Information Systems Management in Practice

Information system is perceived as tools to automate business processes for better performance and productivity. It is viewed as a machine which takes input, possesses processing logic and gives a defined output which is further used to process jobs. It was strictly viewed as a catalyst in bulk processing of tasks and also those that are very difficult for human resources to take care. Primarily the idea of information system was duly followed and businesses could use it often effectively for automating their business processes. Presently, the meaning of information system is quite different from traditional thinking.It is definitely used for automating tasks; however it is also used for mining of data for finding a new definition of information. The idea is to find the hidden meaning of information, intelligence in the information domain for an organization. The meaning of integration of various isolated business processes into a holistic integrated system is a new meaning of techno logy. The concept of information system is now exploited to bring out exceptional variants of fetching intelligence out of information and better and stronger connection of resources for better business advantage.The idea is to encourage better process development which would ensure right judgment of the business advantage. From the transition of simple systems to ERP and intelligent systems, information technology has taken a leap ahead in finding better solutions for business. The transition further would enhance better forms of use and seamlessly integrating with various latest handled devices for control and management of business processes. The combination of technology and communications would bind the technology closely with the needs of the organization and evolve to enable the organization for better prospects in future.The previous perceptions of information system have evolved with time and have become better to understand the organization and its needs. The information s ystem perception from automated behavioral nature to intelligent devices has come a long way to decide the future rule of information systems over every part of human life and work. References McNurlin B. C. and Sprague R. H. (2009). Information Systems Management in Practice (8th Ed). Prentice Hall.

Child Marriage Research Paper Essay

Child Marriage: Why is the Act Performed Throughout Countries Around the World? According to the International Center for Research on Women, â€Å"if present child marriage trends continue, more than 142 million girls worldwide will be forced to marry adult men during the next decade-the equivalent of 38,000 girls every day.† Child marriage is defined as marriage before the age of eighteen (International Center for Research on Women, 2012). This marriage is usually forced and comes as a shock to the young girl. Any day, at anytime, a young girl can be taken from her home, sold, married off, and forced to live a life full of threats, violence, and abuse. When I first heard of child marriage I assumed that it happens in countries that aren’t that well off, whom are still living in poverty. I was taken aback when I found out that child marriage is a practice affecting women all over the world: Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and in some communities in Europe and the America ns (Worden, 2010). I want to find out all the usual questions one would ask about a problem in the world today: how, when, who, where, and WHY does child marriage even happen in all of these countries?! After researching these questions in depth, amongst a few of these countries I want to look into what child marriage may have in common in these different countries. In Afghanistan, statistics show that an estimate of 67 percent of all marriages are forced and approximately 57 percent of girls are married before the age of 16. (The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, 2010). Child marriage occurs in Afghanistan despite certain laws that have been made, due to culture and traditions, protection of the child, and economic problems families may face. Child marriage has been part of Afghan culture for thousands of years, and trying to rid a country of a culture event angers a lot of the people living in Afghanistan. Child marriage is known to be apart of Afghan culture as a form of protection. W hen one tries to put an end to child marriage in Afghanistan, the Afghans view this as going against the culture and traditions of the community (Yousef, 2013). Parents of a young girl, believe they are doing the right thing by selling, giving away, or exchanging their child because they know she will be clothed, fed, and sheltered from the violence and sexual abuse that the country of Afghanistan is faced with. Under Afghanistans  constitution, the minimum age for females is 16, but in rural and urban areas the tradition of marrying off daughters while young in order to receive money remains common among the poor. (Irinnews.org) Families living in poverty is one of the reasons child marriage is so high in Afghanistan. Some Afghan families can’t afford to take care of their children once they are born, so their best solution is marrying off their daughters. They view this as â€Å"if she gets married, she will have something for herself†. (Yousef, 2013) As if child marriage isn’t a problem already, a huge problem arises once the marriage is in effect. The problem that arises is childbirth in young girls who aren’t mature enough to carry a child to full term. This results in the baby not making it to full term, or the young girl dying while trying to give birth. In Afghanistan, it is said that every hour, two women die while giving birth- the highest maternal mortality rate in Asia. (Irinnews.org) This all comes as a shock to me as I read that â€Å"most harmful practices are crimes under Afghan law and inconsistent with Sharia law†. Under Islam, marriage is said to be a mutual contractual agreement and consent is required by both the woman and the man for a marriage to be valid. The marriage of girls before the age of sixteen, is against Afghan law. (Gangon, 140) So why are all these marriages occurring?! Well, it is said that â€Å"the police and judiciary in Afghanistan often fail to enforce laws that respect women’s rights, and tend to take a selective rather than impartial approach to administering justic e†. (Gagnon,142) Even some community and religious leaders are prolonging the issue of child marriage because they are uneducated, without any training on women’s rights. Child marriage: a â€Å"practice that robs millions of girls of their childhood, their rights, and their dignity† (Hedayat, 2011). This a quote from Girls Not Brides global initiative that launched in Africa, and made it’s way over to India. Statistics show that 40% of the world’s child marriages take place in India (Hedayat, 2011). Even though child marriages are illegal in India, priests still conduct child weddings, and guests still attend with happiness and excitement. The legality doesn’t seem to affect the people in India, even though one would be charged with a fine of Rs100,000 ($1,600 in US currency) for not preventing or stopping a child marriage. These marriages are still being performed in India, more or less â€Å"secretly†. Child marriages are supported by villages in India, so when these marriages are performed,  nobody informs the police. A difference between India and Afghanistans child marriages, is that once the young couple gets certified as husband and wife, they don’t end up living with each other until they are older (Around 15 or 16). It seems to me in India child marriage is opposed by the Indian government, and largely tolerated by the families, and young girls of India. One young girl says: â€Å"Had I been married later, I’d have learned to read and write† (Hedayat, 2011). The young girls are expressing that one of the biggest struggles with child marriage, is not being able to receive an education. If I was forced into marriage at any age before 16, I’m not even sure I would have the emotional stability to even think about an education because I would be traumatized. This culture shock really intrigued me. The main reason why child marriages are being performed throughout India, is directly similar to Afghanistan. The two main reasons are due to culture, and parents wanting their daughter to be better provided for by an older man, because they can’t provide the type of life they want for their daughter. Which absolutely makes no sense to me! Yes, they maybe getting all the necessary essentials to be surviving, but these young girls are barely even living when they have to suffer through the traumatizing effects of being a child bride. Of course, many young girls in India also are forced into having a baby, resulting in deaths of the young girls and their soon to be child. In India, out of every 1,000 children born due to child marriage, 31 die before they are one year old (Resource Centre for Participatory Development Studies, 2011). These statistics make me cringe, because in reality so many young girls and newborn babies deaths can be stopped, if this horrible acceptable view of child marriage is put to an end. When researching child marriage in Africa, statistics showed that 42% of girls were married before turning 18 (PBS, 2010). As I was reading an article, I came across a horrid sentence that literally broke my heart. I read that in Africa, parents â€Å"consider their daughters second-class citizens and see them as potential sources of income.† (Kamba, 2013). In Central and West Africa, 2 out of every 5 girls are married before they reach the age of eighteen (Kamba, 2013). According to Kambas article, child marriages are being performed in Africa due to parents wanting to protect their young girls from pre-marital sex and unwanted pregnancy, â€Å"which tarnish a family’s honour and  may diminish the value of a future dowry.† South Sudan is known to have the world’s highest mo rtality rate, â€Å"with about 2,054 deaths per 100,000 live births.† The young women having these babies, also don’t have a good chance in living, where as one in seven girls die due to pregnancy at such a young age (Kamba, 2013). Just like Afghanistan, and India, traditional practices play a huge part of why child marriage is still performed in Africa. Child marriage is engraved in Africa as an â€Å"ancient tradition†. Even though tradition plays a huge role on child marriage, the economic struggle of Africa also comes into play. Child marriage can be blamed on â€Å"the country’s poorly-defined and contradictory laws as well as the government’s weak execution and enforcement of them† (Kamba, 2013). Overall, I can find some sense into child marriage being blamed on the government’s weak enforcement, because if the country is facing economic difficulties, how can they have enough money and support to have a strong forceful government? After researching Afghanistan, India, and Africa, I wanted to see if child marriage is performed throughout the European and American nations. European and American nations don’t deal with as much poverty as these other countries do, which made me curious to find out if child marriage is actually performed in these nations. I did some research, and even though there isn’t much on the internet of child marriage in European and American nations, I came across a few sources. In Europe child marriage is practiced in Georgia (rate of 17%), Turkey (rate of 14%), and Ukraine (rate of 10%). Ten percent of young children marry before the age of eighteen in Britain and France (United Nations Population Fund, 2012). According to Dr. Lisa Dana, child marriages are most common in the Southern part of the United States, because laws on marriage are more lenient there. In the United States, statistics found that 8.9% of children were married off young, which is dramatically lower than the other countries that I’ve researched. All but two states in the United States require both the members of a partnership to be at least eighteen years of age or older to be allowed to marry without parental consent (Strat, 2011). I was surprised with how little information on child marriage I came across while researching Europe and Latin/Northern America. I came to the conclusion that a lot of child marriages aren’t reported from these nations, or as sad as it is, it doesn’t happen that  often because these countries aren’t in severe poverty. So, after researching all these different countries, I asked myself two questions: Why does child marriage even happen and are there common reasons of why this is happening throughout the world? I came to the conclusion that child marriage is practiced due to culture/tradition, poverty, security, and failure for authorities to enforce laws. Throughout all these countries, besides the European nations, I found that these four main factors play a common role in why child marriage happens. Culture and tradition is definitely the main reason why child marriage is prevalent in these countries. Culture places strong social pressures on families to conform to everything the culture expects. If families decided to go against tradition, they face the consequences of facing disapproval or family shame. (Equality Now 2010). Culture plays a huge roll in families from these countries, and it is purely unacceptable to go against the culture that you’re from. Poverty is another reason why child marriage happens. Families that can’t afford to raise a child due to low income, look at the child as an economic burden (United Nations Population Fund 2012). If the girls aren’t seen as a burden, they are â€Å"valued as capital for their exchange value in terms of goods, money, or livestock† (Equality Now, 2010). How horrific! I can’t even imagine the emotional insecurities these young girls face when being bargained off to random men who are much older than them. Security also plays a big role on why child marriage occurs around the world. Many of these countries don’t have a secure home base for their children to be safe. Parents want their child to have a safe future, so they turn to child marriage as a secure base. This goes back on the poverty aspect, if parents can’t afford to take care of their daughter, they sell her off to a man whom can. Even though he really isn’t â€Å"taking care â€Å" of her. In my opinion the child would have a â€Å"safer future† if she just stayed with her family, because she doesn’t have the risk of being abused, or dying due to young pregnancy. Lastly, failure to enforce laws that have been made for women, and the issue of child marriage plays a huge roll on why child marriage is still occurring to this day. In most of these countries, there are laws that don’t allow marriage until the age of eighteen, and many laws that are protecting women. Some families aren’t aware that they are breaking the law, while others just don’t care to stop because nobody is strictly enforcing these laws. â€Å"In some  countries early marriage is so prevalent, prosecutions are seldom brought†(United Nations Population Fund, 2012). If authorities went into these countries, and tried to pin point exactly where child marriage is happening, even in the â€Å"secret villages†, and prosecuted the individuals performing in this act, we might see lower statistics. â€Å"According to the Convetion on Elimination on All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)- marriage before the age of 18 shouldn’t be allowed since children don’t have the ‘full maturity and capacity to act’ (United Nations Population Fund, 2012). I couldn’t even imagine being forced into a marriage at a age where I am barely able to read and write. Marriage is ones personal decision, not a forceful requirement. How could anyone force their two year old child into wedlock and ten years down the road force the child out of their home? The concept of child marriage makes me sick to my stomach and leaves me with an uneasy feeling. I am infatuated with children, and the thoughts and images that run through my mind about child marriage, utterly break my heart. Whether the concept of child marriage is due to culture/tradition, poverty, security, or failure for authorities to enforce laws, there is really no excuse for this act being performed! Young girls deserve to be educated and grow to be the best possible women they can in the future. Every girl, deserves the opportunity to reach their full potential. Child marriage needs to be put to an around the world, but what can you do? The most important action to take in order to stop child marriage, is to educate and empower girls. â€Å"Education is one of the most powerful tools to delay the age at which girls marry as school attendance helps shift norms around child marriage† (Girls Not Brides, 2013). I encourage each and every girl to educate another women they know about child marriage. Do research, find answers, make your voices heard. One thing you can do is sign UK’s Take the Vow petition. As I was researching, I came across this petition that is urging the UK’s government to take action and early and forced marriage around the world (United Nations Population Fund, 2012). You can take this vow, just like I have, and the world could just be one step closer to the world ban of child marriage. Works Cited â€Å"Child Marrriage: Facts, Causes and Consequences.† About.com Middle East Issues. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. â€Å"Child Marriage in America:a Health Risk.† BabyCenter Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. â€Å"Child Marriage in the United States and Its Association With Mental Health in Women.† Child Marriage in the United States and Its Association With Mental Health in Women. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. â€Å"Early and Forced Marriage – Facts, Figures and What You Can Do.† Early and Forced Marriage. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. Gagnon, George. The Unfinished Revolution: Voices from the Global Fight for Women’s Rights. Ed. Minky Worden. New York: Seven Stories, 2012. Print. Hedayat, Nel. â€Å"What Is It like to Be a Child Bride?† BBC News. BBC, 10 Apr. 2011. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. â€Å"How Can We End Child Marriage?† Girls Not Brides How Can We End Child Marriage Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. â€Å"Humanitarian News and Analysis.† IRINnews. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. â€Å"Navigating Interracial Borders: Black-White Couples and Their Social Worlds [Paperback].† Navigating Interracial Borders: Black-White Couples and Their Social Worlds: Erica Chito Childs: 9780813535869: Amazon.com: Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. Ryan, Rebecca M. â€Å"Martial Birth and Early Child Outcomes: The Moderating Influence of Marriage Propensity.† 83.3 (2012): 1085-101. Meriam Library. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. â€Å"The Dangers of Child Marriage in India.† ChildFund International. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. Wondie, Yemataw. â€Å"Early Marriage, Rape, Child Prostitution, and Related Factors Determining the Psychosocial Effects Severity of Child Sexual Abuse in Ethiopia.† Journal of Child Sexual Abuse (2011): n. pag. Meriam Library. Web.

