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Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Project Management - Verizon Wireless Billing System Integration Essay

INTRODUCTION Currently, Verizon Wireless has two major billing systems: I2K and VISION. In accordance with the strategic goals of the company and taking into consideration the corporate vision and credo, the executive management decided that having one billing system would be congruent with the objectives of the organization as a whole and the IT group in particular. After several months of deliberation, using techniques such as brainstorming, receiving expert opinions of SME (Subject Matter Experts) and taking into consideration the Payback period and ROI (Return on Investment) it was decided that the I2K customers would be converted into the VISION billing system. There will be 20 million customers that will be converted with the data ranging from customer and MTN information, price plan, usage and other related information necessary for billing the customers. After the Project acceptance, The Project was handed over to the CAM (Customer Account Management) team which functions as PMO (Project Management Office) for IT projects in Verizon wireless. The CAM team decided to manage the Project by organizing it into distinct process groups (initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing.) INITIATION The Initiation Phase will be the first phase in the project Ââ€" the basic processes that should be performed to get the project started. Tasks in the initiation process include the following. 1.Develop Business Case Once a business problem or opportunity has been identified, a Business Case is prepared. This includes: A detailed definition of the problem or opportunity An analysis of the potential solution options available. For each option, the potential benefits, costs, risks and is... ...ting lessons learned  · Completing, collecting and archiving project records  · Celebrating project success. Review Project Completion The final activity undertaken on any project is a review of its overall success by an independent resource. Success is determined by how well it performed against the defined objectives and conformed to the management processes outlined in the planning phase. To determine performance, a number of questions are posed. For example: o Did it result in the benefits defined in the Business Case? o Did it achieve the objectives outlined in the Terms of Reference? o Did it operate within the scope of the Terms of Reference? o Did the deliverables meet the criteria defined in the Quality Plan o Was it delivered within the schedule outlined in the Project Plan? o Was it delivered within the budget outlined in the Financial Plan?

Monday, January 13, 2020

Social Learning: Knowledge Acquisition in a Social Context

Social learning theory posits that knowledge acquisition is a cognitive process that takes place in a social context and can occur purely through observation or direct instruction, even in the absence of motor reproduction or direct reinforcement. In addition to the observation of behaviour, learning also occurs through the observation of rewards and punishments, a process known as of vicarious reinforcement.Role Model TheorySocial learning theory states that people learn from the people that they look up to; this has a huge effect on children of young age and because of their age and knowledge they don’t fully know what’s wrong and what’s right, so that’s why most children look up to celebs on T. V and they want to achieve what they have achieved, sometimes a child’s biggest role models are their parents and they will imitate their behaviour for example if the father of a child is abusive and rough with them than the child might grow up thinking th at was normal and imitate the behaviours when they are older.Social learning theory was first introduced in 1977 by Albert Bandura and he stated that behaviour is learned from the environment around us and through the process of observational learning, for example a child’s environment and upraising is very important in influencing the child’s behaviour in later life, if the child’s environment is a rough area and are brought up by rough parents then the child is more likely to copy the actions and the behaviour of the parents when they grow up.This is clearly illustrated in the Bobo Doll experiment in 1961 by Bandura. Bobo Doll Experiment In 1961 Albert Bandura selected 36 boys and 36 girls from ages between 3 to 6 years old, bandura also chose 2 adults a male and a female; he wanted the adults act aggressively towards the Bobo doll while 24 of the children watched, he wanted the adults act as role models for the children so he can analyse what effects that has on the children, the adults were told to throw the doll about and attack it with various weapons like toy guns, hammers and sticks.While 24 of the group of children watched the 2 adults hitting the doll, the other group of 24 children were watching a non-aggressive adults and the final 24 child were used as a control group and not exposed to any model at all. After the children experienced the adult’s (whether they were  aggressive, non-aggressive or no adult) they were taken in the room with toys and they