Do corporations have a social responsibility beyond just obeying the Essay

Do corporations have a social responsibility beyond just obeying the law - Essay Example To understand the basic definition of a corporation, one must understand its main objective. Every corporation, excluding a Club or Non-Profit Corporations, has a sole objective, i.e. making a profit. This is the basic foundation of every business and corporation that is created in the first place. The profit is basically the difference between the revenue that the corporation generated and the cost that it incurs. However, corporations do have to operate according to the law. For example every corporation pays taxes on its ‘sky high’ profits but is that the only thing a corporation should do for the betterment of society? Obeying the law includes several other things including labor rights, minimum wages, working conditions and several consume rights including misleading advertisement. â€Å"If ethics are poor at the top that behavior is copied down through the organization† quoted Mr Robert Noyce, the inventor of the silicon chip (Butler, 2003). Business ethics is one of the terms that many might have heard. Not many businesses run ethically but some businesses are adapting the ethical strategies for giving something back to the society.

Choices, consequences and Conflict Resolution Essay Example for Free

Choices, consequences and Conflict Resolution Essay I. Reading: circle the word that best finishes the sentences. (10 points each) /20 Read the paragraph and select the answer based on what we learn about conflict resolution. Maria is having a conflict with her coworker Brenda. Brenda is coming late to work and Maria ends up doing her work and Brenda’s work. Maria does not know what to do but she fears that if Bread keeps coming late they will both lose their jobs, because the work is not getting done on time. What should Brenda do? a. Don’t say anything to Bread and Just keep working faster b. Pull Brenda to the side and explain how the situation affects both of them c. Quit her job before she gets fired. d. Talk to her supervisor and ask her to fire Brenda If Brenda gets upset with Maria, how should Maria react? a. Maria should yell very loudly to show she is stronger b. Maria should control her emotions and move forward c. Maria should leave the room and find a supervisor d. Maria should say it is ok for her to come late II. Vocabulary: match the word with its definition.(10 points each) /60 Choice, consequences, conflict, resolution, mediate, professionalism An act of selecting or making a decision when faced with two or more possibilities.| A disagreement between two or more people.| Intervene in a dispute to bring about an agreement or reconciliation| To reach an agreement. To find an answer. To end a conflict. | The competence or skill expected of a professional.| Something that logically or naturally follows from an action or condition| | | III. Writing: During the past month we learned about the 10 Rules of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). Please write one to two paragraphs about the consequences of not following the 10 Rules. (20 points) /20

Examining methods of analysing a Companies Environment

Examining methods of analysing a Companies Environment There are factors within the environment that the organization operates that are beyond the control or influence of the organisation but these factors affect the business or strategy planning. The STEEPLE analysis is focusing on the external macro-economic environment that a business operates. This helps business to understand the environment, in which it operates, and the opportunities and threats that exist or are emerging within it. An understanding of the opportunities can help a business to take advantage of the opportunities that exist and reduce the threats to the barest minimum. The STEEPLE analysis helps to understand associated risk with growth in market or decline and thus the potentials and direction for business. STEEPLE is an acronym for Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Policy, Legal and Ethical factors respectively. Some of these factors tend to overlap when conducting the analysis. Below is a STEEPLE analysis of the UK motor car market. Socio-cultural: the pattern of lifestyle affects demand of vehicles, availability and willingness of individuals to work and therefore the kind of vehicles are manufactured. The institution of marriage has fallen, there are more single parents, people are having fewer kids and consumer trends which include fashion ability, luxury preference, working population, spending power etc. Technological: new innovations and technologies keep emerging in the car industry and bring about new products and processes e.g. introduction of three-point seat belt, airbag, electronic stability control, Intelligent Transport System (ITS), Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA), E-call, Driver Assistance Systems such as E-call and Driver Assistance System such as Electronic stability control and Emergency Brake Assist. Environmental: according to SMMT, the climate change has had a great impact on the car industry and this has great impact on vehicle demand. This overlaps with the ethical factors because the car industry is trying to make vehicles environmentally friendly by trying to make 95% of vehicles recyclable by 2015 in order to comply with the End of Life Vehicle (EVL) Directive. Average CO2 emissions of cars bought through the scheme were 132.9g/km, which was over 27% below the CO2 figures of the outgoing cars that were scrapped. Also there is an effort to improve environmenta l standards at sites processing vehicles and limit the use of materials harmful to the environment in the new vehicle Climate Change Level (CCL). This has increased demand for hybrid cars. Ethical: some ethical issues have to be considered in the market, these include ethics in workplace, balancing stakeholder interests, human rights, reduction in CO2 emission from vehicle and manufacturing process (Farnham 2010). Also, the Climate Change Levy (CCL) agreement was signed by 11 UK vehicle manufacturers as co-ordinated by SMMT has effects on car industry. Political: policies that affect the car market include 2008 piece of legislation which committed European Vehicle manufacturers to cut average CO2 emission from cars to 130g/km by 2015, 2009 European Whole Vehicle Approval Directive, introduction of the Scrappage Incentive Scheme, taxation, congestion charges, other policy areas being formulated include alternative fuels, smarter driving technologies, and lower resistance tyres. SMMT has reported that 395,000 new vehicles have been registered under the Scrappage Incentive Scheme, which has now ended. There were 388,540 new cars and 6,959 new LCVs registered for the period, with 8.1% of all new car registrations and 2.1 LCV registrations in April being linked to the scheme Legal: this is closely linked to environmental political and ethical factors but includes health and safety, company law, consumer protection law. Manufacturers have to abide by policies formulated by government and regulatory bodies. This also affects the UK car industry either positively or negatively. Economic: macro-economic policy, markets and prices, price levels, global trends, market structure, public spending, wages and salaries, balance of payment, taxation etc. (Farham, 2010) the industry generates turnover approaching 52billion GBP so the Scrappage Incentive Scheme was introduced to support the industry because of its importance to the nation. Over 181,092 new vehicles had been registered under the scrappage scheme by the end of September. There is an order bank of a further 80,000 vehicles. The scrappage scheme is largely self-funding for government with the 15% VAT paid on a car bought for  £7,650 covering the  £1,000 government contribution (SMMT). The environmental, political and economic factors can be said to have the greatest impact on the strategy planning of the UK car industry. The product market, competitive structure and nature of competition of the UK car market cannot be analyzed without Porters five forces analysis. Threat of entry: The UK car market has high barriers to entry because it is extremely consolidated, well developed value added chain, RD capability, investment capability in terms of equipment which means existing manufacturers can make relatively high profits. Power of buyers: Buyers have little or no bargaining power in the market, households have no power at all but companies that buy fleet cars for official use have very little bargaining power. Power of Suppliers: there is a lot of power in retail and distribution of cars and this power depends on the price of the seller. The threat of substitutes within the industry also determines the power of the supplier as they can switch brands easily. Competitive rivalry: The UK car market can be said to be oligopolistic in nature because there are about 30 firms with the major rivals being are Ford, GM (Vauxhall), VolksWagen, Renault, Peugeot, Toyota, BMW, Citroen and Honda. Ford is Britains best-selling commercial vehicle (CV) brand and last year took over 24 per cent of the CV market. In a challenging market new models such as the ECOnetic Transit and ECOnetic FiestaVan, will play an important role in maintaining Fords competitive position (Ford). In oligopolistic markets there is a high degree of interdependence and so firms will think carefully how their rivals might react to any actions they take. This can lead to an emphasis on non price competition; a price change is relatively easy to imitate and so firms may rely more on methods such as branding or product development. The presence of powerful competitors with established brands creates a threat of intense price wars and poses strong requirement for product differentiati on. Also, there is cost of leaving the industry because of high levels of investments already on ground so firms fight hard to survive because resources are not easily transferrable and as the market is shrinking, these firms fight for a share of falling sales. Brand loyalty is very poor in this market because customers are likely to switch easily from brand to brand. Threat of substitute: this is linked to the power of buyers and sellers. The car market also faces direct competitors like public transport, air, rail, tubes, sea, bicycle and walking but the major source of substitute is the sale of second hand cars. It can be argued that the demand for cars is elastic because it is affected by substitute goods (as listed above) and complimentary goods (insurance, tyres, fuel, license, taxes, Ministry of Transport (MOT). Research two examples of how Human Resource Management in manufacturing has been influenced by and responds to changes in the environmental context as outlined in a. The automotive sector is highly flexible, dynamic and ever expanding. As a result of its flexibility and expansion, it responds to the global challenges which include GDP and trade growth, deep cultural shifts in the economic patterns and strong environmental aims. The automobile industry is constantly changing and adapting to challenging commercial, regulatory and technological trends, competition in the market, discrimination by customers, pressure from government and influence groups. So it can be argued that the car industry adopts the contingency or best-fit school of HRM which advocates the need to fit HR strategy into its surrounding context. The concept of E-V-R congruence as a measure of how well an organisation is attuned to its environment was developed by Thompson (2005). E- Represents the environment which includes the opportunities and threats that exist within it while R is the resources and V represents the value. The concept of congruence is very important and an organization achieves this when its resources, environment and values are mutually reinforcing. Its strategic position will be strong. The macroeconomic understanding is needed by organizations in order to predict and plan for changes in demand for their products, human resources, inflation and changes in investment. Human resource has to match external environment to the companys objectives. The most significant feature of HRM is the importance attached to strategic integration. Legg (1989) argued that one of the common themes of typical definitions of HRM is that human resource policies should be integrated with strategic business planning. As Baird and Meshoulam (1988) remarked, business procedures and systems are developed and implemented based on organisational needs that is when strategic perspective to human resource management is adopted. Human resource managers play a significant role in ensuring that the strategies adopted by the organization are fully supported by the required workforce so HR has to know how many staff needs to be recruited, retained and developed to satisfy consumer demand. In 2009, recession reduced demand for vehicles leading to a sharp fall in vehicle production and hence turnover. This year saw one of the biggest economic challenges of the automotive industry has ever seen with global sale plummeting, plants cutting production and RD budget at considerable risk. This means demand for cars will reduce because of economic meltdown, supply will reduce and labour needed will be cut. Employment in the sector has decreased despite continued efforts to protect the vital industrial capability by introducing short-term working, time banking etc. Despite the surge in sales towards the end of the year as car scrappage scheme kicked in, Toyota in the UK saw production plummet 40 per cent from 213,000 in 2008 to 127,000 in 2009(Robert Lea times online jan 28,2010http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/industrials/article7006329.ece). Toyota had to adapt to its work share programme to fulfill orders incentive by the Scrappage Incentive Scheme. Later on, it led to cutting of 750 jobs, or around a fifth of the workforce, in the face of crashing car sales. The decision will come as a blow to Toyota workers who had already been rattled last year by workshare programmes, reduced hours and non-production workers. Over last year, Toyota also accepted 300 applications for voluntary redundancy. (the times February 19,2010) Toyota is to shut down its UK production plant next month leaving 3,500 workers idle. The unprecedented halt for two working weeks is a result of a collapse in its car sales amid consumer concerns over the safety of the Japanese companys vehicles. Sales of Toyotas are thought to be plunging worldwide after multiple recalls affecting 8.5million cars around the world. The company employs 3,900 workers at its main production site in Burnaston and 570 at its engine plant in Deeside. It has already cut 200 temporary jobs and opened a voluntary redundancy scheme last week. Toyota said in a statement: following extensive consultations with our employees representatives, and with input from all employees, it has been agreed that the best way to secure long term employment is to temporarily reduce working hours and base pay by 10pc. Toyota also scrapped the annual pay increase for employees and cancelled management bonuses, while its UK factories have just finished a fortnights shutdown. All these measures were introduced to reduce cost for the company because of the fall in demand for Toyota products caused by recession, the recall of Toyota cars due to safety issues etc. SMMT estimates that approximately 70% of the cars bought under the scrappage scheme represent additional sales which would not otherwise have happened in 2009. Since there was an increase in the demand for cars, this means that the demand for labour in Ford, whose engine plants in Bridgend and Dagenham employ 4,000 people, had to introduce extra shifts to be able to supply more cars. August output was up 36.5% at Dagenham and 18.3% at Bridgend, compared to 2008. Ford estimates that this resulted in positive knock-on effect for around 100,000 of their UK jobs in sales, distribution and sale supply. (SMMT) Also, due to the rapid change of technological advancement, new makes/models, reduction of CO2 emission and the introduction of the Scrappage Incentive Scheme, the car industry in UK now has a high demand for management/ leadership skills and technical skills. These changes have also made it necessary for the car industry to give staff constant training, since staffs with excellent sales skills are essential for the profitability and success of the sector. The ever-growing feast of technology and the need for constant on the job learning the sector specific product Automotive Technician Accreditation (ATA) was developed. To become ATA registered, an individual must pass a comprehensive and rigorous series of tests of practical skill and knowledge to ensure that they keep up to date with new technologies; technicians need to be assessed in order to maintain their accreditation. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jan/28/ford-announces-profits-2009 Andrew Clark in New York guardian.co.uk, Thursday 28 January 2010 17.01 GMThttp://www.smmt.co.uk/articles/article.cfm?articleid=20676 http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/industrials/article7032980.ece http://www.ford.co.uk/AboutFord/News/CompanyNews/NewDirector ttp://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/9780199296378/01student/additional/page_11. htmhttp://www.oup.c.om/uk/orc/bin/9780199296378/01student/additional/page_10.htm http://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/9780199296378/01student/additional/page_12.htm http://www.smmt.co.uk/articles/article.cfm?articleid=20676 http://www.smmt.co.uk/articles/article.cfm?articleid=20676 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/4972091/Toyota-cuts-production-and-pay-as-motor-industry-crisis-deepens.htmlhttp://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/08/understanding-microeconomics.asp http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/industrials/article7032980.ece http://www.smmt.co.uk/industryissues/index.cfm?catid=3725sid=259iicatid=P_1002 http://www.smmt.co.uk/industryissues/index.cfm?catid=3725sid=259iicatid=P_973 http://www.smmt.co.uk/industryissues/index.cfm?catid=3725sid=259iicatid=P_4093 http://www.smmt.co.uk/industryissues/index.cfm?catid=3725sid=259iicatid=P_982 http://www.smmt.co.uk/hottopics/index.cfm?catid=3725sid=259 http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/industrials/article7006329.ece http://www.comparecontracthire.com/blog/index.php/2010/05/scrappage-registrations-totalled-395000-units-says-smmt/

