Research-based Reading Program Essay Example for Free

Research-based Reading Program Essay The Texas Reading Initiative has outlined a fairly comprehensive statement on the value of reading and the significance of infusing the habit of literacy among the young. Besides teaching/conducting a reading program per se, the quality, depth and integrity of such teaching methodology is equally important. This is the main reason why most reading advocates have bannered the discourse of a â€Å"research based† reading program rather than the traditional teaching methodology for teaching children how to read. It works on the emerging assumption that teaching the young is delicate enough for the reading teacher to adapt a research-based method. The paper on Components of a Research-based Reading Program, part of the Red Book Series by the Texas Education Agency, outlines the fundamental attributes of the recent development of teaching reading among the young. It is composed of a deeper understanding of the recesses of a child’s mind, its formation, development and predictable growth (Hilgard, 2001). Generally, the essential attributes of these Twelve Essential Components comprise an advanced understanding of adult-child training and communication: the Teacher-Trainer, the channel and the recipient (the child). These maybe the basic attributes of ordinary communication but an analysis of the paper can reveal that the communication framework is actually the basis of this research-based program, not to mention that the concept of code interpretation and language are involved and mentioned in that paper. The two ends of this communication curve, the Teacher-trainer and the child are the live working elements of this reading program, which makes the simplest components. What is generally interesting in these Twelve Components is the channel element and how the child decodes the communication. The paper frequently discusses the concept of language and how the child perceives instruction from the teacher, which is its whole point. This is the brunt/meat of the teaching methodology, where the paper discusses â€Å"opportunities† and â€Å"strategies† to aid child development. Such things are stated on the paper as to how to exploit the nature of the language channel, where educators strategically use the oral component to understand the written language-the act of reading. According to the authors, by the oral way, the child is directed into opportunities for appreciating sounds, its differences and â€Å"referents†, a concept used by linguists. They say that children may read aloud and â€Å"understand their building blocks† (www. tea. com), which we assume as auditory building blocks. This may imply that to reinforce one’s reading, one has to learn how to speak it first, using the auditory logic of the language’s construction, thus utilizing the nature of the child’s brain to absorb these â€Å"building blocks† into communicative memory (www. childdevelopmentinfo. com). And of course, there is the written format to contend with. This is where the recipient can visually decode using some of the strategies. Decoding in this context means visually playing with the language construction (â€Å"wordplay† as the paper says) through â€Å"blending† and what they call â€Å"word families† and writing patterns. On a lighter note, there is nothing new about the research-based reading program offered by the Texas Reading Initiative. The allegedly â€Å"new† methodology works much like teaching a foreign language to students in the collegiate level, but in the child’s case, localized and specialized for a kindergarten or grade-schooler. The same opportunities and teaching strategies have existed in basic foreign language class in university, and child psychologists seem to find it effective if made easier for children. Reference: Child Development Institute. Reading Improvement. Retrieved January 27, 2008, from http://www. childdevelopmentinfo. com/store/reading-improvement. htm. Hilgard, E. R. (2001). Introduction to Psychology. New York : Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Nature Of Competition Collusion And Pricing Airline Industry Economics Essay

