Biomechanice in Volleyball

Physical Education Volleyball Year 11 The purpose of this report is to evaluate my performance, of my chosen serve the overhand serve, using biomechanical principles. As stated by Amezdroz et al, (2004) â€Å"Biomechanics is the study of how living things move, and the efficiency of movement, in particular. Biomechanics is used to† Provide valid reasons for observed effects diagnose problems with technique and justify changes in technique. †Throughout this term I have taken photos of my progress within the Overhand serve, I will be showing you in detail my strengths and weaknesses when applying the serve I will be Correcting errors and justifying my analysis using biomechanical principles. The accurate technique of the over hand serve. To start off the serve you need to make sure you have volleyball, a court and opponents. When getting ready to serve Set yourself up with your feet, hips and shoulders facing the direction you want the ball to go.The less movement you have while performing this serve the better. For a right handed person the left foot is slightly forward, both knees are slightly flexed, with your body weight equally distributed, hold the ball in your non dominate hand at chest level, palm up, it is important to keep your elbow Loose with a slight bend, Position your serving arm so your elbow and hand are just above your ear, keep your hand open and your wrist locked.The toss is the most Important part of this serve, toss the ball 12 to 18 inches above your head in front of your serving shoulder, this keeps your serving motion simple, so you can reach high and hit the ball with a powerful swing, contact the ball with the heel of your hand, keeping your hand opened and flat, your wrist should be locked your arm fully extended, step forwardAs you can see in this figure, the Girl has got her feet, hips and shoulders facing the way she wants the ball to go, her body is also equally distributed, both of her knees are slightly bend also whe n she has tossed the ball up it has gone about 12 to 18 inches and it is also in front of her serving shoulder, then she hits the ball through with a powerful swing.

