Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes Essay Example for Free

Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes Essay An analysis of Langston Hughes’s poem Dream Deferred will reveal a significant commentary on the driving force in America today. It is undeniable that every one of us has dreams or goals that we want to pursue and achieve. Although all of us have their own little dream, this poem reiterates that in some cultures, it will be (and is) harder to achieve their goals. In this particular poem, Langston Hughes expressed his dreams and how they become during a hard time. The fact that he is a black man during the height of the African-American oppression, his ambitions and dreams was really hard to achieve—thus, he became frustrated. He expressed on how and what he really feels about a dream that he has had. Because he was succumbed under a great deal of frustration, he was unable to accomplish that dream. Each line in the poem symbolizes a typical moment in the author’s life. Furthermore, he was also very bitter about the conditions of his group because of their skin color. Hughes used many a great deal of simile in achieving his points. But perhaps the most powerful line in his poem is the â€Å"Or does it explode? †(Hughes) It is an influential conclusion of what could happen to a dream if they are neglected or is not pursued. In conclusion, this is a collective poem that articulates what could happen to dreams that left un-pursued even in times of struggles and oppression. This poem reflects the difficulties not just of African-American but moreover, it is also applicable to people (especially certain ethic groups that are discriminated) who experiences the same situation. This poem will never be obsolete. Works Cited: Hughes, Langston. Dream Deferred. March 2, 2008.

Features of Robot Design

Features of Robot Design ROBOT DESIGN Section 1 Requirements 1.1 Introduction Robot is a kind of automatic machine, which has particularly a series of similar competences as human-being, such as sensing capability, planning capability, moving capability and so on. The word ‘Robot was referred by Czech writer Karel ÄŒapek in his play R.U.R (Rossums Universal Robots), which was published in 1920. [1] Moreover, the word robotics, which describes this kind of field of study, was referred accidentally by the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov. In his science fiction, all the robots must obey the Three Laws of Robotics (a set of three principles). The laws are stated as follows: 1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. With the developing of science and technology of modern society, robot is moving toward the trend of the development of intelligent. The one we will design is called Autonomous Mobile Robot which is a kind of mobile robot. It has varieties of sensors and controllers on itself. In addition, it is a robot that can independently complete some tasks without external information input and control during operations. The target for autonomous mobile robot is to, in the absence of external intervention and without making any provisions on the circumstance and changing conditions in carrying out the process, sense around the local circumstance information continuously and make a variety of decision-making independently and finally move purposeful and the complete the tasks. Accordingly, navigation technology is the core of autonomous mobile robot. 1.2 Lifecycles The diagram of lifecycles for this project is given below. It shows from the beginning of the project to the end. The system project management is an extremely vital part in every project, though it is always ignored in many teams. We need make a point of doing project management before do everything. We could discuss in a group to think out all of the possibilities which may happen in the project. ‘Many torpedoes are better than a single bullet. [7] Therefore, a group discuss together may motivate more and more inspiration rather than each single thinks it alone. A typical system feature should have simple function but complex design. It need also make a series of requirements after discussing by group, because it provides some different point of views. Possibly, there will be some quarrels during the discussion, hence, we need to respect to everyone and every point of view. In addition, a straight discipline will be built throughout the project. Every engineer should behave in honest and ethically responsibility. Otherwise, they will not be treated as a professional engineer in their fie ld. Nearly half of team, who is failed in the project, is due to a bad project management. However, the majority of teams may give incomplete requirements in the project; therefore, the result for them is also fail. To sum up, building a high-quality project management and system engineering will decrease project failure probability. 1.3 Quality Plan The quality plan displays the required product qualities and how these are measured and defines the most important quality attributes. The product quality is defined in High-level which emphasize the capabilities of developers for this project. Therefore, we have to consider if the project objectives are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-limited. The quality plan structure is showed in table 2. Process Description Build all of the motors, microcontrollers, sensors and other components on the housing. Then connect all components to the power supply. In addition, build the software code into microcontrollers. Finally, before the formal race, we need to test the robot and improve on the ability such as speed, stable and so on. Quality Goals To drive as fast as possible and also ensure the egg will not get out of the car. Table 2. Quality Plan Structure 1.4 Requirements specification There are a series of requirements going to be given in the paper. It can be grouped in terms of Mandatory, Preference and Operational. Three specific tables of these requirements are given as follows:  ·Mandatory Requirements Motor To make the wheels rotate. Designer need two motor corresponding with two rear wheels. Sensor To provide the robot drive on the right route. It uses A/D conversion to send the signal into singlechip. DC Converter To step-down the voltages from the power supply. The work voltage for singlechip is around 5V, but the power supply given is much higher than it. Hence, designer needs to reduce the voltage. Wheels To make the robot running. Designer need two rear wheels which measure the speed of rotating and one base wheel which makes the robot balance. It Microcontroller To integrate all inputs, outputs and memory etc. into one chip. Housing To put all components on. It is a base for the robot car. Power Supply To provide voltage so that works successfully. Wires To connect all components from one hole to another. Spoon To carry an egg whilst undertaking its journey. Black line To give the robot a track to race. The black line is 5 meter long. It can be designed any shape of routes.  ·Preference Requirements Aesthetic Appearance To prettify the robot from inside to outside. It will be done after dealing with all Hardware and Software components, including adding several Led lights or a sound box. Also, orderly wires connected on the breadboard will be considerate. All of the opinion above would make consumer happy. Battery To give a wireless robot car. Using a pack of battery instead of wired power supply can make a ‘real robot. However, it will increase the weight of robot itself.  ·Operational Requirement Personnel To distribute each part of project to each of six team member specially. In the project, there are different tasks such as programming design, hardware design, mechanical construction etc. After discussion by group, we can filter out the best parts of each section. Therefore, the project can be distributed to each team member who did the best in his field. In addition, there should be a team leader, for supervising and coordinating every part in this project. Test Equipment To test the robot after designing and assembling work. Designer can use different types of raceways to test the ability of the robot such as the maximum speed, minimum and maximum radius of turning circle etc. Facilities To fix the robot with exact tools. Designer needs some basic tools to assemble the components on the housing. Technical Data To give some specific details. Designer may search online to get some technical data, which can prove our design point. Computer Software To design the programming code. Using Microchip MPLAB(if designer use PIC microchip) or other similar software to build the programming code. Cost To control the budget. As we know, designer should give a budget before working. In this project, the budget is 40 pounds, while we can exceed the budget by paying own. However, it is not a good solution. Therefore, the budget should be controlled strictly. Section 2 Design 2.1 Design Outline We divide the design outline into two parts. One is Hardware, and the other is Software. Both of them are extremely vital in this project. We will use EE2A laboratory component to guide us design the project throughout. [8] All of the specific details for each component will be given in each part. A table for design outline is as follows: HARDWIRE Motor Housing Sensor Microcontroller Power Supply SOFTWARE MPLAB IDE 2.1.1 Hardware 2.1.1.1 Servo Control The key of Servo Control is motor. In this paper we will give two kinds of motors—Servo motor and Stepper motor.  ·Servo Motor: It is one kind of indirect subsidy motor speed changing device which can control the mechanical components of the engine running. It can control the speed, displacement accuracy. In addition, it makes voltage signal into torque and rotational speed to drive the controller. The servo motor is divided into DC servo motor and AC servo motor. Servo motor mainly relies on impulse to locate. Also, when servo motor receives a pulse, then it will rotate an angle which is corresponding to one pulse. Thus, it may achieve a displacement. Because of the servo motor has sent a pulse function itself, hence, each servo motor will sent the corresponding numbers of pulse when it rotates an angle. Moreover, it is connected to the pulse which is received by the servo motor, or called ‘Closed-loop. Furthermore, the system will know how many pulses have been sent and how many pulses have been received simultaneously. Accordingly, we can control the motor rotation accurately, in order to achieve precise positioning which can reach 0.001mm. In DC servo motor, it is divided into brush and brushless motors. The characteristics of brush motor and brushless motor are as follows: Brush: Low cost, simple structure, large starting torque, speed range is wide, easy control. Do need to maintain (but easy maintenance). Brushless: Small size, light weight, fast response, high speed, small inertia, smooth rotation, stable torque. Complicated control, easy to implement intelligence. High efficiency, low operating temperature, small electromagnetic radiation. Motor maintenance-free.  ·Stepper Motor: Stepper motor is an open-loop control element which translates electrical impulse signals into angular displacement or linear displacement. Under the non-overload condition, motor speed and stop location only depend on pulse frequency and pulse number, regardless of the load change. That is, to send an electrical pulse signal, then turn one motor step angle. The existence of this kind of linear relationship, coupled with only a periodic error of stepper motors without the accumulated error, makes simple to control the stepper motor in terms of speed, position and other control areas. The characteristics of stepper motor are given as follows:  · Stepper motors are constant power devices When there is a motor speed increasing, then the torque decreases The torque curve may be extended by using current limiting drivers and expanding the driving voltage. Stepper motor has more vibration than any other motors. The vibration becomes awful at some speeds and may affect the motor to lose torque. The effect can be reduced by increasing velocity quickly through the problem speeds range, actually damping the system, or using a half-stepping motor. Motors with many phases also display smoother operation than those with fewer phases. The technical requirements of the servo control system 1. System Accuracy The accuracy refers to the reappearance of the input signal corresponding with the output of the precision required, which performs in the form of errors. It can be summarized as dynamic error, steady-state errors and static errors, which are composed of three aspects. 2. Stability The stability of the system means that when acting on the system after the disappearance of the interference, the system can be restored to its original steady-state capacity; or when there is a new input to the system command, the system will reach a new stable operation of state capacity. 3. Response The response refers to the output follow the input commands changing in reaction speed, which determines the efficiency of the system. The Response speed corresponds with a number of factors, such as the computers speed, movement system damping and quality etc. 4. Operating Frequency The operating frequency usually refers to the system which allows the input signal frequency range. When the operating frequency signal is input, the system will work according to the technical requirements, while the other frequency signal is input, the system will not work properly. The classifying of servo control system There are three kinds of common classifying as follows: 1. According to the different characteristics of parameters. 2. According to the types of the driving components. 3. According to the control theory. The Structure of servo control system Servo control system typically includes in five partscontroller, controlled object, implementation part, testing part and comparison part. 1. Controller Controller is usually a computer or a PID control circuit. The most important task is to compare the warpage output signal and deal with the transform processing, in order to control the implemental components act under the requirements. 2. controlled object The object is controlled including displacement, velocity, acceleration, force and torque. 3. implementation part The function of the implementation part is in term of control signals, according to the requirements of the various forms energy of the input transform into mechanical energy, in order to drive the controlled object. 4. testing part Testing part is a device which is able to measure the output and convert into more areas of the dimension that needed to. Typically, it includes sensors and conversion circuits. 5. comparison part Comparison part is to compare between the input command signals and the feedback signals of system, in order to attain the deviation between the output and input signal, which is usually achieved by a specific circuit or computers. Accordingly, we design this project with using stepper motor. Considering with the difficult in doing the program code, we have to give up using DC servo motor. Moreover, DC servo motor may create some pulses when it works; we have to make each program separately. Furthermore, the advantage for using stepper motor is that we have already programmed the code. Hence, we could use it with some modification easily. 2.1.1.2 Housing In this project, housing is as to the robot, just like trunk as to human-being. The stability and adaptability is the key of the project. Therefore, we prefer buy a readymade housing or the car online. There are 3 advantages for using this method. Firstly, we do not need to deal with the mechanical construction anymore. All of the basic components have already been built on the housing model. It can save an amount of time to do other work; secondly, the housing model is reliable, for the seller has sold so many models already, particularly to the competitors for the race; thirdly, the cost is lower than we do it ourselves. It can control the budget very well. To sum up, we choose this way to get the housing. In addition, the specific size of each component should be given on the prospectus. Therefore, after choosing kinds of different type of housing, we pick up an advanced housing with wheels. The size of wheels could affect the speed and the angle when it is driving. Under the same condition, using big wheels can go fast in the straight line. However, when there is a curve at the end of straight line, it is harder to turn the right direction immediately than small size wheels, because of its big radius of turning circle. The material of wheels could also affect the speed and angle when it is driving. Using plastic rear wheel may provide a high speed because of less friction. However, without more friction, it may get trouble at turning point with high angular velocity. In our case, to make sure the robot go through the black line track is the most important task. Therefore, rubber wheels should be in favour. Hence, to make wheels rotate flexible, we choose a stainless steel base wheel with 3mm inter radius, 10mm outer radius, 4mm thickness. Moreover, two rear wheels were designed with 20mm radius to make sure it has still some space under the housing to build our sensors on. According, the manufactory constructed the housing for these details we need. Finally, we fix two O-type rubber rings on the wheels. In the front of the housing, we still need to deal with some specific works. Firstly, we need two stepper motors discussed before, the point is, how to fix them on the housing steady. Right, we need two clips to fix them on the housing. Then use one screw and one nut for each side to fix the motor steady. Secondly, to make the housing tidy, we need to add a steel plate. It can not only steady the housing, but also provide another new flat to fix chips on so that do the connection work later easier. Furthermore, we have another goal in this project. It is called ‘egg race. It means we must build a spoon provided to carry an egg throughout the race. Hence, we have to consider how to ensure the egg will not be dropped off. Consequently, we design it that put the spoon on the cover of that added steel plate. It is a good place to lay the egg on, for it is not too high. In addition, we could add several wires around the spoon to double ensure it successfully. 