Texas Education Essay Example for Free

Texas Education Essay Texas law makers and citizens have been concerned about the education of our young people since before declaring our Independence from Mexico in 1836. Texas revolutionaries listed â€Å"failure to establish any public system of education, although possession of almost boundless resources,† among the reasons to become independent from Mexico. Since that time public education has seen countless policy changes, constitutional amendments and revisions, and laws changed to meet the needs of Texas students. (1) How has the Texas education system changed? How have these policies affected our young people, and what challenges lay ahead for students, educators, parents, and policy makers? At the birth of Texas public education there were many problems that policy makers had to overcome. How to educate students in such rural areas? How will public education be funded? These were a few of the challenges that lawmakers of that time faced but one challenge they didn’t not have land as one of them. The first public school law was written setting aside large amounts of land in each county for public school use. Later the amount was increased and additional land was set aside for the first State College. However what Texas lacked was funding. (2) In 1845 Texas received 10 million in five percent U. S. Indemnity bonds for settling a boundary claim against the United States. Of this 10 million, 2 million was set aside as a permanent school fund. The permanent school fund was later directed to be invested in bonds. Also, during 1845 the state constitution set aside one-tenth of the annual state tax set aside to support free public schools. (1) The founding fathers of Texas public education were working toward the goal of adequately funding the Texas education system. Today the permanent school fund accounts for approximately $765 million a year. (1) A continued effort has also been made through the life of Texas public education to develop a system of accountability. 1885 marked the first year a system of accreditation was used for Texas public schools. At that time selected tests were sent to the University of Texas. If the school was found to be satisfactory students gained automatic admission without examination. (1) Although the intent was Texas public education had many problems. One was the growing concern for the decline of Texas literacy. Legislatures tried to address this issue in 1984 when Texas passed House Bill 72. The 68th Legislature passed this bill in response to concerns over the adequacy of Texas public schools as reflected by standardized tests. (2) House Bill 72 brought down tougher requirements on students and began rating the schools in 1993. The students were now required to pass a state assessment test in order to meet the graduation requirements. This was system of testing was the most difficult students had been exposed to up until this point. Also the Bill created the no pass no play rule that requires students to pass every subject in order to participate in any extracurricular activity. (2) Another problem that the Legislature attempted to address was funneling funding to property poor districts. Edgewood ISD v Kirby was filed and claimed that the system for funding public schools was discriminatory against poor districts. Edgewood ISD was against House Bill 72 and wanted a fair system of school funding. The courts ruled in favor of Edgewood ISD but law makers continued to try and come up with a fair system. The federal government threatened to shut down federal aid for public schools because of non-compliance. In 1990 Legislature tried to pass the â€Å"Robin Hood† plan. This plan would redistribute wealth from wealthy districts to poor districts. This Bill failed to pass voters. In 1993 another plan was passed by the State. This gave multiple options to districts to distribute funds equally. (3) Edgewood ISD v Kirby was not the first lawsuit filed in an effort to improve Texas public schools. Del Rio ISD v Salvatierra tried to show how inferior education facilities were for Mexican-Americans and moved toward desegregation. In 1948 Delgado v Bastrop ISD, the judge ruled against segregation of Mexican-American children in public schools. Sweatt v Painter in 1950, challenged â€Å"separate but equal† and integration was ultimately addressed with a federal ruling in 1954with Brown v Board of Education and the integration of Mexican-Americans in 1970 with Cisneros v Corpus Christi. In that same year because of discriminatory practices in Texas schools, United States v Texas forced a federal judge to call for all schools to be integrated. (3) Texas is unique in many ways from other states. Texas is second among size and population and educates 9% of the total U. S. student population. A highly diverse student population creates additional problems. 16% of the student population in 2007 was Limited English Proficient. IN that same year 55. 