Importance of Agriculture in Economy Essay

The direct contribution of the agriculture sector to national economy is reflected by its share in total GDP, its foreign exchange earnings, and its role in supplying savings and labor to other sectors. Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry and fishing accounted for 18.5 percent of total Indian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2005-06 (at 1999-2000 constant prices) and employed about 58 percent of the country’s workforce (CSO, 2007). It accounted for 10.95 percent of India’s exports in 2005-06 (GoI, 2007) and about 46 percent of India’s geographical area is used for agricultural activity. There has been a structural transformation in the Indian economy during the past few decades. The composition of Gross Domestic Product at 1993-94 constant prices reveals that the share of agriculture including forestry and fishing has declined as growth in industrial and services sectors far outpaced agricultural sector (Figure 1). The share of mining, manufacturing, electricity and construction sector has increased from 21.6 percent in 1970-71 to 27 percent in 2004-05 and services sector has increased significantly from 32 percent to 52.4 percent during the same period. Despite a steady decline of its share in the GDP, agriculture is still an important sector and plays a significant role in the overall socio-economic development of the country. Therefore, fostering rapid, sustained and broad-based growth in agriculture remains key priority for the government. Consistent with the trends of economic development at national level, role of agricultural sector in the state economies is also changing rapidly. The share of agriculture in Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) has declined significantly during the last two decades. In some States, such as Bihar, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Orissa, the sector today contributes more than one-quarter of GSDP, while in some states, such as Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, the sector contributes less than 20 percent to GSDP (Figure 2). However, contribution of agriculture to GSDP has declined in almost all States between 1993-94 and 2004-05. The decline was the highest in Karnataka (16%), followed by Haryana (14.2%), and Kerala (13.7%). In Karnataka, decline was mainly due to significant increase in the share of service sector (from 37.9% in 1993-94 to 54.7% in 2004-05) mainly driven by informational technology (IT) industry. Similar is the case with Haryana the decline is due to faster development of services sector in cities around the national capital, Delhi. Despite declining share of agriculture in the economy, majority of workforce continue to depend on agricultural sector for employment and in rural areas dependence on agriculture is more as nearly 75 percent of rural population is employed in agricultural sector. However, there is disguised employment in the sector due to limited opportunities for rural non-farm employment. This disguised employment leads to lower labor and resources productivity in the sector relative to other sectors of the economy. The low labor productivity leads to higher rates of poverty in rural areas (Figure 3). Agriculture in India is constitutionally the responsibility of the states rather than the central government. The central government’s role is in formulating policy and providing financial resources for agriculture to the states. Agriculture finance Meaning: Agricultural finance generally means studying, examining and analyzing the financial aspects pertaining to farm business, which is the core sector of India. The financial aspects include money matters relating to production of agricultural products and their disposal. Definition of Agricultural finance: Murray (1953) defined agricultural. finance as â€Å"an economic study of borrowing funds by farmers, the organization and operation of farm lending agencies and of society’s interest in credit for agriculture .† Tandon and Dhondyal (1962) defined agricultural. finance â€Å"as a branch of agricultural economics, which deals with and financial resources related to individual farm units.† What is Agriculture Finance â€Å"Agricultural finance is the study of financing and liquidity services credit provides to farm borrowers. It is also considered as the study of those financial intermediaries who provide loan funds to agriculture and the financial markets in which these intermediaries obtain their loanable funds.† John B. Penson, Jr. and David A. Lins (1980) Why Agriculture Finance India is mainly an agricultural country. Agriculture accounts for approximately 33 percent of India’s GDP and employs nearly 62 percent of the population. It accounts for 8.56 % of India’s exports. About 43 % of India’s geographical area is used for agricultural activity. Agricultural production in this country depends upon millions of small farmers. It is intensity of their effort and the efficiency of their technique that will help in raising yields per acre. Finance in agriculture is as important as development of technologies. Technical inputs can be purchased and used by farmer only if he has money (funds). But his own money is always inadequate and he needs outside finance or credit. Because of inadequate financial resources and absence of timely credit facilities at reasonable rates, many of the farmers, even though otherwise willing, are unable to go in for improved seeds and manures or to introduce better methods or techniques. The farming community must be kept informed about the various sources of agriculture finance. Agricultural finance possesses its usefulness to the farmers, lenders and extension workers. The knowledge of lending institutions, their legal and regulatory environment helps in selecting the appropriate lender who can adequately provide the credit with terms and related services needed to finance the farm business. Nature and Scope: Agricultural finance can be dealt at both micro level and macro level. Macrofinance deals with different sources of raising funds for agriculture as a whole in the economy. It is also concerned with the lending procedure, rules, regulations, monitoring and controlling of different agricultural credit institutions. Hence macro-finance is related to financing of agriculture at aggregate level. Micro-finance refers to financial management of the individual farm business units. And it is concerned with the study as to how the individual farmer considers various sources of credit, quantum of credit to be borrowed from each source and how he allocates the same among the alternative uses with in the farm. It is also concerned with the future use of funds. Therefore, macro-finance deals with the aspects relating to total credit needs of the agricultural sector, the terms and conditions under which the credit is available and the method of use of total credit for the development of agriculture, while micro-finance refers to the financial management of individual farm business. Significance of Agricultural Finance: 1) Agril finance assumes vital and significant importance in the agro – socio – economic development of the country both at macro and micro level. 2) It is playing a catalytic role in strengthening the farm business and augmenting the productivity of scarce resources. When newly developed potential seeds are combined with purchased inputs like fertilizers & plant protection chemicals in appropriate / requisite proportions will result in higher productivity. 3) Use of new technological inputs purchased through farm finance helps to increase the agricultural productivity. 4) Accretion to in farm assets and farm supporting infrastructure provided by large scale financial investment activities results in increased farm income levels leading to increased standard of living of rural masses. 5) Farm finance can also reduce the regional economic imbalances and is equally good at reducing the inter–farm asset and wealth variations. 6) Farm finance is like a lever with both forward and backward linkages to the economic development at micro and macro level. 7) As Indian agriculture is still traditional and subsistence in nature, agricultural finance is needed to create the supporting infrastructure for adoption of new technology.   8) Massive investment is needed to carry out major and minor irrigation projects, rural electrification, installation of fertilizer and pesticide plants, execution of agricultural promotional programmes and poverty alleviation programmes in the country .LECTURE -2 Credit needs in A Credit needs in Agriculture – meaning and definition of credit-classification of credit based on time, purpose, security, lender and borrower. _____________________________________________________________________ The word â€Å"credit† comes from the Latin word â€Å"Credo† which means â€Å"I believe†. Hence credit is based up on belief, confidence, trust and faith. Credit is other wise called as loan. Definition: Credit / loan is certain amount of money provided for certain purpose on certain conditions with some interest, which can be repaid sooner (or) later. According to Professor Galbraith credit is the â€Å"temporary transfer of asset from one who has to other who has not† Credit needs in Agriculture: Agricultural credit is one of the most crucial inputs in all agricultural development programmes. For a long time, the major source of agricultural credit was private moneylenders. But this source of credit was inadequate, highly expensive and exploitative. To curtail this, a multi-agency approach consisting of cooperatives, commercial banks ands regional rural banks credit has been adopted to provide cheaper, timely and adequate credit to farmers. The financial requirements of the Indian farmers are for, 1. Buying agricultural inputs like seeds, fertilizers, plant protection chemicals, feed and fodder for cattle etc. 2. Supporting their families in those years when the crops have not been good. 3. Buying additional land, to make improvements on the existing land, to clear old debt and purchase costly agricultural machinery. 4. Increasing the farm efficiency as against limiting resources i.e. hiring of irrigation water lifting devices, labor and machinery Credit can be classified on the basis of time, purpose, security, lender and borrower. (i)Time classification:- It classifies credit into three groups, i.e. short, medium and long term. (a) Short-Term (for periods up to 15 months): The â€Å"short-term loans† are generally advanced for meeting annual recurring purchases such as, seed, feed, fertilizers, hired labour expenses, pesticides, weedicides, hired machinery charges, etc., and termed as seasonal loans/crop loans/production loans. These are expected to be repaid after the harvest. It is expected that the loan plus interest would be repaid from the income received through the enterprise in which it was invested. The time limit to repay such loans is a year or at the most 18 months. (b) Medium-Term (from 15 months up to 5 years): â€Å"Medium-term loans† are advanced for comparatively longer lived assets such as machinery, diesel engine, wells, irrigation structure, threshers, shelters, crushers, draught and milch animals, dairy/poultry sheds, etc., where the returns accruing from increase in farm assets in spread over more than one production period. The usual repayment period for such type of loan is from fifteen months to five years. (c) Long-Term (above 5 Years): Loans repayable over a longer period (i.e. above 5 years) are classified as long-term loans. â€Å"Long-term loans† are related to the long lifed assets such as heavy machinery, land and its reclamation, errection of farm buildings, construction of permanent-drainage or irrigation system, etc. which require large sums of money for initial investment. The benefits generated through such assets are spread over the entire life of the asset. The normal repayment period for such loans range s from five to fifteen or even upto 20 years. (ii) Purpose classification:- Credit is also classified based on purpose of loans e.g. crop loan, poultry/dairy/piggery loan, irrigation loan, machinery and equipment loan, forestry loan, fishery loan etc. These loans signify the close relationship between time and use as well as rate of return (or profitability). Some times loans are also classified as production and consumption loans due to the fact that production loans are diverted for consumption purposes by the weaker sections. So, the banks have also started financing for consumption purposes (exclusively for home consumption expenditures) besides financing for the production purposes. The consumption loans are also to be repaid from the sale proceeds of the crop. (iii) Security classification:- Security offered/obtained provides another basis for classifying the loans. The secured loans are advanced as against the security of some tangible personal property such as land, livestock and other capital assets, i.e., medium and long term loans. The borrower’s credit worthiness may act much more than the security offered, which if doubtful may result willful default. Moreover, the secured loans are further classified on the basis of type of security e.g. mortgage loans, where legal mortgage of some property such as land is offered to the lender, i.e., loans for intangible property such as land improvement, irrigation infrastructures, etc. and hypothecated loans, where legal ownership of the asset financed remains with the lender though physical possession with the borrowers i.e. loans for tangible property such as tractor, machinery and equipments. The private money lenders, usually possess items such as gold ornaments / jewellery or land as security, which reminds the borrower about his obligations of loan repayments. On the contrary, unsecured loans are generally advanced without offering any security e.g. short-term crop loans. (iv) Lender classification:- Credit is also classified on the basis of lender such as (a) Institutional Credit e.g. co-operative loans, commercial bank loans and government loans; (b) Non-Institutional Credit e.g. professional and agricultural money lenders, traders and commission agents, relatives and friends etc. (v) Borrower classification:- The credit is also classified on the basis of type of borrowers (i.e., production or business activity as well as size of business) such as crop farmers, dairy farmers, poultry farmers, fisherman, rural artisans etc. or agricultural labourers, marginal/small/medium/large farmers, hill farmers or tribal farmers etc. Such classification has equity considerations. credit is broadly classified based on various criteria: 1. Based on time: This classification is based on the repayment period of the loan. It is sub-divided in to 3 types Short–term loans: These loans are to be repaid within a period of 6 to 18 months. All crop loans are said to be short–term loans, but the length of the repayment period varies according to the duration of crop. The farmers require this type of credit to meet the expenses of the ongoing agricultural operations on the farm like sowing, fertilizer application, plant protection measures, payment of wages to casual labourers etc. The borrower is supposed to repay the loan from the sale proceeds of the crops raised. Medium – term loans: Here the repayment period varies from 18 months to 5 years. These loans are required by the farmers for bringing about some improvements on his farm by way of purchasing implements, electric motors, milch cattle, sheep and goat, etc. The relatively longer period of repayment of these loans is due to their partially-liquidating nature. Long – term loans: These loans fall due for repayment over a long time ranging from 5 years to more than 20 years or even more. These loans together with medium terms loans are called investment loans or term loans. These loans are meant for permanent improvements like levelling and reclamation of land, construction of farm buildings, purchase of tractors, raising of orchards ,etc. Since these activities require large capital, a longer period is required to repay these loans due to their non – liquidating nature. 2. Based on Purpose: Based on purpose, credit is sub-divided in to 4 types.   Production loans: These loans refer to the credit given to the farmers for crop production and are intended to increase the production of crops. They are also called as seasonal agricultural operations (SAO) loans or short – term loans or crop loans. These loans are repayable with in a period ranging from 6 to 18 months in lumpsum .Investment loans: These are loans given for purchase of equipment the productivity of which is distributed over more than one year. Loans given for tractors, pumpsets, tube wells, etc. Marketing loans: These loans are meant to help the farmers in overcoming the distress sales and to market the produce in a better way. Regulated markets and commercial banks, based on the warehouse receipt are lending in the form of marketing loans by advancing 75 per cent of the value of the produce. These loans help the farmers to clear off their debts and dispose the produce at remunerative prices. Consumption loans: Any loan advanced for some purpose other than production is broadly categorized as consumption loan. These loans seem to be unproductive but indirectly assist in more productive use of the crop loans i.e. with out diverting then to other purposes. Consumption loans are not very widely advanced and restricted to the areas which are hit by natural calamities. These loams are extended based on group guarantee basis with a maximum of three members. The loan is to be repaid with in 5 crop seasons or 2.5 years whichever is less. The branch manager is vested with the discretionary power of sanctioning these loans up to Rs. 5000 in each individual case. The rate of interest is around 11 per cent. The scheme may be extended to 1) IRDP beneficiaries 2) Small and marginal farmers 3) Landless Agril. Laborers 4) Rural artisans 5) Other people with very small means of livelihood hood such as carpenters, barbers, washermen, etc. 3. Based on security: The loan transactions between lender and borrower are governed by confidence and this assumption is confined to private lending to some extent, but the institutional financial agencies do have their own procedural formalities on credit transactions. Therefore it is essential to classify the loans under this category into two sub-categories viz., secured and unsecured loans. Secured loans: Loans advanced against some security by the borrower are termed as secured loans. Various forms of securities are offered in obtaining the loans and they are of following types. I. Personal security: Under this, borrower himself stands as the guarantor. Loan is advanced on the farmer’s promissory note. Third party guarantee may or may not be insisted upon (i.e. based on the understanding between the lender and the borrower) II. Collateral Security: Here the property is pledged to secure a loan. The movable properties of the individuals like LIC bonds, fixed deposit bonds, warehouse receipts, machinery, livestock etc, are offered as security. III. Chattel loans: Here credit is obtained from pawn-brokers by pledging movable properties such as jewellery, utensils made of various metals, etc. IV. Mortgage: As against to collateral security, immovable properties are presented for security purpose For example, land, farm buildings, etc. The person who is creating the charge of mortgage is called mortgagor (borrower) and the person in whose favour it is created is known as the mortgagee (banker). Mortgages are of two types a) Simple mortgage: When the mortgaged property is ancestrally inherited property of borrower then simple mortgage holds good. Here, the farmer borrower has to register his property in the name of the banking institution as a security for the loan he obtains. The registration charges are to be borne by the borrower. b) Equitable mortgage: When the mortgaged property is self-acquired property of the borrower, then equitable mortgage is applicable. In this no such registration is required, because the ownership rights are clearly specified in the title deeds in the name of farmer-borrower. V. Hypothecated loans: Borrower has ownership right on his movable and the banker has legal right to take a possession of property to sale on default (or) a right to sue the owner to bring the property to sale and for realization of the amount due. The person who creates the charge of hypothecation is called as hypothecator (borrower) and the person in whose favor it is created is known as hypothecate (bank) and the property, which is denoted as hypothecated property. This happens in the case of tractor loans, machinery loans etc. Under such loans the borrower will not have any right to sell the equipment until the loan is cleared off. The borrower is allowed to use the purchased machinery or equipment so as to enable him pay the loan installment regularly. Hypothecated loans again are of two types viz., key loans and open loans. a) Key loans : The agricultural produce of the farmer – borrower will be kept under the control of lending institutions and the loan is advanced to the farmer . This helps the farmer from not resorting to distress sales. b) Open loans: Here only the physical possession of the purchased machinery rests with the borrower, but the legal ownership remains with the lending institution till the loan is repaid. Unsecured loans: Just based on the confidence between the borrower and lender, the loan transactions take place. No security is kept against the loan amount 4. Lender’s classification: Credit is also classified on the basis of lender such as Institutional credit: Here are loans are advanced by the institutional agencies like co-operatives, commercial banks. Ex: Co-operative loans and commercial bank loans. Non-institutional credit : Here the individual persons will lend the loans Ex: Loans given by professional and agricultural money lenders, traders, commission agents, relatives, friends, etc. 5. Borrower’s classification: The credit is also classified on the basis of type of borrower. This classification has equity considerations. Based on the business activity like farmers, dairy farmers, poultry farmers, pisiculture farmers, rural artisans etc. Based on size of the farm: agricultural labourers, marginal farmers, small farmers , medium farmers , large farmers , Based on location hill farmers (or) tribal farmers. 