2.1.1.3 Sensors Image Sensor An image sensor is a device which converts an optical image to an electric signal. It is used regularly in digital cameras and other imaging devices. Normally, an image sensor is a charge-coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) active-pixel sensor. Most digital still cameras use either a CCD image sensor or a CMOS sensor. Both types of sensor achieve the same task of capturing light and converting it into electrical signals. [2] CMOS A CMOS chip is a type of active pixel sensor which is made by using the CMOS semiconductor method. Extra circuitry adjacent to each image sensor converts the light energy to a voltage. Moreover circuitry on the chip might be included to convert the voltage to digital data. It is a sensor which has high system integration. That is to say, a CMOS chip can integrate all of functions needed by image sensor into a system-on-chip so that to achieve the goal of reducing the cost of the production. CCD A CCD is an analog device. When light hits the chip, it is held like a small electrical charge in each photoelectric sensor. The charges are converted to voltage one pixel every time when they are read from the chip. Moreover, the circuitry in the camera converts the voltage into digital data too. A CCD has a series of advantages as follows:  · High Resolution  · Low Noise  · High Dynamic Range  · Linearity  · High Quantum Efficiency  · Large Field of View  · Broad Spectral Response  · Low Image Distortion  · Small Size, Light Weight  · Low Consume Power, Without Strong Magnetic Fields Effect  · High Charge Transmission Photoelectric sensor A photoelectric sensor is a device used to detect the displacement, absence, or presence of an object by using an infrared transmitter and a photoelectric receiver. They are used broadly in industrial manufacturing. There are three different functional types: opposed, retro reflective, and proximity-sensing. A self-contained photoelectric sensor contains the optics, along with the electronics. It requires only a power source. The sensor performs its own modulation, demodulation, amplification, and output switching. Some self-contained sensors provide such options as built-in control timers or counters. Because of hi-tech progress, self-contained photoelectric sensors have become more and more small. In addition, fibre optic is passive mechanical sensing components. They may be used with self-contained sensors. They have no electrical circuitry and no moving parts, and can safely pipe light into and out of antagonistic environments.[3] After discussing both image sensor and photoelectric sensor, we decide to use photoelectric sensor during the project. From the comparison of advantages and disadvantages, we can easily find that image sensor (usually use CCD method) is a complicated and advanced technology. It is based on photoelectric infrared transmitter and receiver, but use analogue signal to digital signal. It could be used in some complex task such as 3-D race track. In our project, we only challenge to do up to 5 meters race track. Hence, it is not so much useful to get such an exact detection. Moreover, one of the advantages of photoelectric sensor is high response. It is faster than using image sensor to detect the unknown track. Accordingly, we prefer use photoelectric infrared sensor during the project. As we know, the point of photoelectric infrared sensor is infrared. We have to confirm two beside sensors do not disturb each other work. Hence, to get an appropriate distance between two sensors is the problem in this part. From reading several example projects before, we find a majority of them prefer put all the sensors into one straight line where elicits our attention. It does not matter to put them in front or back of the robot. It is similar to the X-axis. We can define each sensor a coordinate. We prefer use seven infrared sensors (1cm space between two sensors), so we can define all of these sensors into [-3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3], which are the y-coordinate. Connect a LED light to the receiver of each sensor. Thus, we can know which sensor is working and which one is not. The specific diagram of sensors are showed in 1. For example, the robot starts at the centre of black line, so the LEDs should send us a data with [0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0] (when sensor detects black line, the LED will light. Because the different reflectivity of black and white line). Then it will go along the track until meet a turning point. The receiver might be received a data with [0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0]. Thus, from the defin ition of setting before, we can identify the robot has departed from the centre of the black line to left. Therefore, the robot should turn left. There will be some possible troubles during debugging the robot car. The sensors are not reliable after using for a long time. Therefore, the fixed LEDs will solve this problem definitely. When they work, the LEDs should be lighted. 2.1.1.4 Microcontroller A Microcontroller is a small computer based on a single IC (integrated circuit) which is consisting of a relative simple central processor unit combined with specific functions such as a crystal oscillator, timers, and watchdog timer etc. [4] From the comparison with kinds of microcontroller, we choose MC33886 chip which is a member of the low-cost, high-performance HCS08 Family of 8-bit microcontroller units (MCUs). It is a monolithic H-Bridge ideal for fractional horsepower DC-motor and bi-directional thrust solenoid control. The 33886 chip is able to control continuous inductive DC load currents up to 5.0 A. Output loads can be pulse width modulated (PWM-ed)at frequencies up to 10 kHz.[5] The 33886 chip is parametrically detailed over a temperature range of -40 °C ≠¤ TA ≠¤ 125 °C, 5.0 V ≠¤ V+ ≠¤ 28 V. The IC can also be operated up to 40 V with derating of the specifications. The IC is available in a surface mount power package with uncovered pad for heat sinking. The features of MC33886 chip is showed below: [6] Features:  · Similar to the MC33186DH1 with Enhanced Features  · 5.0 V to 40 V Continuous Operation  · 120 mÃŽ © RDS(ON) H-Bridge MOSFETs  · TTL /CMOS Compatible Inputs  · PWM Frequencies up to 10 kHz  · Active Current Limiting via Internal Constant OFF-Time PWM (with Temperature-Dependent Threshold Reduction)  · Output Short Circuit Protection  · Under voltage Shutdown  · Fault Status Reporting  · Pb-Free Packaging Designated by Suffix Code VW In addition, the simplified application diagram and internal block diagram for MC33886 chip is given as follows: The 33886 chip has 20 pins. The diagram and specific Pin Layout function description will be given in 4 and table 1 as follow: Pin Layout Pin Layout Name Formal Name Description 1 AGND Analog Ground Low-current analog signal ground. 2 FS Fault Status for H-Bridge Open drain active Low Fault Status output requiring a pull-up resistor to 5.0 V. 3 IN1 Logic Input Control 1 True logic input control of OUT1 4, 5, 16 V+ Positive Power Supply Positive supply connections. 6, 7 OUT1 H-Bridge Output1 Output 1 of H-Bridge. 8, 20 DNC Do Not Connect Either do not connect or connect these pins to ground in the application. They are test mode pins used in manufacturing only. 9, 10, 11, 12 PGND Power Ground Device high-current power ground. 13 D2 Disable 2 Active Low input used to simultaneously tri-state disable both H-Bridge outputs. When D2 is logic Low, both outputs are tri-stated. 14, 15 OUT2 H-Bridge Output 2 Output 2 of H-Bridge. 17 CCP Charge Pump Capacitor External reservoir capacitor connection for internal charge pump capacitor. 18 D1 Disable 1 Active High input used to simultaneously tri-state disable both H-Bridge outputs. When D1 is logic High, both outputs are tri-stated. 19 IN2 Logic Input Control 2 True logic input control of OUT2 Table 1. Pin Layout Function Definition Some details for using the MC33886 chip should be noticed that how to use several chips together in this project. The method is using a number of MC33886 chips together in parallel. For there is no need to drive backward, hence, we could use half H-bridge and also make two half H-bridge in parallel. The consequence for this method is to enhance the driving ability of the chips. It is a common variation from full H-bridge that uses two transistors on one side of the load. Moreover, use one of the half H-bridge to drive the motor and the other one to provide power for the sensors. 2.1.1.5 Power Supply Power supply is one of the most important components and the fundament for all components working. A regulated DC power supply provides 0~15 V voltage. There are two different way to build the power supply in this project. One is using two wires to connect 0 and +15V to the DC-DC converter; the other one is building a battery on the robot itself. Both of them have advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, we have to analyze both of them first.  · Wired Power supply The advantages for the wired power supply are reliable, stable, durable and savable. The power supply is a regulated DC power supply. The only thing we need to do is using wires to connect both 0 and +15V to the DC-DC converter. Because the working voltage for whatever microcontroller, sensors and stepping motors is 5 volts, we need a DC-DC converter to convert voltage from 15V to 5V. Moreover, we do not need to consider the duration of the power supply. It will still work normally even if works after several hours. Furthermore, using wired power supply is an excellent method to consider the cost during the project, for the power supply is a preference requirement in this project. Hence, we do not need to cost a lot on it. The disadvantage for the wired power supply is obviously wired. We have to let one person hold wires when it is driving. This is a consideration from personnel aspect. It is a waste of energy to the team.  · Wireless Power Supply The advantage for the wireless power supply is that we can design a really autonomous robot. We do not need to contribute one person to look after it. However, we may meet a series of problems when using battery. Firstly, it may increase the weight of whole robot. As we know, it is hard to turn left or right when you drive a high weight car. It is similar to an autonomous robot. Secondly, the duration is limited. For we have to test the robot before the race competition, the problem is how long does this pack of battery provide the power. The answer is not too long. Therefore, if we choose to use battery as the power supply, we have to solve how to charge the battery first. To sum up, it is not a good method to use battery in this project. Basically, we consider from the duration and the cost these two aspects. Accordingly, the final scheme we designed is to use wired power supply. 2.1.2 Software Because we do not have MC33886 chip yet, we have to use PIC 16F648A chip to simulate this design. It should be kinds of similar to each other, but particularly in using different software. With the purpose of writing program data into a PIC chip, a software programmer is required. In the design, a USB controlled PICkit2 may be used. We will give following steps to guild us through the generation of the programme. Moreover, make sure retain a simple ‘debug programme in order to exercise any hardware, such as a simple flashing LED. There are a series steps to help us how to program the device. We pick them up from the laboratory notes.[8] 1. Connect the PICkit2 Microcontroller Programmer to the PC by using the USB cable. Socket the 6-pin header on the bread board or frankly on to the hardware (for in-circuit programming). 2. Start MPLAB IDE from the shortcut icon on the desktop, or the Start menu. In addition, check the version number is MPLAB IDE v7.62 or above. 3. From the MPLAB IDE menu bar, select Project > Project Wizard†¦ 4. It opens up the Project Wizard. Click Next to continue. 5. Wizard Step One: The laboratory project target device is the PIC 16F648A (Which we will give an example in the next section). In the wizard, select the ‘PIC 16F648A from the drop-down box and click next. 6. Wizard Step Two: select the use of the ‘CSSC Compiler for PIC12/14/16/18 for the project language tool suite from the Active Tool suite drop-down box. We should browse so as to discover the location of the files on the hard disk. Then Click Next and continue. 7. Wizard Step Three: Name the project and select a directory. Then Click Next. 8. Wizard Step Four: There is possible that we want to add a file which has been written previously. The file tree view box on the left should already be prolonged to the project directory. Select the file which we want to add and click the ‘Add >> button to add it to the project. Since the project directory is the same as the file directory, there is no need to check the box to copy it. Then Click Next when done. 9. Wizard Summary: Click the Finish button. A new page and project are created in the MPLAB IDE. The new page includes information on the selected PIC MCU device, the active programmer and/or debugger, open windows and their location, and other IDE configuration settings. The page is also related with a ‘project, which includes the files which are needed to build an application (source code, include files, linker scripts and so on.) along with associated language (co

Analysis of the Dar Es Salaam Stock Exchange

Analysis of the Dar Es Salaam Stock Exchange 3.0 Chapter Three 3.1 Research Methodology This chapter aims at explaining the methodology which has been adopted in this study. Research approaches or style have been categorized into mainly two groups, the phenomenological approach and positivist approach. The phenomenological approach studies the phenomenon through observation, no theory at outset while the positivist approach use an existing theory or develop a new theory and test its validity. Since this study has used the existing theory on market efficiency therefore positivist approach have been adopted with this study, the rationale behind the choice of this approach is due to the nature of the study. 3.2 Research Design Research design can be broadly classified as exploratory research and Conclusive research .This study is conclusive research design because it involves the testing of specific hypothesis and examination of relationships as well as the data analysis is quantitative and research process is formal. 3.3 Data types and sources Two types of data that has been used in this study, the daily closing stock of market index(Dar es salaam Stock Exchange Index-DSEI) and the weekly share prices for a sample of five listed companies from Dar es salaam Stock Exchange. The daily closing stock for market index has covered the period from July 2007 to August 2008 making total number of observation to be 280, excluding public holidays and non trading days. The daily data prior to July 2007 were not found therefore the study had to use the available data . The second type of data that has been used in this study are weekly share prices of the five companies/securities included in the study .The weekly data runs from Jan 2002 to August 2008, which makes the total number of observation to be between 90 and 266. The final date is the same for the all companies but the initial date differs depend on when the company joined the stock market. The weekly data refers to the Wednesdays closing stock price, however if Wednesdays data were not available then Thursday closing price were used, in absence of Thursday data , Tuesday was taken instead, but when both Tuesday and Thursday were not available as well , the data for that week was regarded as a missing data. The use of weekly data is appropriate for this kind of studies as Humphrey and Lont (2005) asserted that weekly data helped to mitigate any non-trading effects and also reduced the effects of noise trading. Even though the stock price was collected for the purpose of performing statistical tests, the actual test was conducted using natural logarithmic of the relative price. The stock return (denoted by R) was calculated by natural logarithmic difference of the weekly stock price given by the following equation = [- )] (1) Where: Rt = Return at time t P = Price at time t The reasons why change in log price was used instead of the normal change in price, has been explain by Fama (1965), he mentioned that logarithms neutralize price level effects as well as producing a series of continuously compounded returns. The daily closing stock for market index (DSEI) was used in performing the parametric serial correlation test and the weekly share prices for five listed companies was used to perform the non parametric runs test .In additional to the primary data (Stock prices) collected from Dar es salaam Stock Exchange, the study has also used the secondary source of data. The secondary data includes academic books, journals and other publications. 3.3.1 Thin Trading As discussed earlier in literature review section, infrequency trading or thin trading is big problem in most of emerging stock market and failure to take into account can results into serious biasness of statistical results. In this study this problem has been taken into account and the weekly data were collected from infrequency trading. The first step taken in controlling the infrequency trading was to eliminate the mostly thin traded securities / companies as Shanken (1987) depicted that some of researchers controls the thin trading problem by eliminating some of thin traded stocks. Initially the study was meant to include all ten companies listed in Dar es salaam Stock Exchange, however five companies were found to be very much affected by infrequency trading therefore were eliminated from the study. The actual correction of weekly data from thin trading for the five companies included in this study was based on approach by Atchison et al (1987) as adjusted by Milambo et al (2003;cited in Mabhunu 2004). They suggested correcting thin trading problem by adjusting approach by Atchison at el (1987) who used uniform process which allocates returns equally over the days in multi -days interval where security not traded. According to Mlambo et al (2003 ;cited in Mabhunu 2004), if a stock is not traded for example after 14 days of non trading, then a single entry given by the following equation (2) should be used as an oppose to 15 entries of equal value. Where: = Length of time between a trade in a period t and previous successive trade = Price of stock at time t = Dividend at time t Therefore the infrequency problem in this study have been controlled by applying equation 2 without taking into account the dividend adjustment as it has been suggested that adjustments of dividend does not have much effects.Also the use of weekly data instead of daily data for individual companies has helped to control this problem. 