Avoid These 5 Mistakes When NetworkingÂÂ

Avoid These 5 Mistakes When Networking   We all know how daunting networking can be. It’s often the last thing we want to do: going out to â€Å"socialize† when we could be on the couch with take-out and Netflix, having to sell ourselves in every conversation, having to get in front of the right people to make the right impression. But, it has to be done. And it should be done right. Here are 5 common networking pitfalls and how to avoid them.1. Don’t get caught with your pants downEven if you make a last-minute decision to attend, make sure you’re prepared. Don’t forget your business cards. Don’t go up to anyone uninformed. Spend 15 minutes before you hit the party making a game plan- who you’d like to introduce yourself to, what specifically you’d like to accomplish, etc. Do some research into the people and companies you’re likely to run into; this will make for better conversations and you’ll come across as intelligent and on top of your game. Pick yo ur marks and take accurate, appropriate shots.2. Don’t be unprofessionalYou don’t need to  make a special hair appointment or show up in a cocktail dress to a casual after-work event, but you also shouldn’t dress like a slob. Go no lower than business casual, and when in doubt, take your cues from coworkers or other contacts you know are also attending.Once you’re there, act like a professional human. Don’t dismiss people just because they don’t look important. Don’t go around collecting business cards as if you were trick-or-treating. Don’t lie- you’ll always get caught. And make sure to have your elevator pitch practiced and ready to go. There’s nothing worse than being asked what you’re looking for and having to reply â€Å"Uh†¦. Um†¦. Work and stuff?†3. Don’t be naà ¯veAct like you’ve been to a networking event before. Don’t expect a job from every decision-maker you happen to shake hands with. And make sure not to ask for too much from everyone you meet. This is where a little strategic planning can really come in handy. Plan your big asks before you go. Once you’ve made them, try to  relax, act normally, and enjoy yourself. People are just people, after all.4. Don’t be selfishNobody likes a party hog. Don’t be the kind of networker who talks only about herself, thinks only about her needs, barges into conversations uninvited, and otherwise monopolizes everything and everyone. That goes for the shrimp puffs, too.5. Don’t forget to follow upThis is perhaps the most important. If you’ve made good contact with anyone, make sure to send a polite follow-up email the following day. Or even a phone call, depending on your level of connection! And if anyone does you any favors- i.e. puts you in touch with someone or agrees to circulate your resume- make sure to send a gracious thank you ASAP.

Understanding Kuznets Curve

Understanding Kuznets Curve The Kuznets curve is a hypothetical curve that graphs economic inequality against income per capita over the course of economic development (which was presumed to correlate with time). This curve is meant to illustrate economist Simon Kuznets’ (1901-1985) hypothesis about the behavior and relationship of these two variables as an economy develops from a primarily rural agricultural society to an industrialized urban economy. Kuznets’ Hypothesis In the 1950s and 1960s, Simon Kuznets hypothesized that as an economy develops, market forces first increase then decrease the overall economic inequality of the society, which is illustrated by the inverted U-shape of the Kuznets curve. For instance, the hypothesis holds that in the early development of an economy, new investment opportunities increase for those who already have the capital to invest. These new investment opportunities mean that those who already hold the wealth have the opportunity to increase that wealth. Conversely, the influx of inexpensive rural labor to the cities keeps wages down for the working class thus widening the income gap and escalating economic inequality. The Kuznets curve implies that as a society industrializes, the center of the economy shifts from rural areas to the cities as rural laborers, such as farmers,  begin to migrate seeking better-paying jobs. This migration, however, results in a large rural-urban income gap and rural populations decrease as urban populations increase. But according to Kuznets’ hypothesis, that same economic inequality is expected to decrease when a certain level of average income is reached and the processes associated with industrialization, such as democratization and the development of a welfare state, take hold. It is at this point in economic development that society is meant to benefit from trickle-down effect and an increase in per-capita income that effectively decreases economic inequality.   Graph The inverted U-shape of Kuznets curve illustrates the basic elements of the Kuznets’ hypothesis with income per capita graphed on the horizontal x-axis and economic inequality on the vertical y-axis. The graph shows income inequality following the curve, first increasing before decreasing after hitting a peak as per-capita income increases over the course of economic development. Criticism Kuznets’ curve has not survived without its share of critics. In fact, Kuznets himself emphasized the â€Å"fragility of [his] data† among other caveats in his paper. The primary argument of critics of Kuznets’ hypothesis and its resulting graphical representation is based on the countries used in Kuznets’ data set. Critics say that the Kuznets curve does not reflect an average progression of economic development for an individual country, but rather it is a representation of historical differences in economic development and inequality between countries in the dataset. The middle-income countries used in the data set are used as evidence for this claim as Kuznets primarily used countries in Latin America, which have had histories of high levels of economic inequality as compared to their counterparts in terms of similar economic development. The critics hold that when controlling for this variable, the inverted U-shape of the Kuznets curve begins to dimin ish. Other criticisms have come to light over time as more economists have developed hypotheses with more dimensions and more countries had undergone rapid economic growth that did not necessarily follow Kuznets’ hypothesized pattern. Today, the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC)- a variation on the Kuznets curve- has become standard in environmental policy and technical literature.