were also told not to play or touch the toys, as the children got angry and frustrated over the rule of not playing with the toys they were taken to another room where there was a Bobo doll and aggressive and non-aggressive toys that they were allowed to play with, the experimenters recorded the children behaviour.Bandura found out that the children who were exposed to the aggressive model were more likely to act in aggressive ways than those who were not exposed to the aggressive model, those children who were exposed to the aggressive model started hitting the doll with a toy gun and a hammer and also started to punch, kick and throwing it while shouting at the doll. But the children that were exposed to non-aggressive models did not react aggressively towards the Bobo doll instead they just played with the toys and the Bobo doll. Self-full filling prophecySelf-fulfilling prophecy a positive or negative expectation about people that may affect a person’s behaviour towards another in a manner that causes those expectations to be made true. e. g. â€Å"treat others how you would like to be treated â€Å"This happens because our beliefs influence our actions. A child might have low self-esteem so he/she will not try out for any sports teams because their belief is that they are not confident and good enough so he/she will make that belief and prediction happen because they have no self-esteem and confidence.Anti-discrimination behaviour Ant i-discrimination behaviour is action taken to prevent discrimination against people on the grounds of race, class, gender, disability etc. Anti-discriminatory practice promotes equality by introducing anti-discrimination policies in the workplace, this is a good way to preventing discrimination in the workplace because it makes the employees aware of the rules and the horrible effects that discrimination could have on people including self harm and suicide.Another really good way of preventing discrimination on a wide scale is to get popular celebrities to promote a campaigned against discrimination on T. V so it can be seen by millions. Because the campaign is promoted by a popular celebrity it will have lots of followers and supporters, this is because the celebrity acts as a role model and will influence their fans to prevent discrimination from happening.As well as celebrities preventing discrimination and promoting anti- discrimination, other people who aren’t celebritie s can also promote anti-discrimination but it will take longer than celebrities because not everyone is well known and have that many supporters or fans to follow them, this can be done by a person encouraging family and friends together and telling them to let others know about anti-discrimination and after a while more and more people will be promoting the campaign.With lots of supporters. An example of a celebrity promoting anti-discrimination is David Beckham and he promotes the â€Å"SAY NO TO RACISIM† campaign through videos, conventions and also by telling supporters to spread the word, because is well known and liked around the world he has a huge number of followers on twitter which he also uses to promote his campaign. Groups and effects of others (Asch experiment)Solomon Asch conducted a series of experiments in which he studied the willingness of an individual to fit in a group while answering a question, even when those answers were obviously wrong. In the experi ment, subjects who were unaware of the actual experiment were told that they were participating in a vision test. In reality though, each subject was placed in a group of people for the experiments. The people in the group were fully aware of the true purpose of the study.The aim of the experiment was to investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform. They seated the group in a classroom and they were asked a variety of questions about an image on which was placed in front of them which contained straight line labelled A, B and C and they were asked how long line A was, which line was longer than the other, which lines were the same length, etc.The group was told to answer each question out loud in front of the rest of the group, with the accomplices of the experiment always answering before the subjects and always giving the same answers as the others. They answered a few of the questions correctly, but then started answering incorrectly on purpose. The results of this experiment were that nearly 75 percent of the participants in the conformity experiments went along with the rest of the group at least one time even though the answer was obviously wrong.The results showed that people feel pressured go along with the majority of people because they feel pressured to fit in with the group and not stand alone against them. Health and Social Care An example of a positive role model for children to look up to and be inspired by is a doctor because they are respected by society and also they help people in need as they save the life’s of hundreds, this makes children look up to them because they see them as hard working, intelligent and respected professionals who make sick people better.Another reason a doctor is a good role model is that their professional achievement is an indication that they have finished education and worked