6. Based on liquidity: The credit can be classified into two types based on liquidity and they are Self-liquidating loans: They generate income immediately and are to be paid with in one year or after the completion of one crop season. Ex: crop loans. ï‚ · Partially -liquidating: They will take some time to generate income and can be repaid in 2-5 years or more, based on the economic activity for which the loan was taken. Ex: Dairy loans, tractor loans, orchard loans etc., 7. Based on approach: Individual approach: Loans advanced to individuals for different purposes will fall under this category Area based approach: Loans given to the persons falling under given area for specific purpose will be categorized under this. Ex: Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP) loans, etc Differential Interest Rate (DIR) approach: Under this approach loans will be given to the weaker sections @ 4 per cent per annum. 8. Based on contact: Direct Loans: Loans extended to the farmers directly are called direct loans. Ex: Crop loans. Indirect loans: Loans given to the agro-based firms like fertilizer and pesticide industries, which are indirectly beneficial to the farmers aSource of Agricultural Credit are called iidirct loans. The sources of agricultural finance are broadly classified into two categories: (A) Noninstitutional Credit Agencies or informal sources, and (B) Institutional Credit Agencies or Formal Sources. A. Non-institutional Credit Agencies i) Traders and Commission Agents: Traders and commission agents advance loans to agriculturists for productive purposes against their crop without completing legal formalities. It often becomes obligatory for farmers to buy inputs and sell output through them. They charge a very heavy rate of interest on the loan and a commission on all the sales and purchases, making it exploitative in nature. ii) Landlords: Mostly small farmers and tenants depend on landlords for meeting their production and day to day financial requirements. iii) Money lenders: Despite rapid development in rural branches of different institutional credit agencies, village money lenders still dominate the scene. Money lenders are of two types- agriculturist money lenders who combine their money lending job with farming and professional money lenders whose sole job is money lending. A number of reasons have been attributed for the popularity of moneylenders such as: (a) they meet demand for productive as well as unproductive requirement; (b) they are easily approachable at odd hours; and (c) they require very low paper work and advances are given against promissory notes or land. Money lenders charge a very high rate of interest as they take advantage of the urgency of the situation. Over the years a need for regulation of money lending has been felt. But lack of institutional credit access to certain sections and areas had facilitated unhindered operation of money lending. B. Institutional Credit Agencies The evolution of institutional credit to agriculture could be broadly classified into four distinct phases – 1904-1969 (predominance of co-operatives and setting up of RBI), 1969-1975 [nationalisation of commercial banks and setting up of Regional Rural Banks (RRBs)], 1975-1990 (setting up of NABARD) and from 1991 onwards (financial sector reforms). Institutional funding of the farm sector is mainly by commercial banks, regional rural banks and co-operative banks. Share of commercial banks in total institutional credit to agriculture is almost 48 percent followed by cooperative banks with a share of 46 per cent. Regional Rural Banks account for just about 6 per cent of total credit disbursement. i) Government: These are both short term as well as long-term loans. These loans are popularly known as â€Å"Taccavi loans† which are generally advanced in times of natural calamities. The rate of interest is low. But it is not a major source of agricultural finance. ii) Cooperative Credit Societies: The history of cooperative movement in India dates back to 1904 when first Cooperative Credit Societies Act was passed by the Government. The scope of the Act was restricted to establishment of primary credit societies and non-credit societies were left out of its purview. The shortcomings of the Act were rectified through passing another Act called Cooperative Societies Act 1912. The Act gave provision for registration of all types of Cooperative Societies. This made the emergence of rural cooperatives both in the credit and noncredit areas, though with uneven spatial growth. In subsequent years a number of Committees were appointed and recommendations implemented to improve the functioning of the cooperatives. Soon after the independence, the Government of India following the recommendations of All India Rural Credit Survey Committee (1951) felt that cooperatives were the only alternative to promote agricultural credit and development of rural areas. Accordingly, cooperatives received substantial help in the provision of credit from Reserve Bank of India as a part of loan policy and large scale assistance from Central and State Governments for their development and strengthening. Many schemes involving subsidies and concessions for the weaker sections were routed through cooperatives. As a result cooperative institutions registered a remarkable growth in the post-independence India. iii) Commercial Banks: Previously commercial banks (CBs) were confined only to urban areas serving mainly to trade, commerce and industry. Their role in rural credit was meagre i.e., 0.9 per cent in 1951- 52 and 0.7 per cent in 1961-61. The insignificant participation of CBs in rural lending was explained by the risky nature of agriculture due to its heavy dependence on monsoon, unorganized nature and subsistence approach. A major change took place in the form of nationalisation of CBs in 1969 and CBs were made to play an active role in agricultural credit. At present, they are the largest source of institutional credit to agriculture. iv) Regional Rural Banks (RRBs): RRBs were set up in those regions where availability of institutional credit was found to be inadequate but potential for agricultural development was very high. However, the main thrust of the RRBs is to provide loans to small and marginal farmers, landless labourers and village artisans. These loans are advanced for productive purposes. At present 196 RRBs are functioning in the country lending around Rs 9,000 crore to rural people, particularly to weaker sections. v) Microfinancing: Microfinancing through Self Help Groups (SHG) has assumed prominence in recent years. SHG is group of rural poor who volunteer to organise themselves into a group for eradication of poverty of the members. They agree to save regularly and convert their savings into a common fund known as the Group corpus. The members of the group agree to use this common fund and such other funds that they may receive as a group through a common management. Generally, a self-help group consists of 10 to 20 persons. However, in difficult areas like deserts, hills and areas with scattered and sparse population and in case of minor irrigation and disabled persons, this number may range from 5-20. As soon as the SHG is formed and a couple of group meetings are held, an SHG can open a Savings Bank account with the nearest Commercial or Regional Rural Bank or a Cooperative Bank. This is essential to keep the thrift and other earnings of the SHG safely and also to improve the transparency levels of SHG’s transactions. Opening of SB account, in fact, is the beginning of a relationship between the bank and the SHG. The Reserve Bank of India has issued instructions to all banks permitting them to open SB accounts in the name of registered or unregistered SHGs. Genesis and Historical Background The Committee to Review Arrangements for Institutional Credit for Agriculture and Rural Development (CRAFICARD) set up by the RBI under the Chairmanship of Shri B Sivaraman in its report submitted to Governor, Reserve Bank of India on November 28, 1979 recommended the establishment of NABARD. The Parliament through the Act 61 of 81, approved its setting up. The Committee after reviewing the arrangements came to the conclusion that a new arrangement would be necessary at the national level for achieving the desired focus and thrust towards integration of credit activities in the context of the strategy for Integrated Rural Development. Against the backdrop of the massive credit needs of rural development and the need to uplift the weaker sections in the rural areas within a given time horizon the arrangement called for a separate institutional set-up. Similarly. The Reserve Bank had onerous responsibilities to discharge in respect of its many basic functions of central banking in monetary and credit regulations and was not therefore in a position to devote undivided attention to the operational details of the emerging complex credit problems. Thispaved the way for the establishment of NABARD. CRAFICARD also found it prudent to integrate short term, medium term and long-term credit structure for the agriculture sector by establishing a new bank. NABARD is the result of this recommendation. It was set up with an initial capital of Rs 100 crore, which was enhanced to Rs 2,000 crore, fully subscribed Role and Functions †¢ NABARD is an apex institution accredited with all matters concerning policy, planning and operations in the field of credit for agriculture and other economic activities in rural areas. †¢ It is an apex refinancing agency for the institutions providing investment and production credit for promoting the various developmental activities in rural areas †¢ It takes measures towards institution building for improving absorptive capacity of the credit delivery system, including monitoring, formulation of rehabilitation schemes, restructuring of credit institutions, training of personnel, etc. †¢ It co-ordinates the rural financing activities of all the institutions engaged in developmental work at the field level and maintains liaison with Government of India, State Governments, Reserve Bank of India and other national level institutions concerned with policy formulation. †¢ It prepares, on annual basis, rural credit plans for all districts in the country; these plans form the base for annual credit plans of all rural financial institutions †¢ It undertakes monitoring and evaluation of projects refinanced by it. †¢ It promotes research in the fields of rural banking, agriculture and rural developmentby the Government of India and the RBI. Mission Promoting sustainable and equitable agriculture and rural development through effective credit support, related services, institution building and other innovative initiatives. In pursuing this mission, NABARD focuses its activities on: Credit functions, involving preparation of potential-linked credit plans annually for all districts of the country for identification of credit potential, monitoring the flow of ground level rural credit, issuing policy and operational guidelines to rural financing institutions and providing credit facilities to eligible institutions under various programmes Development functions, concerning reinforcement of the credit functions and making credit more productive Supervisory functions, ensuring the proper functioning of cooperative banks and regional rural banks Objectives NABARD was established in terms of the Preamble to the Act, â€Å"for providing credit for the promotion of agriculture, small scale industries, cottage and village industries, handicrafts and other rural crafts and other allied economic activities in rural areas with a view to promoting IRDP and securing prosperity of rural areas and for matters connected therewith in incidental thereto†. The main objectives of the NABARD as stated in the statement of objectives while placing the bill before the Lok Sabha were categorized as under : 1. The National Bank will be an apex organisation in respect of all matters relating to policy, planning operational aspects in the field of credit for promotion of Agriculture, Small Scale Industries, Cottage and Village Industries, Handicrafts and other rural crafts and other allied economic activities in rural areas. 2. The Bank will serve as a refinancing institution for institutional credit such as long-term, short-term for the promotion of activities in the rural areas. 3. The Bank will also provide direct lending to any institution as may approved by the Central Government. 4. The Bank will have organic links with the Reserve Bank and maintain a close link with in. sources of Funds Authorised share capital of NABARD is Rs 500 crores and issues and paid up capital is Rs 100 crores. NABARD accrues additional funds from borrowings from the Government of India and any institution approved by the Government of India, issue and sale of bonds i.e. Rural Infrastructural Development Bond, borrowings from RBI, deposits from State Governments and local authorities and gifts and grants received . NABARD have been providing financial assistance to various financial institutions engaged in Rural Credit Delivery System. These agencies include Co-operative Credit Institutions, Regional Rural Banks and Commercial Banks. The demand for funds for rural development has come up considerably in recent times. To meet the increasing demand of rural credit, NABARD raises funds from the following sources: (i) Capital: It went up from Rs.100 crore in March 1992 to Rs.1500 crore in March 1998 and further Rs. 2000 crore in 1999. The total Capital of NABARD is contributed by Government of India and RBI. The capital remained at Rs. 2000 crore in March 2002. (ii) Deposits: The deposits mainly come from Rural Infrastructural Development Fund (RIDF) introduced in Central Government Budget from the year 1995-96. Another source of deposits comes from banks which fall short of attaining priority sector target. The total outstanding RIDF deposits aggregated Rs. 9725 crore as on 31st March 2002. (iii) Borrowings: NABARD raises funds through market borrowings, Loans from Union Government and borrowings in Foreign Currency from abroad. Apart from these they also borrow funds from RBI. Their borrowings are mainly from three sources. They are by issue of bonds, borrowings from Government of India and borrowing abroad in foreign currency. The total outstanding borrowing amounted to Rs. 15,772 crore in March 2002. (iv) Reserves and: The excess of income over expenditures is generally accumu- Surplus lated as ‘Reserves and surplus’. As on March 2002, these reserves aggregated to Rs. 3626 crore. (v) Nation Rural Credit: These funds were earlier provided by RBI to NABARD in con- Funds (Long-term section with assistance under Agriculture Sector. These were Operation Fund & given out of profits earned by RBI. They stood at Rs.11064 crore Stabilization Fund) as on March ’99. However it has gone up to Rs. 13,975 crore as on March 2002. However, Reserve Bank stopped contributing large sums towards these two Funds from 1994. Presently, the RBI contributes only Rs.1.00 crore each to these funds as a symbolic gesture because the RBI Act provides for such contributions. The balance contribution now comes from NABARD’s own profit. (vi) Rural Infrastructural Development Fund (RIDF): The setting up of RIDF was announced in the Union Budget for 1995-96. The RIDF was set up with a contribution of Rs. 2000 crore mainly to provide assistance to State Governments to take up infrastructure projects pertaining to irrigation, rural roads, bridges and flood control measures. Contributions to this Fund came from Indian Scheduled Commercial Banks (other than RRBs) which failed to achieve the minimum agricultural lending target of 18 per cent of net bank credit. The shortfall of amounts in the target achievement was required to be kept in the RIDF with NABARD. Similarly RIDF II was set up in 1996-97 with contributions made by public sector banks which failed to achieve the minimum priority sector advances of 40 per cent. The shortfall in their target amount has to be kept in RIDF II. RIDF III was set up in 1997-98 with shortfall in priority sector landings of all private and public sector commercial banks. The contributions to these Funds were eligible for interest payment to be decided by Reserve Bank from time to time. The Funds are managed by NABARD. Loans out of these funds are mainly provided to State Governments to complete existing rural infrastructural projects and also for taking up new infrastructural projects in rural areas. Loans out of RIDF I was provided interest at the rate of 13.0 per cent and at 12.0 per cent out of RIDF II and III. The projects generally pertain to irrigation facilities and construction of Roads and Bridges in rural areas. Similarly RIDF IV and V were created in the Union Budget during 1998-99 and 1999- 2000. Further RIDF VI and VII were created in 2001 and 2002 with a corpus of Rs. 4,500 crore and Rs. 5,000 crore respectively. The scope of the fund has been extended to cover Gram Panchayats, Self Help Groups to develop rural infrastructural facilities like soil conservation, rural market yards, drainage improvement, etc. Students may observe the capital of NABARD has gone up by Rs. 1,500 crore to Rs. 2,000 crore during the year 2002. Similarly, the RIDF deposits which were only Rs. 3,608 crore in March 1999 were increased to Rs. 9,725 crore as on March 2002. The borrowing of NABARD has gone up substantially in the recent past from Rs. 9,000 crore in March 1999 to Rs. 15,772 crore in March 2002. The aggregate resources of NABARD were also substantially increased from Rs. 28,986 crore in March 1999 to Rs. 45,098 crore in March 2002. On the uses of funds while the loans and advances increased by about 25% between March 1999 and March 2002 loans out of RIDF funds went up substantially from Rs. 3,667 crore to Rs. 10,435 crore during the same period.

