Act of kindness Essay

An Act of Kindness that I did for someone would be for my parents. What I did as kindness would be that I help my mom do chores at home without them telling me to help. I will see that they where always working hard and they will come home preatty late. So I kind of took care of home and my two brothers. and sometimes my dad too when he felt really bad, what I mean by bad would be that he had lukimia cancer. My mother work as a babysitter she will go to work mostly of the time at 6am and come back at 10pm and on weekends she would clean houses so she never had time to do chores at home or make dinner. My father worked in construction he was a hard worker too he will go to work a little later than my mom and come home earlier than her too. he was the one the took us to school when he could. Or one of my aunts would take us to school when he couldn’t. My dad also was battleing lukimia cancer for 10 years, he past away at age 41 september-29-2009. The Act Of Kindness that i did would be, first of all I would make breakfast for my brothers and dad so they could eat and so my dad can take his medication so ill help around with breakfast sometimes I will wake up later because i was tired I had to go to school and I was also young mother.By age 14 I had a baby too. And well my mom we didn’t really see in breackfast time because she would wake up eairlier she would even eat breackfast in the mornings. Sencondly I will come from school start cleaning the house wash dishes wash clothes clean the bathroom, and fix all the rooms my parents and brothers room vacume and mop . and if there was clothes to fold ill fold and put it away too. Then finally make dinner. so by the time by dad got home from work there will be dinner my dad would go to work sometimes right after he got out of his kimotheraphy he will go to work when he wasn’t soppost to. I will help my mom do all these chores because she worked alot barely had time to do it and ill see that she will come home tired. Act of Kindness Essay Today i will be telling you about one of my act of kindness, but before i do that i will be giving you hints as to what your about to read. It happen at a store that was one city over from me and was one of the best places to be be around because of the places near it. I was really young and it happen in the toy aisle because when your little and a boy it’s your favorite place. There was a young boy who was crying out for his mom. I was a worried alot when i was little and so i had my older sister help me look for the kids mother so he could smile. Those are my hints to what your about to read in my essay about my act of kindness. My act of kindness takes place at Kmart in Simi Valley, Califronia. I lived one city over from Simi and it was the only major shopping store close to us that was like a Walmart. I loved going to Kmart with my mom and sister because i would most likey get a toy for going with them. Once before when i went to Kmart with my mom i got lost from her and i t was the scariest thing a young boy can feel being lost from his mother. When i got lost there was someone there to help me get back to my mom, so i always felt that i should help someone else who was lost from someone they love. MY act of kindness happened in Kmart but to be more precise it happened in the toy aisle in Kmart. When your a young boy the toy aisle is like a candy shop and every toy is like a different flavor. I was six years old with my mom and sister and i would always go to the toys to look and see what i wanted for chrismas because chrismas was like a month and a half away. I saw a little boy in the toy aisle with me he had his hands on his face and i didnt know what he was doing. The little boy was three years old and his hands were over his face because he was crying and i did’nt know why he was crying i was thinking it was for a toy and he mom wouldnt let him get it. Then i hear him starting to cry mama mama where are you mama. I started to worry for the three year old boy even though i was only six years old i worried and to this day i still worry about stuff. When i went up to my mom i told her i think that boy is lost from his mom. I got to the point where i didnt want him to be sad anymore because i knew when i got lost from my mom someone helped me. I ask my sister if she would help me with looking from his mom, my sister was 12 so she was older than me and could do alot more than i could. We started to look around the toy aisle because that where the three year old boy was so we thought his mother would be close by. Then we started to look other places we went to the food  aisle and the young kids clothing aisle. We looked everywhere we were thinking his mom left Kmart and left her son in the toy aisle. We went to the cash register have an employee page that a little boy lost his mom, but right when we got there we heard the mom yell the three year old boy’s name and he yelled mommy and she thanked us for helping her son look for his mom and i was happy knowing he got back with his mom. That is one of my act of kindness but to me this is one of the biggest act of kindness i have done because i was six when i did this act of kindness. To some people it might not seem like a big act of kindness but even the littlest acts of kindness can help someone in the long run. So if i could say that someones act of kindness to me made me in turn help someone else. I hope what you get from this story is that you can help someone no matter the age or the place. These are my words of wisdom for someone who was helped and who in return helped someone else.

Pride and Prejudice †The storyline Essay

Using Information from the storyline, write a Chapter for the book which should include feelings about the occurrences after Elizabeth Recieves her letter off Mr Darcy. You may create your own scenario. Elizabeth Bennet’s head pounded with anger and dismay, as she hastily stepped out of the towering marble framed doors that belonged to Pemberley Court. She stepped into the forgiving downpour of a bleak winter’s day, and let the cool rain refresh her in a way that she had been longing for all day. A relief that a stuffy courtroom full of people couldn’t give. Too add to that, the day’s proceedings hadn’t gone exactly the way she had planned, and that fact had considerably played on her nerves. She just couldn’t condone the fact that a man, who could execute such evil acts and hurt so many people without a glimmer of regret, could be let free into the world, without any type of restraint or punishment. As it is imaginable, the day’s pressures had not only put a strain on her mind, but also on her elegant posture. Her face was a frustrated scarlet colour, but that was being eased by the iced droplets of rain that were running down it, turning it into more of a pink winter glow than a face full of anger. Her renewed glow resembled her now slightly more calmed nerves as she basked in the calming chill of the afternoon rain, no longer dwelling on the pains in her life. No longer worrying about Mr Darcy’s marriage proposal. No longer worrying about every triviality in her life. Just her and the rain. Then Elizabeth felt a warm hand on her shoulder. The protective wall of imaginary glass between her and the rest of the world was shattered in an instant and all the worries of her life came flooding back into her head. She took a deep breath as the real world came back into view. The realities of life back to haunt her. She turned round and was stunned into paralysis by the sight before her eyes. â€Å"Good day to you Miss Elizabeth. Don’t you just love a successful morning?† grinned Mr Darcy. How had she not heard him coming? Surely she should have heard the clatter of footsteps and the crash of the closing marble doors. She was both angry and embarrassed at the fact that he had seen her drenched in rainwater and that he had generally sneaked up on her.] â€Å"Mr Darcy†¦Ã¢â‚¬  she acknowledged. â€Å"If you may permit me to speak so boldly. What are you doing out here?† Darcy was merely silent and handed her a letter which was written on a yellow parchment and in the most beautiful italic writing she had ever seen. She looked at him confused. He then walked off. Without any more witty comments. Without any more sarcastic looks. Elizabeth got up, letter in hand, and advanced towards somewhere where the prying eyes of the raindrops couldn’t see or destroy her secret letter. It was sealed with a seal of red wax, obviously from the candle in the Courts waiting room. She chuckled and then broke the seal, then opening the crisp yellow paper. The letter read My dear Elizabeth, Though I know not of any feelings on your behalf towards me, I would like to express mine towards yourself. I apologise if this letter will in any way offend you, but i feel that it is necessary for you to know how I feel. From the first moment I met you, I looked into your eyes, and experienced such a surge of love which I had experienced none other like in my life. I covered up my feelings for you with a complete denial of anything I felt and I feel that at this time, I managed to sincerely offend both you and your family. I apologise for my actions in speaking so poorly of you and your, sorry to say, poor relations. I was afraid of falling ion love with someone who wouldn’t boost my position in the business world and for that I am sincerely sorry, for I now realise that true love is a thing which is only experienced on very rare occasions in one’s life. Elizabeth Bennet. I love you more than words can say. If love could be measured in numbers, my love for you would add up to a higher number than there are stars in the sky. In the Milky Way. In the galaxies that surround that and those around them. I can’t deny that I don’t regret anything that I said in court or the turnout of the case, but I plead to you that if you can find it in your heart to forgive me for my sins and unforgivable actions, and love me as I love you, then I pray you would accept my hand in marriage and make me the happiest man alive. Please find a ring behind the flowerpot on the left hand side of the door. If you feel my proposal unfit, then you may do as you wish with the ring which is 2 carats of diamond. If you feel the same way about me that I feel about you though, please meet me in the breakfast room at 5pm sharp. Yours, Fitzwilliam Darcy Elizabeth Folded the letter up, out it in her pocket and then sat down with a thump on a cold stone bench, her heart pounding with both delight and disgust. Life always threw either stones or sweets at her. Normally she wouldn’t get to choose which one she got. This time however, she could. She could chew on the huge sweet or the large lump of coal. Her decision. No one else’s.

Arnold Friend Essay

One of the big mysteries In Joyce Carol Oates’s â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?,† Is Arnold Friend the devil or not. Arnold Friend portrays the devil in many ways. In the story, Arnold friend is the devil, he went to Connie’s house and tries to get her to go for a ride with him and his friend Elli Oscar so, he can rape and kill her. Arnold Friend is none other than the devil himself, which shows in his appearance, his speech, his actions and supernatural psychic powers. Arnold Friend’s appearance is the main reason people think he is the devil. His hair is not natural looking â€Å"He placed his sunglasses on top of his head, carefully, as if he were indeed wearing a wig†. His hair is shabby and all over his head like he is wearing a wig to hide his devil horns. Arnold Friend’s eyes are another thing that is devilish. Arnold Friend’s eyes are very weird looking â€Å"He took off the sunglasses and she saw how pale the skin around his eyes was, like holes that were not in shadow but instead in light. His eyes were chips of broken glass that catch the light in an amiable way† Arnold Friend’s eyes look very weird as if he was some sort of demonic being. Arnold Friends other devilish characteristics include his nose and neck. Arnold Friend’s nose does not seem to be natural â€Å"The nose long and hawked-like, sniffing as if she were a treat† . Arnold Friend’s nose is not human like which means it must be the nose of the devil himself. Arnold friend’s neck is so different form a human neck â€Å"Even his neck looked muscular†. Arnold Friend’s neck seems to be the neck of a muscular animal which is a devilish characteristic which makes Arnold Friend the devil. In conclusion Arnold Fiend represented the devil because he was nothing, but trouble. His first words to Connie were â€Å"I’m Gonna get you, baby.† That can also represent Connie’s sexual desires because she continued to converse with him and seemed interested for the most part. He was there purely for sex and Connie was hesitating, but couldn’t resist his manipulation. You could also tell he was demonic because he knew a lot about her and walked in a really creepy way. He was evi l because he threatened to hurt Connie’s family which caused her to get inside the car. Arnold Friend also knew things about Connie that only she could  have known. He knows a lot of information about Connie, and he tells Connie what her family is doing at that same moment like some sort of psychic demon.

