsibility of starting the communication with the server and in order for the server to be able to respond to the client’s first communication, the server needs to be ready. This means that the server application cannot afford to be in an inactive state and must be running even before there is an attempt to generate the communication by the client. Thus, the server application must be executed before the client program (Rajinder, 2007, p

The Impact of Financial Crisis on UK Fiscal Policy and Government Debt Essay

The Impact of Financial Crisis on UK Fiscal Policy and Government Debt - Essay Example The current crisis is definitely more pronounced and prolonged than any other previous financial crisis, yet support from fiscal policy, monetary policy, use of guarantees on liabilities and purchase of assets has helped in reducing the direct fiscal costs (Laeven & Valencia, 2012). While such efforts might have led to minimizing the direct impact of the financial crisis yet it has been becoming a rising concern for fiscal sustainability in many countries, as the fiscal policy has led to increasing the public debt burden as well as the government contingent liabilities size. Fiscal policy holds great interest for policy makers as it has the ability to act as an instrumental tool for growth and development in the long run (Brahmbhatt & Otaviano, 2012). Fiscal policy is no business strategy, for a national economy is by no means a business, it does not earn; rather it implies how the public is taxed and how the government spends the gathered money (debt bombshell, 2012). In the UK the national debt is the amount that is owed to the private sector and UK gilts purchases. The government spends more money than it can afford to tax, leading to selling bonds/gilts.The case study is based on two economic theories and their fundamental aspects while addressing the research questions.Battaglini and Coate (2008) presented the political economy model. The model was meant to understand the influence of the fiscal policy that it has on the Business cycle

Week 2 Hand-in Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Week 2 Hand-in Assignment - Essay Example It consequently follows your every activity on the website that initiated it and the website proprietors receive this information. In E-commerce websites, cookies can and are frequently used to help in keeping the purchase details of each customer. E-commerce website requests for any present cookies when a customer accesses a page. The cookies tell the sites shopping cart what items are in the cart, and when the customer adds a new product or removes it, the server sends a new cookie to the browser that is up to date. When its checkout time, the updated cookie, tells the shopping cart what products have been purchased (Greenstein, 2001, p 35). The transport control protocol (TCP) is a connection-oriented service. This means that it usually has the client and server exchange transport-layer information with one another prior to the flow of the application level messages. Consequently, the client has the responsibility of starting the communication with the server and in order for the server to be able to respond to the client’s first communication, the server needs to be ready. This means that the server application cannot afford to be in an inactive state and must be running even before there is an attempt to generate the communication by the client. Thus, the server application must be executed before the client program (Rajinder, 2007, p

Child abuse Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Child abuse - Assignment Example Children abused by family members who should be protecting them often lose trust for adults. Additionally, cultural values may restrict members from talking about sexual activities, making it more difficult for the child. The abused child may blame themselves for the abuse and as such may take long to talk to anyone about it. As a result, the abuse may go on for weeks, even months, before anyone knows about the atrocity. Abuse affects the child’s emotional, psychological, social and physical aspects of life which includes increased risk for depression, poor or lack of self esteem and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Avoidance of grilling the child for every detail or asking many questions, as this may overwhelm them. Instead, they should gently ask open-ended questions; at the same time reassuring the child that their secret is safe. The child should be taken to a pediatric hospital for check up of possible damage to the sexual organs. Furthermore, an experienced mental health professional should be contacted to help the child cope with trauma Teaching the child basic sexual education is important. Alternatively, a health professional could be engaged where the child learns accurate names given to private parts and how to take care of them so as to minimize reliance on older children or adults for help. Sexual advances from anybody should be discouraged, as well as inappropriate touching. Encouraging them to can make decisions concerning their bodies, for instance saying â€Å"no† when they do not want to be touched is important. Communication is an important part of developing trust with the child. Encouraging the child to ask questions when in doubt about sexual advances makes the child feel protected and is more likely to report any abuse. Child sex abuse occurs within family settings with a majority of the abused children being unable to report the atrocity, probably due to the trust they had on the perpetrator. Child sex abuse