Installation of a firewall policy in a small office - home office Essay

Installation of a firewall policy in a small office - home office (SOHO) environment - Essay Example Consequentially, it has become inevitable to protect these environments from any attack. Though none can claim that a network is totally secure, advanced security measures need always be implemented. In SOHO network, to protect any external intrusion using a firewall, one can consider using either a hardware or software firewall. A hardware firewall is a digital edge device put in a network that serves to allow or disallow network transmissions. A firewall once installed, it protects a network from unauthorised access while permitting only legitimate communications to pass through the network. Most vendors of operating systems (OS) for personal computers include software-based firewall packages in the OSs to protect threats from the public Internet. Different types of firewalls can be implemented at different levels in a network but since in a SOHO environment cost implications are vastly considered, only one level of a firewall can be implemented (Briere et al., 2010). This single l evel of firewall application must be effective enough so as to ensure that any outbound communication is secure. The installation of a firewall is based upon several set of rules that play a great role in deciding the type of a firewall to employ and the overall effectiveness of it. It would an unimportant and impractically costly venture to implement a firewall policy for a large company’s network for a small office/home office network since this firewall would serve as a central offloading point for security-related activity. Through the installation of a firewall appliance in a SOHO environment, client systems can easily share Internet connections. Internet connections pose the main risk to every network whether in a shared or unshared environment. Hackers are constantly finding new ways either to create vulnerabilities in a highly secured network or even to attack any network that would have security vulnerabilities. As technology changes, application-level attacks are gr eatly advancing too. This whole situation has cause a huge tradeoff between the provision of a secure network and the cost of that provision. To secure a network especially one that has access to the Internet has proved to a challenging task to the network administrators since the more they put hard security measure both in hardware and software forms, the more attacks are being targeted and executed on their networks. This has led to the introduction of integrated firewall appliances e.g. gateways and routers, that handle both the work of data transmission and data screening at the perimeter wall. Clients in SOHO network depend a lot on emails. These emails can be outbound or inbound. Both should be screened at the firewall level to ensure that only legitimate emails are given access to the network. Emails carry attachments and security compromisers have always been bent on imitating their attacks using email attachment that contain worms, Trojans, spyware or even a malware. These embedded threats once that gain access to the network would cause undesired trouble in the stability of the network as some of them have the potential to iniatiate a denial of service attack. This attack is among the most hazardous on a network since the entire business is brought in to a halt. Another harmful attack would be the one initiated with intent

To what extent does education and improved documentation impact Annotated Bibliography

To what extent does education and improved documentation impact hospitals compliance - Annotated Bibliography Example The involvement, intended to enhance antidepressant prescription compliance and usage of behavioral healthcare services, achieved a modest effect on usage of psychotherapy in conjunction with antidepressant medications and on uniformity of antidepressant medication usage. Moreover, intervention patients on combination medication were more prone to remain on antidepressant pills into the continuation period of treatment. This article documents a study that was aimed at evaluating compliance to radiation therapy for medical patients with higher level HNSCC at a metropolitan tertiary-care county healthcare facility. The study was conducted using retrospective review method. Data was retrieved from the charts of one-hundred and thirty six successive patients who had received prior advice to undertake chemo-radiotherapy for recently detected HNSCC from 2004 to 2006. Demographic data and information regarding tumors was gathered, as well as compliance of patients to radiation treatment. Duration of treatment, total dose, and hypothetical "loss of loco-regional control" was computed and benchmark compliance data were retrieved from select journals. Fifty-five of the participants did not start treatment or relocated to other health facilities. Twenty-five percent of the remaining patients had improper general treatment paths. Fifty-nine percent of the patients obtained below the useful dose due to missed t reatment days while sixty-three percent of patients had more than ten-percent computed loss in loco-regional control. Multivariate and univariate analysis did not produce any extrapolated value for node status, gender, stage, ethnicity, or primary site on compliance. Patient and tumor traits assessed in this study do not forecast compliance. The study recommended that future research evaluate interventions to enhance compliance and measurement of its effect on survival. This article is about a report on methodical review looking into research

Policy-making process Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Policy-making process - Essay Example At this stage, the makers select the policy tools to use to address the problem after the enactment (Birkland 26). The enactment implies the passage of the law and issuance of regulation that take a particular course to solve the problem. Reaching the formal decision leads the implementation stage. Publicizing the policy is critical in the implementation stage. The policymakers create statements that consist of clear parameters including the targets, conditions, and restrictions (Birkland 27). Evaluation is the last stage in the policymaking process, and results of the assessment provide feedback to the process. The members can decide to change or create a new policy. The Immigration Policy in the United States typifies the five stages of policy-making policy. The policy has attracted spirited debates, and key citizens, including the president call for changes in immigration policy. The formation of the Immigration Policy dates back in 1924 although various reforms have taken place after the evaluation stage of the policy-making process. The policy-makers identified that illegal immigrants of African and Asian origin were getting into the United States in enormous numbers (Renwick and Lee). The natives were extremely hostile towards the immigrants. Hence, the identification stage intended to control the influx of the immigrants. After the identification of the immigrants menace in US, the policymakers brainstormed on the methods to control the entry of the immigrants to the US. The proponents suggested that the immigrants provided cheap labor while opponents contended the aliens posed a threat to the job market. The policymakers set restrictions on the immigrants and established methods of banning the immigrants from the Asian continent. The policymakers settled for the enactment of the laws to govern the immigration. The best alternative imposed limits on the influx of immigrants, especially