Solve the questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Solve the questions - Assignment Example 2) The user is a critical part of phishing prevention. What are two elements that might give away an attempt to pose as a financial site? One of the two elements is when a user does not use the â€Å"HTTPS† in the URL. This means that the website is not secured. Another way that the website may deemed as fake is when the URL changes. Many phishing scammers attempt to conduct this attack by pasting their customized URL, which may have different ending such as .net. In order to take a preventive action against this type of attack, it is crucial to write the URL on the menu bar as it removes any discrepancy. Another element that it very vital is that the URL might ask for you to upgrade the software. However, this is a deception itself as it tries to run a .exe file. In any notification of running a .exe, this might be a clear example of a fake website. 3) A browser can warn a user of a homeograph attack with a visual cue. Give an example describing a method that still allows the user to browse to a Chinese or Arabic site. Well, this case may be different. Arabic website utilizes right to left text so it may be clear that it’s a homographic attack. However, taking a case of Spanish website versus an American website, the discrepancy is harder to resolve. 4) Based on the reading in the book an attacker (most of the time) must learn about the database in order to attack with SQL injection. How can information be gathered without insider knowledge? SQL injection is a technique that exploits a security vulnerability occurring in the database layer of an application. SQL although is a very useful language, can be very vulnerable against security. By conducting ad hoc queries, such as using a wildcard(*) symbol, hackers can obtain vital SSN or credit card numbers. Even if they acquire certain information, they have programs that can execute queries to utilize many permutations of a function to acquire the right combination of information. 5) Why isnâ€℠¢t input validation always done if it can mitigate the #1 cyber attack vector? Whose â€Å"job† is it? The problem with input validation is the fact that it can be utilized to conduct cyber attacks. Input validation are result of bad programming errors To execute a buffer overflow attack, you merely dump as much data as possible into an input field. The attack is said to be successful when it returns an application error. Cross-site scripting attacks place malicious code, usually JavaScript, in locations where other users see it. Target fields in forms can be addresses, bulletin board comments, etc. 1) Why is DNS considered one of the â€Å"pillar† application layer protocols? DNS is a pillar because all applications depend on DNS to provide authenticated binding between a name and the IP address. DNS also binds a name to unauthenticated IP addresss. Without DNS, SSL and TLS are not established and address authentication services verify the security sessions after the DNS connection. Without DNS< the foundation of networking is not solidified. 2) Briefly describe the process for a DNS query. The first step in a DNS query process is that it requests information. Once the process has begun, the computers searches the local DNS cache to look for the address. If the address is not found, it performs a DNS query. Secondly, it asks the recursive DNS servers to contact ISP’s recursive DNS servers. Since Recursive servers have their own caches, and the information is

Critically assess the impact of Taylor and Ford on organizations today Essay - 1

Critically assess the impact of Taylor and Ford on organizations today - Essay Example Today every organization works towards task maximization. The theory behind Taylor’s works grew to maturity from his times although the notion is sometimes misused. Impact of Taylor and Ford in My View Concerning Their Legacy According to Kolb (107, 2008), Taylor observed that the level of motivation between workers differs from one worker to the next, the only difference that comes in, presents itself in unmotivated cases. He experimented and found out, that when workers carryout recurring tasks they tend to work slowly. Managers call it, malingering, tailor calls it, soldiering; while workers call it, avoiding over work from the managers. Workers demand payment according to the work they do to the organization, otherwise they all tend, even the most talented, perform the amount of work attended to by the slowest employees. This proves that workers appear concern with their interest and demand recognition of work performed from their employers. An employee will never give the job their best shot if they feel; that the benefits appear way below their efforts. Taylor feeling about work practice in various work environments shows that; the designs make the practice unproductive in its deliveries (Kolb, 107, 2008). Taylor felt that more is yet to unveil to improve on task performance. Time and movement studies, coupled with rational analysis, will prove him right in the future. Taylor significantly noted that employees output linked to the rate of compensation boosts the morale of employees. This way employee maximizes on production levels. Taylor’s compensation plans involved piece rates. Taylor disputes the notion that appeared and is still common concerning, that craft men belong to the craft world and can only carryout craft duties (Darity, 213, 2008). According to Price (244, 2007), Taylors studied the different types of manual labor, in times where the technology today had not developed. He realized that workers working in areas such as materia l handling tool, shoveling applied in off loading of railroad cars, lifting and moving involving iron pigs at the steel mill, the physical supervision of bearing balls amongst other; appeared as overwork for employees involved. He noted several practices that appeared unreasonable to the employers. He proposed that employees require breaks in between their jobs; this helps employees regain their lost energies, both physically and mentally. Employee’s tuition on taking increased levels of breaks absurdly raised the production level. The impact has both effects, but to a significant effect is the positive effect Dobbin, & Boychuk (344, 2009) asserts that; employees welfare had to be undertaken, hence the need for administration. The main challenge that administration faces most of the time involves getting the right person for the job. There exists various personalities in the society, those that can handle unprofessional jobs and maintain their comfort, referred to as stupid l ot, and those that cannot stand such jobs without noticing that the job is unchallenging and monotonous, the intelligent lot. This proves that individuals performing pig iron is not witty enough to realize the exact science involved in the level of work he/ she performs. The link to mechanization, automation and off shoring Scientific management developed in times when mechanization and automation were seen as embryonic. The ideas behind the above notion appeared that; the dreams and

Public law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Public law - Essay Example His past record has shown his tendencies towards committing suicide due to the above mentioned mental state. Community Support & attitude: Mr. Imran has received no support from his community and was in constant danger within Iran (his native country) and within the UK (where he is currently residing). Recently Mr. Imran has been asked to leave his accommodation. Background of Mr. Imran: Mr. Imran had been accused of promoting gay rights in Iran, which has led to his departure from Iran to the UK. Capital punishment for the offence in Iran is the death sentence. Mr. Imran’s house was subject to a raid by the Iranian Authorities in the year 2009, which became the reason for his fleeing to the UK. Statements of Facts: Mr. Imran had to flee from Iran as he was in fear of his life. Promoting gay rights within the UK is not considered offense. Mr. Imran does not have any past criminal record. The client has been mentally disturbed due to the nature of events. He has in 2010, attemp ted to commit suicide when his partner was caught in Iraq. He is currently seeking help from Government of the UK, in the form of Asylum. Constant threat looms around Mr. Imran’s life within Iran, not only from Iranian Authorities, but also the Iranian society. As Islamic law prohibits promoting gay rights, and any individual found guilty would be given death sentence. People also consider such person as outcasts and have aggressive attitude towards such person. Issues to be Addressed – For Consideration of His Asylum Application in the UK: 1. Is the applicant any threat to the Government or to the people of the UK? 2. Could the applicant live a tolerable life, if he is made to return to Iran? 3. Had the applicant openly disclosed his sexuality, what would have transpired? 4. Presence of evidence suggesting that the applicant is sexually gay? 5. Was the applicant concealing his sexuality because of the social pressure or was he concealing it to avoid prosecution? Brief Summary of Replies for the Above Questions- Clients Perspective: Since the applicant is himself a victim and does not hold any criminal record, he does not pose any threat to the UK Government and its people. He can provide facts about his relation with his partner and can also take assistance from previous affiliations, if he had any with the gay community or social working groups. He can easily provide evidence of ill treatment from the Authorities and communities towards gays in Iran, by providing cases of people who had been already acquitted with such charges. It is almost impossible for him to return to Iran and keep his sexuality discreet and live a normal life. Summary of Relevant Statuary Provisions According to the law’s of United Kingdom, a person will only be granted asylum if he is in the UK. He is a person who is either a refugee or an individual who required International protection. The individual in any ground is a threat to security, or he has not been conv icted for any serious crime, or does not present any threats or dangers to the society of the United Kingdom. Any individual’s application in such matter, if denied and the individual due to denial has to leave to a country where that individual is threatened for his life falls within breach of Geneva Convention. In the United Kingdom, grave harm comprises of the capital punishments like execution, torturing, unlawful killing, harsh treatment, which disgraces or, degrades an individual. Any threats which can

Equity theory PowerPoint Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Equity theory - PowerPoint Presentation Example The most straightforward approach to see the equity at work, and presumably the most well-known way it does sway representatives, is when partners contrast the work they do with another person that gets paid more than them. Equity is at play at whatever time representatives say things like, John gets paid a great deal more than me, yet doesnt do as much work, or I get paid a considerable measure not exactly Jane, yet this spot couldnt work without me! In each of those circumstances, somebody is contrasting their particular push to-pay degree to another persons and is losing inspiration simultaneously Chuck 2000). The privilege to remunerate or expenses attributed to every data differ relying upon the social setting. In mechanical settings, resources, for example, capital and physical work are seen as "pertinent inputs" – inputs that genuinely qualifies the patron for prizes. In social settings, resources, for example, physical magnificence and consideration are for the most part seen as resources qualifying the holder for social prizes. Singular characteristics, for example, ill-manners and mercilessness are seen as liabilities qualifying the owner for expenses. Inputs commonly incorporate any of the

Hollywood Melodrama Textual Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Hollywood Melodrama Textual Analysis - Essay Example Brick’s character is enigmatic and every movement, gesture or line that comes from him may give a clue as to what is making him â€Å"passive-aggressive†. He holds the audience desperate to understand him. Brick is a former athlete who tried to relive his glory days one time, when at three o’ clock in the morning, he tried to jump hurdles imagining a wild crowd cheering him on. Being drunk, he lost his balance and injured his ankle rendering him disabled. â€Å"The image of masculinity is a dominant one in sports, and it is one that privileges men who do not show feelings of vulnerability and where the only emotion valued is one of toughness and competitiveness† (Trujillo, 1991). Stereotypically, from his â€Å"masculine† athletic background, this injury is assumed to affect Brick’s masculinity. Going against stereotype, quadriplegic men in wheelchairs participate in a sport called â€Å"Quad Rugby† or â€Å"Murderball†, borrowing rules from able-bodied rugby, basketball and hockey. Its players also proudly display their masculinity as well, claiming that they play rough and tumble, and ready to take a spill for a loose ball (Buchanan, 2002; Gitonio, 2002).  That is a far cry from the attitude presented by Brick. Brick’s injury, â€Å"a wound in his otherwise intact masculinity, is also a figure for his castration, the unmanning implied in homosexual desire.† (http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/cat) The term ‘impaired masculinity’ describes Brick at the outset with his good ol’ reliable crutch by his side. The crutch, it itself represents disability. It limits Brick’s movements and capacity to do the things he used to before his accident. Being cold and indifferent to the advances of his wife is a defence mechanism that covers up his utter shame of his physical limits. That includes his physical marital obligations. The audience is led to think that turning away from his wife at her

Primate evolution Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Primate evolution - Assignment Example The shortening of arms also occurs and its significance is to make running smooth because balance is maintained (Gebo and Severson 11). Cranial development is a notable anatomical occurrence. The size and capacity of the brain vary across the various evolutionary groups. Primates developed a larger cranial capacity as compared to their immediate predecessors. For instance, Homo habilis had an approximate cranial capacity of 600 cubic centimeters while Homo erectus had a brain capacity that ranged between 800 and 1100 cubic centimeters. The increase in the brain capacity was a continuous process throughout the evolution stages. The toes and fingers of the early primates were sensitive. The earliest forms had nails with a claw-like modification making hunting achievable. The nails also served as protective gear against external aggression. The forelimbs and the hind limbs had an opposable finger and an opposable toe respectively. The opposable finger makes it easy to grasp objects and food. Since some primates navigated trees, the opposable fingers and toes made the grasping of tree branches easy thus enabling movement along trees. The early forms of man had an optically based anatomy characterized by forward facing eyes. Among human beings, the eyes face the sides of the skull. The forward facing eyes gave the primates a three-dimensional view of their environment. The vision is stereoscopic. Therefore, the primates had a larger field of vision overlapping before their

