Saturday, December 28, 2019

How to Use a Running Record to Assess Beginning Readers

A running record is an assessment method that helps teachers evaluate students reading fluency, ability to use reading strategies, and readiness to advance. This assessment emphasizes the students thought process, which allows teachers to go beyond counting the number of words read correctly. In addition, observing a students demeanor while reading (calm, relaxed, tense, hesitant) provides valuable insight into his instructional needs. Running records can be used to guide instruction, track progress, and choose appropriate reading material. A running record is slightly more formal than simple observation assessments, but it is still an easy tool for measuring reading fluency. Tracking Errors The first aspect of a running record is tracking student errors. Errors include misread words, mispronounced words, substitutions, omissions, insertions, and words that the teacher had to read. Mispronounced proper nouns should only be counted as one error regardless of how many times the word appears in the text. However, all other mispronunciations should be counted as one error each time they occur. If a student skips a line of text, count all words in the line as errors. Note that mispronunciations don’t include those pronounced differently due to a child’s dialect or accent. Repeated words do not count as an error. Self-correction—when a student realizes he has made an error and corrects it—does not count as an  error. Understanding Reading Cues The second part of a running record is analyzing reading cues. There are three different reading cue strategies to be aware of when analyzing a student’s reading  behavior: meaning, structural,  and  visual.   Meaning (M) Meaning cues indicate that a student is thinking about what she is reading. She is taking cues from the context of the passage, the meaning of the sentence, and any illustrations in the text. For example, she may say street when she encounters the word road. This error doesn’t affect her comprehension of the text. To determine whether the reading behavior reflects the use of a meaning cue, ask yourself, â€Å"Does the substitution make sense?† Structural (S) Structural clues indicate an understanding of English syntax—what sounds right in the sentence. A student who uses structural clues is relying on  her knowledge of grammar and sentence structure. For example, she may read goes instead of went, or  sea instead of ocean. To determine whether the reading behavior reflects the use of a structural cue, ask yourself, â€Å"Does the substitution sound right in the context of the sentence?† Visual (V) Visual cues show that a student is using his knowledge of the appearance of the letters or words to make sense of the text. He may substitute a word that looks visually similar to the word in the sentence. For example, he may read boat instead of bike or car instead of cat. The substituted words may start or end with the same letters or have other visual similarities, but the substitution does not make sense. To determine whether the reading behavior reflects the use of a visual cue, ask yourself, â€Å"Does the substituted word look like the misread word?† How to Use a Running Record in the Classroom Select a passage that is appropriate for the student’s  reading level. The passage should be at least 100-150 words  long. Then, prepare the running record form: a double-spaced copy of the text the student is reading, so that errors and cue strategies can be recorded quickly during the assessment. To conduct the running record, sit next to the student  and instruct her to read the passage aloud. Mark the running record form by checking off each word that the student reads correctly. Use notations to mark reading miscues such as substitutions, omissions, insertions, interventions, and self-corrections. Record which reading cue(s)—meaning, structural, or physical—the student uses for errors and self-corrections. After the student finishes reading the passage, calculate her accuracy and self-correction rate. First, subtract the number of errors from the total number of words in the passage. Divide that number by the total number of words in the passage and multiply by 100 to get the percentage of accuracy. For example, if a student reads 100 words with 7 errors, her accuracy score is 93%. (100-793; 93 / 100 0.93; 0.93 * 100 93.) Next, calculate the student’s self-correction rate by adding the total number of errors to the total number of self-corrections. Then, divide that total by the total number of self-corrections. Round to the nearest whole number and place the final result in a ratio of 1 to the number. For example, if a student makes 7 errors and 4 self-corrections, her self-correction rate is 1:3. The student self-corrected one time for every three misread words. (7411; 11/42.75; 2.75 rounds up to 3; ratio of self-corrections to errors is 1:3.) Use the first running record assessment to establish a  student’s baseline. Then, complete subsequent running records at regular intervals. Some teachers like to repeat the evaluation as often as every two weeks for beginning readers, while others prefer to administer them quarterly.

