Monday, December 30, 2019

Reasons Of Violence In The USA - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 1 Words: 315 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2019/08/02 Category Society Essay Level High school Tags: Youth Violence Essay Did you like this example? When we look at the research on youth violence we find that the united states have one of the highest youth violence rate. Ronald C. Kramer explains when we investigate the shooting incidents it tells the social problems in our young. Poverty, inequality, and social exclusion shape most of the youth violence in America.   Conservative commentators frequently assert that it is a lenient criminal justice and juvenile justice system that causes high crime rates or crime and violence are the result of culture decline called moral poverty (124pg. Kramer). Violence is more current involving young people between the ages 15 to 24. This what set the united states apart from other developing countries. The America justice system is one of the harshest in the world, the culture and moral condition of American families and communities is important to consider in understanding crime, these conditions are affected by large social and economic forces. (124 pg. Kramer) Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Reasons Of Violence In The USA" essay for you Create order The social structural sociological and criminologists are the root of violence. When we look at the research on poverty and economic inequality, we find that the united states have by far the highest poverty rate and the biggest gap between the rich and the poor of any of the developed nations (Kerbo 1996). This deprivation and social exclusion are related to high rates of violence within the united states and other countries to demonstrate the connection. Cross national studies show that countries with high degree of economic inequality have gather levels of violence (Gartner 1990). Other studies have shown that, even within a generally deprived population, it is the most deprived children who face the greatest risks of engaging in crime and violence (Werner and smith 1992).   Poverty and inequality allows children ability to be successful in school or at work, violence and abuse creates angry and fearful children. The lack of parental care and guidance contribute to the young strike on the world through violence.

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Is Invasive Species Management At The Huron Watershed

When I first arrived at the University of Michigan, I was pleasantly surprised to find out the first service event we were doing was invasive species management in the Huron watershed. Cutting down buckthorn and picking invasive species seeds were both activities very familiar to me. Growing up in Chicago, my middle and elementary school had done nearly the exact same thing every year in the Chicago River watershed. Going out into the woods and helping the often forgotten organic parts of our community was certainly a pleasant surprise for me. I initially thought going to college that almost everything I would be experiencing would be new and exciting, yet here I was coming full circle right back to where I had first started learning about community involvement. More often than not, our expectations of things do not match their true forms. Currently I am in Psychology 111 and recently we went over the science behind learning; a very basic way humans learn is through conceptual schema s. We have in our mind a prototypical idea of something and we compare everything new we see to those preconceived notions. This way of learning helps to explain why humans are so easy to stereotype and frequently oversimplify people, places, and ideas, often to our own detriment. The learning of most of these prototypes happens very early in our development and is completely at the mercy of our environment. For example when looking at gender identities, children will have already begun â€Å"toShow MoreRelatedThe Goals For The West Saginaw Bay Watershed1416 Words   |  6 PagesPriority Goals: The goals for the West Saginaw Bay Watershed are based on the past studies conducted in the watershed. The goals are aimed at protecting the water quality and wildlife habitat and address the resource concerns of the watershed. Milestones were identified indicating the steps needed to reach the objective. Implementing most objectives requires a combination of three types of activities: Implementing structural and/or vegetative Best Management Practices (BMPs) Reviewing and modifying existingRead MoreFactors That Scientists Look At While Collecting Data For The Health Of A Watershed1459 Words   |  6 Pagescollecting data for watersheds, and how these factors can serve as indicators of the health of a watershed. These factors may include: runoff, pollution, water cycle, erosion, and more. Therefore, it is important to maintain the health of watersheds as they provide many benefits to humans, animals, and agriculture. We can do so by bringing attention to the challenge of protecting streams, and identifying the problems that watersheds go through which can then be repaired. What Are Watersheds? Despite theRead MoreEnvironmental Impact On Environmental Effects On 280 Hectares Forest Habitat1306 Words   |  6 PagesAfter using this approach, some criteria for mitigation activities of mitigation banks are issued. It promoted the â€Å"watershed approach† which required landscape level plans and ecological strategic decisions about compensation. Then, it emphasized on wetland functions and values, and created the online database of mitigation projects. US wetlands compensation system highlights on qualifying potential bankers which will meet the biodiversity offsets goals. This system proved that banking will provide