3.3.1 Test of goodness -of-fit One of the hypothesis in which the random walk has based on is about price changes to conform to some probability distribution. Therefore in testing the efficiency of stock market it is essential to identify the pattern and determine which known statistical distribution the pattern follows. In this study the Jarque-Bera test has beeen employed to test the normality of the stock return. This techniques has been used in several studies, includes the recent study of Market Return and Weak Form Efficiency: The case of Ghana by Frimpong and Oteng (2007). The Jarque-Bera test statistic is given by JB = T(+ ) (3) Where: JB = Test Statistic T = Number of observation S = Sample Skewness K = Sample Kurtosis. Kurtosis which denoted by (K) in equation (3) measures the sharpness / peakness or flatness of the distribution of a series and is given by the following equation K = (4) A normal distributed series has kurtosis of 3, therefore whenever kurtosis of a series exceeds 3, the distribution of that series is regarded as leptokurtic relative to normal and if the kurtosis is less than 3, then the distribution is regarded as platykurtic(flat) relative to normal. The skewness which denoted by (S) and computed by the following equation S = (5) Measures the asymmetric distribution of the series from its mean. A normal distributed series has skewness of zero, therefore if the skewness of the series is positive then the series is concluded to have a heavier right tail and if the skewness is negative the distribution is regarded as having a heavier left tail relative to normal. The results of the Jarque-Bera test together with the skewness and kurtosis of the return series employed in this study have been reported in table 1. 3.4 Methods employed As mentioned earlier this study aimed at achieving three main objectives, first to find empirical evidence of weak form efficiency hypothesis for Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange, secondly to identify the main barriers for the development of the Dar es salaam Stock Exchange i.e. the factors that hampers the growth of DSE and lastly to identify the quality of information available to investors at Dar es salaam Stock Exchange. Therefore in this chapter the methods used in achieving each objective have been explained in detail, starting with the first objective. 3.4.1 Objective 1: Empirical evidence for weak form efficiency hypothesis. In achieving the first objective, the study intended to answer the following two specific questions Is the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange weak-form efficient? Do the stock prices in Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange follow the random walk? The study was guided by the following hypothesis Dar es salaam Stock Exchange is weak form market efficient. Stock price follows a random walk Various techniques have been used so far in testing for weak form hypothesis by different researcher as depicted in literature review section, the techniques includes the statistical test of independence and trading rules. In determining whether a stock market is a weak form or not using statistical test, the correlation / relationship between stock price and return over the successive time interval is identified. If no significant correlation found then the market is regarded as weak form market as past return can not be used to determine future return. The market will be regarded as weak form inefficient if significant correlation will be found. In testing our first null hypothesis, one statistical test of independence have been employed, the serial correlation test . The non parametric runs test was employed to test our second null hypothesis, the random walk hypothesis. The following is the explanation of each statistical test employed in this study. Serial correlation test It is among the widely used test of independence .The serial correlation test measures the correlation of a variable over consecutive time interval e.g. at time t and time t-1.The reasons why this approach have been chosen to be used in this study is because of its familiarity in this kind of study. Several studies have employed this technique for example Vaidyanathan (1994) in the study of efficiency of the Indian capital market employed this approach. Similarly, Baral and Shrestha (2006) studying the daily stock behavior of commercial banks in Nepal, used the same approach. In testing the weak form efficiency of the stock market using this approach, the correlation of log price/return series is determined, if autocorrelation is found the assumptions will be that the series does not follow the random walk, meaning that the stock price are not independent, past return can be used to determine the future return and hence the market is weak form inefficient. The test statistic for the serial correlation coefficient for lag p can be express as p = (5) Similarly written as P = (6) In determining the autocorrelation of the return in this study, the Ljung-Box test was used. This is a portmanteau test which measures the autocorrelation of the variable. The Ljung-Box test statistic is given by =T(T+2) (7) Where by: = Test Statistic T = Number of observations = Is the jth autocorrelation or autocorrelation coefficient (for lag j) K = Number of coefficients to test autocorrelation, in other words the number of lag to be Tested. Given the value of obtained from the test, the conclusion on the randomness of the log price/return can be reached if > , K at significance level ÃŽ ±, where by , K means the ÃŽ ±-quantile of the Chi-square distribution with K degrees of freedom. Alternatively if the p-value obtained from the statistical test is less than 0.05,then the test is significant at 95% level of confidence and therefore the null hypothesis of zero auto correction can be rejected. The results for this test have been reported in figure 1in the next chapter. Runs test This is the second test that had been employed in this study to test for the second null hypothesis. Unlike parametric tests such as serial correlation, a runs test is a non-parametric test which means that it does not require the normal distribution of the series. This is one of the advantage of using this approach and it is also the reason why this technique has been adopted in our study. A run can be define as a set of identical (or related) symbols contained between two different symbols or no symbol (such as at the beginning or end of the sequence)Spiegel et al (2000.p366). In performing this test, each change in return/price is classified as positive (+), negative (-) and zero change (0). Alternatively change in return could be classified alphabetically for example A ,could be each return that equal or exceeds the mean value and B could be each return that are below mean value. The test can be executed to obtained the actual number of runs (denoted by V), and then the actual number of runs (V) can be compared with the expected number of runs () which is given by the following equation = (8) Where = Expected number of runs N = Total number of return observations = Sample size of each category of price change If actual number of runs will be greater than expected runs, it will be indications of negative serial correlation and if actual runs fall below expected return it will indicate the positive serial correlation of the return. Alternatively the p-value obtained can be used to conclude on the results of this test, if p-value is less than 0.05, then the test is significant at 95% level of confidence and therefore the null hypothesis of randomness can be rejected. For a large sample i.e (N>30), the sampling distribution of V is approximately corresponds to a normal distribution and thus Z = (9) Where: Z = Z-Test Statistic V = Actual return = Expected return = Standard deviation given by the following equation = [{+ N (N+1)} 2N (10) Therefore at appropriate level of significance, the Z-statistic can be used to test for independence of return series. The reason why the randomness tests such as non parametric runs test are used to test for the efficiency of the stock market is because efficiency of the stock market is determined by the way information are incorporated in current stock price. For a well efficient market , new information is incorporated instantaneously and spontaneously and therefore no arbitrage opportunity can exist. Since new information is incorporated instantaneously and spontaneously in current stock price then stock price/returns will be generated in random fashion i.e there will be no any pattern. In relation to the weak form efficient market all past information is expected to be incorporated in current stock price in such a way that a positive change in returns is not expected to be followed by positive change in return or negative to be followed by negative as the returns generated randomly. However, for the weak inefficient market all past information are not incorporated instantaneously and spontaneously as the results the change in returns is generated in a pattern which can lead to opportunity of making fortune. Therefore testing of randomness helps to reveal the how new information is incorporated in current stock price and the way returns are generated, if its in a random fashion or with pattern. This helps in drawing conclusion regarding the efficiency of a stock market. The results for this non parametric runs test are shown in table 2 3 and discussed in the next chapter. Objective 2:Factors affecting the growth/ development of Dar es salaam Stock Exchange Despite aim of finding empirical evidence of weak form hypothesis, also the second objective of this study was to identify and discuss major factors/ challenges that have been affecting the development