Managing Change in Complex Environment Essay Example for Free

Managing Change in Complex Environment Essay History and Background Introduction The United States Postal Service (USPS) is an independent government organization that generates income through mail services. It is currently the second largest civilian employer in the United States. Its primary task is to deliver mail around the country, at a standard price, regardless of geographic location. Over the last two centuries, the USPS has evolved into an efficient organization that financially sustains itself through its delivery operations. With a monopoly on the delivery of non-urgent mail, the USPS provides delivery service of about 40 percent of the worlds mail, or approximately 200 billion pieces of mail annually. Starting in the 1990s, the USPS faced increased competition from rival package delivery and courier services, as well as the Internet. Presently the USPS is facing a financial collapse. The USPS needs to undergo an essential and systematic change in order to maintain its significance in the 21st century. History/Background On July 26, 1775, members of the Second Continental Congress appointed a Postmaster General giving birth to the Postal Department of the United States. The mission of the U.S. Postal Department was much the same as today, process and deliver first class and non-urgent mail to individuals and businesses within the United States. Congress passed various laws that grant the post office a â€Å"statutory monopoly† on non-urgent First Class Mail and the exclusive right to put mail in private mailboxes. Although these laws grant the USPS a market advantaged they also restrict its ability to compete with rival package delivery and courier services, as well as the technological innovations. How it got started The Post Office Department has origins in America dating back to the 17th century, when there was a need for mail between colonial settlements and intercontinental exchange of information with England. In 1775, the Continental Congress named Benjamin Franklin as the first postmaster general and chairman of a committee empowered to make recommendations for the establishment of a postal service. On September 22, 1789 the post office became a new government branch of the United States. At this time there were 75 post offices and approximately 2,000 miles of post roads. The USPS was critical to national welfare and pivotal in facilitating communications for military, congressional representation and newspapers. From the very beginning, the USPS financed operations from revenue it earned and Congress gave it a monopoly to be the only courier service to deliver mail. Key points in evolution The main focus and the efforts of postal officials from the foundation of the Post Office to the present day have been finding the best methods of transporting information and directing mail. For example, in 1791 George Washington stated that that the importance of the postal routes had increased because the country wanted to distribute knowledge of governmental laws. Also, between 1791 and 1861, the U.S increased from 3.9 million to 31.4 million square miles and postal roads grew from 1,875 to 240,595 miles. The Board of Governors of the USPS sets policy, procedure, and postal rates for services rendered. Of the eleven members of the Board, nine are appointed by the President and confirmed by the US Senate. The nine appointed members then select the Postmaster General, who serves as the boards tenth member, and who oversees the day to day activities of the service as Chief Executive Officer. The ten-member board then nominates a Deputy Postmaster General, who acts as Chief Operating Officer, to the eleventh and last remaining open seat. The USPS is often mistaken as a government organization but it is legally defined as an independent establishment of the executive branch of the Government of the United States. Environmental context The external environment elements that significantly influence the USPS are the United States political system, workforce unions, changing technology and market forces. United States Political System In 1970 the U.S. Postal Department evolved into the USPS through the implementation of the Postal Reorganization act. This act required the USPS to be a â€Å"self-sufficient organization within the U.S. Government†. It also added an additional regulatory body into its chain of command, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), but did not make any modification to the Postal Department’s Board of Directors or regulatory congressional statutes. The USPS Board of directors is charged with directing the USPS through the control of expenditures, reviewing practices, long term planning and setting policies and service standards. The PRC has 5 commissioners, appointed through the executive branch and confirmed by the Senate, who have the authority to reject, modify and approve any USPS initiated congressional recommendations. Since congress alone retains the authority to change USPS’ rates, service frequency and employee benefits, any market related changes from the Board of directors is routed through the PRC and congress for consideration. Pressure from Unions There are 4 unions representing around 90% of the USPS workforce: National Association of Letter Carriers, American Postal Workers, National Rural Letters Carriers Association and National Postal Mail Handlers Union. These organizations have successfully contracted collective bargaining agreements for its members for compensation and benefits that have come to exceed the USPS’ ability to maintain with its current revenues. These labor unions are very influential in weighing in on most of the decisions that affect the well-being of the USPS labor force. Presently USPS employees enjoy 79% coverage of their health care costs; the most of any federal agency. Strategic challenge Over the years the USPS has transformed its operating model and is now set up and mandated to operate like a business entity generating its revenue through the sale of postal products and services. The largest issue with the current business model of the postal service is its lack of flexibility essential for a business in a dynamic market. Specifically the USPS has not been able to organizationally adjust to a large decrease in the demand for first class mail service has resulted in decreasing net revenue in recent years. Congressional Influence The USPS congressional charter came with both benefits and operating constraints. Among the constraints the USPS is obligated to provide a uniform price for its services regardless of the geographic location and dispersion of its customer base. The USPS is obligated to deliver six days a week to every mailing address regardless of its mail volume. Additionally the USPS is required to provide free mailing service to the blind and facilitate voting for overseas military personnel. A significant amount of the USPS’ operating costs comes from its requirement to pre-fund retiree health benefits (RHB) for future retirees. Key Issues The USPS is suffering from the combined effects of declining mail volume from new technology and increasing labor costs resulting in a loss of net revenue. These declines are projected to extend into the future. The addition of a significant number of new addresses in the United States each year increases the USPS’ operating costs although volume is decreasing. Business Model While the USPS has enjoyed the benefits of the monopoly on first class letter mail services that congress has bestowed, it has a stagnant business model that prevents the USPS from being able to adapt in the face of technological innovation and other market forces that affect its bottom line annually. The major source of revenue for the post office is the postage it charges for first class and non-standard mail. The advance of modern information systems such as email, smartphones, online banking, and other digital communications decreased the demand for traditional mail services. Compounding this issue is the basic economic principle of supply and demand. New technologies offer cheaper substitutes for the services that the post office provides. Stakeholders Postal Workers – The USPS employs more than 500,000 employees making it second only to Wal-Mart as the nation’s largest civilian employer. While every employee is represented by a labor union, employees are legally restricted from striking. Labor Unions The USPS unions are old, influential and politically connected. Collectively, these unions continually fight for increased employee pay, living allowances and health care benefits. Postal Regulation Commission (PRC) The PRC serves as the middleman between the USPS board of governors and congress. The PRC can reject or modify requests before they reach congress for final approval. Congress Members of Congress exercise control over many aspects of the USPS operations including approving the markets for which it competes as well as representing the interests of its constituents whenever the USPS requests changes to its business model. Public Consumer One of the mandates of the post office is to provide mail service of all addresses. The number of addresses has increased by nearly 18 million nationwide in the past decade and continues to climb as the country recovers from the past recession. A vast majority of the consumers are congressional constituents to whom member of congress are responsible. Competitors The USPS monopolizes, via congressional mandates, the delivery of first class mail, non-urgent mail and small packages. As such it faces very little direct competition from other businesses. However, the USPS has seen significant decreases in its mail volume over the years. The decreased volume of mail is directly related to the global acceptance of