Relationship Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Relationship Management - Essay Example This revolution led to the renovation of a marketplace into marketspace, where businesses and communications were carried on not physically but virtually. But still many marketspaces faced a lot of problems in the field of virtual customer relationship management or CRM. Building relations with clients or suppliers virtually is very tough due to the trust factor, i.e. it is very hard for people (clients, suppliers, dealers, or people related to the e-business or marketspace) to trust somebody that they have never ever met. This used to be a very serious issue because this was one of the largest disadvantages that the e-commerce industry had faced, not only a disadvantage but slowly and slowly this became a setback for the industry. But eventually just as any problem that technology has faced in the previous centuries, this disadvantage for this industry is gradually being removed and more and more reliable ways to deal with the e-commerce industry are being fabricated. The term e-commerce had been originated in the late 1970’s. At that time the term e-commerce was introduced only for online transfer transactions such as data transfers, purchase orders, funds transfers and codes transfers; that is, all the data transfer that was related to business and was done electronically was termed as e-commerce. (e-commerce land, 2007) E-commerce has surpassed itself from just being a technology, instead e-commerce or e-business is a whole new revolution in the marketing, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and management industry. (CRM, better management.com) Since the beginning, e-businesses have proven to be a much better way to stay in contact with the consumers and to have a better approach towards the markets via creating virtual marketspaces and eliminating the geographical boundaries. These fresh techniques (e-business & marketspace) grew at a lightning pace because of their geographically

'The importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to Essay

'The importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to ...... (use the company featured for your portfolio my portfolio company is GOOGLE - Essay Example Social responsibility enables a company to build a good name about itself which over time earns it a good reputation. A good reputation is very important to any organization that is success oriented and its benefits cannot be underestimated. It makes people want to be associated with the firm since almost everyone is proud of it and this in turn is beneficial to the company (Paetzold 2009, p.33). It is thus a great marketing asset that has a high potential of increasing sales and customer loyalty, which as a result can translate, to perpetual dominance of the firm in the sector it operates in. Google Company because of being socially responsible has built a good reputation in the market that has made many people across the globe to be loyal to its products. This has enabled the company to excel in marketing its products and generally it has contributed significantly to its overall success (Scharl 2007, p.200) Organizations that give back to the community are associated with greater employee satisfaction and productivity than their counterpart that do not engage in empowering the society (Ulrich, Goldsmith & Carter 2004, p.40). This is mainly because the workers are able to rightly identify themselves with their employer without fear since the firm has built a strong brand of itself out of its involvement in social empowerment activities. They in turn become more motivated in their work and hence they consciously or unconsciously become more productive benefiting their employers. Furthermore firms which are ethically responsible usually attract the most qualified and talented employees mainly because these workers believe that they will be treated well. This strong belief that they will be treated well stems from the reasoning that if the company treats outsiders in such a good manner then it must be kind to its staff. Google Company over the past three years has donated over three hundred

Understanding Culture Identity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Understanding Culture Identity - Essay Example Understanding Culture Identity In understanding culture identity, we may need to define the terms culture and identity separately. Many sociologists have defined culture and identity in variant ways. Different societies manifest different cultures and pass it to future generations through social interactions. Elders and schools teach culture to the young ones. However, cultural disconnect can occur when different cultures interact. In a situation where teachers and students manifest different cultures, a culture disconnect is inevitable. Additionally, there are different types of cultures with others being dominant. A dominant culture enjoys free acceptance and sharing by the majority in a given society. We also have Global culture refers to similar ways of life in different countries and the undermining of cultures via globalization. Additionally, there is mass culture that refers to the simple, entertaining and easy to understand everyday culture. Culture serves the purpose of uniting the society members, unitin g different societies, defining the uniqueness and identity of a society. An identity defines how individuals or groups see and vice versa in a given society. Socialization, mass media, family, and education form an identity. Cultural identity is thus the association of a group or individual to a given set of defined cultures. Its fundamentals include the society’s history, sociological, and socioeconomic factors. Cultural identity defines a society and the way it relates to others. Young people strive and are equally at liberty to change unpleasant cultural identities as applied by their parents. In the story, â€Å"How it feels to be colored Me† by Zora Neale Hurston  (1891 - 1960), the factor of race, individualism, discrimination, self realization, education in culture disconnect, and color comes out clearly in ascertaining culture identity (Hurston 1-3). The story reveals Zora’s discovery of her identity and pride. When I went to Indeed Zora was a Negro i n the United States who had no blood relations with the Indians. This was different from other black Americans who had Indian blood relations. Hence, her individuality and uniqueness comes to being. In the same way my individuality in high college was so unique in our family as I was the first born and the first to join college. In her childhood days, Zora greeted, sang, and danced in the streets to the Negros culture with all the loyalty. As a result, all loved her as she identified with their culture. This manifests the unity that culture identity brings in a society. However, when her mother died while she was only 13, she went to a boarding school. When I joined high school, I enrolled and actively participated in the College Bound. Zora’s culture identity manifests when she immediately becomes â€Å"colored† on joining boarding school. This brings a culture disconnect which Zora appreciates and indentifies with. The College Bound in my high school also changed my attitude on life and created many opportunities for me. Hence, the effect of education interactions with the teachers and other students plays an individual yet significant role in our culture identities. However, Zora is aware of how her new culture identity will subject her to discrimination. Indeed, her racial difference made her experience discrimination at the Jazz club (Hurston 3). I also witnessed some discrimination in my high school where some whites would not play or dine with me because I was African American. This proves the fact that some cultures discriminate over others. Nevertheless, she is ready to soldier on in

Analysis of Women Victimization Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Analysis of Women Victimization - Assignment Example This dismal of women of color by white women stands as a roadblock to the connection between women. More so, such assumption about black women exposes all women to various degrees and forms of patriarchal oppression in society, some of which as women they share and some of which they do not. The issue of sexism among native women activists is of much concern. It is important that we eliminate the problem of sexism, as they tend to marginalize women in society. Feminism and activism contribute a lot to feminist politics since they question the legitimacy of the United States as an appropriate form of governance. For instance, many racial justice organizations in America rally against hate crimes resulting from the September 11 attack under the name â€Å"we are Africans too†. Issues such as sexism and feminism should unite all women because it forms the basis of their history. Ironically, this is not the case, as native women do not refer to themselves as feminists because they argue that the word feminism is a white concept that should be recognized with white women. Therefore, they assume that the claim of feminism as white then implies that native feminist politics is similar to the feminist politics of other communities. These perceptions have for a long time divided women thus, making it hard for them to work together and fight issues such as patriarchal oppression that affect them in society. Women such as Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Sarah Palin, and Tahita Jenkins followed what they believed was true and were not coerced to interact with other women because of their race or color. According to Plato, women should not be discriminated or oppressed because all people are equal, whether female or male. For instance, Plato asserts that while women are caring and rearing children, men should take care of other duties.   

How Much Weekly Exercise Is Needed To Achieve Lasting Health Benefits Research Paper

How Much Weekly Exercise Is Needed To Achieve Lasting Health Benefits - Research Paper Example It was found that 10 minutes of exercise per day, two to three times a week may contribute significant impact on physical and mental health. A study was conducted in order to find out if the impact of perceived notion about the benefits of exercise. It was found that a 10-min bout of exercise has substantial impact on mood (Anderson & Brice, 2010). This was found out by having exercise group in the study who jogged for about 10 minutes and then their moods were assessed prior and after of the session. Another study was able to identify which mode and intensity of exercise program is effective (Delecluse, et al., 2004). The study was able to employ older men, 55-75 years old and were assigned to control groups and had undergone exercise two to three times per week within twenty weeks. The result was staggering considering that there were remarkable results in heart rate, work capacity and recovery, waist girth, insulin response, knee exterior strength, body composition, resting metabolic rate and postural control. Based on conducted scientific studies regarding exercise in different field of expertise, the study of Tanji (2000) was able to explore the benefits of exercise for women in the hope that it can relatively contribute to change of one’s lifestyle. It was suggested that an exercise of 30 to 40 minutes per day or everyday per week should be allocated for moderate intensity aerobic exercise. The above results prove that a good quality and regular physical exercise has significant impact on the human body. ... The above results prove that a good quality and regular physical exercise has significant impact on the human body by cultivating sound and healthy mind resulting to good body condition. The other impacts of exercise However, it is not only on maintaining the healthy physical condition of the body exercise has a significant contribution. It also shows significant benefits to healing and prevention of human illnesses and other related health problems. Using an evidence-based approach, Diehl & Choi (2008) found that the lack of regular physical exercise, which in the case of the United States around 50% of the total population was found not to have it, results to significant health problems such as on mental health, disease prevention and productivity. A scientific investigation using randomized trial approach was conducted in New Zealand to find out if exercise has relevant impact on smoking-cessation outcome (Maddison et al., 2010). Home and community-based exercise were found to hav e significant contribution to smoking cessation. In this study, exercise is particularly determined to contribute to a healthy lifestyle. There was a study conducted employing postpartum-depressed women as respondents (Dritsa et al., 2009). The study was in line with finding the effect of home-based exercise on the reductions in their physical and mental fatigue. This study was part of finding significant mediators for changes in physical fatigue. The result suggests that exercise is a significant activity to reduce physical fatigue especially among postpartum depressed women. Another study was able to determine other significant impact of exercise on the human physical health (Perez, 2008). The study was able to employ significant information from various studies showing

