African American Music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

African American Music - Essay Example Could you imagine African American culture without music? This question is rather rhetorical. Floyd defined African-American music as music that emanates directly from the black experience in America, descending from the calls, cries, hollers, spirituals, ragtime, and blues of the slavery and post-slavery periods. This genre includes jazz, rhythm and blues, black gospel, and all the forms to which these genres have given birth (Floyd, 232). Interestingly, no one knows exactly when the blues or jazz music began. â€Å"When asked about the origin of blues, old-time fiddlers in New Orleans replied, the blues? Ain’t no first blues! The blues always been† (Southern, 332). Historically, through their indigenous music of their homeland, slaves brought many characteristics of blues, ragtime, and jazz music. Even though those persons could not bring their instruments and familiar possessions from their country, they did bring music in their hearts and minds. For them music serve d as a way of life in Africa, for celebrations and rituals. For work, pleasure, and freedom in America, the slaves adapted a new kind of music, developing a new culture for themselves by combining parts of the American culture with African culture. The new music of work songs, shouts, hollers, cries, and moans, evolved into the blues, happy and sad songs.

Leisure and Recreation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Leisure and Recreation - Essay Example Also what new ideas you would bring to that particular sports program.   Worth 25 points   b) Is there one thing that you’ve learned this quarter that has changed your mind about recreation? What is it? How did it change your perception of recreation? Explain in a minimum of 350 words. Give a strong defense of your point of view. Tell me and your classmates why you feel strongly about your position.   Worth 25 points   Answer these 3 Questions on Leisure and Recreation   (Question #1)   What are the benefits of leisure to you? Explain?   (Question #2)   In your personal life, do you leave enough time for leisure and recreation. If so, what do you like to do? Explain.   (Question #3)   What trends do you see in the future for leisure and recreation?   Without a doubt, instructional sports are vital to the development of any organization. Instructional sports incorporate discipline, organization, and vital teamwork that is necessary in to thrive in real-lif e. It influences individuals to focus and train on a consistent basis and enjoy the competitive nature of it. In addition, instructional sports are pivotal it enables children to grasp rules and tactics that are associated with sports. It develops knowledge and skill that are undoubtedly crucial if an individual wants to pursue particular sport as their profession. One key element that is vital in instructional sports that is not found in any other recreation is the fact that it builds leadership and collaboration. These leadership skills are vital as they cultivate an aura of experience that most children lack in their life. With experience, individuals can portray their willingness to perform and excel in sports. However, the challenge in recreation sports is to seek instructors and tutors who truly understand the game and know how to mentor individuals. Without proper mentoring, individuals will not be able to taste the true essence of instructional sports. These dynamic skills e nable individuals to mature and embed these crucial skills in real life. Hence, instructional sports are critical since they are a foundation of forming discipline, organization, and collaboration. In order to enhance instructional sports, I would bring professional athletes to mentor these kids. I truly believe that these athletes possess experience and instincts that can be truly valuable to this program. In addition, I would give incentives for students if they achieve certain milestones. For instance, if they are playing competitive football, merits would be based on goals achieved in their position. Moreover, I would try to attach the socialization agent with instructional sports. Instructional sports require team dynamics. Thus, allowing peers to collaborate with each other in a social environment can truly add a new aspect to instructional sports. Lastly, I would add technology to instructional sports, visual game simulation to mimic real life situations in a technical settin g. My perception of recreation has changed in many ways. First and foremost is the fact that recreation sports do allow individuals to experience their passion for sports and compete at a decent lever. Many individuals dream of competing at a professional stage. Unfortunately, they might not possess the talent to play in the professional standard, but they can portray the love of the game through intramural sports. Individuals who have other priorities can truly indulge in recreational sports without feeling the pressure of succeeding.

