Ict Utilisation And Integration In The Classroom Education Essay

Ict Utilisation And Integration In The Classroom Education Essay Technology can be used to strengthen student learning and enhance pedagogy and can be used effectively as a cognitive tool for teaching and learning in the classroom (Bruce Levin, 2001; Bransford, Brown Cocking, 2000). Teachers use technology for a variety of reasons and these include record keeping, writing lesson plans, creating worksheets and communicating with parents. However, despite the widespread use of technology in schools, it seems that teachers are more inclined to use technology to support their existing practices (such as providing practice drills, demonstration).Previous studies revealed how and why individuals adopt new information technologies (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis Davis, 2003), but it is not known what influences teachers to use technology in their classroom; we need a better understanding of the beliefs that inform these decisions. Previous studies have shown various attributes that can be associated with the utilisation and integration of ICT in the classro om. For instance, teachers attributes is variously grouped into personal characteristics, one of such characteristics: Self-efficacy, perceptions and ease of use(Albion, 2001; Enochs, Riggs, Ellis, 1993; Kellenberger, 1996; Riggs Enochs, 1993; Wang, Ertmer, Newby, 2004a). When a teacher perceives that he or she can effectively use technology in the process of teaching and learning, it will impact that teachers ability to use technology in the classroom. However, the factors that influence self-efficacy beliefs towards technology integration remain largely ambiguous, particularly when examining the possible influences of students attitudes towards technology. These beliefs are likely to be related to each other and they interact dynamically in influencing teachers decisions about the use of technology in the classrooms. Bandura (1997) describes perceived self-efficacy as beliefs in ones capabilities to organise and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments. As this applies to the integration of technology into education, self-efficacy beliefs toward technology integration have been theorized to be a determining factor in how well a teacher is able to effectively use technology to improve teaching and learning. Given that teachers act as change agents for technology integration in schools, it is critical to understand the factors that facilitate and those that act as barriers to teachers use of technology in schools. Research has found that teachers belief on the use of technology is influenced by many factors, such as environment, funds, availability of required technologies etc. (Leggett, Persichitte, 1998). The factors can be classified as either arising from the external environments where the teachers work in or the personal characteristics of the teachers (Chai Khine, 2006). While both internal and external conditions affect technology use in classrooms, (Ertmer 2005) argues that although environmental conditions in terms of technological infrastructures have improved, factors pertaining to teachers beliefs are yet to be resolved. . In Nigeria, there are some cultural factors such as religion, belief, age, that can contribute to teachers inability to integrate technology in the clas sroom (can you support this claim with a literature?). In addition, an issue that arises from Nigeria is that only well-trained teachers have enough confidence to actually use ICT as a teaching mechanism in the classroom teaching (Forster,2008). Before the emergence of ICT, pre service teachers were not expose to new modern channels of information, which and will develop in them self-guided learning materials, placing more focus on learning rather than teaching. Insufficient access to computers is one of the main obstacles for ICT programmes. This is particularly relevant for educational institutions located in rural areas where the school or training institution is the only access point for computers. Swarts(2002) noted that government cooperation is necessary for ICT programmes to be sustainable. Its cooperation is needed in order to support the education curriculum system, which is vital for the survival of ICT utilization and classrooms integration (Kozma, 2008). Purpose This study will therefore look into teachers beliefs about technology usage in the classroom among secondary school teachers in Lagos state, the integration of technology into teaching and its teachers influence on the students attitudes toward technology. Significance of study This study will be significant to the following individuals as stated below: Teachers will be aware 0f the key concern driving policy and interest in the pedagogical integration of ICT and the premise that ICT is important for bringing changes to classroom teaching and learning so as to foster the development of students 21st-century skills. It is important because it will help to build up teachers confidence in using technology in general, which would hence increase their intention and willingness to use technology in the future (Yuen Ma, 2008). It is also useful because it will help to develop a school environment which enables teachers to have more hands-on experience in new technologies (Allan, 2007; Fleming et al., 2007), Students may acquire special, these skills include the ability to become lifelong learners within a context of collaborative inquiry and the ability to work and learn from experts and peers in a connected global community (Law, Pelgrum Plomp, 2008;121) Researchers This study would contribute to the limited research in this area and add clarity to the relationships among these beliefs and will help to them suggest ways of convincing teachers to use ICTs in their classrooms because they are indispensable in this technologically globalised era. Question How do teachers beliefs relate to their instructional technology practices in classroom? 2 How do the environmental conditions affect ICTs use in classroom? What obstructs teachers positive belief about ICT integration in the classroom? Literature Review A major gap has always existed between affluent people living in developed societies with access to modern information technology and underprivileged people living in impoverished and rural communities in developing and least developed countries. Even today, an unequal adoption of technology excludes many from harvesting the fruits of the digital economy (Giri,2002). To investigate the factors hindering teachers readiness and confidence in using ICTs, Tella, Tella,Toyobo, Adika Adeyinka (2007) examined Nigerian secondary school teachersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ uses of ICTs and implications for further development of ICT use in schools using a census of 700 teachers. They found that inadequate knowledge to evaluate the role of ICT in teaching and learning, lack of skills in the use of ICT equipment and software had resulted in a lack of confidence in utilizing ICT tools. This is consistent with Preston (2000) who concluded that lack of technical support to be the key inhibitor to the use of ICT in classroom. As indicated by Bradley and Russell (1997), recurring faults, and the expectation of faults occurring during teaching sessions have reduced teachers confidence and caused teachers to avoid using technology. In addition, obstacles such as access to equipment, time pressures, lack of mentor and opportunities for apprenticeship of observation also have a n impact on teachers ability to use ICT (Slaouti Barton, 2007). Further, teachers workload and time management was found to be inhibiting the implementation of computer instruction in classroom (Guha, 2000). While there is a great deal of studies about how ICT is being used in developed countries, there is not much information on how ICT is being integrated into schools in developing countries (Beukes-Amiss and Chiware, 2006). Investments in ICT for educational innovations and improvements purposes have been continuing, but the need for teachers who will employ it in the classroom as a staple part of the curriculum is disregarded (Niederhauser and Stoddart, 2001; Vacc and Bright, 1999). ICT does not have an educational value in itself, but it becomes precious when teachers use it in the learning and teaching process effectively. As Shakeshaft (1999, p. 4) notes, just because ICT is present does not mean that students are using it. The impact of ICT is strongest when used in a particular content area and further supported by use across the curriculum (Ward and Parr, 2010). Since teachers are the key figures to utilize ICT in educational settings productively and to help integrate ICT into the curriculum, there is every need for them to develop and have positive attitude towards its utilization and efficacy in the classrooms. . ICT promotes a positive attitude towards information technology as an essential p art of a lifelong interest in learning. Teachers also perceive the use of ICT as enhancing recall of previous learning, providing new stimuli, activating the learnerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s response, and providing systematic and steady feedback. It is further perceived as sequencing learning appropriately, and providing access to a rich source of information(Hennessy, Harrison and Wamakote, 2010). For example, Tella et al. (2007) found that computer use by teachers was driven by intentions to use it, and that perceived usefulness was also strongly linked to those intentions. The implication is that teachers will be inclined to use technology if they perceive it to be useful. Furthermore, ICT needs to be linked to specific needs of learners, desisting from the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾one size fits allà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ approach (Leach, 2005, p. 112). It is most effectively used as a learner-centred tool, instead of within a more traditional pedagogy. The real challenge for educationists is, therefore, h ow to harness the potential of ICT to complement the role of a teacher in the teaching and learning process. Roblyer (2002) found that many pre-service teachers are still entering universities with little knowledge of computers and appropriate skills as well as lacking positive attitudes toward ICT use in the classroom. Again, Gunter (2001) states that many higher education institutions are still failing to prepare pre-service teachers for positive technological experiences and utilisation. This will make it difficult for teachers to be able to transfer their ICT skills to their students and encourage them to implement ICT when they themselves have negative belief toward ICT integration in the classrooms (YÄ ±ldÄ ±rÄ ±m, 2000). Many studies indicate that it is teachersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ attitudes, expertise, lack of autonomy and lack of knowledge to evaluate the use and role of ICT in teaching (or technophobia in teachers) that are the prominent factors hindering teachersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ readiness and confidence in using ICT support(Hennessy, Harrison Wamakote, 2010). In orde r for ICT to be effectively used in education, a sense of its value needs to exist as well as the expectation that its use will lead to success. Teachers education requires instructional design, and a belief about computers needs to be present if all teachers are to use ICT in their classrooms. Classroom practices need to change in order for ICT to be fully effective, and attitudes of some who may be unwilling to move away from the traditional way of teaching, need to be taken into consideration when training teachers for ICT use (Tella, Tella, Toyobo, Adika Adeyinka,2007). Therefore, teachers