Financial Aid Essay :: Financial Scholarship Essay

Since the day I was born, I have enjoyed story telling. My first memories are of my father spinning me tales, as I nodded off. Every night I traveled back in time through his stories. I learned of Nero's sadistic burning of Rome, Adolph Hitler's maniacal reign, and Sojourner Truth's brilliant speech. All elements of our historical heritage, for which I have great affection. When I was quite young, my father purchased our very first computer. Through his hobby, I grew to love the technical side of the world in which we live. Through the years, we have owned many computers and they each taught me something new. Due to these two loves, I have chosen to double major in history and computer science. "Jewel, you have to make it. I want you to finish what the rest of us have started. You must finish college," my grandmother has stated to me many times. No one in my family has completed a four-year degree. It is my intent to blaze a trail for my posterity, as also is my grandmother's ambition. As long as I can remember it has been my fondest dream (and my furthest goal) to attend college. From the beginning, I knew it would be an uphill climb to gain admission into a prestigious university.

Contemporary Social Theory Essay -- essays research papers

Two major approaches to contemporary social theory are the Marxian materialist approach and the structural functionalist approach. The materialist approach was developed from the work of Karl Marx, who believed that the economic order shapes society. The functionalist approach was developed from the work of Comte and Durkheim, stating that is the combination of all of society’s institutions that shapes society. An organic analogy is most often used to explain structural functionalism. The analogy represents society with the human body and social structures and institutions are represented by the body’s organs. For a human being to survive, the body must perform certain functions to solve problems and meet needs. For example, we must circulate blood, remove waste, and biologically reproduce. Survival depends on the individual organs and how they perform together. Each organ does something to keep the system going. In order for society to survive and keep order, individual institutions must effectively perform together. The institutions must perform specific functions to meet problems or satisfy needs. This is achieved by institutions such as the family, economic, educational, and religious orders. It is the make up of the interrelated institutions that form society, as the interrelated organs make up the human body.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The materialist approach argues that humans are unique because we can produce solutions for material wants and needs; that materi...

1720s and 1820a :: American History

In the 1720’s to the 1820’s there were several events, changes, and processes that occurred in America. The three events I am choosing to analyze are: The Great Awakening, The Revolution, and The Market Economy. Each one of these events had a cultural, social and economic aspect. Each one of these events had different impacts and was manifested in several different ways. The first event I will be analyzing is The Great Awakening. â€Å"The Great Awakening cut across lines of class, status, and education† (Boyer â€Å"Bonds of Empire†, P. 86). â€Å"The American Protestantism was split† (Boy â€Å"Bonds of Empire†, P. 87). â€Å"In 1741 Old and New Light Presbyterians formed rival branches that reunited in 1758 when the revivalists emerged victorious† (Boyer â€Å"Bonds of Empire†, P. 87). â€Å"Members of Anglican churches started leaving and going to New Light Presbyterians and Baptists† (Boyer â€Å"Bonds of Empire†, P. 87). â€Å"The Great Awakening stimulated the founding of new colleges unscarred by religious wars† (Boyer â€Å"Bonds of Empire†, P. 87). With the Great awakening for the cultural effect was that they found different churches for others to go to and enjoyed more. They also found colleges that are really well-known colleges today. The next event I chose to ana lyze is The Revolution. During the Revolution, there were social changes that affected several different races, classes and genders. The four groups that the Revolution had an effect on the social changes were: white men, White women, Black Americans, and Native Americas. With the Revolution effecting the white men by â€Å"wearing homespun clothing in support of boycotts of British goods (Boyer, â€Å"Defining Nationhood†, p. 128). When the Virginia planters organized militia companies in 1775, they wore plain hunting shirts so that they didn’t embarrass the poorest farmer for his clothes so that they could enlist† (Boyer, â€Å"Defining Nationhood†, p. 128). While men were out in the war the â€Å"women stayed home and managed families, households, farms and businesses on their own† (Boyer, â€Å"Defining Nationhood†, P. 129). For the Black Americans, it started to show others that slavery was not a good thing. â€Å"The war, nevertheless, presented new opportuni ties to African-Americans† (Boyer, â€Å"Defining Nationhood†, P. 130). â€Å"The slaves were even trying to escape as all the confusion that was going on and pose as a freeman† (Boyer, â€Å"Defining Nationhood†, p. 130). Even though the Revolution showed new opportunities to the African-Americans it â€Å"didn’t end slavery nor brought equality to free blacks, but it did begin a process by which slavery could be extinguished† (Boyer â€Å"Defining Nationhood†, p.

