Ps Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ps - Essay Example My interest in Communication studies developed after I worked as a street cleaner volunteer in Hangzhou. During this time, I cleaned the streets and guided citizens and tourists through giving any information they needed about Hangzhou. With the example given, the British couple was quick with their questions and went on with their trip, while the American teenager conversed with me much longer. She did not want to go yet, until her friends arrived. She immediately introduced me as a â€Å"friend,† as if we have known each other for years. This interaction made me aware of my own culture and how conservative we can be in dealing with other cultural groups. I actually see myself as outgoing, but this American girl was an extrovert who loved learning about other people. I would have seen her questions about my job as not necessary, or even disrespectful, but the way she asked questions made me feel comfortable in answering them. She knew how to â€Å"connect† with me. Bec ause of her and other people I interacted with, I became curious of people’s communication approaches and behaviors. Why was this American girl so warm and open with me? How can I develop such a sociable communication style? These are some of the questions that bog my mind up to now, and I know that a Communication degree will help me answer these questions. Because of this work experience, I was able to interact with different people from diverse genders, religions, and cultures, and I realized how these factors greatly shape how people speak and interact with others. Who I am and who they are have an impact on our communication patterns, because together, we add to the context of our communication event. In addition, I learned how interesting communication is. I took communication for granted before because it seems to come so naturally, when in reality, it is not a natural process, because, for me, communication is a social product and a social process. I believe that comm unication has its individual elements too, such as the effect of personality on communication styles, but it has its environmental factors also. Thus, my work experience opened my mind to the complex and fascinating world of communication that I now want to pursue as my major. Prompt 2: I was fifteen when I was looking for my essay on Han culture, specifically our food culture. I already had it typed for our school paper, when I saw my father reading it. He said that he liked the sincerity of the writing and asked me who wrote it. He was impressed to know it was me, and it continues to be one of the happiest days of my life, knowing that my father appreciated my writing. Writing in Chinese is my forte. It is a part of me that flows naturally and with pride. I still have much to learn about English, but Chinese, as a first language, is easier for me to use to express my ideas, arguments, and emotions. The Chinese language is an important part of my Han identity, a way for me to becom e and to develop further as a Chinese and as a global citizen. To become a Chinese Han is to learn and to practice our Chinese language and cultural beliefs and practices. Though my parents are not utmost traditional Hans because of our modern Westernized lifestyle, we speak and write in our local language at home, school, and everywhere else. Some of our family members and neighbors already teach English as the first language for their children, but not in

My History with Language Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

My History with Language - Essay Example However, my mother has been my role model towards speaking some sort of English before I even joined in an elementary school. In most cases, some elementary schools use first languages to teach students in order to enable them understand well something that contribute to some difficulties in learning second language effectively for many international students. Therefore, my history with language begins from earlier childhood life to adulthood and the way I have encounter varied problems in reading, writing and speaking. One of the greatest mentors apart from my mother is my high school English teacher because he had molded my attitudes towards English language. I always viewed English as a language for the Americans people only but I have realized the advantages of reading, writing and even speaking fluent English. My high school teacher’s greatest complement to me was that I had a good accent in English and this enabled me to work hard in class in order to perform well in my studies. I have always wanted to be one of those students who learn other people’s languages easily; however, I can say without any disbelief that I am not since my learning especially my speaking and reading is slow. I have assimilation problem and learning foreign language is challenging because learning is a process and it takes times for one to acquire adequate knowledge or experience. It took me two years to get to the point of conversing or socializing with my friends in my own language while living in a foreign country. I have been living with foreign family friends for more than five years but I have never been able to speak nor read fluent in foreign language. I am not linguistically gifted and one can be able to picture my literacy when learning foreign languages. Gass and Larry (3) assert that many graduate programs have made significant efforts of training students in second language acquisition unlike a generation ago and this has become significant in the contem porary learning environment. Many people have come to realize that in case one has to develop effective language teaching strategies, he or she has to develop a solid basis for those strategies in language learning. Despite some challenges, I understand that it is because of the efforts of my mother and my teachers in an elementary school, which enabled me to develop a bit of some accent in English. However, I also thank my high school English teacher for employing effective language teaching strategies for helping me to meet my education demanding needs efficiently. For instance, the use of language teaching strategies which are based on translation and memorization exercises has played significant roles in improving my English language. I have always wanted to read, write and even speak fluent foreign languages because I wanted to become a tourist; thus tour all places across the globe. One of the most prominent and salient type of critical learning experience is concerned with tr avel. This is either traveling to a country where English or French language is spoken; thus travel experience can enable learners to see the value of speaking English, Spanish or French as a way of communicating with people from diverse cultural backgrounds (Mercer 148). I recall when I was 11 years old, I and my family made a trip to Hawaii during a holiday. I was amazed to see many people