Nature Of Competition Collusion And Pricing Airline Industry Economics Essay The enactment of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 eliminated price and entry regulation of the domestic airline industry. Since then the U.S. airline industry has grown tremendously. The US domestic market competes in an oligopoly landscapes. Hence there is certain level of barriers to competition. For example, control over the computerised reservation systems used by travel agents provided the majors with a powerful weapon for disadvantaging smaller competitors. American Airlines Sabre system and Uniteds Apollo system together accounted for three-quarters of all national computer reservation systems by the late 1980s. Control of this important avenue for travel agents to make reservations enabled the majors to discriminate against smaller firms in a variety of ways-from instituting screen bias favouring the on-screen presentation of the controlling firms flights, to charging exorbitant fees to other carriers for displaying their flights on these computer systems (transferring up wards of a half-billion dollars annually from the smallest to the largest carriers).[2] More recently, the Big Five carriers have joined together to collectively market their tickets online through their Orbitz Web site-an alliance that may enable them to better coordinate their non-competitive oligopoly pricing and to circumvent rules put into place to prevent them from anticompetitive using their computer reservation systems while, at the same time, disadvantaging competing distributors of air tickets.[3] Predatory Pricing Furthermore, dominant carriers were suppressing competition through predatory pricing. For example, when Spirit Airlines attempted to penetrate Northwests Detroit hub with a one-way Detroit-Philadelphia fare of $49, Northwest Airline responded by slashing its average fare on the route by 71% (from $170 to $49) and scheduling 30% more seats. Once Spirit abandoned the route, Northwest raised its fare to $230 and cut its seat capacity.[36] Similarly, when Frontier Airlines initiated service from Denver (United-dominated hub) to Billings, Montana, it offered an average $100 fare, half the prevailing fare charged by United. United slashed its fare to match Frontier; when Frontier exited the route, United raised its fare above its original level.[37] Collusion Collusion is a difficult game to play when the number of conspiring rivals is large. It is hard to keep a hundred firms in line when their cost structures differ, when their production facilities vary, and when some have an incentive to cheat on a price agreement or to violate output restrictions. Numbers make a difference. When numbers are large, conspiracies are difficult to organize, difficult to conceal, and difficult to enforce. However, public policy faces a serious challenge in oligopolistic industries like the case of the Airline industry where major carriers eschew outright collusion and rely instead on a course of conduct characterised as tacit collusion, or recognition of mutual interdependence to resemble the effects of outright conspiracy. The mechanics of tacit collusion is apparent particularly in an oligopoly market dominated by a few major players. Each carrier naturally recognises the mutual interdependence between it and its rivals. Carrier X knows that it if were to cut price in order to increase its market share, its aggression would immediately be detected by carriers Y and Z, which would respond with retaliatory price cuts of their own. Market shares would be unaffected, but all carriers would now operate at lower prices and profits. Henceforth, Carrier X cannot expect to increase its market share or revenue at the expense of its rivals. It cannot afford to calculate in terms of maximising its own profits in isolation but instead must constantly ask whether a particular decision on price or output will be not only in its own self-interest, but also in the best interests of its rivals. By recognising mutual oligopolistic interdependence, it must be concerned with group profits and group welfare. In other word, under oligopoly landscape, independent, aggressive, genuinely competitive behaviour is perceived as counterproductive-an irrational strategy for the individual carrier. In an oligopoly, groupthink will influence a carriers strategy when it is contemplating price increases as it cannot act alone. In other word, groupthink replaces the calculus of individual advantage, and each carrier must behave as a responsible member of the oligopoly group rather than as a reckless, self-seeking competitor. In oligopolies, this recognition of mutual interdependence may extend to non-price competition. For example, if carrier A refrains from aggressive price competition but seeks to increase its market share through aggressive innovation program, it cannot expect its rivals to sit idly by. It must expect them to increase their research efforts as a simple matter of self-defence, thereby nullifying its expected gains. Anticipating such retaliation which could erode oligopoly profits- carrier A might refrain from innovation for the same reasons it would avoid price-cutting. Rationality again commands responsible nonaggressive behaviours; the most effective profit-maximisation rule under oligopoly is to get ahead by getting along. Nevertheless, the level of oligopolistic interdependence and collusion varies