Experience of Illness and Disability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Experience of Illness and Disability - Essay Example This study analyses Michael’s case, where interview reveals a number of social perspectives on his view regarding health. Through drawing from literature concepts and critically analysing the case study, specific aspects that will be covered are the lay health beliefs, illness behaviour, social support and practitioner-client interaction as they gradually progress in Michael’s illness narrative. The guiding thesis for this study is that a sociological viewpoint is pivotal in establishing the experience of illness and thus determining health outcomes. Studying lay health beliefs is critical to the healthcare industry due to a number of reasons; it helps understand practitioner-client relationships; it aids design of effective health education programs; most of healthcare work is carried out by lay people in terms of self-care or friend-family care (Nettleton 2006, pp. 35-36). Lay ideas and concepts about health are socially mediated and vary according to several considerations including time, social location, cultural contexts and socio-economic conditions. There appears to be points of divergences and convergences between expert knowledge and lay beliefs about explanations and definitions of health, health behaviour and the relationship between health maintenance and disease prevention (36). According to Gabe, Bury and Elston (2004, pp. 135-136), individual beliefs about illness, health and healthcare are vital in establishing illness behaviour such as non-compliance and the decision to visit a physician among others. Such belie fs are shaped by broader cultural and social factors that are also context dependent, influencing the actions taken by the individual for instance through the lay referral system where individuals consult family and friends about visiting a doctor (67). Besides, lay beliefs about health influence individual lifestyles and risks that have a bearing on such individuals’ health and

The United Kingdom, Manchester, A Boeing 737-236 Crashes Assignment

The United Kingdom, Manchester, A Boeing 737-236 Crashes - Assignment Example This was 9 seconds later. The commanders reported that the acceleration of the left engine was acceptable. This was seconded by the first officer who thought it was better than the previous day. The auto-throttle was selected and the engines achieved the required take-off. The controller then confirmed the fire with the air traffic control and warned the crew on an evacuation that was to be done through the right side of the aircraft. The aircraft was then brought to a stop at the entrance to the link delta (Gero, 2011). Investigations showed that the accident was caused by failure of the left engine which was brought about by failure that occurred at combustor 9 which had been the subject of a repair. The fire developed as a result of adverse orientation of the parked aircraft relatively to the wind though the wind was not strong. The main cause of the accident was recorded to be caused by the ignorance that was done to the thud and the accelerator that was ignored to be working. The pilots and the 4 cabin crew reported to take the flight at 0500hrs on Thursday August 1985. The flight was scheduled to take off at 0600hrs. The pilots and the commander who was a training captain completed their preflight preparation and the crew was also briefed on the duties they were to undertake before they boarded the aircraft. The external check was carried out by the commander while the co-pilot carried out pre-flight check on the flight deck (Gero, 2011). Documents of the aircraft were examined and an entry was made on the previous day’s technical problem that related to reduction in acceleration of the left engine. There had been no problems reported on the two flights and the commanders signed the acceptance of the aircraft in the technical log. Starting the engines was done by the co-pilot and there were no problems that were observed during the start (Gero, 2011). The cabin crew carried out their roles through

Rizals Juventud Essay Example for Free

Rizals Juventud Essay This may seem like a blatant patronization of Rizal, but I like to say: I love this particular work of his. One can bask in the colorful language that he uses in this one. Also, this particular work presents a lot of allegories from which one can try to decipher and understand. And from these ideas we can see what Rizal is trying to say in the poem and in extention what is on his mind. In the first stanza, the writer writes of the Philippine youth as a flower about to bloom yet still a bud. The writer exhorts the flower to look up and shine. As one who has waited for long, the writer has determined that the flower is ready to bloom on this day as stated in the poem. Also the writer refers to the youth as the fair hope of this land. While old people are more experienced, they may have manifested most of their potential and thus about to become a relic of the past. The writer exhorts the youth to fully realize their potential, Manifesting the grace and gallantry of your [youth] line. It is interesting that in the next stanza, the writer asks the Spirit of grandeur to fill them [the youth] with noble meditation. I was half expecting Rizal to write knowledge instead of meditation. Upon some thought, I saw the wisdom in these words. While we continue to shove knowledge into our brains, if we lack discernment what to do with this knowledge, it would be useless and may even be our undoing. The writer exhorts the reader to higher aspirations tempered with cautious meditation lest what we learn may be our own undoing. This in my opinion is very timely. I am about to leave the university. As I go out into the world I shall utilize my knowledge to earn a living and live life itself. However, a meditative attitude should always be present to assess our actions and what is the wisest thing to do as of the moment. The next three stanzas reminds me of Platos cave and the chains that bind. In the cave, man is chained and made to watch the wall and the shadows on the wall. This is what constitutes his world. However, someone comes along and tries to make man see the beauty of the life outside. However, man accustomed to his world is confused with what he sees. This makes him want to return to the cave. In the poem, youth is chained to the wall. His intelligence and genius is shackled away to prevent it from flying. The writer exhorts the reader to smash these chains and see the light. Additionaly, Rizal sees mother Spain as one who tries to make the youth see the light. Instead of returning to the darkness However,unlike Platos cave, the writer sees one who has been fully freed from their chains in their mind. What perplexes me is that the writer writes of one who rises on his fantasy in search of poetry. I am tempted to interpret this as a general search for knowledge since we can say that whatever can be known can be expressed in the poetry of something (e. g biology as poetry of nature, mathematics as poetry of numbers). However, I am not entirely sure of this. But in the spirit of Rizals other writings I can say that this may be true. In the end, the writer exhorts the youthful and skillful musician, sculptor, and the painter to make haste and strive for glory. Because as said in the final stanza, the gains of these people will reflect on the nation itself and in the end will be a blessing to us all. However, in the present situation, I doubt that Rizal would be proud of the youth. Though growing in strength, a majority are still living in their own worlds, oblivious to the world outside. They need to know more about the world and see things for what they actually are. This of course is a challenge for education.