Starbucks Marketing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Starbucks Marketing - Research Paper Example In 1992, there was no focus on advertising and Labor force but with the growth of retail outlets, the company was still reluctant in increasing the Labor force, which is the company's major expense. Starbucks didn't spend any money on advertising. So, during the early 1990s, the company had no promotion. The only promotion made was through opening many retail outlets and boosting the sales promotion. 2. Starbucks has picked up an additional target segment of customers by 2002. Who were these customers What is Starbucks' position for this new segment relative to its position for its earlier customers What are the implications of this new target and position for Starbucks' marketing mix Starbucks positioning changed with the expansion in the target market. Starbucks established itself as a dominant specialty-coffee brand and its objective was "To become the most recognized and respected brand in the world." This was achieved through: Starbucks introduced a wide range of product variety including whole bean coffees, rich brewed coffees, Italian style espresso drinks, cold-blended beverages, premium teas, pastries, sodas, juices, sandwiches and salads. The product mix varied depending on a store's location and size. The biggest driver of company's growth was product innovation. New products were launched regularly and a new hot beverage was introduced during every holiday season. Brand name was establi... Starbucks introduced a wide range of product variety including whole bean coffees, rich brewed coffees, Italian style espresso drinks, cold-blended beverages, premium teas, pastries, sodas, juices, sandwiches and salads. The product mix varied depending on a store's location and size. The biggest driver of company's growth was product innovation. New products were launched regularly and a new hot beverage was introduced during every holiday season. Brand name was established and this again contributed to the position of the company. Starbucks had the Size advantage over its competitors and its goal was opening 15000 stores world wide. Service was the distinguishing factor and the employees were trained and empowered to provide good quality service, which was evaluated on service, Cleanliness, Product quality and speed of service criteria. Service innovations along with technology functionalities like T-Mobile HotSpot wireless internet service was an added advantage. Price Discounts were given at stores. Spilt drinks were replaced without any additional charge. Regular customers were given sample free drinks if they didn't have cash and provide cheque. Starbucks established itself as a premium-priced player in the market but service overwhelmed price in this aspect.Place Channels were used very effectively and Starbucks opened licensed stores world wide. Nearly 77% of the sales came from these stores. Starbucks also sold its products through non-company operated retail chains called Specialty Operations which accounted to about 15% of net revenues. Starbucks operated domestic and international licensed stores. Starbucks also had a joint venture with Pepsi-Cola to distribute bottled beverages. Starbucks had plans to open 15000 international locations. This will

Bach bazi in Afghanistan Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Bach bazi in Afghanistan - Movie Review Example Without any prior history of the man, the family to the young boy accepts him to go (Bacha Bazi). It is believed that the tradition started long time from Pakistani when the Afghanistan had been invaded by the superpower then, Russia. Because of boredom, the tradition for men dancing for men began (Bacha Bazi). In continuing with the documentary, it is evident that those who indulge in Bacha Bazi are young and old rich and powerful men. Some of these men live a double life and may have wives and children to hide their other side (Bacha Bazi). Furthermore, it is evident that Bacha Bazi involves a boys party, a place where these young recruited boys would go and dance for the rich. After the event, it was upon the rich to decide what they did to the young men (Bacha Bazi). Most of the time, they would end up sodomizing them. The young men would be lured into the business due to financial gain and promises of happy life just like the rich, only to discover later that they were to pleasure them to get the money. It is a very sad scene when underage boys between 10 to 18 years get recruited for this business. Basically, a person is always sent to the villages in search of beautiful boys from the families who are in need of the money (Bacha Bazi). The boys are then taken and go to live with one of the organizers of Bacha Bazi. In the company of the Bacha Bazi organizers, the boys are expected to know how to dance and sing within their first year of recruitment. They would learn this arts from previous boys who had been recruited and had been in the business for some time (Bacha Bazi). The boys would be provided everything in the courtyard of the rich, but in return, are expected to be ready to pleasure rich men during parties. As the documentary continues, it is evident what really conspires in search parties as one of the Bacha Bazi men reveals what had happened in another party (Bacha Bazi).

Process control Essay Example for Free

Process control Essay Process control is a major factor in ensuring that a process is working to its maximum potential. Sometimes process control means that one must conduct research to see how a process improvement can be implemented. Process improvement normally results in adjusting and modifying particular tasks or steps in a process to make them run more efficiently and smoothly. According to Chase, Jacobs, and Aquilliano, it is very important to put metrics in place so that you can determine if improvements are needed for a particular process (Chase, Jacobs, and Aquilliano, 2006). Over the last five weeks, I have observed the task of getting ready for work. After collecting data for analysis, I have enough information to develop a process improvement plan. In this paper, the control limits will be reviewed and any applicable seasonal factors that could impact the historical data will be discussed. Control Limits In an article in the Journal of Science and Technology, a control chart is described as â€Å"a statistical devise used for the study and control of a repetitive process† (Radhakrishnan and Balamurugan, 2010, p 1052). The control chart is a tool used with 6 sigma to look at ways to improve the performance of a particular process. They basically let management know when they should adjust a process or when we should leave it alone. It has upper specification limits (USL) that are used to identify the maximum amount of that could give acceptable performance. Also there is the lower specification limit (LSL), which identifies the lowest amount that could give acceptable performance of the process. The USL and LSL are also known as the control limits that are either 3 deviations above the mean or 3 deviations below it (Chase, Jacobs, and Aquilliano, 2006). In developing a control chart for the process for getting ready for work, one must first look at the sampling plan. For weeks, data has been collected during business days to indicate how long it takes to get ready for work. This data is reviewed to find the mean, median, standard deviation, and mode. The results are as follows: mean is 74. 70588, median is 74, mode is 71, and standard deviation is 3. 981792. This information tells us that the average time it takes to get ready is 74 minutes, whereas the time occurring the most is 71 minutes. The standard deviation in this indicates that we can go either 3. 98 to the right or left of the zero probability distribution. The chapter readings advise that in looking at the control chart, one can assume that the process is working properly when the samples stay within the control limits (Chase, Jacobs, and Aquilliano, 2006). The next indicator to look at is the capability index, which in this case shows us how well we are doing in getting ready for work in a timely manner. The readings indicates that the more off-center the capability index, the higher the chance to of defective products. Because we are not discussing products in this process, it would be the greater the chance to get off schedule (Chase, Jacobs, and Aquilliano, 2006). The data indicates that there is a capability index of -8. 6. According to Landauer, the capability index is interpreted as: â€Å"1) if the capability index is less than one, the process is outside the control limits 2) if it is greater than one; the process is within the control limits. The results from my data at first was a little puzzling because the index of -8. 6 would indicate that the process is outside of the control limit and would need to be adjusted. However, because the process improvement plan is to decrease the time it takes to get ready for work, the negative number is a good factor. In having this information handy, one must also consider how seasonal factors impact the process. Seasonal Factors It is a little difficult to determine seasonal factors that could impact the time it takes to get ready for work. After thinking about this a while I think the biggest impact could be daylight saving time. When an hour of sleep is lost in the Spring, it takes a while to adjust to the change in the daylight saving time. In fact, research indicates that when one transitions into and out of daylight saving time, there could be negative impacts (Lahti, Leppamaki, Lonnqvist, and Partonen, 2008). These impacts could result in a loss of sleep, restlessness, and lack of sleep quality which could result in crankiness and negatively impact a two year old. If my son does not wake with a positive attitude, I know it will be a challenge getting ready for work on time as I would need to devote more time calming him down. During the seasonal periods, it may be better to implement process improvements like adding a resource to assist with the process. In my process this would mean getting my husband to help out more in getting the baby ready for daycare. With the added resource, one can shorten the time that it takes to complete the process and does not run the risk of deviating off course. Applying this same format to a production process could mean adding more employees, equipment, or even outsourcing to ensure that a project or process is completed timely. Conclusion Overall, control charts are visual measures that assist with determining if a process is in control or not. When backed by statistical data like the mean, median, mode, standard deviation, and capability index, one could gather enough data so that a process improvement decisions necessary for keeping the process in control can be made.