technology and use of digital communications which displaced traditional USPS services. Market Forces The USPS full time workers cost the USPS 80% of its revenue. Although they still enjoy a monopoly on first class mail, they are in direct competition with smaller, more efficient, companies who deliver large packages and urgent letters. Strategies Used What it Does Now The USPS has improved its efficiency and effectiveness through both technology and reorganization. The USPS made significant investments in the late 1990’s in fuel efficient vehicles and new facilities as well as a $15 million advertising campaign to improve its image as a progressive and modern organization. A decade ago it took 70 employees one hour to sort 35,000 letters. Today in an hour, only two employees process an identical volume of mail. Though the number of addresses in the nation has increased by nearly 18 million in the past decade, the number of employees who handle the increased delivery load has decreased by more than 200,000 (Potter 2010a). It launched delivery confirmation service and priority mail in order to compete with competitors. The USPS now operates more than 31,000 post offices and the largest vehicle fleet in the world, with an estimated 218,684 vehicles. What They Want to Do Concerned with increasing costs and decreasing revenues, the USPS petitioned for the following changes: * Stop Retiree Health Benefits prefunding – in 2011 the prefunding amount exceeded net operating losses. * Retirement System Overpayment – In 2010 Government Accountability Office disputed overpayment freezing approximately $6.9 billion. * Delivery Frequency – Shifting from six to five days weekly delivery would save approximately $3 billion annually. This measure is supported by 75% of USPS consumer base. * Change prices – Mandates currently cap the USPS ability to adjust to market conditions dynamically. * Restructure labor costs – Current collective bargaining decision do not consider the USPS financial health yet mandate compensation and benefits to be paid at levels comparable with private sector organizations with the burden falling on the taxpayers. * Consolidate infrastructure – A proposal in 2009 to close 3,000 postal outlets to reduce excess capacity yielded only a closure of 157 following consumer complaints and congressional intervention. Part II Diagnosis Lewis (2011) states that the USPS’ problems are a result of a restrictive business model and its inflexibility to operate in a dynamic market place. As stated earlier, the USPS response to this problem is a direct plan to cut expenses and increase revenues to overcome their mounting deficit. Although this plan does address the USPS’ immediate insolvency concerns, it fails to address their underlying issues. Through the use of Senge’s system approach and the McCaskey’s Organizational Design model, this paper will expose USPS’ root problems. Strategic Issues/Strategies/Goals-Objectives The USPS’ strategic issues are a loss of revenue due to declining mail volume, extensive costs due to a bloated and expensive unionized-workforce and the use of an outdated-legislatively constrained business plan. Their proposed strategy to mitigate these issues centers on cutting their expenses, consolidating infrastructure, renegotiating labor cost/employee benefits and increasing rates. In addition, the USPS intends to evolve their business plan to incorporate technological innovations. This strategy aligns with their long term goal of providing a â€Å"trustworthy, dependable, reliable and secure means to communicate on a national level† (Lewis, 2011), by implementing a long term sustainable business model that promotes flexibility and economic growth in a dynamic market. Environment In FY11 the USPS’ total revenues were $65 Billion dollars while their total expenses were $75 Billion dollars. Under congressional law the USPS is required to be a â€Å"self-sufficient government agency†. Under this direction the USPS is obligated to cover its costs without government assistance. The USPS does this by generating revenues from a monopoly market while operating more like a private business then a government agency. Its government backed monopoly advantage comes with extensive congressional restrictions on rates, delivery procedures and labor benefits. The USPS’ monopoly restricts the direct competition in the delivery of first class mail, use of specific delivery routes and personal mailboxes. It does not protect the delivery of urgent mail and large packages. FedEx and UPS are direct competitors in this market and have a competitive advantage due to their efficiencies, technological innovations and ability adapt to market needs. Key Success Factors The USPS’ key to success is their ability to meet their customer’s needs, generate enough revenue to cover their costs , maintain the flexibility to adjust in a dynamic market and optimize a scalable infrastructure that facilitates the efficient and economic delivery of their services. Task Requirements There are multiple ways that mail is accepted into the delivery process. For the purpose of observing the USPS organizational structure, the simple method of customers placing the mail in their residential, or post office, curbside mailbox will be examined. In either case this process begins and ends with the customer sending or receiving mail at a mailbox. The mail item is received by the postal carrier, and then consolidated at the local post office, where it is inspected manually or automatically checked for correct postage. It is then routed to a hub for delivery to a particular region in the country. The mail is then sent to a final processing plant where it is sorted for the specific route for delivery. Finally the mail is sent to the distant end post office for delivery to the end customer. The mail is moved in a linear manner between each node in the process chain. Along the interdependency continuum of the USPS’ functional units we observed a sequential relationship. Throughout the process each entity produces an output that is a necessary input for the next link in the chain. The USPS’ key to success in this linear process is the secure delivery of mail for a nominal fee. For their part, the workers must be honest and ensure mail is properly safeguarded as it makes its way through each step in the chain. The workers only have to be ‘good enough’ for their specific task in the process. This means that there is very little incentive for them to innovate or make improvements to the process from within. Any efficiencies gained, in any one link in the process, are not readily propagated throughout because of the sequential nature of the process. Because of the nature of change within the organization, and the employee compensation structure, their only incentive is to maintain the status quo. This analysis is represented in the interdependency/coordination mechanism model below. The analysis shows a misalignment between the levels of interdependence between the functional units and the coordination mechanism used. The USPS coordinates through rules and regulations. Using the systems approach of focusing on successes rather than the failures of the organization, we compared the USPS current coordination level to its closest successful competitor, FEDEX. As depicted FEDEX has a coordination level that aligns with it level of interdependency. The preferred and optimal approach is to align the organization’s level of interdependency horizontally with the coordination mechanism. The USPS needs a higher coordination mechanism to match the current level of interdependence in order to facilitate efficiencies in the system. Process/ Systems Snowfall and showers may not be able to stop postal carriers from their appointed delivery routes, but their financial problems may halt at least 50% of all postal offices. The U.S. Postal Service, weakened by a public turning to digital communications, is down 22 percent in volume from just five years ago, a decline which is expected to continue, driven in part by rigid competition from carriers such as FedEx and UPS. The Postmaster General has responded with a list of cost-cutting proposals, such as eliminating Saturday delivery and closing up to 3,700 local post offices which would be replaced with automated centers operating out of local businesses. The Postmaster General has also proposed laying off as many as 120,000 workers, and pulling workers out of more costly federal pension plans. Pre-funding retiree benefits has cost the Postal Service $21 billion in the last three years. The underlying issue is that all those moves cannot be made without congressional approval. In order to make these immediate and dramatic changes, the Postal Service would require access to its own funds as well as the authority to act as its own corporation. The transition from a government ran entity to a privatized organization requires Congress to give the USPS flexibility to take action and make changes without all the bureaucracy. The below modified Senge Model (Limit to Growth) demonstrates how the USPS is constrained from making changes. In short, the USPS is limited by congress to making quick and reactive changes that focus on the problem rather than the underlying issue. Creating change and making it work are all resisted by a condition called the â€Å"Status Quo† and the USPS is no exception. USPS employees feel protected under the current unionized culture. They feel threatened by the prospect of losing benefits and are unwilling to pay the high personal price necessary for change. We have demonstrated that this change is necessary for the long term health of the organization. The real question is, â€Å"does the current status quo fit the new change requirements?