Ethical Issues In Contractors Tendering Practices Construction Essay

Ethical Issues In Contractors Tendering Practices Construction Essay Ethics examine the morality of human conduct; it studies the basic principles of moral behaviour and is concern with the right or wrong of human behaviour. Every rational human being has an idea of what it is for something to be right or wrong, although sometimes it is difficult to evaluate what is wrong or right depending on the circumstance of such action (Etim, 1999). Business ethics is therefore a collection of moral principles or a set of values dealing with what is right or wrong, good or bad in business transactions. Such sets of values are being shared within the business community as well as the society as a whole. Moral ideas are considered to be inappropriate for everyday business dealings and some actions are disregarded due to the strong desire to make profit. Some have argued that ethics and business do not mix, and that the two are in direct conflict with each other. In fact, it has been said that companies that are truly ethical are going out of existence. Construction contracts can be obtained by negotiation or by competitive tendering (Shash, 1993; Ashworth, 2001). In competitive tendering, an owner invites a selected number of contractors to compete for the project. This method of tendering is considered as the most common means by which building and engineering contracting firms obtain works, and the dominant mechanism for allocating construction contracts (Ward, 1979; Yusif and Odeyinka, 2000; Ashworth, 2001; Hiyassat, 2001; Harris and McCaffer, 2001; Shen et al, 2004). The business of tendering for construction contracts has a large ethical component. Ethical principles in tendering are formally prescribed in the codes of conduct related to tendering process. The codes are designed to delegate responsibilities to both competing contractors and the client and to minimize the potentials for unethical practices. This work intends to examine cover pricing, collusive tendering and rate loading among other unethical practices which construction contractors sometimes engage in during tendering. Cover pricing in construction tendering Fu, Drew and Lo (2004) observe that contractors tendering behaviour is subject to their winning intent. It is however known that winning may not be the only objective in tendering. Although the tendering codes stipulates that tenderers shall only bid where they intend to carry out the work if successful, some contractors for some reasons sometime decide to submit tenders based on cover-price. Cover prices are tender prices which have been provided at rates specifically designed to lose the tender but which may appear to be competitive. Despite attempts to prevent this practice, several instances of cover pricing sometimes called non-serious tenders have been reported. When a contractor with a reasonable workload receives a set of tender documents from a reputable client and consulting organizations, the contractor has to decide what to do: first whether to do nothing, to return the tender documents or to submit a tender. A tender may be submitted in one of three ways: by obtaining a cover price, by preparing a tender based on accurate estimate, and by preparing a tender based on approximate estimate. The option to do nothing is not considered suitable due to the potential harm such a course of action might cause to the reputation of the contractor with the client, consultants and their business contacts. Also the option of returning the tender documents may be perceived by the contractor as unsatisfactory because it might mean exclusion from future tender list, although this should not be the case according to the code of procedure for tendering. Some reasons for the issuing of cover price by contractors to include: little interest in the contract; lack of resources to competently complete the work; shortage of time to compile tender; desire to remain considered for future contracts; and little chance of winning due to the large number competing contractors for the same contract. It is reported in Skitmore and Runeson (1999) that clients often give the perception that a failure to tender will prejudice a contracting firm in the future tendering exercise, and the consequence of this is the so called cover price which cannot easily be distinguished from a genuine competitive tender. Also, Runeson (1988) remarks that some tenders are based on cover prices not intended to win the contract and therefore above the expected price, and submitted to recover deposit moneys or to keep faith with the client or consultants. However, Lowe and Parvar (2004) provide a different perspective to cover pricing. They submit that tendering options available to a contractor are simply acceptance or rejection of the tendering opportunity, although, rejection does not mean that the contractor does not submit a tender. Unsatisfactory past experience with a particular client or consultants regarding personality or payment, high cost of tendering and inadequate information often resulted in inflation of the tender price (cover price) rather than a refusal to tender. Cover price can ruin the competitiveness of a tendering