Aristotelian Tragedy Macbeth

Aristotelian Tragedy: Macbeth Aristotle is known widely for developing his ideas on tragedy. He recorded these ideas in his Poetics in which he comments on the plot, purpose, and effect that a true tragedy must have. The structure of these tragedies has been an example for many writers including Shakespeare himself. Many of Shakespeare’s plays follow Aristotelian ideas of tragedy, for instance Macbeth does a decent job in shadowing Aristotle’s model. Aristotle describes one of the most important elements of a tragedy to be a tragic hero. The tragic hero however must present certain qualities such as nobility and virtue. In the play Macbeth, Macbeth is a perfect example of a tragic hero. Macbeth begins the play coming home from battle, he is said to have fought with great courage and King Duncan himself awards him the title of the thane of Cawdor in reward for his bravery. The qualities make Macbeth a tragic hero as he possesses not only a noble title, but also the assets of a great warrior and hero. However, Aristotle emphasizes that if the tragic hero was as perfect as he seems than the audience would not be able to identify with him and this would not be considered a tragedy. Macbeth shows us his humanity very early in the play when he learns that Malcolm, Duncan’s son, will be the heir to the throne of Scotland. In response, Macbeth acknowledges that he himself should be awarded the crown and will not rest until royalty is his. Macbeth is an ambitious character, which is a quality that many humans can identify with. This ambitiousness is known as Macbeth’s tragic flaw. This leads to Aristotle’s next component of a tragedy, the tragic flaw. The hero’s tragic flaw must lead to the downfall of the character; his demise can be caused by no one other than himself. Macbeth’s ambitious personality leads him to become caught up in attaining power for himself. Macbeth’s ruthless behavior causes him to commit murder to Duncan in order to gain kingship. Even after his wish comes true, he continues to sacrifice the lives of others, including his close friend Banquo, to assure that he never loses his throne. However, Macbeth does not go unpunished as he suffers countless dreams and illusions that drive him to insanity. The loss of his wife also brings Macbeth to his final denouement. In the end, Macbeth is killed by Macduff; because of his arrogance he believed he was invincible even after being told his fate. Macbeth reaches his end through the same way he lived his life, through murder and deception. Many argue over the fairness of Macbeth’s life, but the goal of a tragedy in Aristotle’s view point is to strike fear and pity in the audience through harsh punishment upon the hero in extreme ways. Finally, Aristotle claims that in order for a tragedy to be effective, the fear and pity must be released from the audience through catharsis. First the tragic hero must gain some knowledge from his tragic life. Macbeth shows this self-realization in his ‘yellow leaf’ soliloquy when he expresses remorse for his actions. Also, in the end he knows he must fight until the end whether his fate is death. At this point the audience is cleansed of the emotions of the plot and the tragedy is finished. Macbeth is a primary example of a typical Aristotelian tragedy. It follows the structure necessary from the tragic hero, to his downfall and ultimately to the catharsis necessary for an original Greek drama. The aspects of this play are a perfect example of the tragedies of that era.

Volunteer management plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Volunteer management plan - Essay Example 4) to ensure the safety and protection especially of the children, the elderly, and the handicapped during times of emergencies; and 5) to provide livelihood programs especially after emergencies and/or disasters that affected the whole community. It is wise to start developing the disaster volunteer team by tapping into already existing volunteers. However, a structure must already be in place to ensure the success of the recruitment process. The group of volunteers should be prepared in advanced and should not wait until disaster strikes to prepare volunteers for response. Since One Family will mainly work with larger organizations with bigger budgets, the target manpower of the volunteer group is approximately 217 persons. In evaluating the role of the volunteers, a clear outline of every volunteer’s responsibility should be discussed. Clear positions and necessary qualifications to fill such positions should be developed. One should always remember that there is no such thing as â€Å"just a volunteer†. Every volunteer should be challenged to effectively perform his/her duties and be held accountable accordingly. The 217 long-term volunteers needed for this volunteer group will be divided into different roles and committees. The role of each volunteer will be as follows (in general terms): 1) one volunteer group head, 2) one volunteer group assistant-head, 3) five volunteer committee heads, 4) ten volunteer committee assistant-heads, and 5) 200 committee members. The committees will be handling specific tasks and providing specific services, namely: 1) immediate survival needs, 2) relocation needs, 3) medical assistance, 4) safety and protection, and 5) livelihood programs. Each committee will consist of 40 members, two committee assistant-heads, and one committee head. Each committee will be divided into two sub-groups to divide the tasks of each committee evenly and also to act as a failsafe in case the other sub-group cannot, due to unexpected reasons,

Organisations and Needs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Organisations and Needs - Essay Example In the present case study of banking organization, the training dept, faces layoff/down sizing for the last 3 years continuously. Full time establishment in the Trg. Centre was 260 in 2003 but reduced to 136 in 2006. Further the budget of Trg. dept. has also been reduced drastically from 20 million pounds in 2003 to 11 million pounds in 2005. Apart from this reduction, management is expecting the same productivity and output. This situation put tremendous pressure on the remaining work force. Though the downsizing was not only in Trg. Dept. but spread over all the important departments such as Administration, delivery and line management. The workforce, who survived the downsizing, was in traumatic condition due to layoffs of their close colleagues. Not even this but the further announcements of reduction and restructuring of Trg. Dept. and senior managements ultimate of further restructuring and proposal of downsizing the organization Trg. Dept by further 14 in number after at least 3 weeks put additional pressure/stress on the remaining workforce. This announcement creates havoc to the trust of the workforce at workplace. Now the complete atmosphere of uncertainty was widespread and employees working in Trg. Dept. are certainly facing the traumatic, emotional uneasiness. Downsizing the organization basically results in very serious and painful conditions and that can have a profound effect on the entire organization and especially on the employees who looses his/her job or have the fear of loosing jobs in near future. Discharging or likely to be discharging from the job, generates high emotions basically negative emotions towards management and the organization. Though the management/organizations carry it out as a necessity and with all legality but the process of downsizing as a whole always creates an emotional issue with in the organization. Companies' downsizing/layoffs have always a powerful impact on the organization. They can affect the morale of the organization's remaining employees, who may fear losing their jobs in the future. Due to downsizing the first and foremost thing, which will get affected, are productivity, morale, trust and security. Due to downsizing the morale or motivation level of the remaining employees will be at the lowest level, his/her trust with the organization must be shattered and security about future get diminished. All these factors immediately affect the productivity of remaining workforce. So to survive these redundancy and uncertainty about future downsizing, one should not6 be passive and fatalistic but try to be more positive and pessimistic. Now in the position of redundancy, I as an individual and also with my team must priorities and follow certain rules, which has been enumerated below may help to assure us to be retained. Though it's not a guarantee but it helps us. The first and foremost thing is to look more professional rather than casual. Individually or as a team, we should never dress like a fashion model or look like unprofessional so that we could be easily identified separately. Looks always make difference in the perceptions and in the situation of redundancy; perception of unprofessional or non-serious team always goes in the negative way. During the situation of redundancy or within the process of do

Integration of reality into the works of william hogarth in the Research Paper

Integration of reality into the works of william hogarth in the eighteenth century - Research Paper Example This brief essay will work to analyze the ways in which William Hogarth’s works during eighteenth century Europe engendered many such forms of tacit transmission as well as seeking to incorporate elements of political, fictional and religious motifs. It should be noted that although this analysis will look at many of Hogarth’s works, it will not be specific to pointing out every layer of double entendre that might exist; rather, the research will be concentric on understanding and grappling with the major trends that Hogarth worked to enumerate upon within each of the pieces which will be analyzed. As such, the following research will be divided into sections which work to analyze the different means of conveyance that Hogarth employed as well as seeking to detail the specific motifs and themes that these means of conveyance sought to impress upon the viewer. The first of these paintings which will be analyzed was painted in 1754 and entitled, â€Å"An Election: Chairi ng Member†. This painting is extraordinarily unique due to the fact that it incorporates a host of both political, cultural, and religious motifs that bear discussion as a means of understanding some of the diverse themes and emotions that the artist was attempting to convey. The first of these themes is the pied piper that can be seen in front of the gathering of rowdy townspeople. In this way, all of the action and movement is behind this piper. Such a prominent exhibition in the foreground of the photo evokes the strong sense that Hogarth is attempting to convey to the reader. This strong sense is concentric around the fact that even though elections can be understood as an expressions of a participatory nature, the fact of the matter is that people still behave as if in a group and in a senseless manner. This cultural theme of the pied piper is further illustrated in a religious context by the inclusion of a small group of swine directly in the process of running off the s ide of the bridge that is pictured. This of course is reminiscent of the unclean spirits that Christ cast into the group of swine in Samaria that subsequently threw themselves into the Sea of Galilee. As such, the artist makes a firm connection between the religious imagery depicted and the cultural imagery of the pied piper. By presenting high levels of nuanced detail, Hogarth was able to evoke imagery that sought to express various elements within current society as well as to impress upon the reader a host of ideas and correlations that other artists did not. Furthermore, the artist seeks to convey an image that depicts the ridiculous nature of democracy in the form that it existed during his time. In this way, the artist seeks to represent the citizens in the foreground and the background as zealots that feverishly push and pull for the given belief system of their choice and fight against those that defy such a belief system. However, what is most interesting and almost unnotic eable is the fact that the aristocrats within the society look out from their second story windows onto the raucous below with amusement. In this way, the artist seeks to represent a face of politics that has continued to haunt our system until the current time; the fact that the ultra rich are often times directing the fate of politics unbeknownst to the workers who fight and die for the values that the super-rich espouse. The second painting of Hogarth’