Islamic Equity Investment Risk and Return Behaviour

Islamic Equity Investment Risk and Return Behaviour Islamic equity investments deal with the application of Shariah in stock selection in fund management. Islamic equity investment is a new and emerging concept in fund management and posed a slow growth compared with a fast paced growth in Islamic fixed income Sukuk markets and Islamic banking in the current decade. However Islamic equity investments contain a significant potential to generate above average risk adjusted returns than conventional equity investment as discussed in this paper. The thesis argues about the risk returns behavior of Islamic equity investments by analyzing the risk return behavior of Karachi Meezan Index, an Islamic index traded at Karachi stock exchange, over the period of two and a half years. Karachi Stock Exchange 100 index and Karachi Stock Exchange 30 index was used as benchmarks to find out if there are any significant differences in the returns volatility of KMI30 and KSE 100. The complete period was also divided into bull and flat periods and eac h period is analyzed to further augment the research. Our findings provide strong evidence to reject the notion that Shariah Compliant investment perform poorly than conventional equity investments. In fact our finding supported the assumption that Shariah Compliant Equity Investments can deliver better returns than conventional investments given the same level of risk. Chapter 1 Introduction In the past few years there has been remarkable growth in the field of Islamic finance. New products are being developed on a consistent basis in capital markets which comply with the Shariah. The main distinguishing feature of Shariah Compliant Stocks is their low risk characteristics which has induced many risk averse investors into investment in Shariah complaint stocks and equity funds. According to Ernst Young’s 2010 Islamic funds investment report, currently there are approximately $52 billion fund assets under management in the Islamic fund industry which is still a small proportion of the total assets under global fund management which are worth $22 Trillion in 2010. Total Shariah compliant assets now exceed $1 trillion worldwide because of the fast faced growth in Islamic finance during the current decade. Currently Islamic funds only constitute about 5.5% of total Islamic finance investments which signifies the potential of growth in this industry in coming years. From July 2007 to Nov 2009, MSCI World Islamic Index outperformed the MSCI World Index Standard Core in terms of variability of returns which shows that Shariah complaint stocks generate more returns in high volatility period compare to conventional stocks. In an Islamic equity fund, the amounts are invested in the shares of Shariah complaint stock companies. The profits are mainly achieved through the capital gains by purchasing the shares and selling them when their prices are increased. Profits are also achieved by the dividends distributed by the relevant companies. It is obvious that if the main business of a company is not lawful in terms of Shariah, it is not allowed for an Islamic Fund to purchase, hold or sell its shares, because it will entail the direct involvement of the shareholder in that prohibited business. In September 2008, Karachi Stock Exchange with the collaboration of Meezan Bank launched a new index called Karachi Meezan Index comprising of 30 companies. The distinguishing characteristic of this index is its Islamic nature in which selected companies will be fully Shariah-complaint. Companies will be selected in the index based on their liquidity in the stock market along with compliance with Shariah principles. These Shariah principles are formulated by the Shariah advisory council of Meezan bank which comprises distinguishing Islamic scholars. The objective of KSE-Meezan Index (KMI) is to serve as a gauge for measuring the performance of Shariah compliant equity investments. It may also act as a research tool for decisions in strategic asset allocation according to Shariah besides tracking performance of Shariah compliant equities; its construction will increase investor trust and enhance their participation. Stock Screening Requirements for KMI-30 Index Shariah compliance of stocks shall be done under the guidance of qualified and reputed Shariah experts. For stocks to be Shariah compliant, it must meet ALL the six key tests given below. Business of the Investee Company: Core business of the company must be HALAL and in-line with the dictates of Shariah. Hence, investment in securities of any company dealing in conventional banking, conventional insurance, alcoholic drinks, tobacco, pork production, arms manufacturing, pornography or related un-Islamic activities is not permissible. Debt to Total Assets: Debt to Asset ratio should be less than 40%. Debt, in this case, is classified as any interest bearing debts. Zero coupon bonds and preference shares are, both, by definition, part of debt. Non-compliant Investments to Total Assets: The ratio of non-compliant investments to total assets should be less than 33%. Investment in any non-compliant security shall be included for the calculation of this ratio. Non-complaint Income to total revenue – Purification of Non-compliant: income the ratio of non-compliant income to total revenue should be less than 5%. Total revenue includes Gross revenue plus any other income earned by the company. This amount is to be cleansed out as charity on a pro rata ratio of dividends issued by the company. Illiquid Assets to Total Assets: The ratio of illiquid assets to total assets should be at least 20%. Illiquid asset, here, is defined as any asset that that Shariah permits to be traded at value other than the par. Net Liquid Assets to Share Price: The market price per share should be greater than the net liquid assets per share calculated as: (Total Assets – Illiquid Assets – Total Liabilities) divided by number of shares. *Courtesy of Karachi Meezan Index Brochure retrieved from Karachi Stock Exchange Website Rationale of the Study Islamic equity investment funds pose immense growth potential in the future mainly on account of the following reasons: It attracts risk averse investors who previously ignore equity investments because of Islamic Equity’s low risk characteristics It attracts new Muslim investors who previously were wary of investing in stock markets because of non-Shariah compliance Therefore a study needs to be conducted which examines the risk return behavior of Shariah complaint stocks so that investors and general people will have a better idea about the risks profits which are inherent in Shariah complaint shares. Research Questions The study will help in answering the questions such as: Is there a difference in returns of KMI30 and KSE 100 indices? Is there a difference in the volatility of KMI30 and KSE 100 indices? Is KMI30 index giving more or less risk adjusted returns compared to KSE 100 index? How much variation is explained by KSE 100 index in returns of KMI30 index? Limitations of the Study KMI30 index represents the risk return behavior of only 30 blue chip Shariah compliant stocks. In order to have a better comparison with the KSE 100 index, a portfolio consisting of all the stocks from KSE 100 which comply with Islamic screening principles should be constituted and the return volatility attributes of this portfolio should be compared with KSE 100 index because a difference in returns between both indices can be because of superior judgment in the selection of stocks in KMI30. Chapter 2 Literature Khan (1998) studied the modern practices in commodity, currency and corporate stock trading in the light of Islamic economic framework and stated that under Islamic principles, Mudarabah or Shirakah certificates can be traded in stock exchanges. However there is no concept of preferred equity in Islamic finance as it Riba which is forbidden under Islam. Khan stated that liability towards losses of the organization need to be met which may have accumulated over a period in order to sell or disinvest shares of that organization which implied that each shareholder has a liability for cumulative past losses as well as current losses in proportion to the capital invested. Khan (1998) proposed a model of stock valuation which incorporates the Islamic principles that intrinsic value of shares should provide the prospective investor a fair amount of information about past performance of organization. Iv = intrinsic value of shares Pv = par value of shares Ri = Profits, Reserves etc L = losses S = No. of Share Lewis (2010) examined the current and historic structure and performance of Islamic investment funds and found out that Islamic investments have grown quickly over the past few years and now there are approximately 650 Islamic funds operating globally. Lewis also discovered that in the past Islamic funds have focused more on negative forbidden screening principles instead of focusing on both the negative and positive screening methodologies like socially responsible funds that focus primarily more on investments in companies which play a part in human welfare. However these Socially Responsible Investments (SRI) funds performed slightly poor compared to Islamic funds because Islamic funds invested a significant portion in energy companies who enjoyed profitability because of rising oil prices, SRI funds do not invest large portions in fossil fuel energy companies primarily because of their futile side effects on environment. Nik Maheran and Masliza (2008) analyzed the performance of Islamic mutual funds at Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange to investigate if these funds underperform or over perform the market index using average return on mutual funds, standard deviation of weekly returns, coefficient of variation, Treynor and Sharpe index. They found out that most of the funds achieved a lower return than market from the period 2002 until 2006. However in terms of risk level Islamic mutual funds showed less risky behavior compared to the market since the betas of Islamic mutual funds was less than one. Rennebook, Horst and Zhang (2007) critically reviewed the available literature on socially responsible investments and concluded that a primary reason for low returns from socially responsible funds could be the multi-task nature of portfolio managers who pursue both financial and social objectives. They also found out that if investors avoid investments in unethical/asocial businesses, than they may require a low rate of return than other investors who do not show any similar type of preferences. Hussein (2007) analyzed the returns of FTSE Global Islamic index and Dow Jones Islamic Index from 1993 till 2004 and compared them with the returns of Dow jones world index and FTSE All world index. He found out that application of Shariah screening doesn’t adversely impact on Islamic indices performance as Islamic indices performed as well as their counterparts over the entire period. Hussein (2007) stated that Islamic indices yield statistically positive returns in bull market period though Islamic indices underperform the all world indices in the bear period and in the long run have a superior performance compared with counterparts in entire market period. Abdullah, Hassan and Mohammad (2007) compared the performance of Islamic and conventional mutual funds in Malaysian capital market with the help of Sharpe index, adjusted Sharpe index, Jensen Alpha, timing and selective ability and found out that Islamic funds are less risky than conventional funds and both Islamic and conventional funds have diversification levels which are less than 50 per cent of the diversification level of the market portfolio. They discovered that Islamic funds performed better than conventional funds during bearish periods while conventional funds performed better than Islamic during bullish periods and concluded that Islamic funds can be used as hedging tools. Hussein (2005) compared the performance of Dow Jones Islamic market index and FTSE Global Islamic index and benchmarked it against their counterparts, Dow Jones World index and FTSE Global Index respectively, using parametric t-statistic and non-parametric signed rank test. Monthly returns data had been used ranged from 1996 2004 and the periods had been divided into bull and bear return phases to make more meaningful conclusions from results. Hussein (2005) found out that Dow Jones Islamic Index outperformed its counterpart in the entire period (1996 – 2004) and bull period. The mean monthly return of Dow Jones World Index was higher than the DJ Islamic index over the entire bull period which indicated that the Islamic index has greater volatility in comparison with DJ world index. Contrary to this, Dow Jones Islamic index fails to maintain its better performance over the bear market phase where the DJ world index gives better returns. In case of FTSE indices, FTSE Global Is lamic index outperforms FTSE All world index in the entire and bull periods. However FTSE Islamic index underperforms FTSE world index over bear period. Hussein (2005) also found out that the beta of both Islamic indices is greater than one and higher than their counterparts which imply that both Islamic indices are riskier than their counterparts. Hence Hussein (2005) stated that the application of Shariah screening principles has no adverse effect on Islamic indices performance over the years and concluded that Shariah investing offer superior performance compared to unscreened portfolios. Albaity and Ahmad (2008) examined the performance of KLSI, A Shariah Compliant Index at Bursa Malaysia, and benchmarked it against KLCI which is a conventional stock market index at Bursa Malaysia using measures of risk adjusted returns and found out that KLCI is outperforming KLSI. Albaity and Ahmed (2008) also found out that KLCI has a higher beta as evident from conventional Non-Islamic indices and that in the short run both indices move in the same direction and tend to cause each other. Hence they concluded that there is no significant difference in the returns and movements of both indices. Hakim and Rashidian (2002) applied Islamic equity screening principles on Wilshire 5000 index and created a Shariah Compliant Portfolio and compared the return characteristics of the created Wilshire Islamic portfolio and Dow Jones Islamic market index portfolio with the parent Wilshire 5000 index and found out that the reduced diversification characteristic of newly created portfolio has not adversely affected its performance when compared with parent Wilshire 5000. Hakim and Rashidian (2002) examined the causality between the Islamic index, the Wilshire 5000 and the Tbill rate and found out that the Islamic index is influenced by factors independent from the broad market or interest rates which are contrary to the widely accepted notion that Dow Jones Islamic Index exhibits high correlation with broad market. They concluded that such correlation is temporary and false Sauer (1997) measured and analyzed the average monthly returns and variability, Jensen Alpha and Sharpe performance of the Domini 400 Social index portfolio and benchmarked it against the performance of two unrestricted portfolios (SP 500 and CRSP value weighted market indexes). Sauer (1997) discovered that the application of socially responsible strategy in stock selection does not impact the investment performance adversely. He concluded that the potential performance costs of implementing socially responsible criteria, as represented by the performance of Domini social index are negligible. Sauer (1997) also stated that the performance of Domini Social equity Mutual fund compares favorably to the performance of Vanguard SP 500 index. Bauer, Koedijik and Otten (2004) analyzed