Othello †Paper Assignment Essay Example for Free

Othello – Paper Assignment Essay A desire for revenge can overcome a person and have great detrimental effects. This is especially true in the play Othello by William Shakespeare. The play takes place in a time of war between Italy and Turkey. The play begins in Venice, Italy but then shifts to the island of Cyprus for the remainder of the play. In the play, the main antagonist Iago was not chosen for a position of lieutenancy by his general, Othello. Othello had chosen a man named Cassio over Iago. Iago, being very envious of Othello and Cassio, plots a plan for revenge. Early on in the play, we find that Othello has complications in his marriage to Desdemona. Othello and Desdemona are seen as opposites in which Desdemona is an innocent, sweet, high class white woman, while Othello is a tough, ugly, and black war general. Iago, using this knowledge, begins to plot his revenge. Iago says, â€Å"I hate the Moor, and it is thought abroad that ‘twixt my sheets ‘has done my office. I know not if’t be true, but I, for mere suspicion in that kind, will do as if for surety† (Act 1, iii, 429-433). Iago, in this quote, suggests that a rumor about Othello sleeping with his wife may not be true, but he will pretend it is in order to better his plot for revenge. Iago’s first step in the plan was to endanger Othello’s relationship by telling Brabantio, Desdemona’s father, about their marriage. Othello claims he will not hide because he has nothing to be afraid of and ask Iago if he agrees. Iago says, â€Å"By Janus, I think no† (Act 1, ii, 38). Iago alludes to the Greek god Janus that supposedly had two faces. This is an example of dramatic-irony because the audience knows that Iago himself is two-faced since he pretends to be nice but in actuality is trying to get revenge; Othello is also unaware of Iago’s other motives. Iago, in his plot for revenge, often uses psychological means to manipulate people. When Brabantio is talking to Othello, he says â€Å"She has deceived her father, and may thee† (Act 1, iii, 333-334). Brabantio believed that since Desdemona was not loyal to her father, she may also deceive Othello. This is an example of foreshadowing because Othello will be lead on to believe that Desdemona is not loyal to him. Iago, later in the play, alludes to Brabantio’s warning and says, â€Å"She did deceive her father, marrying you, and when she seemed to shake and fear your looks, she loved them most† (Act 3, iii, 237-240). Iago, being very diabolical, enhances Othello’s doubts about his marriage. This doubt in Othello’s mind comes into play later in Iago’s plans for revenge. Iago shows that he will use any means to get his revenge, whether it be lying or manipulating any insecurities in others. Near the end of the play, Iago’s plan has progressed as he had planned: Othello does not trust Desdemona or Cassio, Iago had gotten Cassio fired, and Othello still has complete trust in Iago. Othello had given Desdemona a handkerchief when they had gotten married which symbolized everything holding their relationship together. Iago gets a hold of the handkerchief and plants it on Cassio. This becomes proof for Othello that Desdemona is cheating on Othello with Cassio. Othello becomes so angry he kills Desdemona. Emilia, Iago’s wife, walks in after Othello strangles Desdemona and in shock tries to explain what Iago has done to him. Iago comes in and tries to stop Emilia; he then stabs her because she wouldn’t stop. Iago’s plan had been revealed and Othello is traumatized. Othello exclaims â€Å"But why should honor outlive honesty† (Act 5, ii, 293)? Othello, trying to comprehend what he has done, questions how the reputation of being honorable could outlast honor itself. Iago, so bent on getting revenge for the sake of his reputation, had killed his very own wife. At the beginning of the play, Iago had said that he heard a rumor about Othello sleeping with his wife. He didn’t know if it was true but said he would pretend it was in order to fuel his desire and plot for revenge. Throughout the play, Iago had used any means to complete his goal. For example, Iago used psychological means to manipulate Othello into doubting his relationship with Desdemona. Iago then lied to Othello and tricked him into believing that Desdemona was having an affair with Cassio. If Emilia had not told Othello, he may not have known about Iago’s plan at all. Iago kills Emilia for telling Othello, which is ironic because Iago used the rumor about Othello and his wife to fuel his revenge. Iago’s desire for revenge became so great that when Emilia ruined his plan, he killed her. Instead of killing Iago, Othello says, â€Å"I’d have thee live, for in my sense ‘tis happiness to die† (Act 5, ii, 340-341). Iago will be kept alive and most likely tortured because killing him would be a punishment not worthy of Iago’s actions. Iago’s desire for revenge ultimately overcame him and caused many detrimental effects in his life as well as many others. In conclusion, one should never seek revenge.