A Comparison of Crime and Punishment and Othello :: comparison compare contrast essays

A Comparison of Crime and Punishment and Othello      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In both Crime and Punishment and Othello there is a theme of necessary balance.   Crime and Punishment's theme that man must be balanced in order to function properly is very similar to Othello's theme that, tragically, jealousy is destructive, even to the one that holds it.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov's extreme intellectualism caused him to stop functioning as a complete and balanced individual which ultimately cost him his freedom.   For Othello, it was his extreme jealousy that caused him to become emotionally unbalanced, which cost him both Desdemona and his own life.   In both cases the extremes create unbalance which ends up costing a lot.   There is a difference, however, and that too lies in the extremes; while Raskolnikov is too intellectual and lacks emotion, Othello is a rage of emotions and requires some intellect or rationality.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One stylistic device both authors used to demonstrate this unbalance is foreshadowing.   On page 84 in Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov says, "If they question me, perhaps I will simply tell.   Fall to my knees and tell."   This foreshadows Raskolnikov's confession to the police and his subsequent sentencing to Siberia.   Raskolnikov is obviously unbalanced if he can detachedly hypothesize about his confession. Similarly, Desdemona's willow song foreshadows her own death.   In this way we realize Othello must be extremely unbalanced if his wife can foresee her own death when they are still newly wed. Both foreshadowed events would usually be considered as negative.   The main difference is that while Raskolnikov's imprisonment is temporary, Desdemona's death is permanent.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The interesting thing about both foreshadowed events is their irony. While both events are usually construed as negative, good things come from both. Not until he has been in Siberia a year does Raskolnikov finally renounce his overman theory and become complete and balanced once again.   Also, Desdemona will be able to forgive Othello and be with him throughout eternity.   What makes these happenings different is their justness.   Raskolnikov was rightfully imprisoned for his crime, while Desdemona was unjustly murdered for a crime she did not commit.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Finally, both stories include a very important epiphany. Raskolnikov's acceptance of love and God at Sonya's feet is both similar and dissimilar to