Describe the room youre in Essay Example for Free

Describe the room youre in Essay Still, a thick veil of cigarette smoke filtered my view of the dark, dank, desolate sitting room, and made the black walls appear grey. The early hours of the evening had consisted of me repeatedly lighting and leaving cigarettes to burn out between my fingers, not one of the twenty met my lips, as intended. The looming smoke crept slowly out of a miniscule hole in the top left hand corner of the window fame, to my right. I lazily calculated, judging by the time of the humungous clock on the wall opposite me, that Id been slumped on this icy black settee for over 9 hours now. Time moved slower than Id ever known it, it was gradually approaching 2:24am. There still remained a constant murmur of Freddie Mercury telling me he could dim the lights and sing me songs full of sad things- his voice leaked aimlessly from the 2 white headphones lying forgotten on the bitterly cold tiled floor. My dog sat protectively at my feet, staring at me. Awfully tired, but reluctant to leave me to sit alone. I edged forward on the settee, the music seemed louder from there. The distinct scent of the condolence flowers, which lay in a tattered heap on the coffee table in front of me, under my tear-drenched scarf, danced through both of my nostrils. It was surprisingly strong. I glanced down at the dog, who obviously saw this as an invitation to a far more comfortable seat. His black, shiny front legs, one at a time, slowly heaved his heavily muscled shoulders onto the settee beside me. Followed by his short hind legs, which failed to be able to push the remaining torso onto the slippery leather seat. His struggling eyes pleaded for a helping hand. I swung my right arm over his broad back and under his barrel-like rib cage, gripping tightly and pulling toward myself, he appreciatively licked my arm, and then settled next to me. After a few short moments, he sunk down into the settee and lolled his head onto my leg, where he stared back morosely at me, breathing in deeply and almost sighing as he forced breaths out. His brow furrowed into the form of self-pity and grief, now and then throwing the odd whimper at me. Hed always been good at mirroring my feelings. The wind was audibly picking up speed and strength, it angrily punched the windowpane several times, before giving in and sending a fleet of fat, hefty, hard-hitting rain drops to pummel the windowpane some more. The door was trembling from being harassed so fiercely by the wind, it bellowed and whistled, trying the door handle and rattling the lock. My heart felt the enraged booming of the thunder as it rolled through the thick black clouds, calling for the lightning. The room lit up, everything was visible for a few short seconds. Then, when the lightning clocked off, the quiet, lonely darkness carried on the remainder of his shift. A lone screw flew towards me, breezed past my right cheek and pinged off the wall behind me, as the French doors swung open with a sudden, monstrous clash. The aggressive wind had forced its way into the house, it bled through the building. It raced up the stairs, slamming doors in a childish fashion, while it ripped the photographs off the walls and crunched the glass in the frames, it spun around the curtains tearing them from the pole, as if it had a vendetta against the dicor. The hellish gale swirled tauntingly around me, pulling my cardigan and twirling my hair around my throat. The dog lunged onto my lap, and began to warn off the frosty blasts with a series of blood curdling, deep and defensive barks and snarls. Silence fell. I stood. Wrapping my cardigan around me tightly, and following my bodyguard of a dog, I peered out of the double doors and down the bleak corridor. The front door was closed. I returned to resume sitting on the sunken leather settee with my dog. As I sat, my left hand attempted to correct my windswept hair, while the right cradled my proud pet. I felt the beginnings of a snarl rekindling from the pit of his stomach; it rose up into his throat and gushed out between gritted teeth at the rain that spat spitefully at the window. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our  GCSE Miscellaneous  section. Download this essay Print Save Heres what a teacher thought of this essay 5  star(s)

Theories On Second Language Acquisition English Language Essay

Theories On Second Language Acquisition English Language Essay Several studies have revealed how dynamics in cultural identity influenced the learning of a second language (Graham Brown, 1996; McCarthy, Giardina, Harewood, Park, 2003). The process of language learning itself is socially and culturally constructed (Norton-Piece Toohey, 2001). How social formations, individual identities, and interpretations belonging to a particular culture is crucial to the development of language. Culture As defined by Brown (2007), culture is the ideas, customs, skills, arts, and tools that characterize a given group of people in a given period of time (p. 380). A more comprehensive definition of culture developed by DÃ ­az-Rico and Weed (2006) views it as: The explicit and implicit patterns for living, the dynamic system of commonly agreed upon symbols and meanings, knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs, behaviors, traditions, and/or habits that are shared and make up the total way of life of a people, as negotiated by individuals in the process of constructing a personal identity. (p. 233) This definition highlights the fact that culture is a dynamic, instead of static process and is neither something to be memorized nor a program that can be encoded to dictate behavior. The process of learning a new language while being immersed in a new culture involves cultural conflict and reconciliation of that conflict in order to come to terms with the host culture. Learning a second language even demands of an individual to take on a new identity (Guiora, 1995, p. 145). As a consequence, ones basic sense of self and confidence in ones abilities are challenged in this process of developing a new identity to cope with the acquisition of a new language. This process is called acculturation, generally referred to as the act of adjusting to a new culture. Acculturation There have been different models to explain the role of acculturation in the acquisition of a second language. Many authors have suggested that acculturation need not mean the eradiction of the old culture itself. Acculturation is adapt[ing] to a second culture without necessarily giving up ones first culture (Diaz-Weed, 2007, p. 246). This is contrary to the view that acculturation is synonymous to assimilation (total absorption into the new culture) or accommodation (mutual adjustment of cultures). Absorbing particular domains of a new society does not mean total surrender of the old or the zero-sum trade off (Berry, 1997, p. 34). Degrees of acculturation could be in four levels: integration (positive relationship to new and old), assimilation (relinquishing old, embracing new), segregation (retaining old, rejecting new), and marginalization (relinquishing old and new) (Berry, 1997). Theories on Second Language Acquisition The earliest research on second language acquisition (SLA) have been motivation studies which hypothesized that motivation is the fundamental factor toward SLA. Founded on the work of Robert Gardner and Wallace Lambert, the relationship of motivation and SLA have been helpful in understanding how the social and cultural environments of L2 learners shape their attitudes and motivations toward the L2, its culture, and L2 speakers (Gardner, 1979, 1980). These studies have pointed out that as a consequence, learners display behaviors which could either promote or impede their SLA outcomes (Gardner, 1979). Motivation for learning an L2 is divided by Gardner into two components: instrumental and integrative motivation. Instrumental motivation concerns an individuals primary concern for linguistic growth, apart from social goals in SLA (Gardner, 1979, 1983, 1988; Gardner Lambert, 1959, 1972). Integrative motivation refers to an individuals willingness and interest in promoting L2 acquisiti on through social interactions with members of the L2 group (Gardner Lambert, 1959, 1972; Gardner, 1979, 1983, 1988). Instrumental motivation is suggested by Gardner and Lambert to have a primary role in learning of the L2, while integrative motivation is depicted playing a lesser, supporting role (Gardner, 1979, 1983, 1988; Gardner, Tremblay Masgoret, 1997; Gardner Lambert, 1972). Many theorists have criticized motivation studies as not sufficiently explaining the role of acculturation in SLA. According to Brown (1980, 2007), second language learners are optimally suited to learn the Culture and SLA second language when certain conditions of acculturation are met. Specifically, the optimal period is when learners are in the third stage of acculturation and also see themselves as outside of both their native culture and the second culture. Schumann (1986) claims that acculturation, or the integration of the L2 learner into the target linguistic community, is not a direct cause of second language acquisition (SLA), but rather it is the first in a chain of factors which results in natural SLA. He proposes that acculturation as a remote cause brings the learner into contact with TL-speakers and verbal interaction with those speakers as a proximate cause brings about the negotiation of appropriate input which then operates as the immediate cause of language acquisition (p. 385). Acculturation (made up of social and affective variables) is the causal varibale of SLA. That is, if learners acculturate, they will learn; if learners do not acculturate, they will not learn. Acculturation initiates a chain reaction including contact in the middle and acquisition as its outcome. Schumanns (1986) acculturation model includes seven social variables (1. social dominance, 2. assimilation, preservation, and adaptation, 3. enclosure, 4. cohesiveness and size, 5. congruence, 6. attitude, 7. intended length of residence) and four affective variables (1. language shock, 2. culture shock, 3. ego permeability, and 4. motivation) which presumably affect the quantity and quality of contact that second language learners have with the target language community, thus affecting SLA. Schumann argues that the degree to which a learner acculturates to the TL group will control the degree to which he acquires the second language (Schumann, 1978, p. 34), but he makes his claim only for the context of natural SLA, i.e., where learning takes place in the environment where the L2 is spoken and without direct language instruction (1986, p. 385). Language proficiency and acculturation There has been a dearth in empirical studies that examined the impact of a learners degree of acculturation on language proficiency or acquisition. Extant studies have however suggested that acculturation and language acquisition have a positive relationship. Acculturation is a more significant determinant in language proficiency than motivation or attitudes, as evidenced by Clements (1986) study. Clement (1986) showed how the interplay of motivation, individual attitudes and degree of acculturation result to SLA proficiency in quantitative cross-sectional study. In a correlational research conducted in a bilingual Canadian university, students were asked to fill up questionnaires that assessed ethnolinguistic vitality, motivation, and attitudes. Moreover, interviews were conducted among respondents to evaluate their proficiency in spoken English as a second language. Minority group members exhibited more self-confidence in their skill of speaking English as a second language and were also judged to be more proficient than members of the majority group. The level of acculturation measured by the frequency of L2 use and frequency of contact with L2 speakers was revealed to be functional in language proficiency. Motivation and attitudes tow ard L2 speakers, and L2 culture were not significantly correlated to language proficiency. Friendships and immersion with native English-speaking people is also important in cultivating SLA and proficiency. As shown in Graham and Browns (1996) study in a bilingual community in Mexico, the difference in proficiency among native Spanish speakers in speaking English could be a result of the varying levels of their acculturation to native English speakers. Using Schumanns (1986) acculturation model and variables, the degree of acculturation was measured among native Spanish-speaking households in Colonia Juarez town. To measure language proficiency, an oral proficiency interview was conducted. Native-like English proficiency among native Spanish speakers was attained only by those enrolled in bilingual schools. Their enrollment in the schools proved favorable to their SLA. Moreover, they developed more positive perceptions about the English-speaking community and developed more intimate friendships with their English-speaking peers (Graham Brown, 1996). Degree of acculturation, age, and marital status are also important factors in language proficiency. Lee (2005) investigated the relationship of English proficiency and degree of acculturation in terms of U.S. media consumption. The results revealed that the use of Korean language over the Internet negatively correlated with acculturation. Those that did not use English when consuming and participating in Internet-based communication were less proficient in speaking English than those that used English frequently. Moreover, younger and single Koreans were more proficient in speaking English than older and married Koreans due to their higher levels of U.S. media consumption (Lee, 2005). Lees study is consistent with the findings from Jiang et al. (2009) which found that greater degrees of immersion in American society leads to higher proficiency in the English language. Jiang et al. (2009) studied acculturation and Enlighs proficiency by studying an older Chinese-English population. Correlational analyses revealed a strong relationship between the degree of immersion in the dominant society and proficiency in oral English. Nevertheless, while speaking proficiency was found to be correlated with acculturation, accents were not.