and progress of Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange. April 2008, the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange celebrated its tenth years anniversary, however for the period of its ten years of operations; we have witness the slow growth / development of the stock market, only few companies have been listed so far. But what are the main causes of this slow growth? in terms of listing of companies?, what are the challenges faced by the stock market?. Further more the numbers of individuals participating in the market as investors is not so impressive, in a speech by the minister of finance and economic affairs on 10th anniversary of DSE , he said the market so far DSE has enable more than 116,651 Tanzanians to own shares. This is small figure to be as a minimum figure for the country with population of approximately 39.4 million people, we would expect a good number of individual to be aware of operations of the stock market and hence participating and a minimum figure could have been a million and above, however the situation is different then what is the real problem?, are there any efforts by the market authority to ensure the general public is aware of the stock market operations and hence increase the number of investors in the market?. Despite of the barriers and challenges for its growth, what measures have been and will be taken to ensure the stock market is growing? .What are the future prospects of the market? . In achieving our second objective the above mentioned questions will be addressed and discussed. This was done through reviewing and studying of the existing literature and publications regarding Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange and African stock markets in general, since most of the emerging African stock markets share the same kind of the obstacle/ challenges. The findings and discussion of these issues have been presented the following chapter. Objective 3: The quality of information to investor and other stakeholders at DSE. The last objective was to determine the quality of information available to investors and other stakeholders at Dar es Salaam Stock Market. There various sources of information for investors in any stock market and one of the sources is financial statements. Even though financial statements are sometimes subjective to the manipulation of management and by the time financial statements are published some changes might have already happen, yet financial statements remains to be crucial source of information for investors and analysts. Normally the existing investors as well as potential investors would like to know how the investment have been well managed as this will give them the overall picture on how safe investing in the company has been or will be. Using the published financial statements, investors and analysts can acquire valuable information which can help in their decision making. However, investors will be deprived from using this type of source of information, if the information provided with the financial statements are not of good quality and required standard. According to Benston (2003), if the information provided by financial statements is not useful and accurate then its reception will not give investors the kind of insight they wanted and as the results investors will incur costs to find information somewhere else. Therefore with this objective, the quality of information available to investors in DSE was determined and discussed. This was achieved through a comparison of financial statement of Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL)- a company listed in Dar es salaam Stock Exchange and Sanisbury PLC a company listed in London Stock Exchange. The aim of the comparison was to determine if an investor in DSE using financial statement will get the same quality of information similar to an investor in London Stock Exchange. In this comparison in additional of looking the contents and standards in which these annual report have been prepared also the study looked at the general accessibility of the annual report and other companys information which might be helpful to investors between these company .Also the general overview of corporate governance between these two companies was analyzed and discussed. The results and discussions of this comparison have been presented in the following chapter. 3.5 Data Analysis Since the study had involve the statistical tests, therefore data was analyzed with the help of statistical packages. The parametric serial correction test and parametric runs test was performed using SPSS (Statistical Package For Social Science) and the Jarque -Bera test was performed using EVIEWS .Both quantitative and qualitative approach have been used in interpreting the results of analysis 4.0 Chapter Four: Data Analysis, Presentation Discussion of Findings 4.1 Introduction The aim of this chapter is to present the analysis and discuss the findings of the study. The chapter have been divided in three main part (A, B, C). The first part (A), reports the results and the discussions from statistical tests relating to the first objective of this study. Part B and C report the findings and discussions relating to the second and third objectives respectively . 4.2 Part A : Empirical evidence for weak form efficiency hypothesis In finding the empirical evidence for weak form efficiency hypothesis in Dar es salaam Stock Exchange ,three main statistical tests were performed , firstly the normality test i.e the Jarque Bera test, parametric serial correlation test and non parametric runs test, the findings of these test are presented in that order. 4.2.1 Test of goodness of- fit Since it is essential to determine the probability distribution of the series when performing efficiency tests /statistical tests, therefore the returns for the stock market index(DSEI) as well as the returns for the five companies used in the study were firstly analyzed to determine if the return series follows the normal distribution. The result of nomality test are shown in table 1 Table 1: Jarque- Bera Test DAHACO DSEI SIMBA TBL TCC TWIGA Mean 0.002166 0.000227 0.006390 0.002727 0.000724 0.008349 Median 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 Maximum 0.141970 0.021668 0.277632 0.202941 0.074108 0.287682 Minimum -0.182322 -0.024520 -0.253781 -0.146093 -0.117783 -0.072759 Std. Dev. 0.028979 0.002794 0.045971 0.027860 0.021852 0.040065 Skewness -0.462822 -0.623957 0.863549 2.133508 -0.934278 4.314131 Kurtosis 15.81011 39.73707 17.61886 23.35083 11.19382 29.39428 Jarque-Bera 1216.549 15707.35 1751.608 4792.031 532.6697 2891.643 Probability 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 Sum 0.383447 0.063240 1.239581 0.725336 0.130979 0.751392 Sum Sq. Dev. 0.147799 0.002170 0.407877 0.205694 0.085951 0.142861 Observations 177 279 194 266 181 90 Source : Analyzed data As shown in the table 1, the p-value of the jarque -bera test for stock market index series(DSEI) and the p-value for the five individual companies is below 0.05 i.e p-value As depicted in the table 1 above, the return for the market index(DSEI), TCC Ltd and DAHACO/SWISSPORT Ltd are negatively skew(heavier left tail) as their skewness less than zero. I,e skewness 0) which means that their returns are positively skew( a heavier right tail) relative to normal. A perfectly symmetrical distribution such as normal distribution has skewness which equal to zero. Regarding the kurtosis which describe the flatness or peaknedness of the distribution the results shows that the returns of both market index and individual companies have kurtosis greater than three i.e kurtosis > 3, which implies that the distribution of the returns are sharply peaked (leptokurtic) relative to normal. The p-value from test statistic, kurtosis and skewness indicates the rejection of normality for the returns so the general conclusion which can be drawn from the test of goodness-of-fit is that the returns employed in this study are not normally distributed and therefore non parametric statistical tests are more appropriate to be used than parametric statistical tests. 4.2.2 Results of Serial Correlations/ Autocorrelation Test Though it has been suggested that when the series is not normally distributed then non parametric tests wo

Essay --

Credit Rating Check: How to Find Your Credit Score Finding out your credit score is one of the most important steps you can take towards a stronger financial future. It is extremely important for everyone to be well-informed of your credit score so that you can make smart decisions about credit and how to use it to your advantage. Luckily, finding your credit score is incredibly easy and something that everyone should do! The Fair Credit Reporting Act It’s easier than ever to check your credit rating because of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). This requires the three main credit bureaus -Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion- to each offer you a credit report once every 12 months. You may choose to order these reports at different times throughout the year, or all at once. How to Order Your Free Reports Although you are entitled to yearly credit checks at no cost, there is still action required on your part. There are three different ways to request a report from each company. Online, you can visit www.annualcreditreport.com or you can call toll-free at 1-877-322-8228. Th...