† An organization in dire need to make radical adjustments to become current cannot be fixed with antiquated congressional imposed constraints. PART III Change Management Plan The USPS acknowledges its need to cut costs and increase revenue. It believes this will fix the problems. USPS starts to address this by taking reactionary measures, but fails to take the necessary steps to address the root issue. We argue that there is a more fundamental problem within the USPS organization which requires a systems approach to identify and solve. Senge says â€Å"it is impossible to change the system from inside the system.† By â€Å"complicating up† the USPS management structure we identify the core problem and faults in its system. Due to the short time needed to enact this change we propose a top down approach that pushes change while mitigating assumed employee resistance such an approach will generate. Our plan uses the Lewin and Kotter models to shape the USPS organizational transition. Through the Lewin model we identify a three phase approach to address changes that simultaneously focuses on employee and organizational issues. Throughout each p hase an information plan is propagated to employees to facilitate transition to the next phase. Conclusion The bottom line is that the USPS current costs of doing business outweigh its current methods of productivity. Without changing the strategic management model, the USPS will continue to lose revenue and be unable to react effectively to market demands. Its proposed cost cutting solutions only scratches the surface of the underlying problem of restrictions on organizational management and coordination. Our uses validated organizational change models. We justify our plan which uses the Lewin model and shows a close association to Kotter’s organizational change model. Our plan leads the USPS to long term success, maintains its relevance in today’s market and allows it to make appropriate changes through periodic reevaluations. References Lewis, T., Montgomery C., Shuler, J. , (2011), The US Postal Service , Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA. Senge, P., (1990), The Fifth Discipline, Doubleday Publishing, New York 15May 2012: http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2011/pr11_124.htm 15 May 2012: http://www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cj31n1/cj31n1-9.pdf 19 May 2012: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/industries/Transportation-Communications-Utilities/United-States-Postal-Service.html

Analysis Of The Cartesian Dualism

Analysis Of The Cartesian Dualism There is the relationship between a reason and an action when the reason explains the action by giving the agents reason for doing what he did. The reason explains the action in this way (a reason that rationalizes the action) also causes the action. There is some confusion, then, about reasons for action. The idea of a reason for action seems to some most naturally to pick out considerations that count in favor of acting in a certain way, while to others it picks out psychological states that explain action. We believe that the relation has to be causal, in order to pick out, from among the many reasons that a person might have acted upon, those that the person did, in fact, act upon. It is convenient to begin by considering dualism. The major position here is Cartesian dualism, named after Descartes, the central figure in post-medieval philosophical discussion of the mind-body problem. For a Cartesian dualist the mind and body are both substances; but while the body is an extended, and so a material, substance, the mind is an unextended, or spiritual, substance, subject to completely different principles of operation from the body. It was this doctrine that Gilbert Ryle caricatured as the myth of the ghost in the machine. It is in fact a serious and important theory. In the Cartesian Dualism, the brain is part of the physical body but the mind or the spirit is not. The mind interacts with the physical body through the brain, more specifically, through the pineal gland in the middle of the two hemispheres of the brain. The body could be divided up by removing a leg or arm, but the mind or soul is indivisible. The mind is not only indivisible but also invisible and immortal. The body is the exact opposite being visible, mortal and divisible. The mind in Descartes explanation is a thinking thing (lat. res cogitans) and immaterial. This thing is capable of doubting, believing, hoping and thinking on its own. The body is extended matter: the soul is unextended spirit. When, however, the extended is acted upon by the unextended, some definite point of interaction is required and it is to be found in the pineal gland. Yet the soul is united to all parts of the body conjointly. The whole body is the souls proper housing so long as the body remains intact. When a member of the bodyan arm or a leg, for exampleis cut off, there is no loss of part of the soul as a consequence because the soul is unitary and indivisible. It then occupies what is left of the body. So without attempting to resolve all the problems, he simply stated that there is a dualism of mind and body, and their interaction is clearly real. The brain is the major locus for the mind or consciousness of the soul, yet mind or consciousness is distributed throughout the whole body. The point of interaction between the two is the pineal gland. Monism is defined as the doctrine that there is only one ultimate substance or principle, whether mind, matter, or some third thing that is the basis of both (or) the doctrine that reality is an organic whole without independent parts (Websters New World Dictionary). The concept of psychological dualism asserts that man is more than the sum of his genotype. Dualistic man has a mind that is separate from his body. This mind may be housed or contained within the body, but it is not contingent upon the physical body for its existence. The mind can act upon the body, and the body can act upon the mind, but they are separate entities that have been traditionally believed to separate at death at which point neither has any influence over the other. The most important aspect of this philosophy is its recognition of a non-biological component of the human person. By the turn of the twentieth century, it had become clear that talk of the mind is too broad and that there may be issues to do with experience and sensation that are distinct from those that arise in connection with such mental states as believing, desiring, and the like (the so-called propositional attitudes). It was thought that, while functionalism, for example, might provide a plausible account of belief, it encountered real difficulties when it came to accounting for experience. Functionalism is a material monist theory of mind: it asserts that everything is physical. It is highly significant both in that it develops behaviourism and that it paved the way for empirical work in neuro-physiology and cognitive science. It was created as Hilary Putnam interpreted conscious states in terms of the (then new) science of computational theory. The function of the brain, states the theory, is consciousness. This approach is useful because by reducing the mind to a function it does away with the issue of how that function is performed. A function can be defined abstractly, without concerning itself with how that function is discharged in the same way that an equation can specify the relationship between X and Y without needing to specify how that equation might be solved. Thus, functionalism avoids the question of how the brain might achieve the feat of consciousness that dogs other materialist theories. Functionalism is also both a response to and a development of behaviourism. Behaviourism argues that conscious states can be understood in terms of sensory input and behavioural output. This leads to a significant issue; namely that it ascribes conscious states to any input/output system (e.g. a water tank). Functionalism adds an intermediary step, arguing that sensory input is processed by a function before output. Thus, two crucial differences to behaviourism are introduced: the function can lead to one or many outputs and some or all of the output can form the input to another internal function without the requirement for external expressive behaviour. With this simple device the diversity of the mind can theoretically be accounted for. An everyday illustration of this process might be a car. It receives multiple inputs in the form of petrol, oil, water, etc and outputs motion, gases, heat, etc. During this transformation process (function) we can also see an example of feedback: some of the motion of the car is used to power the alternator to generate electricity, which in turn forms one of the inputs to the combustion process. So now we have a brief understanding of the theory let us examine why this important theory came about. Firstly there is the need to respond to behaviourism and to overcome its shortcomings. Functionalism can also be seen as developing along with other new concepts of the time. The new science of computers and computational mathematics supplied concepts that could be applied to the brain as a complex system. Functionalism was also applying empiricism to a new area, paralleling the method of the huge advancements made in science in the twentieth century. Each mental state (or process) correlates with some neurological state (or process) Different mental states correlate with different neurological states (though one and the same mental state can have different neural correlates). The correlations are based on causal interactions between minds and brains. Mental occurrences can simply be taken as brain processes (Identity Theory). Mental states/processes are brain states/processes. Hence, we can identify sensations and other mental phenomena with (physical) brain processes.