from situation to situation. It depends on such factors as whether the oligopoly is tightly knit (small number of firms) or loosely knit (a larger number);whether it is homogeneous or heterogeneous; whether it is symmetrical (having firms of roughly equal size) or asymmetrical (with one firm disproportionately larger); whether or not the industry is mature (having had time to develop its internal arrangements and institutions to promote cooperation); whether the industry is populated by reasonable managers or by a few mavericks. In the US domestic market, the advent of the Internet has increased the efficient of signaling or collusion. Carriers can see what the competition is doing immediately by going to the Internet that allow them to react quickly by adjusting their own prices. This is a far cry from the days when price books were set in type and could not be changed for months. Now most prices can be adjusted several times a day, if needed. Apparently, this is a game that the airlines are particularly adept at. As consumers have more transparent access to real-time flight pricing through online services like Orbitz, so the airlines are almost obligated to adjust to each other. This is particularly apparent on routes where there is no rogue player, like Southwest Airlines or JetBlue as they are (within limits) free to adjust prices upward. As long as the members of the oligopoly with real selling power tacitly agree that a major price war is not in their interest, chances are that prices can quickly readj ust themselves, keeping in mind the balance of costs and optimal prices for maintaining profitable sales levels. Nevertheless, the combined market share of the Big Five network airlines (Delta, United, American, US Airways, and Northwest ) that peaked in 1992 has been declining since deregulation [ *]. Furthermore, with the influx of several low-cost carriers, tacit collusion is becoming difficult to organize, conceal and enforce even though oligopolistic rationality and its collusive consequences are inevitable concomitants of oligopoly industry structure. Pricing Pricing is important for the carriers. If prices are too low or too high, it can drag down profits. Thus, it is important for the carriers to derive profitable airfares and discourages unprofitable one. To maximise profits, the carriers should set prices so that marginal revenue just equals marginal cost. In other words, it should use profit-maximising prices as the starting point. The economic model of pricing ****show diagram****, which is called marginal cost pricing, clearly identifies a pricing strategy that will maximise profits. This pricing strategy also identifies the information needed to set prices, thus simplifying the process. In other words, the profit-maximising price is where the incremental margin percentage equals the reciprocal of the absolute value of the price elasticity demand  [1]  [ **] Based on pricing rule, the carriers should adjust its price where there are changes in the price elasticity of demand or marginal cost since the carriers compete under oligopoly landscapes with homogeneous services. Airfares have dropped significantly over the years [***] since deregulation which helped to simulate competition resulting in the entrance of several low-cost carriers. This could partially due to regulator and oligopolies increase efficiencies, putting direct or indirect price pressure on their suppliers as well as putting pressure on the wages and benefits of their employees Hence there is growing belief is that oligopolies can be price-neutral as opposed to manipulating prices. The strategic variable for airline carrier is price in the short run. Generally without product and service differentiation, the basic service offered by the carriers would be homogeneous. Under the Bertrand model, the carriers which produce at constant marginal cost and compete aggressively on price in order to gain a bigger share of the market. Under such condition, the market equilibrium is perfectly competitive pricing. However, in a loosely knit oligopoly structure, the individual carrier has incentive to offer heterogeneous services. Through heterogeneous services, it can charge personalised pricing or group pricing based on passenger willing-to-pay to achieve higher profits. For example, if carrier X sells its airfares at a single, it loses in two ways. Firstly, some passenger would be willing to pay more than $100 for a ticket during the last hour of the flight. Secondly the carrier does not sell to passengers who are willing to pay more than $50 but less than $60. This is illustrated in the graphic below, where P=price and Q=quantity. By charging such passengers at different price, the carrier could profitably sell to a much larger passenger base. Furthermore, with differentiated services, should one carrier cut its price below other carriers price; it would take away only part of the other carriers entire demand. Thus, carriers should have strong incentive to differentiate its offering in order to raise their equilibrium prices. However, there is a risk of loosing the market if the services are not on par with its pricing and demand. The carriers must balance their desire for market share at the same time avoid head-to-head price competition since the less differentiation in their services, the more direct will be in price competition among them and the lower would be incremental margins.