American Public University System Characteristics

American Public University System Characteristics Delainah E. Borgonia StarTeam StarTeam is a change management system that was developed by a company named Micro Focus. The systems main intent is to support an enterprise that can service anyone, no matter where they are located. This system is mainly used in my organization as a software development tracking tool that allows you to track the software development lifecycle through the StarTeam Change Request Workflow process. It also allows the program managers and system developers the ability to collaborate on projects and track the change management. Workflow is a term used to describe by which members of an organization completes difficult tasks or projects. This process allows one user to begin a task and pass it along to the next individual for review. Once that user is complete with their portion they will pass the project to another person to complete and finalize the review. This process will continue on until the project is developed, tested and deployed into production. Characteristics of the Users of the System The employees that mainly use the StarTeam system are the requirement managers, project managers, project functionals, analysts and system developers. The requirement and project managers responsibility is to review and validate the change requirements and update the objective scoring module in the Requirement Management System prior to it being imported into StarTeam. The project functional system evaluates the request, then decides if the request should be pursued. Once the project is given the go ahead, the project goes through the analysts for review and accuracy, then to the software developers to write code and develop the system. Features and Usage of the System The StarTeam Change Request Workflow strictly defines the change requests process, enhancing productivity and facilitating management oversight. The workflow also enforces the security it requires to ensure only authorized personnel for specific data can update that data element at the appropriate point in the workflow. All change request in StarTeam are controlled by a workflow. The workflow allows users to track the progress of any change request from when it is entered into StarTeam, to when it is closed. Each department that has a role to perform on the change request is reflected by the Air Force Change Request Status of the change request. Upon logging into StarTeam the first thing you see is a listing of projects broken out by system name. When clicking on a project, the main window that pops up is the Cross-Platform Client also known as the project view window. The Content Perspective view is the default view that you see when you open the Cross-Platform Client. On the Cross- Platform Client view is a series of Menus from the folder tree, upper pane, component tabs, and lower pane, and information tabs. The most important menu we use is the Upper Pane menu that consist of a list of items associated with the folder that is displayed in the folder tree. Even though each folder can contain items of different types of projects, the upper pane displays only one type of data at a time. This is where we are able to see where in the workflow process our project is currently at. The Enterprise workflow process starts at the status of Enter. This is a system status that is invisible to the user. The user is automatically advance to New for standard workflow or Technical Analysis for maintenance workflow. Under the New status the change request is imported from another system call Remedy and the Requirements Management System as well as those created manually inputted directly into StarTeam. For all manually created change requirements, the user will enter the required data using the change request form. For all others that are imported, the data required is captured during the import process and the change request is then displayed with an Air Force Change Request Status of New. The status is reviewed by the Air Force Personnel Operations Agency (AFPOA) Management. Once complete, it is then assigned to an AFPOA Functional and the status is changed to AFPOA Functional. While in the AFPOA Functional status the request is reviewed by the assigned AFPOA Functional. Fields such as the Description, Synopsis, Contact, Info, and Application System are validated at this point. This is where any files in support of the change request are checked into StarTeam and linked to the requirement. If the change request affects multiple systems, the AFPOA Functional will coordinate the creation of additional StarTeam change requests. All change requests and requirements arising from the change request will be linked even if they are in different projects originating from this change request. Within this status there are multiple sub-statuses to allow AFPOA to monitor the change request throughout the AFPOA process. Once the change request has moved through the AFPOA process the change request is ready for the business process owners (BPO) input, the AFPOA Functional will then change the request status to BPO Eval and inform the BPO that it is ready for their coordin ation. In the BPO Eval status the BPO will update the weighted factors and review the data entered thus far to ensure the change request accurately reflects the desired system change. When the BPO has finished the actions required, the status is changed to AFPOA QC and the AFPOA point of contact is notified that the change request is ready for their action. While in the AFPOA QC status the point of contact performs their final validation of the change request before it is made available for the Project Management Office (PMO) to begin their work on the change request. Once the change request is ready for the PMO, the AFPOA QC changes the status to Tech Analysis for the Analyst QCs coordination. In the Tech Analysis status the requirement is assigned to an analyst. The analyst will check-in any supporting documentation and link it to the change request. While in this status there are multiple sub-statuses in order to allow the project management office analysts to monitor the coordination throughout the Technical Analysis process. Once complete, the change request status is changed back to the AFPOA Functional for their approval. At this point, the AFPOA Functional reviews the change request to determine if it is ready for development. When the requirement is ready for development, the AFPOA Functional changes the status to Development. During the development step the change request is assigned to a developer by the Developer QC. The developer will complete the required modifications to the code and any documentation will be checked-in to StarTeam and linked to the change request. Once the requirement is coordinated through the developer the change request is developed and ready for testing. The Developer QC changes the status to Testing and the Test Manager is notified that the change request is ready for testing. Once the testing manager assigns the requirement to a tester, the tester executes the test plan in accordance to the requirement. There are several Test Phases that the requirement goes through before the change request is ready for acceptance testing. Once the requirement is ready for acceptance t esting, the Test Manager changes the status to Acceptance Testing, then the Test Manager notifies the AFPOA QC and notifies them that the change request is ready for action. During the Acceptance Testing step the AFPOA QC changes the Test Phase on the Testing tab to User Acceptance Testing and the Test Status to Testing Ready. After testing is completed successfully, the AFPOA QC changes the Test Status to Passed. When the change request is ready for production the AFPOA QC changes the status to Prod Ready and notifies the analyst that the change request is awaiting their action. In Prod Ready status the analyst prepares the change request and links any files for migration to production. After the migration is complete the analyst will change the status to Released. After all the actions are accomplished for production, the requirements status is changed to Closed and the closure reason to Released. That completes the Enterprise Workflow process and the desired system change is released to all users with the new system capability. Impact of the System The lack of StarTeam would hamper the developmental cycle and dramatically increase the time it would take to implement a new IT system. StarTeam is the glue that holds the entire system together. It documents all of the steps in the development cycle. All comments and notes are store on the StarTeam server. If someone needs to go back and check to see if a step was missing, that information is available for everyone on the project team to look at and evaluate. Life without StarTeam would definitely cause our employees to do everything manually. Doing things manually will dramatically increase the time spent on a project, as well as an increase in cost to pay the employees for the additional time needed to process each project. An increase of employees would also be required in order to keep track of each project status. Doing things this way will cause a tremendous delay and an increase in the cost of any system enhancement submitted, which in turn can cause mission degradation for the Air Force. One negative impact StarTeam has, is that the main users of the system are overly-dependent on the system and are not able to accomplish their job if the system was to go down because every change requirement project they are working on is stored in StarTeam. They have no other tracking mechanism they use to track and store the requirements that are being worked. Conclusion StarTeam is a critical system to the Air Force development cycle because of what we use it for. Ive discussed how we used StarTeam through the enterprise workflow process. The first step is for the BPO to submit a needs requirement statement into the Requirement Management System which then flows into StarTeam. Once the requirements needs statement is submitted, the appropriate functional system manger evaluates the request, then decides if the request should be perused. If the project is given the go ahead, the project moves to the next step in the requirements process which is the project development. While in project development, the software developers begin to write code and develop the system. After the development is complete, the project, then moves into the testing cycle. In the testing cycle, bugs and defects are found and fixed. The main goal of testing is to ensure the system works as designed. Once testing is complete the project is deployed with the new or updated syste m capability. The lack of StarTeam will definitely delay any system enhancement submitted and cause us not to complete our Air Force mission.