Transportation safety Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Transportation safety - Essay Example This is done in the belief that at lower speeds, they can get drunk and still control their cars with ease. This has in turn led to increased accidents on our roads. Use of road bumps also helps reduce road accidents. The bumps help reduce the speed at which cars move especially at pedestrian crossings. On the other hand these bumps often cause accidents especially when not clearly marked as the drivers at high speed normally don’t get a clear view of the bumps as they approach them. This normally leads to the cars veering off the roads and causing accidents (Hauer, p41). Use of traffic police is always believed to be a major measure in curbing road carnage. They are deployed along highways and in major towns to enforce traffic rules, especially elimination of unroadworthy vehicles on the road. These policemen are usually underpaid and this makes them engage in corruption activities. They get bribed and let go of unroadworthy vehicles, drunk and careless drivers, leading to accidents. Road signs are also used to reduce road accidents. Most motorists often feel safe at the sight of a stop sign, but this is not the case in an intersection when other drivers ignore the rules and run into stop signs. Stop sign running is always caused by impatience of drivers who assume that there are no other motorists as they cross intersections. Some signs especially those faded usually cause confusion to drivers, leading to accidents. Therefore, in applying the road safety measures to curb road accidents, care must be taken to ensure that these same measures do not increase the chances of crashes in the transportation

Assess and arguments for the law of karma, and discuss whether the law Essay

Assess and arguments for the law of karma, and discuss whether the law implies or refutes the ex - Essay Example Sankhya believe that the material of creation is made of earth and stone and could possibly not be created by ‘Isvara’ whose own characteristics are not consistent with the same material (Radhakrishnan 43 b). The Sankhya doctrine holds that it is not possible to prove the existence of God and therefore he cannot be said to exist (Larson 83). I would opine that the doctrine contention aligns with the view that a benevolent God would have no motive of creating a world of mixed happiness and sorrows. The Purusa takes an important place in the understanding of the Sankhya doctrine. The Sankhya offers that the Purusa is not caused (Collins 106). The Purusa is usually likened to consciousness. In most doctrines, consciousness is usually attached to the idea of the existence of a Supreme being. The Sankhya position that the Purusa is not caused directly contradicts the idea of the existence of a creator God. However, problems arise within the doctrine with the supposition that Purusa does not have any qualities. In my opinion, this view would imply that all beings are same. Such a thesis would refute the possibility of the existence of different fates for different actions as understood within the overall framework of the Karma. The position adds weight to some of the problems and contradictions that have been identified within the Sankhya doctrine with regard to the nature and qualities of the Purusa. The character of the ‘Isvara’ according to the doctrine developed by the Sankhya is that he is not attached to the universe (Radhakrishnan 40 b). According to the Mimamsa doctrine, the ‘Isvara’ does not provide the fruits of actions, which essentially distinguishes them from other doctrines that assign roles of reward and punishment to the deity (Radhakrishnan 22 b). Instead, the rewards or consequences of actions are purely depended on the actions of individuals. Good actions beget positive consequences, while bad actions bring ab out negative consequences. The Mimamsa doctrine does not mention whether or not the ‘Isvara’ created the universe (Radhakrishnan 19 b). In my view, I would conclude that the positions adopted by both doctrines acknowledge the fact of divine being but do not agree on his nature or tasks. In general terms, the Sankhya philosophy is governed by the concept of dualism. The philosophy challenges the view of the God as central idea that controls the cause and destiny of humanity. The destiny of man, according to Mimamsa is dependent on the actions and will of man in accordance with the Verdas (Radhakrishnan 74 a). In this sense, God is only a benevolent power that grants to human beings their due share in accordance with their character on earth. It is therefore important to consider the fact that the actions of man are integral in the destiny of the universe. The cultivation of ‘Dama’ or self-control as a way of pursuing a virtuous and upright life (Radhakrishna n 13 b). Samkhya adopts the position that the harmony in the world is born out of the paradoxical dualities as argued by Sage Kapila. Samkhya philosophy is founded on the idea of harmony numerals. According to the terms of this philosophy the collection of elements and characteristics of things in the universe work to maintain some sense of balance between the systems. The underlying meaning in the Samkhya philosoph

Education Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Education - Research Paper Example However, there exist some issues or problems related to this field which need to be resolved in order to end all concerns about education. Benefits of Education Education brings both personal and professional benefits for a person. Some of the most considerable benefits that education brings for a person include development of increase in self-confidence, development of a good personality, development of peer relationships, increased awareness of various social and political issues, and increased awareness of different professional fields of life. Along with these benefits, some professional benefits of education include increased number of job opportunities, career evolution, attractive salary package, increased opportunities to excel in professional life, and improved ability to raise knowledge-based. Current Issues in Education Education is a vast field related to family and consumer science. It gives light to a number of issues that need a proper resolution. Authorities related t o the field of education need to examine both sides of those issues in order to find proper solutions. Some of the current issues related to education include discipline and security, single language or bilingual education, use of technology to enhance students’ learning, use of social networking websites, race and equality, religion based studies, use of zero tolerance policy for students, private versus public education, teasing and bullying, and use of standardized testing system in education. Moreover, use of effective teaching strategies is also one of the key educational issues. Concept learning can be used in combination with deep learning to promote effective learning (Buntting, 2006). Education of undocumented immigrants is also becoming a major issue for most of the developed countries (Connor, 2011). Although all of the above-mentioned issues are of critical importance from the educational perspective, but some of them are a little more significant and need a quick resolution. Those issues include use of technology to enhance students’ learning, need for bilingual educations systems because of increasing cultural diversity, and private vs. public educational systems. Future Research Areas in Education Apart from current issues, there are some educational issues that need advanced research. Some of those issues include evolution of online educational system, use of proper grading mechanisms to assess special students’ performances, and allowing or restricting sex education for young students. Online Educational System As the world has become a global village, education has also become accessible to people at their doorsteps. An online learning environment is one in which there is a distance between teachers and students and they interact with each other mainly through the internet. In a dissertation, Ivankova (2002) found that distance education has become a possible alternative to the traditional form of higher education in many parts of the world. However, online education also gives rise to some complex issues, such as, less interaction between teachers and students and difficulty in understanding the concepts. In a dissertation, Gallogly (2005) found that online students usually do not feel satisfied with the timeliness of instructional feedback as compared to traditional classroom students. Grading Mechanisms for Assessing Special Students’