hard to get to where they are, so that influences children to do work har d to and do well in school to get to where they want to be. They are also positive role model because they promote a healthy living and the majority of them promote anti-discrimination and these influence kids to be health and not to judge people because of their skin or background. Social Learning: Knowledge Acquisition in a Social Context Social learning theory posits that knowledge acquisition is a cognitive process that takes place in a social context and can occur purely through observation or direct instruction, even in the absence of motor reproduction or direct reinforcement. In addition to the observation of behaviour, learning also occurs through the observation of rewards and punishments, a process known as of vicarious reinforcement.Role Model TheorySocial learning theory states that people learn from the people that they look up to; this has a huge effect on children of young age and because of their age and knowledge they don’t fully know what’s wrong and what’s right, so that’s why most children look up to celebs on T. V and they want to achieve what they have achieved, sometimes a child’s biggest role models are their parents and they will imitate their behaviour for example if the father of a child is abusive and rough with them than the child might grow up thinking th at was normal and imitate the behaviours when they are older.Social learning theory was first introduced in 1977 by Albert Bandura and he stated that behaviour is learned from the environment around us and through the process of observational learning, for example a child’s environment and upraising is very important in influencing the child’s behaviour in later life, if the child’s environment is a rough area and are brought up by rough parents then the child is more likely to copy the actions and the behaviour of the parents when they grow up.This is clearly illustrated in the Bobo Doll experiment in 1961 by Bandura. Bobo Doll Experiment In 1961 Albert Bandura selected 36 boys and 36 girls from ages between 3 to 6 years old, bandura also chose 2 adults a male and a female; he wanted the adults act aggressively towards the Bobo doll while 24 of the children watched, he wanted the adults act as role models for the children so he can analyse what effects that has on the children, the adults were told to throw the doll about and attack it with various weapons like toy guns, hammers and sticks.While 24 of the group of children watched the 2 adults hitting the doll, the other group of 24 children were watching a non-aggressive adults and the final 24 child were used as a control group and not exposed to any model at all. After the children experienced the adult’s (whether they were  aggressive, non-aggressive or no adult) they were taken in the room with toys and they were also told not to play or touch the toys, as the children got angry and frustrated over the rule of not playing with the toys they were taken to another room where there was a Bobo doll and aggressive and non-aggressive toys that they were allowed to play with, the experimenters recorded the children behaviour.Bandura found out that the children who were exposed to the aggressive model were more likely to act in aggressive ways than those who were not exposed to the aggressive model, those children who were exposed to the aggressive model started hitting the doll with a toy gun and a hammer and also started to punch, kick and throwing it while shouting at the doll. But the children that were exposed to non-aggressive models did not react aggressively towards the Bobo doll instead they just played with the toys and the Bobo doll. Self-full filling prophecySelf-fulfilling prophecy a positive or negative expectation about people that may affect a person’s behaviour towards another in a manner that causes those expectations to be made true. e. g. â€Å"treat others how you would like to be treated â€Å"This happens because our beliefs influence our actions. A child might have low self-esteem so he/she will not try out for any sports teams because their belief is that they are not confident and good enough so he/she will make that belief and prediction happen because they have no self-esteem and confidence.Anti-discrimination behaviour Ant i-discrimination behaviour is action taken to prevent discrimination against people on the grounds of race, class, gender, disability etc. Anti-discriminatory practice promotes equality by introducing anti-discrimination policies in the workplace, this is a good way to preventing discrimination in the workplace because it makes the employees aware of the rules and the horrible effects that discrimination could have on people including self harm and suicide.Another really good way of preventing discrimination on a wide scale is to get popular celebrities to promote a campaigned against discrimination on T. V so it can be seen by millions. Because the campaign is promoted by a popular celebrity it will have lots of followers and supporters, this is because the celebrity acts as a role model and will influence their fans to prevent discrimination from happening.As well as celebrities preventing discrimination and promoting anti- discrimination, other people who aren’t