The differing historical and sociological views of childhood

The differing historical and sociological views of childhood This essay will highlight how childrens health and the laws to protect them from being exploited by employers through the introduction of Parliamentary Acts have been effective. It has also been important to discover how taking children out of the workforce impacted on society and how it was able to support them. A further issue to be investigated will be how important it was to rescue children from living rough and trying to support themselves which was taken up by Nonconformists such as Thomas Barnardo and how the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) was founded (Cunningham-2006). Another aim of this assignment is to seek out how childrens health has improved through both Government and other organisations intervention. Therefore, what Government Acts were introduced to improve the living standards of the very poor and how they have been updated to deal with the problems of the twenty first century. Another part of trying to improve the lives of all ch ildren has been focused on providing all children with an education that would link into them achieving a better standard of living and being able to make a positive contribute to society. This has been a theme of Barnardos homes since Victorian times (Rose. J 1987) and is still been seen as a necessary goal in the Governments green paper Every Childs Matters (2003) and the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS-2007). Therefore this will be the final area discussed in how different historical and sociological views of childhood are linked to the in present day UK. Cunningham (2006) Miller et al (2002)research states that Victorian times saw fifty per cent of recorded deaths in children aged five years old and under, the biggest killers being diarrhoea, whooping cough, measles and small pox. In 1840 it became compulsory to be vaccinated against small pox; a vaccination founded in 1790 by Edward Jenner a country doctor working in a practice in Gloucestershire. He had a chance conversation with a milk maid who had contracted cow pox and she told him that folk lore said that if a person had survived cow pox they could not contract small pox. His vaccine was an important discovery as small pox was the biggest killer in Victorian time; in todays terms it claimed as many lives as cancer or heart disease. During this period ten percent of the population suffered from the disease in rural areas, this rose to twenty percent in towns and cities who contracted the virus and subsequently there was a higher death toll due to overcrowded conditions. The lar gest group was of children, as one in three died. Jenners assertion was that the cow pox protects the human constitution from the infection of small pox (Health affairs, 24 No 3 2005) He called it the Speckled monster (www.Jenner museum.com-30/12/10). In 1853 an act was passed that made it compulsory that all infants under three months were to have the vaccination. If parents failed to have their children immunised they could be ordered to court where they would be fined, property confiscated and finally imprisoned. However, this did not deter some parents across all classes who continued to battle with the authorities until their children were fourteen years old and did not have to have the vaccination. This was because many parents feared that the conditions in which the procedure was carried out were not sterile. Their fears were well founded as there was evidence that other disease were spread e.g. erysipelas, syphilis and scrofula (Baxby, small pox vaccination). Although Jenner gave this vaccination to the world for free, the doctors charged for this service therefore many poor people, who were amongst the most vulnerable, could not afford it. If doctors had not charged for this vaccination, small pox would have been under control a lot soon than it was. (www.History Learning Site.co.uk-30/12/10). However, childrens survival rate did increase as they got older although other health factors came to the forefront. Life expectancy was reduced due to the hazard of death at work, from dust in mines, quarries, barns, mills and bakeries alongside many accidents involving using dangerous equipment. In 1842 the mines act (Maybin.J, 2003) was passed so that no child under ten years old or woman were to work underground in mines but this did not stop them from working above ground where the conditions were not much better. Many acts were also passed in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century that tried to control the hazardous, and what proved in many cases the fatal occupation of chimney sweeps or climbing boys as they were called (Cunningham, H 2006). All these previous acts proved ineffective and it took a court case in 1875 about an eleven year old boy, George Brewster who died when sweeping a flue at Fulbourn Hospital in Cambridge. The post-mortem showed that George had suf focated, his head was congested and he had large levels of black powder in his lungs and windpipe. Lord Shaftesbury then put forward another bill to parliament, this time with success. This ended what the Times newspaper called the worst public scandals of the Kingdom. (Strange, K.H, 1982) Other Acts of Parliament were also passed to try and safeguard children in cotton mills and factories over a period of time e.g. 1802 Health and Morals of Apprentices Act and the Factory Act of 1819 (Maybin,J.2003) but no provision had been ordered for these acts to be enforced. Things did not really improve until 1832 when thousands of children and adults marched to York to listen to speakers calling for a ten hour day act. The outcome of this was the 1833 Royal Commission on the Employment of Children in Factories Act (Maylin, J.2003) which said that no child under nine years of age could work in a factory and it also said that the eight hours older children spent at work had to be matched with eight hours of time spent in school until they were fourteen years old. This was supposed to be implicated by inspectors even thought there were only four for the whole of Britain. However, their work did go some way to put into place regulations that refined a system that progressed through the century. This meant that children spent equal amounts of their time in work and in school until 1918 (Cunningham-2006). Although these acts gave children more rights they were also the cause of other problems for society and the policy-makers. The poor law amendment act of 1834 (PLAA) was still in place, which was a problem for certain authorities who had to care for the children as the work they were allowed to carry out was getting more difficult to find. However, factory masters in Northern England and the Midlands needed children to work their machines in these remote sites. This led to the London authorities who were in charge of the poor houses, to take these factories needs as an opportunity to send cartloads of children to these valleys to work. One boy, Robert Blincoe tells of how 80 girls and boys were promised Roast beef and plum pudding ,but instead were forced to work 14 hours a day, were regularly beaten and given insufficient food .