Risk management in project development

Risk management in project development Risk Management In Software development Abstract: Risks are always associated with any kind of project development. It is important to identify and control the risks associated with any project as important it is to develop a project. Especially with software projects there are many unexpected problems which may hinder the software development process. It is crucial to control these risks from the technical development of components for a project to be successful. Hence the software industry is seeing software development risk management as an important practice to minimize the occurrence of risks associated with the project. This research papers gives an insight into various risks associated with software development and the methods to reduce these risks. Introduction: Risk management is a very interesting topic in todays world. Now as days we see that software is an essential part of any application and is used in every company for various purposes. Software has become an important part of life and is practically used in everyday life for various purposes. Now days, due to increase in software companies and usage of internet, a lot of complex and large software projects are developed. These projects have constraints of resources, cost and schedule. So it becomes necessary to build these projects risk free as there are many factors and constraints associated with it. In the present competitive world, there are a lot of companies making various softwares which are large scale and small scale. With this huge scope developing software, comes the risks of managing and developing successful software. Technology is advanced tremendously but still the problems and risks related to software development exist. Research has shown that 85% of all projects being developed fail due to various risks associated with project development. Out of these 40% completely fail due to incomplete requirements and 46% due to cost and schedule over runs and improper functionality. So, effective risk management is important for successful project development. Risk: A Risk is the occurrence of an event which can adversely affect or hinder the development process. A risk is any event which is likely to happen or not but if it does happen will have a negative effect on the project. Risk cannot be classified into various categories but it is the types of risks that need to be identified which are associated with a project. The risks may vary from managing team members, resources and changing environment or technology. Technical risks lie at the heart of most of the causes of software project failures. Technical risks can be defined as the possibility that the application of software engineering theory, principles, and techniques will fail to yield the right software product. Technical risk is comprised of the underlying technological factors that may cause the final product to be: overly expensive, delivered late, or unacceptable to the customer. (Dhlamini, J. 2009) Risk Management and Factors Responsible for Risks: Risk Management can be defined as An application of appropriate tools and procedures to contain risk within acceptable limits by identifying, addressing, and eliminating potential problems before they damage a project.(Dhlamini, J. 2009). It contains processes, methods and tools for managing risks associated with a software project. The basic aim of risk management is to early analyze and identify the risks associated with the project development and take the necessary steps change the course of action to minimize the risks. Risk Management is basically a continuous and formalized process of assessment which requires a team-oriented and needs open communication between all the members. The various factors responsible for risks in development of software projects are scope, resources, cost, communication, integration, time scale, quality and contracts. Every factor has its own risk and affects the project development in a way if not managed properly. Like if the project is outsourced there are times when the communication is not clear between the offshore and onshore team. Most of the times to cut the costs the management, might not use the right sources required for the project resulting in a failure. Sometimes the requirements are not defined properly with may result into a product which is not per the expectations thus affecting the quality of the product. At times, while the project is half way through and there is a change in the technology and company policy which may affect the project. Many times, stakeholder conflicts may also affect the project cost and deadline. Integration is also an issue if many teams are participating in project development. Risk Management Models: There have been various approaches and models proposed for software risk management based on the research on the risks associated with projects and the experiences of the project managers and professionals. There are a few basic approaches for risk management. They are traditional and risk-oriented method. The traditional approach is very generic to all the projects deals with the risks associated with all the projects in general and specific to a particular project. The second approach is risk-oriented which deals with identifying the risks associated with a specific project and aims to deal with those risks before they harm the project. Goal Driven Software Development Risk Management model is a risk-oriented approach to deal with the risks associated with the software project development. There are many such models that were proposed like the first one proposed by Barry Boehm in 1988. His proposed a framework by collecting all the requirements and measures together. SEI (Software Engineering Institute-1997) also proposed a risk management framework. The goal of this framework was to help the manager, developers and other decision makers to identify the risks at an early stage of development, so that appropriate measures can be taken at the right time to minimize the risk. Karolak in 1996 also proposed a model for risk management to handle high level risks. This model proposed a model to handle the risks which affect the cost and time of project development. The various methodologies for risk management are given below: a) Goal Driven Software Development Risk Management Model (GSRM): The GSRM is risk management approach which consists of a model of four layers to manage risks in software development. The advantage of using a layered approach is that any technique can be applied to any layer at any time without affecting the other layers. The diagram for the GSRM is shown below, Goal Layer: This is the first layer in GSRM where identifying, elaborating and modeling of goals are done based on the components to be developed for project to be successful. Success of a project can be defined as anything like meeting the deadlines, within estimated cost, fully functional project, meeting the user requirements, etc. So, success means identifying all the technical component development to be done as early as possible. In GSRM, the goals can be identified as project scope, business needs, user requirement, cost estimation, schedule, etc. So these goals in the development process must be ensured to be within project scope, maintained under decided budget and to