Discussion board reply Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Discussion board reply - Coursework Example Process control ensures maintenance of a loyal customer base through the quality of products and services that are offered by a company. Process control involves adhering strictly to rules that a company uses in production enabling the company to prevent potential costly mistakes (Shinskey, 2008). When a company fails to address a possible mistake in the production process, the burden is transferred to other processes such as marketing of the products. Process control ensures that a company does not divert from the objectives that it has in production (Albertson, 2007). The importance of the process control can also be seen in the effect that a mistake in the production process can cause to the image of a business. When there is no proper process control in the production process, poor quality goods are produced and this reduces the confidence that the consumers have in the company and the products that the company offers (Sen, 2008). All these factors as also brought out by the classmate’s post can be avoided through the application of process control. Process control mainly involves monitoring all the activities that are carried out in the company to ensure each activity is in done in accordance to set rules and regulations (Sen,

Hollywood Farmers Market Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Hollywood Farmers Market - Assignment Example I noticed that the produce are clearly marked and can be classified into non-organic, certified organic, unofficial organic and no spray produce. The market also provides resources and information about organic farming and foods; this gives consumer’s knowledge on decision making on whether to purchase organic or non-organic foods. A number of certified organic products in the market had the USDA logo, and they were clearly classified and arranged in different stalls from the rest of organic products which enabled the customers to choose wisely. Enquiring on regulations, I found out that some of the farmers and vendors who had a gross turnover of 5000 were exempted from the certification process but they faced regulations and inspections by the government. In the market organic produce included a number of fruits, oranges, tomatoes, mangoes and vegetables which included spinach, kales and herbs. There were also some free range chickens, with some natural eggs which were certif ied organic produce. Some of non-organic products included vegetables, herbs and fruits that were produced using genetically engineered seeds, chemicals, radiations, chemically based fertilizers and pesticides. I got a unique experience from the live chickens in the nooks and crannies of the store display counters (Clark, 1). I figured out that it was great fun carrying out open air shopping and having meals in the restaurants around the farmers market. A number of un-official products like omega XL a natural supplement, natural wine CSA and other minerals like Fulvic ionic were present in the market. After enquiring from one of the vendors, I realized that there are 100% organic product which contained certified contents. Examples of such products included fruits, vegetables, milk, orange, juice, cheese, eggs, chicken and beef. Upon talking to a number of farmers and vendors, it came to my realization that a number of farmers in Hollywood market have complied with a number of organ ic restrictions but they have not taken or given any certification with some arguing that the cost of getting the certification is high and if one is acquired the burden can be passed to the consumers. After walking around the market, I interviewed some farmers and vendors regarding their products, their farming methods and the justification for using the methods that they do. On the methods that are used to produce particular vegetables which are mainly organic, majority of their responses was that the vegetables were purely grown using manure through compost or droppings from a number of animals. Most of the people I interviewed said that they used artificial fertilizers. They further said that the vegetables were exposed to harsh environment and were not covered or housed in any greenhouse. They also used natural ways of preventing pests such as mixing farming with plants like pyrethrum which repel pests away. The farmers also gave me some perceptions that are used in organic far ming, majority of their fields are planted with grains such as corns, oats, soya beans, wheat and cover crops so as to build soil fertility. Other farmers outlined the guidelines used to get organic certification in their farms, which included a number of aspects like land requirements, pesticides used, seed selected and growing practices (Clark, 1). On their farming methods the farmers argued that some conventional methods are used to raise cattle where they are fed with diets