( Cunningham, H.2006) Thomas Barnardo became one of the most famous men in shaping childrens history in Victorian Britain. He arrived in London from Ireland in 1866.The city at the time was coping without much success with the effects of the Industrial Revolution. London was over populated had bad housing, poverty, massive unemployment, and an outbreak of cholera had just ripped through the East End of London.3,000 people had died leaving many children without family, homeless and also many were left with terrible injuries sustained from accidents in factories. Barnardo was appalled at the site of these unfortunate children and in 1867 set up a ragged school, so called because of the condition of the childrens clothes, in the East End of London for poor children to receive some basic education. A young boy Jim Jarvis from the mission showed Barnardo round the streets one cold night, children were sleeping on roofs huddled together for warmth. This sight effected Barnardo greatly and he decided to dedicate his time and efforts to helping destitute children. In 1870 Barnardo opened the first home for boys in Stepney Causeway. One evening a boy, John Somers was turned away from the home because it was full. He was found two days later dead from malnutrition and exposure. The home from that day had a sigh which read No Destitute Child Ever Refused Admission. Barnardo opened a home for girls in Barkingside which housed 1,500 girls. The aim of these homes was by the time children left they had a skill to help them make their way in the world and make a contribution to society. Boys learnt a craft or trade, girls learnt domestic skills. Barnardo believed that family life was the best for children to be bought up in. He started the first fostering scheme boarding out children to well to do families; he also started a scheme to board out babies born to unmarried mothers. The mothers worked in service nearby so they could still see their off spring. Victorians looked upon poverty, something t hey had helped to create, as shameful. They believed it came about through vice and laziness. Thomas Barnardo felt that all children, no matter what background they had come from deserved a chance and the best start in life . A philosophy that still inspires the charity today. Even though Barnardo was seen as a benevolent person there were still those who opposed him and tried to undermine his efforts. He was accused of having liaisons with a prostitute, falsifying photographs by dressing children in ragged clothes and miss using funds. All this was unfounded.(Cambridge University 1998) In 1946 The Curtis Report was published it was a national report on children deprived of a normal home life. Children were acknowledged as the nations responsibility. This report was the backbone of the Childrens Act of 1948 which placed local authorities responsible for the care of homeless and those children in need. Another Act that helped to change history and the plight of children for ever is the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The Reverend George Staite caused a public stir in writing a letter to the Liverpool Mercury dated 1881 in it he asked Whilst we have a society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, can we not do something to prevent cruelty to children? This statement summed up the callous way the late Victorian era still treated its children. Social attitudes of Victorian people saw a very distinct line between public and private lives. Lord Shaftesbury, who himself had campaigned successfully for the Mines Act of 1842, warned Reverend Staite against trying to help protect children using the legal system. Shaftesbury said the evils you state are enormous and indisputable, but they are of so private, internal beyond the reach of legislation. However by 1884 The London Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was born. Lord Shaftesbury was given the post of President and the Reverend Benjamin Waugh and Reverend Edward Rudolf were joint honorary secretaries. Waugh lived in Greenwich in London, and after seeing the high levels of child cruelty in the area, wanted to draw public and government attention to the unnecessary suffering of the children. The London Society lobbed parliament hard and succeeded in changing the law through what was called Childrens Charters. These charters reduced the parental powers. The society recognised that most neglect and abuse happened at home. An annual meeting was held in 1889 and the name of the society was changed to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Queen Victoria became patron and Waugh the director. In 1889 the society had thirty two branches across the UK. Inspectors were paid by raising funds. They investigated reports of abuse and neglect usually from neighbours. The public had finally got behind this Act and by 1901 the NSPPC had 250 inspectors and had had over 50,000 complaints. The NSPPC continues to uphold the traditions set in place by its founders; it acts as an independent voice of children and young people to this day.(Hendrick,H.2003) With more children now attending school scientific studies showed that were serious health issues. These studies lead to the 1906 Welfare Act .Until this Act was in place free school meals for children of poor families were suggested but optional so some local authorise did not provide them. By 1914 150,000 children were getting one good meal a day. These studies also paved the way for the 1907Act that meant that all children who attended school were entitled to a free health check. The floor in this Act was that not all children went to school and were still working more times than not to keep their family from poverty. In 1986 a National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA) came into effect in the UK and a similar attitude to that of the Victorians recurred with parents having concerns about links between vaccinations specifically the MMR and neurological problems. Research was headed by Dr Andrew Wakefield at the Royal Free Hospital London. The research suggested that there were links between the MMR vaccination and autism in children. It went on to also make possible links to bowel disease. Two reports in1998 and 1999 looked at the evidence from Dr Wakefields team and concluded that firstly there was no evidence to link the MMR to autism or bowel disease and secondly that there was not enough information available to cause concern about the safety of the MMR vaccination. The Department of Health did acknowledge that the final decision was with the parents or guardian of the child but they had no hesitation to advice the use of the MMR vaccine. In 2001 (WHO) the World Health Organisation came out in a report supporting the MMR vaccine (MacLeod-Brudenell 2004). Even though things have improved for children from Victorian times, things are still not ideal for our children of today. Poverty is still a major concern in the 21st century .Three times as many people are living relative poverty compared to 1979. Families are experiencing high levels of divorce, separation and traditional networks decrease(DSS 1999a).These changes have an adverse impact on childrens emotional well-being and physical health. Children who live in families experiencing relative poverty are; less likely to eat healthy, to be breastfeed for any length of time, to do well in school and more likely to have childhood accidents, to have parents that smoke and have parents that suffer from depression. After the death of an eight year old girl ,Victoria Climbie, she was tortured and killed by her aunt and partner. Lord Laming chaired a public inquiry it asked how in the 21st century this little girl could have been failed so miserably. After the Laming Report, a minister for children,. The government published the green paper Every Child Matters.(DfES 2003)The spirit of this paper is positive. This policy outlined the care that needed to be in place to protect our children including the National Service Framework(NSF) for childrens health, Sure Start for families with children under five, improve access to health food, and reduce child poverty.(Miller,L.2002) In conclusion, from Victorian days up to modern times there have been pioneers who developed vaccinations such as Edward Jenners small pox inoculation to Lord Shaftesburys law to protect the chimney sweep boys. However, any changes no matter how well intended have had some serious implications to families ability to survive poverty. Further, even though there were laws to ensure the authorities did take care of the poorest in society, reforms to protect children from working had serious implication to their ability to fulfil their role.