History book report Essay

It is the circumstances and the characters of the founding â€Å"brothers,† their ideological as well as personal conflicts that created the US as a nation. SUMMARY Here is a presentation of US History—the creation of a new nation that does not attempt to consolidate events into a general account that suggests the inevitability of the Declaration of Independence but examines history in light of a handful of episodes involving central personages, their passions and conflicts that reveal as much of the creation of the nation after the Constitutional Convention. At one end were the Federalists including Washington, Hamilton and Adams who believed that revolution was a necessary step in order to build US nationhood as embodied by the newly established federal government. On the other were the Republicans including Jefferson and Madison who saw revolution in its liberating character, holding the Declaration of Independence as most sacred, in contrast to the Federalists who consider the Constitution most dear. At that time, there was no notion of valid opposition. Both sides thought about the other’s position as treasonable. These are the circumstances that surround the duel between Hamilton and Barr, which led to the former’s death and cost the latter’s political career. These are the circumstances that led to Washington’s non-acceptance of a third term as well as Jefferson’s treacherous vilification of his friend, John Adams. This high level of political tension led to the compromise in 1790 to appease the Southern states, as a result of fear of the states’ secession (despite both parties’ belief that slavery was inconsistent with the principles embodied by the Revolution). In all stages of these events, the characters were aware of that they were in fact, making history. BOOK REVIEWS 1. In Bobrick’s (2000) review of the Founding Brothers, he compared the Ellis’ style to Lytton Strachey, the author of Eminent Victorians. But according to him, Ellis was different in a way that the latter never veered towards making a caricature of the characters. He described the book as â€Å"splendid†¦ humane, learned, written with flair and radiant with a calm intelligence and wit. † He also guaranteed that even those who are familiar with the â€Å"revolutionary generation† will find the book to be both captivating and enlightening of the first years of America as a nation. 2. Meanwhile, Hodgson (2002) said that Ellis’ method made possible the retention by general readers of their interest in a highly-intelligent discussion of 18th century politics. He thinks that The Founding Brothers is one of those rare books/analyses that can be read for pleasure. But despite these comments, he also notes that Ellis’ work suffers the characteristics of â€Å"American Exceptionalism† and failing to acknowledge Britain’s version of history. The Independent, where Hodgson’s review was published is a British newspaper. REACTION TO BOOK REVIEWS There is nothing surprising about the positive reviews gained by The Founding Brothers. After all, with the pervasiveness of the linear or historiographic approach, there is no doubt that the book’s manner of presentation can be characterized as a breath of fresh air. Ellis’ novel approach enabled him to indirectly give a general and probably in many ways, different accounts of history by being able to pick only six of all specific stories that could have contributed to history. This indicates not only deep knowledge of the personal lives of some characters as some reviewers point out, but also indicates a deep insight of what transpired in history as well as what as its implications and consequences. While it is true that Ellis was able to make the book more interesting to the general readers, it is arguable that the book’s â€Å"indifferent† to others’ version of history is an issue. Ellis does not claim to represent to be a version of other nations’ histories or any nation’s history for that matter. At best, what Ellis book attempts to represent is his own interpretation of history considering everything that he studied, and analyzed both as writer, researcher and historian. ENLIGHTENING Interpretations of history can be different depending on the manner of its presentation. In schools, and even in colleges, these founders are usually depicted as saints, sometimes even to the point of idolatry. Ellis presentation of these founders is an attempt to humanize them in the minds of the readers. In the end, they are not depicted purely as models of idealism, motivated by pure goodwill and love for the country, but as politicians who regardless of their real motives are affected by conflicting circumstances, and sometimes real ambition. ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT The book is already enjoyable as it is despite whatever flaws it may have. One reviewer notes the fact that some point of views, particularly those of the British were not taken into account. The writer personally do not think that such alteration, or any alteration for that matter would be necessary to cause a significant change on the effect that the book had to the readers. References Bobrick, B. (2000). The Brethren. New York Times Online. Retrieved 28 April 2009 from http://www. nytimes. com/books/00/12/10/reviews/001210. 10bobrict. html? scp=1&sq=founding%20brothers%20review%20ellis&st=cse. Ellis, J. (2001). Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. Alfred Knopf: New York. Hodgson, G. (2002). The Apostles of the US Brought to Life. The Independent Online. Retrieved 28 Apriil 2009 from http://www. independent. co. uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/founding-brothers–the-revolutionary-generation-by-joseph-j-ellis-750973. html.