Aig Accounting Scandal

Guidelines for Memos A list of resources for good business writing appears at the end of this document. It is strongly recommended that any serious business person consider owning writing resources. Written communication is often the distinguishing factor in determining career success in any business or government environment. The following are general guidelines intended to assist the student attempting to write a business memo for the first time. A memo (short for memorandum which is latin for thing to be remembered) is used extensively for internal business communication.Every company or government has its own format but typically there is a centered heading â€Å"Memorandum† at the top of the page, followed by left indented sub-headings â€Å"To:† (followed by â€Å"CC:† where appropriate), â€Å"From:†, â€Å"Date:† and â€Å"Subject:†. Note that CC is short for Carbon Copy – individuals who are receiving a copy of the memo for in formation purposes only. Typically memos are written to announce, clarify, respond, question or address any important issue within the entity. Memos are brief – few are longer than a page – so writers must choose their words carefully.Since they will be read by colleagues, managers, subordinates, etc. , a sloppy or inaccurate or long-winded memo can result in readers questioning the competence of the author. The addressee, any copied recipients and the sender are all identified only by name and title, e. g. John Smith, Manager, Internal Control. Telephone extension numbers or e-mail addresses can also be included, optionally. The Subject line should tell the reader exactly what the memo is about in as few words as possible. Examples are: â€Å"New Delivery Schedule for C-920†, â€Å"Policy re. Car Pooling†, â€Å"Christmas Shutdown Dates†, etc.The body of the memo need not be as formal as a letter since the recipients all work for the same company. Having said that, the more senior the audience, the more formal the style. However, in-house jargon and/or acronyms are acceptable (e. g. â€Å"as per CLQ regs. † or â€Å"this is consistent with RM-30†). Further, an informal or conversational style with short forms is also acceptable, particularly when the memo is being written to a colleague. Note that the reason for communicating by memo rather than by phone or personal visit, is so the sender and recipient have written evidence concerning the subject at hand.Therefore, the language chosen must be clear enough that there is no doubt as to how the subject will be treated and what course future actions will take. The reality is many memos are written to protect the writer rather than inform the recipient. Business Communication Resources Alred, G. J. , Brusaw, C. T. , & Oliu, W. E. (2006). The business writer’s handbook (8th ed. ). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s. Guffey, M. E. , & Almonte, R. (2013). Esse ntials of business communication (7th Canadian ed. ). Toronto: Nelson. (includes sections on resumes, cover letters, speaking skills and career search) Guffey, M. E. , Loewy, D. , Rhodes, K. Rogin, P. (2013). Business communication : Process and product (4th Brief Canadian ed. ). Toronto: Nelson. (includes sections on resumes, cover letters and career search) Locker, K. O. , Kaczmarek, S. K. , Braun, K. (2010). Business communication: Building critical skills (4th Canadian ed. ). Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson. Harty, K. J. (2008). Strategies for business and technical writing (6th ed. ). New York: Pearson Longman. Lindsell-Roberts, S. (2006). 135 tips for writing successful business documents. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. Davis, K. (2010) The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Course in Business writing and Communications.New York: McGraw-Hill. Hogue, A. (2004) The Essentials of English: A Writer's Handbook. White Plains, NY. : Pearson Education (lots of grammar/punctuation resources) Strunk Jr. , W. & White, E. B. (1999 or 2011) The Elements of Style. New York: Pearson Longman (brief classic guide to common writing mistakes and corrections) Zinsser, W. (2006) On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Non-Fiction. New York: Harper (another very brief classic guide considered helpful by most writers) Online Writing Lab at Purdue University: http://owl. english. purdue. edu/owl/ (arguably the best online resource, covering a broad range of useful topics) Aig Accounting Scandal Guidelines for Memos A list of resources for good business writing appears at the end of this document. It is strongly recommended that any serious business person consider owning writing resources. Written communication is often the distinguishing factor in determining career success in any business or government environment. The following are general guidelines intended to assist the student attempting to write a business memo for the first time. A memo (short for memorandum which is latin for thing to be remembered) is used extensively for internal business communication.Every company or government has its own format but typically there is a centered heading â€Å"Memorandum† at the top of the page, followed by left indented sub-headings â€Å"To:† (followed by â€Å"CC:† where appropriate), â€Å"From:†, â€Å"Date:† and â€Å"Subject:†. Note that CC is short for Carbon Copy – individuals who are receiving a copy of the memo for in formation purposes only. Typically memos are written to announce, clarify, respond, question or address any important issue within the entity. Memos are brief – few are longer than a page – so writers must choose their words carefully.Since they will be read by colleagues, managers, subordinates, etc. , a sloppy or inaccurate or long-winded memo can result in readers questioning the competence of the author. The addressee, any copied recipients and the sender are all identified only by name and title, e. g. John Smith, Manager, Internal Control. Telephone extension numbers or e-mail addresses can also be included, optionally. The Subject line should tell the reader exactly what the memo is about in as few words as possible. Examples are: â€Å"New Delivery Schedule for C-920†, â€Å"Policy re. Car Pooling†, â€Å"Christmas Shutdown Dates†, etc.The body of the memo need not be as formal as a letter since the recipients all work for the same company. Having said that, the more senior the audience, the more formal the style. However, in-house jargon and/or acronyms are acceptable (e. g. â€Å"as per CLQ regs. † or â€Å"this is consistent with RM-30†). Further, an informal or conversational style with short forms is also acceptable, particularly when the memo is being written to a colleague. Note that the reason for communicating by memo rather than by phone or personal visit, is so the sender and recipient have written evidence concerning the subject at hand.Therefore, the language chosen must be clear enough that there is no doubt as to how the subject will be treated and what course future actions will take. The reality is many memos are written to protect the writer rather than inform the recipient. Business Communication Resources Alred, G. J. , Brusaw, C. T. , & Oliu, W. E. (2006). The business writer’s handbook (8th ed. ). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s. Guffey, M. E. , & Almonte, R. (2013). Esse ntials of business communication (7th Canadian ed. ). Toronto: Nelson. (includes sections on resumes, cover letters, speaking skills and career search) Guffey, M. E. , Loewy, D. , Rhodes, K. Rogin, P. (2013). Business communication : Process and product (4th Brief Canadian ed. ). Toronto: Nelson. (includes sections on resumes, cover letters and career search) Locker, K. O. , Kaczmarek, S. K. , Braun, K. (2010). Business communication: Building critical skills (4th Canadian ed. ). Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson. Harty, K. J. (2008). Strategies for business and technical writing (6th ed. ). New York: Pearson Longman. Lindsell-Roberts, S. (2006). 135 tips for writing successful business documents. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. Davis, K. (2010) The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Course in Business writing and Communications.New York: McGraw-Hill. Hogue, A. (2004) The Essentials of English: A Writer's Handbook. White Plains, NY. : Pearson Education (lots of grammar/punctuation resources) Strunk Jr. , W. & White, E. B. (1999 or 2011) The Elements of Style. New York: Pearson Longman (brief classic guide to common writing mistakes and corrections) Zinsser, W. (2006) On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Non-Fiction. New York: Harper (another very brief classic guide considered helpful by most writers) Online Writing Lab at Purdue University: http://owl. english. purdue. edu/owl/ (arguably the best online resource, covering a broad range of useful topics)

Wormholes and Space Travel

Wormholes and Space Travel Space travel through wormholes sounds like quite an interesting idea. Who wouldnt like to have the technology to hop in a ship, find the nearest wormhole and travel to distant places in a short time? It would make space travel so easy!   Of course, the idea pops up in science-fiction movies and books all the time. These tunnels in space-time supposedly allow characters to move through space and time in a heartbeat, and the characters dont have to worry about physics. Are wormholes real?   Or are they only literary devices to keep science-fiction plots moving along. If they do exist, whats the scientific explanation behind them? The answer could be a little of each. However, they are a direct consequence of general relativity, the theory first developed by Albert Einstein early in the 20th century. However, that doesnt necessarily mean that they exist or that people can travel through them in spaceships. To understand why theyre even an idea for space travel, its important to know a little about the science that might explain them. What are Wormholes? A wormhole is supposed to be a way to transit through space-time that connects two distant points in space. Some examples from popular fiction and movies include the movie Interstellar, where the characters used wormholes as portals to distant parts of the galaxy. However, there is no observational evidence that they exist and theres no empirical proof that they arent out there somewhere.   The trick is to find them and then figure out how they work.   One way for a stable wormhole to exist is for it to be created and supported by some kind of exotic material. Easily said, but whats exotic material? What special property does it need to have to make wormholes? Theoretically speaking, such wormhole stuff   has to have negative mass. Thats just what it sounds like: matter that has a negative value, rather than regular matter, which has a positive value. Its also something scientists have never seen. Now, it is possible for wormholes to spontaneously pop into existence using this exotic matter. But, theres another problem. There would be nothing to support them, so they would instantaneously collapse back in on themselves. Not so great for any ship that happens to be passing through at the time.   Black Holes and Wormholes So, if spontaneous wormholes arent workable, is there another way to create them? Theoretically yes, and we have black holes to thank for that. They are involved in a phenomenon known as an Einstein-Rosen bridge. Its essentially a wormhole created due to the immense warping of space-time by the effects of a black hole. Specifically, it has to be a Schwarzschild black hole, one that has a static (unchanging) amount of mass, doesnt rotate, and has no electrical charge. So, how would that work? Essentially as light falls into the black hole, it would pass through a wormhole and escape out the other side, through an object known as a white hole. A white hole is similar to a black hole but instead of sucking material in, it repels material away. Light would be accelerated away from a white holes   exit portal at, well, the  speed of light, making it a bright object, hence the term white hole.   Of course, reality bites here: it would be impractical to even attempt to pass through the wormhole to begin with. Thats because the passage would require falling into a black hole, which is a remarkably lethal experience. Anything passing the event horizon would be stretched and crushed, which includes living beings. To put it simply, there is no way to survive such a trip. The Kerr Singularity and Traversable Wormholes There is yet another situation in which a wormhole might arise, from something called a Kerr black hole. It would look quite different than a normal point singularity that is what astronomers think make up black holes. A Kerr black hole would orient itself in a ring formation, effectively balancing the immense gravitational force with the rotational inertia of the singularity. Since the black hole is empty in the middle it could be possible to pass through that point. The warping of space-time in the middle of the ring could act as a wormhole, allowing travelers to pass through to another point in space. Perhaps on the far side of the universe, or in a different universe all together. Kerr singularities have a distinct advantage over other proposed wormholes as they dont require the existence and use of exotic negative mass in order to keep them stable. However, they havent yet been observed, only theorized.   Could We Someday Use Wormholes? Putting aside the technical aspects of wormhole mechanics, there are also some hard physical truths about these objects. Even if they do exist, it is difficult to say if people could ever learn to manipulate them. Plus, humanity really doesnt even have starships yet, so figuring out ways to use wormholes to travel is really putting the cart before the horse.   There is also the obvious question of safety. At this point,  no one knows exactly what to expect inside a wormhole. Nor do we know exactly WHERE a wormhole could send a ship. It could be in our own galaxy, or perhaps somewhere else in the very distant universe. Also, heres something to chew on.   If a wormhole took a ship from our galaxy to another one billions of light-years away, theres a whole question of time to consider. Does the wormhole transport instantaneously? If so, WHEN do we arrive in the distant shore? Does the trip ignore the expansion of space-time?   So while it may certainly be possible for wormholes to exist and function as portals across the universe, it is considerably less likely that people will ever be able to find a way to use them. The physics just dont work out. Yet.   Edited and updated by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Imperfections- an Explication of An Author to Her Book by Anne Bradstreet

Imperfections- an Explication of An Author to Her Book by Anne Bradstreet I've included the full text of the poem as well as my explication of it. Enjoy!The Author to Her Bookby Anne BradstreetThou ill-form'd offspring of my feeble brain,Who after birth did'st by my side remain,Till snatcht from thence by friends, less wise than true,Who thee abroad expos'd to public view,Made thee in rags, halting to th' press to trudge,Where errors were not lessened (all may judge).At thy return my blushing was not small,My rambling brat (in print) should mother call.I cast thee by as one unfit for light,Thy Visage was so irksome in my sight,Yet being mine own, at length affection wouldThy blemishes amend, if so I could.I wash'd thy face, but more defects I saw,And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.I stretcht thy joints to make thee even feet,Yet still thou run'st more hobbling than is meet.In better dress to trim thee was my mind,But nought save home-spun Cloth, i' th' house I find.In this array, 'mongst Vulgars mayst thou roam.In Critics' hands, beware thou dost no t come,And take thy way where yet thou art not known.If for thy Father askt, say, thou hadst none;And for thy Mother, she alas is poor,Which caus'd her thus to send thee out of door."Imperfections"ÂÆ'‚‚ ÂÆ'‚‚ ÂÆ'‚‚ ÂÆ'‚‚ ÂÆ'‚‚ ÂÆ'‚‚ ÂÆ'‚‚ ÂÆ'‚‚ As shown in "The Author to Her Book" by Anne Bradstreet, perfectionism is not a new phenomenon. The speaker of the poem uses diction, imagery, and tone to display her insecurities about, and dislike of, her own work, resulting from the human imperfections that have created an inadequate piece of literature.ÂÆ'‚‚ ÂÆ'‚‚ ÂÆ'‚‚ ÂÆ'‚‚ ÂÆ'‚‚ ÂÆ'‚‚ ÂÆ'‚‚ ÂÆ'‚‚ The choice of words in this poem reveals that while admitting a close and intimate relationship with it,