5% of all students were recognized as economically disadvantaged. In 2007 those two categories ranked the lowest among percentage of students that passed all areas of the State assessment test. With 47% of Limited English Proficient passing all categories and 57% of economically disadvantaged passing all categories. Texas also ranks 15th in the nation with 8th grade students in mathematics, 31st in reading, and 35th in science. All this unique situation occurs while ranking 49th among funding per student as compared to other states. (4) These statistics put Texas in a unique situation. Texans are educating more people and more of those people are in greater need of a quality education. How can Texas children compete in the job market? What will the Texas workforce look like for these children? Concerns continue to grow over declining school performance and budget deficits. The budget shortfalls will mean education spending cuts. Texas is a conservative state. Its legislatures take great pride in balancing the state budget with responsible spending. Many times these cuts are made in the name of the children in an attempt to not pass down large amounts of debt. To continue to cut an education system that is at the bottom on spending per student will only push Texans further below the national average of graduation rates. Texas education continues to underperform. (5) Law makers continue to decrease funding in schools and will not increase taxes to attempt to meet the budget shortfalls. Texas boosts rapid business growth and population growth. They attribute much of this growth to a tax friendly environment for the top 60% income brackets and affordable living for all income brackets. This has made us a national leader among growth and is a source of pride among lawmakers and Texans. (6) Law makers attempted to help the education crisis in Texas during the 83rd legislative session. The passed over 100 laws affecting education. These rules ranged from bonds for charter schools, healthy eating statutes in schools, law enforcement on campuses, testing and ratings of districts, and school financing. Many laws were made mandating that schools have to perform at a higher level and also that schools have to help produce healthy students while also protecting them. All these programs take more money yet the Texas budget does not allow for additional funds. The state legislatures say that if these schools cannot perform they should be shut down. What options would that leave Texas students and their families? (6) More than 150,000 Texas students are choosing public charter schools over traditional public schools. Public charter schools receive bonds and funding from both the state and federal government similar to traditional public schools. They boost a higher learning environment while managing to do it on a smaller budget than traditional public schools. They are held to the same Texas accountability systems but have the freedom to develop their own curriculum; where as a traditional public school is held to the state curriculum. The Texas Board of Education approves the curriculum that public schools can use. They develop the curriculum and the district has the freedom to determine how they will teach this to their students. They can use many different programs from traditional text books to the unpopular c-scope curriculum. Charter schools on the other hand are allowed the freedom to teach how they want to teach and what they want to teach as long as they perform well on the same state assessment tests that public schools must take. (7) Charter schools are an alternative that many Texas parents and students are electing for. The freedom they are allowed are creating a learning friendly environment while providing teachers the freedom to teach. Students are able to learn and teachers are able to teach. All under the same budget constraints that traditional public schools have. Not having to teach to a particular curriculum is favorable for some parents that may not want a conservative influence on their students. For example the recent conservative wins over social studies curriculum. Conservatives won to modify social studies texts to look favorably on Republican political philosophies and stressing the superiority of American capitalism. The fight continues are could be won in the near future for the removal of the teachings of Darwinism and to move toward the inclusion of the Christian views that founded our nation. The charter schools will not be held to these same teachings and are free to teach the religious side, conservative side, liberal, and science. Many parents find this form of teaching more favorable and the freedom it provides help to responsibly teach Texas students under the budget constraints that the state mandates. (8) Not all academic changes are viewed as bad. Republicans pushed for information about the violent nature of the Black Panther party is taught in contrast to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King, and that the Republican votes are included in teaching to show how Republicans pushed forward on civil rights issues. Some strides were made in the inclusion of personal responsibility teaching to students, which includes life choices such as suicide, pregnancy, dating violence, eating disorders and drug disorders. Some people such as Mavis Knight, a democrat from Dallas that introduced an amendment for the teachings of the founding fathers on religious freedoms but it was turned down, said â€Å"the social conservatives have perverted accurate history to fulfill their own agendas. † (8) If you were a young adult or adult in the 90’s you was also part of legislative of an advertising campaign to pass the lottery in Texas. A large part of this campaign was that that the majority of the lottery proceeds would go toward Texas education. Many Texans often wonder how we can need to cut school funding when 21 billion dollars has been contributed through the Texas lottery system. This was true and false all at the same time. 21 billion has been contributed to Texas education. The majority of the proceeds from the Texas lottery are going into the Texas Education fund but the false is that for every dollar contributed by the lottery the general fund decreases its contribution. So funding remains the same just the contributing party changes. This was a rouse by legislatures at the time and continues to be. (9) Another large source of school funding