perceptions of ICT integration and utilization in the classrooms are somewhat related to the technology acceptance model (TAM) which was originated by Davis in 1986 (Davis, 1989). The model indicates that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are two specific determinants of a users acceptance of a technology. Perceived usefulness indicates the users perception of the extent that the technology will develop and improve his job performance positively. This includes decreasing the time for performing the job, more productivity and accuracy. Perceived ease of use refers to the users perception of amount of the effort necessary for using the system or the extent to which a user believes that employing a specific technology will be easy. Summers (1990) found that the lack of knowledge and experience in the computing area is one of the most common beliefs for teachers negative attitudes towards computers. Selwyn (1997) found that a major deterent to the use of computers by teachers was computer phobia. These teacher anxieties could be caused by psychological factors such as having little or no control over the activity, thinking that they might damage the computer, and feeling that ones self esteem is threatened; sociological factors such as ICT being regarded as a solitary activity, needing to be clever to use one, and being replaced by the computer; and operational factors such as being beyond ones abilities, having to cope with unfriendly jargon, and the likelihood of the technology going wrong. Teachers should be provided with adequate and appropriate support in their classrooms, and be guided by professional standards that incorporate a code of conduct (Semenov,2005). The successful use of computers in the classroom depends on the teachers belief and attitudes towards computers (Lawton Gerschner, 1982). By means of survey and data collection using questionnaire, the study will also explore factors impeding both qualified and prospective secondary school teachers positive beliefs and their future expectations related to utilization and integration of ICTs in the classrooms during teaching and learning. Research design The design adopted in this study is a descriptive survey method. This will allow the researchers to have a complete description of the impact of teachers belief on utilization and integration of ICTs in the classrooms. Population and Sample The population of the study comprised all public and private secondary schools in Lagos state Nigeria. Three hundred secondary school students from both Twenty five percent public and private schools were purposefully selected because it will not be convenient for the researchers to use all the schools in the Lagos state, again they make a good representation of the schools in the state. Then, a number of teachers in each schools were taken.This gives a total of - which their ages ranged between 25years 45 with a mean age of 35 years ( NB we will get the exact fig. from data collection/questionnaire) They consist of -males and -females. Instrument An instrument named Teachers Belief on Utilization and Integration of ICTs in the Classrooms was developed by the researchers and used for data collection. The instruments consists two sections. Section one requested demographic information from the respondents. The second section contains ten questions on likert type response format and the respondents are requested to choose from strongly agree, agree, disagree and strongly disagree. The instrument was administered on thirty respondents to ascertain its reliability after modification. Procedure All the 250 teachers used for the study were given questionnaires in their respective schools with permission granted by the various authorities of the schools. The administration took place after the school hour in each school. Before then, the entire respondents were informed about the date of the exercise.A day was allocated for two schools. This mean that 15 days was used to cover all the 30 schools selected in which the respondents were selected.(NB pls note how many questionnaires were administered and no. that were valid) Method of data analysis Data collected were analyzed using chi square and why?/? Recommendation( this is just a guess and to know whether it is in line with how it is beig written) The findings showed that most teachers perceived ICT as very useful and as making teaching and learning easier but still do not believe in utilization and integrating them during teaching and learning especially in Nigerian situation where there is no steady power supply, cost of the equipment, unavailability of the ICTs in most schools,lack of expertertise especially in public schools, etc. It was recommended that professional development policies should support ICT-related teaching models, in particular those that encourage both students and teachers to play an active role in teaching activities. Additionally, emphasis should be placed on the pedagogy underlying the use of ICTs for teaching and learning.

Management Information System †Nokia Essay

1.1 History of Nokia Nokia started as a wood-pulp mill in southern Finland and started to manufacture paper in 1865 by engineer Fredick Idestam. Since the demand for paper and cardboard was high and there was European industrialization, Nokia become successful. In 1895, Nokia is passed to Gustaf Fogelholm. In 1920s, the Rubber Works started to use Nokia as their brand name. Nokia produced footwear, tyres, rubber bands, industrial as well as raincoats. After World War II, the Finnish Cable Works, which was a company that had increased its market share massively as there was increasing demand for power transmission, telegraph and telephone networks. Over a period of time, the ownership of the Rubber Works and the Cable Works companies consolidated. In 1967 the companies were merged to form the Nokia Group (link to Nokia company logos). The products of the Finished Cable Works were cables for telegraph and telephone networks. In 1960’s, research was conducted into semiconductor technology by Nokia ´s Cable Work’s Electronics department which was established in the 1960. This marked the beginning of Nokia into telecommunications. In 1967, the digital switch (Nokia DX 200) which was developed by Nokia. Nokia DX 200 was equipped with high-level computer language and Intel microprocessors which had gradually evolved into the multifaceted platform that is still the basis for Nokia’s network infrastructure today. In 1981, Nordic Mobile Telephony (NMT) was formed by Nokia. It is the world’s first multinational cellular network. At the end of the 1980s, Nokia developed a a common standard for digital mobile telephony which was Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). In 1991 Nokia made agreements to supply GSM networks to nine European countries and by August 1997 Nokia had supplied GSM systems to 59 operators in 31 countries. During the 1980s, Nokia’s operations rapidly expanded to new business sectors and products. Nokia was a large television manufacturer and the largest  information technology company in the Nordic Countries in 1988. Nokia’s telecommunications and mobile phones divisions supported Nokia during the deep recession in Finland at the beginning of the 1990s. In May 1992 Nokia changed its business strategies to fully focus on telecommunications. The company’s 2100 series phone was an amazing success. In 1994, the goal was to sell 500,000 units of phone but Nokia sold 20 million. In 1999, Nokia launches the Nokia 7110. It was a phone that had rudimentary web-based functions, including email. Then in November 2001 Nokia launches its first phone with a built-in camera, the Nokia 7650, and in September 2002 its first video capture phone, the Nokia 3650. In 2005, Nokia sells its billionth phone – a Nokia 1100 – in Nigeria, and global mobile phone subscriptions pass 2 billion. Two years later, Nokia is recognised as the 5th most valued brand in the world. By 2010, smartphone market is growing and competitors such as the iPhone and Android-based devices are affecting the sales of Nokia. However, Nokia realises it and is on its way to beat its competitors. 1.2 Mission and Strategy Nokia’s mission is simple: Connecting People. Nokia aims to build great mobile products that enable billions of people worldwide to enjoy more of what life has to offer. Nokia’s mission statement is powerful. Connecting people from all over the world is what Nokia planned to achieve. The mission statement of Nokia can be seen in its logo. Its mission statement is so powerful when people think of Nokia, they will immediately think of its mission statement. In order to achieve Nokia’s mission, Nokia has formed a strategic partnership with Microsoft in the hope to conquer smartphone market. Nokia-Microsoft ecosystem will deliver differentiated and innovative products with unrivalled scale in terms of product breadth, geographical reach and brand identity. On the other hand, Nokia’s strategy is to is to leverage its innovation and strength in growth markets to connect even more people to their first internet and application experience Nokia will continue the renewal of its Series 40 platform in QWERTY, touch  & type, dual SIM, Nokia services, including Maps, Browser, Life Tools, Web apps and  Nokia also develops its assets (platform, software, apps) from time to time to bring a modern mobile experience to consumers and enable business opportunities for developers. 1.3 Business Process Every company has its own business process in order to carry out its business activities such as planning, managing, production as well as sales in order to achieve the company’s goals. The same goes to Nokia Company. People are important to any organization as they are the asset of all the company while customers are equally vital as without them, the company will not be able to sustain the business. In Nokia, the management of people or employees is stressed. Nokia uses Human Resource Management System to manage its company personnel. On the other hand, to manage a good relationship with the customers, Customers Relationship Management (CRM) which is under Knowledge Management System is used. As in planning for Nokia’s future plans, Decision Support System (DSS) which is under Knowledge Management System is used to help managers to make decisions. The managers or leader of Nokia need to make tremendous decisions daily in operating Nokia’s business. In order to make Nokia’s business more productive, Supply Chain Management System is used to interlinked Nokia’s supplier, manufacturers, sales and logistics providers as well as customers. In conclusion, the business process of Nokia is carried out with the help of information technology and information system. 1.4 Leadership Team Stephen Elop is the President and CEO of Nokia Corporation. He is Nokia Board member since May 3, 2011 and Nokia Leadership Team member and Chairman since 2010. He joined Nokia as President and Chief Executive Officer as of September 21, 2010. He is assisted by Nokia’s Executive Vice Presidents. 