Jean Piaget Essay Example for Free

Jean Piaget Essay Jean Piaget was born in 1896 in the French-speaking Swiss city of Neuchatel to an â€Å"agnostic medievalist† and a religious mother with â€Å"socialist leanings†. He became a professional in mollusk classification and was published in specialized journals. After a doctoral thesis on the taxonomy of Alpine mollusks, in 1918, and studies in psychology and philosophy in Zurich and Paris, he joined the Jean-Jacques Rousseau Institute of Geneva, in 1921. The Jean-Jacques Rousseau Institute was a center for research on child development and education. He later taught experimental and developmental psychology, sociology, and history and philosophy of science, mostly at the University of Geneva. From 1929-1967, Piaget directed the International Bureau of Education, originally established to coordinate educational information and research, and to promote peace and international understanding through education. In 1955, with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, he created the interdisciplinary International Center for Genetic Epistemology (which closed in 1984). After his discovery in 1912 of Creative Evolution, by the French philosopher Henri Bergson, Piaget became interested in the nature of life and evolution, although he rejected the Darwinian theory of natural selection and adopted the basic postulate of his later thought: the idea that the theory of knowledge and the theory of life are inseparable. One of Piagets earlier writings, from 1918, was called, Recherche, was an autobiographical novel and philosophical essay. In Recherche, Piaget sketched a theory of organic, philosophical , and social phenomena based on the idea of equilibrium between parts and wholes. Real-life dis-equilibria (within a society, for example, between individual and collective interests) tend toward an ideal equilibrium that preserves the integrity of parts and wholes alike. Piaget studied the growth of intelligence, by which term he meant chiefly the capacities, structures, and notions that make scientific thought possible. He described development as a sequence of stages from birth through adolescence. The stages appear at variable ages in different cultures and settings, but their order is invariable. This stage theory is one of the best known stage theories that describes four qualitatively different stages of cognitive development. These four stages are: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal. As the stages progress, the thinking of the child changes in ways that involve more than the addition of knowledge and skills. â€Å"According to Piagets stage theory, all the explanation and practice in the world will not help a child functioning at one stage to understand the ways of thinking at a higher stage. Piagets stage theory model describes how humans make sense of their world by gathering and organizing information. According to Piaget, â€Å"certain ways of thinking that are quite simple for an adult, are not so simple for a child†. In the early 1920s, Piaget came up with a â€Å"clinical method† that combined the use of items from intelligence tests, new problem-solving situations, and open-ended conversations with school-age children. He studied the childs language, reasoning, conceptions of the world, theories of causality, and moral judgment. Piaget considered the development of intelligence as a process of â€Å"socialization of thought†, and he attributed great developmental import to social interactions among peers and between children and adults. Piaget found that children at are at first â€Å"egocentric† (ie, experienced difficulty to take another persons point of view) and attached to concrete appearances but the children gradually moved away from egocentrism and became capable of thinking abstractly and logically. Earlier studies of children done by Piaget, studied mainly the content of the childs mind and took into account age-related behaviors. These studies that Piaget conducted concentrated on the main features of the childs â€Å"mentality† in doing these tasks. Piaget saw a different role for interaction. He believed that interaction encouraged development by creating disequilibrium – that cognitive conflict helped to motivate change. He believed that the most helpful interactions were those between peers, because peers are on an equal basis and can challenge each others thinking. As Piaget said, â€Å"to go beyond his current state and strike out in new directions†. In Piagets writing, The Construction of Reality (1937), he describes how basic forms of intentionality and the categories of object, space, causality, and time evolve, during the sensorimotor period, between the newborns reflex activities and the development of language at about 18 months. Piaget defined human intelligence as a form of adaptation that â€Å"prolongs organic adaptation and functions according to the same mechanisms, â€Å"assimilation† and â€Å"accommodation†. Piaget later termed his approach constructivist because he assumes that the concepts and structures of intelligence are successively constructed and reconstructed by means of the physical and mental activities which an organism uses to adapt to the external world. In Piagets later work, he created the idea or concept of mental development and the history of science as a process of â€Å"equilibration toward an increasingly larger capacity for assimilating the world†. Piagets work encouraged the belief that instruction must adapt to the childs developmental level, had direct impact on moral and science education, and also helped to inspire remedial procedures. Piaget continues to remain a major reference in developmental psychology, especially in educational psychology. It was Piagets research techniques, formulation of new problems, insightful observations, and his emphasis on the development of cognitive capacities that helped contribute in fundamental ways to shape the contemporary child and cognitive psychology. There are many ways that Piaget s theory of cognitive development and learning can be useful within the classroom setting. For students who are in the Preoperational stage (2-7 years of age), you should make instructions short-not too many steps all at once. As a teacher, it is also important to demonstrate actions and instructions out for students to also be able to visualize. At this stage, it is also important to have plenty of hands-on practice with skills such as cutting out letters of the alphabet so that the students can see the shape of them, and also use the letters to help form words. For students who are in the Concrete-Operational stage (7-11 years of age), it is still important to use visual aids and props when teaching. One good way to do this is with three-dimensional models that work and show movement ideas. Another good way to help teach students in this stage would be to read a story or book to the class and have the students personalize the story by asking them open-ended questions that would help to stimulate their thinking, as well as, help to stimulate their logical and analytical thinking skills For students who are in the Formal Operations stage (11years of age-adult), you want to continue to use concrete-operational teaching strategies such as charts, illustrations, more sophisticated graphs and diagrams. A good way to challenge and encourage students in this stage would be to give them opportunities to solve problems and reason scientifically by having classroom debates where there are two different positions on a subject. Another way to encourage thinking skills in this stage would be to have the students compare the experiences of characters in stories and movies to their own experiences in life.