process and can also lead to collusion among tendering contractors. However, despite its unethical nature and illegality in some countries, there are some arguments in its favour. The shortage of time to compile a bona fide tender could compel a contractor to submit tenders based on cover price. The recognition of this fact may have prompted the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS) in its Code of Procedure for Competitive Tender to state that: time allowed for completion of tender should relate to the scope of project. Adequate tendering time allows tenderers to obtain competitive quotations and thus, ensure the return of most competitive prices with least mistakes (Clause 4.2.1) Lowe and Parvar (2004) believe that only few contractors will actually decline an invitation to tender. However, it appears that contractors react differently to the perceived fear that the option of returning tender documents might exclude them from clientsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ future tender process The report of a survey of some Nigerian building contractors indicate that when they receive a set of tender documents at a time their firms have a reasonable workload, they return the tender documents to the clients or their representatives with an apology for their firmsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ inability to tender. Only a few contractors admit to engaging in the practice of cover pricing. Contractors who admit to using cover pricing in tendering reveal that their action is mostly driven by little or no interest in the contract under consideration and the desire to remain considered for future contracts and tendering process. Some contractors cited other reasons such as the personality of the cl ient, risk and unpredictability of the construction period as well as heavy workload as some reasons why cover pricing may be an option for their firms. Whether or not a cover price is provided with good intention, the fact remains that it results in lessening real competition of tenders. Collusion in Tendering Chen et al (2005) submit that one purpose of the standard tendering procedures is to reduce potential for collusion and manipulation of pricing. According to Ray et al (1999), collusion is a method of pricing control by contractors to substantially lessen competition. Collusive tendering occurs where several contractors have been invited to tender and the contractors agree among themselves either not to tender, or to tender in such a manner as not to be competitive with the other contractors. It has the effect of substantially lessening competition. The main reasons for this practice among contractors are that it provides: an even distribution of construction work for all the contractors involved a means of entering what is an apparently bona fide tender a means for discussion and agreement over illicit profit making such as amounts for cover price, and unsuccessful tendering fee. The practice, or possibilities for the practice of collusion is a factor among several other issues related to ethical tendering, and it is contrary to the ideals of competition. It only benefits those parties to the agreement at the expense of those outside, including clients and other contractors. Sheldon cited in Ray et al (1999), while examining collusion in the UK, holds that collusion agreement are seen as an attractive means of maintaining a steady flow of work and achieving higher, risk-adjusted, discounted profit. The tender codes of some countries clearly prohibit unethical practices such as collusion on tenders, inflation of prices to compensate unsuccessful tenderers or any such secret arrangements. The very fact that tendering contractors communicate with each other can be taken to be a form of collusive behaviour under competitive tendering process. Though, little evidence of collusive tendering seems to be available in Nigeria construction industry, it is pertinent for industry practitioners and clients to be aware of the possibility of such unethical practice. Rate loading Usually, a construction tender is priced in such a way that the prices of each item comprise the cost of that item plus a uniform percentage allowed as profit and overheads. This is not always the case. Contractors may mark up the bill items by different percentages to create some element of rate-loading in order to create a favourable cash flow. Two aspects of rate loading are front-end loading and claims loading. Construction contracts only become self-financing towards the completion of the project. Therefore contractors are required to engage a considerable amount of their own capital in the execution of the work, at least in the early stage. In an attempt to minimize the involvement of their capital and make the project self-financing at an early stage, they resort to price manipulations. Items which the contractor expects to be executed early in the project have prices which contain a disproportionately large content of overheads and profits and items to be executed in the later stage of the project have their prices reduced accordingly to maintain competitiveness (Fellows et al, 2002). This pricing strategy in construction tenders is referred to as front-end loading. Due to the time-value of money, the situation further benefit contractors but place a cash flow burden and greater risk on clients. There is also the practice of claims loading where contractors insert higher profit margin into unit rates related to those work items which they expect to be increased through variation orders during the execution of the contract (Xu and Tiong, 2002). Conclusion Unethical tendering practices such as cover pricing, collusive tendering and rate loading have the potential of reducing real competition and eroding the benefits of competitive tendering. They can also place enormous financial burden on client. Construction consultants therefore have a duty to carefully examine tenders for construction contracts to identify any such practice and possibly caution or sanction contractors who may have engage in these practices.