I Am America, Too

The poem I, Too is a reflection of the nature of American society during the time it was written by Langston Hughes. It does not only speak for the feelings and insights of the writer himself but also to all people subjected to discrimination, especially the â€Å"black† people, who were the I in the poem. â€Å"They send me to eat in the kitchen, when company comes†¦Ã¢â‚¬  speaks of the inconsiderate treatment to black people being sent away every time they got near or in close contact with them. â€Å"But I laugh, and eat well, and grow strong†¦Ã¢â‚¬  shows the writer’s positive thought on being discriminated – getting enough courage and resources to be stronger, and finally be recognized as part of America. The visions of Hughes on a bright future for the black people in America and be at the table when company comes came true with the emergence of Condoleeza Rice, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Denzel Washington, Beyoncà © Knowles, Williams sisters, among others. They already made themselves big in every aspect of American life. The Americans have finally recognized how beautiful the black people are and nobody could just tell them to â€Å"eat in the kitchen† because they, too, are Americans. Reference: Hughes, L. 2006. I, Too. In Concise Anthology of American Literature. G McMichael & JS Leonard. 6th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. 1086.      

Gap Model in Services Marketing

The GAP MODEL in SERVICES MARKETING GAP 1 The gap between the customer expected service and company perception of customer expectation. |Inadequate market research. |Design, conduct and implement appropriate market research. | |Poor communication between customers and management and between|Design and implement an upward communications programme. | |front line employees and managers. | | |Lack of, or poor marker segmentation. Build customer relationships through market segmentation | | |techniques and customer retention strategies | |Focus on transactions rather than relationships. | | | | | |Focus on new customers rather than existing customers. | | GAP 2 The gap between company perception of customer expectations and development of customer driven service designs and standards. |Lack of standardization of Service behavior &|Reengineering | |actions. | | | | | |Lack of formal process for setting service |Establish the Service Encounter sequence | |quality goals. | | | | |Lack of customer defined standards. |Identify existing or desired service encounter sequence. | | | | | |Translate customer expectations into behaviors and actions. | | | | |Select behavior and actions for standards | | | | | |Select appropriate ‘Hard’ and ‘Soft’ standards | | | | | |Enable feedback mechanisms for measurement to standards | | | | | |Establish measures and target levels | | | | | |Track measures vs. tandards | | | | | |Give performance to employees | | | | |Inadequate service Leadership |Synthesizing, articulating, promoting commitment and implementing the service | | |vision. (The leadership model). | | | |Lack o f understanding that that quality |PIMS research. | |service is indeed a profit strategy | | | | | |Incomplete performance appraisal system |In addition to financial measures include, the customer perspective, the | | |operational perspective and the innovative perspective to performance appraisal. | GAP 3 The Gap between Customer driven service designs and standards and service delivery. The Employees’ roles in service delivery |Human Resources Strategies | | | | |Ineffective recruitment |Hire the right people | |Role ambiguity and role conflict | | |Poor employee-technology-job fit |Develop people to deliver service quality | |Inappropriate evaluation and compensation systems| | |Lack of empowerment and teamwork |Provide needed support systems | | | | | |Retain the best people | | | | | |(Details in the human resource strategies wheel pg 312 Zeithaml) | |Key factors related to Intermediaries |Strategies for effective service delivery through intermediaries | | | |Channe l conflict over objectives and performance |Develop and implement: | |Channel conflict over costs and rewards |Control strategies | |Difficulty controlling quality and consistency |Empowerment strategies | |across outlets |Partnering Strategies | |Tension between empowerment and control | | |Channel ambiguity | | |Key factors related to Customers |Strategies for enhancing customer participation | | | | |Customers lack understanding of their roles |Define customers job | |Customers unwilling or unable to perform their |Recruit, Educate and reward customers | |roles |Manage the customer mix | |Customers are not rewarded for good performance | | |Other customers interfere | | |Market segments are incomplete | | |Key factors related to demand and capacity |Strategies for matching supply and demand | | | | |Failure to smooth peaks and valleys of demand |Match supply and demand through (i) shifting demand to match capacity or | |Overuse of capacity |(ii) flexing capacity to meet demand | |Attracting inappropriate customer segments to |Demonstrate the benefits and risks of yield management strategies in | |build demand |establishing balances mong the service variables | |Relying too much on price to smooth demand |Manage waiting lines for time when capacity and demand cannot be aligned | |Legal and Cultural barriers in International |Opportunities in International services | |marketing |Adapting the service | | |Adapting promotion and distribution | | |Adapting entry modes | | |Adapting communications | | |Adapting workforce management | | |Adapting service employees incentives | | |Adapting service standards | | |Adapting market research internationally | GAP 4 The Gap between Service Delivery and External communications to Customers Factors relating to communications |Strategies to match service promise with delivery | | | | |Inadequate management of service promises |Manage service promises | |Over promising in advertising and personal selling|Reset custom er expectations | |Insufficient customer education |Improve customer education | |Inadequate horizontal communication |Manage horizontal communications | |Differences in policies and procedures across | | departments | | |Key factors relating to pricing |Pricing Strategies | | | | |Assuming customers have reference price for | | |services |Match customer perception of value with appropriate pricing strategy that | |Narrowly defining price as monetary cost |match each customer definition | |Signaling wrong quality level with inappropriate |Cost based | |price |Demand based | |Not understanding customer value definitions |Competition based | |Not matching price strategy to customer value |Value based | |definitions | | |Key factors related to Physical Evidence |Physical evidence strategy | | | | |Incompatible or inconsistent physical evidence | | |Over promising through physical evidence |Recognize the strategic impact of physical evidence | |Lack of physical evidence strate gy |Map the physical evidence of services | | |Clarify roles of the services cape | | |Assess and identify physical evidence opportunities | | |Be ready to update and modernize the evidence | | |Work cross-functionally |