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using teams for sales

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using teams for sales Teamwork is the ability to recognize the complexities of a task and identifying a group of individuals with the mix of talents needed to work harmoniously towards the achievement of that task. Teamwork as a business model is gaining a lot of support in managing a business organization, especially in making effective sales team.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on What are the advantages and disadvantages of using teams for sales? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It helps the team to share knowledge and experience. Effective sales teams are realized, when employees meet on regular basis to discuss progress while identifying problems encountered. The solutions to these problems are sort from within the team, thus enhancing teamwork (Gould para 2). This consultation is also important, as each team member is part of decision-making. This makes the achievement of group task easier. Teams are also important as they help o rganizations avoid duplication of roles by partnering people. Teams also help a company to work within its budget to achieve its objective, as each member has several targets therefore reaching a wider client base. However, it has been noted that it is very difficult to implement teams. This is so when a sales team leader directly supervises the team and rewards team members individually, thus encouraging competition rather than collaboration. Teamwork also hinders opportunities for individual success where the organization rewards the whole group. All recognition goes to the group rather than outstanding individuals thus no individual effort is recognized, rewarded and appraised. Some companies have self-regulating teams. Such freedom can hinder success, as there is limited evaluation and accountability of individual team members (Sorrow para 5). Despite the challenges, teamwork achieves more in complicated task that needs combined skills and talents. Team members are also able to assist each other therefore reaching group objectives easily. What differences are apparent in how these two organizations approach Teamwork? How would these differences impact team effectiveness?Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The two organizations have adopted different approaches to teamwork in the following manner. The electrical supplier partners two people who work together at a specific task. This encourages team members to help each other in accomplishing the task. There are no individual roles for individual team members, thus team partners must work together until a task is accomplished. On the other hand, the radio sales team has five members. Every member has own sale accounts they manage. While the sales team at the radio station has very limited supervision and consults the senior manager only when deciding on matters that would affect the entir e radio station, the electrical supplier team works under the lead sales engineer, who oversees the implementation of sales efforts. The self-regulation of the sales team at the radio station ensures that each individual makes own decisions that only affect their accounts. Sharing of responsibilities is kept to a minimum. However, teamwork is enhanced during weekly meetings when members share challenges, and solutions are sort from within the group. These weekly meetings help individual team members make decisions in managing individual accounts. At the electrical supplier, teamwork effectiveness is the responsibility of the lead sale engineer as each individual is inclined towards individual achievement rather than teamwork. Rewarding of individual success at the electrical supplier hampers teamwork thus the difficulty in its implementation. In contrast, rewarding the entire team enhances teamwork. Progress at the radio station is the responsibility of every member, who must accoun t to the group on weekly basis. At the electrical supplier, teamwork is less effective because the lead sales engineer manages individuals inclined towards competing with each other, rather than collaboration. Gould, Rennie. â€Å"Is Teamwork in Sales Important?† EzineArticles. 2000. February 03, 2011 http://ezinearticles.com/expert/Rennie_Gould/654379 Sorrow, Matthew. â€Å"Team Work Advantages and Disadvantages† EzineArticles. 2000. February 03, 2011 http://ezinearticles.com/expert/Matthew_Sorrow/77922

Answers Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Answers - Assignment Example There are religious people, the seminarian and the priest. There are also his children: the son Hubert, the oldest daughter Genevieve, and Marie, the youngest daughter who died. He mentions his nephew Luc, and his sister in law Marinette who is Luc’s mother. Genevieve is married to Alfred, and they have a child, Janine who is married to Phili. Hubert is married to Olympe. Louis also has an illegitimate son called Robert. 2. Louis is the main character of this novel. What are the significant events of his life? Who is involved in the events of his life? Would you be able to fill out a timeline of Louis' life – Louis as a child and young man; Louis as an adult; Louis as he's dying? In the first phase of his life Louis has a lot of good fortune, despite his humble origins. He has a fine education and marries Isa, who is socially in a higher class than he is. He describes having children with her, but becoming distant with his wife in mid life , and leaving the church. He h as a lot of success in his job as a lawyer, but as he grows older he is unfaithful and bitter. As an older man he is sick, and wants revenge on his ungrateful children, but a part of him is conscious of his own faults in this life story so far. 3. What kind of man is Louis? How would you describe him? Does Louis change at all over the course of the novel? If you say 'yes,' why does he change? I would describe Louis as eloquent but somewhat self-absorbed. He analyzes everything in great detail, and holds a grudge for decades if something does not please him. He was undoubtedly a very unpleasant man in mid-life and as an older man, acting like a tyrant in his family and being very irritable. As death approaches, however, he does undergo some change, because he reflects on the whole of his life and looks behind superficial actions, both his own actions and those of others. I think this makes him more generous and accepting of human weakness than before, and so he does undergo some kind of transformation at the end. 4. What is the nature of Louis' relationship with his wife, Isa, at the time that Louis is writing this letter? How does Louis feel toward Isa? Why? Do we get any sense of how Isa feels about Louis? The best way to describe Louis’ feelings towards Isa is â€Å"mixed†. 5. Was Louis and Isa's relationship always as it is at this point in time? What was the effect on Louis of falling in love with Isa? Louis obviously loved her when he married her, and was jealous of the man she loved before she knew him. He had money and she had social status, and so in practical terms it was a good marriage. He thought he had attained the kind of wife he deserved, and she made him happy at first. 6. How does their relationship change and evolve over time? Why does it change? The relationship deteriorates because Louis cannot forgive a relationship she had with another man before her marriage to Louis. She continues to be a good mother to their children, but she withdraws from Louis, and he withdraws from her. Enmity creeps in, and he regards her as a hypocrite because she is very religious, and yet cold towards him. Louis thinks Isa does not properly recognize and value his work achievements (Part VI, p 77 â€Å"you were the only person who remained deaf to the universal applause of my gifts as a pleader†). 7. What is Louis' relationship to each of his children? How does he think of them? What does he feel about them? Louis is very fond of his youngest daughter Marie, who died. He is not friendly towards Hubert and Genevieve,

Cost Control Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Cost Control - Essay Example For the stamping dept. of a manufacturing firm, the standard cost for direct labor is $12 per hour, and the production standard calls for 1,000 stamping per hour. During June, 168 hours were required for actual production of 148,000 stampings. Actual direct labor cost for the stamping department for June was $2,184. An alternative to the preceding monthly report which could improve control over the stamping department’s direct labor is to increase the production rate in the previous month to in 1 hr = 1200 stampings. _____________________________________________________________________ Coastal Industries has established direct labor performance standards for its maintenance and repair shop. However, some of the labor records were destroyed during a recent fire. The actual hours worked during March were 4,000, and the total direct labor budget variance was $2,200 unfavorable. The standard labor rate was $18 per hour, but recent registrations allowed the firm to hire lower-paid replacement workers for some jobs, and this produced a favorable rate variance of $3,200 fro March. Fiber works Company is a manufacturer of fiberglass toy boats. The company has recently implemented a standard cost system and has designed the system to isolate variances as soon as possible. During the month of august, the following results were reported for the production of 50,000 toy

Research Designs Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Research Designs - Assignment Example This helps us to verify that the effects seen are actually due to the said Independent variable and not other factors. A true experimental design has all these components; and thus offers the most reliable data and analysis (Kerlinger, 1986). An example of a true experimental study would be when a new medicine is being tested, and different dosages are given to different groups to test it’s efficacy. A control group in not given the medicine, but a placebo instead. The dosage levels are varied as per to opinion of the professional researcher; and the sample chosen is such that it represents the larger population from which it comes. On the other hand, a cross-sectional design and a quasi-experimental design would not allow for manipulation of the independent variable or for the presence of a control group given the nature of the Independent variables under study (Frankfort-Nachmias & Nachmias, 2008). An example of a cross-sectional study would be a study that tried to verify the type of music preferred across different age groups. Although the experimenter can choose the range of each group; there is no ‘control group’ for this study. On the other hand, a quasi-expeimental design would be one where the efficacy of different treatment options for an illness are compared (Frankfort-Nachmias & Nachmias, 2008). The researcher cannot assign treatment options and has to collect data from participants who choose the said options. There can be a control group only if there are people who choose to abstain from treatment. The least strong type of study is one that uses a pre-experimental design (Frankfort-Nachmias & Nachmias, 2008), which only allows for comparison or observation. A typical pre-experimental design is when a group is tested for knowledge before and after a training procedure and then the two scores are compared for difference. The strength of the research design