British Empire Essay -- British English History

THE BRITISH EMPIRE The British Empire was the largest empire in history and for a time was the foremost global power. It was a product of the European age of discovery, which began with the maritime explorations of the 15th century, that sparked the era of the European colonial empires. By 1921, the British Empire held sway over a population of about 458 million people, approximately one-quarter of the world's population. It covered about 36.6 million km ² (14.2 million square miles), about a quarter of Earth's total land area. As a result, its legacy is widespread, in legal and governmental systems, economic practice, militarily, educational systems, sports, and in the global spread of the English language. At the peak of its power, it was often said that "the sun never sets on the British Empire" because its span across the globe ensured that the sun was always shining on at least one of its numerous colonies or subject nations. During the five decades following World War II, most of the territories of the Empire became independent. Many went on to join the Commonwealth of Nations, a free association of independent states. This astonishing empire was never undone in the way that the Roman Empire was: instead it dissolved peacefully, by mutual consent, and the British, apart from creating the world's largest empire, also had the privilege of being the only empire builders not to be destroyed in their far flung empire itself. ORIGINS UNDER ELIZABETH I The first moves by the British to establish an empire came during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603). Elizabeth was a far-sighted sovereign who financially supported the voyages of exploration, mainly through her favorite, Sir Francis Drake, who in 1580, became the first... ...FORMER OTTOMAN TERRITORY IN MIDDLE EAST The outcome of the First World War in 1919, saw the British Empire at its height: the Treaty of Versailles gave Britain most of the German Empire in Africa, while the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East led to the British acquisition of Palestine and Iraq in 1918. DISSOLUTION OF THE EMPIRE AFTER WORLD WAR II The British Empire only finally started dissolving after the First World War, with the process being speeded up dramatically in the aftermath of the Second World War. The primary reason for the dissolution of the empire was economic and political rather than racial: after the Second World War, Britain was simply too impoverished to continue holding on to an empire created in a previous century, and it was easier to grant independence to the far flung colonies, especially when some of these turned violent.

Blood Brothers Evaluation Essay

In June 2004, myself and the rest of my GSCE Drama group travelled to London to watch a performance of the play ‘Blood Brothers’ by Willy Russell. Having studied the play in great detail four weeks previous to that day, we eagerly awaited seeing the play on stage. A workshop with the narrator beforehand gave us an insight to what it was like to be a member of the cast and helped us further in relating to the characters themselves. I shall now evaluate the performance I saw discussing the medium and elements of drama used in the play, and themes and symbols noted throughout. The play began with a still image placed behind a gauze curtain. The still image was that of the death scene between the two brothers at the end of the play, and the image was distorted slightly by red and blue ripples of light that were shined on the curtain itself. These ripples of light can be thought of on many levels and can represent many different things. When I thought about it the first thing that came to my mind was the saying ‘looking through the ripples of time’ which, in effect, was what we were doing. We were looking through the curtain and the ripples, and looking through time – seeing an event that had not yet come to pass. The still image was constructed by each actor in turn walking on stage and taking up their positions, this was effective in building up tension in the audience as we were left wondering what the final picture would look like. Once the actors had taken up their positions, the gauze curtain lifted so we could see the image properly, and then having waited a while the actors left the stage, one by one, in much the same way they entered. The narrator, however, did not leave the stage and proceeded to deliver his lines, explaining the image we had just seen. The beginning of the play, in contrast to the ending, built up an atmosphere of mystery and tension. The ending was much more of a sudden burst of shock. The begging of this play is not unlike that of the famous play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Both plays begin with the end, as it were, with the opening lines telling us the events in the play and, indeed, the way it ends. This line describes how Romeo and Juliet’s fate was ‘written in the stars’, as if it were their destiny. This theme is very significant in both plays. The ending of the play was very tense, due to a number of factors, and the climax to the final gunshots was successfully moving. The way that the policemen entered through the audience gave the play a much more real feel to it. The audience went from sitting and observing something, to being involved in it, and suddenly the audience found themselves right in the middle of all the action. This was a very effective technique to use, as it meant that the audience could relate more to what was happening. Mickey’s body language built tension. They way he shifted his weight, constantly, from one foot to the other and his in-ability to find any words to say, showed his conflicted emotions and also made the audience feel nervous and anxious. After this sudden build up in tension, it seemed from the audience’s point of view that the ending was clear. Both men, now knowing who they truly were would accept things and get on with their lives, living happily ever after. Even knowing what the end would, in fact, be, the thought still crossed my mind and when the gunshots went off, it was so unexpected that it