2.1 Knowledge Management (KM) Information System 2.1.1 Introduction Knowledge Management is the discipline about learning, managing, and using the knowledge in terms of people, organization, technologies, technique, and other knowledge-based things. As the environment of cell phone industry has become more challenging where Nokia has to face a series of competitor such  as Apple. Inc, Sony Ericsson and Samsung Company, adapt into the new business world, survive in the market and make profit. In order to achieve these objectives and improve business performance in this knowledge era, elements such as critical thinking, creative and innovation, technology usage, ability and knowledge of employees are extremely important. Therefore, knowledge management information system is used by Nokia in order to keep up the pace of competitors and to improve the value and performance of the organization. Basically, there are three approaches to knowledge management which are system-theoretical, humanistic approach as well as sociotechnical approach. i) System theoretical approach System theoretical approach is the study of managing the information that can be applied. ii) Humanistic approach Humanistic approach is the study of how to manage the people or employee as well as emphasizing on leadership of every level of management. ii) Sociotechnical approach Sociotechnical approach is the study of the system that combines the advantages that can be achieved from both of the previous approaches. Knowledge management system that have been applied by Nokia is not necessary to be a computer system but it can be the process of various knowledge management activity such as organizing and utilizing the information, as well as other business action like strategic planning, solving problem and decision making. Input, Process, and Output Basically, there are three main elements in this information system which represents the input, process and output of the system respectively. These elements are people (input), process (process), and system (output). 2.1.1 Input (People) The system will enable Nokia company to form a long term program team which will last for one and a half years to unite the members and make sure everyone is on the right path towards the goal. Members are required to over communicate at every levels and the culture of knowledge sharing and collaboration must exist within the group. 2.1.2 Process (Process) In the process, a product taxonomy will be created to define the management process and the content acquisition for every source. In order to ensure all employees are able to access to validate the system, clear use cases are created. During the process, key metrics such as customer satisfaction, knowledge management cycle time, and other business aspect are defined. The process of information sharing also occurs within the group. The process also will identify the modification of Nokia business process. 2.1.3 Output (System) The output of the system is the better performance of business and higher ability of Nokia’s employees which represented by the knowledge management system. There is a mirror test system which enables the employee to access for testing as well as the demo of new information. This knowledge management system emphasize on the stability and efficiency of the employee that lead to higher business performance of Nokia. Diagram 2.1.1: Input, Process and Output of Knowledge Management System 2.2 Supply Chain Management System (SCM) 2.2.1 Introduction In order to ensure the entire product delivering process is undergoing correctly in term of date, destination, and quantity, Supply Chain Management (SCM) System is used by Nokia. One of the examples is Nokia-China has established an important department called Supply Logistics. Aspects such as production, material planning, resources allocating, inventories management, shipping and other supply chain activities are related to this department. The modern logistics is being described in term of the process of planning, organizing and controlling the flow and storage of products and services and these definitions are prompt to ensure customer satisfaction. The logistics activities can be divided into three parts which are supply logistics, business logistics and also sales logistics. The supply chain management system is an operational management technology that helps to manage Nokia’s activities involved from producing a product from raw  materials until the delivering of the product or service to the customers. The supply chain management is the expansion version of the integrated management of logistics with the goals to connect supplier’s partner, production and customers. 2.2.2 Input In this phase, customer order and the planning of manufacturing element are the main element for the system. The Nokia supply chain management system will receive the customer’s orders and start the planning of the manufacturing element such as resource preparation and distribution for production. The information about the delivering destination, type of product and quantity also will be identified during input processes. 2.2.3 Process During this stage, the supply chain management will complete the production proposal based on the information retrieved from the input stage. The system will allocate the production work to the available factories and distribute the amount of production based on the factor such as amount of worker and geographical reason. At the same time, the system will now start planning on the shipment schedule for the product as well as preparing the export quarantine QA form. The system will have to arrange the transportation route such as truck on land, cargo ship on sea or the flight on air, based on the location of final destination of products delivered. Once the products are finished, the production department staff will be required to attach a job ticket on the product in term of variance or not variance. Besides that, the system also needs to confirm the payment in order to release the shipment of the product as well as ensure the products are in good condition. 2.2.4 Output After the finished products are prepared to be delivered, the system will make the auto billing and perform the customs declaration. The goods will now be delivered to the final destination of the order via the decided route based on the efficiency of the route. 2.3 Human Resource Management System (HRMS) 2.3.1 Introduction HRMS is the structure and system which is progressing at the joint between human resource management (HRM) and information technology (IT). It combines HRM as a discipline and in precise its basic HR activities and processes with the information technology field, whereas the programming of data processing systems evolved into standardized procedures and packages of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. In Nokia, HRIS helps it to automate and manage their company’s activities, including human resource, payroll, and management, accounting activities. Throughout the process, HRIS able to allow strategic analysis of key business trends for better planning and informed decision-making. HRM is in charge of appealing, choosing, training, assessment, and rewarding of Nokia’s employees, also to manage an organization’s workforce. HRM also involve in overseeing organizational direction and philosophy, and guaranteeing obedience with employment and labour laws. HRM can be classifies into five main activities, which are Employee Record Management, Promotion and Recruitment, Training, Evaluation, Compensation and Benefits Management. 1. Employee Record Management(ERM) is an electronic and digitized system which allows Nokia members to modernise key administration tasks in easier way without looking back at filing cabinets, spread sheets or other complex processes, for example, using Microsoft Access to keep all personal info in soft copies. ERM keep and organize all personnel records of all organizational members by Human Resource department to satisfy laws requirements, for tax calculation and deposit and periodic reporting. 2. Promotion and recruitment of present and new Nokia’s employees both can be nominated by automating the process through searching database of applicants and present employees with precise requirements. Announcement of position vacancy through intranet, that works and supports Web application within organizational network able to reduce time and spending for open recruitment by allowing wide exposure. 3. Training of Nokia’s employees to increase and improve employees’ knowledge and skills is one of the important functions of Human Resource. Multimedia software training which include 3D  virtual reality simulated environment using information technology cuts training costs intensely, at the same time, reduces the risks and time taken in actual and traditional way of training. 4. Evaluating performances of Nokia’s employees periodically by supervisors, then up flow to Human Resource department is important to review individual working ability and to analyse future possibilities and planning. Employee’s practical capability, communication skills, professional behaviour and general performance are included using evaluation software to standardize the evaluation process and future comparison. 5. Compensation and benefits management that involves in Human Resource management which includes salary, wages, commissions and bonuses earned by individual and other benefits such as health and life insurance, and leave days, meanwhile, programs use by HRM could calculate pay and taxes automatically. All these are essential to encourage and compensate Nokia’s employees so they would improve and perform better in future, soon generate greater achievements for Nokia. 2.3.2 Inputs The input function of HRMS offers the capabilities needed to get the human resource information into HRMS. Some of the main things that must be established are the procedures and processes required to gather the essential data. In other words, they are the how, when and where the data will be collected. After collection, data must be entered into the system after classification. Once the data has been inserted, it must be authenticated to guarantee that it is correct. Validation tables may be used to determine if the data is acceptable. The system should have the ability of effortlessly updating and changing the validation table. For example, while open recruiting for new employees, personnel information and resumes are well kept and computerized in accordance to their experiences and performances. 2.3.3 Process The process or data maintenance in HRMS function is responsible for the actual updating of the data stores in the storage devices. As changes arise in human resource information, these should be attached into the system. As new data is brought into the system, it is often necessary to maintain the old data as future reference. For example, evaluation of employees’ performance by supervisors are noted and gathered with constructive upcoming steps and suggestions, current salaries fixed and planned increment of salaries in certain periods, and keep updating the latest information about employees include personal details. 