the performance of 103 German, UK and US ethical mutual funds and found no indication of substantial difference in return behavior between ethical and conventional mutual fund returns after controlling for factors like book to market and size. Bauer, Koedijik and Otten (2004) also concluded that ethical mutual funds are typically less exposed to market variability compared to conventional funds. Hamilton, Jo and Statman (1993) studied 32 socially responsible mutual funds and compared their returns with a portfolio of 177 conventional mutual funds. They found out that market do not price social responsibility characteristics so investors can expect to lose nothing by investing in socially responsible mutual funds; social responsibility factors have no effect on expected stock returns or companies’ cost of capital. Derigs and Marzban (2009) analyzed SP, DJIM, FTSE, MSCI and HSBC Shariah Complaint indices and stated that current Shariah compliant strategies result in much lower portfolio performance than portfolios without considering Shariah Compliance. They suggested that the return from Shariah complaint strategies can be increased by making Shariah compliance an attribute of portfolio constructed rather than measuring compliance on as asset level. Derigs and Marzban (2009) argued, Funds are investment vehicles, which are financially independent of the institutions that establish them. Therefore, a fund takes the form of an independent company, such as a limited liability company (Norman, 2004), in which investors act as shareholders. So they proposed that with respect to compliance a fund which itself invests in multiple companies has to be evaluated in the same way as a conventional independent company. Hassan and Antoniou (2006) examined the potential impact of Islamic screening restrictions on investment performance by comparing the performance characteristics of a diversified of Islamic screened stock indices with conventional benchmarks (Data stream Global Index) and the degree of correlation and volatility in price movements between both indices. Hassan and Antoniou (2006) concluded that the impact of stock screens is closely related to the performance of stock markets and further stated that any argument that Islamic equity investments are less profitable than conventional types of investments is questionable which is supported by relatively major differences between Sharpe and Treynor measures and significant positive Alpha over the positive returns period when the Dow Jones Islamic Market Index outperformed the Data stream Global Index. Chapter 3 Methodology This section emphasizes the research methodology and the type of data that has been used in this research. The research is quantitative in nature as statistical and financial models are being used to test the STOCK INDEX time series for volatility and return. The data which is going to be used in the research is secondary in nature and in the form of time series. Daily index values of Karachi Meezan Index (KMI-30), KSE-30 index and KSE-100 index from Karachi stock exchange are being used as secondary data from December 15, 2008 till March 11, 2011. Daily logarithmic returns of all indices are being calculated such that: Where is the raw return for index i for the time t, refers to the price of index i at time t, and is the price of index i at time t-1. A descriptive statistical analysis was performed on the calculated daily logarithmic returns using to calculate mean, standard deviation, standard error, median, variance, kurtosis, skewness, maximum and minimum values of all three indices for the whole period from December 15, 2008 to march 11, 2011. Also Geometric mean for all three indices was also calculated as it contains the effect of compounding. Coefficient of variation is calculated to measure the variation in each index given its return. A correlation matrix was being calculated using excel spreadsheet to find the degree of correlation between KMI-30, KSE-30 and KSE-100 indices. A linear regression analysis has been performed using the returns of KMI-30 index as dependent variable and returns from KSE-100 as the independent variable to estimate the coefficient of determination (R-Square) and beta of KMI-30. Another linear regression was performed using KSE-30 as the dependent variable and KSE-100 as the market independent v ariable to estimate the beta of KSE-30 and coefficient of determination. The regression equations were as follows: Where is the intercept, is the beta of the stock index, and are the returns on KMI30 and KSE30 indices respectively and is the return on KSE100 regarded as the return on the stock market. Risk ratios which are used in the analysis to compare the risk reward profile of KMI30 with KSE 30 and KSE 100 are Alpha, Beta, Standard Deviation, R-Squared, Sharpe Ratio and Treynor ratio. A paired t-test was performed to check the hypothesis of difference in means of KMI30 and KSE 100 index because nearly all of the stocks of KMI30 are part of KSE 100 hence dependent. Also F-test was performed to check the difference in variances of KMI30 and KSE 100 indices assuming that the returns from both indices are normally distributed. The whole period from December 15, 2008 to March 11, 2011 is than divided into two bull periods and one relatively flat period to find out the risk-return profile of KMI30 and KSE 100 in these periods. The first bull period is from January 15, 2009 till October 15, 2009 while the flat period is from October 15, 2009 till October 15, 2010. The second bull period is considered from October 15, 2010 to January 15, 2011. A descriptive analysis was again performed on these bull and flat periods along with similar paired t-tests, F-tests, linear regression and correlation matrices. Sharpe ratio, Treynor ratio, Jensen Alpha, Beta and S. Deviation were also calculated for these bull and flat periods. Chapter 4 Results Analysis Descriptive Statistical Analysis Descriptive analysis shows that KMI30 index showed very good daily mean returns of 0.1014% since Dec 15, 2008 till March 11, 2011. KMI30 index started in September 2008 and considering the mean returns, it is a very good performance by a stock exchange index especially when comparing with geometric mean of KSE 30 returns of 0.0227% and KSE 100 daily returns of 0.0451% in the same period. The standard deviation of KMI30 index daily returns was 1.5051% which is considerably less than its counterpart KSE 30 index however more than the S. Deviation of KSE 100 index as expected because of large diversification effects of stock returns in KSE 100. The coefficient of variation for KMI30 index is 15.97 compared to 33.36 for KSE 100 and 74.593 for KSE 30 which clearly indicates that KMI30 is less risky when compared to both other indices per unit of return. The excess kurtosis for KMI30 for the complete period is 2.58 compared to 2.13 for KSE 100 and 2.29 for KSE 30 which shows that all three indices are more peaked than normal distribution and are leptokurtic. All three indices are negatively skewed which shows that most of the returns are negative. As indicated by higher standard deviations of KSE 30 index, its maximum and minimum return are greater than KMI30 maximum and minimum returns. The maximum one day return for KMI30 during the whole period was 5.3% while the minimum return was -5.19%. From January 15, 2009 to October 15, 2009, KSE showed a bullish trend. The geometric mean of KMI30 index daily returns during this first bullish period was around 0.31% much higher than 0.24% of KSE 100 and 0.28% of KSE 30. However the standard deviation of KMI30 index is 1.93% less than 1.88% of KSE 100 and 2.35% for KSE 30. This shows that not only KMI30 beat KSE 100 and KSE 30 in returns but also remained less volatile over the bullish period when compared to KSE 100 and KSE 30. The kurtosis of all three indices is slightly over 3 (Excel displays Excess Kurtosis) which shows that all three indices are mesokurtic and have a kurtosis equal to that of normal distribution. KMI30 showed a slight negative skewness of -0.0195, while KSE 100 showed positive skewness of 0.04058 in this bullish period. From October 15, 2009 to October 15, 2010, KSE showed a relatively flat period of returns with KMI30 index showing a mean geometric return of 0.0498% while KSE 100 and KSE 30 showed a geometric return of 0.017% and –0.0249% respectively. The KMI30 again outperformed KSE 100 and KSE 30 in returns over this flat period. KSE 30 had negative mean returns in this period. KMI30 also showed low standard deviation of 1.088% compared to 1.1049% of KSE 100 and 1.3866% of KSE 30. Hence KMI30 again outperformed KSE 30 and KSE 100 index in this relatively flat period in terms of returns and low volatility. KMI30 had an excess kurtosis of 2.18 more than 1.79 for KSE 100 but less than 2.26 of KSE 30. Hence all three indices have leptokurtic distribution with high peaks than normal distribution. KMI30, KSE 100 and KSE 30 all showed negative skewness in this flat period. From October 15, 2010 till January 15, 2011, KSE showed a relatively bullish trend with KMI30 showing a daily return geometric mean of 0.36% against 0.3% by KSE 100 and 0.33% by KSE 30 index. However KMI30 index showed a higher daily standard deviation of 0.86% compared to 0.73% of KSE 100. KMI30 also showed a more leptokurtic distribution compared to KSE 100 as the excess kurtosis of KMI30 was around 0.497 compared to 0.262 for KSE 100. During this bullish period all three indices showed a positive skewness with impressive returns in a short span of time. Over the whole period, from December 15, 2008 to march 11, 2011, KMI30 showed impressive annualized returns of 28.825% compared with KSE 100 and KSE 30 which showed annualized returns of 11.9367% and 5.85% respectively. The annualized standard deviation for KMI30 index was a little higher than KSE 100 but lower than that of KSE 30. Also the total return over this two and a half year period by KMI30 was quite impressive and 2.5 times more of KSE 100. KMI30 had a total return of 75.11% from Dec 15, 2008 to March 11, 2011. Sharpe ratio is only positive for the KMI30 because the other two indices had returns less than 12 month Treasury bill rate. Jensen’s alpha for KMI30 was 16.8687 which indicated the average return on KMI30 over and above the CAPM predicted return of 11.9566%. KMI30 also had a beta lower than one which shows that KMI30 is less volatile than the overall market. KSE 30 had a beta of greater than one showing that it’s more volatile than the market KSE 100 in dex. Correlation matrix shows a strong correlation of 92.933% of KMI30 and KSE 100 over the whole period from December 15, 2008 to March 11, 2011. KSE 30 showed a less strong correlation of 87.48% in the same period with KSE 100. In the first bullish period, KMI30 however had a rather less strong correlation with KSE 100 compared to the whole period correlation described above. In the flat period from Oct 15, 2009 till Oct 15, 2010, KMI30 had a very strong correlation with KSE 100 index. In second bullish period, from Oct 15, 2010 to Jan 15, 2011, KMI30 again had a relatively less strong correlation with KSE 100 as already happened in first bullish period. It looks like KMI30 is showing less strong correlation with KSE 100 in bull markets and very strong correlation with KSE 100 in relatively flat periods which shows that KMI30 shows returns which are less correlated with market in bull periods and give more correlated returns in flat market periods. In both bull periods, Jan 15, 2009 – Oct 15, 2009 and Oct 15, 2010 – January 15, 2011, KMI30 outperformed KSE 100 and KSE 30 index with impressive margins. KMI30 gave a total return of 81.68% in the first bull period, 13.24% in the flat period and 23.67% in the second bull period. KSE 100 gave total returns of 57.3%, 4.34% and 19.92% in the same periods. KMI30 also showed a relatively same standard deviation as the KSE 100 except for the second bull period when there was a large difference in S. Deviation of KMI30 and KSE 100 returns. What this means is that KMI30 is giving higher returns than KSE 100 while having the same risk as KSE 100 also evident by Sharpe ratio. In first bull period, KMI30 had a beta of 0.927 compare to 1.077 of KSE 30. In the flat period, KMI30 had a beta of 0.948 while KSE 30 had a beta of 1.06. In the second bull period, KMI30 and KSE 30 showed an irregular trend when the beta for KMI30 increased over 1 while beta for KSE 30 dropped less than o ne. Regression Analysis A regression analysis was performed on the daily returns of KMI30, KSE 30 and KSE 100 for the complete period to explain the variation in the returns of KMI30 and KSE 30 index by using KSE 100 as the independent market index. The regression equations are as follows: Equation 1 Equation 2 The R-Square for the first model of KMI30 returns come out to be 86.366% which tells us that 86% of the variation in KMI30 index is caused by KSE 100 index. The R-square for the second KSE 30 model was 77% which shows that KSE 100 causes more variation in returns of KMI30 than KSE 30 index. The intercept of first equation is 0.000523179 which shows that when the daily market return is zero, than KMI30 has a daily return of 0.0523179%. The slope of the first equation, beta of KMI30 index, tells us that a one percentage change return in KSE 100 index causes a 0.9752 percentage change return in KMI30 index which shows low volatility in KMI30 compared to KSE 100. The slope and intercept for the KSE 30 model are 1.1018 and -0.0216% respectively which indicates that KSE 30 is more volatile than KSE 100 (has a beta higher than 1) and that a zero return from market will causes a -0.0216% daily return fall in KSE 30 index. Hypothesis testing The first hypothesis was to test that whether there are any significant differences in daily returns of KMI30 and KSE 100 indices for the whole period from December 15, 2008 to March 11, 2011. Since all the stocks which are part of KMI30 index are also a part of KSE 100 index which indicates that both samples are dependent hence paired t-test was employed to test the differences between returns of both indices. The null and alternative hypotheses are given as: Ho: The difference in mean daily returns of KMI30 and KSE 100 index for the period from December 15, 2008 to March 11, 2011 is equal to zero H1: The difference in mean daily returns of KMI30 and KSE 100 index for the period from December 15, 2008 to March 11, 2011 is not equal to zero The paired t –test was performed on a 5% level of significance with 552 degrees of freedom. The calculated t statistic was 2.310548072 which was greater than the critical value of 1.96. Hence the null hypothesis was rejected and the conclusion was that the difference in mean daily returns of KMI30 and KSE 100 returns is different from zero. The second hypothesis tested whether there are any significant statistical differences in returns of KMI30 and KSE 100 indices during the first bullish period from January 15, 2009 to October 15, 2009. The same paired t test was employed to test the difference in returns in this bullish period using a significance level of 5%. The null and alternative hypotheses are given as: Ho: the difference in mean daily returns of KMI30 and KSE 100 index for the bullish period from January 15, 2009 to October 15, 2009 is equal to zero H1: the difference in mean daily returns of KMI30 and KSE 100 index for the bullish period from January 15, 2009 to October 15, 2009 is not equal to zero The calculated t-statistic was 1.2773207 less than the critical value of 1.972 at 5% level of significance with 187 degrees of freedom. Hence the null hypothesis was failed to reject and it was concluded that there is no difference in the returns of KMI30 and KSE 100 indices during the first bullish period from January 15, 2009 to October 15, 2009.