Integrating Ict In Mathematics Teaching Education Essay

Integrating Ict In Mathematics Teaching Education Essay The purpose of this study is to study the barriers preventing the integration and adoption of information and communication technology in teaching mathematics in Bhubaneswar, India. The data were collected by means of questionnaires from secondary school mathematics teachers. Major barriers were identified: lack of time in the school schedule for projects involving ICT, insufficient teacher training opportunities for ICT projects, inadequate technical support for these projects, lack of knowledge about ways to integrate ICT to enhance the curriculum, difficulty in integrating and using different ICT tools in a single lesson and unavailability of resources at home for the students to access the necessary educational materials. To overcome some of these barriers, this paper proposes an e-portal which is a collection of mathematical tools, a question bank and other resources in digital form that can be used for teaching and learning mathematics. Based on these findings, I propose the us e of several strategies that should enhance successful ICT integration. INTRODUCTION Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has changed our daily activities in many ways. One of the goals for integrating ICTs in education is to enhance teaching and learning practices thereby improving quality of education (Higgins, 2003). However, in most developing countries like India, the potential of ICT to support pedagogy is yet to be fully realised. Since these changes are evident amongst younger members of our society, they are evident on primary and secondary schools students. Considering that ICT plays an increasingly important role in society, especially if we take into account social, economic and cultural role of computers and the Internet, it is clear that the time has come for the actual entry of ICT in the field of education. The combination of ICT and the Internet certainly opens not only many opportunities for creativity and innovation, but also for approaching the teaching material to current generation of students. Researchers argued that with the introduc tion of technology, it is possible to de-emphasize algorithmic skills; the resulting void may be filled by an increased emphasis on the development of mathematical concepts. Technology saves time and gives students access to powerful new ways to explore concepts at a depth that has not been possible in the past. ICT enhances efficiency of mathematical thought, enables learners to make conjectures and immediately test them in non-threatening environment (Laborde, 2001). Abramovich (1999)s use of spreadsheets in generalizing Pythagorean Theorem demonstrates how computers may be used to learn concepts in geometry and algebra. Meanwhile researchers (Balacheff Kaput, 1996; Kilpatrick Davis, 1993) have discussed the impact of technological forces on learning and teaching mathematics. Internet is increasingly being used to enhance collaborative and interactive learning (Cazes, Gueudet,Hersant and Vandebrouck, 2006; Cress and Kimmerle, 2008; Resta and Rafferriere, 2007) also (Lavy andLero n, 2004). As the study and practice of facilitating learning and improving performance (Januszewski Molenda, 2008), the field of educational technology attempts to overcome challenges by developing new approaches and frameworks. In this context, information and communication technologies (ICTs) represent a new approach for enhancing the dissemination of information and helping to meet these challenges. For a successful integration of ICT into the mathematics curriculum, it is essential to have knowledge of the existing software that is used by mathematics teachers. A survey carried out by Forgasz Prince (2002) found that 61% of the respondents (teachers) used spreadsheets, 45% used word processing and 30% used Internet browsers. In a separate study, Jones (2004) found that seven barriers existed while integrating ICT into lessons. These barriers were (i) lack of confidence among teachers during integration(21.2% responses), (ii) lack of access to resources (20.8%), (iii) lack of t ime for the integration(16.4%), (iv) lack of effective training (15.0%), (v) facing technical problems while the software is in use (13.3%), (vi) lack of personal access during lesson preparation (4.9%) and (vii) the age of the teachers (1.8%). METHODOLOGY This research deployed a survey method to investigate the barriers of integrating ICT into the teaching of mathematics. A total of 50 responses were received and they were analysed using the SPSS statistical package. A questionnaire was adapted from the Teacher Technology Survey by the American Institute for Research (AIR, 1998). The questionnaire was divided into five areas, i.e., (A) the teachers profile, (B) how teachers use ICT, (C) the teachers ICT experience, (D) the barriers faced by teachers and (E) the proposed solution. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ICT applications in general In general, a total of 74.3% of the respondents used computers on a regular basis. Table 1 depicts the percentage of usage by teachers in the various ICT applications: word processing packages (76.8%), spreadsheets (50.3%), Internet activity (67.2%), search engines (56.5%) and multimedia (11.2%). These percentages show that the computer literacy rate among secondary school mathematics teachers has been high. TABLE 1: Common ICT Applications by Teachers Application Daily (%) Weekly (%) Monthly (%) 1 or 2 times a year (%) Never (%) NA (%) NR (%) Computers in general 22.3 25.2 26.8 12.5 6.2 4.2 2.8 Word processing packages 20.4 26.3 30.1 13.6 5.8 1.3 2.5 Spreadsheets 9.6 15.4 25.3 22.5 6.3 12.5 8.4 Any Internet activity 20.8 22.5 23.9 28.6 1.2 1.3 1.7 Search engines for Internet 14.4 19.8 22.3 26.9 11.5 3.6 1.5 Multimedia 2.5 3.6 5.1 15.8 40.1 19.5 13.4 NA Not Available NR No Response Uses of Internet The Internet was used for various purposes. 65.5% respondents used it for browsing, 42.3% used the e-mail facility, 5.5% used IRC, 6.3% used chat rooms, and 8.6% used it in discussion forums and4.5% for other purposes. 