Customizing the Body and Constructing Gender Essay

Customizing the Body and Constructing Gender - Essay Example In postmodern society, art has undergone several evolutions with one invention of the human body being used as one of the medium of expressing art. Body tattooing, body piercings, incisions like tongue splitting, elongation of body parts are just among the many ways the evolution of body modification evolution has undergone (Rose, 1993).Tattooing and body piercing are perceived as acts of pursuit of empowerment and self-expression. In countries, such as Australia and the U.S., different social groups that associate themselves with Homosexuality, Nerdism, Supremacists, Modern religions and atheists, use tattooing as a symbol of self-stigmatization and as a form of communicative or per formative expression (Rose, 1993). Medically body modification may include plastic surgery, circumcision, body amputation, body piercing, tattooing, and body parts elongations amongst others. According to Edelman, the modern society women may disregard the outlook of some parts of their bodies, and subsequently resort to plastic surgery (Edelman, 2000). The body parts that are commonly modified include the breasts, cheeks, lips, buttocks, thighs amongst others(Edelman, 2000).Some individuals resort to body amputations due to pain or medical implication such as cancer or viral infection, which cannot be treated unless the amputation is performed by a qualified doctor. Others pierce their bodies to cope with trauma or stress to act as therapeutic process, which subsequently helps the subjects in coping with the reaction of the body and mind (Edelman, 2000). Legally, body modification under the American State Laws, stipulates that it should only be done on an individual who is of legal age (18-years-old), of sane mind, voluntarily, and the individual should not be under any influence of intoxications such as alcohol, drugs (Edelman, 2000). Only a qualified physician should perform body modifications that culminate to extreme actions

Marie Antoinette was a Victim of French Society Research Paper

Marie Antoinette was a Victim of French Society - Research Paper Example This essay analyzes the claim that Marie Antoinette was a victim of the French society. Female Victimization in Revolutionary France How British women view Marie Antoinette exposes the fact that they know it was the gender of the Queen that was besieged, and that, as contemporary scholars confirm, her prosecution for treason â€Å"was staged virtually as a morality play on the evil impact of women on the body politic† (Craciun 2003, 77). The portrayal of Marie Antoinette as a victim has an impact akin to her image as sexual behemoth in the obscene propaganda. As argued by Hunt, Marie Antoinette threatens the male-dominated public domain because she is â€Å"the emblem (and sacrificial victim) of the feared disintegration of gender boundaries that accompanied the Revolution† (Goodman 2003, 131). This peril to gender differentiation reached the outer boundaries of France and outside political scholarship. The Queen was the most prominent and remarkable enchantress at the time, likened at the initial phase of her prosecution to several legendary femmes fatales (Craciun 2003, 78): †¦ like Messaline, Brunchant, Fredigonde, and Medicis, who were formerly qualified with the titles of the Queen of France, whose names have ever been odious, and will never be effaced from the pages of history—Marie Antoinette, widow of Louis Capet, has, since here abode in France, been the scourge and the blood sucker of the French†¦ having squandered the finances of France†¦ in a dreadful manner, to satisfy inordinate pleasures, and to pay the agents of her criminal intrigues. The above statement was supported by Pierre Saint-Amand, who stated that â€Å"the execution of Marie Antoinette was by no means an affair of state† (Kilgore-Mueller 2008, 74). The Queen’s trial was not conducted in the Convention, but in the revolutionary court. At some point in the prosecution of Citizen Capet, the name of Marie Antoinette had been mentioned to d emonstrate that she would be stripped of any privileges after the King’s death. Her case was to be heard in a judicial court just like any other accused for the crime of treason. Her case was to be heard by the jury, not by national legislature (Kilgore-Mueller 2008, 74-75). The revolutionary court would target her personal activities or private life, attacking â€Å"the woman in her as much as the queen† (Fraser 2001, 123). As stated by Saint-Amand, the Queen and the woman was a victim of (Goodman 2003, 257): †¦ backlash against the advancement of women in the public sphere, against their increased visibility and competition with men for participation in social institutions. When people denounced Marie Antoinette they also denounced the excessive publicity of aristocratic women†¦ [She] was perceived as the most unbridled symbol of this new representation of women. Marie Antoinette has endlessly been linked to controversy and scandal. Sensational and scandalo us propaganda depicted her as sexually voracious and, in 1793, at her trial, she was charged of raping her son. Scholars have associated the controversies about Marie

Critical Reflection of Writing the Research Action Essay on Why High

Critical Reflection of Writing the Research Action on Why High School Athletics Are Important - Essay Example In my essay, I addressed; how hard it is to be as well as to become a student-athlete, and the importance of the student element of being a student-athlete is. In addition, I reviewed the criticism from teachers, parents, and other students towards athletes is a problem that is overlooked, also being part of a team is the best way for a student to meet friends in a disciplined, healthy environment. I wanted to emphasize my topic towards teachers and parents that are against athletics in schools. In my essay, I wanted to prove athletics is beneficial in school, because of how important grades are when trying to become a college athlete as well as competing in games or tournaments. For example, coaches make their players miss games if they have not met the minimum grade requirements set by the institution until the grade is brought up to expectation. In addition, once a student becomes a part of a team, they make everlasting friendships with teammates. Even more influential athletics is a great way for students to stay healthy and be around a safe, positive and constructive atmosphere. When establishing my audience, I wanted to appoint the value of discipline, along with extending on how sports do help with students’ educational and social needs. As I was writing the essay, I was guided by the stasis theory of conjecture, definition, quality, and policy. The theory assisted me in identifying the real concern of teachers and parents against athletics and sports in schools. In the conjecture part, I identified the facts that support and oppose my stance on school sports. These facts formed the basis of my essay and finally guided me on the importance of sports in schools. The definition bit, using the stasis theory, helped me in defining the meaning and importance of sports in schools. This part strengthened my conviction about the contribution athletics and sports have on the life of a student.     

Customizing the Body and Constructing Gender Essay

Customizing the Body and Constructing Gender - Essay Example In postmodern society, art has undergone several evolutions with one invention of the human body being used as one of the medium of expressing art. Body tattooing, body piercings, incisions like tongue splitting, elongation of body parts are just among the many ways the evolution of body modification evolution has undergone (Rose, 1993).Tattooing and body piercing are perceived as acts of pursuit of empowerment and self-expression. In countries, such as Australia and the U.S., different social groups that associate themselves with Homosexuality, Nerdism, Supremacists, Modern religions and atheists, use tattooing as a symbol of self-stigmatization and as a form of communicative or per formative expression (Rose, 1993). Medically body modification may include plastic surgery, circumcision, body amputation, body piercing, tattooing, and body parts elongations amongst others. According to Edelman, the modern society women may disregard the outlook of some parts of their bodies, and subsequently resort to plastic surgery (Edelman, 2000). The body parts that are commonly modified include the breasts, cheeks, lips, buttocks, thighs amongst others(Edelman, 2000).Some individuals resort to body amputations due to pain or medical implication such as cancer or viral infection, which cannot be treated unless the amputation is performed by a qualified doctor. Others pierce their bodies to cope with trauma or stress to act as therapeutic process, which subsequently helps the subjects in coping with the reaction of the body and mind (Edelman, 2000). Legally, body modification under the American State Laws, stipulates that it should only be done on an individual who is of legal age (18-years-old), of sane mind, voluntarily, and the individual should not be under any influence of intoxications such as alcohol, drugs (Edelman, 2000). Only a qualified physician should perform body modifications that culminate to extreme actions

Critical Reflection of Writing the Research Action Essay on Why High

Critical Reflection of Writing the Research Action on Why High School Athletics Are Important - Essay Example In my essay, I addressed; how hard it is to be as well as to become a student-athlete, and the importance of the student element of being a student-athlete is. In addition, I reviewed the criticism from teachers, parents, and other students towards athletes is a problem that is overlooked, also being part of a team is the best way for a student to meet friends in a disciplined, healthy environment. I wanted to emphasize my topic towards teachers and parents that are against athletics in schools. In my essay, I wanted to prove athletics is beneficial in school, because of how important grades are when trying to become a college athlete as well as competing in games or tournaments. For example, coaches make their players miss games if they have not met the minimum grade requirements set by the institution until the grade is brought up to expectation. In addition, once a student becomes a part of a team, they make everlasting friendships with teammates. Even more influential athletics is a great way for students to stay healthy and be around a safe, positive and constructive atmosphere. When establishing my audience, I wanted to appoint the value of discipline, along with extending on how sports do help with students’ educational and social needs. As I was writing the essay, I was guided by the stasis theory of conjecture, definition, quality, and policy. The theory assisted me in identifying the real concern of teachers and parents against athletics and sports in schools. In the conjecture part, I identified the facts that support and oppose my stance on school sports. These facts formed the basis of my essay and finally guided me on the importance of sports in schools. The definition bit, using the stasis theory, helped me in defining the meaning and importance of sports in schools. This part strengthened my conviction about the contribution athletics and sports have on the life of a student.     

