Forbes 2013 Best Colleges

Forbes 2013 Best Colleges July 25, 2013 Forbes has released its 2013 best colleges ranking and weve got the annual results for you. Claiming the title this year isStanford University. Following Stanford comes Pomona College (yes, you read this correctly), Princeton University, Yale University, Columbia University, Swarthmore College, United States Military Academy, Harvard University, Williams College, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology rounds out the top ten. Forbes has released its 2013 best colleges ranking. Then comes the University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, Amherst College, the University of Chicago, Duke University, Dartmouth College, Northwestern University, the California Institute of Technology, Cornell University, Bowdoin College, Washington and Lee University, University of California Berkeley, Wellesley College, the University of Notre Dame, and Tufts University rounds out the top twenty-five. Who should follow Tufts but Georgetown University, Vassar College, the United States Naval Academy, the University of Virginia, the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, the United States Air Force Academy, Davidson College, Rice University, the University of California Los Angeles, Boston College, Colgate University, Vanderbilt University, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Wesleyan University, Bryn Mawr College, Middlebury College, Carnegie Mellon University, Haverford College, the College of William and Mary, Carleton College, Johns Hopkins University, Hamilton College, Lafayette College, Colby College, and Oberlin College rounds out the top fifty in the Forbes ranking. Do any of these ranks surprise you? Does it surprise you how different this ranking is as compared to the ranking of US News World Report? Let us know your thoughts by posting below! Also, while youre here, check out our newsletter on College Rankings.