2.3.4 Output The output function of an HRMS is the most acquainted one because the majority of HRMS users are not involved with collecting, editing/validating and updating data, but they are concerned with the information and reports produced by the system. Most human resource reports contain of selecting sections of the total population for further assessment, performing some type of calculations, using the population and providing a report containing specific information concerning the particular population and the calculation of results. The demands on the output function are the major factors that affect the specific type of software to be used. For example, departments of company are assessable into database of company with exact and current information enables to ease the process of planning and implementing new ideas and projects, information of talented and capable employees are displayed when there are vacancy for certain positions. Diagram 2.3.4 Input, Process and Output of Human Resource Management System 3.4 Information Requirements 3.4.1 Knowledge Management System There are three levels of management which are strategic level, middle level, and operational level that need to acquire different information and make different decision based on the levels of management respectively. Examples of the scope of technologies for knowledge management are business intelligence, document management, intelligent agents, knowledge resource directories, groupware and collaboration technologies, and other related technologies. The below is the information requirement for the three levels of managements: Strategic level Strategic level of management makes long term planning and decision for the company and a great deal of uncertainty is involved during the process. The  knowledge management information system provides the strategic level management with analytical information such as data mining and data warehousing, and application of other information system such as decision making system, business intelligence, and other related information system. The knowledge management systems improves the usage of these information systems by the members of the organization and retrieve data to make strategic planning and gain competitive advantage. There are some technologies are enabled as well to contribute to the strategic planning decision making process such as intelligent agents, data analysis, and reporting tools. Middle level (Tactical Planning) The middle level management that makes tactical planning can retrieve information such as asset management from knowledge management information system. Information or skills such as intellectual property, knowledge valuation, knowledge repositories document management, and content management can be acquired from the knowledge management system. As an example, the document and content management as well as the knowledge valuation allow middle level management makes better and more precise planning such as working capital, budgets formulating, production scheduling. Tools that can help in this management level are document management tools, knowledge maps and library systems. Operational level The knowledge management system plays an important role in this level of management because the system provide information that help to increase Nokia’s operational worker’s ability as well as introducing new way to smoothen the business operation process and improve efficiency. Types of information that can be retrieved from this system are transactional (case-based reasoning, help desk application, service agent support applications), process (Process improvement, lessons learned, methodology, quality management), and developmental (skills development, staff competencies, learning and teaching). The technologies available are process management tools, rule-based expert system and computer based training. 3.4.2 Supply Chain Management In Nokia-China , the supply chain management system can help out the performance of the company as the system has the following function: i.) Improve the efficiency and the exchange of information between organization by simplifying the management. ii.) Provide the goods and services to the customers within a shorter period of time. iii.) Fully utilize the available resources. Strategic level The information that can be acquired by this strategic level manager are strategic alliance formulation, focused customer service analysis, development and refinement of ability and chances where all these information are help in strategic planning. This allows manager makes strategic planning and decision to achieve higher business performance in long term. Tactical level There are two type of information that can be acquired from the supply chain management system: i) Decision analysis The decision analysis information helps Nokia’s managers to do their planning and scheduling with information like route of transportation, inventory management, network location configuration and also vertical integration with the third party. ii) Management Control The management control provides the measurement information such as financial, assets, productivity and quality that enable the manager of Nokia to do effective budgeting and controlling the product quality. Operational level Under operational level management, the information that is required are mostly related to the transaction-based information such as order entry, shipping details, pricing and invoicing, order verification and customer inquiry. These information allow Nokia’s operational manager to make a better performance in especially the production lines as well as increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the production work. 3.4.3 Human Resource Information System (HRMS) Strategic level At strategic management level of Nokia Company, HRMS is used mainly for formulation of long term plans to make decisions by company’s decisions makers, such as Chief Executive Officers and other active stockholders. Information requirement in this level will be external, very wide and aggregate in nature. HRMS is used to improve the organization’s consciousness of its surroundings situation and its competitive position in terms of attraction and maintenance of talented individuals that could contribute in its competition of certain industry. HRMS is important in strategic management level for the top users to access into information, for example the effectiveness, profitability and cost of different departments members, the availability and cost of raising new internal talent pool, total cash need and capital equipment needs to upgrade existing employees and to make decisions whether to increase or reduce costs of human resource in overall. The enterprise widespread decision support system (DSS) is a HRMS that supports decision at the top management. Here, the HRMS is more interactive and is capable of developing decision models on many tactical issues. Tactical level At the middle or tactical level, normally derives from informal sources and is collected, evaluated, investigated and measured by the manager personally. HRMS is uses to evaluate and report on the organizations activities such as, over shooting of expenses on overtime payment for employees, estimation of funds by competitors to train and improve their employees, new legislation and labour laws, industrial relation HRM trends, and so on. Statistical analyses, predicting, investments, appraisal models by HRM are important for future planning of a company, such as forecasting the amount of human resource needed while opening a new franchise company within or outside country, how much to invest to generate better production of products and services, and other future planning that relates to other departments. The importance in this level is shifting from EDP level to management information systems (MIS) level with more inquiry and report generation flexibility. This is intended for middle level managers to control operation, matching budget or projection. Operational level In operational level, Nokia is interested in mechanizing processing of routine information, where the information required is largely internal, well defined, narrow and detailed. HRIS focuses is on data storage, processing and information flows at operational level of organization. Information required in this level is linking to routine or short term information needs of the organization for example, working hours of part time employees, rate of pay per hour, detail of employees deductions and additions, attendance records of the employees, or daily working syllabus and requirements by supervisors or HRM, with the purpose of wages examines details of the time each man spent on individual work during the week or month. Due to its capabilities to provide information for processing transaction of the organization, the information system is known as Transaction Processing System or Data Processing System. Some examples of information provided by such systems to other departments such as Finance and Production Departments are processing of orders, posting of entries in bank, evaluating overdue purchaser orders etc. In HRMS it is called Electronic Data Processing (EDP) which enables data and files storage. HRMS is mainly accessible by all the operational level operators, but only showing the basic information of each and every of the employees. Management Activity Level| Human Resource Management Strategic| Strategies for recruitment, salary, training, and benefits. Analysis of shift pattern of employment, education and wage rate etc.| Tactical| Variance analysis in hiring and firing, cost of recruitment, composition of skills inventory, cost of training, salary paid, and distribution of wage rates.| Operational| Decision on hiring, training, termination, changing pay rates and issuing benefits.| Table 3.4.3Matrixes of Management Activity Level and Human Resource Management (R. Panneerselvam) Chapter 4: Importance of Each Information System 4.1 Importance of Knowledge Management System As the business world is getting more competitive since the advantage of technologies and changing of customer preference and buying trends, company  like Nokia need to improve the overall ability of the organization in order to maintain the market status. Effective knowledge management can lead to a greater revolution in business such as bringing innovative elements into business in order to create new innovative product or services. As the knowledge management system can help to improve the ability and knowledge of the workers or managers, therefore, the overall performance of everyone in Nokia can be improved. Eventually, Nokia is able to gain competitive advantage by employing higher knowledge-based worker and achieve greater business performance in the market. 4.2 Importance of Supply Chain Management System One of the key factors that enable the company to gain competitive advantage in the market and improve business performance is to have an effective and efficient SCM system to work on daily operations. The SCM system plays an important role in Nokia since it is related to other business activities such as marketing, customer relationship management and product sales. By having a good supply chain management system within the company, Nokia is able to achieve competitive advantage such as low-cost production and value-added service. Diagram 4.2.1: Importance of Supply Chain Management System 4.3 Importance of Information System towards Organization An operative HRIS delivers information on just anything Nokia needs to track and study about employees, former employees, and future employees. With an appropriate HRIS, Nokia’s Human Resources staffs enable employees to do their own benefits updates and address changes, thus freeing HR staff for more strategic functions. Additionally, data necessary for Nokia’s employee management, knowledge development, career growth and development, equal treatment is facilitated. Finally, Nokia’s managers can access the information they need to legally, ethically, and effectively support the success of their reporting employees. The Human Resources Information System provides details on administration, payroll, recruitment, and training. This system is expected to deliver valuable results to their human resources division and their organization as a whole. It is a critical tool that aids  management in making strategic decisions. An HRIS can attest to be useful in the following ways: * Management of all Nokia’s employee information. * Reporting and analysis of Nokia’s employee information. * Company-related documents such as Nokia’s employee handbooks and safety guidelines. * Benefits administration comprising enrolment, status changes, and personal information updating. * Complete incorporation with payroll and other Nokia monetary software and accounting systems. * Candidate tracking and resume management. 