is property tax. Law makers have continued to address the disparities between district funding in regards to property tax revenue. Property within districts can vary greatly. Some districts may be comprised of multi-million dollar homes while other modest middle class homes and even others that are made up of very poor communities. These differences in tax revenue base have created large differences in the quality of education provided for Texas students. Lawmakers have attempted to address this with bonds and funding per pupil but any Texas resident that has visited an inner-city school and visited a school in affluent Plano or wealthy areas of the valley know that there are great differences in the amenities provided to students in those districts. (10) Another challenge Texas faces is staffing its schools with quality educators. There is a shortage of educators in Texas. After the 2011 much publicized decrease in the teaching population and additional constraints on class size. The perception of an already stressful and underpaid profession was damaged. In 2012 the number of teaching certificates acquired was down 24 percent. Projections show that Texans will not meet the number of needed teachers by 2015 if the issue is not addressed. The Texas Workforce Commission predicts that the need for teachers will greatly increase and is the highest projected are of growth in Texas. The challenge comes in attempted to convince young adults to invest their education dollars in this field. (11) There are many challenges that face Texas educators. How can Texas educators teach to the diverse student population accurately with the other challenges that face the public education system? According to the Kids Count Data Center, Texas has a student population of 16. 2% that receive ESL teaching. These present additional challenges for teachers. Texas was an early pioneer for English as Second Language training. In 1968 lawmakers pioneered for English deficient students by allowing ESL programs in Texas Schools. Up until that time it was not allowed to have bilingual programs in the schools. Then in 1981 further strides were made when Mexicans Americans were allowed to enter those programs voluntarily to help eliminate discrimination of Mexican American students. Today Mexican American students account for 50. 2% of the student population and although this poses additional challenges Texas must be prepared to meet those challenges. (10) There are so many challenges facing Texas education. A diverse student population, proper funding, legislatures with personal agendas, increase academic standards, meeting demands of the workforce from laborer to laboratory, all these are achievable. These challenges can be met by Texas parents, legislatures and students. At an early age Texas students are taught how great and unique Texas is and its residents and how we are have risen to many challenges and defeated them. The challenge of education will be gladly met and I feel confident that Texans will see the importance of education and do everything necessary to ensure that Texas youth are able to compete in today’s job market.

Keller Williams One Man Band :: essays research papers fc

Imagine attending a concert in which if you were to close your eyes, you would assume that the music you are hearing is being created by a cast of band members, each playing their respective instruments. Contrary to your assumptions, however, this band only consists of one member. Keller Williams, dubbed by critics as a one-man-band, is one of a kind both in his musical talent and his solo act. Very few solo musicians have mastered such a multi-dimensional sound and captivating live show as Keller, making him standout amongst today’s musicians. Keller’s ability to perform improvisational live shows, form a large and dedicated fan base, and share the beliefs and attitudes of the hippie generation has given him the musical identity of the jam band genre in addition to his personal identity of being a solo act.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Keller grew up in of Fredericksburg, Virginia and first began performing at the early age of 16. Without any formal teaching, he taught himself how to the play the guitar, mimicking the styles of his role models John Fahey, Leo Kottke, and the late Michael Hedges. Williams started out playing in bars and restaurants in his hometown. He played in various bands to help him get a feel for his own skills. After doing so, he decided that a band would not suite the type of music path he was set out for and quickly decided to take a more solo-oriented route. The type of music Keller creates fuses elements of rock, funk, jazz, folk, bluegrass, and techno. His lyrics are â€Å"usually lighthearted, inventive and conjuring images of a twisted reality† (â€Å"Keller Williams Bio†). It is these characteristics, combined with the looping techniques that he uses to create a full-band sound with only himself on stage, which is what further distinguishes Williams fr om all other musicians.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Placed in the genre of jam bands, Keller is able to create a solo jamming experience with the use of his arsenal of various instruments. Keller was â€Å"introduced to looping techniques by ‘Flecktones’ bassist Victor Wooten,† which he now uses â€Å"to build a full-band sound with only one man on stage† (â€Å"Keller Williams Brings†). A typical song will begin by Williams playing a guitar riff which he will then â€Å"loop† so that it repeats continuously. Next, he might pick up another guitar, of which he has collection numbering eight or so, and record another riff which he will loop on top of the original riff.