Inventions of the 1920s Essay -- essays research papers

Inventions of the 1920’s to 30’s Through out the 1920’s many inventions were created that altered human civilization. Transportation was successfully mastered. Radio communication was becoming more common and medicine was saving more and more lives every day.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In this year Henry Ford created the first affordable, combustion engine car called the Model-T. The creation of the Model-T changed the lives of every American. Vehicles were looked at as a way of freedom and excitement. Soon after, every household in America had a car. The demand for vehicles sparked a whole new industry, creating jobs, more revenues and improving the American economy in every way. With so many vehicles on the roads, roads needed to become bigger and better which spawned a nation wide road construction. This also created more jobs and strengthened the economy even further. (Inventions: Car) The Airplane was first invented in 1903; it amazed everyone but never really took off because of how dangerous it still was. They used planes in WWI but they threw them aside. After WWI (around mid 1920’s) the Federal Government had the idea of airmail. This was readily accepted; instead of receiving mail in two weeks it would only take a couple of days. Soon after this, transporting people quickly caught on although only the upper-class people could afford it, it soon became accessible to almost everyone. (Inventions: Airplane)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1879 the first radios wer...

Kurt Cobain Essay -- essays research papers

Kurt Cobain A look Into the Life and Career of a Legend; A Proposal Kurt Donald Cobain was the lead singer/songwriter of the band Nirvana, until April 5 1994 when he committed suicide. Troubled by depression, chronic stomach problems, and an addiction to heroin, his ailments in his personal life showed through in his music. His music evolved from the hard "punk" sound of their first album, to the intelligent "tell all" tales of his fourth and final album In Utero. Through his music he changed an era of â€Å"lost souls†, to a generation with a vision of who they were. The songs he wrote and played captured the attention of the world, but also brought him the fame and fortune that led to his downfall. The pain and the hate of his life filled the lines, tough hidden under his sarcasm. He couldn't take the voices in his head that had plagued him all his life, that compiled with his dislike of the fame caused him to end his own life. The life that gave him no joy. The first time I heard Nirvana they changed my life. I was sitting in class and one of my friends tapped into the P.A. system. He hooked it up to his Walkman and started playing Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana's first single. I was sitting in class day dreaming and suddenly I was pulled out of it by this amazing sound. A few seconds later the principal shut off the song, but by that time I was hooked. Later that day I went to the record store and bought their second fi...

Personal Narrative: Term Paper Procrastination :: Free Essay Writer

3:30 A.M. finds me in front of a glowing computer screen yet again. I’m waiting for inspiration. My friends, kind enough to let me use their dorm room and their Macintosh, are asleep in their beds just feet away in the half-darkness, reaping the rewards of their wisdom: they haven’t waited until the night before like I have. I take swigs of Mountain Dew from a plastic mug; it’s the sweet nectar of the Gods of Last-Minute Paper Writing. No, make that bittersweet nectar -- the taste of sugary green goodness reminds me, with every swallow, that I’ve sentenced myself to another unnecessary all-nighter. I have few ideas and even less time†¦ The blinking computer cursor on an otherwise empty screen was the college version of the blank white page of my earlier years, before technology had taken us so far. But for me it was, in many ways, the same old problem. With early drafts of a paper rarely required, I came time and time again to a point where a significant portion of my grade rested on what was essentially a single night’s work. I usually left myself no option but to write in one long session on a computer - there weren’t enough hours remaining to compose a version on paper to be typed up afterward. And time and again, my method, such as it was, worked for me. I not only survived but prospered. But I sometimes wondered, and still wonder: this works, but am I progressing? Has my writing grown? Should it be possible to turn out an â€Å"A† paper in a night? What standards are being used to judge these papers? Do my desperate all-night writing sessions somehow, in ways I don’t understand, hel p me improve? How did I learn to write at a level that has helped me succeed up to this point? My early writing education is mostly lost to my conscious memory, but I do think that regular reading, from a young age, of books of all sorts loomed large in that education. I remember a prose piece from sixth-grade â€Å"honors† English And Reading class called â€Å"Mutants†. It was my response to an assignment to write â€Å"a book†; about thirty handwritten pages, it was made up of two separate stories about young people with super-powers. I was at the time a huge fan of a comic book (recently popularized on film) called â€Å"The X-Men†, about a group of people born with strange powers who fought for good even though they were feared and hated by the public.

E-Business and E-Commerce Web Apps Essay

Transforming a brick-and-mortar business to an e business is not an easy task. The first step in creating an e-business is to conduct a market research on the competition we need to gather information such as shipping costs, price points, web navigation shopping cart procedures, and alternate revenue streams. The next step would be to create a detailed business plan with sales projections, budgets, goals, and actions. The third step is creating a Domain name that reflects your business for example: UNFO.com/ UNFO.ORG. After this step we have clearly identified the target market in the different fishing towns in Michigan, then an advertising budgets for online strategies, we also need to establish different distribution channels of the merchandise if shipping is required. Then we UNFO need to determine if the company is going to sell goods or services or advertising. One of the most important aspect of the customer information that is going to be handle would be Data Management, since we are handling customer data, such as credit cards information, mailing addresses, it is essential to have a published policy detailing how the information would be gathered, stored, and secured. A well effective return policy would be clearly stated and acknowledged by the customers. The other important aspect is weather the data will be updated and maintained in-house or outsource support. At last we will need to implement a Customer Service department and determine the methods for online customer service. Analyzing the market and the recent emerging technologies it would be recommended to implement a fully integrated ERP, UNFO will have a distinct advantage an internal transaction engine in place to deliver on the promises of the company’s Web pages, and the ability to truly show â€Å"one face to the customer,† not only in front-end Web-page design, but also in the way Web-based functions integrate with  internal â€Å"back-office† functions. This integration means that Web-based entry flows directly into real-time available-to-promise and order fulfillment. For suppliers, it means that the company truly is able to manage the flow of materials into the production process to the advantage of both parties rather than merely to push inventory onto the supplier. Implementing an effective Internet marketing strategy UNFO will follow the 10 online marketing avenues that craft-based Web site. Participate in craft-related forums building relationships. These relationships come from the customer. Drive articles to the web site with article links, issue an online press releases for new fishing products or services, develop a link exchange program with related web sites, use click based advertising on related sites , and register the bookmarks of your business online with companies. The enhancing the customer service delivery also involves ensuring security for communications and protecting customer information, using VoIP provides less-expensive alternatives for the different hubs, implementing a secure access for remote employees secure remote communication channels would need to be implemented , UNFO would need to use a virtual private link between the employees and the remote network or a VPN. Also secure web protocols to provide a way to authenticate the clients and servers on the web to protect the integrity of the communication, (PPTP) Point to Point Tunneling Protocol creates a secure communication tunnel between the two points it also enables authenticated and encrypted transmissions between the clients and the servers, we can also implement (L2TP) Layer two tunneling protocol and it uses tunneling to deliver the data, also implementing (IPSecs) Internet Protocol Security to secure communications between systems on the network as well as outside to the different hubs or towns. UNFO needs to maintain a highly available and secure E-mail and web site hosting using the most advance methods in today’s industry for example: using redundant hardware configuration such as (RAID) for hard disks, multiple memory, and failover servers, hardening applications using the latest service pack and patches to prevent software failure, have all up to date antivirus, intrusion detection and protection systems, use secure protocols like the ones mentioned earlier, implement and use (UPS) for power outages to protect the web servers , and use a remote network location if the primary location be compromised the second location  can take over. One important part of E-Commerce is maintaining stringent site security, confidentiality for the customers, integrity, and availability, also a secure system must contain authentication verification of the user, Authorization, allowing manipulation of the resources in a specific way and Encryption for records and transactions.

Cooking Green Beans with Salt Essay

Introduction An experiment was conducted where two sets of green beans where cooked. One set had salt and the other one didn’t. One person who did not know which set of green beans had salt and which one didn’t got to taste and judge both of the sets on taste, texture and color. Chef Heston Blumenthal once asked ‘Why do cooks add salt (sodium chloride) when cooking vegetables, for example green beans? ’ Other chefs answered with these possible answers: * | * It keeps the beans green| * | * It raises the boiling point of water so the beans cook faster| * | * It prevents the beans going soggy|. * | * It improves the flavor. However, a scientist also replied saying these statements were untrue because: * | * Only the acidity and calcium content of the water affect the color of the beans| * | * Adding salt increases the boiling point of water but by such a small amount that it will make no difference to cooking times| * | * Vegetables will go soggy if cooked for too long whether salt is added or not| * | * Little salt is actually absorbed onto the surface of a bean during cooking – typically 1/10 000 g of salt per bean which is too little to be tasted by most people. The aim to this experiment was to prove or disprove these points. Materials:Listed below are the materials used for this experiment: * One bag of green beans containing about 250g * Two pans * Two bowls * One stopwatch * One strainer * A cutting board * A knife * A thermometer * SaltProcedure:First, the bag of green beans were washed and cut up. Then, they were evenly divided into two bowls; bowl A and bowl B. Bowl A had no salt in it and was then put into a pan and observed. The time it took to reach its boiling point and the temperature at boiling point were then noted. After that, the beans were places into a strainer and dried. This was also done with bowl B, except salt was added. DataAfter conducting the experiment, this is the data that was obtained:| | | | | With salt| Without salt| Taste| Tasteful| Dull, boring| Texture| Soft| Crunchy| Flavor| -| -|. As you can see, the only thing that didn’t change about the beans with salt was the flavor, which stayed the same for both experiments. Conclusion: Clearly, after this experiment, we proved the chefs right. Both the texture and taste where better with the salty beans. Some of the limitations where that we only tried this experiment once, therefore it is not 100% correct. We could have also had more people testing it, instead of just one person because there are some factors that could influence the opinion.