Implications of Watching Foreign Movies Essay Example for Free

Implications of Watching Foreign Movies Essay ABSTRACT This study looked at the relationship between watching foreign film, dramas, or variety show habits and the students’ academic performances. To determine whether its exposure benefitted the students or not, a reliable research has to be conducted. Considering student’s differences factors and strategies while studying, the results might be differ from many aspects. The individual skills include how frequent they watch the movie, how long they spent their time and what types of entertainment that they favored the most. An argument about the uses of visual aids such movie shows and others can enhance the academic performances will be settled on after the results of this study had been processed. A pilot study was conducted first to check whether there was any problem regarding this issue. About 3 to 5 students were tested. Finally a survey was conducted at the boys’ and girls’ hostels in Kolej Profesional MARA Indera Mahkota where 40 students consist of 15 male students and 25 female students. This survey was conducted by distributing a set of questionnaires to all the respondents. In general, this study was a big success where majority of the students agreed that this method of learning can enhance their academic performances. Winding up, several suggestion, opinion and recommendations were recorded in the finishing part of the report. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my special thanks to my advisor, Madam Jamilah Binti Abdul Manan, who provided me with detailed and insightful feedback for every draft, who spent an enormous amount of time reading and editing my investigation, and more importantly, who set an example for me to be a prudent presenter. I also want to thank her for her encouragement and assistance throughout the entire graduate program. I would also like to thank my family especially my auntie, Nooraini Binti Abdul Wahab for her assistance and suggestions in helping me to better understand the concept of visual study and etc. Also, I want to thank my parents for their great encouragement throughout the writing of this research. I want to offer a tremendous thank you to all my friends and anyone who has contributing  themselves in this study. I will remember your patience and assistance in helping me finish this program. I treasure your friendship and support. 1.0. Introduction 2.1. Background of the Study Watching movies and dramas has been a trend nowadays in students’ life especially in KPMIM. This habit does influence the student’s result in academic studies. By practicing this hobby, students manage to fill their free time. But the question is what the implications of this attitude are. Is it positive or negative impact towards the students themselves? A research has been done by Christine Canning Wilson from the Centre of Excellence for Research and Training, Higher Colleges of Technology, Abu Dhabi. In her research, it has been stated that audio-visual aids can enhance the language learning process. It said that note-taking studies are less successful nowadays. Instead of that, advanced visual organizers such as educational videos or any other related matters helped the learners  improve comprehension and aid in the retention of information. Students also like learning language through the use of videos. One of the result is learners prefer action/entertainment films in the classroom. In addition, this shows that visuals can be used to help enhance the meaning of the message to be conveyed by the speakers. By providing this kind of learning method, learners may be benefitted by seeing immediate meaning in terms of vocabulary recognition in the first language. Besides that, it is easier for them to clarify the message and clarify the gist of the stories. However, individuals process information in different ways. The strategies used by one learner are likely to differ from another. Thus, further investigation needs to be done in order to identify the real impact of watching movies/dramas and the relationship between these habits towards the students’ academic performances will be resolved after the research has been carried out. 2.2. Statement Of The Problem The problematic issue of this study is to identify the implications of watching foreign movies or films towards students. Besides that, the increase or any decrease in academic performance will be observed and to be concluded after this study has been completed. There is also an argument that questioning about either it is a kind of wasteful activity for KPMIM students. So a reliable research needs to be carried out regarding this issue. 2.3. Purpose Of The Study Since watching movies, dramas and variety shows have been a trend nowadays in students’ life especially in KPMIM; there may be some consequences for them particularly in academic performance. Apart from piling up their free time, a research needs to be done to investigate whether it is a beneficial or a wasteful activity for them. The purpose of the study portrayed in this research report was to assess the either lecturers and the students in teaching and learning process despite making them easier to understand and memorize all the input during language classes. Besides that, to make  learning process more interactive and enjoyable so that the students would think that education is not something that is too heavy and boring. 2.4. Objective Of The Study The objectives of this study are: 1. to find out whether it is beneficial activity during student’s leisure time or not 2. to investigate what is the relationship between this activity and students’ academic performance 3. to figure out what types of movies/dramas that have been the students’ favorites 4. To make suggestion that it could be one of the effective medium of learning or teaching. 2.5. Research Question The questionnaires will be given to some random students at Kolej Profesional MARA. 40 respondents will answer this questionnaire based on the research project. 15 of them were males and another 25 were the female students. The question will be focus on what are the impacts of the habit. * Is watching movies/ dramas a beneficial or waste type of hobby to students? * Does watching/movies really help the students in their academic studies? * What is the favorite categories/type of movies/dramas that most of the students like? * Should it be implemented as a medium for teaching and learning in education institutions? 2.6. Significance Of The Study This finding will help the lecturers and students to be aware of learning and teaching process can be easily done in a simple and effective way by using visual aids. Furthermore, students will be managed to fill their schedule with some beneficial activities instead of doing nothing. Apart from enhancing the students’ interest and enthusiasm in learning, students should be able to improve their vocabulary and other skills that are required in  language studies such listening skill and speaking skill. Authoritatively, this will help the college to introduce the concept of entertaining while studying so that students can have an enjoyable environment while in the class perhaps. Last but not least, to increase the academic performance in college by adapting a new way of study for the students. 2.7. Scope Of The Study The scope of this research is that the respondents are 40 people of KPMIM students. 15 people of male students and another 25 are the female students. The solution or any recommendations about this topic will be decided after the data has been collected. 2.0. Literature Review About few centuries ago language is hard to learn by mass of people. But a poet named Simonides has come out wit a great principle of learning which was ‘Words are the images of things’. His statement was almost similarly accurate as the famous great Aristotle perception, â€Å"Without image, thinking is impossible†. From here, we can clearly seen that both statement support the principle of visual aids towards one’s ascertain and edifying skills. Visual aids does enhance the language learning process. Video is one of the visual aids that usually used by a teacher, lecturer or a presenter to educate and instrcut pupils. Videos at best defined as the selection and sequence of messages in an audio-visual context. Research by Herron, Hanley and Cole (1995) indicates that the visual support in the form of descriptive pictures significantly improved comprehension scores with language videos for English speaking students. The results of the study indicate that extensive listening is facilitated by the richness of the context that visual organizers, such as educational videos, provide. Heron (1994) finds that advanced organizers based on videos helped learners improve comprehension and aid in the retention of information. A recent large-scale survey by Canning-Wilson (2000) suggests that the students like learning language through the use of videos. One of the results of her survey shows that learners prefer action/entertainment films to language films or  documentaries in the classroom. She states although these films may seem to hold student interest, she believes that it could be inferred that student comprehension of the video may be due to the visual clues instead of the auditory components. Heron, Hanley and Cole also hypothesize that the more meaningful an advanced organizer is the more impact it can have on comprehension and retention. Their results of using twelve different videos with foreign language learners indicates that scores improved when advanced organizers, such as a pictures and/or visual stimuli, are used with the video. Perhaps the findings from these studies can be attributed to the fact that video offers contextual support and/or helps learners to visualize words as well as meanings. Individuals process information in different ways. The strategies used by one learner are likely to differ from those used by a different learner. It has been proven that what benefits one group of learners may actually hinder the performance of a different group of learners (Bovy, 1981). Issues of the value of video as a teaching tool are often questioned. Omaggio (1979) suggests that the profession has virtually no empirical basis for promoting the use of visuals as aids to comprehension in the second language; we know practically nothing about how students benefit from visuals (1979, p.107). Recently, in a lecture on the use of visuals in research, Canning-Wilson (2000) claims that the use of illustrations, visuals, pictures, perceptions, mental images, figures, impressions, likenesses, cartoons, charts, graphs, colors, replicas, reproductions, or anything else used to help one see an immediate meaning in the language may benefit the learner by helping to clarify the message, provided the visual works in a positive way to enhance or supplement the language point. She reports that images contextualized in video or on its own can help to reinforce the language, provided the learner can see immediate meaning in terms of vocabulary recognition in the first language. Furthermore, her research suggests that visuals can be used to help enhance the meaning of the message trying to be conveyed by the speakers through the use of paralinguistic cues. Last but not least, additional factors must be considered when looking at video as an instructional medium to teach a foreign or second language. Balatova’s studies indicated that visual cues  found in videos were informative and enhanced comprehension in general, but did not necessarily stimulate the understanding of a text. It was also found that teaching with video had some affective advantages. If the results of their findings are true and the same results can be replicated, perhaps practitioners will no longer have to rely solely on anecdotal evidence. . 3.0. Research Methodology 4.8. Introduction This section discusses the methodology of the research. The main purpose of the research is to investigate the relationship between watching movies, dramas or variety shows and the academic performance among KPMIM students. Does it really affect the educational outcome or not? Besides that, to assess the students and lecturers in teaching or learning process apart from making them easier to absorb, distinguish and memorize the entire thing that they should. The data for the research were collected through questionnaires distribution. 4.9. Research Instruments This research utilized both the quantitative and qualitative research methodology. The instrument used to collect data was questionnaires. A set of questionnaires containing 13 questions divided into 2 parts. Different types of questions such as ranking, yes – no questions, listing and were used in the questionnaires. The questionnaires were piloted to five students to assess its validity before it was distributed. The qualitative data for the research come at open-ended questions. 4.10. Respondents of the Study The respondents of the study were several students at Kolej Profesional Mara Indera Mahkota, KPMIM. In March 2012, a total of 40 questionnaires were distributed to students randomly. 4.11. Research Procedure Before the actual data collection phase, a pilot study was conducted to assess the validity of the research instruments. A total of five students were involved in the pilot study chosen at randomly at Kolej professional Mara Indera Mahkota. During the actual study, the questionnaires were distributed at various locations on campus such as library, cafà ©, classes and dormitories. 4.12. Data Analysis To analyze the data, a several variables were taken into consideration namely the duration, effectiveness, oftenness of the students watching their favored movie, dramas or variety shows, and from which countries.besides that, major immpacts of this study were also been questioned. For examples, does it improve student’s vocab and lexis in writings, develop creative thinking, reasoning skill and crtical review and assist students to focus in class. The data were saved into the computer using Microsoft Excel software. Results were presented through frequency counts and other descriptive statistics. The data were transcribed accordingly. 4.0. Findings and Discussion This section will discuss the results of the research that had been done to determine whether it is an effective way as a method of learning and teaching towards KPMIM students. These findings received responses from 40 students which were 25 females and 15 males. FIGURE ANumber of Respondent (Students) Figure A shows the proportion of male and female students who were involved in this research. 15 of them were males and another 25 of them were the  females. The sum of them were 40 and the percentage that has been calculated as shown in the figure above. FIGURE BPercentage of students who watch movies/ dramas/ variety shows during free time. Figure B shows how many of students watch their favored shows during their leisure time. Majority of them watch movies and etc. during free time. 100 percent of male students did watch the movies while 92 percent of the female students who did the same thing. Only few of the female students did not watch the movies, dramas or variety shows. Maybe because of unnecessarily circumstances. Figure C Types of entertainment that mostly watched by the students The figure above shows the type of entertainments that mostly watched by KPMIM students. To sum up, majority of the respondents preffered variety shows as their most favored types of entertainment. It is because it has been a phenomenon nowadays. Not only in KPMIM but all over Malaysia educational institutes. Maybe because the show is really funny and make them laugh every time they watch it. Nevertheless, it educates while entertaining. That is the most important. Otherwise, the data for other type of entertainments that prefferably watch by the students are shown in the figure above. Films at the 2nd rank followed by animation series as the 3rd and dramas was the least. Figure DForeign Entertainments that most Influential Based on the figure above, the well-influenced foreign entertainment among male students in KPMIM is the Bollywood followed by English, Korean and Japanese as the least. The reason why they chose Bollywood as their favoured foreign entertainment, it is because the eye-catching lyrics from pleasant songs and it teaches a lot of moral and values. For the female respondents, majority of them pick English as their favored entertainment followed by Korean, Bollywood and Japanese. FIGURE EFrequencies of Sudents watch their Favored Shows As shown in the figure above, the female students often watch their favored shows for only 3 times a week whereas the male students watch their preffered entertainments 7 times a week which is everyday. FIGURE FTime outlay for each sessions From the figure above, it is shown that majority of the male students spend their time about 4 to 5 hours for each session. For the female students, they only spent about 3 to 4 hours for their leisure movie times. This shows the females were good in managing their times compared tom the males. Notwithstanding, as long as the shows that they watched bring some benefits to them, it is alright. FIGURE GHelp them in improving the Vocabs and Lexis in Wrtings Greater part of the respondents agree with the hypothesis, ‘by watching movies, dramas or variety shows, they can improve their vocabularies and lexis in their writings’. When they watched foreign shows or movies, they learned by reading the subtitles and find the meaning of words that they do not understand. By doing that, although it looks like a slow way of improving their vocabs, it really helps them in their examination. Especially in writing and speaking skills. FIGURE HDevelop Creative thinking, Reasoning skills and Critical Review For this section, 98 percent of the respondents agreed with the hypothesis by practising this habbit, they can develop their creative thinking, reasoning skills and critical review. Only 2 percent of them did not agree with the statement. The figure indicates that, majority of them could develop some of the useful skills especially in language classes. This means that watching movies, dramas and variety shows is not wasteful activity during leisure time. FIGURE IAssists to Focus and Improve Academic Performance Based on the figure above, 88 percent of the students do agree with the hypothesis of by applying this type of inclination, they tend to focus during classes. Only minority of them, 15 percent did not agree. Besides that, for sure, it will also aiding their academic performance. From this situation, we can conclude that this kind of practice lead to success for the students whom put run through it. Open ended question:- â€Å"Visual Aids (Movies/dramas/etc.) should be one of the effective mediums of learning or teaching because it brings a ton of advantages rather than disfavors†.  Give your opinion/ comments regarding this issue. Please state the reasons why did you support or oppose this statement. Based on all the anwers, most of them are all the positive comments. This shown that, Visual Aids such Movies, dramas, and etc. are really should be implemented as one of the effective mediums of learning and teaching in any KPMIM since it bequeath loads of benefit rather than disfavors. 5.0. Conclusion This research investigated the relationship between the methods of using visual aids as learning process and the academic performance towards KPMIM students. Primary data were collected by randomly with distributing a set of questionnaires to 40 students. As has been mentioned earlier in the introduction, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of using visual aids in teaching and learning towards the academic performance of students The following conlusions can be drawn based on the findings of the study: 1. This study shows that watching movies/ dramas/ variety shows, students managed to perform well in their academic performance. 2. By practicing this habit, educatees can improve their vocabularies and lexis in writings instead of developing their creative thinking, critical reviews and reasoning skills. 3. Last of all, this method of learning and teaching is ought to be implemented in every educational institutions. The results of this study indicate that teaching and learning by using visual aids as a method compulsarily implemented in KPMIM especially in English subject. This is because after a thorough study has been investigated, it bring a a lot more benefits rather than detriment to students or even lecturers. However, this findings are only true for KPMIM students. The same study needs to be done with students from other educational institutes to see if there are any similarities with the impact of watching foreign movies, dramas and variety shows habit towards the academic performances. 6.0RECOMMENDATIONS 6.1Recommendations based on Findings Based on the findings and conclusions of the study, here are several recommendations to be considered: 1. Visual Aids such (Movie Reviews / Documentaries /etc.) should be one of the effective mediums of learning because it brings a ton of advantages rather than disfavors. 2. Educators are also counseled to use this method of teaching as it makes edifying process more simpler, cooler, interactive and valuable. 6.2Recommendations for Future Research Since this study only focussed on KPMIM students, it is highly recommended that further reseach be carried out for other students from another colleges or universities to explore whether there might some differences in the study or similarities in the findings. Besides that, the implementation of this method of learning and teaching could be the worldwide most effective way in teaching English because it is essential for all walks of life. Lastly, M.O.E or any other parties could impart some expenses and provide new high-tech facilities to all education institution. BIBLIOGRAPHY * Richard Cameron Dolati Roman. (2010). Harnessing the Use of Visual Learning Aids in the English Language Classroom. Retrieved December 15th, 2010 from the Arab World English Journal. * Koren, S. (1996). Vocabulary instruction through hypertext: Are there advantages over conventional methods of teaching?.TESL-EJ, 4(1), 1- 14. * Mayer, R. Simes, V. (1994). For whom is a picture worth a thousand words? Extensions of a dual–coding theory of multimedia learning. Journal of Educational Technology, 86, 389-401. * The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. VI, No. 11, November 2000 http://iteslj.org/