My Father and I :: essays research papers

Actually, all members of my family have the same important influence to my life. Each of them has a different way in making me be a grown-up girl like now. But since I was a little girl, the one who is close to me the most is my father. I am always proud of my father and our relationship. People often get jealous of our closeness, even my mother. I remember when I got the scholarship from one of the computer and internet courses in my city; it is an informal education institution, which obliged me to attend the class at night, whereas I go to school from morning till afternoon. He tried to warn me that it could be tiring for me, let alone, the place is quite far from my house. But at that time, seeing me really eager for that chance, he allowed me. Every night, he took me there and home without complaining although I realized he might be warn out after working all day. One night, he should attend a kind of meeting in the Church Organization. Actually, he was too tired to go. But when my mother said that God may bless me for my father’s kindness, he went. Since then, I swear to make my parents proud of me as their daughter. My father always supports his children in every good thing they interest in. He also did when I told him about my willing to study in Singapore. Although he seemed to be calm, I was sure he should be very surprised about that, because it will need much money. We both know he will hardly afford it for me. That is why I really attempt to get the scholarship. Getting that kind of rare faith as my father has on us, I always and will always do my best effort in everything he supports me in. Analyzing my own abilities and interests, I think Business is the most suitable subject for me.

The King Must Die: Is Theseus To Perfect To Be A Human Being? Essay

The King Must Die: Is Theseus to Perfect to be a Human Being?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To be considered a human being one must be subject to or indicative of the weakness, imperfections, and fragility associated with human beings. This definition separates us from any lower being, or for this book's concern separates us from any higher being. Theseus had endured a life that during some times showed to be like that of any human. Yet, there were numerous occasions that proved Theseus to be not of human flesh and blood, but that of a god.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The most compelling event of the book, in my mind, that would define Theseus to be more than a human being took place under the strength of the Isthmus' current between Athens and Troizen. Theseus was losing strength and falling deeper into his coffin. Theseus had not sooner lost the struggle against the angry current as Poseidon lifted his body, in an invisible form, and carried him to shore safely. Theseus had been looking for a sign from a god. He had been looking for one all his life. When he was old enough his mother told him that he could have been born of a Greek god. Voluntarily or not, his life would become a search for the truth. This sign proved him to be more than human.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A hard challenge was brought onto to a younger Theseus' shoulders when he worked under his grandfather at the tender age of eight. Theseus was to teach the inner workings of his job that was soon ...

E-R Diagram

Introduction:- In 1976 ,Chen developed the Entity-Relationship Diagrams ,a high-level data model that is useful in developing a conceptual design for database . An ER diagram is a diagram containing entities or â€Å"items†, relationships among them, and attributes of the entities . The E-R model is one of the best known tools for logical database design. Within the database community, it is considered a natural and easy-to-understand way of conceptualizing the structure of database.Claims that have been made for it include the following: it is simple and easily understood by non-specialist ,it is easily conceptualized ,the basic constructs (entities and relationships) are highly intuitive and thus provide a natural way of representing a user’s information requirements , and it is a model that describes a world in terms of entities and attributes that is most suitable for computer naive end users. In E-R diagram the emphasis is on representing the schema a rather than t he instances. This is more useful in database design because a database schema changes rarely ,whereas the contents of the entity sets changes frequently.In addition ,the schema is usually easier to display that the extension of database ,because it is much smaller Purpose:- Entity-relationship diagrams were first proposed as a means of quickly obtaining, with minimum effort, a good sense of the structure of a database. They are used to plan and design a database and to model a systems data. Key Elements Entities:- * An entity represents the principle data objects about which information is to be collected. * Collective nouns, or nouns, are usually used to name (describe) entities * For example, each person in an enterprise is an entity. An entity has a set of properties, and the values for some set of properties may uniquely identify an entity. For instance, a person may have a person_id property whose value uniquely identifies that person. Entity Set:- * An entity set is a set of entities of the same type that share the same properties, or attributes. The set of all persons who are customers at a given bank, for example, can be defined as the entity set customer. Attribute:- * An attribute is one of the various properties that describe the entity’s characteristics. These properties usually present a single fact – they are atomic. The designation of an attribute for an entity set expresses that the database stores similar information concerning each entity in the entity set; however, each entity may have its own value for each attribute. * Possible attributes of the customer entity set are customer-id, customer-name, customer-street, and customer-city. Domain (value set):- * For each attribute, there is a set of permitted values, called the domain, or value set, of that attribute. * The domain of attribute customer-name might be the set of all text strings of a certain length.Types of attribute in the E-R model:- The attributes used in the ER mo del can be categorized as 1. Simple or Composite 2. Single Valued or Multi Valued 3. Stored or Derived. 1. Simple or Composite * The attribute which are not divided into subparts are called simple attributes. * For example, an attribute customer-id is a simple attribute. * Composite attributes, on the other hand, can be divided into subparts (that is, other attributes). * For example, an attribute name could be structured as a composite attribute consisting of first-name, middle-initial, and last- name. Using composite attributes in a design schema is a good choice if a user will wish to refer to an entire attribute on some occasions and to only a component of the attribute on other occasions. Suppose we were to substitute for the customer entity-set attributes customer-street and customer-city the composite attribute address with the attributes, street, city, state, and zip-code. * Note also that a composite attribute may appear as a hierarchy. In the composite attribute address, i ts component attribute street can be further divided into street-number, street-name, and apartment-number. 2. Single Valued or Multi Valued The attributes that have a single value for a particular entity is called a single valued attribute. * For example, an attribute customer-id is a single valued attribute because for a particular entity it holds a single value. * The attribute that have multiple valued for a particular entity is called a multi valued attribute. * For example, an attribute phone-number is a multi valued attribute because for a particular customer it holds zero, one or several phone numbers. 3. Stored or Derived * Normally attributes are stored attributes, that is, their values are stored and accessed as such from the database. For example, the attributes name, address and date-of-birth of customer entity set are stored attributes. * However, sometimes attributes’ values are not stored as such, rather they are computed or derived based on some other value. This other value may be stored in the database or obtained some other way. * For example, we may store the name, father-name, address of customers, but age can be computed from date-of-birth. * The advantage of declaring age as derived attribute is that whenever we will access the age, we will get the accurate, current age of employee since it will be computed right at the time when it is being accessedFig Symbol used for different types of attributes in E-R diagram An example diagram representing all types of attributes is given below: 1. The attributes empId, empName and dateHired are simple and single valued. 