5.0 Impact of Usage of Information System 5.1 Advantage of Knowledge Management Information System First of all, the knowledge management system enables the business analysis to collect more precise report in a shorter period of time by retrieving only the important and relevant information from the documents. The knowledge management system provide more significant advantage to Nokia that business is conducted globally where the system allow the manager from different location to communicate by using the accurate and relevant information that facilitated by the knowledge management system. Besides that, the systems also offer intelligent search which only search for the relevant information that helps the managers in their decision making g process. Furthermore, knowledge management system also helps to improve Nokia’s customer services as the system can adapt the customer feedback and provide a better solution or services to the problem faced. 5.2 Disadvantage of Knowledge Management Information System One of the disadvantages of using the knowledge management system is the inability of the system to consistently deliver the expected performance in term of information retrieving. Other than that, integrating information  technology to knowledge management requires acceptance from all aspects of an organization. 5.3 Advantage of Supply Chain Management System Supply Chain Management System allows Nokia to provide faster responses to customer needs as the advancing information technology able to shorten the time of good product delivering. The system also changes the focus of the operation from forecasting into customer demand which maintain providing efficient service at the same time. The system also using small variation of management in order to be fault-tolerance in case the unexpected accident or any damage to the system occurs. The examples of the events are the delay of receipt issue, damage of material or product and incorrect deliver destination. Other than that, the system also maintains the low inventory level with the aim to decrease the burden of stock and material as well as improved the turnover rate to ensure the fully utilization of the stock. In term of saving cost in transportation, the system has made an innovative change which gathers the shipment of small quantities with great quantities of integrated transport where this change will decrease the cost of transportation. As the system has strengthen the requirements of quality of the product and the improvement on quality control, production process are controlled well to make sure no damage is occurred and the quality of the product is maintain before delivered to customers. There will be reduction happens in the inventory that attributed to the use of supply chain information system. The company can actually use the saved money from the reduction to spend it in other resources. 5.4 Disadvantage of Supply Chain Management System Even though the usage of the supply chain management is able to bring out a lot of advantages to Nokia, yet there are still some barriers or disadvantages. In order to create a great-performance and high-security supply chain management system, a large amount of investment of time and money is required to be made into aspect such as machinery, customer needs, shipping planning and supplier selection. 5.5 Advantage of Human Resource Management System Human resource management system is a system that human resource department used to manage the process of recruitment and keep all the date and records of all the employees under Nokia company. There are a lot of benefits can be obtain from this system. A case in point, all the data and records are gathered together in one system for external as well as internal use. By this way, it allows the management team to easily access to the details of each and every single employee in their company. Besides that, this system also makes use of the advance of technology with the big storage of data that can store thousands or millions of employee’s data and records. Furthermore, the information in the human resources management system are more accurate compare to the manually records data. There will be no changes or errors made after all the details are key in. Besides that, the data can only be access by the members allowed with high privacy and password. As such, this system can protect the privacy of the information of their company. In addition, not only the managers, the employees can also get all the human resources information in a high speed and not need to personally go to the human resources department to ask for the information needed. 5.6 Disadvantage of Human Resource Management System On the other hand, there are also some disadvantages of this system. Although everything can be computerize, but human error might occurs during the process of input. There might be some typing errors or wrong information that key in into the wrong profile. Therefore, the person in charge has to beware of these mistakes to be happened. Next, the technology of this system has to be upgraded as there might be not enough application to support the system of the current human resources needs. This upgrading of the technology might cause to the increment of expenses happen as the system upgrades are very costly. Last but not least, the demands of the expertise in the information technology are high and these expertises are getting lesser and lesser. It is being more difficult to find a qualified person in this field. Chapter 6 Conclusion In a nutshell, information technology (IT) is important to all organization in order to attain competitive advantages and success in the competitive  world. Nokia understands the importance of utilizing IT and hence Nokia involves the use of IT in the company. Information system helps Nokia to make decisions in strategic, tactical and operational levels of Nokia. We get to understand why information system is so important nowadays and why is it there is a growing trend of people or organization using IT. In Nokia, Knowledge Management (KM) System helps it to learn, manage and use the knowledge of people, organization, technologies, technique as well as other knowledge-based stuffs. On the other hand, Supply Chain Management (SCM) System helps Nokia to manage the activities from procurement of products to handling Nokia’s products to the customers. Resource Management (HRM) System helps Nokia to manage its personnel in a better way. From this assignment, we understand that information technology (IT) helps Nokia in surviving in the competitive cell phone industry. IT helps a company to remain competitive in the growing competitive market. Now we understand why Nokia can remain competitive in the market as Nokia utilize massively information technology References 1. Dresser & Associates, Inc (2012) What is a Human Resources Information System (HRIS)?. (online) (cited 11 Mar 2012) Available from: http://www.dresserassociates.com/what-is-hris.php 2. eNotes (2012) Human Resource Information Systems. (online) (cited 11 Mar 2012) Available from: http://www.enotes.com/human-resource-information-systems-reference/human-resource-information-systems 3. Itinfo.am (2012) Human Resource Management. (online) (cited 17 Mar 2012) Available from: http://www.itinfo.am/eng/human-resource-management/ 4. Itinfo.am (2012) Human Resource Management. (online)(cited 19 Mar 2012) Available from: http://www.itinfo.am/eng/human-resource-management/ 5. Jouni Meriluoto, 2003. Knowledge management and information systems : finding a sociotechnical golden mean (online)(cited 20 Mar2012)Available from : http://www.knowledgeboard.com/download/629/KM_IS.pdf 6. Techriz.com (2009) techriz.com-Week-1-Systems Analysis and Design – Complete Tutorial for Software Engineering. (online) (cited 13 Mar 2012)Available from: http://www.techriz.com/SA-Week-1.html 7. Nokia (2012) The Nokia Story. (online) (cited 14 Mar 2012) Available from: http://www.about-nokia.com/history/ 8. Nokia (2012) Nokia Leadership Team. (online)(cited 15 Mar 2012) Available from: http://www.nokia.com/my-en/about-nokia/company/governance/leadership/nokia-leadership-team/ 9. Jouni Meriluoto, 2003. Knowledge management and information systems : finding a sociotechnical golden mean (online)Nokia Research Center (cited 17 Mar 2012)Available from : http://www.knowledgeboard.com/download/629/KM_IS.pdf 10. R. Panneerselvam. (2005) Production and Operations Management, 2nd Ed.,New Delhi: Pertice-Hall, p.3. 11. Techriz.com (2009) techriz.com-Week-1-Systems Analysis and Design – Complete Tutorial for Software Engineering. (online)(cited 20 Mar 2012) Available from: http://www.techriz.com/SA-Week-1.html

Buffalo ’66 (Directed by Vincent Gallo) Film Essay

Buffalo ‘66 (Directed by: Vincent Gallo) Buffalo ‘66 is Gallo’s ode to his childhood and hometown. Like most artists he writes from what he knows. Having moved to New York from an early age (around 17), for his directorial debut he went back to the city where he grew up, and even shot scenes in his real parents’ old house. Buffalo made him what he is, and still resonates deeply in him. He had enough emotional distance when he made the movie to be able to find the humor in it, but watching the movie it’s clear that his past still haunts him, â€Å"It’s an open wound†(1), as Roger Ebert describes it in his review. Spite, resentment, revenge and anger seem to fuel Gallo’s energy; they’re his motivation to create. He is infamous for his public antics, his idiosyncrasy and statements like â€Å"’I stopped painting in 1990 at the peak of my success just to deny people my beautiful paintings. And I did it out of spite.â₠¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬  A one man army, nobody praises and hypes Gallo more than Gallo himself. He’s never short of bravado and macho, like a kid forever competing with everybody else to be the coolest, most hands-on and authentic. And yet in his art, his stories and songs, we see a fragile man, haunted by his past, broken by the hardships of love. He presents himself that way, his heart perennially broken and sad, looking for revenge or closure. He’s a bitter man, but he is sad in style, of course. His looks and sense of fashion and â€Å"cool† are integral to understanding what he does and where he is coming from. His cult of personality, gigantic ego and vanity inform his work a great deal; it’s his approach, what makes him different. Gallo is an artist that operates as an outsider, but looks like a rock star. He understands that to stand out, to be noticed, an artist has to create his own hype, his own legend; his persona is as much a creation as his work. Which is why he likes to keep people guessing, and building a mystery around him. Provoke people and they’ll pay attention, elaborate on your own past, make things up, and you’ll appear more interesting. Consider the scene in Buffalo ‘66 where Ben Gazzara’s character performs â€Å"Fools Rush In† for Layla (Christina Ricci). The voice we hear is actually an old recording of Vincent Gallo’s father singing the classic song. In 1998, after the release of the movie he told Village Voice journalist Jerry Talmer that he himself had recorded his father, praising his own engineering skills: â€Å"So 10 years ago,† says 36-year-old Vincent, â€Å"I’m drivin g across the country in a car with one hundred of my cassettes, and at the end of the B side of some punk-rock thing there’s this old, dirty, sun-baked tape, and I hear that â€Å"Fools Rush In† and I’m stunned at my father’s talent and my 13-year-old engineering skills. And that’s the inspiration for the whole movie†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (2) In 1992 though, he wrote an article for Sound Practices magazine where he tells a different story: â€Å"I remember my Grandma’s house. It was small and it had a smell, not a good smell or a bad smell just a certain smell. There was no TV, no radio – just this old wind up 78 machine with this big metal horn that had flowers painted on it. Underneath in a shelf, she had 9 records: three by Domenico Modugno- you know, the guy who wrote Volare, four Caruso records, and her two favorites – one by Dean Martin and one by my father singing â€Å"Fools Rush In†. Before my Pops went to prison, he was a nite club singer. He got to record one single.