Issue Of Self Harm In Society Social Work Essay

Issue Of Self Harm In Society Social Work Essay This essay will discuss the complex issue that is self harm in society today; although word count will restrict many of the areas this essay will try and achieve an overall balance. The essay will look at the psychological causes and treatments available to service users via the National Health Service. It will be necessary throughout the essay to compare the issues surrounding self harm with that of parasuicide and suicide itself. Consideration will also be given to the views and perspectives of the service user with regard to the service they receive and where appropriate this essay will refer to practice experience to provide depth and insight into aspects of the discussion. Reference will also be made to the links with self harm in the animal kingdom. This brief discussion with animal self harm will be an attempt to show dual causation in humans and animals. Highly concise introduction, well done. In order to better understand self harm this issue must be clearly defined as to avoid inaccurate and misleading terminology as self-harm covers a wide range of behaviours some of which are directly related to suicide and some are not. Self harm (SH) or deliberate self harm (DSH) including self injury (SI) and self poisoning (SP) is defined as the intentional direct injury of body tissue without suicidal intent (Laye-Gindhu, A 2005., Klonsky, E.D 2007., Muehlenkamp, J.J 2005). Self harm is listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-1V-TR) (1994) as a symptom of borderline personality disorder. However, patients with other diagnosis may also self harm including those with depression, and anxiety disorders, substance abuse, eating disorders post-traumatic stress disorders, schizophrenia and several personality disorders. Self harm is also apparent in high-functioning individuals who have no underlying clinical diagnosis. (Klonsky, E.D 2007). Guidelines for the treatment of self harm are not specified from NICE. What is self harm, self harm is deliberate damage of the body that is intentionally not life threatening, often repetitive in nature and usually considered socially unacceptable, 80% of self harm involves stabbing or cutting the skin with a sharp object (Greydanus, Shek, 2009). It is generally agreed that someone does not intend to die as a result of his or her self harm. However, many acts of self harm are not directly connected to suicidal intent they may be an attempt to communicate with others to influence or to secure help or care from others or a way of obtaining relief from it difficult and otherwise overwhelming situation or emotional state (Hjelmeland et al., 2002). Walsh and Rosen (1998) in discussing the difference between self mutilation and parasuicide have noted; In the case of ingesting pills or poison, the harm caused is uncertain, unpredictable, and basically invisible. In the case of self lacerations, the degree of self harm is clear, unambiguous, predictable as to course, and highly visible (Walsh, B.W., Rosen, P.M 1988). However someone who self harms is 50-100 times more likely to attempt suicide than someone who does not (Martinson, D. 1998).There are many reasons why people self harm, in a survey conducted of young people aged 16 through to 25 the most common reason was to find relief from a terrible situation (Samaritans 2001).Self harm is often associated with a history of trauma and abuse including emotional abuse, sexual abuse, drug dependence eating disorders or mental traits such as low self-esteem or perfectionism. (Swales, M. 2008) Emotionally invalidating environments where parents punish children for expressing sadness or hurt can contribute to a difficulty experiencing emotions and increased rates of self harm (Martinson, D. 2002). Abuse during childhood is accepted as the primary social factor as is bereavement, and troubled parental or partner relationships. Factors such as war, poverty, and unemployment may also contribute. In addition some individuals with pervasive developmental disabilities such as autism engage in self harm, although whether this is a form of self stimulation or for the purpose of harming oneself is a matter of debate (Edelson, 2004) It is noted that Service users who self harm give broadly three reasons for their behaviour these are, controlling mood, regulating moods in terms of how a person is able to cope with emotions and feelings especially feelings which are particularly unsettling unpleasant or intense. Communication, some people use self harm as a way of expressing themselves if those expressions are directed at others this can be seen by some as attention seeking and manipulation. Understand in what an act of self harm is trying to communicate can be crucial to dealing with it in an effective and constructive way. Control/punishment, people who self harm have often experienced traumatic experiences in their lives including emotional physical or sexual abuse. (Martinson, D. 1998). Self harm can be a form of trauma re-enactment or way of bargaining or engaging in magical thinking if I hurt myself I will prevent the thing I fear protect the person I care about. A common belief regarding self harm is that i t is an attention seeking behaviour however in most cases this is inaccurate. Many self- harmers are very self-conscious of their wounds and scars and feel guilty about their behaviour leading them to go to great lengths to conceal their behaviours from others (Mental Health Foundation 2006). People diagnosed as having certain types of medical disorder are much more likely to self harm in one survey of a sample of the British population people with current symptoms of mental disorder up to 20 times more likely to report having harm themselves in the past (Meltzer et al., 2002).People diagnosed as having schizophrenia are most at risk and about one-half of this group will have harmed themselves at some time. When assessed the majority of individuals engaging in self harm will be diagnosed with depression although two thirds will no longer fit the criteria after a year. This explains why nearly half of those who present to an emergency department meet criteria for having a personality disorder (Haw et al., 2001). However, there are problems with doing this because some people who self harm consider the term personality disorder to be offensive and to create a stereotype that can lead to damaging stigmatization by social care workers (Babiker Arnold, 1997., Pembroke, 1994). About one in six people who attend an emergency departments following self harm will harm themselves again in the following year (Owen et al., 2002). For the last 25 years it has been NHS policy that everybody who attends hospital after an episode of self harm should receive a psychological assessment (Department of Health and Social Security, 1984).While psychological assessment includes several components, the most important are the assessment of needs in the assessment of risks. The assessment of needs is to each item to identify those personal (psychological) and environmental (social) factors that might explain an act of self harm; this assessment should lead to a formulation, based upon which a management plan can be developed. Despite the importance of comprehensive assessment following an act of self harm many service users fall through the net. In many hospitals, more than half of the attendees are discharge from the emergency department without specialist assessment (Termansen Bywater, 1975; Thomas et al., 1996; Kapur et al., 1998). Patients who leave hospital direct from an emergency department and especially those who leave without a psychological assessment are less likely to have been offered to follow- up (Owens et al., 1991; Suokas Lonnquist, 1991; Gunnell et al., 1996; Kapur et al., 1998). In addition, those who do receive the psychological assessment (rather than the needs or risk assessment specifically) may be less likely to repeat an act of self- harm (Hickey et al., 2001; Kapur et al., 2002). These figures suggest that the service user is being set up to fail or more directly not being correctly diagnosed and treated properly. Service users experiences and attitudes to the services they receive can vary but most feel like the following quotation Got no help at all. All they wanted to do is pick on me like I was a naughty little girl, and it made me very angry, and I couldnt open all for how they treated me. I just dreaded going to see them (Harris, 200). Not only do these kinds of attitudes make users experiences of services unpleasant, but they can also increase service users echoes of distress. Not only are service users critical of emergency department staff, but patients admitted to hospital following self poisoning also feel isolated, ignored and inhibited by staff (Dunleavey 1992) a fast tracking of service users through the system should be considered to minimize harm resulting from their injury and to minimize distress. Service users also point out the importance of being listened to by staff even when the interaction is brief or only a single occasion (Arnold 1995). A safe environment and being li stened to it especially important since service users may reveal information about their injuries that makes them feel vulnerable, fearing negative repercussions. As a result of poor stuff attitudes towards people who self harm, service users feel that they are frequently treated differently compared with service users who have not self harmed. I was told off by nurses and the doctors; I just felt small. They do treat self harmers different to accident people. We are classed as suicides. The hospital staff just look at you as though youre wasting time. Thats how I felt. (Harris. 2000). Some self harmers, however, use the practice of self harm in a ritualistic way. This type of self harm has been practiced by different cultures for centuries, for example the Maya priesthood performed auto- sacrifice by cutting and piercing their bodies in order to draw blood (Gualberto, A. 1991). It is also practiced by the sadhu Hindu ascetic, in Catholic mortification of the flesh, in ancient Canaanite mourning rituals as described in the Ras Shamra tablets and in the Shiite annual ritual of self-flagellation, using chains and swords, that takes place during Ashura where there Shiites sect mourne the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (Reference). Another little known fact is that the animal world is prone to self harming and there is some correlation between animals and human beings on this issue. Self -mutilation in non-human mammals is well-established, although not a widely known phenomenon and its study under zoo or a laboratory conditions could lead to a better understanding of self harm in human patients (Jones, I.H., Barraclough, B.M. 2007). Zoo or laboratory rearing and isolation are important factors leading to increased susceptibility to self harm in higher mammals. Lower mammals are also known to mutilate themselves under laboratory conditions after administration of drugs (Jones, I.H., Barraclough, B.M 2007). In dogs, canine obsessive compulsory disorder can lead to self inflicted injuries, for example canine lick. Captive birds are sometimes known to engage in feather plucking causing damage to feathers or even the mutilation of skin or muscle tissue (20..?..) A good example of feather plucking in birds would be battery hens that are kept in cages with no access to movement or sunlight. Useful analogies! Many people who engage in self harm do so not that they intend to take their life or that they are seeking attention. People who self harm do so because they are looking for some form of relief from their situation. As a coping mechanism, self harm works for the person doing it. (Reference needed on coping mechanisms) Many self harmers who seek help in the form of medical attention face an uphill struggle in the face of adversity, negativity and disbelief from the service that is in situ to help them. Negative attitudes from medical staff and social care workers affect the self harmer and they feel increasingly isolated. Within the medical profession comes a coldness not afforded to accident and ill people, along with a lack of understanding and a lack of training. Communication with the service user as well as empowerment would enable service users to have a greater say in their treatment and rehabilitation and this would go a long way in addressing this problem. Service users know why they self harm but feel they are not being listened to. Until this issue is addressed the problem will go largely unchanged. (Need references for stigma and self harm treatment in A E)