Friday, December 20, 2019

Inclusive Growth Of Corporate Social Responsibility

Inclusive Growth of Corporate Social Responsibility in ITC Kanchana Arun,Assistant Professor, HCM,Vels University Abstract Corporate Social Responsibility has become a worldwide concept where by organizations consider the interest of the society by taking responsibility for the influence of their activities on the public and their environment. ITC Hotels is actively committed to the environment. As responsible corporate citizens, they recognize their commitment towards maintaining a greener and healthier environment. This research paper moves around developing an understanding about the Corporate Social Responsibility, delves into its concept and finding out its scope taking the case study of ITC Grand Chola hotel which has†¦show more content†¦The concept came into prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s.This idea was mentioned popularly in strategic management: a stakeholders approach by R. Edward Freeman in 1984. Definition by Archie Carroll CSR as a multi layered concept that can be differentiated into four interrelated aspects – economic, legal ethical and philanthropic responsibilities. Philanthropic Ethical Legal Economic Definition from the World Bank Group Stating, â€Å"Corporate social responsibility is the commitment of businesses to contribute to sustainable economic development by working with the employees, their families, the local community and society at large, to improve†. Vice President Hamid Ansari called upon the captains of Indian industry to embrace the concept of growth with equity as part of their CSR motto. Empirical evidence shows growth without equity is not sustainable in the long run. Desired levels of equity can t be attained without rapid and sustained growth. Hence the solution is not in either-or but in both . Objectives of the study To highlight the functional areas of the Government policies To understand the contribution of the ITC’s CSR towards inclusive growth THE CSR POLICY 1. Care for all stake holders: The companies should respect the interest of, and be responsive towards all stake holders, including share holders, employees,

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Legal Writing and Research Communication Law †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Legal Writing and Research Communication Law. Answer: Introduction: Allens operates in Asia-Pacific as an international commercial law firm. It was established in Sydney in the year 1822. It is one of the largest law firms with almost 1200 employees. Allens has a strong customer base and has maintained good relations with its clients over the past decades. Allens has been providing pro bono legal support to Arts Law Centre in Australia and has been supporting arts through various initiatives. It has been working with 55 companies, which have been among the top 100 companies in the world. The company aims at providing excellent service to the clients. It is concerned with understanding the needs and requirements of its clients and providing them best solutions by combining technical excellence with commercial insight. It provides advice related to various sectors such as agribusiness, financial institutions, government, industrials, infrastructure and transport, mining, oil and gas, power and utilities, real estate and technology, media and telecommun ications. The firm is engaged in creating new possibilities for the employees in their way of working and their career development. Allens considers values as an integral part of its system. The following are the values of the firm: Excellence Integrity Respect Performance One firm The company aims at attaining excellence by ensuring mutual trust and confidence among the employees. These values help in ensuring the performance of the employees in order to achieve the common objectives. Performance criteria: Performance criteria refers to the minimum level of standard that is required for the successful achievement of the objectives of the company as well as personal objectives. The following table shows the performance criteria: Job knowledge The job knowledge indicates the knowledge of the current role and the development opportunities. The job knowledge of an employee suggests whether he has improved his skills or has acquired new skills Time management and efficiency The efficient management of time suggests whether efforts have been made to achieve goals by minimizing wastages Quality of work The work is expected to be of good quality with accuracy that does not create any scrap. Client satisfaction shall be the main objective of a law firm, which will occur only when the employees provide good quality advices. Decision-making The employees are required to follow all the rules and regulations of the firm and are reliable such that they so not require any constant supervision. Flexibility Positive response to any change is very important. Easy learning of new skills and willingness to learn work in different functional areas is equally important. Rigidness of the employees are harmful for the achievement of the goals of a firm Teamwork Co-operation with the other team members helps in quick achievement of the firms goals. Honesty, respect and good communication among the organizational members is essential to create a good working environment Attendance Punctuality and timeliness while reporting for work is essential requirement and basis for evaluation of employees performance Compliance Taking initiative and compliance with all the rules and regulations The following are the skills required to become a law associate: Language is the most important tool of a legal professional. A legal associate must have the following skills: Must be able to convey information in a logical, clear and concise manner Must communicate persuasively Should be able to advocate a cause or a position Must know legal terminologies Must be a good listener A legal associate is responsible for drafting various legal