Wikipedia: the Basis of Unreliable Sources

Over the years that Wikipedia has been running, there has been a continuous debate on whether it is a reliable resource or not and no one has been able to come up with a conclusion. However, there are many people who think that they have come up with a compromise, which includes Wikipedia being a good source for basic information but not for the sole information of any given topic. Especially for college students, Wikipedia can get tricky in the sense where it is easy to just read through and agree with; however, it may be misleading and have incorrect information.People including college English instructor Jenny Meister, Marquette University Law School student blogger Jessica Slavin, and Internet executive Mark Moran can all agree that Wikipedia is helpful in college research but only for basic knowledge, not for sole information. Throughout college, students must do a lot of book and computer research in order to do papers, class work and home work. The computer research is what sc ares professors the most because they know how easy it is for the students to click the first link that comes up on Google-Wikipedia.These students seem to get all of their information from the website, which can be edited by anonymous sources at any time. This means that the information is not always correct which can be frustrating to professors. â€Å"As someone who's been there and done the grading thing, I can tell you that when a professor flips to your Works Cited page and glances over your list of sources, a page full of Wikipedia entries is going to spark a frenzy of eye-rolling and red pen† (Meister).College students not only have to worry about having the wrong information in their school work, but also need to consider Wikipedia in their future careers. They must ask themselves how they should use it and the proper way to use it without hurting themselves. For example, law student Jessica Slavin had stated she was only going to use Wikipedia for background informa tion. â€Å"I will admit that I sometimes read a Wikipedia entry if I want background information about a topic. I do not think, though, that I would cite an entry as proof of anything in court† (Slavin).Wikipedia can be useful at times for background information about a topic, however, it can not be trusted because you are never sure who is writing it, if it is from a reliable source, or if the information is completely accurate. In Mark Moran’s blog about how Wikipedia is not reliable he makes one important point on why it should not be trusted for sole information. â€Å"In March 2009, Irish student Shane Fitzgerald, who was conducting research on the internet and globalization of information, posted a fake quotation on the Wikipedia article about recently deceased French composer Maurice Jarre.Due to the fact that the quote was not attributed to a reliable source, it was removed several times by editors, but Fitzgerald continued re-posting it until it was allowed to remain† (Moran). Moran is making the point that it is the contributor with the strongest agenda who â€Å"wins† and it is not always the one with the most correct information, which makes the site less reliable. For many years, Wikipedia has been known as an unreliable source and to be unused in school, although, it can be useful at times for basic information.Throughout college, students use Wikipedia as a main source which is giving them the wrong information in papers, class work, and school work, which is extremely frustrating for the professors to see. The students need to consider their future and if they would use Wikipedia as a primary source when they are at their future careers. College students should be allowed to use Wikipedia, but only as a basic information source in order to get background knowledge on a topic.