The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord Essay -- CSA Identity

The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord What does the word "terrorist" bring to mind? Without even seeing the accused, most people in this country automatically assume this person is Middle-Eastern and Muslim. Although Stern's Terror in the Name of God focuses mainly on Islamic terrorists, it begins by addressing terrorist acts of a more homegrown variety. Stern interviews American terrorists here in the United States. The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord or CSA, a group of radical Christians, became one of the "most violent white supremacist centers of the 1980s" (Phelps). Members lived communally on a 250-acre compound near the Arkansas-Missouri border (Barkun 428). The group "came to accept the teachings of Identity Christianity," which, according to Stern, means seeing "Anglo-Saxons as the 'true Israel,' America as a sacred land, and the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as a God-inspired, Christian inheritance" (17). Followers of Identity Christianity also expect to be present for doomsday (Stern 17). In fact, the members of the CSA believed the Apocalypse was imminent (The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord). As Kerry Noble (minister and second in command of the CSA explains, "we are Christian survivalists who believe in preparing for the ultimate holocaust" (Paranoia as Patriotism). And that is exactly what they did. The organization set up an "Endtime Overcomer Survival Training School," which offered a course in military tactics, "Christian martial arts" and urban warfare (Paranoia as Patriotism). All male members of the group trained in every aspect of military action (The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord) and each was issued full military gear,... ...right." The Village Voice [New York] 25 Mar. 1997,36-38. Alt-Press Watch (APW). ProQuest. W.E.B. DuBois Library, Amherst, MA. 11 Oct. 2007 . Stern, Jessica. Terror in the Name of God. New York: HarperCollins, 2003. Van Boven, Sarah, and Seibert, Sam. "Prep work." Newsweek 126.7 (14 Aug. 1995): 4. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. W.E.B. Du Bois Library, Amherst, MA. 10 October 2007. silk.library.umass.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9508147623&site=eh ost-live&scope=site>. Wheeler, Tim. "McVeigh could tell some tales." People's Weekly World [New York] 26 May 2001, National Edition: 13. Alt-Press Watch (APW). ProQuest. W.E.B. DuBois Library, Amherst, MA. 11 Oct. 2007 . The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord Essay -- CSA Identity The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord What does the word "terrorist" bring to mind? Without even seeing the accused, most people in this country automatically assume this person is Middle-Eastern and Muslim. Although Stern's Terror in the Name of God focuses mainly on Islamic terrorists, it begins by addressing terrorist acts of a more homegrown variety. Stern interviews American terrorists here in the United States. The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord or CSA, a group of radical Christians, became one of the "most violent white supremacist centers of the 1980s" (Phelps). Members lived communally on a 250-acre compound near the Arkansas-Missouri border (Barkun 428). The group "came to accept the teachings of Identity Christianity," which, according to Stern, means seeing "Anglo-Saxons as the 'true Israel,' America as a sacred land, and the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as a God-inspired, Christian inheritance" (17). Followers of Identity Christianity also expect to be present for doomsday (Stern 17). In fact, the members of the CSA believed the Apocalypse was imminent (The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord). As Kerry Noble (minister and second in command of the CSA explains, "we are Christian survivalists who believe in preparing for the ultimate holocaust" (Paranoia as Patriotism). And that is exactly what they did. The organization set up an "Endtime Overcomer Survival Training School," which offered a course in military tactics, "Christian martial arts" and urban warfare (Paranoia as Patriotism). All male members of the group trained in every aspect of military action (The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord) and each was issued full military gear,... ...right." The Village Voice [New York] 25 Mar. 1997,36-38. Alt-Press Watch (APW). ProQuest. W.E.B. DuBois Library, Amherst, MA. 11 Oct. 2007 . Stern, Jessica. Terror in the Name of God. New York: HarperCollins, 2003. Van Boven, Sarah, and Seibert, Sam. "Prep work." Newsweek 126.7 (14 Aug. 1995): 4. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. W.E.B. Du Bois Library, Amherst, MA. 10 October 2007. silk.library.umass.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9508147623&site=eh ost-live&scope=site>. Wheeler, Tim. "McVeigh could tell some tales." People's Weekly World [New York] 26 May 2001, National Edition: 13. Alt-Press Watch (APW). ProQuest. W.E.B. DuBois Library, Amherst, MA. 11 Oct. 2007 .