Interesting Green Sea Turtle Facts

Green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) inhabit the beaches and offshore locations of 140 countries throughout the world. They are graceful and serene swimmers who migrate thousands of miles through warm subtropical and tropical oceans. All species of these beautiful reptiles are endangered or threatened. Fast Facts: Green Sea Turtles Scientific Name: Chelonia mydasCommon Name(s): Green sea turtle, black sea turtle (in the eastern Pacific)Basic Animal Group: ReptileSize: Adults grow to between 31–47 inches  Weight: 300–440 poundsLifespan: 80–100 yearsDiet:  HerbivoreHabitat: In warm subtropical and tropical ocean waters. Nesting occurs in over 80 countries, and they live in the coastal waters of 140 countriesPopulation: Two largest are the Tortuguero population on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica (22,500 females nest there each season) and Raine Island in the Australian Great Barrier Reef (18,000 females nest).Conservation Status: Endangered Description Green sea turtles are distinguished by their streamlined shell or carapace, which covers their entire body except for flippers and head. The adult green sea turtle has an upper shell that blends several colors, gray, black, olive, and brown; its undershell, called a plastron, is whitish to yellow. Green sea turtles are named for the greenish color of their cartilage and fat, not their shells. While sea turtles have fairly mobile necks, they cannot withdraw their heads into their shells.   The flippers of sea turtles are long and paddle-like, making them excellent for swimming but poor for walking on land. Their heads are light brown with yellow markings. The green sea turtle has four pairs of costal scutes, large, hard scales which assist in swimming; and one pair of prefrontal scales located between its eyes. Westend61 - Gerald Nowak/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images Species There are seven recognized species of sea turtles, six of which are in the Family Cheloniidae (the hawksbill, green, flatback, loggerhead, Kemps ridley, and olive ridley turtles), with only one (the leatherback) in the family Dermochelyidae. In some classification schemes, the green turtle is divided into two species—the green turtle and a darker version called the black sea turtle or Pacific green turtle.   All sea turtles migrate. Turtles sometimes travel thousands of miles between cooler feeding grounds and warm nesting grounds. A leatherback turtle was tracked by satellite traveling over 12,000 miles for 674 days from its nesting area in Jamursba-Medi beach in Papua, Indonesia to feeding grounds off Oregon. Habitats, diet and the number and arrangement of these scutes are the primary ways to distinguish different sea turtle species. Habitat and Distribution Green sea turtles are found throughout the world in warm subtropical and tropical ocean waters: They nest on the beaches of over 80 countries and live on the coasts of 140 countries. Efforts continue to emphasize the tracking of sea turtle movement using satellite tags to learn more about their migrations and the implications their travels have for their protection. This may help resource managers develop laws that help protect turtles in their full range. Diet and Behavior The only herbivore of the extant sea turtle species, green sea turtles graze on seagrasses and algae, which in turn maintains and fortifies the seagrass beds. They migrate long distances between a wide range of broadly separated localities and habitats during their lifetimes. Tagging studies suggest that ones that nest at Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean west of Brazil feed on the Brazilian coast, up to 1,430 miles or more away.   Reproduction and Offspring Sea turtles mature at around age 25–30. The males spend their whole lives at sea, while females mate with the males at sea and then go to selected beaches to dig a hole and lay between 75 to 200 eggs. Female sea turtles may lay several clutches of eggs during a single season, then cover the clutches with sand and return to the ocean, leaving the eggs to fend for themselves. The breeding season occurs in late spring and early summer; the males can breed every year but the females only breed once every three or four years. After a two-month incubation period, the young turtles hatch and run to the sea, facing attack by a variety of predators (birds, crabs, fish) along the way. They drift at sea until they are about a foot long and then, depending on the species, may move closer to shore to feed. Threats Climate change, the loss of habitat, and diseases such as fibropapilloma—which causes benign but ultimately debilitating epithelial tumors on the surface of biological tissues—threaten green sea turtles today. Sea turtles are protected by a variety of national and state laws and international treaties, but hunting of live turtles and harvesting of eggs is still underway in many places. Bycatch, the accidental entanglement in fishing gear such as gillnets or shrimp trawling nets, is responsible for hundreds of thousands of turtle deaths and injuries each year. In addition, oceanic pollution and marine debris have been known to disturb and disrupt migration patterns. Vehicle traffic and development of beaches and light pollution of nesting regions disturbs hatchlings, who often go towards the light rather than towards the ocean. Rising sea temperatures from climate change also affect turtle populations. Because the incubation temperature of eggs determines the animals sex, populations in the northern Great Barrier Reef have experienced imbalances of populations with 90 percent or greater females. Conservation Status All seven species of sea turtles are listed under the Endangered Species Act. Due to conservation efforts, some populations are recovering: Between 1995 and 2015, the Hawaiian green sea turtle increased at a rate of 5 percent per year. Sources Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas). ECOS (Environmental Conservation Online System) U.S. Fish Wildlife Service.Green Sea Turtle Chelonia mydas. National Wildlife Fund.Green Turtle, Chelonia mydas. NOAA Fisheries.  Green Sea Turtle. World Wildlife Fund.  Luschi, P., et al. The Navigational Feats of Green Sea Turtles Migrating from Ascension Island Investigated by Satellite Telemetry. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 265 (1998). Print.Sea Turtle Conservancy. Information About Sea Turtles: Green Sea Turtle. Seminoff, J.A. Chelonia mydas. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2004: e.T4615A11037468, 2004. Spotila, James R. Sea Turtles: A Complete Guide to Their Biology, Behavior, and Conservation. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004.Sea Turtles: Ambassadors of the Sea. State of the Worlds Sea Turtles, 2008. Waller, Geoffrey, ed. SeaLife: A Complete Guide to the Marine Environment. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C. 1996.

ECERS for Garnero Child Development Center - 1218 Words

I went into this childcare center knowing that it would do rather well. Garnero Child Development Center is very well run and Ann, the side supervisor, makes sure that everything meets standards. I have seen her in the early mornings observing classrooms with a checklist. When I let the lead teachers know that we would be filling the ECERS out, they knew exactly what it was and both mentioned that they had filled them out multiple times. In the majority of the categories, they scored a seven. I am not sure if I was just being more lenient than I should have been, but the other student filling this out with me got the same scores as I did when we compared them afterwards. For the Space and furnishings category, they received an average of 6.62. Out of the eight sub groups, they received a six on indoor space, child-related display, and gross motor equipment. The other five categories all got sevens. The indoor space got a six because the windows do not open and there is not any control over the ventilation in the room. The child-related display got a six because there is not any three dimensional work done by the children on display in the room. The gross motor equipment got a six because there is not gross motor equipment that would stimulate skills on different levels. There are not any tricycles without pedals, there is not both a ramp and a ladder on the climbing structure, and there is not different sized balls available for the children to play with. I think that