realistic time scale, achieve all the business needs and reduce risks based on the nature of project, for a successful project development. Many times these goals may be too high so they are divided into small goals which can be achieved at different levels of abstraction. So it is important to attain these small goals to attain the final goal. Due to this, it is easy to model the development components where satisfying the goal makes it easy to final project fulfillment. (Islam, S. 2009) Risk-Obstacle Layer: This is the second layer in the GSRM model, which identifies the risks associated with the project development. These risks can be considered as potential obstacles which are identified from the early developed components and can affect the project goal. Many times there are processes that depend on each other and if there is an obstacle in one of the process it may cause obstruction in other processes also. Obstacles can be due to human error, wrong information, vague/incomplete requirements, miscommunication, wrong technology implementation, etc which may obstruct the achievement of goals resulting in affecting the time scale and cost of development. So risk obstacle identification is done through questionnaire, cross checking the requirements and brainstorming with the stakeholders. A set of brainstorming session and questionnaire is followed after the initial set of components developed to identify the risks before they worsen. These risks are then assessed by the assessment laye r. (Islam, S. 2009) Assessment Layer: This is the third layer in GSRM, where the risk is properly analyzed and explained the event that caused the risk to occur. The risk event that has caused the risk has two properties: likelihood and severity. Severity increases the negative impact of the risk event and likelihood is the possibility of a risk occurring due to the event. There are some risk factors that can give rise to one risk event which may cause many obstacles leading to disturbing the final goal. So this allows in analyzing the various risk factors and the impact that these risks will have on the set of goals to be achieved. So this layer considers risks metrics to identify the likelihood of occurrence of the risk event due to the risk factors. These risk metrics considers the risk factors, risk occurrence likelihood and risk severity for analyzing and measuring the risks which makes the process very easy and simple to identify the risks at early stage of development. For the assessment this model uses Bayesians subjective probability for analyzing the risks events that occurred due to risk factors. In this model, on those risk events that have a negative effect on the goals to achieve are considered. So, this layer basically gives the risks in the order of likelihood and severity that may affect the satisfaction of the final goal to be achieved through obstruction link. (Islam, S. 2009) Treatment Layer: This is the last layer in the model and this layer is to identify the set of actions that can be taken to reduce the risks and also selects the most appropriate action required for the particular risk so as to minimize the effect of the risk in achieving the final goal. Basically, this layer comes into action when the goals, risk factors and risk events have been identified and analyzed by the previous layers and a cost effective measure is required to be implemented to achieve the goal. For this, there can be various agents within the development environment like humans or some tools are used to satisfy the goals. So it is very important to consider the cost benefit of using a particular agent. Hence it becomes very much necessary to model, reason and trace a situation in the software development atmosphere to control and minimize the risks to attain the final goal. (Islam, S. 2009) Boehms Model: Boehm proposed a model in 1988 for risk management in software development. This model was based on spiral model and proposed a framework for minimizing the impact on risk by integrating risk management methods into software development model. The main idea behind this approach is to remove the anticipated risks at an early stage to avoid their occurrence and effect on the later stages of development. (Dhlamini, J. 2009) Boehms model stated that risk management can be divided into two subcategories i.e. Risk control and Risk Assessment. Risk Assessment can again be sub-divided into risk identification, risk analysis and risk prioritization. Risk Control can be sub-divided into risk management planning, risk resolution and risk monitoring. In risk assessment, the risks are basically identified, their impacts are analyzed and a priority is set based on the impact of analyzed risks. Then in Risk Identification all the possible risks that can arise during the project development phase. So this consists on maintaining checklists, suggestions, documentation, assumption analysis and decomposition. The risk analysis stage where the potential of the risk is identified and the probability of its occurrence. It includes the analysis of performance and network. Now once the risk is identified and analyzed comes the risk prioritization stage. In this stage the risk is prioritized based on the value of the impact of that risk. This basically helps in exposing the risk so that it can be taken care of before it aggravates. (Dhlamini, J. 2009) An example for the above can be given as below where the risk factors affecting Satellite Experiments software are given in the table below. The table below shows various factors affecting the project development. The column of Unsatisfactory Outcome shows the various reasons affecting the project. The second column shows the probability of that occurrence on the scale of 1-10. The third column shows the loss occurrence and the last column shows risk exposure. Software Engineering Institute (SEI): The framework provided by the SEI for software risk management is to enable three groups, namely the Software Risk Evolution (SRE), Continuous Risk Management (CRM) and Team Risk Management (TRM). The main motive behind developing this framework is to enable the decision makers like the stakeholders, customers, managers and engineers to identify the risks associated with the software development cycle like analysis, requirement gathering, developing, integrating and testing, so that appropriate minimizing strategies can be applied at the right time. These methodologies have relatively three fundamentally different objects i.e. risk prevention, risk mitigation and correction and ensuring safe system failure. To achieve these three objectives there are seven principles for risk management. (Dhlamini, J. 2009) They are, Shared Product Vision: It focuses on results. It is based on sharing product vision related to a common purpose and shared ownership. Teamwork: It defines working together as a team for achieving a common goal by pooling skills, talents and knowledge. Global Perspective: The system design and development is viewed from a global perspective of building a larger system. Identifying the potential of the final product from a global perspective and also the impact of adverse effects like cost and time overrun or not meeting the requirements. Open Communication: Making sure that communication is open between all the members involved in the project at all levels. By supporting formal