2. The attribute address is a composite attributes because it can be sub divided into street and houseNo. 3. The attribute emp_Qual is a multi valued attribute because an employee has zero, one or many qualifications. 4. The attribute Experience is a derived attribute because it can be derived from the attribute dateHired. 5.The attributes other than Experience are stored at tribute because it can be stored and accessed from the database. Null value:- * An attribute takes a null value when an entity does not have a value for it. * The null value may indicate â€Å"not applicable†Ã¢â‚¬â€that is, that the value does not exist for the entity. * For example, one may have no middle name. Relationship:- * Relationship is a representation of the fact that certain entities are related to each other. * Verbs are usually used to describe relationships. * For example: Students take Courses – Students and Courses are entities, and take is the relationship.Relationship Set:- * Set of relationships of a given type. * For example: students registered in courses ,passengers booked on flight ,parents and their children. Participation: * The association between entity sets is referred to as participation; that is, the entity sets E1, E2, . . . ,En participate in relationship set R. * The participation of an entity set E in a relationship set R is said to b e total if every entity in E participates in at least one relationship in R. * If only some entities in E participate in relationships in R, the participation of entity set E in relationship R is said to be partial.Degree:- * The number of entity sets that participate in a relationship set is called the degree of the relationship set. * A binary relationship set is of degree 2; a ternary relationship set is of degree 3. Mapping Cardinalities (cardinality ratio) :- * Mapping cardinalities, or cardinality ratios, express the number of entities to which another entity can be associated via a relationship set. * Mapping cardinalities are most useful in describing binary relationship sets, although they can contribute to the description of relationship sets that involve more than two entity sets. For a binary relationship set R between entity sets A and B, the mapping cardinality must be one of the following: a) One to one. An entity in A is associated with at most one entity in B, and a n entity in B is associated with at most one entity in A. b) One to many. An entity in A is associated with any number (zero or more) of entities in B. An entity in B, however, can be associated with at most one entity in A. c) Many to one. An entity in A is associated with at most one entity in B. An entity in B, however, can be associated with any number (zero or more) of entities in A. ) Many to many. An entity in A is associated with any number (zero or more) of entities in B, and an entity in B is associated with any number (zero or more) of entities in A. Fig. one to one Fig. one to many Fig. Many to one Fig. Many to many Key :- * A key allows us to identify a set of attributes that suffice to distinguish entities from each other. * A super key is a set of one or more attributes that, taken collectively, allow us to identify uniquely an entity in the entity set.For example, the customer-id attribute of the entity set customer is sufficient to distinguish one customer entity fr om another. Thus, customer-id is a super key. Similarly, the combination of customer-name and customer-id is a super key for the entity set customer. The customer-name attribute of customer is not a super key, because several people might have the same name. * The concept of a super key is not sufficient for our purposes, since, as we saw, a super key may contain extraneous attributes. * If K is a super key, then so is any superset of K. We are often interested in super keys for which no proper subset is a super key.Such minimal super keys are called candidate keys. * It is possible that several distinct sets of attributes could serve as a candidate key. Suppose that a combination of customer- name and customer-street is sufficient to distinguish among members of the customer entity set. Then, both {customer-id} and {customer-name, customer-street} are candidate keys. Although the attributes customerid and customer-name together can distinguish customer entities, their combination d oes not form a candidate key, since the attribute customer-id alone is a candidate key. The primary key is a candidate key that is chosen by the database designer as the principal means of identifying entities within an entity set. * A key (primary, candidate, and super) is a property of the entity set, rather than of the individual entities. Any two individual entities in the set are prohibited from having the same value on the key attributes at the same time. * The designation of a key represents a constraint in the real-world enterprise being modeled. * Sometimes we may have to work with an attribute that does not have a primary key of its own .To identify its rows ,we have to use the primary attribute of related table. this is known as foreign key. * So a foreign key is a field in a relational table that matches a candidate key of another table. The foreign key can be used to cross-reference tables . For example ,say we have two tables ,a CUSTOMER table that includes all custome r data ,and an ORDERS table that include all customer orders . The intention here is that all orders must be associated with a customer that is already in the CUSTOMER table . To do this,we will place a foreign key in the ORDERS table and have it related to the primary key of the CUSTOMER table.Strong and Weak Entities:- * An entity set may not have sufficient attributes to form a primary key. Such an entity set is termed a weak entity set. An entity set that has a primary key is termed a strong entity set. * As an illustration, consider the entity set payment, which has the three attributes: payment-number, payment-date, and payment-amount. Payment numbers are typically sequential numbers, starting from 1, generated separately for each loan. Thus, although each payment entity is distinct, payments for different loans may share the same payment number.Thus, this entity set does not have a primary key; it is a weak entity set. * For a weak entity set to be meaningful, it must be asso ciated with another entity set, called the identifying or owner entity set. * Although a weak entity set does not have a primary key, we nevertheless need a means of distinguishing among all those entities in the weak entity set that depend on one particular strong entity. The discriminator of a weak entity set is a set of attributes that allows this distinction to be made. The discriminator of a weak entity set is also called the partial key of the entity set.The primary key of a weak entity set is formed by the primary key of the identifying entity set, plus the weak entity set’s discriminator. Symbols used in E-R diagram:- Steps in E-R Modeling :- Usually the following five steps are followed to generate ER models 1. Identify the entity set. 2. Identify the relevant attributes. 3. Identify the prime attribute. 4. Find relationships between entity set. 5. Draw a complete ER model. How to Prepare an ERD:- Step 1 Let us take a very simple example and we try to reach a fully o rganized database from it. Let us look at the following simple statement:A boy eats an ice cream. This is a description of a real word activity, and we may consider the above statement as a written document (very short, of course). Step 2 Now we have to prepare the ERD. Before doing that we have to process the statement a little. We can see that the sentence contains a subject (boy), an object (ice cream) and a verb (eats) that defines the relationship between the subject and the object. Consider the nouns as entities (boy and ice cream) and the verb (eats) as a relationship. To plot them in the diagram, put the nouns within rectangles and the relationship within a diamond.Also, show the relationship with a directed arrow, starting from the subject entity (boy) towards the object entity (ice ICE CREAM EATS BOY Well, fine. Up to this point the ERD shows how boy and ice cream are related. Now, every boy must have a name, address, phone number etc. and every ice cream has a manufacture r, flavor, price etc. Without these the diagram is not complete. These items which we mentioned here are known as attributes, and they must be incorporated in the ERD as connected ovals. FLAVOUR MANUFACTURER ADRESS NAME EATS ICE CREAM CREAM BOY PRICE PHONEBut can only