Designing - Improving and Implementing Components Processes

Question: Discuss about the Designing, Improving and Implementing Components Processes. Answer: Introduction: There are three steps namely, designing, improving and implementing processes, which are necessary components for the development of an organization. Managing any organization requires complex decision-making process (Aguinis and Bradley 2014). It requires formulating or designing a plan for the organization. After testing the plans within the organization, the flaws are needed to be highlighted so that improvement can be made accordingly (Goetsch and Davis 2014). The next step towards managing any organization is the procedure of implementation of plans that have already been designed. In my coursework, I studied about change management theory. Multiple theories have been put forwarded for describing the procedure of Change management (Cummings and Wortley 2014). The concept of change management implies a structural change within an organization with a pre-specified target, which is to be achieved. This essay tries to focus on the changes of the designing, implementing and improving process. In addition, through this essay I tried to portray my view about the importance of these managing processes and the ways in which these tree steps can be helpful for the success of an organization. Changes in Designing, Implementing and Improving procedure: A transition within an organization requires changes within each and every component of the organization. I think that through the process of change management skills can be developed in several sectors like business skills, analytical and political skills. After the implementation of the system of change management, the DIIP gradually changed into a more complicated system of organizational development (Davenport 2013). Through designing, implementing and improving techniques a company can carry out alert its employees about the changes that it is going to bring into the organization. After development of the necessary skills if the company can bring in evaluation within the system it might help them in identifying the flaws generated after the changes. I realized that for smooth operation within the organization there is a need to minimize the existing resistance of the organization as well as external organizations (Pugh 2016). In addition, the designing should be such that through innovation there can be a radical change in the organization. I also realized that the focus of any organization is to try to minimize their costs through implementation of new technologies. It is only through constant innovation and up gradation of the existing system that the organization can be successful. The processes like Benchmarking and Lean Six Sigma can be implemented to understand the best practices within the organization (Vaishnavi and Kuechler 2015). Importance of managing process: There has been multi-facets managing process of any organization. After going through the learning outcomes and weekly classes, I realized that for the success of an organization there is a need for strict management system. The primary reason for implementing this is because there has been dearth of resources within an organization. Only a proper strategy that can guide the organization to use these constrained resources optimally (Anderson 2013). I discussed about the system of change management in the earlier stanza. Through that management tool a company can improve the performance of its employees by increasing their engagement within the organization and amongst their own-selves. The company might bring in innovation in their leadership, existing strategies and technologies in order to remain at par with other companies in the market. Again, through the process like organizational development, the business organization can reap the benefit of inc reased productivity and thereby earn extra profit within the economy (Della Torres and Solari 2013). The process of organizational development has evolved by amalgamating multiple disciplines into a systematic approach. I realized that through the process od organizational development any business tries to apply the existing tools, upgrade the technologies within the given framework. I think that since organizational development provides a totalitarian approach it is able to identify the fact that any changes within the sub-system is likely to affect the entire functioning of the complex system of the business organization through a chain-wise reaction. Henceforth through this system, a company can be benefitted by focusing on strategic management, communications and cultural innovation within the organization. My views and knowledge of DIIP: After attending all the discussions and participating in the varied range of activities I learnt and could recall few things that are necessary for the growth and expansion of any organization within its domain and even sometimes within intra-domain. Initially from the change management system, the first thing that I could recall is that it includes a complex procedure of involvement and innovation (Hayes 2014). The first thing that a company must do is to involve majority if not all the people within this changed process. The senior level managers and team leads should be responsible for carefully providing detailed information about the existing system and the way it works. In addition, they should be able to highlight the upcoming changes that the company is going to