and informal communication where required. Supports a consensus-based process where individual is allowed to give an opinion regarding the risk associated with the project. Forward-Looking View: It thinks about tomorrow, identifies the associated uncertainties and possible outcomes along with managing project resources and activities. Integrated Management: Making risk management an integral part of project development process. Adopting risk management tools and methodologies to project development process. Identification is the first step in SEI model. In this step the issues which will affect the project goal are identified. In the next step of analysis, these risks are analyzed by the decision makers to work on these risks. In the planning stage these risks are prioritized in the order of value which might affect the final goal. Then each risk in the order of priority is taken into consideration and a study is done on that risk is done during planning so that an appropriate action can be taken against them to avoid the risk and minimizing their impact. Then proper measures are taken so as to make sure that are risks are handled as they are planned. Thus tracking of all the measures taken is done to see if things are going as planned and all the necessary control measures are executed. Communication present at the center of the model facilitates connection between all the steps in the model. (Dhlamini, J. 2009) While implementing the SEI model all the activities follow a sequence of steps. The risk and mitigation database lies at the center of the model and is responsible for all the communication between various activities. It is responsible for identifying all the risks and making an entry for all the new risks that have been identified. Risks like cost overrun, increase in time scale, resources problem, vague requirements, improper functionality, improper testing, inefficient testing tools and no time for testing. Many times the risks are identified before they arise actually. Like increase in the cost of development, lack of proper resources or incomplete requirements. At times when huge projects are to be handled, they are generally broken into smaller sub-parts. (Dhlamini, J. 2009) In each sub-part different methods and criteria of handling risks. In this case, there is less time and cost required to handle these risks and is efficiently handled. These risks are prioritized based on their impact value, dependency, cost and resources required to minimize them. Risk mitigation plan is then made based on the priority of the risk, so as to give preference to high probability risk. This plan is documented so as to keep a track all the risks in the order of priority and a record of all the risks that are handled and ones remaining. This plan is then updated on regular basis as and when a risk is taken care of and they no longer exist. (Dhlamini, J. 2009) Riskit Method: Riskit Method was proposed by Jyrki Kontio in 1996 which mainly focused on goals and stakeholders. This model is very much based on theoretical concepts based on the experience. This model was proposed based on the previous developers experience. The main characteristics of this model are fully operational definition of process, risk management, scope, focus, authority, processes and steps for identifying and defining goals of the project. Riskit method has five elements of risk. Risk Elements in Riskit Method: Risk Factor: It is an attribute which may affect the likelihood of occurrence of a risk. Risk Event: It is an event of occurrence of a negative incident. Risk Outcome: It is a situation that occurs between the risk occurrence and before corrective measures implemented. Risk reaction: It is an action taken in response to the occurrence of the risk and the effect of the risk occurrence. Risk Effect Set: It is the effect of the risk event occurrence and the set of characteristics which are affected by the risk event. The seven steps in Riskit process are: Risk Management Mandate Definition: In this step the scope and frequency of risk management are defined with all the stakeholders being recognized. The output of this step is to mandate risk management like how, why, when, where, what, whom, etc. Goal Review: In this step all the predefined goals of the project are reviewed and refined and the new refined goals are clearly defined. Then the stakeholders associations analyze the redefined goal. Risk Identification: In this step, various potential risks associated with the project are identified and listed down. Risk Analysis: In the analysis phase, all the identified risks are classified in the order of priority. These risks effects are then estimated for all the possible scenarios. Then the probability of utility losses due to these risks is estimated. Finally, a graph is prepared based on the estimated risks and their scenarios. Risk Control Planning: Now, once the risks have been graphed based on their value of impact, the most important risk is taken for risk control planning. Then all the members decide and propose control actions to be taken for a particular risk. Then a controlling action is decided and finalized. Finally, the decided action is taken to control the risk. Risk Control: In this phase, the action for risk control decided in the previous stage is executed, resulting in reduced risks. Risk Monitoring: After the risk control stage, the risks are monitored to check their situation resulting risk status. (Dhlamini, J. 2009) FMEA Technique: FMEA technique is a risk management technique which stands for Failure Mode Effect Analysis. These days due to heavy competition companies realize the need for innovation but fear failure or sometimes ignore the risks associated with it, resulting in failure. Due to bad design, implementation and testing it may result in heavy loss, incomplete functionality or even decline in market share. To overcome this fear of failure and we need a process that will identify the failure modes that will damage customer satisfaction, recognize the reason for failure and see the causes of failure. This will help to identify the critical failure areas and take the necessary action to avoid the situation. So FMEA technique is used which provides a tool for recognizing the risk areas from design to production which may lead to failure. (Stunell, P. 2003) The FMEA process consists of a certain steps. The first step is identification of the risks that can occur during the project development process from design to development. In this step, first raw information is gathered from the stakeholders, managers and team members and previous projects in a structured format so that a knowledge base is create to identify all the potential risks that can arise leading to project failure. The next step is to assign a value to that risk based on its probability of occurrence, the impact of risk and detection based on the analysis of team members, stakeholders and other professionals. Then a Risk Priority Number (RPN) which is used to identify the probability of occurrence of a risk and the effect of its occurrence. This will help in taking a corrective measure at the right time so that the product goes as decided and has customer satisfaction.RPN uses rating scales based on the severity of the consequence for a particular risk, probability of the failure due to its occurrence and probability of a risk