Advantages and Disadvantages in the Lake District National Park

This is an essay about the advantages and disadvantages that arise in and about National Parks, focusing on the Lake District National Park. The Lake District is shown on the map below. As you can see the Lake District is situated in Cumbria in the North West of England. The Lake District National Park is the largest National Park in Britain. It was established in 1951 and covers an area of 2,292 sq. km. It is home to the largest lake in Britain -lake Windermere which is an amazing 16.9km long, 2km wide and has an area of 16sq km-quite a lot of water! It is also home to Scaffel Pike which is the largest mountain in England rising to a very tall 966m. Both of these features, along with many more, encourage people to visit the park. The Lake District is one of the National Parks in Wales and England, the others being Exmoor Dartmoor The Pembrokeshire Coast The Brecon Beacons The Yorkshire Dales Northumberland Snowdonia And The North York Moor 7% of all the land in England is National Park Land and 20% of the land in Wales in National Parks. A National Park is defined as an area of scenic beauty. National Parks have two main aims A) To preserve and care for the beautiful environment may it be coast or mountains and all the wildlife/plants in them B) To provide a place for recreation, relaxation and enjoyment open to everyone. You would think it would be easy to provide a pretty, safe place for people to visit/live/work. You must think again! National Parks are at the centre of much controversy and arguments-as you are about to find out yet still manage to have many, many advantages. One of the advantages of a National Park are that they are a great place for people to come and relax. Anyone can enjoy a visit to a National Park-families, individuals, the elderly and so on. Some parks (although not the Lake District) are also used by the army as part of their training process. Obviously, there are farmers on the land too who depend on it to make a living. The Lake District is a place where you can do a number of activities- * Walking * Outdoor Pursuits (e.g. Canoeing, climbing etc) * Going on a leisurely boat ride on the lakes (especially Windermere) * Having a nice picnic or day out in some of the specially developed areas or on the mountains themselves. * Camping * Water skiing * Angling * Bird watching /general nature looking * Power boating * And generally relaxing and having a great time! Here is a map of the Lake District itself. Note all of the high land (brown bits) and lakes (blue bits) DISADVANTAGES As with every national Park there are some disadvantages. These are usually roughly the same in any National Park and there is not positive way of getting rid of all the problem without banning people to go to the National Parks which kind of defeats the object. Traffic Congestion is a major problem. The small, narrow steep, winding country roads just can't cope with the volume of traffic which is passing to get to the park. As most of the visitors to the National Park travel by car it is indeed a serious problem. In the Lake District the main problems are at Great Langdale, Borrowdale and Kentmere. There is also another big problem-car parking facilities. These are restricted causing some people to leave their cars parked at the side of the road causing further traffic problems affecting the local people who just want to get on with their day to day business. As there are more vehicles about this leads to more air pollution, which makes the area less pleasant to visit. As said before there are few solutions to this problem. You could build big two-lane roads to replace the small ones but this would cause a number of problems A) it would be very expensive B) it is probable that there will not be room to expand the roads C) It would spoil the scenic beauty and quaintness of the place and the villagers won't be happy. These are just some of the many hundreds of possible problems so this option is not really an options(it you get me). The NPA (National Park Association) along with the Cumbria County council and Countryside Commission came up with a plan in 1995 to try to reduce traffic congestion. It involved restricting access along the very popular routes, closing some roads all together and encouraging the use of public transport. Walking and cycling rather than cars once inside the national Park. For this to be successful the public transport facilities would have to be greatly improved. All of this would mean, perhaps, fewer visitors thus bringing less money into the area. The locals who make a living out of this trade would lose out. Footpath erosion is a major problem in the Lake District like the Brecon Beacons in South Wales and indeed many other National Parks. The amount of walkers using the paths cause them to gradually erode becoming unsafe and unpleasant. As the designed paths are no longer suitable to walk on people are resorting to wandering off the paths and uncovering tree roots, trampling on plants and things like that. This problem can be sorted by completely banning the use of offending footpaths and replacing them with others. There are many disadvantages to this including lack of money, people wanting to ‘wander' as the please and directing people to use the new footpaths. A problem that is related to this is soil compaction. This is when the footpaths are damaged either by being compacted or in other ways so that greenery cannot grow