Nonlinear Generalized Companding Transform

Nonlinear Generalized Companding Transform Nonlinear Generalized Companding Transform for  Peak-to-Average Power Ratio Reduction in OFDM Eashendra Singh Abstract  Ã¢â‚¬â€ One of the main drawback of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) system is its high Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) of the OFDM signal. In this paper a novel non-linear generalized companding scheme called â€Å"Quadrilateral Companding Transform (QCT)† has been proposed to reduce the PAPR of OFDM signal. The proposed method provides additional degrees of freedom in comparison to existing trapezoidal companding, exponential companding and trapezium distribution based companding schemes. This allows more flexibility in designing the companding function, which is useful for the overall OFDM system to achieve low BER with good PAPR reduction capability. Keywords   Complementary cumulative distribution function  (CCDF), peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), bit error rate (BER). INTRODUCTION The modern day phenomenon of increased thirst for more information and the explosive growth of new multimedia wireless applications have resulted in an increased demand for technologies that support very high speed transmission rates, mobility and efficiently utilize the available spectrum and network resources. OFDM is one of the best solutions to achieve this goal and it offers a promising choice for future high speed data rate systems [1], [2]. OFDM has been standardized as part of the IEEE 802.11a and IEEE 802.11g for high bit rate data transmission over wireless LANs [3]. It is incorporated in other applications and standards such as digital audio broadcasting (DAB), digital video broadcasting (DVB), the European HIPERLAN/2 and the Japanese multimedia mobile access communications (MMAC) [4], [5]. However, a major drawback of FDM systems is the high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of the transmitted signals, resulting in the lower power efficiency, serious signal distortion an d out-of-band radiation when the high power amplifier (HPA) is utilized. Many companding schemes [17]-[23] have been proposed in the literature to reduce the PAPR of OFDM signal. The conventional ÃŽ ¼ law and A-law companding schemes can be used for PAPR reduction, by choosing the suitable value of the parameters ÃŽ ¼ or A, controlling the nonlinearity of the ÃŽ ¼ -law [17] or A -law companding function respectively. But the error performance of both the schemes degrades as both of them introduce high companding distortion in OFDM signal at higher values of ÃŽ ¼ or A. A nonlinear companding transform [18] has been proposed by Jiang et al. to effectively reduce the PAPR of the OFDM signal. In this scheme [18], the Gaussian distributed in-phase (I) and quadrature-phase (Q) components of discrete time complex OFDM signal are transformed into a quasi-uniform distribution. In this scheme, the companding function is separately applied to I and Q components of the OFDM signal. The large values of I or Q components of the OFDM signal are compressed, whereas thos e with small I and Q components are enlarged. The PAPR reduction capability and BER performance of this scheme [18], can be optimized by properly choosing the parameters of the companding function. Jiang et al. proposed â€Å"Exponential Companding (EC)† scheme [19] to transform Rayleigh distributed OFDM signal magnitude into uniform distribution. Exponential companding has the advantage of maintaining the constant average power level in the nonlinear companding operation. However, the distribution of large signals is increased by the uniform companding, which makes the PAPR reduction was very limited under the bit error rate (BER) performance degradation. In this paper proposed technique transform the Rayleigh distributed OFDM signal magnitude into Quadrilateral distribution function as shown in figure 2 to achieve an additional degree of freedom over TC [22]. The parameters of quadrilateral distribution are chosen in such a way that it produces least possible companding dis tortion to achieve low BER for a given PAPR. The remainder of this paper is organized as follows: In section II, the OFDM system model with quadrilateral companding. The proposed quadrilateral companding and decompanding functions are derived in section III. Mathematical analysis of the PAPR performance of proposed scheme is presented in section IV, simulation results for PAPR performances of the proposed scheme are presented and discussed in the same section and conclusion is summarized in section V. SYSTEM MODEL The block diagram of an OFDM system using companding scheme for PAPR reduction is shown in Fig. 1. Here, I have considered an OFDM system with N subcarriers, in which each of the subcarrier is each of the subcarrier is modulated by M-PSK or M-QAM. As shown in Figure 1.The input binary data sequence is first converted into N parallel data substreams and then these are mapped to the constellation points of M- PSK or M-QAM to achieve desired modulation on each of the subcarriers. After this, subcarrier modulation is performed using IFFT block to obtain the discrete time domain OFDM signal. Let be the N complex modulated data symbols to be transmitted over N subcarriers. The discrete time domain OFDM signal generated after taking IFFT of a block of N modulated data symbols. Discrete time domain OFDM signal is passed through the parallel to serial (S/P) converter and then applied to the compander for reducing the dynamic range or PAPR of the OFDM signal. The companded OFDM signal is appl ied to digital to analog (D/A) converter to get analog signal and then finally amplified using HPA. At the receiver, the received signal is first converted into digital signal using A/D converter. Data in Data out Figure 1. Block diagram of OFDM with companding The digital signal is then expanded by inverse companding function known as decomapnding function. After that subcarrier demodulation is performed by taking the FFT of OFDM signal obtained from expander. Finally, M-PSK or M-QAM decoder is used to decode the received data signal.      PROPOSED COMPANDING TECHNIQUE The quadrilateral companding function h(x) is a nonlinear companding function. It transforms the original probability distribution function of OFDM signal magnitude into a quadrilateral distribution as shown in Figure 2, and hence the name â€Å"Quadrilateral Companding Transform†.This may also be called nonlinear generalized companding transform. Figure 2. Quadrilateral distribution for proposed QCT The symbols notation used throughout this paper are listed in Table 1 for convenience. Table 1: List of symbols used in QCT kth modulated data symbol nth sample of discrete time domain OFDM Signal PDF of original OFDM signal (without companding) CDF of original OFDM signal (without companding) PDF of OFDM signal after companding CDF of OFDM signal after companding Upper-bound of the peak value of OFDM signal Quadrilateral Companding function Quadrilateral Decompanding function The pdf of quadrilateral trapezium distribution can be read from Figure 2 as where h1 , h2, l, a and b are the parameters of quadrilateral distribution as shown in the Figure 2.These parameters (h1 , h2, l, a and b) control the nonlinearity of the companding functions. The cumulative distribution function (CDF) of quadrilateral distribution function can be calculated using the following relationship (2) Using (1) and (2) we have Quadrilateral distribution function is bounded in the interval [0,l]. Like EC, TC and TDBC, in this scheme also average power of the OFDM signal before and after companding is kept same, therefore we have (3) As shown in Figure 2, the PDF of quadrilateral trapezium companded OFDM signal lies in the interval [0,l] , therefore, we have, (4) For given values of l, a and b, the parameters ( h1 , h2 ) of the companding function h(x) can be easily calculated using (3) and (4). Therefore, three parameters (l, a and b ) can be chosen independently to control the nonlinearity of companding function h(x) . Hence the proposed QCT has three degree of freedoms. The values of l, a and b should be chosen independently to provide low PAPR and BER. The expression of QCT function h(x) can be derived after equating the CDF of original and companded OFDM signal. Therefore, we have Where is the CDF of original OFDM signal given by following: (5) Therefore we have The output of the N-point Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) of are the OFDM signal sample over one symbol interval, or mathematically, Where E [.] denotes the expectation operator. PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS In [22], the PAPR and BER performance of TC has been evaluated for (a = 0.4,b = 0.1 and l = 1.633) , (a = 0.2,b = 0.7 and l = 2.164) , (a = 0,b = 0 and l = 1.732) , (a = 0.9, b = 0.1 and l = 1.488) and (a = 0,b = 1 and l = 2.449) , here we refer to them as ‘TC-1’, ‘TC-2’, ‘EC’, ‘TC-3’ and ‘TC-4’ respectively. In [22], it has been shown that TC-3 provides the best PAPR reduction capability among all the cases under consideration, but its BER performance is very poor, on the other extreme TC-4 provides very less PAPR reduction. Therefore, we ignore these two cases (TC-3 and TC-4) and the remaining three cases i.e. (TC-1, TC-2 and EC), which offer reasonable PAPR are considered in my simulations for comparison with the proposed scheme. To show the outperformance of the proposed scheme (QCT), the PAPR and BER performances are evaluated for two sets of companding function parameters i.e. (a = 0.2,b = 0.7,l = 2.174, h1 = 0.8596 and h2 = 0.8275) and (a = 0.4,b = 0.1,l = 1.643, h1 = 0.8276 and h2 = 0.7874) . Here, we call them as ‘QCT-1’ and ‘QCT-2’. Figure 3. PAPR performance comparision of original and companded signal Figure 4. BER performance comparison of various  companding schemes CONCLUSION The QCT provides extra degrees of freedom to design the companding function and hence by choosing the suitable values of design parameters of the proposed companding function, a good trade-off between the PAPR reduction and the BER can be achieved. The proposed QCT provides better PAPR reduction and BER performance in comparison to TC, EC and TDBC. QCT can achieve a minimum PAPR of 0dB, whereas TC and EC can achieve a minimum PAPR of 3dB and 4.771dB respectively. QCT-2 has superior PAPR performance in comparison to QCT-1 but its BER performance is inferior in comparison to QCT-1. References L. J. Cimini, â€Å"Analysis and simulation of a digital mobile channel using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing,† IEEE Trans. Comm., vol. 33, no. 7, pp. 665–675, July 1985. J. Bingham, â€Å"Multicarrier modulation for data transmission: an idea whose time has come,† IEEE Commun. Mag., vol. 28, no. 5, pp. 5–14, May 1990. M. Schwartz, Mobile Wireless Communications. Cambridge University Press, 2005. V. Nee, G. Awater, M. Morikura, H. Takanashi, M. Webster, and K. W. Halford, â€Å"New high-rate wireless LAN standards,† IEEE Commun. Mag., vol. 37, no. 12, pp. 82–88, December 1999. I. Koffman and V. Roman, â€Å"Broadband wireless access solution based on OFDM access in IEEE 802.16,† IEEE Commun. Mag., vol. 40, no. 4, pp. 96–103, April 2002. Van Nee R., Prasad R., OFDM for wireless Multimedia Communications, Artech House, 2003. Weinstein S. B., Ebert P. M., â€Å"Data Transmission for Frequency-Division Multiplexing Using the Discrete Fourier Transform,† IEEE Transactions on Commun. Tech., vol. 19,no. 5, pp. 628–34, Oct. 1971 Chang R. W., â€Å"Synthesis of band-limited orthogonal signals for multichannel datatransmission†, Bell Systems Technical Journal, vol. 46, pp. 1775-1796, Dec. 1966. Despain A. M., â€Å"Very Fast Fourier Transform Algorithms Hardware for Implementation†, IEEE Trans. Comp., Vol. C-28, no. 5, pp. 333-341, May 1979. Bidet E., Castelain D., Joanblanq C., Senn P., â€Å"A fast single-chip implementation of 8192 complex point FFT†, IEEE Journal of Solid State Circ., Vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 300-305,Mar. 1995. Chow P.S., Tu J.C. and Cioffi J.M., â€Å"Performance Evaluation of a Multichannel Transceiver System for ADSL and VHDSL services, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Comm., vol. 9,no. 6, Aug. 1991. R. V. Nee and A. D. Wild, â€Å"Reducing the peak-to-average power ratio of OFDM,† in Proc. IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC), vol. 3, New York, NY, USA, 1998, pp. 2072–2076. Tao Jiang and Yiyan Wu, â€Å"An Overview: Peak-to-average power ratio reduction techniques for OFDM signals†, IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting, vol. 54, no. 2, pp. 257–268, June 2008. O’Neill R., Lopes L. B., â€Å"Envelope variations and spectral splatter in clipped multicarrier signals,† in Proc. IEEE PIMRC’95, Toronto, Canada, pp. 71–75, Sept. 1995. Li X., Cimini Jr. L.J., â€Å"Effect of Clipping and Filtering on Performance of OFDM†, IEEE Comm. Letters, vol. 2, no. 5, pp.131-133, July 1998. Armstrong J., â€Å"Peak-to-average power reduction for OFDM by repeated clipping and frequencydomain filtering†, Electronics Letters, vol. 38, no. 5, pp. 246–247, Feb. 2002. Chen H., Haimmovich A. M., â€Å"Iterative estimation and cancellation of clipping noise for OFDM signals,† IEEE Comm. Letters, vol. 7, no. 5, pp.246-247, July 2003. Jiang T., Xiang W., Richardson P. C., Qu D., Zhu G., â€Å"On the Nonlinear Companding Transform for Reduction in PAPR of MCM Signals†, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 6, no. 6, pp.2017-2021, June 2007. Jiang T., Yang Y., Song Y., â€Å"Exponential companding transform for PAPR reduction in OFDM systems†, IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting, vol. 51, no. 2, pp. 244–248, June 2005. Huang X., Lu J. H., Zheng J. L., Letaief K. B., Gu J., â€Å"Companding transform for reduction inpeak-to-average power ratio of OFDM signals†, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Comm., vol. 3, no. 6, pp. 2030–2039, Nov. 2004. Aburakhia S. A., Badran E. F., Mohamed D. A. E., â€Å"Linear Companding Transform for the Reduction of Peak-to-Average Power Ratio of OFDM Signals†, IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting, vol. 55, no. 1, pp. 195-200, March 2009. Hou J., Ge J. H., Li J., â€Å"Trapezoidal companding scheme for peak-to-average power ratio reduction of OFDM signals†, Electronics Letters, vol. 45, no. 25, pp. 1349-1351, Dec. 2009. Jeng S. S., Chen J. M., â€Å"Efficient PAPR reduction in OFDM system based on a companding techniques with trapezium distribution†, IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting, vol. 57, no. 2, pp. 291-298, June 2011. T. Hwang, C. Yang, G. Wu, S. Li, and G. Y. Lee, â€Å"OFDM and its wireless application: A survey,† IEEE Trans. Veh. Technol., vol. 58, no. 4, pp. 1673–1694, May 2009. Y. Wang and B. Ai, â€Å"PAPR reduction in OFDM systems via nonlinear companding transform†, in 8th International Conference on Wireless Communications, Networking and Mobile Computing (WiCOM), pp. 172-175, Sept. 2012.