Health Care Hall of Fame Museum Proposal Essay Example for Free

Health Care Hall of Fame Museum Proposal Essay Healthcare has existed for centuries. As a society we have gone from primitive treatments like casting spells to revolutionary disease breakthroughs. The United States has held steadfast in the evolution of healthcare delivery causing the delivery of healthcare to increase by magnitude proportions. The 1900’s was a time that changes in healthcare and the delivery of it began to emerge in the United States. Scientists started taking an increase interest in diseases. Cardiology developments have helped with the treatment of heart disease, monitoring and prevention. â€Å"Heart Disease is the number one leading cause of death in America.† (American Heart Association, www.heart.org). Heart disease goes as far back as Egyptian Pharaohs, British monarchs and American Presidents. Unhealthy behaviors causing an increase in the risk factors amongst Americans have greatly affected the health of our society as a whole. Americans lead with sedentary lifestyles and the â€Å"supersize mentality†. Early interventions to reduce the risk factors that cause heart disease are essential. Mental illness has been frowned upon since ancient history. The United States was no different. Some people feel that mental illness is not a physical problem and is just a behavioral or spiritual problem that can be controlled. The mentally ill have been maltreated and put through deplorable, inhumane conditions. Introduction of antipsychotic medication in the 1950’s helped in the recovery and helped those who were mentally ill live in the community. Mental health became a priority and care in institutions and hospitals started to improve. â€Å"The Mental Health Act 1986 (the Act) provides a legislative framework for the care, treatment and protection of people with mental illness for psychiatrists to implement.† (Treatment plans under the Mental Health Act). The National Institute of Mental health has a mission to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses. Better healthcare choices can be made with the use of biotechnology. Biotechnology is not a new science. It goes as far back as 500 B.C. It is beneficial with the development of medication, research on drugs, stem cell research, gene testing and therapy. â€Å"Modern biotechnology provides breakthrough products and technologies to combat debilitating and rare diseases, reduce our environmental footprint, feed the hungry, use less and cleaner energy, and have safer, cleaner and more efficient industrial manufacturing processes.† (What is Biotechnology? http://www.bio.org/articles/what-biotechnology). Biotechnology has made major strides in healthcare like the eradication of small pox or gene therapy to help people battle auto immune diseases. Public Health is concerned with disease prevention and wellness promotion for the community as a whole. Epidemics, pand emic and outbreaks make public health an essential part of healthcare. Public health dates back to Biblical times. An example of this is the isolation of a contagious disease like leprosy. Lillian Wald the mother of Public Health Nursing led the crusade of helping provide medical care to the poor in the United States. The increase awareness of health and the healthcare coverage that would be needed led the United States to develop HMOs. HMOs provide medical treatment for patients on a prepaid basis. HMO members pay a fixed monthly fee, more often than not through an employer regardless of how much medical care is needed in a given month. A wide variety of medical services are provided after the fee is paid, from office visits to hospitalization and surgery. There are benefits to having an HMO. â€Å"Preventive and well-care services, such as routine physicals and pediatric care, are provided at no additional cost. Co-payments apply to doctors office visits, prescriptions, hospital admissions, emergency room visits and some other services. You generally do not need to submit claim forms, except in cases when emergency care takes place outside of your coverage area.† Research on diseases, health maintenance, and wellness continues to progress. Public Health continues to be an advocate for hea lth and safety in the community. The United States continues to evolve in healthcare delivery. References American Heart Association, Disease Information. (2000). Retrieved from http://my.americanheart.org/professional/Research/Disease-Information_UCM_459537_Article.jsp Future of Biotechnology in Healthcare, Chapter Nine. (2011, August). Retrieved from http://www.amgenscholars.com/images/uploads/contentImages/biotechnology-future.pdf Institute of Mental Health. About NIMH. (October 6, 2014). Retrieved from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/index.shtml Public health history time line. (2014, September 6). Retrieved from http://www.sphtc.org/resources.html