Analysis of the Sabbath in Judaism and Christianity Essay -- Papers

In both Judaism and Christianity, the Sabbath is a religious day of worship. Jewish people celebrate it on a Saturday and Christians celebrate it on a Sunday. It is a day of rest and worship. Christians celebrate it on a Sunday because that Is the day of the resurrection (Easter Sunday). Jesus was Jewish. He was a good Jew. Jesus worshiped in the synagogue on the Sabbath, but he used to come into conflict with the Pharisees, Jewish religious leaders, over many religious laws and customs. He told them that he thought they were using the laws to their own power and that they did not explain to the Jewish people the meanings of these laws. The Pharisees were the Jewish religious leaders. They were concerned to uphold in every detail the Jewish religious laws including those of the Sabbath. Jesus came into conflict with them many times, they saw Jesus as a threat. Jesus came into conflict with Pharisees` many times about the Sabbath. In Mark 1:21-31 (a man with an evil spirit). Jesus and the disciples went to Capernaum. On the Sabbath Jesus went to the synagogue to teach. People were amazed by the way he taught, â€Å"he taught with authority† they remarked. A man with an evil spirit came n, Jesus ordered the spirit â€Å"Be quiet, and come out of the man!† The spirit then came out of the man. People were amazed and the news spread quickly. The Pharisees wouldn’t agree with this being done on the Sabbath because it is a kind of work, but Jesus does agree with it because it is a good deed and helps another which is also considered as necessary work. In Mark 2:23-28 (the question about the Sabbath). Jesus and the disciple... ...nd Mary Magdalene went to go and anoint the body of Jesus. At sunrise early Sunday morning they went to the tomb. They went on the day after the Sabbath because it against the law of the Sabbath to anoint the body on the day of the Sabbath. We know that Jesus was a good Jew, because on many occasions mentioned in the Gospels he is in the synagogue, teaching and praying. We also know that Christ read the scriptures and taught in the synagogue on the Sabbath. He also healed people on the Sabbath. Different Christian denominations focus on different things that they believe are most important. You have the Pulpit based worship which the Methodists, church of Scotland and United Reformed Quakers use. Eucharist based which Catholics and Church of England focus on. Lastly the Good works based which Salvation army focus on.

Becoming an Effective Leader Essay

My job title is Training Co-ordinator for an organisation called Lifeskills Centres, I assess in the following areas; business administration, customer service, management, delivering level 2 and 3 and also any supporting key skills needed. I am responsible for my caseload of learners; their progress, learning and achievement of the qualification. I must cater each programme to suit the needs of the individual learner, I do this by setting each new starter off on initial assessments so that I can see what level they are currently at which will help me decide which course is the most suitable and which approach will be the most beneficial for the learner. I am also responsible for creating strong professional relationships with the learners new employers and maintaining relationships with existing employers this is for two reasons so they would recommend us to other employers so we gain a good reputation and so that they will want to use Lifeskills as a training provider for all of their staff and will not use a different organisation as it is a competitive market. I also advertise vacancies for our employers who have had good experiences in the past with apprentices and would like to recruit a new one. I agree with the employer all of the details to go on to the advert and interview all of the candidates and trial period the suitable ones for a week before sending them to the employer themselves to interview and then make the final decision. Within my role I use a number of different leadership styles in different situations and with different people in order to progress and achieve what needs to be achieved for example; I use the leadership style autocratic when I come to the end of the programme and I tell my learners what I want and what needs to be done and how it needs to be done, this is when the learners are short of time if they are leaving the organisation and don’t have much time to complete and it works the best when they want to achieve and are highly motivated. I have used the leadership style democratic when I had a group of learners in one particular placement where I was finding it hard to make them progress as they wouldn’t complete any work unless I was there  with them and they had no motivation towards the qualification. I discussed with the learners my concerns and asked how they thought we could move forward and they suggested one to one meetings, I informed the learners that this would be too time consuming and that I could afford to have a morning or afternoon out of the month for me to come in to the organisation and support them and motivate them to complete the knowledge questions, technical certificate and key skills side of the qualification. The learners confirmed that this was an effective method and I informed them that I will observe them twice a month but they do not have to complete any written tasks for me between observation as it will be done on the one morning / afternoon per month. I used this leadership style so that they felt they were included and to help me gain more respect from them and I do not think that it came across as a weakness from myself I think it showed that I was honest and realised that there was something not right and then discussed and implemented a solution. Lastly the leadership style I use not very often but I do still use is delegative which is where I let the learners make their own decisions on how they can progress through their qualification. I usually use this style when a learner has progressed from a level 2 qualification with myself on to a level 3 so they know the way the programme works and we have a comfortable relationship I also allow some level 3 learners to reference their own work in to their files. Application of emotional intelligence in shaping performance I employ the two aspects of emotional intelligence when dealing with learners and colleagues at all times as I must first understand myself and my goals, intentions, responses and behaviour and understand others and their feelings to be able to manage my learners and their progress. I empathise with learners and use the understanding of their emotions to motivate them and inspire them to complete their work. I am aware of my own feelings and emotions and control these to make sure that I do not behave in a way that is unacceptable towards learners or colleagues, I may not have to say anything to communicate how I am feeling as it can be portrayed in my body language and facial expressions which is also something that I have to control. Based on Goleman’s theory to be an effective leader I must be aware  of my own feelings and emotions and manage these to make sure that my emotions do not show in my behaviour if they are unacceptable. I must motivate myself which I do by meeting appraisal and review targets and setting myself my own goals to achieve. I must also manage other peoples emotions I do this by building a relationship with my learners and getting to know what they like and what annoys them so I can recognise this and stop it from becoming an issue where possible, it also makes the learners feel valued and that I care about the way they feel. It is also stated in Maslows Hieracy of needs that to work to your full ability and progress in your job and grow as a person you must have the following; Be in a healthy state, feel safe, feel like you belong somewhere and have some form of social life (friends, family, relationships) and have self esteem before you are able to grow personally. I must make sure that I show all learners that I care about each of them as an individual and that there progress and growth means a lot to me. I think an area that I personally have to work on is when I worry and panic about things for example we were mock inspected and I felt very anxious about it, I must make sure that this feeling does not come across to learners or employers and that the rest of my work doesn’t suffer from it. I also try to understand and manage the employers I deal with emotional intelligence as I want to build a relationship with them and trust so I make sure that I empathise with them and try not to do anything possible which may annoy them for example if I can see that an employer is very busy instead of updating them after the appointment with their learner I will ask if they would like an update via email as I can see they are really busy and then they can decide how they would like the feedback. Setting direction and gaining commitment I communicate and set direction for my learners by visiting them fortnightly, observing them work, showing them what each observation will cover or link in with, giving them feedback on their performance and setting them targets for the next appointment. I provide ongoing support via email and over the telephone to learners when I am at work but not at an appointment with them and review their progress and set targets formally at their ten week reviews which gives them clear direction and motivation to meet the targets they  agree by the next review. I provide support and tutorials to learners for the whole of the technical certificate and functional skills they complete and also offer training on the telephone, prioritising techniques and assertiveness skills as I have noticed that this is an area for development that employers ask for and the learners too. I also motivate and gain commitment from learners and try and persuade new employers to take on new learners by using myself as a role model example, as I began my career by completing an administration level 2 apprenticeship and have completed enough qualifications and worked my way up to becoming a Training Co-ordinator. I communicate and set direction and motivate employers by keeping them up to date with the learner’s progress and exactly what I have been doing with the learner after each visit where possible and including them in the qualification by asking for witness statements and also asking them to participate in the learner’s reviews. With my colleagues I communicate direction in standardisation meetings where we share best practise on how to cover and assess certain units that we may find difficult or what we have found that works very well. I try to motivate my colleagues by being hardworking and genuinely enthusiastic about my learners achieving and my job .