†(3) Wouldn’t he mention the fact that he recorded his father’s single at age 13 on an article for a DIY sound magazine if it was true? And if his grandmother was listening to it on vinyl, clearly it wasn’t a homemade recording. But even if he’s contrived, small minded and petty, he seems to be self aware enough to be able to not only talk about it straight, but to also make art out of it, and if a movie like Buffalo 66 ultimately works is because Gallo can find the humor in his own story and persona. He has to be poking fun at himself and anyone with his outrageous provocations and massive trolling. Just look at his website, where he offers himself for $50,000;(4) or his claims that he’s a republican, and that Bush is a great man. Through his work he can transcend himself and reach out to other people: â€Å"I’m clearly a small-minded person, with my own petty grievances. Hopefully, my work transcends my own petty grievances and small-minded nature. It’s best for me to remain small-minded on an emotional level and broad-minded on a conceptual level. It doesn’t matter whatever it is that makes me do my work. Neurosis, obsession, wanting people to like me, wanting my parents to feel bad for underrating me, making a lot of money, power, and social status, wanting girls to like me or just to meet one girl on a job. All of this doesn’t matter as long as the work that I do to achieve these small-minded needs is a lot more interesting than me and my reasons for making it.†(5) But if the starting point, the initial motivation to do art was revenge, he’s past that, he says: â€Å"One begins one’s adult life trying to conquer the voices and the demons and the hang-ups of one’s childhood emotional life. At a certain point for me, I became actually interested in what I was doing to take this revenge. I became more interested in the activity and the result and the objects I was making out of these motivations so I became more preoccupied with what I was doing than what he was thinking and that happened gradually. At about the age of 30 I was finally more preoccupied with my work than with what my father thought of my work. At this point I have very little interest in proving him wrong, I am more interested in the work.†(6) He is an artist who identifies himself as a working man, a â€Å"hustler†; he doesn’t want to be seen as some delicate poet: â€Å"I don’t identify myself as an artist in that way, like a pre conceived concept of what it means to be an artist. That’s what a bunch of TV actors who finally get a movie job like to think of themselves. I’ve done so many different things. I’ve done a million different things for money. I’ve done a million things to have impact into culture. I’ve done a million things for love and approval and social status. So when I said ‘I hustle’ I was trying to describe the basic premise of what motivates me to do all these different things, and it’s certainly not poetic and anybody who tells you that it is for themselves is full of shit.† â€Å"I’m not a young poet. I’m a working person.†(6) The Buffalo shown in the movie is the one Gallo remembers, the one he describes in interviews. â€Å"It’s miserable. It’s a failed city living in a delusion of grandeur. It’s a regressive unambitious fat ass city with a bunch of real pricks who are controlling things like the newspaper and things like that. Some peop le are very charming there, and I’ve banged a lot of cute girls there, but I would say that it’s an unpleasant place and it certainly has had impact into my personality hang-ups and my personality struggles.†(6) This resentment and unresolved issues with his past are all over the film. Was he looking for closure by making it? Did he find it? One of the central themes of the movie is the relationship the main character Billy Brown has with his parents. They don’t think much of his son, football is more important to his mom than his kid. She regrets having Billy, she lost a game the day she had Billy. According to Gallo, the character of the father (played by Ben Gazzara) is just like his own father.(2) Even though there’s plenty of humor in the scenes involving the parents, it’s evident that Gallo holds a great deal of resentment towards them and his whole upbringing. What is unclear though is the way he resolves it, the way he deals with it. Why would Billy Brown bother going to the lengths of kidnapping a girl and taking her home to his parents to try to impress them, when they couldn’t care less. Nothing in the movie makes much sense if you try to rationalize it, because the story is more about emotions than reason. But that’s what makes it feel urgent and alive, and how the moments of humor and fantasy make sense. We don’t get to know the other, real side of the story. Gallo went back to his hometown to make this movie, shot scenes in his own childhood house and used an old recording of his father singing. How is his relationship with his real parents, what did they think of the movie, what was it like when Gallo came home shoot it, how did that affect their relationship? What about his old neighborhood, old acquaintances, how did that all play out, and how did that ultimately affect Gallo himself? These are all questions we cannot answer, and of course you don’t have to know all the details of an artist’s personal life to understand his oeuvre, but in cases like Gallo, life and art are so intermingled that you’re always aware that you’re only seeing half the picture. He has a problem with people seeing Buffalo ‘66 as an autobiographical movie, for he feels that it takes credit away from all the work he did in it (writer, director, composer, star): â€Å"I feel that when you or anyone else refers to that film as â€Å"autobiographical† what you are really doing is creating a sense or an idea that I didn’t really write the script. It sort of wrote itself. And since I am playing myself, I’m not really acting and since I’m not really acting and the script wrote itself then the film sort of directs itself. Well, it wasn’t autobiographical, it’s a real screenplay and a real performance and a real soundtrack.†(5) He might have a point, but as a viewer it’s very difficult to separate the character of Billy Brown from the persona of Vincent Gallo, especially if you know anything about him. Billy Brown is just like the Vincent Gallo you read in interviews: jumpy, never relaxed, easily offended, perpetually at war with everybody, never hesitates to throw threats and snark, brag about his many talents or dismiss the work of others. Except of course Billy Brown is a pathetic nobody and Vincent Gallo a model and multidisciplinary artist. His movies and art are confessional, but in a very capricious way, we are always reminded that he does things his way. Everybody knows that film auteurs are the ones that do what they want and are stubborn enough to get complete control, it’s just that Vincent Gallo makes really sure you are aware of this at all times. In 2004, around the time his second movie The Brown Bunny was released in America, Gallo told Ebert that he’s an entertainer: â€Å"Film has a purpose. It’s not art. Real art is an esoteric thing done by somebody without purpose in mind. I’ve done that in my life and I’m not doing that making movies. I’m an entertainer. I love all movies. I don’t divide them up into art films, indie films.†(7) But he makes movies for himself. About himself, by himself, for himself. The obvious proof being Promises Written in Water, his third feature. Premiered in 2010 at the Venice and Toronto film festivals, it has not been showed since, and Gallo says he has no plans to release it to the public, so that it is â€Å"allowed to rest in peace, and stored without being exposed to the dark energies from the public.†(8) He was invited to screen it this year at the Whitney Biennial in New York, but he didn’t bother to show up. His movies are made from his very specific point of view, always just his. It’s all about finding sympathy for him the lead. The world revolves around him, everything transformed by his view. His female characters are concepts, fantasies, vague and elusive; we never really get to know who they are. Christina Ricci’s character in Buffalo 66 is more than willing to cooperate with him from the beginning. He doesn’t hold a gun against her, doesn’t need to use much violence (except verbally) to persuade her. By the end of the movie it’s her that’s begging him to return. It’s like Billy Brown is so used to antagonizing with everybody that he doesn’t even know how to deal with someone who actually likes him. A self-professed perfectionist, he wants to control as much as possible in his movies, equaling his directorial app roach to the carefully constructed classic Hollywood musicals: â€Å"When I made the movie, in my mind I was making a classic musical. So when Ben Gazzara sings, or when Christina Ricci does her tap dance, or in the bedroom scene where we kiss, it’s choreography. Those are musical numbers like in those old Hollywood musicals.†(2) He insisted director of photography and camera operator Lance Acord that the film be shot on 35mm reversal stock, a very rare old type of film stock that created many problems during production. Gallo got the idea from an Italian jeans commercial he had previously worked on with Acord. â€Å"The director wanted the spot to look like an old print of Jean-Luc Godard’s 1965 film Pierrot Le Fou†, recalls Acord, â€Å"With Vincent as the Belmondo character. I chose to shoot with reversal to obtain that faded look you see in older prints, while still maintaining strong saturation in the primaries.†(9) The other key visual references for the look of the film were the NFL Films feature presentation of the 1969 Jets Vs. Colts championship game, and the look of old pictures, according to Acord, â€Å"the kind you might find in a suitcase under a table at the flea market. Some were nudes of someoneâ €™s girlfriend, probably lit with Photofloods and shot on Kodachrome. The girl was reclining on an avocado couch, against a brown curtain and a dull orange rug. There is a sincerity and purity in the crudeness of the technique that somehow makes work like that very revealing and powerful. We tried to bring some of that to the movie.† As for the NFL movie, apparently Gallo was taken by his father as a kid to see its production. It was shot on high-contrast reversal Video News film, and made a strong impression on Gallo. (9) The visual components of the film include the use of the picture-in-picture technique, which consists of a small window of footage superimposed over a larger window at the same time(11) (in the beginning of the movie, after Billy is released from prison, he lays on a bench in the street while the screen fills with small windows with different scenes that show us his time in prison, and later on as he sits on the table with his parents, complimentary windows appear a couple of times to show us painful moments from Billy’s childhood); the use of Japanese filmmaker Yazujiro Ozu’s â€Å"Tatami shots† (Christina Ricci’s car plates read â€Å"OZU†(12)), in which the camera is placed at a low height, at the eye level of a person kneeling on a tatami mat, so that the audience is on the same visual level as the characters sitting, to place the viewer right into whatever conversation is going on(11) (the dinner sequence with Billy, his parents and Christina Ricci sitting at the table); and the striking 3D-like virtual pan in the moment where Billy enters the strip club and imagines killing the owner and then turning the gun on himself. Lance Acord got the idea from French director Michel Gondry, who had employed a technique where â€Å"A circular still-camera array was simultaneously triggered, â€Å"freezing† the subject from multiple angles. The resulting frames were then sequentially morphed and animated to create a virtual pan and 3-D effect†. Instead of using still cameras, Accord used a movie camera to produce the stills, moving the camera around the actors as they stood still holding their positions. Blown-glass pieces resembling splashing red liquid where attached to Gallo’s head so that they resembled blood coming out of his head to help achieve the effect of a moment frozen in time.