took some time to realise exactly what had taken place. This scene was extremely well portrayed, as it really made the audience feel what the characters were feeling and the fact that the audience just did not expect what was to come made it even more effective still. In the play the narrator played a very important part. It was he who took on the role of fate and destiny. Throughout the play it seemed, on occasion, that it was he who was controlling the events that were taking place. For example in the scene where the mothers made their pact the production showed it was the narrator who introduced the idea of the bible. It was he who passed it to Mrs. Lyons, had he not done this then she may never of thought of the idea. This is not unlike that of a Greek chorus. In the olden times a chorus was used to narrate plays and the leader of this would often interact with the characters on stage. The mere presence of the narrator was incredibly foreboding as his body language and facial expressions were very sinister throughout the play. The fact that the narrator never left the stage also added to the feeling that he was controlling the story and watching over everything that happened. Symbolism played a huge part in the play, so much so that it would take days to interpret it all. Props were used well as symbols throughout the play. A significant prop that was used in the play was the locket Mrs Johnstone gave to Eddie to remember her and Mickey as she thought they were never going to meet again. This prop consequently had the opposite effect. Another prop was the sweets Edward gave to Mickey as a gesture of friendship. This showed the audience that Edward was a character who used his personal belongings that he thought little of, to make friends. A prop that was used in different ways throughout the play was a gun. This prop went through the stages of firstly being a child’s finger, then to an air gun and finally to a real gun. Another thing in the play that progressed as the play went on was the ages of the characters, the children especially. One thing that the director chose to do was to keep the same actors all the way through. There was not a 7year old playing the part of Mickey at 7. Nor was there a 14year old playing the part of Mickey as an adolescent. The actors stayed the same meaning they had to adapt to portraying children of different ages. This was done superbly and the actors really did pull off the transitions from child to adult. The different ages were shown mostly by change in costume, however the actors had to adopt a certain balance between maturity and naivety. When they were young, the latter was more prominent but the characters were forced to grow up too soon and maturity took over. This was clear in the way the actors came across on stage. Another very symbolic part of the play was the pact itself, made by the brothers. Making the pact meant spilling their blood – sealing their fate or merely tempting it – it is hard to tell. Much of the symbolism seen in the production was not always that which was written in the script. For example in the production, as I have already mentioned, the narrator handed the bible to Mrs. Lyons, this was not written anywhere in the script in fact in the script, the narrator enters after the pact has been made. It was the director’s choice to have this happen, and I believe it was a very good choice as it really brought across the narrator’s role as fate/destiny in the play. The director of the production I saw, made many more slight changes to the script, each one emphasised the role of destiny and fate more, and overall achieving the desired effect of leading the audience to believe we were being told the story, rather than seeing it as it happened. The play was set in eighties Liverpool and addressed many social and cultural aspects of that time. Class was an obvious issue in the play, separating the two families and the two brothers. This separation was shown by the costumes worn, the way the characters spoke and the set used. Eddie’s smart school uniform was in complete contrast to that of Mickey’s baggy jumpers and scuffed up muddy shoes. The production showed the two houses quite separately with two different backgrounds that would be lowered down whenever a scene was taking place inside a house. The Lyon household consisted of a background of pale flowery wallpaper, a large window, one or two pictures on the walls, and nice furniture. The Johnstone house, however, portrayed an over-crowded, small and very cluttered kitchen, with very brightly coloured wallpaper that looked many years old, as bits were damp, scribbled on, or had been picked off of the wall. This difference in the way the two houses looked showed how the two families were of very separate classes. The Lyons were able to afford a large house, nice sofa and wallpaper still attached to the wall, however the Johnstones could not afford any of these things. Unemployment was a big problem in these times and this issue arose in the play, at one point we saw Mickey waiting to collect the dole with his brother. This was shown in the performance by lots of ‘For sale’ signs descending to position themselves outside the houses, including that of the Johnstone’s. We also saw a change in the attitude of the characters there was a feeling of depression coming from the stage as the characters came to terms with their situations. The way unemployment was portrayed in the play was very effective it made the audience feel sorry for the characters, for Mickey’s poor upbringing and also for Eddie, as his sheltered lifestyle left him very naive and vulnerable when eventually he was thrown into the ‘real world’. In conclusion I feel that the play was incredibly successful in stuffing itself full of as many hidden meanings, symbols, themes and feelings as it possibly could. The way that the play took on another dimension, as it were, involving the audience to such a great level was incredible, heightening emotions and making itself memorable to say the least. Overall a very successful play that used the medium and elements of drama to its advantage in the greatest way possible.