celebritie s can also promote anti-discrimination but it will take longer than celebrities because not everyone is well known and have that many supporters or fans to follow them, this can be done by a person encouraging family and friends together and telling them to let others know about anti-discrimination and after a while more and more people will be promoting the campaign.With lots of supporters. An example of a celebrity promoting anti-discrimination is David Beckham and he promotes the â€Å"SAY NO TO RACISIM† campaign through videos, conventions and also by telling supporters to spread the word, because is well known and liked around the world he has a huge number of followers on twitter which he also uses to promote his campaign. Groups and effects of others (Asch experiment)Solomon Asch conducted a series of experiments in which he studied the willingness of an individual to fit in a group while answering a question, even when those answers were obviously wrong. In the experi ment, subjects who were unaware of the actual experiment were told that they were participating in a vision test. In reality though, each subject was placed in a group of people for the experiments. The people in the group were fully aware of the true purpose of the study.The aim of the experiment was to investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform. They seated the group in a classroom and they were asked a variety of questions about an image on which was placed in front of them which contained straight line labelled A, B and C and they were asked how long line A was, which line was longer than the other, which lines were the same length, etc.The group was told to answer each question out loud in front of the rest of the group, with the accomplices of the experiment always answering before the subjects and always giving the same answers as the others. They answered a few of the questions correctly, but then started answering incorrectly on purpose. The results of this experiment were that nearly 75 percent of the participants in the conformity experiments went along with the rest of the group at least one time even though the answer was obviously wrong.The results showed that people feel pressured go along with the majority of people because they feel pressured to fit in with the group and not stand alone against them. Health and Social Care An example of a positive role model for children to look up to and be inspired by is a doctor because they are respected by society and also they help people in need as they save the life’s of hundreds, this makes children look up to them because they see them as hard working, intelligent and respected professionals who make sick people better.Another reason a doctor is a good role model is that their professional achievement is an indication that they have finished education and worked hard to get to where they are, so that influences children to do work har d to and do well in school to get to where they want to be. They are also positive role model because they promote a healthy living and the majority of them promote anti-discrimination and these influence kids to be health and not to judge people because of their skin or background.

Sunday, January 5, 2020

Should Marijuana Be Legalized Essay - 1953 Words

Marijuana Medicine or a High What has been in the news for a couple of years now is the subject of marijuana, should it be legalized in your state or not? This seems to be an ongoing topic of conversation on the news and in social settings. As a parent this subject is one that should be taken serious for the future of our children and society in general. Taking a hard look at both sides of this debate can help parents weigh both ends of the spectrum. Marijuana should be legalized for medicinal purposes only to help patients who are suffering from cancer and other illnesses. Knowing how marijuana affects your thoughts and your decision making can hopefully give our youth a better understanding of this drug. The problem that will be investigated is should this drug be legalized for everyday use like cigarettes are or should it be legalized for medicinal purposes only. What this papers hopes to accomplish is informative information on the use of marijuana for everyday use or just to help someone cope with an illness. Also what effect can long term use of marijuana have on the individual and on our country as a whole? The history of marijuana is an interesting one to say the least. Marijuana which is also called hemp was originally introduced by the government in the seventeenth century. Hemp was to be used for the production of rope, sails, and clothing. (Marijuana is the mixture of dried, shredded flowers and leaves that comes from the hemp plant) (PBSShow MoreRelatedShould Marijuana Be Legalized?849 Words   |  4 Pageswhether marijuana should be legalized. Around 23 states have legalized marijuana for medical and recreational use. In the state of Illinois, medicinal use of marijuana has been passed on April 17, 2013. Since January 2014, patients are able to obtain marijuana with a doctor s recommendation. The new debate is whether marijuana should be legalized for the general public as a recreational drug. Although some believe that marijuana is harmless, and that it has