and cannot soak up excess moisture etc. Along with damaging the National Park footpaths, tourists often go onto farmer's land, leaving gates open, creating noise, letting their dogs foul the area and unintentionally distressing farm animals. All of the above things are usually done without intent but never the less it is still aggravating and expensive for the farmer. The local people who often enjoy the trade of the tourists also may feel very annoyed by them. I myself have a personal comment to add here. Fifteen to twenty years ago my Mum and Dad use to visit Lake Windermere and the Lake district every summer to do walking. My Mum said it was very beautiful, unspoiled land which was very quiet, quaint and friendly. When we visited last summer my Mum said she could hardly recognise the place. Apart from the ever-beautiful mountains and lakes it was tourist haven with every other shop being either a tearoom or a gift shop. It was jam-packed, noisy and very different ( well, according to my Mum it was!) The Brecon Beacons seemed very unspoiled and quiet compared to Lake Windermere. Yes, the facilities such as shops, car parks, hotels, leisure facilities and toilets were much better and I am sure the locals earned a small fortune by it in the Summer Months but I am afraid to say it resembled more like Disneyland in Paris that a beautiful National Park in the North of England. But this is only my view (although I am certain some of the locals feel the same way). If it wasn't for all the interest in National Parks the Lake district would be barely visited and a kind of waste of space. Another disadvantage everywhere where tourists go, whether it be a National Park or not is that all work is seasonal. While the shops and services thrive in the warm summer month's trade begins to reduce to the local people when the weather turns cold. This means that some shops can't survive and have to shut. In the summer some services can be so full the local people can't use them but in the winter the services are not needed and shut down. Crime and Vandalism, noise pollution, litter, poaching and other things like that are a major problem in all National Parks and the Lake District is no exeption. Car crime is very high in Car parks and there are some very inconsiderate people about. The Park Ranger is partly in charge of this area but he can't be everywhere at once and this DOES take place-maybe even putting people off visiting the park altogether. Having Second Home owners in the area can put many noses out of joint. Second Home owners are like tourists, they only come when the weather is fine leaving services/shops to suffer when they are having a nice time back at home. They can ‘revamp' their second homes to make them not in keeping with the area. They can also bring their own town influences into the countryside and raise house prices. In other words-Second homeowners are big problems in the Lake District. As with any area-people can take things too far. On Lake Windermere the planners have decided to set a 16-km/h speed limit on the lake. This is because the noisy speedboats and water skiers are spoiling the quietness of the lake and spoiling the enjoyment of others. They also make more air pollution. Other lakes on the park such as Ullswater, Coniston Water and Derwent Water(see map on page2) have had this ban imposed and it seems to be working well. But this is bound to ruffle a few feathers and arguments are taking place about whether the ban should take place or not. Some arguments are that tourists already have miles and miles of quiet land to enjoy, why not let this little bit of water be noisy? They also brought up the point that some lines of trade will suffer when people go elsewhere to use their water ski's/power boats. Now, I have gone on for ages about how awful National Parks are. You must be thinking ‘ Why one earth do we have National Parks if they cause all of this trouble?' As you are now going to find out, National Parks have many advantages too. ADVANTAGES One of the main advantages of a National Park, any national Park, is the money that tourists bring with them. In 1995 the UK had an amazing 23.5 million foreign visitors who spent and astounding à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½12 billion! That is an awful lot of money! Tourist also employs 1.5 million people in places such as hotels, cafes, pubs, travel agencies etc. Okay, so lots of these visitors didn't visit National Parks and didn't spend money in them but tourism in National Parks is big business. In Windermere and Keswick-big places for tourists to visit in the Lake District (see page two map)- half of the workforce are employed in the tourist industry! That is an awful lot if you can compare that to the 6% nationally. In 1995 tourists spent a great à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ 446 million in Cumbria alone-most of it being spent in the Lake District. Some ways tourists spend money are: * Accommodation- hotels, campsites, holiday cottages etc * Food and Drink-restaurants, cafes, pubs, food shops etc * Leisure- this is HUGE business from outdoor pursuits to boat trips to museums and so on * And so much more little things such as gifts and general shopping The services in the Lake District National Parks have increased due to the extra visitors. This is good news for the locals. If the area hadn't been changed to a National Park it would just be plain, rural land with very few services. Public transport had