(9) Somewhere between John Cassavetes (or that school of 60s-70s American realism) and art films, Buffalo ‘66 can feel overcrowded with visual motifs and ideas, at times style overcoming substance, but the overall mood and tone of the film are well maintained. The emotions and the urgency of Billy Brown’s character (and Gallo’s performance) feel real enough to go beyond the pose. He even has enough perspective to be able to laugh at himself. Roger Ebert argues that the movie doesn’t offer a payoff, a real resolution. â€Å"Buffalo ‘66 isn’t really about endings, anyway. Endings are about conclusions and statements, and Gallo is obviously too much in turmoil about this material to organize it into a payoff.†(1) But the movie actually ends on a positive note; he’s opting to be optimistic, embracing the possibility of love. After envisioning a fatal ending to his story, he backs out and chooses a happy ending, and that is a resolution. Bibliography 1) Ebert, Roger. â€Å"Buffalo ‘66†. Review. Chicago Sun-Times (Chicago) 7 Aug. 1998. Print/ Online. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19980807/REVIEWS/80807 0302/1023 2) Tallmer, Jerry. â€Å"Vincent Gallo and Buffalo ’66†. Interview with Vincent Gallo. New York City 1998. Online. http://www.siegelproductions.ca/filmfanatics/gallo.htm. 3) Gallo, Vincent. â€Å"Mono Mia†. Article. Sound Practices Magazine. Summer 1992. Print/Online. http://www.drowninginbrown.com/dib_sp.htm 4) Vincent Gallo’s website. http://www.vgmerchandise.com/store/home.php 5) Kaufman, Anthony. Vincent Gallo. Interview. Soma Magazine. November 2001. Print/ Online. http://www.vincentgallo.com/writing/AnthonyKaufman.html 6) Taylor, Lee. â€Å"The Cover Star: An Interview with Vincent Gallo†. Flux Magazine. UK, No.9, Oct/Nov 1998 Print/Online. http://www.galloappreciation.com/print/flux.html 7) Ebert, Roger. â€Å"The whole truth from Vincent Gallour†. Chicago Sun-Times (Chicago). August 29,2004. Print/ Online. http://www.galloappreciation.com/index2 .html 8) Lim, Dennis. â€Å"R.I.P. ‘Promises,’ It Was Nice Knowing You†. New York Times (New York Edition) June 8, 2012. Print/ Online. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/movies/vincent-gallo-keeps-promises-written-inwater-off-screens.html 9) Oppenheimer, Jean. â€Å"Playing a Risky Stock on Buffalo 66†. American Cinematographer. July 1998, Vol. 79 Issue 7, p32. Print/Online database Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson) 10) Video Glossary. Online. http://www.video-editing-made-easy.com/video-glossary-p.html 11) Criterion. â€Å"The Ozu Shot: Tokyo-ga and Late Spring† Criterion film essay. Online. http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2257-the-ozu-shot-tokyo-ga-and-late-spring 12) Internet Movie Data Base. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118789/trivia

Beowulf Essay essays

Beowulf Essay essays Heroic epics have always been important in the development of mainstream society. Their presentation of strong morals and good prevailing over evil have a positive impact on all those who read them. The acknowledgement of Fate directing us in life also affects the impressionable readers. One such story, Beowulf, is a genuine example of a heroic epic, showing strong morals, lasting righteousness, and the presence of Fate. The idea that Fate guides the hero of an epic is heavily stressed throughout Beowulf. Beowulf, the hero of Beowulf, states that Fate brought him to the Danes to fight Grendel (ll. 180-181) and that Fate will also determine the outcome of that battle (l. 211). Fate also favored Beowulf in the battle with the sea monster Brecca (ll. 275-277) wherein he fought and killed Brecca underwater. Beowulf believed too that Fate would save those who drive death away by themselves (ll. 292-293), and so he would live as long as Fate had planned. Beowulf constantly overcame enemies, defeating all odds stacked against him. In battle, Beowulf drove all five of the remaining great giants of the world into captivity (ll. 173-180). Beowulf destroyed Brecca in the depths of the sea and was left stranded for five days in the frozen ocean, fighting off sea beasts (ll. 263-265). The hero even single-handedly slaughtered Grendel in the Danes mead hall (ll. 468-475). The hero of an epic must strive to continually serve the community while gaining fame and glory for his successes. Beowulf shows this first by going to protect the Danes from Grendel (ll. 171-190). Once Grendel is defeated, Beowulf then protects the Danes from Grendels mother (summary I). Beowulf, after becoming king of Geatland, challenges a fire dragon in battle to defend his empire (summary II). Although this last battle claimed his life, Beowulf died a proud man and a valiant king, willing to protect his people to the end. ...

Effects Of Cognitive Impairment And Low Health Literacy On Medication Adherence Essays

Effects Of Cognitive Impairment And Low Health Literacy On Medication Adherence Essays Effects Of Cognitive Impairment And Low Health Literacy On Medication Adherence Paper Effects Of Cognitive Impairment And Low Health Literacy On Medication Adherence Paper Scientific and social changes of the 21st century have brought a radical change in the Health care delivery system. Medical intervention is an important component of the health care delivery system and the role of a health care professional in patient welfare has no boundaries for praise. The health care profession has evolved through time to establish a firm role in the medical domain based on strong ethical, moral and professional principles. The medical professionals are ‘accountable’ today. The civil war (1860-65) enhanced the growth of health care in United States and the two World Wars saw the ‘nobility’ of the medical practice. The changing role of these professionals as significant members of the health care team has brought about radical change in Health Care delivery system. Practice methods like â€Å"The collaborative model† shows a radical shift from the past. â€Å"Evidence based Practice† is another model in practice today. In such a scenario, clinical care of cognitively impaired is a complex practice and involves the key concepts of knowing the patient and reflective thinking. BACKGROUND Communication is the pulse of medical practice with the elements of intimacy and reflective practice. Communication barriers of the mentally and cognitively impaired patients seem to erode the quality of medical care due to assumptions and attitudes. Lack of communication due to cognitive impairment and lack of health literacy clearly affects the medication adherence of the older patients, especially ethnic minority in origin. More than sixty percent of the minority population does not comply with the prescribed drug regimen in the USA. Non-verbal communication seems to be effective in such settings. Effects of cognitive impairment on the reliability of geriatric assessments has been studied recently (Phillips et. al, 1993) to explore the relationship between cognitive status and reliability of multidimensional assessment data. The studies have proved that the reliability of the patients communication and sensory ability are affected by cognitive status. Hence caution should be exercised in treating cognitively impaired patients. The cognitive impairment that contributes to unreliable assessment of patients includes those related to communicating, vision and hearing. Communication problems of hearing impaired patients have been studied as well (Hines, 2000). The studies have proved that such patients are seriously disadvantaged by the disability. The major factor contributing to the disadvantage has been the inadequacy in training of both health care professionals in deaf awareness and associated communication skills. Other factors include the patient’s concealing their disability, work pressure and poor communication of the staff. Monolingual and Bilingual communication between patients with dementia and their care givers have been studied and have shown that the relationship between a demented terminally ill patient and the care giver is an important factor which forms the foundation of the interaction between them. This communications is complex with different aspects of perception and practice (Sirkka, 1996). Non-speaking patients are the worst affected and it is important to improve their communication to allow them receive care and comfort. The ethnic old patients in Canada have been shown to have remained an isolated group as aliens in their own land. This ethnic population has been shown to be unable to communicate with their care givers (Saldovt, al 1994). Problems developed in such patients without interpreter services have been termed serious. Thus, the problems encountered in communication between health care professionals and patients can be based on cultural needs and cognitive status; Cognitively impaired or comatose are often neglected. Studies on demented terminally ill patients to evaluate the time care givers provide for direct patient care have showed that more time is being spent with non demented than with the demented. The patients were shown to react in five categories of communication types during interactions The patients enjoyed contact, Patient avoided contact, The patient was aggressive, Showed only slight reaction and Does not react. Studies pertaining to specific verbal communication interactions in such elderly patients have been carried out (Jones et. al 1986). The studies were carried out under the categories ‘words spoken’, ‘commands given’, ‘statements made’, ‘Questions asked and answered’ with there ethnic groups namely immigrant, Canadian born and Anglo-born. The studies highlighted the need for health care professionals be aware of the implications of differences with there groups. Another studies on communication with severely demented patients by the health care professionals have shown that care of such patients need clear communication during care procedures. Thus, use of non-verbal communication skills (NVC) to improve care, especially with people who have learning disability has been assessed in a study (Chambers, 2003). The study outlines a health care professionals’ diagnosis of altered non-verbal communication and a new wellness diagnoses for enhanced non-verbal communication with detailed discussion on use of NVC with people with comprehension difficulties. The study stresses on the fact that health care professionals can be important in enhancing the non-verbal skills of the patient to help them communicate. Adding support to the view, the importance of improving communication by touch has been documented (Vortherms, 1991). The article views touch as an integral aspect of care, with the language of touch including tactile symbols of duration, location, action, intensity, frequency and sensation. The article classifies touch as affectional, functional and protective. The article stress that age is not a category to decide upon touch in terms of reduced needs of touch. An examination of touch between health care professionals’ and elderly patients (McCann et. al, 1993) has shown that most touch interactions in a care of the elderly are instrumental in nature and expressive touches are usually given to body extremities like the forehead, arms and the legs. Caring mentally ill patients undergoing therapy with antipsychotic drugs like clozapine and benzodiazepines