occurrence. (Stunell, P. 2003) The rating is done on the scale of 1 to 5 or 1 to 10 based on this rating the severity of the risk is calculated. For example, in the rating of 1 to 5, generally a risk whose value is 5 is very likely to occur than the one having a value 1. The figure below shows a scale of 1 to 5. Then once this is done a graph or scatter plot is created based on the RPN and risk value. Then based on these calculated values a priority list is created for all the risks. A risk response plan is created after the priority is created and the risks are re-evaluated based on the RPN and risk value. Once the risk is identified then accordingly the corrective steps are taken to reduce the risk. After the action is taken again, the calculations are done to see the effectiveness of the action. This helps in knowing the percentage reduction in RPN. (Stunell, P. 2003) Advantages Disadvantages of Risk Management: Advantages: Risk Management helps in early detection of problems associated with the project. It helps in preparing the development team to face the future problems. It reduces overall cost of the development which might increase due to risks associated with the project. Helps in taking the right steps like proper developers, technologies, time scale, etc. Disadvantages: It takes time during the initial stages as it requires analysis and information gathering on the possible risks associated with the project. It may also increase the overall cost of development. My View-Point: This paper is based on my research on the various risks associated with the project development and the methods to minimize these risks. Since the advancement of technology and scope for software development a lot of complex projects are developed. But there are always some risks associated with the development of these large scale projects. Risks can be like cost increase, resources problem, time schedule and many more. Many methods are proposed based on the experience of the managers and other professionals to avoid and minimize the risks associated with software project development. Based on my experience with projects and understanding of these methods I feel that risk management is as important as project development. Risk Management should be a part of software development cycle because it important to manage and identify the risks associated with the development as important it is to develop a full functional product under the given time and cost to satisfy the customer. Many times unexpected problems may arise during the development phase or testing phase which may result in backtrack to the design phase resulting in increasing cost and time scale. At times, developers may leave a project half-way which may result in resource problem. So risk management implementation in project development may give the stakeholders, developers and managers to time to analyze the risks associated with the development and prepare themselves risks to come in advance. From my research on the above methods of risk management, I feel that goal driven approach and FMEA technology are better to be used for various types of project. Goal Driven Software Development Risk Management Model is a goal based approach. In this model the goals of the project are defined at the very start of the project like the error free requirements, end user involvement, scope, business needs, realistic time scale, cost estimation and managing resources. This will reduce the occurrence of unexpected problems during the development process. Even if a risk arises unexpectedly, it has a series of steps to follow like the obstacle- link layer for the obstacles that arise for a decided goal to achieve. Then the analysis layer which is used to analyze the obstacle and the treatment layer where a proper action is taken based on the analysis layer. This approach is really good for small and medium sized projects as they are with one team and the user can be in direct communication with them and the team knows the whole development cycle. FMEA technology is mainly used in managing risks in large complex projects. In this technology first the risks which are likely to occur are decided based on the experience of senior professionals and stakeholders. Then, this raw information is made as a knowledge base and all the other risks are also identified. Then these risks are prioritized based on their value of impact on the project development. After that these risks are analyzed and a document is made. Then based on this analysis a corrective method is decided and implemented to reduce the risk. This really helps in large projects because the basic risks are associated with all the teams working on the project but few risks are face by the teams working on different modules. So these teams have their own set of risks to handle and the basic ones of they occur. This will reduce the time and cost in risk management as teams will face their own small risks to handle rather than a single team on large project handling all the r isks alone. So FMEA technology can be used for managing risks in large scale projects. Other projects are equally useful but they cannot be implemented alone. They are combined with other models to control risks associated with software development. 7) Conclusion: Risk Management is an integral part of any project development cycle. It is something that the software industry needs to pay equal attention to as software development. This is because the statistics show that more than 70% of the projects fail due to various reasons and risks associated with them. There have been studies done in this area and professionals have proposed and implemented various methods for risk management. But still this problem does exist in the industry. Project development should plan a risk management plan along with the development plan to make sure that the project is completed on time, within the estimated cost and to the full satisfaction of the customer. Thus Risk management is very beneficial and extremely important for any project to be successful and satisfy the customer needs. 8) References: Boehm, B. (1989). Software acquisition gold practiceà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ formal risk management. Retrieved from http://www.goldpractices.com/practices/frm/ Boehm, B. (1991). Software risk management: principles and practices. IEEE Software, 8(1), Retrieved from http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=625015 doi: 10.1109/52.62930 Boehm, B. (1998, 12 5). Software risk management. Retrieved from http://sunset.usc.edu/classes/cs510_2003/notes/ec-files/Software_Risk_Management.ppt Boban, M. (2003, 11 02). Strategies for successful software development risk management . Retrieved from http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:HeDQ2Ow8nUYJ:www.efst.hr/management/Vol8No2-2003/4-boban-pozgaj-sertic.doc+risk+management+in+software+developmentcd=16hl=enct=clnkgl=us Dhlamini, J. (2009). Intelligent risk management tools for software development. Proceedings of the 2009 Annual Conference of the Southern African Computer Lecturers Association, 33-40. Examining risk priority numbers in fmea. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.reliasoft.com/newsletter/2q2003/rpns.htm Islam , S. (2009). Software development risk management model: a goal driven approach. Proceedings of the doctoral symposium for ESEC/FSE on Doctoral symposium, 5-8. Prikladnicki, R. (n.d.). Risk management in software development: a position paper. Retrieved from http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=vq=cache:EkxHkf-j8d4J:gsd2004.cs.uvic.ca/camera/prikladnicki.pdf+risk+management+in+software+developmenthl=engl=uspid=blsrcid=ADGEESi3waZpt2SvUyFxBL_yCBTqZw3dRNjeK-Q9UorompBDJtxpg4tyvOhcf-25jgS1-2GymhNqyjtfKrUdMVgqa8wPaUo35ZJ_GCCzvA7V7Abvtz6hkEWK2N0BkcCAn5F36b1jpaGzsig=AHIEtbRhFabMWP1F7cCeNUCDQUVFhhh3Hw Stunell, P. (2003). How to Improve productivity in design and development. Retrieved from http://www.stunell.com/PDFs/Engineering%20FMEA-Version-2-2.pdf William, L. (2008, 08 14). Risk management. Retrieved from http://openseminar.org/se/modules/21/index/screen.do