Gender Differences In Mathematics Performance

Gender Differences In Mathematics Performance This study investigates gender differences in performance on the mathematics component on the Standard 3 National Assessment in Trinidad and Tobago. Of interest is whether there is a relationship between attitudinal differences regarding mathematics and student beliefs in their mathematical abilities and student gender classification. Results indicate that whereas girls performed better than boys on all categories and all skill areas on the test, the effect sizes were small. The results of a MANOVA with follow-up descriptive discriminant analysis also indicate that while boys and girls did not differ with regard to the perception of the school environment, educational values and goals, and general academic self-concept, they differ significantly on the persistence and mathematics self-concept factors. Girls tend to persist more, but hold lower mathematics self-concept than boys. Keywords: persistence, mathematics self-concept, Caribbean Despite some inconsistencies in results, most of the early studies on mathematics achievement found that boys, consistently scored higher than girls on a number of indicators of mathematical proficiency (Fennema Sherman, 1977; Kloosterman, 1988; Manning, 1998; Peterson Fennema, 1985; Randhawa, 1991, 1994). This study examines the phenomenon in the English speaking Caribbean, specifically Trinidad and Tobago, where girls consistently have outperformed boys, and has become a matter of concern for Caribbean governments and educators (Caribbean Education Task Force, 2000). A review of the literature from the USA and other Western societies on gender and mathematics achievement has revealed an inconsistent relationship between gender and mathematics attainment during the early years of schooling. For example, in a 3-year longitudinal study conducted in the USA that examined the strategies that students in the lower primary grades (grade 1-3) utilized in solving mathematics problems, Fennema, Carpenter, Jacobs, Franke, and Levi (1998) did not find gender differences in the ability to solve mathematics problems in grade 3 (8-10 year olds). They found however significant differences in problem-solving strategies in which girls tended to employ concrete solution strategies like modelling and counting, while boys tended to use more abstract solution strategies that reflected conceptual understanding (Fennema Carpenter, 1998, p.4). However, Tapia and Marsh (2004) contend that up to 1994, measurable gender differences in mathematics scores are apparent only f rom age 13 and since that time, whatever gap existed seems to have disappeared. Hanna (2003) contends similarly with regard to the disappearance of the gender gap, while Hyde et al. (1990) and Leahey and Guo (2001) extend this argument and caution against the assertion that there is an evident gender difference in mathematics achievement favouring males. Leahey and Guo (2001) further state that at the elementary level existing differences were not consistent across mathematics skill areas, and where differences existed, were small but in favour of girls. Nevertheless, they did confirm that at the secondary level, males exhibited a consistent but slightly superior performance in the areas of problem-solving (Hyde et al., 1990) and reasoning skill and geometry (Leahey Guo, 2001). Brunner, Krauss and Kunters (2007) examined the performance on mathematics items of students in Germany. In their study they compared gender differences in overall mathematics ability (which as they explain is the standard model commonly found in the literature), and specific mathematics ability, i.e., an ability that influences performance on mathematics items over and above general cognitive ability (p. 405). They found that girls slightly outperformed boys on reasoning ability, but on specific mathematics ability, boys had a significant advantage over girls. Cooper and Dunne (2000) in their study of the influence of the socio-cultural background on students interpretation of realistic mathematical problems on the National Curriculum in England also found that the means for boys were higher than those for girls. Overall, they noted that service class students those from the higher socio-economic levels exhibited superior performance on realistic items than students in the lower socio-economic categories. However, they also observed that boys achieved slightly better scores than girls on realistic items (i.e. items to which they could relate, or were part of their experiences) in comparison to esoteric items (i.e. items that were more abstract.) More recent studies provide additional support for the above findings. For example, Williams, Wo and Lewis (2007) in their investigation of 5-14 year old students progress in mathematics attainment in England indicated that in the early years of schooling, individual differences in mathematics attainment are difficult to establish. In extending the discussion, Neuville and Croizet (2007) in a study of 7-8 year olds conducted in France, found that when gender identity is salient, girls perform better than boys on easy problems. On the other hand, boys performance on mathematics was not affected by gender identity. They were not subjected to stereotype threat that made negative assumptions about their mathematical ability, and so, they performed better on the more difficult problems. The study concluded that young girls are more susceptible to the salience of their stereotyped gender identity than boys. An examination of the Fourth Grade data from the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA)s Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), to some extent, contrasts slightly with Leahey and Guos (2001) findings. The TIMSS data show that in the majority of the participating countries boys attained higher mean scores in mathematics, however in only three countries Japan, Korea and the Netherlands- were these means statistically significant at alpha = .05. The averages of all country means were: males = 535 and females = 533 (Mullis, Martin, Fierros, Goldberg Stemler, 2000) indicating that differences attributed to gender were minimal and random. In an analysis of the OECDs 2000 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Marks (2008), found that in most countries, girls on average, have à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ lower scores in mathematics than boys and the average across-country gender gap was 11 score points in favour of boys (p.96). He further explains that while in 15 of the 31 countries the gender difference in mathematics was not significant, in three countries, the difference was a sizable 27 score points, and in another two, the gap was moderate. In only three countries did girls do better than boys but the difference was not statistically significant (p.96). Despite the consistency in the research, there remains a growing concern over the academic performance of boys, a concern which is echoed loudly in England (Gorard, Rees Salisbury, 1999; Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED), 1996; Younger, Warrington Williams, 1999) as evidenced from the running debate and commentaries in the BBC News (09/18/2003), and the mentoring programme for underachieving Afro-Caribbean boys implemented by the British Government (Odih, 2002). From the above review, while there are slight inconsistencies in the findings, we can conclude that overall at the primary or elementary level, there is no significant difference in the mathematics performance of boys and girls. The differences only become noticeable at the secondary level where boys perform better than girls in geometry and on the more difficult mathematics items. Mathematics Achievement Patterns: The Trinidad and Tobago Contexts The concern over the gender differential in mathematics performance remains the subject of intense debate in the English-speaking Caribbean (Caribbean Education Task Force, 2000). Specific to Trinidad and Tobago, and in contrast to the literature coming out of the U.S. and Western Europe, Jules and Kutnick (1990), Kutnick and Jules (1988) found that girls perform better than boys on teacher-made tests at all ages between 8 and 16, across all curriculum areas and in all curriculum subjects. They achieve better results on the Secondary Education Assessment (SEA) taken in Standard.5 (Std. 5) (age 11-12) and also achieve better results on the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC), the Caribbean equivalent to the British GCSE, administered by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), taken at age 16-17 in Form 5 (Kutnick, Jules Layne, 1997; Parry, 2000). Brown (2005) corroborates the above findings, at least for students in the lower primary school classes. In examining the performance of 7-9 year olds on the mathematics component of the 2000 Trinidad and Tobago National Test, he found that overall the mean achievement score of girls was higher than that of boys. Additionally, he found that the non-response to items was significantly greater for boys than girls, and a significantly greater number of boys than girls were in the lower tail of the distribution. In an attempt to determine whether the tests were biased in favour of girls, Brown and Kanyongo (2007) conducted differential item functioning (DIF) analysis on test items on the mathematics component of the 2004 National Test: Std. 1 (age 7-9). They found that though five of thirty items on the test significantly differentiated in favour of girls, in practical terms, the differences in item function were negligible and therefore could not explain the gender differential in perfo rmance on the test. With regard to Kutnick et al. (1997) and Parrys (2000) observation of student performance on the CSCE, a review of the 2000-2002 CSEC ordinary level results for Trinidad and Tobago allows for alternative interpretations. The results showed that of the students taking mathematics at the general proficiency level, a greater percentage of boys than girls earned Grades I-III (Brown, 2005). This finding seems to give support to the claim that boys on average perform better in higher-level mathematics (Leahey Guo, 2001; Manning, 1998; Randhawa, 1991, 1994); however, it needs to be qualified by the fact that a greater percentage of girls take general proficiency level mathematics the more rigorous course whereas more boys take basic level mathematics (Brown, 2005). Caribbean scholars have tried to understand this phenomenon and have offered a number of possible explanations. Miller (1994) frames his argument in the context of the historical marginalization of the black male in the Caribbean of which disinterest in education has been an inevitable outcome. Chevannes (2001) and Parry (2000) contend; while Conrad (1999) implies that the problem may be due to socialization practices and cultural expectations of gendered behaviour which for males conflict with the ethos of the school, but alternatively, encourage females to be academically successful. Figueroa (1997), on the other hand, posits that what the Caribbean has been witnessing is the result of the traditional independence of Caribbean women, and historic male privileging of which one consequence has been male educational underachievement. The explanations presented all seem plausible. However, with the possible exception of studies by Kutnick et al. (1997) and Parry (2000) which looked at classroom variables, they are yet to be tested. In 2004-2005, the Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Education (MOE) began collecting data that went beyond analysis of student performance on the National Tests. While the instrument did not address socio-cultural factors, it addressed affective factors that predict academic achievement. From the instrument, we extract items that examine student motivation, academic self-perception, emphases on the value and purpose of education, and perception of the school. Each of these factors has been found to be predictors of academic achievement in previous research. (Dweck Leggett, 1988; Marsh, 1992). Student Motivation, Academic Self-perception and Beliefs Dwecks Motivation Process Model (Dweck Leggett, 1988) posits that performance is impacted by an individuals belief about his or her ability (or lack thereof). This argument she frames within the concept of learning goals and performance goals. Students with high learning goal orientation are focused on the acquisition of new knowledge or competencies. They place an intrinsic value on knowledge, which is reflected in a desire to learn. Implicit to the desire to learn, is the willingness to make the effort to achieve their goal. As a result, they are more likely to persist with challenging material, responding with increased effort to master the material. Performance oriented students, although also motivated to achieve, place greater emphasis on proving their competence (Grant Dweck, 2003). In the present competitive atmosphere of the school, this often means achieving a desired grade: not as a validation of their learning, but as validation of their ability. The conceptualization of ability as a reflection of ones performance (Burley, Turner Vitulli, 1999) creates the tendency to avoid material that could result in poor performance. They display what Dweck and Leggett (1988) refer to as helpless response low persistence when challenged by difficult material. The emphasis is on demonstrating ones competence and avoiding the appearance of incompetence (Ryan Deci, 2000, Lapointe, Legault Batiste, 2005). Researchers have studied the motivational orientations and student academic self-perception from a variety of theoretical perspectives (Dweck Leggett, 1988; Heyman Dweck, 1992; Ryan and Deci, 2000; Ryan Patrick, 2001; Schommer-Aikens, Brookhart, Hutter Mau, 2000). A summary of the findings suggests a positive relationship between student motivation, self-esteem, academic engagement and academic achievement (Nichols, 1996; Singh, Granville, Dika, 2002). Further, the literature shows that underlying motivation is the individuals beliefs self theories (Lepper Henderlong, 2000). It is this belief in ones ability and its relation to achievement that drives persistence. Therefore, with regard to this study, students who believe in their mathematics ability, and further believe that their ability is linked to their effort in learning mathematics are motivated to work harder and as a result achieve at a higher academic level. But there are other factors both intrinsic and extrinsic to students that are related to their performance in mathematics. While we recognize that the classroom environment created by the teacher and other institutional variables are critical elements in student learning, we also recognize it is students perception of the school and classroom environments that make these environmental factors powerful motivators or demotivators to their academic performance (Ireson Hallam, 2005; Ryan Patrick, 2001). Additionally, student attitude toward mathematics is highly correlated with achievement in mathematics (Ma, 1997; Ma Kishor, 1997). Their belief that mathematics is important to achieving their future goals results in greater effort to succeed in mathematics and as a result, higher achievement scores (Bouchey Harter, 2005). Therefore, students scores on items that address these factors are expected to be related to their scores on the mathematics component on the national test. As part of the growing interest in gender differential in academic performance that is evident at all levels and across disciplines in Trinidad and Tobago, this study seeks to determine whether students attitude towards mathematics and students beliefs in their mathematical abilities are related to the differential in mathematics attainment between boys and girls. Specifically the study asks: Do mean achievement scores differ by gender on a Std. 3 (age 9-10) large-scale mathematics assessment in Trinidad and Tobago? Is there a difference between boys and girls on their perception of school, their persistence when faced with academic challenges, their general academic self-concept and mathematics self-concept, and their educational values? Method Trinidad and Tobago Education System: A Brief Review Trinidad and Tobago is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious society in which no area is exclusive to one ethnic or religious grouping. The education system is run by a central authority the Ministry of Education (MOE). The country is divided into eight educational districts which, with the exception of Tobago which is predominantly of African descent, are representative of all socio-economic levels, ethnic and religious grouping in the country. Each educational district is headed by a School Supervisor III (SS III) assisted by SSIIs responsible for secondary schools and SSIs responsible for primary schools. Early Childhood Care and Education is a separate department in the MOE. All educational policies and mandates emanate from the central office to the respective supervisory levels (Oplatka 2004). The public education system of Trinidad and Tobago comprises four levels: early childhood care and education (3-4 year olds), primary education (5-11/12 years) the secondary education (12-16/17 years) and the tertiary level. The public primary education system consists of 484 schools. Of this number, 30 percent are government-funded and managed non-religious schools. The remaining 70 percent are government-funded schools but managed by denominational boards representing Christian, Hindu and Muslim religious persuasions (MOE, 2001). Parents have the right to send their children to any school within their school district. Each primary school is divided into an infant department where students stay for two years (1st and 2nd year infants), and the primary level where students stay for five years Standards (Std.) 1-5. Participants The participants were 561 public elementary school students from an educational district in northern Trinidad. The choice of the educational district was appropriate because its student population is representative of the student populations in the other six educational districts in Trinidad ensuring that the sample represented the demographic make-up of the country (See the-world-factbook). Sixteen students were removed before analysis due to failure to include the student identification code, leaving 545 students (girls = 253, boys = 292, age range 8-10 with a mean of 9.53 years). Of these students, 226 identified themselves as Trinidadian of African descent, 201 of East Indian descent, 4 Chinese, 3 White and 100 Mixed. Eleven students did not indicate their racial/ethnic origin. However, it is important to point out that ethnicity is not a variable of interest in this study. Instruments The national test. Two sources provide the data for this study; student scores on the mathematics component of the Std. 3 National Test and their responses to items on the questionnaire to provide supplementary data. The examination consisted of 25 items which fell into either of the following categories: Number: 11 items, Measurement and Money: 8 items, Geometry: 3 items, and Statistics: 3 items. The national exam tested the following competency (skill) areas: knowledge computation (KC), algorithmic thinking (AT), and problem solving (PS). Some items had multiple parts, with each part testing a different skill, whereas some items tested all three skills simultaneously (Table 1). Items on the examination were dichotomously scored as either 1 for a correct response or 0 for an incorrect response, or polytomously scored as either 2 correct, 1 partially correct or 0 incorrect. The cut scores on the test separated students into the following four mastery levels: Level 1: Below Proficient. Score range 0-17. Level 2: Partially Proficient. Score range 18-29. Level 3: Proficient. Score range 30-39. Level 4: Advanced Proficiency. Score range 40-55. Table 1 Examination questions (items) by category and skill area Category Standard 3 (n=45 parts) KC AT PS No. Parts Total Score Number (11 items) 9 8 4 21 24 Measurement and money (8 items) 7 5 4 16 19 Geometry (3 items) 1 1 1 3 5 Statistics (3 items) 1 3 1 5 7 Entire exam 18 17 10 45 55 We consulted with a mathematics education expert to determine the cognitive demand of the items on the test. The majority of the items were at the procedural without connections, or memorization difficulty level as described by Stein, Grover and Henningsen (1996), and therefore, elicited low-level thinking and reasoning. Only four items were at the level of procedures with connections and had the potential to elicit high-level thinking (Stein et al., 1996). The following are examples of the types of items on the test. Ruth had 7/8 of a kilogram of cheese. She used 3/8 of a kilogram to make pies. How much cheese was left? Answer _______________________ Mrs. Jack is teaching a lesson Measuring Distances to her Standard 3 class. She teaches that 100 centimetres = 1 metre Petrina used a tape marked in centimetres to measure the length of her classroom. She got a measurement of 600 centimetres. 1. Write what Petrina must do to change the length of the classroom into metres. 2. The length of the classroom is ________ metres Figure 1. Examples of types of test items. The questionnaire. Factor analysis was performed on the questionnaire to develop the five factors (Persistence, Academic self-concept, Values and Goals, School Environment, and Mathematics self-concept) that were used in this study as dependent variables. Because these five dependent variables were considered simultaneously, (with gender as the independent variable), we utilized the multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) procedure. Although one of the assumptions for the use of factor analysis is that the data are measured on an interval scale, Kim and Mueller (1978) note that ordinal data may be used if the assignments of ordinal categories to the data do not seriously distort the underlying metric scaling. In a review of the literature on the use of data collected on Likert scales, Jaccard and Wan (1996) concluded that, for many statistical tests, rather severe departures from intervalness do not seem to affect Type I and Type II errors dramatically. Other researchers like Binder (1984) and Zumbo and Zimmerman (1993) also found the robustness of parametric coefficients with respect to ordinal distortions. Additionally, we used the Principal Axis Factoring procedure as our method of extraction because it seeks the least amount of factors that account for the most amount of common variance for a given set of variables. We also employed oblique rotation because it often reflects the real world more accurately than orthogonal rotation since most real-world constructs are correlated. (See Fabrigar, Wegener, MacCallum and Strahan, 1999; and Preacher and MacCallum, 2003 for a detailed but non-technical discussion of the topic). The five constructs that we extracted in this study are correlated, another justification for using MANOVA with the five constructs as dependent variables. The questionnaire comprised 50 items. Items 1 to 10 sought demographic information. Of the remaining forty items, twenty eight were variables of interest. These measured academic self-esteem, perception of school/classroom environment, relationship with teacher, goals and value of education, mathematics self concept and persistence on a 5-point scale anchored by 1 disagree very much and 5 agree very much. To test whether the items really measured the underlying dimensions of interest, we subjected the items to a Principal Axis Factoring with Oblique rotation, suppressing loadings on variables lower than .40. This yielded a six-factor solution. The sixth factor accounted for only an additional four percent of variance; therefore, five factors were specified. This resulted in the four items pertaining to student-teacher relationship loading on student perception of school/classroom creating the school environment factor. All other factors remained the same. Additionally, two of the i tems measuring academic self-concept yielded loading values less than .40, and therefore, were deleted from the scale leaving 26 items to provide the data for the study. Two items addressed mathematics self-concept. These items consistently loaded together yielding loadings of .846 and .772 respectively (see Appendix). Table 2 Eigenvalues and variance percentages and scale reliability values Factors Eigenvalues % of Variance Cumulative % Cronbachs alpha Persistence 7.397 28.449 28.449 .85 General self-concept 2.953 11.359 39.808 .80 Math self-concept 2.112 8.123 47.931 .79 Values and goals 2.001 7.696 55.628 .74 School environment 1.297 4.988 60.616 .85 Overall scale reliability: Cronbachs alpha = .90 On this sample, the five factors accounted for 60.62 % of the variance in the set of variables with the first and second factors accounting for 28.45% and 11.36% of the variance. All factors yielded inter-item correlations > .35 with several correlations > .70. Inversely, matrices of partial correlations were very low supporting the presence of factors. The factors were: perception of school/classroom (8 items) e.g., I am glad I go to this school, persistence (6 items) e.g. When work is difficult I try harder, general academic self-concept, (6 items), e.g., I can learn new ideas quickly in school, goals and values (4 items) e.g., Doing well in school is one of my goals, and mathematics self concept (2 items) e.g., I am good at mathematics. Internal consistency reliability for the entire instrument was .90. Table 2 shows the five sub-scales (factors) in the final instrument and their reliability values as well as the percentage of the variance they account for. Procedure Using the student ID numbers, student scores on the mathematics assessment were paired with their responses on the supplementary data questionnaire. Before conducting the statistical analyses, all appropriate statistical assumptions were tested. The assumptions homogeneity of variance and covariance, and linearity were tenable. As expected, all factors displayed negative skewness. To reduce skewness and kurtosis, and by doing so, achieve a better approximation to a normal distribution, variables displaying moderate to substantial skewness and kurtosis were subjected to either a square root or logarithmic transformation. Despite these transformations, some variables still yielded skewness and kurtosis slightly greater than 1, (Sk = 1.5 and K = 1.27). However, with N > 500, and pairwise within group scatterplots revealing no discernible patterns, these small deviations from normality should not present any concerns. Tests for multivariate outliers identified five cases with values abov e the criterion, à Ã¢â‚¬ ¡Ã‚ ² (df, 4) = 18.47, p =.001. To remove their undue influence, these cases were deleted from the sample. Further screening identified an additional case. This case was removed resulting in a final sample n = 539. Data Analysis First, to investigate gender differences on the mathematics assessment, independent t-tests were performed. Second, to determine the extent to which the male and female examinees differed on the five constructs, a univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted on the school environment factor because this was not correlated with the other factors. Third, a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was performed on the four correlated factors (persistence, mathematics self-concept, general self-concept, and goal values) as dependent variables. Descriptive discriminant analysis was conducted as follow-up to a significant multivariate F to determine which variable or variables contributed most to differences between the groups. We used effect size to measure the magnitude of the difference between the mean score for boys and girls on each mathematics category tested. Effect size was obtained by dividing the difference between boys and girls mean by the pooled within-gender stand ard deviation. According to (Cohen, 1992), effect sizes of less than .20 are considered small and represent small practical significance; effect sizes between .20 and .50 are medium and represent moderate practical significance. Effect sizes greater than .50 are considered large. Results The first step in this study sought to determine whether boys and girls differed in performance on a Standard 3 large-scale mathematics assessment in Trinidad and Tobago. To make this determination, we performed an independent t-test between the means of the two samples for each category and skill area. Table 3 shows the means and the effect sizes of the differences between the two samples for each category, cognitive demand level and skill area. In the table, we also report standard error of the means (SEM) to provide an index of the sampling variability of the means. The results indicate that while girls achieved higher mean scores in all categories, difficulty levels and all skill areas on the test, the differences between boys and girls were statistically significant at p Table 3 Mean normal curve equivalent(nce) scores of the test categories, difficulty levels and skills for male and female examinees Category Boys(n=289) Girls (n=250) Sig. Effect Size Mean SEM Mean SEM p D Number 52.20 1.17 57.83 1.22 .001 .29 Measurement and money 52.73 1.18 56.48 1.26 .031 .19 Geometry 52.89 1.20 56.04 1.22 .068 .16 Statistics 50.53 1.16 56.87 1.23 .002 .27 Skill Area Knowledge and computation 51.01 1.16 57.44 1.24 .000 .33 Algorithmic thinking 53.81 1.11 57.92 1.24 .013 .21 Problem-solving 53.60 1.22 58.41 1.25 .006 .24 Cognitive Demand Low memorization 49.08 1.26 51.04 1.31 .754 .09 Low procedural 46.55 1.25 53.92 1.28