Data Communication Reviewer

Reviewer DataCom: Chapter 1-5 Chapter 1: Intranet- Restricted group on a company and only allows internal employee access. Extranet- Type of network that allows outside vendors special access to limited info in a company. Protocols- Rules of communication. * An identified sender and receiver * An agreed-upon method of communicating * Common language and grammar * Confirmation or acknowledgement requirements Elements of a Network: * Rules or agreements: protocols or how the message is semt, directed, received and interpreted. * Massages: units of info that travels Medium: means of interconnecting these devices, can transport the messages* Devices: devices on the network exchange messages Messages- a generic term that encompasses forms of communication enabled by the Internet. Devices- several devices work to see that the message is properly directed to the source to the destination device. Icons- symbols that graphically presents network devices and media. * Desktop Computer * Laptop * Server – a computer dedicated to providing app services * IP Phone – a digital phone* LAN media * Wireless media LAN switch – most common device for interconnect LANs * Firewall – provides security to networks * Router – helps direct messages between networks * Wireless router * Cloud – summarize a group of networking devices * WAN media IP (Internet Protocal) & TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) – most common protocols * WWW – HTTP * E-mail – SMTP * Instant messae – XMPP * IP telephony – SIP Convergence – coming together of technologies onto a digital platform. It occurs when computer communications all use the same rules to transport their messages. Network Architecture – the conceptual plans on which a physical network is built. Fault tolerance- needs to function even if some components fail * Scalability- network’s ability to grow & react to future changes * Quality of service- p erformance level of services. Prioritize traffic and its characteristics to manage data. * and Security Packets-single message is broken into small blocks of data. Bandwidth- measure of the data-carrying capacity of the network. Chapter 2: Elements of communication: * Message source, or sender * Destination, or receiver *Channel- media that provides pathway Network- refers to data networks carrying massages. Segmentation- all messages are broken into smaller pieces Multiplexing- occurs when segments of two messages can shuffle into each other and share the medium. * Increased efficiency of network communication End device- a piece of equipment that is either the source or the destination of a message on a network. Host- an end device that sends or receives messages. Clients- other hosts that set up to store and share info by the host servers *The host address is a unique physical address used by hosts inside a LAN. Intermediary device- connects the individual host to the network and connect multiple individual network to form an internetwork. Network access devices* Internetwork devices * Communication severs * Modems * Security devices Network media: Copper, Fiber-optic cable, Wireless Encoding- refers to the way data is converted to patterns of electrical, light, or electromagnetic energy. LAN- a group of end devices and users under the control of a common administrator. WAN- a network that is used to connect LANs that are geographically far apart. Internetwork- is a collection of two or more LANs connected by WANs. Proprietary – A limited-use protocol owned by a company. Network Representations: Network interface card (NIC)- provides the physical connection to the network at the PC or other host device. * Physical port- is a connector or outlet on a networking device where the media is connected to a host.* Interface- refers to how the device can allow 2 different networks to communicate. The organizations that standardize networking protocols are: * IEEE – Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers * IETF – Internet Engineering Task Force Interaction of Protocols: * Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) – common protocol that governs the way that a web server and a web client interact. Transport protocol – Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is the transport protocol that manages the individual conversations between web servers and web clients. * Internetwork protocol * Network access protocols – describes 2 primary functions: Data-Link Management & the physical transmission of data on the media. Layered Models – describe the complex process of network communication. Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) – is the most widely known internetwork reference model.Provides an abstract description of the network communication process. Developed by International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Application, Representation, Session, Transport, Network, Data Link, Physical TCP/IP Model – defines the 4 communication functions that protocols perform. * Application, Transport, Internet, Network Access Encapsulation- Process of adding control info as it passes through the layered model Decapsulation- process of removing extra information Protocol Data Unit (PDU) – generic term for data at each level. Chapter 3: Presentation Layer has 3 primary functions: * Coding and conversion of application layer data * Compression of the data * Encryption of the data TCP/IP protocols: Domain Name System (DNS) – used to resolve internet names to IP address. * HTTP – used to transfer files that make up the web pages of the WWW. * Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) – used for the transfer of mail messages and attachments. * Telnet – a terminal emulation protocol used to provide remote access to servers and networking devices. * File Transfer Protocol (FTP) – used for interactive file transfer between systems. Process – e ach executing program loaded on a device. Client/server model Deamon – are describes as â€Å"listening† for a request from a client. Application layer services and protocolsPeer-to-peer networking and applications * 2 or more