improved dramatically with more connections leading out of the Lake District so that tourists can easily get there but also letting the locals get out and about easier. The amount of shops are the same as services, there are more than there would have been had it not been for the National Park. As the national Parks welcome everyone people have a lovely, beautiful place to visit. If the land weren't a national park it would be at risk to developments being built on the site which would spoil the scenic beauty. If people visit the Lake District and see how beautiful it all is they may be extra careful and be inspired to take better care of the environment. They may also realise that they need to protect the land for generations to come. Litter and Pollution may also be reduced as they realise that there is no need to spoil the natural world. The Park Ranger and the people who care for the Lake District do a great job of protecting the environment in the Lake District. It is a nice, usually safe place for animals, birds and plants/flowers. People from the large town and cities have an opportunity to see the beautiful British wildlife that they wouldn't find in the towns and cities. The park Rangers in the Lake District also encourage tree planting. We all know that we depend on trees to give us oxygen so that we can breath so this is a great thing especially as so many trees are now being cut down to provide space for houses. Park Rangers and workers in the National Parks all over Britain does a number of great things including * Refuse permission for unsuitable buildings/developments that would spoil the park * Arrange talks and guided walks to educate the people about the park * Monitor and clean up pollution * Encourage suitable developments and so much more. * Some National Parks are home to some rare plants/flowers and the Lake District is no exeption. Now I have looked at all the information I now have to see whether or not the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. If you see what I have written you will discover I have written more about the disadvantages than the advantages. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. In my view I think anything that preserves the natural beauty of our world if a good thing. With all the overcrowding, noise and pollution of this world we need a place where we can just go to relax without too much noise, big buildings or offices. Yes, there are disadvantages but I think that people can put up with a bit of inconvenience if it means that we make this world a nicer place to be-don't you?

Microsoft Word Strat Man Case Write Up Wireless Communication Essays

Microsoft Word Strat Man Case Write Up Wireless Communication Essays Microsoft Word Strat Man Case Write Up Wireless Communication Essay Microsoft Word Strat Man Case Write Up Wireless Communication Essay The author mainly focuses on an economic analysis of wireless communications by evaluating the two available alternatives. First is related to licensing and spectrum property and second to wireless communications, in order to evaluate the tradeoffs between property rights in spectrum and open wireless networks. It also explains that open wireless networks are likely to be better at optimizing the ability of users to communicate without wires than could spectrum property based systems. The open wireless network approach shifts the focus from infrastructure rights and focuses on an efficient creation of market in the end user equipments through greater deployment of the equipments in the networks. Analyzing on the basis of various factors: Social costs (equipment costs, displacement costs and overhead costs): On the basis of social costs involved in both the approaches, we get that they are less in case of open network systems. Capacity: In open network systems both the capacity and the capacity for growth are higher. Innovation: Adopting an open wireless system can create an environment for innovation. Welfare Optimization: Open systems being more agile can provide optimum welfare to the end users. Security: Open networks being more robust and breaking into it might result in the collapse of the entire network, thus are having better security. Pricing Bandwidth: Spectrum approach will only have this advantage in case of peak utilization moments. Thus, the spectrum approach is not that efficient. This advantage is also dependent on pricing based QoS services in wired networks. But in case of open network systems, the pricing is highly variable, and this changing price system makes it more efficient as compared to spectrum approach. In the article it has been mentioned that the transaction costs in case of spectrum theory is higher than that of open wireless approach. But the open systems have a higher indirect transaction costs. Hence it can be concluded that open networks are more efficient. Regulation vs. Strategy Through the property rights, a strategist can own and protect the resources eeded for creating value to the consumers. These property rights are subject to regulations. Though these regulations increase the transaction costs but these costs are transferred to the customers. Hence as a strategist it is good to have regulation. Need for lobbying the government arises because of the need to protect the property rights so as to own the resources needed to create value. Moreover, lobbying the government will allow the firm to set up industry norms f or the efficient usage of the available resources.