documents. Therefore, good writing skills is very integral function of legal associates. A legal associate must: Have good knowledge of style and other aspects of writing Possess good knowledge of English grammar Know to write clear, concise, organized and persuasive prose Be able to draft legal documents such as memorandums, legal agreements, motions, briefs and resolutions Legal industry is highly focused on the relationship with the clients. Therefore, it becomes necessary to serve the client honestly and responsibly. Legal associates must master: Client development and rainmaking skills Customer service skills Client communication skills Legal associates must have the skills of reviewing and assimilating large volume of complicated information in an effective manner. Logical and analytical skills in law include: Handling complicated written documents, obtaining inferences and forming connections with legal authorities Developing abilities to solve complex problems in an organized manner by thinking logically Forming structure and evaluating the arguments Using both inductive and deductive form of reasoning for drawing inferences in order to reach the conclusions Legal skills involve researching statutes, regulations, case laws, judicial decisions and other law related information. Therefore, a legal associate must: Have complete knowledge of the techniques of legal research Have knowledge of locating and synthesizing legal authority Possess the skill of statutory interpretation Have the skill of legal citation Have knowledge of the application of legal research software Have skill of Internet research Technology has become an integral part of the legal functions. In order to maintain the efficiency in job, the legal associates must: Have the knowledge of word processing, presentation, billing and the related applications Have knowledge of the various communication technologies such as e-mail, video conferencing and other related technologies Have knowledge of computerized litigation, electronic discovery and document management software Have knowledge of the application of legal research software Have skill of Internet research Have knowledge of technology for making good technological decisions Legal terminologies Filing deadlines Local, State and Federal court systems Fundamental law principles in their area of practice Due to the pressure of bill time and workload, the legal associates must develop the following skills: Multi-tasking skills Ability of meeting deadlines Time management skills Developing a strong work culture Ability to handle priorities Due to excessive workload, legal associates must develop organizational skills such as: The ability to use various software applications for managing the data related with the cases The ability to manage huge volumes of files, documents, data, evidences and other case related information The ability to define objectives and develop an efficient organizational structure from large volume of unrelated information Since legal associates are dependent upon secretaries and other support staff therefore, it becomes necessary to work as a team in order to maintain efficiency. These skills involve: Collaboration with others in order to reach the common goal Sharing the knowledge and information Maintaining relationship with clients, staff, colleagues and experts Participating in meetings and conferences The following are the duties and responsibilities of a law associate in terms of client relations: Providing high quality legal services to the clients Developing good relationship with the clients and gaining the confidence of the clients Receiving requests from the potential clients for providing legal advice and making appropriate responses Solving the clients problem efficiently Offering advice on legal procedures and related issues Draw up legal documents Represent the clients in courts whenever required Research case history and related documents in order to ensure accuracy of the procedure It is the duty of a law associate to work in a professional manner Law associates are to comply with the code of conduct in carrying out their duties. The code of conduct involves treating people fairly, avoiding conflicts of interest issues, reporting any kind of unethical behavior, providing timely service to the clients and hiding confidential information. The law associates are to comply with the Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules Keeping oneself updated about any changes in law Participation in the development of the firm Generating new business from the existing and prospective clients Attend the internal and external training provided by the firm Keeping oneself updated about any changes in law Respect the clients and the colleagues Take active part in team meetings Understand the work and develop the career accordingly The other key responsibilities of a law associate are as follows: Fee contribution Technical ability Strategic awareness Management and leadership responsibilities Development of business and Pro Bono Bibliography: Allens.com.au. (2017). Allens - A leading international law firm, lawyers, lawyers in Australia, Asia [online] Available at: https://www.allens.com.au/ [Accessed 5 May 2017]. Field, R., Duffy, J. and Huggins, A., 2015. Teaching independent learning skills in the first year: A positive psychology strategy for promoting law student well-being.Journal of Learning Design,8(2), pp.1-10. Galliers, R.D. and Leidner, D.E., 2014.Strategic information management: challenges and strategies in managing information systems. Routledge. Gibbons, J., 2014.Language and the Law. Routledge. Langford, M., 2013.Global justice, state duties: the extraterritorial scope of economic, social, and cultural rights in international law. Cambridge University Press. Lerman, L.G. and Schrag, P., 2013.Ethical Problems in The Practice of Law: Concise Edition for the Two Credit Courses. Wolters Kluwer Law Business. Parker, C. and Evans, A., 2013.Inside lawyers' ethics. Cambridge University Press.