entities have attributes? Certainly not. If we want then the relationship must have their attributes too. These attribute do not inform anything more either about the boy or the ice cream, but they provide additional information about the relationships between the boy and the ice cream. FLAVOUR MANUFACTURER NAME ADRESS TIME DATE PRICE PHONE ICE CREAM EATS BOY Step 3 We are almost complete now. If you look carefully, we now have defined structures for at least three tables like the following: BOYPHONE ADRESS NAME ICE CREAM MANUFACTURER FLAVOUR PRICE EATS TIME DATE However, this is still not a working database, because by definition, database should be â€Å"collection of related tables. † To make them connected, the tables must have some common attributes. If we chose the attribute Name of the Boy table to play the role of the common attribute, then the revised structure of the above tables become something like the following BOY PHONE ADRESS NAME ICE CREAM NAME PRICE FLAVOUR MANUFACTURER NAME TIME DATE EATS This is as complete as it can be.We now have information about the boy, about the ice cream he has eaten and about the date and time when the eating was done. Extended Features of E-R Diagram 1. Specialization †¢An entity set may include sub-groupings of entities that are distinct in some way from other entities in the set. For instance, a subset of entities within an entity set may have attributes that are not shared by all the entities in the entity set. The E-R model provides a means for representing these distinctive entity groupings. †¢ Consider an entity set person, with attributes name, street, and city.A person may be further classified as one of the following: a) cust omer b) employee Each of these person types is described by a set of attributes that includes all the attributes of entity set person plus possibly additional attributes. For example, customer entities may be described further by the attribute customer-id, whereas employee entities may be described further by the attributes employee-id and salary. The process of designating sub-groupings within an entity set is called specialization. The specialization of person allows us to distinguish among persons according to whether they are employees or customers. As another example, suppose the bank wishes to divide accounts into two categories, checking account and savings account. Savings accounts need a minimum balance, but the bank may set interest rates differently for different customers, offering better rates to favored customers. Checking accounts have a fixed interest rate, but offer an overdraft facility; the overdraft-amount on a checking account must be recorded. * In terms of an E-R diagram, specialization is depicted by a triangle component labeled ISA, as Figure shows. The label ISA stands for â€Å"is a† and represents, for example, that a customer â€Å"is a† person.The ISA relationship may also be referred to as a superclass-subclass relationship. Higher- and lower-level entity sets are depicted as regular entity sets i. e. , as rectangles containing the name of the entity set. ISA 2. Generalization * The refinement from an initial entity set into successive levels of entity subgroupings represents a top-down design process in which distinctions are made explicit. The design process may also proceed in a bottom-up manner, in which multiple entity sets are synthesized into a higher-level entity set on the basis of common features.The database designer may have first identified a customer entity set with the attributes name, street, city, and customer-id, and an employee entity set with the attributes name, street, city, employee-id, and sa lary. * There are similarities between the customer entity set and the employee entity set in the sense that they have several attributes in common. This commonality can be expressed by generalization, which is a containment relationship that exists between a higher-level entity set and one or more lower-level entity sets.In our example, person is the higher-level entity set and customer and employee are lower-level entity sets. Higher- and lower-level entity sets also may be designated by the terms superclass and subclass, respectively. The person entity set is the superclass of the customer and employee subclasses. * Specialization stems from a single entity set; it emphasizes differences among entities within the set by creating distinct lower-level entity sets. These lower-level entity sets may have attributes, or may participate in relationships, that do not apply to all the entities in the higher-level entity set.Indeed, the reason a designer applies specialization is to repre sent such distinctive features. If customer and employee neither have attributes that person entities do not have nor participate in different relationships than those in which person entities participate, there would be no need to specialize the person entity set. * Generalization proceeds from the recognition that a number of entity sets share some common features (namely, they are described by the same attributes and participate in the same relationship sets).On the basis of their commonalities, generalization synthesizes these entity sets into a single, higher-level entity set. Generalization is used to emphasize the similarities among lower-level entity sets and to hide the differences; it also permits an economy of representation in that shared attributes are not repeated. Difference between Specialization and Generalization No. | Specialization| Generalization| 1| It is a Top Down approach. | It is a Bottom Up approach. | 2| Specialization stems from a single entityset; it em phasizes differences among entities within the set by creating distinct lower-level entity sets. Generalization proceeds from therecognition that a number of entity sets share some common features (namely, they are described by the same attributes and participate in the same relationship sets). | 3| The process of designating sub-groupingswithin an entity set is calledspecialization. | The process of designating groupingsfrom various entity sets is calledgeneralization. | 4| Specialization is a result of taking a subsetof higher level entity set to form a lower- level entity set. | Generalization is a result of taking theunion of two or more disjoint (lower- level) entity sets to produce a higher- level entity set. | .

Preschool Age

During preschool age, physical growth begins to slow down. It is much slower than it was during infancy. Children at the early childhood stage, children start to become taller and leaner as they mature. They will look more like adults than like infants by the end of early childhood. â€Å"During the ages two to six, children make great strides in the development of gross motor skills, which involves the large muscles used in movement â€Å"(Rathus, 2017). At four years old, she has a more complex physical development using both gross and fine motor skills. She has greater control over large muscles, such as her arms and legs. She is also able to coordinate multiple tasks at the same time, such as singing and building blocks as opposed to when she was a toddler. She is much more coordinated in her play than the younger children around her. In early childhood, children appear to acquire motor skills by teaching them selves in observing the behavior of other children and adults† (Rathus, 2017, p. 255). Thus, fine motor skills develop more gradually. Fine motor skills are all the small muscles used in manipulation and coordination. Control over the wrist and fingers enable children to, write, dress themselves and in her case the ability to stack blocks. While observing the child's use of language, her comprehension and use of words is more sophisticated, she can make sentences and can understand what others are saying. She can talk in clear speech. She is quite self-assured and can understand the concept of conversation. Her language is more mature, her memory and imagination has developed and she is able to think more symbolically. Children's language skills develop radically during the preschool years. Between the ages of three and five, egocentric speech starts to disappear. The child's conversational language starts to show sensitivity to the listener, for example, the subject was taking turns talking and listening to her fellow classmates. By that age of four years old, some milestones children develop are the ability to ask adults and each other questions, taking turns talking, and partaking in longer conversations. â€Å"They have vocabulary of 1500-1600 words. They're speech is fluent and their articulation is also good. Children can use five or six words in sentences and can now coordinate two sentences together† (Rathus, 2017 p. 301).