A wide range of technologies Essay

In this report I will describe a wide range of technologies used by John Smith. John was involved in a car accident 5 years ago where he lost the use of his legs and also injured his spinal cord. He has used a wheel chair ever since. He works as a lecturer at imperial university where he teaches science. This has been deeply traumatic towards his physical, social and working aspects of his life. I am going to find out what technologies he uses to get by in life and to decrease the hardships he faces with his disabilities and also to find out how he uses these technologies for his personal, social and working aspects of his life. John is known by all his colleagues and is very popular in his work place. He also goes out with friends in his workplace on social gatherings like clubs but this doesn’t often happen because of the trouble he has coping with his disability. Technology 1 – Work Related One technology that John uses for work is his eyegaze. An eyegaze is a communication and control system for people with complex disabilities it’s a response interface that tracks the eye allowing hands free computer operation. By looking at certain control keys a person can do almost anything e.g. turn his house light’s on and off, open certain doors in his house and use the internet. The eyegaze is an excellent system used by many disabled people. John has an eyegaze computer system attached to his wheelchair. At his university he can monitor his students and use the interactive white board in his classroom to show his students pictures or set them question for class work. His eyegaze can also connect to his printer wirelessly so that he can print out question that he has set his class for homework or revision sheets for their test. Advantages Advantages of an eyegaze are that it allows people with complex disabilities like spinal cord paralysis to surf the net and do day-to-day tasks that would normally have been impossible in their current state of wellbeing. The eyegaze allows them to do their work and play games that they would normally have been unable to do due to the fact that they would not have been able to reach the keyboard with their disability. The eyegaze allows them to surf the net, keep in touch with others around the world and have video conferences. Disadvantages The eyegaze has many disadvantages is that it’s harder to use then a normal keyboard as it track you’re eye if you make the slightest twitch it will follow and go onto what you looked at. It is very difficult to use as it will follow every move you eye make and the slightest twitch could change the page or delete the sentence you were on. It could also turn off the lights when you want them on or shut a door you want open. Eyegazes are also very expensive and if they break down it take along time to replace because only a small minority of business produce the technology also the technology needs to shipped from other countries and that takes a lot of time. How the technology meets the Needs of the adult in a work related environment: To John his eyegaze is a great comfort as he needs to mark his class’s work and as he is disabled it would take along time with normal pen and paper so his students send it to him by email. He uses a special program which allows him by using his voice to mark their work and send it back to them on by one. His eyegaze allows him to do this without putting a great strain on his back whereas using a keyboard and mouse would have put a great strain on his spinal cord and caused him a great deal of pain. His eyegaze is very useful to him in work related situations as it allows him to go throw his work and lecture note quickly without any strain or pain on his back. WHAT WOULD HE DO WITHOUT THIS PIECE OF TECHNOLOGY Without his eyegaze John wouldn’t be able to monitor his students in class or set them work by email. Also he would have to use a normal mouse and keyboard to monitor his constant stream of emails which he receives from students, his colleagues and his doctors and this would have been a constant strain on his back and would have put him in a lot of pain. He would also be unable to automatically turn on lights or open doors as his eyegaze is connected wirelessly to his house and allows him to control his environment. Technology 2 – Socially Related One technology that John uses in his personal life is his electronic wheelchair which allows him to move around anywhere without the hassle of pushing the wheels. His electronic wheelchair has a portable eyegaze computer connected to his electrical wheelchair allowing him to take his work with him on the go. He uses his electrical wheelchair in a number of personally related activities. Thanks to his electrical wheelchair he can move anywhere around his house and area without straining his back by having to manually push the wheels. Advantages Electrical wheelchairs have many advantages including because they’re battery powered there is no hassle of moving it instead you push the control stick forward and the wheels move of their own accord. This is excellent as John has spinal paralysis which means that he cannot use his back and if he had a manual wheelchair then someone else would have to push him around and John has told me that â€Å"I don’t like having people wait on me as I had