The Beak Of The Finch :: essays research papers fc

The Bogus Logic of The Beak People who have served in the Armed Forces may be familiar with the expression, "If you can't dazzle then with your brilliance, baffle them with your baloney." The Beak of the Finch uses such laughable logic, it is remarkable that anyone would believe it. The book does such a terrible job of presenting a case for evolution and history, that the only logical conclusion is that the book's true intent is to disprove it.   Jonathan Weiner, The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994. ISBN 0679400036.   "It is never too late to give up our prejudices. No way of thinking or doing, however ancient, can be trusted without proof." --Thoreau, Walden This book claims to be about evolution, centered in the location made famous by Charles Darwin, the Galapagos Islands. I read this book on the recommendation of a good friend who knows I am interested in birds and thought I might get something out of it. Indeed, the few parts of the book actually about the Gouldian Finches of the Galapagos Islands are fascinating. The book records in detail some of the trials the Dr. Peter Grant family endured in studying these birds on a hot volcanic rock. However, the writers and editors of the book avoid simple logic and put a spin on history that is misleading. The facts and logic presented in The Beak of the Finch really make the book's author out to be a closet creationist.   It just so happened that at the same time I read this book, I was reading The Storm Petrel and the Owl of Athena by Louis Halle. Half of The Storm Petrel is on the bird life of the Shetland Islands, another isolated natural system. Halle, though an evolutionist, devotes a whole chapter on how the Shetlands and other islands conserve species. (Halle. 1970, 155ff.) Where species have changed their habits, it is most often due to adaptation to humanity. He compares the wild starlings, house sparrows, and rock doves found on the Shetlands with the more domesticated versions of these birds found on the continents--and to some degree even in the main village of the Shetlands. The island birds are more like their original wild forebears. I mention this now because it will come back to haunt us later.   Logical Fallacies By the first thirty or so pages I had found two logical fallacies and at least one historical inaccuracy in The Beak of the Finch.

Western Movies Since 1960 Essay -- essays research papers fc

A NOT-SO-ACCURATE prophet once wrote, "As recently as 1972, there were a tremendous number of quality Westerns being made . . . and since there seems to be a ten-year cycle in Western movie making, I'd say we'll see more in about 1982." 1 In 1982 only two Westerns were released, and neither was exactly a major success. Barbarosa, starring Willie Nelson, drew some respectable reviews–and some very damaging ones–but nobody went to see the film. The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez appeared first on PBS television, then later went into general release. Today the Western seems to be deader than the California Med-fly. Critics and aficionados of the form can only hear, as with Arnold's sea of faith, its long receding roar. Everything except fluoride in the water has been blamed for the death of the Western. Even critics themselves have come under attack of late. Stephen Tatum, writing in 1983, called critics such as Brian Garfield and Don Graham "shootists," indicting them for a variety of sins. They are said to hold a "fundamentalist," transcendent conception of the Western. They are "redeemer" critics who wish to stop the clock, deny history, and halt the inevitable evolution of genres. Not only that, Garfield and Graham are moreover accused of being "authoritarian" and suspiciously close to the "moral majority" position.' It seems quite possible, however, that the roots of the Western's decline lie deeper than in the likes and animadversions of benighted critics. The Western has lost its audience. An entire generation of moviegoers has seen one big-screen Western in their lives, and that, sadly, is Blazing Saddles (1974). For this generation, who as children were glutted with television Westerns, such a legacy makes the Western an impossible form. Blazing Saddles is the final debunking of a long tradition and exposes the Western's moral preachiness, its presumed insensitivity to blacks, reds, women, and other minorities, its good-guy-bad-guy schematic oppositions. Blazing Saddles took the Western into the terrain of the scatological, and from that defamation, nothing could be regained for an entire generation. By the early 1980s, the Western seemed hopelessly irrelevant to the largest share of the moviegoing audience–the teen market. How could it ever compete with the simpleminded eighth-grade prurient v... ...k: Rawson Associates, 1982. Highly opinionated and vigorously written. Especially valuable for its insistence upon the importance of the writer in the creation of good Westerns. Graham, Don. Cowboys and Cadillacs: How Hollywood Looks at Texas. Austin: Texas Monthly Press, 1983. Focuses on changes in the Western as reflected in its preoccupation with Texas and its various myths. Hardy, Phil. The Western. New York: William Morrow, 1983. A large, handsome book containing lively annotations of Westerns through 1983. Invaluable for anybody wanting either quick reference or the big picture. Hyams, Jay. The Life and Times of the Western Movie. New York: Gallery Books, 1983. Useful if unexciting survey of the Western from its beginnings to 1983. Lenihan, John H. Showdown: Confronting Modern America in the Western Film. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1980. Definitive study of how the post–World War II Western reflects such contemporary issues as civil rights, the Cold War, and Viet Nam. Pilkington, William T., and Don Graham, eds. Western Movies. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1979. Contains explications of several major films released during the 1960s and '70s.