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

TB in Healthcare Workers for Southern African-myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theTB in Healthcare Workers for Southern African Nations. Answer: Tuberculosis in health care workers There are two types TB infections; the latent TB which is asymptomatic, and, the active TB which presents a number of signs and symptoms (Cowan et al., 2012). The most common signs and symptoms of TB are fever, night sweats, coughing, production of phlegm, and loss of weight. Since the development of HIV/AIDS in sub Saharan Africa, there has been a sharp increase in the cases of TB. This is so especially for the southern African nations leading to a TB pandemic. In 2011, the world incidence rates of TB by the WHO was about 125/100,000, whereby the incidence rate in Africa was 262, 100000 of the general population. Moreover, the incidence rates of TB in South Africa was estimated to be 993/100,000 people (Rossouw et al., 2012). In fact, out of the 8.7 million cases of active TB, in the year 2011, South Africa recorded about 0.5 million TB cases. There are a number of risk factors that are linked to the development of TB. These factors can fall into various classes such as personal and environmental risks (Floyd et al., 2012). Personal risk factors include malnutrition, smoking habits, diabetes, cancer and genetic predisposition among many more. The environmental factors include poor ventilation, getting into contact with contaminated sputum, and high levels of airborne bacteria (Mokhtar Rahman, 2017). It is commonly argued that there are some communities which are highly vulnerable to contacting TB such as the HIV infected people as well as health care workers(Bassett et al., 2016). In South Africa, these risk factors are also common, thus increasing the chances of acquiring these infections. For instance, the exposure factors to TB in South Africa is attributed to several risk factors. The exposure of health care workers to TB is due to the high prevalence of this disease condition among the people that they serve as well as the level of contact (McCarthy et al., 2015). The distribution of the risk factors to TB infection is differential in nature in places of work and depends of factors such as age, gender, the number of contact times with the patients and the health care departments which these health care workers work in. therefore, it is important to have a clear understanding of the risk factors that cause TB infections in health care workers in South Africa in order to effe ctively control this problem (Tudor et al., 2014). The workplace acquired TB has thus been described as a significant occupational healthcare problem in South Africa. A review was carried out in order to determine the level of acquired TB among health care workers. This review involved performing electronic database searches such as EMBASE, Web of Science and MEDLINE among others. The results indicated that out of the sixteen studies that were included in the review, ten of them reported that there was active TB among the health care workers (Grobler et al., 2016). This study also reported the presence of active TB including the drug resistant form among the South African population. The authors also recommend the need for regular screening of TB among health care workers in South Africa to prevent cross infections. Biological hazards Tuberculosis is a disease which has been posing major health problems for quite a number of year. It causes a great economic burden because there are no vaccines available yet there are some causative agents which are resistant to drugs. This condition is caused by the members of the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (Delogu et al., 2013). These bacterium have spread through the environment throughout the globe leading to TB pandemics. The Mycobacterium tuberculosis has a doubling time of between 12 to 24 hours and contains a very complex cell wall structure which is impermeable to toxic drugs and thus quite fundamental to its virulence. The pathogenesis of TB develops once some tubercles are dispersed into the air by an active TB infected patients (Samanovic Darwin, 2016). These tubercles, once inhaled ends into the alveoli where they are engulfed by macrophages. When some of the tubercles cannot be cleared by the host immune system, they may spread to different body part s. Some studies performed in non-human primate models have indicated that the metabolically active Mycobacterium tuberculosis in latent infections can divide in the host tissues even in the absence of any symptoms (Neyrolles et al., 2006). In a study carried out by Hernansez-Pando et al., in the year 2000 using lung tissues isolated from patients who had died from different causes and not by TB, in TB endemic regions, it was found that the Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA materials were present in non-phagocytic cells (Hernandez-Pando et al., 2000). TB prevention The diagnosis of TB is carried out at primary health care facilities like clinics and hospitals. In other cases, data from large population can be used to determine the possible TB cases. By preventing the HIV infections, the immune system of a person can be strengthened thus reducing the incidences of possible TB infections. Moreover, therapeutic approaches are used with common drugs being isoniazid and rifampicin among others (Bhatt et al., 2014). It has been observed that in people infected with HIV, the use of antiretroviral therapies reduces the severity of TB infections. Moreover, the accessibility of antiretroviral to South Africans has lowered the prevalence of TB among the people living with HIV. Legislations The existing legislations is that there is the integration of HIV and TB care in an effort to reduce the prevalence and incidence rates of the two conditions (Loveday Zweigenthal, 2011). This is true because when the two conditions are managed together, it is possible to control one or both through a sustained immune system. There is a need for more information as well as training concerning the possible methods of TB prevention on a regular basis in various health care departments. There also exists some programs for TB control which have been strengthened by the introduction of rifampicin therapies through the DOTS program (Karim et al., 2009). However, the strategic plans in place to control TB infections in South Africa all depend on the ability of the South African government to create sustainable partnerships in the improvement of health care services. References Grobler, L., Mehtar, S., Dheda, K., Adams, S., Babatunde, S., Walt, M., Osman, M. (2016). The epidemiology of tuberculosis in health care workers in South Africa: a systematic review. BMC health services research, 16(1), 416. Delogu, G., Sali, M., Fadda, G. (2013). The biology of mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Mediterranean journal of hematology and infectious diseases, 5(1). Neyrolles, O., Hernndez-Pando, R., Pietri-Rouxel, F., Forns, P., Tailleux, L., Payn, J. A. B., ... Petit, C. (2006). Is adipose tissue a place for Mycobacterium tuberculosis persistence?. PloS one, 1(1), e43. Hernandez-Pando, R., Jeyanathan, M., Mengistu, G., Aguilar, D., Orozco, H., Harboe, M., ... Bjune, G. (2000). Persistence of DNA from Mycobacterium tuberculosis in superficially normal lung tissue during latent infection. The Lancet, 356(9248), 2133-2138. Karim, S. S. A., Churchyard, G. J., Karim, Q. A., Lawn, S. D. (2009). HIV infection and tuberculosis in South Africa: an urgent need to escalate the public health response. the Lancet, 374(9693), 921-933. Loveday, M., Zweigenthal, V. (2011). TB and HIV integration: obstacles and possible solutions to implementation in South Africa. Tropical Medicine International Health, 16(4), 431-438. Floyd K, Dias HM, Falzon D, et al. Global tuberculosis report: 2012. Geneva: World Health Organization. Rossouw H. World TB Day, 24 March 2012. 2012 [cited 17 May 2013]; Available from: https://www.westerncape.gov.za/news/world-tb-day-24-march-2012. Bhatt, N. B., Barau, C., Amin, A., Baudin, E., Meggi, B., Silva, C., ... Taburet, A. M. (2014). Pharmacokinetics of rifampin and isoniazid in tuberculosis-HIV-coinfected patients receiving nevirapine-or efavirenz-based antiretroviral treatment. Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy, 58(6), 3182-3190. Cowan, J., Pandey, S., Filion, L. G., Angel, J. B., Kumar, A., Cameron, D. W. (2012). Comparison of interferon, interleukin (IL)?17?and IL?22?expressing CD4 T cells, IL?22?expressing granulocytes and proinflammatory cytokines during latent and active tuberculosis infection. Clinical Experimental Immunology, 167(2), 317-329. Mokhtar, K. S., Rahman, N. H. A. (2017). Urbanisation process and the prevalence of tuberculosis in Malaysia. Geografia-Malaysian Journal of Society and Space, 11(3). Bassett, I. V., Coleman, S. M., Giddy, J., Bogart, L. M., Chaisson, C. E., Ross, D., ... Katz, J. N. (2016). Sizanani: a randomized trial of health system navigators to improve linkage to HIV and TB care in South Africa. Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999), 73(2), 154. McCarthy, K. M., Scott, L. E., Gous, N., Tellie, M., Venter, W. D. F., Stevens, W. S., Van Rie, A. (2015). High incidence of latent tuberculous infection among South African health workers: an urgent call for action. The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, 19(6), 647-653. Tudor, C., Van der Walt, M., Margot, B., Dorman, S. E., Pan, W. K., Yenokyan, G., Farley, J. E. (2014). Tuberculosis among health care workers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: a retrospective cohort analysis. BMC Public Health, 14(1), 891. Samanovic, M. I., Darwin, K. H. (2016). Game of Somes: protein destruction for mycobacterium tuberculosis pathogenesis. Trends in microbiology, 24(1), 26-34.