All Quiet on the Western Front :: essays papers

All Quiet on the Western Front World War I had a great effect on the lives of Paul Baumer and the young men of his generation. These boys’ lives were dramatically changed by the war, and â€Å"even though they may have escaped its shells, [they] were destroyed by the war† (preface). In Erich Maria Remarque’s novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul Baumer and the rest of his generation feel separated from the other men, lose their innocence, and experience comradeship as a result of the war. Paul and his generation feel separated from the rest society. Paul feels as though â€Å"[he has] been crushed without knowing it† and â€Å"[does] not belong anymore, it is a foreign world† (168). Other men â€Å"talk to much for [him]. They have worries, aims, desires, that [he] cannot comprehend† (168). His generation of men who fought in the war is â€Å"pushed aside† (249) as unpleasant reminders of a war the civilian population would like to forget. After surviving such unspeakable experiences the soldiers feel separated from everyone. Paul says, â€Å"men will not understand us† (294). â€Å"The generation that has grown up after us will be strange to us and push us aside† (294). After the war most soldiers â€Å"will be bewildered† (294) and â€Å"in the end [they] will fall into ruin† (294). The soldiers do not have concrete identities as the older generations do. â€Å"All the older men are linked up with their prev ious life† (19). Paul’s generation cannot even imagine any definite post-war plans. Their experiences are so shattering that they regard the prospect of functioning in a peacetime environment with vague anxiety. They have no experiences as adults that do not involve a day-to-day fight for survival and sanity. Paul has a â€Å"feeling if foreignness† and â€Å"cannot find [his] way back† (172). After entering the war in young adulthood, the soldiers lost their innocence. Paul’s generation is called the Lost Generation because they have lost their childhood while in the war. When Paul visits home on leave he realizes that he will never be the same person who enlisted in the army. His pre-war life contains a boy who is now dead to him. While home on leave Paul says â€Å"I used to live in this room before I was a soldier† (170).

Comparing Innocence in Grendel, Neil Young and Portrait of a Lady Essay

Fall from Innocence in Grendel, Neil Young and Portrait of a Lady      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to the Bible, God created man pure and innocent, oblivious to good and evil. The serpent of evil lured them to the tree of knowledge, however, and its fruit proved too much of a temptation. With a bite, their "eyes... were opened," and the course of their lives, and the lives of mankind, were changed (Gen. 6-7, 22). Whether or not one accepts the Christian concept of creation, countless works of art are patterned on this account of the "fall from innocence." The novel Grendel by John Gardner shows us a side of the "beast" the epic Beowulf never considered - the child-like innocence before the brutality. The song "Country Girl" by Neil Young is a subtle commentary on the effect the sexual revolution had upon one woman. In addition, The Portrait of a Lady, a film by Jane Campion, an adaptation of Henry James's novel, shows the downward spiral of a headstrong American girl in the late 1800's. These three distinct pieces cut a swath through the art world, repre senting an established author, a modern musician, and a feminist filmmaker, yet central to their relevance is one theme: the fall from innocence.    Innocence? In Grendel? Grendel is a monster, right? Wrong, in the eyes of John Gardner. Taking the role of the Shaper, Gardner makes us see Grendel as an ostracized person, one so lonely he "relishes the thought of acceptance," even though the idiocy of their society repulses him at times (Milosh 221). He is just a naà ¯ve teenager, searching for his role in life.    In The Portrait of a Lady (POAL), Isabel is searching as well, traveling where her caprice leads her. "You're drifting off to some great mistake," her friend Henriett... ...    Gardner, John. Grendel. Vintage Books, 1989.    Kneubuhl, James P. Written interview. 12 April 1998.    Milosh, Joseph. "John Gardner's 'Grendel': Sources and Analogues." Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Vol. 10. Detroit: Gale Research, 1979. 221-222.    Portrait of a Lady, The. Dir. Jane Campion. Gramercy, 1996.    The portrait of a lady production notes. [Online] Available http://www.hollywood.com/movies/portrait/text/1.html, April 13, 1998.    Strehle, Susan. "John Gardner's Novels: Affirmation and the Alien." Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Vol. 10. Detroit: Gale Research, 1979. 218 -219.    Travirca, Chet. Written interview. 12 April 1998.    Young, Neil. "Country Girl." Perf. Young, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash. Dà ©jà   vu. Atlantic, 1970. Comparing Innocence in Grendel, Neil Young and Portrait of a Lady Essay Fall from Innocence in Grendel, Neil Young and Portrait of a Lady      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to the Bible, God created man pure and innocent, oblivious to good and evil. The serpent of evil lured them to the tree of knowledge, however, and its fruit proved too much of a temptation. With a bite, their "eyes... were opened," and the course of their lives, and the lives of mankind, were changed (Gen. 6-7, 22). Whether or not one accepts the Christian concept of creation, countless works of art are patterned on this account of the "fall from innocence." The novel Grendel by John Gardner shows us a side of the "beast" the epic Beowulf never considered - the child-like innocence before the brutality. The song "Country Girl" by Neil Young is a subtle commentary on the effect the sexual revolution had upon one woman. In addition, The Portrait of a Lady, a film by Jane Campion, an adaptation of Henry James's novel, shows the downward spiral of a headstrong American girl in the late 1800's. These three distinct pieces cut a swath through the art world, repre senting an established author, a modern musician, and a feminist filmmaker, yet central to their relevance is one theme: the fall from innocence.    Innocence? In Grendel? Grendel is a monster, right? Wrong, in the eyes of John Gardner. Taking the role of the Shaper, Gardner makes us see Grendel as an ostracized person, one so lonely he "relishes the thought of acceptance," even though the idiocy of their society repulses him at times (Milosh 221). He is just a naà ¯ve teenager, searching for his role in life.    In The Portrait of a Lady (POAL), Isabel is searching as well, traveling where her caprice leads her. "You're drifting off to some great mistake," her friend Henriett... ...    Gardner, John. Grendel. Vintage Books, 1989.    Kneubuhl, James P. Written interview. 12 April 1998.    Milosh, Joseph. "John Gardner's 'Grendel': Sources and Analogues." Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Vol. 10. Detroit: Gale Research, 1979. 221-222.    Portrait of a Lady, The. Dir. Jane Campion. Gramercy, 1996.    The portrait of a lady production notes. [Online] Available http://www.hollywood.com/movies/portrait/text/1.html, April 13, 1998.    Strehle, Susan. "John Gardner's Novels: Affirmation and the Alien." Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Vol. 10. Detroit: Gale Research, 1979. 218 -219.    Travirca, Chet. Written interview. 12 April 1998.    Young, Neil. "Country Girl." Perf. Young, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash. Dà ©jà   vu. Atlantic, 1970.

The Tuskegee Experiment

The Tuskegee experiment was yet another demonstration of racial inequalities and dehumanization illustrated by a people who believed in racial superiority. The experiment was unethical and demoralizing from the beginning. The analysis was corrupt and unethical for a plethora of reasons. The experiment disregarded several basic principles of the American Sociological Association’s code of ethics. Perhaps the greatest flaw in the experiment was the intended denial of treatment, which, in turn, directly affected the subject’s safety, violating the code of ‘protecting subjects from personal harm’. Respect the subject’s right to privacy and dignity’ is an additional custom in the code of ethics ignored. The researchers clearly could not even conceive the thought of respecting these â€Å"inferior racial guinea pigs†, not their health, their dignity, or their humanity. The fact that these men were made a mockery of, lied to, and belittled aff irms that the informed consent was nothing more than a deceitful tactic to involve the individuals.The men were advised that they were ill and were promised care, and were not told they were participants in an experiment, which precisely disrupts the code of ‘seeking informed consent when data are collected from research participants or when behavior occurs in a private context’. Though the event preceded the declaration of the informed consent notion, it is still fraudulent because of the timeline and deceptions planned and carried out by the conductors, therefore it should still be factored in, because of the depth and the fact that the participants were bamboozled.The fact that the treatments were ineffective have nothing to do with the experiment being ethical, as far as the conductors were concerned, treatment was out of the equation anyway, so the fact that the dosages were toxic is irrelevant. The advanced nature of the syphilis in each patient contributes to the prevailing thought that the study was not only misguided, but unscrupulous as well. These men needed immediate medical care, but the urgency was of no concern to the researchers.The fact that these men were told they were ill (and that they were) and promised care, but were denied it, provides further evidence that experiment should have been stopped before it was even initialized, but realistically that was not going to happen. When the patients began dying off, the researchers should have stepped in, stopped the study and treated the patients, but because of the â€Å"ignorance and easily influence nature† of the subjects, they were not given treatment.Ignorance is deemed the right term indeed, but only because the researchers left out the whole nature of the experiment. They were given placebos, food, shelter, and constant letters informing them they were being treated and followed up on. Initially, I believe the patients were, in a way, excited about the treatment, becau se they thought it was just that, treatment. The participants were not too quick to jump into the research though, until of course, they were given incentives, their cooperation was built on the promise of help and generosity of mankind.As time moved forward, I believe they were still hopeful due in part to the fabrication of treatment, but maybe a bit suspicious, hence the start of the covers for burial preparations if death, in fact, struck them. As the years progressed, many participants died, from the severity of their illness, so therefore much of the primary evidence of feelings and emotions is not known. Over time, I expect that the attitudes toward the experiment, from the perspective of the participants and outsiders, did indeed change, and not positively. In decades following, the attention became negative, angry, and impatient.As of now, I believe people, of all races, are utterly disgusted and outraged. The fact that this continued for nearly forty years is incredible an d ridiculous. Withholding information of this magnitude, which affects one’s health or safety is unacceptable. In other studies, it can be accepted, because many times, knowing the intent of an experiment can alter the outcome, defined in the Hawthorne Effect. So long as the study does not inflict harm or danger to its subjects, both physically and mentally, withholding information can be justified.When an experiment is found to be unethical or corrupt period, the information gathered should be discarded and not used or profited for the advancement of science, because that in turn, discredits science in general. If the results were to be published and interpreted, being incorrect, then future experiments and observations founded on these primitive notions will not only be invalid, but could lead to negative effects. To conclude, not only was the trail immoral and unethical, it could have potentially changed the face of science and how we look at diseases, such as syphilis its elf.