Philosophy of reading Essay

â€Å"Just simply teaching a child to read is not enough; we must provide them something that is worth reading. Material that will make their imaginations grow – materials that will help them to understand their own lives and push them towards interacting with others who’s lives are completely different than there own† (Paterson). As elementary educators it is our privilege and responsibility to expose young people to knowledge. By making this introduction a fun one, it allows for the child to have a positive attitude about school and learning that they will take with them through out their entire educational career. Many children have a excited and happy attitude about starting school. Every student also feels like they are ready and prepared, no matter what their entry level literacy skills may be. It is common knowledge that not every child will enter the school system with the same levels of literacy. That is why it is up to us, as educators, to teach them how to read by using appropriately developed strategies and individualized instructions. When I was a little girl growing up I was one of a family of sixteen children, so beginning from a very young age once the school days were done we were left with our  older siblings while mom and dad worked hard to earn us a living. My mother would frequently read to me out of story books or simply stories she made up on her own. Since there were so many of us, by the time i was born we had a pretty good assortment of books to choose from. My first memory I have of reading in the classroom setting was in the fourth grade. My teacher was Ms. Bartrum, she was such a lovely woman who was the first to instill in me the joys of reading through accelerated reading programs and book fairs. I was a goal of mine to be the first one to finish one  book and move on to another one on the list, this is a case where a little competition was a healthy thing. Mrs. Bartrum was really good at picking out books that would challenge us but also capture our interests which made reading them a lot less challenging. Cunningham and Allington research has shown that those children who learned to read and write with ease had a lot of different experiences in reading and writing, which allowed them to benefit from the literacy experiences they had in school (Cunningham & Allington). Teaching students to read is not simply picking the right  reading program, and one specific program will not work with for every single student. As a teacher I feel that it is my job to be the spark for the love to read, by using an effective and balanced learning approach. It is of the upmost importance that the curriculum is designed so that it engages the students in the content, while allowing the students to use their own learning styles and accompanying to their developmental needs. The teaching method called â€Å"Best Practice† uses the idea that by using teaching methods and strategies within the classroom will create an individualized environment for learning. I continuously make an effort to use the best practices method in my everyday classroom instruction. Students learn based upon their own individual needs or interests. It is important to help students to gain their own craving for knowledge, it is critical to their academic success. By creating a learning environment that allows the students to feel safe, will in turn make it easier for them to trust you which will make the learning experience much easier. An environment that is encouraging, positive, actively engaging, and allows for social interactions will harbor the best practice learning method. The way that a classroom is arranged can have an effect on the students and how they learn as well. My personal classroom is arranged so that they students’ desks are arranged in a U-shape with my desk in the middle, this allows me to have a view of each student and to be able to get to them easier. My classroom is also full to the gill with reading materials, every which way the students turn they are greeted by books. Our reading corner is focused around our interactive word board, it holds our library with is full of many different forms of reading materials from chart books to decoding books. Also posted throughout the classroom is the alphabet, picture cards, and letter cards with a corresponding word being used in a sentence. Morning messages and charts are placed within easy access for the students so that they can review and practice whenever they want. Also made available within the classroom is environmental prints, these help the students with their writing, studies have shown that they are an effective way of aiding in emergent literacy (Jalongo, 2010). Each day there is an hour set aside to work on reading in small groups. Even though throughout the day several books are  read, this one hour period during the day is when individual reading levels are really focused on within each group. Groups are used during these lessons because studies have shown that students within the early grade levels learn more when a portion of their reading lessons are given in small groups, with regularly tested progress, and ample amount of time to understand the lesson is given (Taylor, 2005). â€Å"Reading is fundamental†, this saying is used to demonstrate the how important reading is to our youth. Having the skills to read and write is not only fundamental in an individual’s success in the academic sense but also in life itself. Reading and writing skills are a continued development throughout a person’s entire lifetime, however they early years, from birth to the age of eight, are the most crucial time frame for developing literacy skills (IRA and NAEYC, 2009). Reading has an undeniable importance because of the basic tools it provides an individual. It is the building block for the nation’s educational system. One must have adequate reading skills to be able to master any other subjects such as math or science, this is why it is the most crucial of all subjects to master. Despite it being such a simple concept, if it weren’t for reading our culture  wouldn’t be as advanced as it is today. By simply saying that â€Å"reading is fundamental† lacks emphasis, because without the ability to read our lives would be extremely different in many ways. References: Reading Rockets. Interview with Katherine Paterson. On-line. Accessed on December 5, 2014 at http:// www. readingrockets. org/books/interviews/paterson Hall, D. P. & Williams, E. (2000). Teachers Guide to Building Blocks: A Developmentally Appropriate, Multilevel Framework for Kindergarten. Greensboro, NC: Carlos-Dellosa Publishing Company Inc. International Reading Association (IRA) & National Association for the Education of  Young Children (NAEYC). (2009). Learning to Read and Write: Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young Children. NAEYC: Washington, DC. Jalongo, M. R. (2007). Early Childhood Language Arts. (4th Ed). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Taylor, B. , Pearson, P. , Clark, K. , & Walpole, S. (2005). Beating the Odds in Teaching All Children to Read. CIERA Report #2-006. University of Michigan: Ann Arbor.