English: Official Language Essay

â€Å"If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not what is meant, then what must be done remains undone; if this remains undone, morals and art will deteriorate; if justice goes astray, the people will stand about in helpless confusion. Hence there must be no arbitrariness in what is said. This matters above everything. † — Confucius All of us are created individually because we have our differences to one another. We must obtain the fact that we are not made to use same knowledge in one aspect of context. Based on our personal perspectives, we have our own ideologies and culture that we need to preserve for it was the source of our identity. Language is one of our cultural differences to one another. By way of taking our mother tongue just to obtain new knowledge of English language was not a fair solution to globalization. That is why we must have our own guts to differ the policy stating that English language should the only language spoken and written in the world. From the time of language policy conception until today, the debate between whether to use English as the only language or not continued to more sensitive issues and arguments. Many organizations and individuals who are against with this concept are making their own way to inform the public about the limitations of the policy. Despite of promulgating this policy to many schools and companies, many people are still undecided to take this action because it was not a reasonable thinking. According to Leonard Kniffel in his article, â€Å"English only is English Lonely†, â€Å"we understood in those days that English was the key to success and acceptance. Kids like us embraced into exclusion of any language or custom that made as back as if we were just off the boat† (3). The main targets of the institutions behind the promulgation of English language policy are the children for they could not render opposition to what the academe or the social law would impose to them. Children could be feed any information without asking why and how things happened. Therefore, by using children as the primary way to make English as the official language, success will come into a wide variety of situation. According to Rebecca Weber in her article â€Å"Something to Talk About†, â€Å"English-only advocates say that assimilation and mastering English are crucial to success in school, the workforce, and society. But children who can speak English on playground can’t necessarily comprehend grade-level academic content in English† (25). This statement shows that by feeding a child the orientation to speak English language is a terrible problem because even if in his or her daily activities should make him or her use the Standard English language. Therefore, problem may arise within this issue because limitation of a child’s activity because of English language will be done without any good reasoning or justification. On the other way around, according to Loreta Medina in her article entitled â€Å"English Immersion has not been proven to Raise Test Scores†, Contrary to popular wisdom, systematic evaluations show bilingual education to be superior to English-only approaches on promoting English reading. But that advantage is fairly small if it is not combined with other costly efforts to improve the school leadership and instructional approaches that go far beyond the tired refrain of the language of instruction. (2) This statement shows that English is not the solution to global problem because there are more things to discuss rather than limiting people to use only one language. By promoting this policy, people will be engaged to a dictatorial situation wherein they could not use their mother tongue, which they could more express their selves rather than using English language. As a whole, policy on using English language as the only language used in the world especially in the society of America should not be promulgated because it promotes discrimination and inequality especially to different immigrants who could not obtain English language very well. English language will always be the second language of many immigrants from other countries but it should not be the reason to deploy them because we must know that they are striving hard to learn the language even if it was already in the sense of stupidity.