computers are connected through a network and can share resources such as printers and files without having a dedicated server. nslookup – a utility that allows the user to manually query the name servers to resolve a given host name. ipconfig/displaydns – displays all the cached DNS entries 3 common message types are: * GET- is a client request for data. * POST and PUT- are used to send messages to that upload data to the web browser. E-Mail Server Processes: * Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) – process used to forward e-mail. * Mail Delivery Agent (MDA)Server Message Block (SMB) – a client/server file-sharing protocol. Chapter 4: Transport Layer – provides transparent transfer of data between end users, providing rel iable data transfer services to the upper layers. It enables applications on devices to communicate. * Tracking the individual communications * Segmenting data and managing each piece * Reassembling the segments * Identifying the different applications * Performing flow control between end users * Enabling error recovery * Initiating a session Flow Control – can prevent the loss of segments on the network and avoid the need for retransmission.Used to avoid buffer overflows. Two most common transport layer: TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) – incurs additional overhead to gain functions. * Web browsers, E-mail, File transfers UDP (User Datagram Protocol) – provide the basic functions for efficiently delivering the data pieces. Has the advantage of providing low-overhead data delivery. * DNS, Video streaming, Voice over IP (VoIP) 3 basic operations of reliability: * Tracking transmitted data * Acknowledging received data * Retransmitting any unacknowledged data Socket – refers only to the unique combination of IP address and port number.Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) – assigns port number. Different types of ports: * Well-known ports (0 to 1023) – reserved for services and applications. * Registered ports (1024 to 49151) – are assigned to user processes or applications. * Dynamic or private ports (49152 to 65535) – also known as ephemeral ports, are usually assigned dynamically to client applications. netstat – a command that is an important network utility that you can use to verify TCP connections. It lists the protocol in use, the local address and port number†¦ Datagram – is a UDP segment (piece).Flags – are six 1-bit fields contain control information used to manage the TCP processes: * URG: Urgent pointer field significant * ACK: Acknowledgement field significant * PSH: Push function * RST: Reset the connection * SYN: Synchronize sequence numbers * FIN: No more data from sender *flags have fields that the only value is 1 bit and, therefore, has only two values: 1 or 0. 3 way handshake: Step 1 – SYN, Step 2 – SYN and ACK, Step 3 – ACK. Expectational acknowledgement – occurs when TCP uses the acknowledgement number in segments sent back to the source to indicate the next byte in this session that the receiver expects to receive.Window size – is the amount of data that a source can transmit before an acknowledgement must be received. Chapter 5: OSI Layer 3 – provides services to exchange the individual pieces of data over the network between identified end devices. The network layer describes four tasks to be performed: * Addressing packets with an IP address * Encapsulation – is the process of adding that information. * Routing – is the process router perform when receiving packets†¦ * Decapsulation – is the process of removing encapsulation data at different layers. Source IP address – is the IP address of the sending hostDestination IP address – is the IP address of the receiving host. IP header – contains the address information and some other bits that identify the PDU as a network layer PDU. Packet – is referred when an OSI layer 4 PDU has been encapsulated at the network layer. Hop – is each route that a packet takes to reach the next device. Common network protocol: * IPv4 – most widely used network protocol. * IPv6 – currently in use in some area. * Novell IPX – a widely popular internetworking protocol in the 1980s and 19990s. * AppleTalk – Apple Computer’s propriety networking protocol. Connectionless Network Service (CLNS) – a protocol used in telecommunication network. IPv4 basic characteristics: * Connectionless * Best effort (unreliable) * Media independent *Some networks have media restrictions and must enforce a Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU). Fragmentation â €“ is the process when the network layer builds the packets according to specification. Key fields: * IP source addressing * IP destination addressing * Time to Live (TTL) * Type of Service (ToS) * Protocol * Flag and Fragment Offset Other Key Fields: * Version * Internet Header Length (IHL) * Packet Length * Identification Header Checksum * Options * Padding *Because broadcast do not travel beyond the network boundary, the network is known as a broadcast domain. Gateway router – is the router a network uses to send and receive messages beyond the network. Hierarchical addressing – is read from the most general information to the most specific. Subnetting – the process when a large network needs to be divided into smaller subnets, additional network codes can be created using some of the bits designated for the host. *The default route is used when the destination network is not represented by any other route in the routing table.Next hop – is the add ress of the device that will process the packet next. *The route info can be manually configured on the router, creating what is known as a static route. Dynamic routing – when routers learn about routes automatically from other routers in the same internetwork. Routing Protocols – are the set of rules by which routers dynamically share their routing information. * Routing Information Protocol (RIP) * Enhanced Interior Gateway Protocol (EIGRP) * Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) 3 key factors to consider when grouping hosts into a common network: * Purpose * Ownership * Geographic location