involves careful monitoring of the patient’s physiological condition as well. Such drugs have marked side effects like sedation, hyper salivation, increase in transaminases, EEG changes, cardiovascular respiratory dysregulation, overweight, mild Parkinsonism, akathisia, tardive dysakinesia, increase of liver enzymes, hypotension, fever, ECG alterations, tachycardia, and delirious states. These drugs also pose the risk of seizures. With medical litigations on the rise, the interventions should be based on the competence of the patient. However in psychiatric cases there seems to be a group of individuals who are marginally competent. This group seems to lie in-between the two extremes of competence and incompetence and competence in this case thus appears to be a matter of degree. Mentally retarded persons who have some understanding of the reality and are able to express their wishes and desires can also be considered marginally competent. Mentally ill individuals whose illness has not completely impaired their understanding and capacity to express their wishes and desires are also considered marginally competent. These individuals are not incompetent though they suffer from specific deficits due to destroyed faculties. These marginally competent individuals make a significant group and recognizing the existence of such group of marginally competent individuals will help define competence better towards the documentation of informed consent and advance directives during interventions. A Psychological well being was shown to be enhanced by the humanistic personal interaction with the health care professionals and the professional interaction was shown to enhance physical well being. The patient’s feelings of well being always depended on the psychological well being according to the study. (Jane, 2002). Another studies on communication with severely demented patients by the health care professionals have shown that care of such patients need clear communication during care procedure and the health care professionals were vogue in their verbal communication and some patients were verbally active after the health care professionals leaving the bed side. A small scale pilot study has explored the educational base and needs of qualified care givers with reference to terminally ill patients with learning disability. The study has shown the lack of knowledge and skills in health care professionals to deal with the LD patients. The study has also recommended the introduction of communication and interpersonal skills in the care and Management of terminally ill patients with LD in the curriculum. The role of communication in care for elderly as documented by a literature review (Varhellan et, al. 1997) indicate a lack of observational instruments to effectively evaluate the interactive nature of patients communication especially with reference to reliability and validity. LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The negative influence of elderly patients mental impairment on patient interaction has been documented in a study using the Clifton Assessment Procedure (Armstrong et, al 1986). 23 students were assessed under three categories of lucid, slightly confused and demented. Data on interactions with nursing staff were gained by direct observation. Studies concluded that health care professionals interact less with confused category them lucid category. Most of the health care professionals were more directed in the physical care of the patients them the psychological interaction or restorative activity. The patient’s inability to provide an accurate history of his problem and to participate in self-care blocks the usual process of care, often resulting in medical uncertainty inadequacy and frustration for the physician (Wendy L. , et. al, 2005). This shifts the goal from cure to care and shifting the goal of care from curing the patients illness to caring for the patients quality of life is problematic. The doctor–patient relationship changes dramatically often with ethical dilemmas related to patient autonomy and decision-making. Communication problems seem to erode health care professional’s commitment to care (Ekman et. al, 1991). Continuity of care seems to be a significant factor in psychiatric care as documented by research studies (Backrush, 1981). Continuity of caregivers where a single, continuous treatment team is responsible for patients in both inpatient and outpatient settings (Fuller Torrey 1986) seem also to complement continuity of care with improved cognitive function self-care skills. Cognitive impairments and low health literacy pose a serious barrier on the reliability of patient assessments. Hence, there is a need for training the health care professionals on communication skills with reference to cognitive impairments and designing awareness programs for such patients towards better health care. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES The main Objective of the study is to evaluate self-reported medication compliance in patients 50+ years of age and to compare physician assessments of patient’s adherence to a prescribed drug regimen provided on the â€Å"Predictive Score Sheet† to data obtained in telephone survey. The main goal of the study is to administer Medication Adherence Telephone Survey to all patients that completed the initial RAND SF-36 Survey, to complete double entry of data using SPSS software, to design and implement a statistical analysis plan to address the stated research question and to understand the effects of self-reported data on the validity of a research study MATERIALS AND METHOD In such a context, a demographic survey and two health assessments were administered to a convenient sample for a consecutive two week period utilizing CLOX, an executive clock drawing test to screen for cognitive impairment and the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM) test to measure health literacy. A stimulated patient chart reviews and a telephone survey to record medication adherence behavior was conducted. One hundred cognitively impaired patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia referred for Clozapine therapy were studied over the period of two weeks of treatment. Clozapine is a tricyclic dibenzodiazepine derivative 8-chloro-11- (4-methyl-1-piperazinyl)-5H-dibenzo [b, e] [1,4] diazepine. It is available as 25mg and 100 mg tablets for oral administration. Clozapine is widely used in refractory Schizophrenia. There seems to be a cultural and geographical variations in dose response relationship and tolerability to the drug making the dose response unpredictable. The effective and tolerable range is between 100 mg to 900 mg, which makes it difficult to make a predictive, significant and valid correlation. There has been no positive correlation with serum level too. Adherence to medication is important in clozapine therapy for results. The study was open level, naturalistic, and prospective, involving all patients, consecutive one hundred, referred for Clozapine during the year 2006. Data was obtained from patients and key relatives after informed consent. After therapy began, patients received a follow-up evaluation on day 4, 8 and again on the last day of treatment. The patients included 62 men and 38 women of low to middle socio-economical class, ranging in age from 52 to 56 years, averaging 54 years of age. 38% were married, 43% were single, and 19% were separated. The duration of illness prior to the study ranged from 5 to 21 years, averaging 7 years. Patients’ duration of illness before first psychiatric contact ranged between 5 months and 46 months, averaging 20 months. Prior to the study, 55% of the patients had a history of hospitalization, averaging 2 prior hospitalizations and the mean duration of hospitalization was 2 months. A history of violence was recorded in 46% of patients and 72% had a history of behavioral disruption. 28% of the patients had attempted suicide. Some were unable to function in society- 66% were socially disabled and 74% had little or no occupational functionality. One fourth of the patients had a positive family history of some psychological disorder. Schizophrenia was diagnosed in 16% of those relatives: 5% in siblings, 8% in parents, and 3% among offspring. Other psychological disorders, including alcoholism, depression, and suicide attempts were confirmed in first-degree relatives among 9% of the patients.

Assignment should be presented as a Journal opinion article and

Should be presented as a Journal opinion article and address an ECONOMICS issue of current interest to Wall Street Journal readers - Assignment Example This increase is a concern because of a number of reasons. Firstly, since they cannot get permanent jobs, part-timers are unable to access the stability and benefits accorded by fulltime jobs. Overall, unemployment declined sharply in the last 12 months – it fell from 7.2% in October last year to 5.8% the same time this year – but there are too many sections of the population that can only find temporary slots. More concerning is the fact that the number of part-time workers doing involuntary shifts is more than 50% higher than at the beginning of the recession (International Labor Organization 20). There was an identical increase in temporary workers in previous recessions, but it fell quickly. This time it is not dropping, making economists wonder what the outlook will be next year. In fact, during the recovery, some states have witnessed increases of people wallowing in part-time employment who want more. People working part-time are 5 times more likely to live in poverty compared to permanent workers. Currently, about 75% of part-time workers in the country either live in low income or poverty. This is according to government sources and industry experts. In addition, there is a strong positive correlation between unemployment and temporary work; part-time jobs do not often last long. Many temporary workers go through lengthy periods without work. About 30% of involuntary temporary workers are often out of work for more than 3 months or longer annually. According to the International Labor Organization (19), while they are always glad to be working, the reality is that part-time jobs, especially involuntary ones, are just â€Å"subtle unemployment.† For example, if someone works 20 hours each week but needs 40 hours to meet his needs, those unfulfilled hours (20) are spent out of work. The person is therefore half-employed or half-unemployed, depending on how optimistic someone

Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

Art - Essay Example And the term Impressionism, was in fact, derived from one of his famous paintings in 1872 entitled, Impression, Sunrise (Krauss 87). This particular artwork vividly captured the everyday life scenes and commonplace interactions of humankind against his own world. The sketchy application of colors seemed to dissolve into a misty, hazy atmosphere of a typical sunrise and had extraordinarily represented even the most ordinary errand in our everyday lives. Monet’s penchant for beautiful things – nature, people and landscapes paved way for him to create offbeat and highly-interesting subjects that are influential and dominant in the current time. And as he was getting older, he gained interest in water reflecting light images such as the Water Lilies art piece (1917) and would often paint the same subject on different seasons of the year, applying different sets of color (Krauss 88). Moreover, the world of Impressionism has led to another significant art movement called Abst ract Expressionism. Jackson Pollock was considered as the most celebrated painter of the American abstract expressionism. Many of his works are represented in heavy layers of dark lines and bold colors that evoked figurative shapes, fluidity and movement.