Theory, use and therapeutic value of symbolic play

Theory, use and therapeutic value of symbolic play This essay looks at the issue of symbolic play being therapeutic play for children. The essay looks at the theory of symbolic play, the use of symbolic play with children, the therapeutic value of symbolic play, using research to support the discussions. The essay discusses what is understood by symbolic play, then moves on to discuss the importance of symbolic play in childrens development, looking at the various theories that have been put forward to explain the importance of play in childrens development. The essay then moves on to look at various instances where therapeutic play has been used, and is considered useful, such as in children who are experiencing a chronic illness, who are hospitalized, who are awaiting surgery or who have experienced some form of trauma. What is symbolic play? Symbolic play is, according to Piaget (1962) one of the main ways in which children learn to think in a representational manner, where representation is understood as a process through which children store information according to the perceptual analysis of their ingoing experiences (Leslie, 1987; Lyytinen et al., 1997). Play essentially allows children to understand the things they experience and to put these things in to perspective. As such, play is fundamentally important for childrens development (Piaget, 1962). Play is one of the ways in which children understand the world, their interactions with others and the rules and regulations that govern their passage through the world. Play is, thus, a fundamental activity for children that allows them to form their personalities and to understand their place in the world, in relation to others. Relevant of symbolic play in child development Symbolic play, which arises around the age of 18 months, basically involves children substituting one item for another, and can constitute incorporating others in to their play, pretend play or sequencing. This can mean that children pretend to be mother (or father) or that they use household items to reproduce day-to-day activities they have seen their parents doing, amongst other common symbolic play activities. This symbolic allows children to experiment with different roles and different forms of being, which, as has been discussed, allows children to understand, and to contextualise, their experiences. As Piaget (1962) argues, such symbolic play allows children to understand the role of self and others, the use of objects and the sequences of actions and activities whilst playing. This allows children to understand objects, to learn about the properties of objects and to learn about consequences and causality (Piaget, 1962). Play thus allows children, amongst other things, to re alize where their boundaries are, to understand why things work in the ways they do and to understand how to interact with others. Symbolic play is thus, as has been discussed, a fundamental developmental tool for children. Watson and Zlotlow (1999) talk about symbolic play as, an important characteristic of childrens early play, through the enactment of activities that are very familiar to the child in contexts that are not typical for those activities. Enacting activities out of context allows the child to explore, and to understand, the role of agents in their lives, allowing them to understand how the world works and what their role is in this world. Symbolic play, therefore, has been argued to have three main features: the use of objects; the use of actions during the play; and individuals enacting the play (i.e., agents) (Watson and Zlotlow, 1999). The use of objects can be undertaken in many forms, either through substitution, in which the object is used to represent something else, through scenario-building, with the object being used to perform some task or in combination, with the object being used in various ways (Watson, 2008). The use of actions in play and the development of the agent in p lay follow certain patterns depending on the age of the child, as does the theme of childrens symbolic play (Watson, 2008). The one thing that all symbolic play has in common, at whatever age or developmental stage the child is at, is that the child uses some representation of self in their play. At age four, for example, children will have progressed to fantasy play, but these fantasies will usually involve themselves in becoming their fantasy a fireman or a prince, for example (Garvey, 1990). This allows them to explore different roles and responsibilities. Symbolic play is, therefore, a natural phenomena, that children follow naturally, as part of their development through childhood. As Reed (2007) argues, symbolic play links all four areas of a childs development, namely cognitive, language, social/emotional and physical, and, as such, is a fundamental part of the development of children. Symbolic play allows the child to acquire knowledge and to express and represent their ideas, thoughts and feelings: as Vygotsky argues, in his sociocultural cognitive theory, symbolic play allows children to develop and to self-regulate and to work out any problems they might face (Reed, 2007). It is in this aspect, then, that the therapeutic value of symbolic play becomes clear. As children constantly experiment with their environment, their peers and the other agents they meet, and as the results of these experiments are constantly being fed back to lead to reinforce certain behaviours or to elicit different patterns of behaviours, the value of pl ay as therapy is clear. Children who are passing through a difficult moment and who need help to understand this, to contextualise these difficulties in the framework of their existing knowledge, can, through engaging in therapeutic play, manage this. Therapeutic play allows them to experiment with the various outcomes and to contextualise the problems they face, allowing them an opportunity to work through these problems/problematic situations, through this working out their difficulties and coming to understand how to deal with them. The use of symbolic play as therapy In terms of the use of symbolic play as therapy with children, as Bettelheim states, Play permits the child to resolve in symbolic form unresolved problems of the past and to cope directly or symbolically with present concerns. It is also his most significant tool for preparing himself for the future and its tasks (Schaefer, 1995). Using play as a tool to help children through a difficult stage in their lives is, therefore, grounded in theory and makes sense in light of the fact that