Budget for Terrorism :: essays papers

This year’s budget will be required to address the new and dangerous reality of terrorism on the US home front. Over the next 5 years $50 billion dollars has been allotted to plans that are specifically geared to dealing with terrorism. In my belief in is important to separate the budget into two different categories of counter-terrorism. The first category allocates money in response to the attacks of September 11th. This money will contribute to programs that offer monetary assistance to both those directly affected by the attacks and those suffering from the negative economic impact of the attack. Approximately $30 billion dollars will be allocated to these programs for the first 2 years of the budget. In the following three years the monetary aid will be decreased to $20 billion dollars and that money will be funneled into maintaining security concerns both at home and abroad. The second category of programs seeks to combat terrorism on the home front. The programs includ ed here will focus on preparing the US for and against more attacks. For the first two years the remaining $15 billion dollars will be given to these programs. After two years that $15 billion will be increased to $25 billion dollars because of the assumption that as the war on terrorism continues new avenues of terrorism will develop and new security measures will have to be developed. In the first 2 years $25 billion dollars of aid will be distributed into economic aid programs. $10 billion dollars will go as aid to US commercial airlines and the other $15 billion will go to increasing the benefits of the unemployed. It is important to help the airlines recover because of the money the represent in business and tourism. Also there is the issue of the lose of jobs in aviation since the attacks. In the 2-month period since September 11th 200,000 jobs have been lost in aviation. With the unemployment rate at it’s highest in the past 20 years the government cannot afford an even larger decrease in jobs. After 2 years this $10 billion will be decreased to $7 billion. This is an optimistic assumption that within this time period the airlines will be able to stabilize from the emergency and also be able to adapt to the new demands on their business. However, it is important to continue the aid

Natural environment Essay

History depicts that in the past, apartheid and Christian national education policies meant that races and cultures were segregated in schools and resources were unevenly distributed, making the role and the task of the teacher extra difficult in terms of balancing between the workload and catering for all learners needs. Education is inherently political as it involves values and goals in relation to such fundamental questions as what kind of individual and society are we trying to shape? These questions cannot be answered in a factual or technical way because they are questions of opinions, values and ideology and they are inevitably disagreements and conflicts (Carter, Harber & Serfi, 2003). The nature and reality of educators is that, it places so much importance on the teacher to ensure that learners succeed at the end of the day, although there are some factors external such as the environment, socio-economic and resources issues and resources which disturbs or defeats the purp ose of education. The teacher can either make or break the progress of the learner, meaning the teacher should cater equally for all the needs of the learners, as learners themselves are different in terms of race, gender and class. This means that the teacher should not be bias or discriminate towards a certain gender, race or class, as this will have a negative impact on the success or progress of the learners. In this essay I will discuss my experiences with the teachers who made a difference, the role they played in terms of perceiving gender, race and class in my life, and the reasons why they were significant and finally I will discuss the role I will play as a future teacher regardless of gender, race and class of the learners. The most features in class or school environment, is for the teacher to understand his or her learners and mostly interact with them on continuous basis, as problems learners encounter arise from time to time. These problems tend to distract learners and need the intervention of the teacher themselves. Sometimes learners struggle with the content required, a problem at home or moreover a personal problem. A good teacher must anticipate and have insight of foretelling and differenti ate amongst learners that are showing signs of encountering problem