A IMPORTANCIA DO USO DA MUSICA

A IMPORTANCIA DO USO DA MUSICA A IMPORTANCIA DO USO DA MUSICA PARA O ENSINO DA LINGUA INGLESA A importAncia do uso da mUsica para o ensino da là ¬ngua inglesa RESUMO A cada dia surgem novos metodos e propostas que pretendem auxiliar no aprendizado da là ¬ngua inglesa de forma efetiva. Porem, ao tentar usar formas inovadoras o profissional da area de là ¬nguas estrangeiras se depara com um problema muito comum: o aluno escuta, mas nà £o compreende, escreve, mas nà £o cria a là ¬ngua escrita, repete expressoes e palavras, mas nà £o fala. Ou seja, nà £o se comunica, realmente, numa segunda là ¬ngua. e importante entender que o sucesso na aquisià §Ãƒ £o de uma nova là ¬ngua requer comprometimento e participaà §Ãƒ £o total por parte do aluno. Metodologias rejuvenescidas, ou a aplicaà §Ãƒ £o de regras, nà £o significam aprendizado efetivo. O educando precisa se sentir familiarizado com a là ¬ngua; necessita sentir-se parte deste meio. A mUsica tem esse poder de abrir caminhos e ligar conceitos e ideias. Ela consegue propagar ate aspectos culturais de uma determinada regià £o, usando uma combinaà §Ãƒ £o de linguagem sonora, verbal e, muitas vezes, visual. Ferreira (2009) comenta que desde os primà ³rdios da humanidade, a mUsica ja servia de subsà ¬dio para as primeiras manifestaà §oes verbais orais da humanidade. A partir desta constataà §Ãƒ £o, este estudo pretende apresentar e ressaltar a importAncia da mUsica, como auxiliadora na aprendizagem da là ¬ngua estrangeira (LE), neste caso, a là ¬ngua inglesa (L2). O objetivo e mostrar que o uso da mUsica pode auxiliar o educando no desenvolvimento das quatro habilidades: compreensà £o auditiva, compreensà £o oral, leitura e escrita. PALAVRAS-CHAVE MUsica. Aprendizado. Desenvolvimento. Comunicaà §Ãƒ £o. A importAncia do uso da mUsica para o ensino da là ¬ngua inglesa 1 Introduà §Ãƒ £o O ser humano e um ser musical. Podemos notar isso em qualquer tipo de evento ou comemoraà §Ãƒ £o. A mUsica e usada para expressar sentimentos ou mesmo para traduzir o grau de importAncia que cada um tem sobre determinado evento em sua vida. Porem alem de manifestaà §Ãƒ £o pessoal segundo Ferreira (2009) com a mUsica, e possà ¬vel ainda despertar e desenvolver nos aluno sensibilidades mais aguà §adas na observaà §Ãƒ £o de questoes prà ³prias à   disciplina alvo. Sendo assim, ao utilizarmos a mUsica em aulas de là ¬ngua inglesa, podemos despertar o desejo e o envolvimento do aluno, considerando tambem que ela e uma forma de comunicaà §Ãƒ £o comumente usada entre grupos em conversas, trocas de mensagens, lazer, festas, encontros, principalmente entre pessoas mais jovens. Porem nà £o podemos desconsiderar que, por vezes, a mUsica e caracterizada como outra linguagem, e dessa forma, pode apresentar barreiras ao profissional que intencione dela fazer uso, mas que nà £o domina essa tecnica ou   que se sente desconfortavel neste tipo de atividade. Nà £o e desconhecido que um dos grandes problemas enfrentados pelo professor de là ¬ngua estrangeira e o de procurar formas ou adaptar materiais para que o seu aluno aprenda e desenvolva os conhecimentos da là ¬ngua estrangeira. E mesmo quando, apà ³s pesquisas e tentativas, se desenvolve uma forma mais pratica de transmissà £o de dados e informaà §oes, o professor se depara com a falta de interesse do aluno, pois este percebe que seu aprendizado nà £o e completamente satisfatà ³rio. Qual educando nà £o se desencanta ao perceber que seu aprendizado da là ¬ngua estrangeira nà £o o habilita e capacita a se comunicar? Nerici (1985, p.11) afirma que praticar atividades nas quais o indivà ¬duo se revele mais eficiente; faz com que ele se sinta capaz, o que lhe confere auto-confianà §a. Alem disto, toda a atividade educativa deveria ser motivada na realidade. Esta deveria ser a fonte de motivaà §Ãƒ £o para se educar ou ensinar uma disciplina, principalmente quando falamos de linguagem e comunicaà §Ãƒ £o. Devemos aproximar o aluno da là ¬ngua e nà £o afasta-lo. Rivers (1975) menciona que a maneira ideal de desenvolver ao maximo a habilidade oral seria viver entre os falantes da là ¬ngua alvo. Acontece que, na nossa realidade brasileira, nem todos os alunos podem viajar, mesmo que por um espaà §o curto de tempo, para um paà ¬s falante de là ¬ngua inglesa, neste caso, a fim de praticar o que vem aprendendo em seu conteUdo escolar e ampliar seu vocabulario. Um dos principais fatores no aprendizado de uma là ¬ngua estrangeira e a habilidade e oportunidade de pratica-la, testar sua elasticidade[1] (Rivers, 2000 p.94, traduà §Ãƒ £o minha[2]). Para que o educando tenha o melhor aproveitamento da là ¬ngua inglesa, o professor muitas vezes, precisa descobrir ou adaptar tecnicas que propiciem bons resultados de aprendizagem. O material didatico atualmente usado em algumas instituià §oes educacionais ou escolas de idiomas, em certos aspectos, nà £o fornece bases necessarias para o real aprendizado de um idioma estrangeiro. Sà £o livros muitas vezes compostos de conteUdo ultrapassado ou que nà £o condiz com a realidade. Ou seja, a là ¬ngua inglesa que se ensina nà £o e a que e falada, por um falante nativo. Como consequà ªncia, por vezes o aluno se sente desmotivado, pois nà £o se acha capacitado em aprender a L.E. , ou simplesmente por nà £o entender o que e falado em series de TV, filmes, programas de variedades etc. E o pior e que essa desmotivaà §Ãƒ £o pode afetar diretamente o educador, que nà £o và ª o resultado de seu esforà §o em ensinar a L2. O educando precisa se familiarizar com a realidade. Essa realidade deve ser atraente a ele, a fim de que este queira conhecà ª-la, e sinta que pode atuar nela. Metodologias especializadas para o ensino de là ¬nguas estrangeiras orientam enfaticamente que um bom aprendizado requer interaà §Ãƒ £o entre aluno e là ¬ngua a ser aprendida, mediada ou liderada por um professor. Este professor deve ter, como qualidades essenciais, um grau de lideranà §a tanto quanto sensibilidade, percepà §Ãƒ £o e afeto. Quando um professor demonstra essas qualidades, os alunos perdem o receio de se atrapalharem com os exercà ¬cios, principalmente diante dos colegas, pelo contrario, tà ªm desejo de interagir e se expressar. Acrescido a isso, o uso de materiais como filmes, jornais e textos de gà ªneros variados, mUsicas e a interaà §Ãƒ £o com os costumes, farà £o   com que esses alunos compartilhem suas opinioes acerca da cultura da là ¬ngua alvo (Rivers, 2000). 2   MUsica para ensinar Ferreira (2009 p.14) define que uma comunicaà §Ãƒ £o efetiva e Compreender aquilo que faà §o com a maneira pessoal de expressar-me e ser compreendido por aqueles que me cercam. Rivers (1975), por sua vez, afirma que a aprendizagem da habilidade auditiva e de compreensà £o deve ser desenvolvida com exercà ¬cios para os estagios de identificaà §Ãƒ £o e retenà §Ãƒ £o. Nà £o estamos apenas falando do exercà ¬cio de retenà §Ãƒ £o de informaà §oes e repetià §Ãƒ £o de palavras, mas sim da real comunicaà §Ãƒ £o com um mundo globalizado, sendo assim, com linguagens e sinais. Trabalhar com exercà ¬cios que fogem da realidade ou que sà £o construà §oes artificiais nà £o produzira o resultado esperado de aprendizado, pelo contrario, pode confundir o aluno na hora em que a este forem requeridas a compreensà £o ou comunicaà §Ãƒ £o na là ¬ngua alvo. Rivers (1975) faz objeà §Ãƒ £o a afirmativa de que se ao aluno forem ensinadas a leitura, a escrita e a gramatica de uma maneira adequada, ele aprendera a falar rapidamente, de maneira fluente e natural, no momento em que se encontrar numa situaà §Ãƒ £o em que o uso oral da là ¬ngua lhe seja importante. Analisando o aprendizado, de uma forma geral, nà £o podemos deixar de constatar que e essencial o interesse do aluno. Sera uma tarefa ardua e inglà ³ria tentar desenvolver algum tipo de habilidade em alguem que nà £o sente empatia pelo assunto a ser estudado; ela deve ser despertada. Nerici (1985, p.12) afirma que o conhecer algo traz como consequà ªncia empatia acompanhada de um agir responsavel em relaà §Ãƒ £o a esse mesmo algo. Ao entrar em contato com o universo que e a là ¬ngua estrangeira, e neste caso, com o auxà ¬lio da mUsica, o aluno tende a se aprofundar, por empatia, no conhecimento e na aquisià §Ãƒ £o gramatical, lexical, cultural da L.E. . Aos poucos, este educando vai ampliando seu conhecimento, promovendo assim seu efetivo aprendizado. Nà £o se trata apenas do conhecer informal, mecAnico, mas de um conhecimento vivo. Atraves de metodos, analises e releituras de formas de ensino, nà ³s professores podemos criar uma ponte entre o aluno e o conhecimento, de uma maneira agradavel, interessante e ampla. A realidade que nos deparamos quando observamos alunos dentro do contexto escolar por vezes e preocupante. Existem educandos que sà £o naturalmente propensos ao estudo e ao desenvolvimento de uma L.E. Mas sà £o alguns. Deparamo-nos com um grupo que e falante de uma mesma là ¬ngua materna, porem com propà ³sitos e motivaà §oes e interpretaà §oes particulares. (Brown, 2001). Se os educandos hoje sà £o ecleticos, e o que os norteia tem diferentes cores e formas, nà ³s, enquanto professores, precisamos encontrar um ponto em comum, ou pelo menos, tentar desenvolver