Why You Shouldnt Cut Nicotine Patches

Why You Shouldnt Cut Nicotine Patches If youve ever tried the patch to help stop smoking or get nicotine for another reason, youll see warnings on the box, in the literature, and on the patch package warning you not to cut the patch. There isnt any explanation why, so you may wonder why there are so many warnings. Is it just a ploy by pharmaceutical companies to make more money? No. It turns out there is a good reason why you shouldnt cut the patch. Heres the explanation.   Why Not Cut the Patch? The reason you shouldnt cut the patch is because it alters the time-release of nicotine due to the way the patch is constructed. In 1984,  Jed E. Rose, Ph.D., Murray E. Jarvik, M.D., Ph.D. and K. Daniel Rose conducted a study showing the transdermal nicotine patch reduced cigarette cravings in smokers. Two patents were filed for patches: one in 1985 by  Frank Etscorn and another in 1988 by Rose, Murray, and Rose with  The University of California. Etcsorns patent described a backing layer with a reservoir of liquid nicotine and a pad that controlled the release of the nicotine into the skin. A porous adhesive layer holds the patch against the skin and helps prevent moisture from washing away the ingredients. The University of California patent described a similar product. While the courts dealt with who got patent rights and who got discovery rights, the end result was the same: cutting a patch would expose the layer containing the nicotine, allowing it to leak through the cut edge. If you cut a patch, no visible liquid will flow out, but the dosage rate will no longer be controlled. A higher dose of nicotine will be delivered early when using the cut parts of the patch. Also, if the unused portion of the patch doesnt remain on its backing, its likely additional nicotine may migrate to the surface (or might be lost to the environment) before it is applied. Pharmaceutical companies dont want users of their product to get sick or die, so they print a warning, The bottom line is that you could potentially overdose on nicotine or poison yourself using a cut patch. Safer Alternative to Cutting the Patch One way to make a patch last longer is to save the backing that came with the patch, remove it before sleeping (which many people do anyway since nicotine can affect sleep and dreaming), return it to the backing, and reapply it the next day. There is not a lot of formal research about how much nicotine might be lost this way, but you wont run the health risk of leaking nicotine. Cutting the Patch Anyway If you decide to go ahead and cut a high dose patch to save money, there are a couple of methods suggested for sealing the cut edge of the patch to prevent overdose. One method is to seal the cut edge of the patch using heat, like with heated scissors or a hot blade. Its unknown whether this actually works. Another method, supposedly suggested by a pharmacist, is to seal the cut edge using tape so extra nicotine wont reach the skin. The cut portion of the unused portion of the patch should also be sealed and the patch should be kept on its backing until use. However, talk to your own pharmacist or doctor before trying either method or experimenting on your own. References Rose, J. E.; Jarvik, M. E.; Rose, K. D. (1984). Transdermal administration of nicotine. Drug and alcohol dependence 13 (3): 209–213. Rose, J. E.; Herskovic, J. E.; Trilling, Y.; Jarvik, M. E. (1985). Transdermal nicotine reduces cigarette craving and nicotine preference. Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics 38 (4): 450–456.

Debate over Universal Healthcare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Debate over Universal Healthcare - Essay Example In some nations like United Kingdom and Spain, the government has highest level of involvement in providing health care to all the citizens based on the residential status where insurance coverage is not mandatory. In Britain, the National Insurance Act 1911 can be considered as the initiative taken towards the provision of universal health care. It covered the salaried employees and their family members who contributed monitorily towards the health care setups. However, it continued up to 1948 when the National Health Service was created and universal health care security was provided to all legal residents. In some other nations, the governments involve insurance agencies to operate the health schemes and the beneficiaries and their employers are asked to pay the premiums for their health care facilities. In several European nations, the efforts for establishing the universal health care systems were launched immediately after the second world war and one shouldn’t forget th e contribution made by Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 in this process. However, nations like USA didn’t implement the universal health care system (Armstrong et al., 1999; Institute of Medicine at the National Academies of Science, 2004.). Overall, the universal health care is operated in several nations, what ever the style may be, and we have to see whether it is successful in meeting the health requirement of people. If so, why not this universal health care is implemented in all other nations? This makes us to debate over the advantages and disadvantages of the universal health care system and let us analyse them one by one. Universal health care is a broad concept that has been implemented in many countries and was found to be highly useful for the benefit of the people (Conrad, 2008). The main advantage of this system is to ensure the social security to all the citizens of the country. In other words, health is a