difficulty coping with the realism that I cannot use my back or legs anymore†. Disadvantages An electrical wheelchair has many disadvantages like: it is dependant on batteries therefore it will not work if it has no charge. Another disadvantage is that it cannot be folded and be put into the boot of a car. It is also very heavy and it can be quite a nuisance when going up the university stairs as he needs his students help as the ramps are on the other side of campus and it would take him an hour to get from his car to the back to his lecture hall. His wheelchair is also very expensive and if it breaks down it will take along time to repair. How the technology meets the Needs of the adult in a socially related environment: For John his electric wheelchair is one the best pieces of technology he can use as it is fast and reliable and allows him to go everywhere without the hassle and strain of a normal manual wheelchair. It is also a great relief as his back is often in pain and thanks to the wheelchairs special cushions he can lie back and have the special in-built massagers take his backs pain away. WHAT WOULD HE DO WITHOUT THIS PIECE OF TECHNOLOGY Without his wheelchair John would be unable to move around as efficiently as with his electric one. Also it would have put increased constant strain on his spinal cord and put him in a great deal of pain. He would be unable to take his work with him on the go as there would be no battery to connect the wires to. Without his electric wheelchair it would take him longer to go shopping or go anywhere else. Technology 3 – Personally Related Another piece of technology that John uses is his single fingered keyboard. The single fingered key board is a special type of keyboard which follows a new style of keyboard allowing the disabled person to be able to type on his/her computer without putting a lot of stress on themselves. Another definition for a single fingered keyboard is: The Maltron Single-handed keyboard is curved, with a single recess. It comes in left-handed and right-handed versions and is divided into four major blocks of keys: * 1 block for the fingers * 1 block for the thumb * 1 flat panel of keys to the side * 1 row of function keys along the top The keyboard has â€Å"push-on push-off† functions for the shift, control, and alt keys. The blocks for the fingers and thumb are mirror images of one another in the left-handed and right-handed versions (whereas the flat block and function key row are identical in both). Advantages There are a lot of advantages of a single-fingered keyboard like the fact that it doesn’t put a lot of strain on the individual using the keyboard. Another advantage is that the special shape and layout takes into account of the letters used in modern day typing. This is done to make the layout more efficient than a normal QWERTY keyboard and can save strain and unnecessary movement between keys. The user of this type of keyboard will find input than is ideal so it’s recommended that the user used a predictive word processor such as TEXTHELP or prototype to speed up entry and avoid frustration. Disadvantages Some disadvantages of using a single fingered keyboard is the fact that it’s very slow and takes long time to process a sentence you wrote and even longer for a paragraph. Also because of it’s design you’re hand may be to small to reach the buttons or too big and you may press the wrong button meaning that you would have to wait until the entire word or letter or sentence appeared before being able to change it. Needs of the adult in a personally related environment: John enjoys writing papers and articles for various scientific magazines. Thanks to his keyboard and software that increases the speed of appearance of words he can write fast without straining his back or being frustrated at the slowness of his keyboard. This piece of technology allows him to type fast as he is a fast single fingered typer and the keyboard allows him to do this without the fear of him injuring his back further. Without this technology John feels that he cannot have the same hands on affect to his work like so many of his colleagues. WHAT WOULD HE DO WITHOUT THIS PIECE OF TECHNOLOGY Without his technology John would have to use a Braille keyboard which in affect would have been more comfortable to use thanks to the special polymer which allows the user to type with his hands on the surface of the table but this would have injured John further as he cannot strain his back as that may prolong his recovery further. CONCLUSION In conclusion I feel that the technologies available to disabled people have been enhanced exponentionally as more people these day’s are concerned about the welfare of the disabled. This means that there is more awareness now than there was several years ago. The technology in our decade has also been enhanced therefore the development of newer, more practical technologies are easier to produce. The technologies in John’s life mean that he can now appreciate life and enjoy experiences like a normal, healthy person. However there is still room for improvement in the technologies in our life today. In the future we should expect life to become much better for the disabled as there has been much more research into how our body works so their may be development in flexible devices for the disabled.