atividades que mantenham a dinAmica da aula e proporcionem a aquisià §Ãƒ £o da là ¬ngua estrangeira. A interaà §Ãƒ £o entre a sua abordagem e a atividade em sala de aula e a chave para o dinamismo no ensino. Os melhores professores sempre correm alguns riscos calculados em sala de aula, tentando uma ou outra atividade nova. [3] (Brown, 2001 p.40). A proposta e a abordagem de exercà ¬cios que usam   esta estrategia para exercitar a memà ³ria (aquisià §Ãƒ £o de vocabulario); as habilidades cognitivas (raciocà ¬nio e significado de expressoes); e afetivas (simpatia pelo grupo e/ou cantor). Nà £o se trata mais de privilegiar a gramatica ou a comunicaà §Ãƒ £o, mas de promover o conhecimento e o reconhecimento de si e do outro. Brown (2001) sugere que o professor motive os seus alunos por meio de atividades que desenvolvam compreensà £o, autoconfianà §a, interesse pela là ¬ngua e cultura. Segundo Rivers (1987) a mUsica promove interaà §Ãƒ £o nà £o somente do aluno-aluno, mas tambem do professor-aluno. Ha uma troca de conhecimentos e discussà £o sobre determinado aspecto, dentro da mUsica que esta sendo utilizada em determinado exercà ¬cio. Atividades musicais tà ªm a capacidade de promover e desenvolver quatro estagios ou habilidades: preparaà §Ãƒ £o, compreensà £o, expressà £o e reaà §Ãƒ £o. e por esse motivo   que e um recurso que promove resultados satisfatà ³rios tanto para   o professor quanto ao aluno. O uso de mUsica e canà §oes de maneira organizada, com letras de facil interpretaà §Ãƒ £o e com pouca repetià §Ãƒ £o descansa o grupo de alunos, quando eles està £o envolvidos em atividades gramaticais, por exemplo. Ha tambem outro fator importante que e a motivaà §Ãƒ £o. O educando que esta motivado com determinado exercà ¬cio tem melhor resultado. Rivers (2000, p.95) afirma que ha um elemento motivacional especà ¬fico no ensino de mUsicas em là ¬ngua estrangeira. Em inglà ªs, que e a là ¬ngua da mUsica pop, este fator motivacional e evidente. [4]   De fato, a mUsica da acesso à   parte reacional do aluno, fazendo-o sentir o que esta sendo dito ou a mensagem que se esta passando atraves da letra. (Rivers, 2000). A mUsica e uma das maneiras que usamos para nos exprimir e interagir com o outro. E por ser uma ferramenta poderosa de comunicaà §Ãƒ £o, e possà ¬vel usa-la no aprendizado da là ¬ngua, para facilitar a compreensà £o e a absorà §Ãƒ £o do insumo de conhecimento teà ³rico. A tecnologia eletrà ´nica, atualmente, facilita de forma ampla o uso da mUsica em sala de aula, pois hoje, e muito facil ao aluno e ao professor disporem de aparelhos portateis, ou ainda, ter acesso a uma vasta e diversificada quantidade de mUsicas via internet. No entanto, toda essa diversidade musical deve ser usada de maneira direcionada. Do contrario, o aprendizado com a mUsica passara a ser sà ³ mais uma aula com mUsica. Quase um passatempo. Existem diversas formas musicais. Dentro dessas formas, distribuem-se os varios gà ªneros. A escolha do gà ªnero mais adequado para um resultado satisfatà ³rio no aprendizado e absorà §Ãƒ £o por parte do aluno e de extrema relevAncia. Ferreira (2009 p.25) ressalta que hoje sabemos a relaà §Ãƒ £o à ¬ntima que a mUsica tem, por exemplo, com disciplinas como a arte (em geral), a là ¬ngua (portuguesa, inglesa, italiana, latina etc), a histà ³ria, a matematica, a fà ¬sica [. . . ] Trata-se de uma arte extremamente rica e que dispoe de farto e vasto repertà ³rio, acessà ¬vel em qualquer lugar no nosso planeta. No entanto, quando nos propomos a usar a mUsica associada a uma outra disciplina, que nà £o a prà ³pria arte musical e suas caracterà ¬sticas, constatamos que o aluno associa essa atividade ao lazer e diversà £o e nà £o especificamente ao aprendizado. Nà £o e incomum os educandos nà £o levarem as aulas com mUsica a serio, o que pode causar desordem e barulho, atrapalhando inclusive salas vizinhas. Esta constataà §Ãƒ £o nà £o e notada somente nos alunos; o prà ³prio professor pode ter influenciado este tipo de comportamento, ao tratar atividades com mUsica, nas aulas de inglà ªs, de maneira inapropriada. Para que problemas provenientes da falta de organizaà §Ãƒ £o e inabilidade sejam evitados, a mUsica que sera usada nas aulas deve ser cuidadosamente avaliada; da mesma forma que seu conteUdo e qualidade do audio. Sons baixos, ruidosos, gravaà §oes de baixa qualidade e de difà ¬cil compreensà £o mais incomodam que auxiliam Canà §oes em inglà ªs, a exemplo de milhares de outras canà §oes, nà £o tà ªm a intenà §Ãƒ £o de ensinar a là ¬ngua inglesa. Para sua composià §Ãƒ £o, seus autores usam as mais variadas composià §oes linguà ¬sticas e recursos estilà ¬sticos, expressoes idiomaticas, gà ¬rias, para expressar um ponto de vista, um aspecto cultural, fazer um protesto contra injustià §a social ou polà ¬tica. E toda essa combinaà §Ãƒ £o permite-nos introduzir o aluno na cultura da L2. Tomemos, como exemplo, um trecho retirado da mUsica Crazy[5], do grupo norte-americano Simple Plan. Tell me whats wrong with society. When everywhere I look I see. Young girls dying to be on TV. Wont stop til. Theyve reached their dreams. Diet pills, surgery. Photoshop pictures in magazines. Telling them how they should be. It doesnt make sense to me Nestas duas estrofes podemos encontrar aspectos culturais atuais: (Garotas morrendo para aparecem na TV[6]); podemos abordar o uso de contraà §oes, muito comuns na là ¬ngua falada (Whats, til);   alem de explicar ou mesmo retomar os Modal Verbs (Does/doesnt, Will/wont).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Para que a mUsica, uma forma de linguagem que apresenta em sua composià §Ãƒ £o aspectos complexos, seja usada com sucesso, o professor deve dedicar-se ao seu estudo, procurando compreendà ª-la, considerando os sons e ritmos variados, ou seja, a sua amplitude. Este professor deve estar disposto a aceitar o desafio, vencer a timidez, caso nà £o o tenha feito ainda, de usar e disponibilizar tanto a tecnologia, quanto de seu prà ³prio talento musical. Deve explorar e desenvolver atividades musicais a fim de ampliar aspectos culturais, como expressoes idiomaticas, gà ¬rias, abreviaà §oes e coloquialismos. E ficar atento aos resultados que o uso de mUsicas em sala de aula pode lhe proporcionar. Nà £o se trata de aprofundamento na teoria musical, ou suas raà ¬zes e histà ³ria. A proposta aqui e fazer uma ponte entre a disciplina de là ¬ngua inglesa e a mUsica. A mUsica alem da arte de combinar sons, e uma maneira de exprimir-se e interagir com o outro, e portanto, devemos compreendà ª-la. (Ferreira, 2009). 3 Inteligà ªncias MUltiplas na sala de aula Inteligà ªncia musical A escola com a qual trabalhamos hoje passa por mudanà §as significativas a cada dia. Sà £o novas tecnologias, novas metodologias. O aluno esta muito mais crà ¬tico ao aprendizado, e fà ³rmulas muitas vezes usadas nas salas de aulas nà £o dà £o mais o mesmo resultado. A escola que nà ³s educadores visualizamos busca estimular o profundo entendimento dos alunos a utilizarem conhecimentos adquiridos para resolverem tarefas e problemas com os quais se deparam na comunidade e ambiente em que vivem (Gardner, 1993 apud Armstrong, 2001). O aluno hoje, nà £o deve aprender somente teoria. Ele deve usar toda a informaà §Ãƒ £o adquirida em prol de seu desenvolvimento e inserà §Ãƒ £o num mercado cada vez mais global. Mas para que esse convà ¬vio real, numa sociedade bilà ¬ngue aconteà §a, a escola de hoje tem a missà £o de mediar ou auxiliar esse aluno. O està ¬mulo ao uso e compreensà £o da L2 deve acontecer de forma familiar. Isso evitara o fracasso do professor, e derrubara problemas inerentes à   abordagem sou obrigado a aprender uma L2, discurso muito comum encontrado hoje em dia. A proposta e o uso de algum mecanismo que faà §a esse aluno se sentir familiarizado com tanta mudanà §a à   sua volta. Na Europa Oriental, ha vinte e cinco anos, pesquisadores em educaà §Ãƒ £o descobriram que os alunos conseguiam gravar mais informaà §oes na memà ³ria se escutassem a exposià §Ãƒ £o da materia, pelo professor, com sons musicais ao fundo. E se a mUsica promove este conforto e sucesso, essa descoberta e uma forte aliada para qualquer professor de là ¬nguas. Porem nà £o podemos desconsiderar que quando falamos do uso da mUsica, tambem temos outros fatores envolvidos em resultados satisfatà ³rios. Ha alunos que, naturalmente, sà £o predispostos à   linguagem musical. Sà £o aqueles que tà ªm uma aptidà £o nata à   mUsica. Neste caso, o uso desta linguagem para o aprendizado tera excelente resultado, pois estarà £o envolvidos alem da aquisià §Ãƒ £o de conhecimentos, o fator emocional, o prazer, a receptividade. Quanto aos educandos que nà £o possuem uma inteligà ªncia musical nata, se houver o desenvolvimento de atividades que propiciem integraà §Ãƒ £o e comprometimento no aprendizado, os resultados tambem serà £o satisfatà ³rios. Isso vale tambem para desenvolver tal habilidade em educadores, se estes se considerarem nà £o possuidores de inteligà ªncia musical. Devemos lembrar que ao falar de atividades com mUsica nà £o estamos considerando somente o cantar em grupo, ou mesmo, repetir palavras dentro de um contexto. Estamos abordando tecnicas e exercà ¬cios de concentraà §Ãƒ £o, predisposià §Ãƒ £o e relacionamento com uma determinada atividade linguà ¬stica. Nà £o e tarefa facil definir padroes de enquadramento, para se chegar num consenso se um aluno e ou nà £o possuidor de inteligà ªncia musical[7]. E tambem o objetivo principal e o aprendizado atraves da mUsica, resultando em desenvolvimento pessoal e intelectual. e importante sempre considerar que o mais importante em qualquer tipo de aula, ou atividade diferenciada, que se desvie do padrà £o e o resultado para a pessoa do aluno. Antes de levarmos adiante qualquer tipo de modelo de aprendizagem em um ambiente de sala de aula, baseado tambem, dentre tantas outras consideraà §oes, na inteligà ªncia musical, devemos primeiro aplica-lo a nà ³s mesmos como educadores. Armstrong (2001) nos adverte que um passo importante no uso da Teoria das Inteligà ªncias MUltiplas e determinar a natureza e a qualidade das nossas prà ³prias inteligà ªncias mUltiplas, buscando maneiras de desenvolvà ª-las na nossa vida. Somos educadores, mas tambem somos aprendizes. A melhor maneira de avaliar o desempenho de nossos alunos, e explorar de forma significativa as inteligà ªncias e examinando de maneira realista nosso desempenho diante das tarefas que propomos aos nossos alunos. Em vez de realizar tarefas com os alunos, podemos desempenha-las juntamente a eles. Por exemplo, podemos propor um teste, cujas perguntas se enquadrem numa avaliaà §Ãƒ £o das inteligà ªncias separadamente. A partir das respostas, alem de conseguirmos entender mais profundamente a sala, poderemos explorar e despertar o interesse dos alunos, de forma interpessoal. Perguntas como Aprender uma là ¬ngua estrangeira (inglà ªs) e relativamente facil para mim? ou Ouà §o as palavras em minha cabeà §a antes de là ª-las, fala-las ou escrevà ª-las? para medir a Inteligà ªncia linguà ¬stica; ou mesmo Minha vida seria mais pobre se nela nà £o houvesse mUsica? e ainda Conheà §o a melodia e a letra de muitas mUsicas? para medir a Inteligà ªncia Musical seria um exercà ¬cio revelador e envolvente para toda a sala. A teoria das inteligà ªncias mUltiplas e um modelo atrativo e interessante para nos auxiliar. Ela serve para avaliarmos a sala, como um todo, mas a nà ³s mesmos, pois nos desafia a superarmos nossas prà ³prias dificuldades e limitaà §oes. Armstrong (2001 p.32) orienta-nos da seguinte forma: Se vocà ª nà £o tem ideias para levar a mUsica à   sala de aula porque sua inteligà ªncia musical e pouco desenvolvida, pense em pedir ajuda à   professora de mUsica da escola ou a um colega com inclinaà §oes musicais. Cada aluno tem inclinaà §oes diferentes nas inteligà ªncias mUltiplas. Portanto, sabemos que determinados exercà ¬cios que usam ritmos e cAnticos serà £o bem aceitos por uns e rejeitados por outros. Devido a essa diferenà §a inerente a qualquer grupo heterogà ªneo, o professor pode usar estrategias variadas para a mesma aula. Aquele aluno que tem inclinaà §oes mais fà ¬sicas e verbais, por exemplo, podera nà £o se interessar por atividades musicais, mas apreciara exercà ¬cios do tipo preencha as lacunas ou complete o restante que falta na frase e assim por diante. Ja à  queles que apreciam o ritmo e a melodia, sera interessante exercà ¬cios orais e repetià §Ãƒ £o de expressoes e estruturas complexas, por exemplo, os phrasal verbs ou tempos verbais. Ao falar do exercà ¬cio da inteligà ªncia musical, Alvarez (2002) remete-nos ao fato de que tanto na Idade Media quanto no Renascimento, a mUsica ja era considerada um dos quatro grandes pilares da aprendizagem, juntamente à   geometria, a astronomia e a aritmetica. Armstrong (2001 p.83) reforà §a sua importAncia, relatando-nos que por milhares de anos, conhecimentos foram transmitidos de geraà §Ãƒ £o em geraà §Ãƒ £o por meio de mUsicas ou cAnticos. No seculo XX, os publicitarios descobriram que os jingles musicais ajudam as pessoas a lembrar o produto de seu cliente. Os educadores, todavia, demoraram mais para reconhecer a importAncia da mUsica na aprendizagem. Como resultado, a maioria de nà ³s tem milhares de jingles musicais comerciais na memà ³ria a longo prazo, mas relativamente poucas mUsicas relacionadas à   escola. Podemos ate criar um ritmo moderno, um rap ou um cAntico, associado à   aula que queremos explanar. Por exemplo, se colocarmos um ponto central que queremos ensinar numa aula expositiva, de forma rà ¬tmica, com repetià §oes, a sala toda podera se envolver tanto no conteUdo quanto no ritmo. Esse exercà ¬cio e muito comum entre os alunos, e sà ³ observar alunos cantarolando mUsicas e palavras em inglà ªs, nos corredores das escolas. Outro exercà ¬cio e convidar os alunos a criarem seus prà ³prios jingles ou canà §oes sobre o tema a ser estudado. Esse exercà ¬cio ajudara os alunos a sintetizarem a materia e a aplicaà §Ãƒ £o dos significados aprendidos, alem de proporcionar uma atmosfera mais descontraà ¬da e emocional para a aula. Se o professor tocar algum instrumento de percussà £o, ou qualquer outro instrumento musical tambem sera uma à ³tima contribuià §Ãƒ £o para bons resultados. Alem disso, podemos encontrar frases musicais, ou trechos de canà §oes que resumam algum ponto essencial da materia estudada. Tambem e possà ¬vel falar sobre literatura, usando ritmos opostos para sugerir situaà §oes mais calmas ou tensas, da peà §a Romeu e Julieta de Shakespeare, por exemplo. Armstrong (2001). Essas estrategias oferecem um grau de amplitude e criatividade consideraveis tanto para os alunos, quanto para os professores. O desafio maior   aqui e vencer a resistà ªncia quanto à   timidez e o envolvimento com o grupo que se esta trabalhando. 4 Traduà §oes e Versoes Existem hoje diversas formas, com resultados satisfatà ³rios, de se trabalhar com a mUsica em sala de aula. Podemos citar os exercà ¬cios mais comuns de preencha as lacunas em branco ate praticas mais elaboradas de traduà §oes. Atualmente e muito facil encontrar mUsicas na internet, que dispoem de traduà §oes. Isso pode ser considerado uma à ³tima estrategia de ensino pela facilidade e disponibilidade tanto para o professor quanto para o aluno. Considerando essa disponibilidade tecnolà ³gica, acessà ¬vel ate para as escolas de menor poder aquisitivo, podemos trabalhar uma analise de letras de hinos, poesias cantadas, canà §oes (esta Ultima muito mais comum e de facil traduà §Ãƒ £o). Nà £o podemos negar que muito do que e traduzido aos alunos, provem de nossa prà ³pria experià ªncia como professores ou tradutores. Porem, existem traduà §oes que sà £o verdadeiras perolas para a compreensà £o. Vejamos o exemplo da mUsica Im not dog no, de Falcà £o e Tarcà ¬sio Matos, uma versà £o do portuguà ªs para o inglà ªs da canà §Ãƒ £o Eu nà £o sou cachorro nà £o[8], de Waldick Soriano. A mUsica foi traduzida ao pe da letra. Sabemos que foi intencional, porem, com o uso desta canà §Ãƒ £o, o professor podera trazer à   tona erros que devem ser evitados ao lidar com letras e traduà §oes, e assim explicar expressoes idiomaticas e coloquialismos. Im not dog no, for live so humbleIm not dog no, for you be so very farYou dont know understand who is love, who is likeE eu ja estou querendo stay hereAnd so there I go away Eu nà £o sou cachorro nà £o, para viver tà £o humilhado Eu nà £o sou cachorro nà £o, para vocà ª estar tà £o longe Vocà ª nà £o sabe entender o que e amar, o que e gostar E eu ja estou querendo ficar aqui E assim, la eu ir embora As mUsicas de carater humorà ¬stico servem para descontrair a aula, alem de tornar o aprendizado atraente para a maioria dos educandos, sejam eles das mais variadas idades. Os alunos passam a aprender e adquirir conhecimento nà £o somente observando os acertos e construà §oes linguisticamente corretas, mas notando ou localizando os erros. Duas pessoas diferentes nà £o interpretam ou entendem um trecho exatamente da mesma maneira. A personalidade, experià ªncia e a referà ªncia de memà ³rias farà £o com que esta interpretaà §Ãƒ £o varie de aluno para aluno (Rivers, 2000). A contribuià §Ãƒ £o, por exemplo, que teremos ao interpretar uma mUsica, como exercà ¬cio em sala de aula, sera outro fator motivacional e por que nà £o dizer, uma promoà §Ãƒ £o à   relaà §Ãƒ £o   interpessoal   entre   o grupo, pois cada aluno trara uma versà £o diferente de um mesmo trecho de mUsica. MUsicas e canà §oes usadas como atividades conduzem naturalmente ao aprendizado ou aperfeià §oamento da là ¬ngua estrangeira. A pronUncia e entonaà §Ãƒ £o sà £o assimiladas com facilidade atraves de canà §oes na là ¬ngua alvo. Alem disso, segundo Rivers (2000, p.160) trabalhar com mUsica pop pode envolver quanto à   leitura sobre o cantor/cantora, acompanhar entrevistas com o cantor/cantora no radio ou TV, assistir os và ¬deos ou cantar as mUsicas[9]. O aluno, ao ser motivado a aprender as palavras, podera exercitar atividades diferentes sozinho e depois compara-las à  s dos colegas de classe. O professor inclusive pode se valer desta iniciativa do aluno e fornecer-lhe a mUsica com os espaà §os em branco para completar. 4.1   A TECNOLOGIA NA SALA DE AULA Quando alguem fala no uso de tecnologia e mUsicas em sala de aula, logo pensamos em computadores, ou nas aulas de computaà §Ãƒ £o na sala de multimà ¬dia da escola. A questà £o e que, tudo que nà £o seja cad