children learn through play. The research shows, for example, that therapeutic play can be helpful in aiding children through hospital stays (William, 2007) or through surgery, with this therapeutic play being shown to reduce anxiety and increase overall well-being (Bowmer, 2002). As Moore and Russ (2006) discuss, pretend play can act as a resource for children, relating, as it does, to many areas of adaptive functioning including creativity, coping and emotional regulation. As Moore and Russ (2006) show , pretend play in hospital settings can reduce anxiety and, through this, can reduce the likelihood of complications following surgery and can allow children to adapt better to the complications of chronic illness. The therapeutic value of symbolic play In terms of the therapeutic value of symbolic play, as Axline (1964) discusses, therapeutic play can be delivered through one of two major approaches, namely via non-directive play therapy and via directive play therapy (Oaklander, 1988). According to Axline (1964), play therapy should be governed by eight principles, namely that the therapist and child must be comfortable with each other; that the therapist accepts the child as he/she is; that the child can freely express their feelings; that the therapist is alert to the feelings the child expresses; that the therapist respects the child and their ability to resolve their own problems; that the therapist does not attempt to influence the child; that the therapy is carried out in its own time; and that the only limitations placed on the play therapy are those that anchor the therapy in the real world (Axline, 1964). If the therapeutic play is provided within this framework, the benefits of the therapeutic play can be many and varied , as discussed above, with the troubled child benefitting greatly from this intervention. As Li and Lopez (2008) argue, therapeutic play can be valuable not only in helping children through a difficult stage in their lives but can be useful in helping to in prepare children for a stressful, or difficult, period that they might face. For example, children who are facing surgery or a chronic illness can be helped to come to terms with this through the use of therapeutic play. As Li and Lopez (2008) report, by reinforcing to nursing and medical staff that play is a very important part of the lives of young children, and be employing therapeutic play techniques, this can markedly improve the anxiety that these children experience and can allow these children to have a more positive outlook regarding their situation and the difficult things they will face, meaning that they are better equipped to face these situations. As Li and Lopez (2008) argue, therapeutic play can help to improve the resilience of children who face difficulties and, as such, it is an important tool to use in those children who need help to become more resilient. Children who have faced some form of trauma, for example, can be aided through the fallout of this trauma through engaging in therapeutic play. By allowing the child the space to act out what they saw, or what they have experienced, for example, the child can come to terms with this traumatic experience. This therapeutic play could take the form of using puppets, or drawing, or role playing: anything that allows the child to re-enact the event(s) and, through this, come to terms with what happened. The use of therapeutic play in explaining the loss of someone close to them is known to be particularly valuable, for example, as this can allow them to imagine the person is still here and to resolve any outstanding issues they had with them, or to slowly come to terms with the fact that they are no longer alive and no longer able to be physically present with the child. The simple act of playing can, therefore, allow the child to come to terms with many difficult emotions, allowing the c hild to slowly become more able to cope with the negative emotions that a traumatic event (such as witnessing a violent act or the unexpected death of a close family member), allowing them to deal with these negative emotions (Schaefer and OConnor, 1994). As Schaefer and OConnor (1994) argue, role playing in particular can help children to face the negative post-trauma reactions that children might face, with role-play allowing children to relive the trauma and to find various solutions to their negative experiences and emotions. Conclusion In summary, then, this essay has looked at the issue of symbolic play being therapeutic play for children. The essay has looked, in particular, at the theory of symbolic play, the use of symbolic play with children and the therapeutic value of symbolic play. In regards to the theory of symbolic play, it has been seen that various theories have been proposed to explain the importance of symbolic play in childrens development, with all of these theories agreeing that play is a fundamental part of childrens development and that this play allows them to contextualise their experiences and to understand how these experiences dictate how they should act and should behave in different situations. It is this attribute of symbolic play that lends itself to being useful in helping children come to terms with difficult events in their lives: as has been discussed, play allows children to explore different scenarios (even difficult scenarios), with this play enabling them to overcome any negative emotions or feelings they might have had towards these scenarios. A child who is facing a difficult surgery, for example, might be scared, might be worried for themselves and for their families, but engaging in role play with this child (for example) allows them the opportunity to explore different possibilities and to release some of their anxieties and concerns. This has been shown, as discussed, to reduce the anxiety these children feel and to enable the childs health and well-being to be maintained, even under difficult circumstances. Similarly, a child who has experienced trauma can be helped through their post-traumatic period by engaging in some form of therapeutic play. This would normally consist of helping the child to act out their fears and their experiences, allowing the child to get rid of all of their negative emotions and feelings with regards to the even, allowing the child to expel these from their psyche and then to carry on without carrying this burden along with them. In conclusion, then, the essay has shown that play is fundamental for children and that, given its experimental nature and its ability to contextualise events and interactions for children, play is, at its very essence, therapeutic. Using play with children who need therapeutic interventions, then, makes perfect sense to allow children to understand the negative events/emotions and to overcome their fears and anxieties regarding these negative events and emotions. Therapeutic play has been shown to be a useful intervention in many cases, including in hospitalized children and in children living with chronic illnesses, who can be helped through this difficult period by engaging in therapeutic play, which has been shown to reduce their anxiety levels. In conclusion, then, therapeutic play is an extension of the symbolic play that children engage in as a normal developmental process and can be useful in helping children through difficult periods in their life.