K-12 and Higher Education Learning Environments

decideedness centering Systems Applications Today. Emerging technologies, including distributed acquire counselling systems, portals that affiliate a classification of resources (admissions, library access, advising, and proficient contain) under nonp aril work push throughr-friendly gateway, and electronic databases that store and merge nurture resources, argon capable of providing the stand for the redesign and desegregation requi position (G playr & bowman, 2003). piece only about more(prenominal) than 14 percent of the engineering science administrators who responded to the annual Campus figure Survey overlay employ manikin worry softw atomic soma 18, more than half (58 percent) cast already realized standards for these types of operations (Anderson & Moore, 2003).Many of the educational initiatives in juvenile years train cogitateed on improving the oral converse of go by incorporating education political platforms that focus on the K-12 an d higher(prenominal) education learnedness environments, much(prenominal) as WebCT or blackboard. To escort how these education platforms are being utilise today and for what learners, this w all(prenominal)paper im take leave stand an overview of the features of instruction focusing systems (LMS) that lay down anticipate increasing splendour for a ample range of unified and government-sponsored reading environments. A comparison and paygrade of these platforms and their applic efficiency to the unlike information environments is ensueed by a compendious of the look into in the conclusion.Background and Overview. In their book, Handbook of duration Education Technology, Anderson and Moore (2003) nominate that it just makes not bad(predicate) sense to uptake the technological innovations that cod emerged in fresh years to meliorate the delivery of educational service at all levels, including grades K-12 and beyond. Technology, as an enabler of distribute d resources, they say, furthers the practice of a systems glide slope requiring desegregation across the face to maximize invigorated capabilities (p. 175). For instance, Granger and Bowman (2003) institutionalize out that acquire centering systems (LMS) victoryfully compound the specific functions and services that students require in order to pass on donnish triumph today these functions and services entangle1. nettle to tracks, learning materials, and instructors2. Advising and tutorial assistance4. Interactions with separate learners.A wide range of enterprises concur recognized the advantages infixed in Internet-based learning counsel systems, including the array and various industries in general and educational institutions in cross for example, the ancestry crusade Institute for march on Distributed Learnings entire new focus has been on integrate an LMS approach to their distance learning initiatives (Westfall, 2003).For example, according to the d efense lawyers Implementation stick out for ADL, ADL is an evolution of distributed learning (distance learning) that emphasizes collaboration on standards-based versions of reusable objects, ne bothrks, and learning centering systems, tho may include some bequest methods and media (Westfall, 2003, p. 635).To date, some educational institutions stomach elect to develop and position in-house versions of learning management systems while another(prenominal)s have institute that off-the-peg versions satisfy their requirements CourseInfo by Blackboard and SemesterBook, true by lah State Universitys parting of computing services, some(prenominal) of which deliver the goods a navigational model for content and communication with instructors (Lynch, 2002).Other universal versions are WebCT (this is a delivery platform for both Internet-based and traditionally structured gos), Intralearn and WBT Systems TopClass (Myers & snow-clad, 2001). CourseInfo by Blackboard, though, was shown to be the blue-ribbon(prenominal) product when compared with other leading programs in a discipline with the former two across all measures examined, including ease of use by educators and lease and total number of tasks accomplished (Jonassen, 2004).A previous s eject by Halloran (2000) conducted for the U. S. Air Force honorary society to a fault make up Blackboards CourseInfo the superior industriousness for magnanimous learners. Likewise, Myers and White conducted a speculate of the efficacy of WebCT and assemble that although educators were for the most part receptive to the program, on that point were some good constraints involved in terms of the meter required for fitting planning, which was determine as the issue of highest denote for those delivering instruction using this product.Faculty form that incorporating such technology required prolonged measure to learn the program, convert and upload mark data, and put up student preparedness to u se the Website. clock was to a fault necessary to monitor and update existing information (Myers & White, 2001, p. 95). The authors also point out that these educators institute that supernumerary time was al,so required at the bafflening of each course to dally the students back up to speed affecting the serve up of entering and navigating the site (Myers & White, 2001). match to Anderson and Moore (2003), umteen of the most hot LMS applications share numerous of the same efficacious features that make them peculiarly useful for course management mercantile course application software such as Blackboard CourseInfo, Learning Tree, Virtual-U, and WebCT were found to help support organized course content by providing multiple perspectives on issues archiving data mechanically incorporating the instructional strategies of modeling and scaffolding, and encourage participation, high-power engagement, and peer feedback when power members incorporate these features into inst ructional design and delivery.These authors caution, though, that, unguarded novices, however, may follow the somewhat elongate structure of the course content features of these courseware tools (p. 450). The research showed that recent innovations in learning management systems holds the promise of integrating structures that were previously disordered as sound as providing the ability to customize learning environments on a scope neer before doable. These innovations exit serve to provide all students with modify opportunities to fulfill academic and professional success they can also be clean expected to ontogeny learning productiveness (Lynch, 2002).The research also showed that innovative learning management strategies can help achieve the goal of destiny young and great(p) learners regardless of whether they are distance learners or participating in a campus-based class however, even the dress hat learning management strategies, including those with the best pos sible content that is on the dot matched to the right military control or educational objectives, will probable fail if it is under the weather implemented and administered. According to Carlivati (2002), this is particularly aline of learning management systems that are targeted at more forward-looking and educated adult learners.Corporate e-learning, he says, introduces a upstanding new hatful of change-management variables that were never of concern before, as legion(predicate) early adopters have discovered. These new variables range from the obvious (e. g. , introducing technology to the learning process) to the cunning (e. g. , motivating students to begin and continue an self-governing learning experience) (p. 50). unsalted and adult learners too were shown to be submissive to these emerging learning structures, and it is likely that additional and improved applications will be identified as these initiatives break more shopworn in the future.K-12 and Higher E ducation Learning EnvironmentsLearning Management Systems Applications Today. Emerging technologies, including distributed learning management systems, portals that connect a variety of resources (admissions, library access, advising, and technical support) under one user-friendly gateway, and electronic databases that store and merge information resources, are capable of providing the infrastructure for the redesign and integration necessary (Granger & Bowman, 2003).While only slightly more than 14 percent of the technology administrators who responded to the annual Campus Computing Survey report using course management software, more than half (58 percent) have already established standards for these types of applications (Anderson & Moore, 2003).Many of the educational initiatives in recent years have focused on improving the delivery of services by incorporating learning platforms that focus on the K-12 and higher education learning environments, such as WebCT or Blackboard. To determine how these learning platforms are being used today and for what learners, this paper will provide an overview of the features of learning management systems (LMS) that have assumed increasing importance for a wide range of corporate and government-sponsored learning environments. A comparison and evaluation of these platforms and their applicability to the different learning environments is followed by a summary of the research in the conclusion.Background and Overview. In their book, Handbook of Distance Education Technology, Anderson and Moore (2003) suggest that it just makes good sense to use the technological innovations that have emerged in recent years to improve the delivery of educational services at all levels, including grades K-12 and beyond. Technology, as an enabler of distributed resources, they say, furthers the practice of a systems approach requiring integration across the organization to maximize new capabilities (p. 175). For instance, Granger and Bowman (2003) point out that learning management systems (LMS) successfully integrate the specific functions and services that students require in order to achieve academic success today these functions and services include1. Access to courses, learning materials, and instructors2. Advising and tutorial assistance4. Interactions with other learners.A wide range of enterprises have recognized the advantages inherent in Internet-based learning management systems, including the military and various industries in general and educational institutions in particular for example, the Air Force Institute for Advanced Distributed Learnings entire recent focus has been on integrating an LMS approach to their distance learning initiatives (Westfall, 2003).For example, according to the DOD Implementation Plan for ADL, ADL is an evolution of distributed learning (distance learning) that emphasizes collaboration on standards-based versions of reusable objects, networks, and learning management systems, yet may include some legacy methods and media (Westfall, 2003, p. 635).To date, some educational institutions have elected to develop and deploy in-house versions of learning management systems while others have found that off-the-shelf versions satisfy their requirements CourseInfo by Blackboard and SemesterBook, developed by Louisiana State Universitys division of computing services, both of which provide a navigational framework for content and communication with instructors (Lynch, 2002).Other popular versions are WebCT (this is a delivery platform for both Internet-based and traditionally structured courses), Intralearn and WBT Systems TopClass (Myers & White, 2001). CourseInfo by Blackboard, though, was shown to be the superior product when compared with other leading programs in a study with the former two across all measures examined, including ease of use by educators and study and total number of tasks accomplished (Jonassen, 2004).A previous study by Halloran (2000) condu cted for the U. S. Air Force Academy also found Blackboards CourseInfo the superior application for adult learners. Likewise, Myers and White conducted a study of the efficacy of WebCT and found that although educators were for the most part receptive to the program, there were some serious constraints involved in terms of the time required for adequate planning, which was identified as the issue of highest concern for those delivering instruction using this product.Faculty found that incorporating such technology required extensive time to learn the program, convert and upload course data, and provide student training to use the Website. Time was also necessary to monitor and update existing information (Myers & White, 2001, p. 95). The authors also point out that these educators found that additional time was al,so required at the beginning of each course to bring the students back up to speed concerning the process of entering and navigating the site (Myers & White, 2001).Accordi ng to Anderson and Moore (2003), many of the most popular LMS applications share many of the same useful features that make them particularly useful for course management commercial course application software such as Blackboard CourseInfo, Learning Tree, Virtual-U, and WebCT were found to help support organized course content by providing multiple perspectives on issues archiving data automatically incorporating the instructional strategies of modeling and scaffolding, and encourage participation, dynamic engagement, and peer feedback when faculty members incorporate these features into instructional design and delivery.These authors caution, though, that, Unwary novices, however, may follow the somewhat linear structure of the course content features of these courseware tools (p. 450). The research showed that recent innovations in learning management systems holds the promise of integrating structures that were previously disconnected as well as providing the ability to customize learning environments on a scope never before possible. These innovations will serve to provide all students with improved opportunities to achieve academic and professional success they can also be reasonably expected to increase learning productivity (Lynch, 2002).The research also showed that innovative learning management strategies can help achieve the goal of helping young and adult learners regardless of whether they are distance learners or participating in a campus-based curriculum however, even the best learning management strategies, including those with the best possible content that is precisely matched to the right business or educational objectives, will likely fail if it is poorly implemented and administered. According to Carlivati (2002), this is particularly true of learning management systems that are targeted at more sophisticated and educated adult learners.Corporate e-learning, he says, introduces a whole new set of change-management variables that were never of concern before, as many early adopters have discovered. These new variables range from the obvious (e. g. , introducing technology to the learning process) to the subtle (e. g. , motivating students to begin and continue an independent learning experience) (p. 50). Young and adult learners alike were shown to be amenable to these emerging learning structures, and it is likely that additional and improved applications will be identified as these initiatives become more commonplace in the future.