The Conflict, Climax and Resolution in Oedipus Rex Essays -- Oedipus t

The Conflict, Climax and Resolution in Oedipus Rex  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   Sophocles’ tragic drama, Oedipus Rex, presents a main conflict and lesser conflicts and their resolution after a climax.    In Oedipus Tyrannus: Tragic Heroism and the Limits of Knowledge, Charles Segal had the protagonist fares well in the first series of tests, but does poorly in the second series:    The first three tests are, respectively, Oedipus’ meetings with Creon, Teiresias, and then Creon again. In each case he is pursuing the killer as someone whom he assumes is other than himself. . . . The second series begins with Jocasta and continues with the Corinthian messenger and Laius’ herdsman. Now Oedipus is pursuing the killer as possibly the same as himself. . . . In this set his goal shifts gradually from uncovering the murderer to discovering his own parents. The confidence and power that he demonstrated in the first series of encounters gradually erode into anger, loss of control, and fear (72).    With each of the six encounters the main conflict of the drama builds – an inner conflict within the protagonist which involves his own mastery or hubris – and humility or modesty before the the gods.Thomas Van Nortwick in The Meaning of a Masculine Life describes Oedipus’ tragic flaw:    As ruler, he is a father to Thebes and its citizens, and like a father he will take care of his â€Å"children.† We see already the supreme self-confidence and ease of command in Oedipus, who can address not only other people’s children as his own, but also be a father to men older than he is. But beyond even this there is, in the sretched posture of the citizens, the hint of prostration before a deity. We are â€Å"clinging to your altars,† says the prie... ...homas Woodard. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.    Ehrenberg, Victor. â€Å"Sophoclean Rulers: Oedipus.† In Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, edited by Michael J. O’Brien. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.    Jevons, Frank B.   â€Å"In Sophoclean Tragedy, Humans Create Their Own Fate.† In Readings on Sophocles, edited by Don Nardo. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1997.    Segal, Charles. Oedipus Tyrannus: Tragic Heroism and the Limits of Knowledge. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1993.    Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. Transl. by F. Storr. no pag. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/browse-mixed new?tag=public&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&part=0&id=SopOedi    Van Nortwick, Thomas.   Oedipus: The Meaning of a Masculine Life. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998.   

The Style of Milan Kundera :: Biography Biographies Essays

The Style of Milan Kundera ex is ten tial ism - A philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts. This word has been used when describing Milan Kundera’s style of writing. The term existentialism came from Jean Paul Sartre, a French philosopher. Existentialism emphasizes individual existence, freedom and choice. The philosophy focuses on the existence of man. Sartre believed that to be a true existentialist one must accept that there is no God therefore man is alone with only himself to rely on for all decisions. This gives man total freedom of choice. However with this total freedom comes the responsibility of knowing one must choose wisely. Kundera applies this philosophy to his characters in â€Å"The Unbearable Lightness of Being†. He shows us how the four lovers choices affect their lives. Will the characters choose lightness or weight? After seven years of living with the ‘heaviness† of Tereza, Tomas thinks he will enjoy â€Å"the sweet lightness of being† (Kundera P 30) when she leaves him. However, he soon realizes that the lightness of her absence is swiftly replaced by the heaviness of her absence. Franz on the other hand leaves his wife for Sabina, but when Sabina rejects him and his wife will not take him back Franz finds that he enjoys the lightness of his life. Tomas wished to be free but found it was not what he wanted at all. Franz who wished to be tied reveled in his freedom. â€Å"At last he ceased to be a little boy; for the first time in his life he was on his own.† (Kundera p120) Sabina did not want to be Mari-Claude. She did not want to share a marriage bed with Franz, but when she left him her lightness was not joy, it was emptiness. â€Å" What fell to her lot was not the burden [heaviness] but the unbearable lightness of being.† (Kundera P 122) When Tereza has sex with the engineer she thought it would help her understand how Tomas could sleep with many women in lightness without the burden of love. Tereza thinks, â€Å"How she [Tereza] wished she could learn lightness!†(Kundera P143) Instead she thought if the engineer â€Å"addressed her soul† she would have fallen in love with him at that instant.