implement within their system. Just by spreading, the information within the employees makes it easier for the company to collect information regarding the acceptability of the new syst em and make the people aware about the changes they are going to face (Aguinis and Bradley 2014). Sharing the information within the group is very important as lack of information might leads to lack of adapting capacity thereby generating failure of the system. Along with it I learnt that the employees can take part in accessing the changed system before it is run in the market. By reviewing the acceptability and adaptability of the system the employees can provide feedback based on which the company can improve their system and then implement its operation in the market. This not only reduces the cost of the company but also saves them from facing failure in the market through direct implementation (Hayes 2014). Using the learning and understanding in workplace I realized that few things might be helpful for me in future. Through this lectures I learnt that bringing in innovation within any part of the organization, involving all my colleagues and juniors and persuading them in accordance with my terms is going to be the key of success. I learnt that grabbing the attention of my colleagues within the organization and persuading or motivating them can be helpful for my success. Persuasion is an art which if mastered can help me to unify the team at one goal (Pugh 2016). A team with diversified vision can seldom stand the fierce competition existing within the market. Henceforth, it is very important for me to learn the art of persuasion through which I can help my team within the organization to be strongly bound and motivated at a fixed goal so that they can produce a better performance. I also learnt that while motivating the team each member should be prioritized irrespective of his or her socio-economic background, age and gender. In addition to this, I learnt that having a substantial knowledge about the statistics and facts about the organization can be helpful for me to stand out in the crowd (Bloom et al. 2014). My coursework also helped me realize that it is important to learn the art of presentation to reach out to the mass. Henceforth, I would try to involve each member of the organization whenever any plan regarding change management is going to be taken. Involving even the junior level employees and newly joined workers is going to help me in creating a strong bond and sense of oneness with them, which can help in generating better ideas and positively influence performance. Bringing in innovation within the system can be helpful in a number of ways like it may reduce the cost of operation within the company, improve the efficiency of work and reduce the time taken to complete any work (Hayes 2014). Henceforth, my part is going to be providing constant moti vation the team to bring in innovation within the system. Few other aspects that might be helpful in improving the organizational development are the use of information communication technology. Through the help of this ICT I can bring in more transparency within the organization by keeping a check on each employees course of action (Bloom et al. 2014) This method can be helpful in negotiating with the basic components within the organization and establishing the truth. In addition to this ICT, a proper board, which can guide me in taking a proper decision within the system, might be helpful for the growth of the organization. Hereby, this essay can be concluded by stating that change management as a tool of DIIP is helpful in restructuring the organization. The organizational development is an advanced procedure and more complex than change management but it involves all employees and brings in innovation. On other hand, I learnt that team building might prove to be useful. Henceforth, I planned to learn the art and techniques of persuasion and implement in my workplace. Finally, I realized that use of ICT within the organization would help me in good team building and improvement in my performance in work place and uplift the performance of my organization as a whole. Reference: Aguinis, H. and Bradley, K.J., 2014. Best practice recommendations for designing and implementing experimental vignette methodology studies.Organizational Research Methods,17(4), pp.351-371. Anderson, D.L., 2013.Organization development: The process of leading organizational change. Sage Publications. Bloom, N., Garicano, L., Sadun, R. and Van Reenen, J., 2014. The distinct effects of information technology and communication technology on firm organization.Management Science,60(12), pp.2859-2885. Cummings, T.G. and Worley, C.G., 2014.Organization development and change. Cengage learning. Davenport, T.H., 2013.Process innovation: reengineering work through information technology. Harvard Business Press. Della Torre, E. and Solari, L., 2013. High-performance work systems and the change management process in medium-sized firms.The International Journal of Human Resource Management,24(13), pp.2583-2607. Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014.Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson. Hayes, J., 2014.The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave Macmillan. Pugh, L., 2016.Change management in information services. Routledge. Vaishnavi, V.K. and Kuechler, W., 2015.Design science research methods and patterns: innovating information and communication technology. Crc Press.