benefici al medicinal uses, marijuana shouldRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?1715 Words   |  7 PagesMarijuana in Society Cannabis, formally known as marijuana is a drug obtained from the tops, stems and leaves of the hemp plant cannabis. The drug is one of the most commonly used drugs in the world. Only substances like caffeine, nicotine and alcohol are used more (â€Å"Marijuana† 1). In the U. S. where some use it to feel â€Å"high† or get an escape from reality. The drug is referred to in many ways; weed, grass, pot, and or reefer are some common names used to describe the drug (â€Å"Marijuana† 1). Like mostRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?1489 Words   |  6 Pagescannabis plant or marijuana is intended for use of a psychoactive drug or medicine. It is used for recreational or medical uses. In some religions, marijuana is predominantly used for spiritual purposes. Cannabis is indigenous to central and south Asia. Cannabis has been scientifically proven that you can not die from smoking marijuana. Marijuana should be legalized to help people with medical benefits, econo mic benefits, and criminal benefits. In eight states, marijuana was legalized for recreationalRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?1245 Words   |  5 PagesMarijuana is a highly debatable topic that is rapidly gaining attention in society today.   Legalizing marijuana can benefit the economy of this nation through the creation of jobs, increased tax revenue, and a decrease in taxpayer money spent on law enforcement.   Ã‚  Many people would outlaw alcohol, cigarettes, fast food, gambling, and tanning beds because of the harmful effects they have on members of a society, but this is the United States of America; the land of the free and we should give peopleRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?1010 Words   |  5 PagesThe legalization of marijuana became a heated political subject in the last few years. Twenty-one states in America have legalized medical marijuana. Colorado and Washington are the only states where marijuana can be purchased recreationally. Marijuana is the high THC level part of the cannabis plant, which gives users the â€Å"high† feeling. There is ample evidence that supports the argument that marijuana is beneficial. The government should legalize marijuana recreationally for three main reasonsRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?1350 Words   |  6 Pagespolitics in the past decade would have to be the legalization of marijuana. The sale and production of marijuana have been legalized for medicinal uses in over twenty states and has been legalized for recreational uses in seven states. Despite the ongoing support for marijuana, it has yet to be fully legalized in the federal level due to cultural bias against â€Å"pot† smoking and the focus over its negative effects. However, legalizing marijuana has been proven to decrease the rate of incrimination in AmericaRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?1231 Words   |  5 Pagesshows the positive benefits of marijuana, it remains illegal under federal law. In recent years, numerous states have defied federal law and legalized marijuana for both recreational and medicinal use. Arizona has legalized marijuana for medical use, but it still remains illegal to use recreationally. This is absurd, as the evidence gathered over the last few decades strongly supports the notion that it is safer than alcohol, a widely available substance. Marijuana being listed as a Schedule I drugRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized? Essay1457 Words   |  6 PagesSHOULD MARIJUANA BE LEGALIZED? Marijuana is a drug that has sparked much controversy over the past decade as to whether or not it should be legalized. People once thought of marijuana as a bad, mind-altering drug which changes a person’s personality which can lead to crime and violence through selling and buying it. In the past, the majority of citizens believed that marijuana is a harmful drug that should be kept off the market and out of the hands of the public. However, a recent study conductedRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?1596 Words   |  7 Pages But what needs to be known before a user can safely and completely make the decision if trying Marijuana is a good idea? Many do not want the drug to be legalized because they claim that Cannabis is a â€Å"gateway drug†, meaning it will cause people to try harder drugs once their body builds up a resistance to Marijuana, because a stronger drug will be needed to reach a high state. This argument is often falsely related to the medical si de of the debate over legalization. It is claimed that this wouldRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?985 Words   |  4 PagesLegalize Marijuana Despite what people believe about marijuana, it hasn’t once proved to be the cause of any real issue. It makes you wonder what the reason as to why there is a war on drugs. Why is marijuana the main concern? Since the time that alcohol and tobacco became legal, people wonder why marijuana isn’t legal yet. The fact that marijuana is illegal is mainly caused by the amount of money, jobs, and pride invested in the drug war. Once the government starts anything, they stick to it. At