Mary, the Mother of Jesus

Mary, The Mother of Jesus By Angelus Djugash Virgin Mary Jesus is God. Jesus was born to Mary. Mary is the mother of God. St. Luke introduces Mary when the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a virgin betrothed to a man Joseph (Lk: 1:26-27). The virgin’s name was Mary. Virgin means that one does not know human love, but only the love of God. It means that one has no other thought but for the Lord. It means to remain children in the flesh and angels in the heart. It means that one has no eyes but to look at God, and ears to listen to Him, and a mouth to praise Him, hands to offer oneself as a victim, feet to follow Him fast, and a heart and a life to be given to Him. (1) Mary is the Virgin. She is the Only One. She is the perfect One. The Complete One. Conceived as such. Generated as such. Remained such. Crowned such. Eternally such. She is the Virgin. She is the acme of intangibility, of purity, of grace that is lost in the Abyss from which it emerged: in God: most perfect Intangibility, Purity, Grace. 2) Mary, Seat of Wisdom God created Heaven and Earth. Jesus, Son of God is the author of Wisdom. Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus. Thus Mary becomes the mother of Wisdom. King Solomon prophesied Mary in a figurative style by the word wisdom. We read in Proverb â€Å" God possessed me (Mary) at the beginning of His works, from the beginning, before the Creation. From everlasting I was firmly set, in the beginning, before earth came into being, the deep did not yet exist, I was already conceived† in the minds of God. 3) â€Å"For in Mary there is a spirit that is intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, mobile, clear, unpolluted, distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen, irresistible, beneficent, humane, steadfast, sure, free from anxiety, all-powerful, overseeing all, and penetrating through all spirits that are intelligent and pure and most subtle. For she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her. For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of His goodness. Though she is but one, she can do all things, and while remaining in herself, she renews all things; in every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God, and prophets. For she is more beautiful than the sun, and excels every constellation of the stars. Compared with the light she is found to be superior, for it is succeeded by the night. She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other, and she orders all things well. (4) Though she is but one, she can do all things, and while remaining in herself, she renews all things; in every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God, and prophets. For she is more beautiful than the sun, and excels every constellation of the stars. Compared with the light she is found to be superior, for it is succeeded by the night. She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other, and she orders all things well. (4) Mary, the seat of Wisdom, would remember what was said, â€Å"When He marked out the foundations of the earth, I was beside him, like a master workman; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing before Him always, rejoicing in His inhabited world and delighting in the sons of men. † (3) Immaculate Mary God created Adam in His own image. (5) Therefore, Adam was the only man created by God ‘Immaculate’. The Lord God formed the woman Eve out from the rib of Adam. (6) They lived in grace at the Garden of Eden. In eternity God knew that they would err and disobey. He had the plan to redeem the first parents and their generations. For that He had to born as a human being. He chose His mother an eternal Virgin and Immaculate. The most Blessed Virgin Mary was preserved immune from all stain of original sin. (7) It was granted from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God. The Father blessed Mary more than any other created person ‘in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places’. He chose her ‘in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before Him in love’. (8) She is ‘redeemed, in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of her son, Jesus’. In the year 1858 when Our Blessed Lady appeared to St. Bernadette in Lourdes on March 25th, She said to her, â€Å"I Am The Immaculate Conception (Que Soy Era Immaculate Councepcion)†. She has been Our Immaculate Mother. She will ever be so until we climb up in the ladder of purity imitating her. (1) Chapter 6 – The poem of the Man-God, Page 39, Vol. 1 (2) Chapter 5 – The poem of the Man-God, Page 32, Vol. 1 (3) Proverb – 8:22-31 (4) Wisdom – 7:22-30 & 8:1 (5) Genesis – 1:27 (6) Genesis – 2:22 (7) Catechism of the Catholic Church – 491 (8) Catechism of the Catholic Church – 492