6.9% respondents did not use the Internet. Table 2: Use of Internet by Teachers Activity Browsing e-mail IRC Discussion forums Chat rooms Others None Response (%) 65.5 42.3 5.5 8.6 6.3 4.5 6.9 Professional development and training needs A total of 40.3% respondents indicated that they had received ICT training.60.2% of the respondents demonstrated that they had found the training to be generally useful while 64.9% said that they had not received training on how to integrate ICT into mathematics teaching. According to 46.3% of the respondents, mathematics teachers require training on how to integrate ICT into their teaching while 59.5% of them stated that they needed a combination of various types of training.. Table 3: ICT Training Needs ICT training needs General use Integrate ICT into Teaching Use of Internet Combination of needs Response (%) 10.1 64.9 5.5 59.5 Barriers faced by teachers during integration The six major barriers identified were lack of time in the school schedule for projects involving ICT (50.3%), lack of knowledge about ways to integrate ICT to enhance the curriculum (49.5%), lack of adequate technical support for ICT projects (41.9%), inadequate teacher training opportunities for ICT projects (41.2%), integrating and using different ICT tools in a single lesson (34.8%) and the absence of access to the necessary technology at the homes of students (31.0%). Perception of mathematics teachers toward the proposed solution There is a very strong positive response to the proposed solution to develop a mathematics portal for teaching mathematics, wherein a collection of mathematical tools, a question bank and other resources in digital form that can be used for teaching and learning mathematics. 70.2% of the respondents considered it to be very useful and helpful and 27.3% viewed it as useful and helpful. Only 2.5% of the respondents considered that the portal would not be very useful and helpful. Table 4: Barriers Faced by Teachers Barriers % Response as not a barrier minor major Not enough or limited access to computer hardware 30.2 50.6 19.2 Availability of computer software 23.8 54.6 21.6 Lack of time in school schedule for projects involving ICT 11.3 38.4 50.3 Lack of adequate technical support for ICT projects 15.3 42.8 41.9 Not enough teacher training opportunities for ICT Projects 18.7 40.1 41.2 Lack of knowledge about ways to integrate ICT to enhance curriculum 10.2 40.3 49.5 ICT integration is not a school priority 31.4 45.2 23.4 Students do not have access to the necessary technology at home 22.8 46.2 31.0 Teachers do not have access to the necessary technology at home 24.9 55.2 19.9 Integrating and using different ICT tools in a single Lesson 16.5 48.7 34.8 Table 5: Perceptions towards the proposed solution % response as very useful and helpful % response as useful and helpful % response as not so useful and helpful % response as not at all Proposed solution to develop a mathematics portal for teaching 70.2 27.3 2.5 0 From this study, the following findings were found: The most popular application packages used by mathematics teachers were word processing packages (76.8%), spreadsheets (50.3%), internet activity (67.2%), and search engines (56.5%). However, it must be noted that the packages that have not been positively considered by the respondents may not be necessarily useless. . Mathematics teachers need more time to learn to use them -programmes like specific Java applets, Flash presentations, graphical applications and simulation programmes have great potential for the teaching of mathematics because they encourage explorations and higher order thinking. It is encouraging to learn that 65.5% of the respondents used the browser to gather information. It is timely that educators encourage mathematics teachers to use the Internet for online demonstrations like using Java applets on mathematics that are only available online. A large proportion (64.9%) did not have any training on how to integrate ICT into mathematics teaching. Such training should be an integral part of professional training. Moreover, 46.3% of the respondents requested to have training on how to integrate ICT into teaching. Some major barriers hindering the implementation of ICT in mathematics teaching were found to be lack of time in school schedule for projects involving ICT, insufficient teacher training opportunities for ICT projects, inadequate technical support for these projects, lack of knowledge about ways to integrate ICT to enhance the curriculum, difficulty in integrating and using different ICT tools in a single lesson and unavailability of resources at home for the students to access the necessary educational materials. Therefore, funding for new ICT resources should be increased in order to provide adequate ICT equipment and resources. It is also recommended that the contents of the subject be reduced so as to integrate ICT. teachers consider that inadequate time is a factor against teaching and learning effectiveness Therefore to encourage more teachers to integrate ICT into mathematics lessons, the devised programme must be user friendly. The e-portal proposed for this purpose is geared towards fulfilling such needs. This e-portal will be a collection of mathematical tools, a question bank and other resources in digital form that can be used for teaching and learning mathematics. CONCLUSION To create an environment of effective ICT integration, hence improving the quality of education for the youth in the province teacher education programs must focus on eliminating barriers. Based on the findings and discussions presented here, the several recommendations are suggested for practitioners. Technology plans for implementing ICT should be prepared and implemented. Training in ICTs for teacher educators should be improved in both quantity and quality. Every classroom should have at least one computer with Internet access and an LCD projector. Course content should be redesigned to acquire more benefit from ICT. More ICT-related courses for prospective teachers should be offered. Teacher educators and prospective teachers should be aware of the benefits of ICTs An e-portal, collection of mathematical tools, a question bank and other resources in digital form that can be used for teaching and learning mathematics should be constructed.