Friday, December 13, 2019

Bullying and Students Free Essays

Preventing Bullying Ralph Washington SOC 312 Child, Family Society Bridget Morales March 18, 2013 Bullying can be a very bad thing in our classrooms. It can hinder the development of a child and in cases cause them to harm themselves (Bojczyk, Shriner, Shriner, 2012). As a teacher it is our job to recognize the signs of bullying and create a lesson or activity to make students aware of the problem. We will write a custom essay sample on Bullying and Students or any similar topic only for you Order Now This may not solve the problem of bullying, but if more students are aware of the problem then more can be done about it. After reading â€Å"The Bully in the Mirror† by Antonio (Pacer Center, 2012), I think that it would be nice to do a dramatic play or scene around bullying. Monday- The first day of the week we would research and get an understanding of bullying. Students must be aware of the different types of bullying and the signs of bullying. This activity should be based on what the student thinks first and then compare their answers to the research. The students’ answers should be posted in the classroom and then use websites such as http://www. stopbullying. com to see just how many of the answers match the research. This website tells the educator what to do as well as the students. Teachers must first make their classroom environment safe and inviting before this activity can take place (stopbullying. com, 2000). Children are more acceptable to open up if they are in a comfortable setting. When the answers are match and the class decides on the best ones to use, and then have the students write them down. This will be the base of our activity. Tuesday- We continue our lesson on bullying by reviewing from the previous day. Today we take our information from yesterday and use it to write a short poem to prevent bullying. Encourage the students that it is not important if the poem rhymes or if it is in the actual format of a poem. The meaning behind what they write is what is important. Then have the students come up and read what they have written and discuss it with the class. The teacher must emphasize that laughing is considered a form of bullying and no laughing will be tolerated while the poems are being read (Bojczyk, Shriner, Shriner, 2012). After the poems are read then the teacher should collect them and then randomly pass them out to the students. Using their classmates work the students are asked to take the poems home and create a scene to use in our production at the end of the week. Wednesday-The scenes should be completed and now it is time to work as a group. The class is divided up into two groups and the students should use their homework to create a short play. While this is going on the teacher must re-emphasize that laughter and picking is still a part of bullying and it will not be tolerated. The teacher needs to encourage the groups to choose parts that they think will best help the students in that group. If a student is considered more outspoken then they should play a part of a shy kid or the one that is being bullied. Use the shy student to be the bully. Reversing roles will allow the other to feel what the child goes through on a daily basis. The students are asked to take their roles on home and practice with their parents and be ready to rehearse the next day. Thursday-Rehearsal begins today. The teacher becomes the director and helps the students with their skits. The teacher must realize that the object of this lesson is to teach the students how to recognize and prevent bullying. The best way for them to understand is to use their own language and concepts. The teacher is only there to guide them through the process. During rehearsal ask questions as to why they choose to use certain lines or sayings. Ask the class as a whole if they understand what is taking place in the skit. By the end of the day the students should have some idea on how to portray their part and they should be ready for the final performance. Friday-It is show time! The students are given one more chance to go over their lines before the performance begins. All week they have been working on this project and they have an understanding of bullying, but the other students in the school may not. As a final gesture to prevent bullying, the students are asked to perform for another class. The shock may be a little much for some, but it is part of the lesson. The students are asked to do this to see if they will be able to handle things outside their norm and to see if the other students are able to watch the play with being judgmental. Once again, the teacher must let the students know that laughing and picking is part of bullying. After the show is over, then the teachers should open the floor for discussions. Instead of the teacher answering the questions, allow the students that did the skit to answer the questions. The teacher should only interject when necessary. This whole lesson is to allow some change on the bullying problem. It was a creative way for a bully to see his or her ways without having to expose themselves to others. Sometimes when we can actually see our problem, then we can recognize it within ourselves. That is way Antonio used the mirror in his writings. We have to take a look at ourselves in order to see what is wrong with us. By using the skits the bully can sit back and say â€Å"hey that sounds a lot like me†. Then they are able to start to change. Now that the students have an understanding on bullying and can recognize it, they can interject when they see someone being bullied or they can help someone who has a problem with bullying. A student like Antonio needs to learn that they will have more friends and have more fun if they just fit in and not trying to be superior. Students should embrace a bully and befriend them and when they see them starting to stray, call them out on it. Let them know that they can come and discuss anything and the â€Å"buddy system† will work. Reference Bojczyk, K. E. , Shriner, B. M. , Shriner, M. (2012). Supporting children’s socialization: A developmental approach. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Pacers National Bullying Prevention Center: The End of Bullying Begins with you. Retrieved March 18, 2012 from http://www. pacer. org/bullying/resources/activities/toolkits/intro-to-bullying-prevention. asp Stop Bullying: What Can You Do. Retrieved March 18, 2012 from http://www. stopbullying. gov/what-you-can-do/educators/index. html How to cite Bullying and Students, Papers

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Dinosaurs (372 words) Essay Example For Students

Dinosaurs (372 words) Essay DinosaursDinosaurs: How they became extinct Something happened 65 million years ago, atthe end of the Cretaceous period, something so devastating that it altered thecourse of life on earth. It seems like it happened so sudden, as geologic timegoes, that almost all the dinosaurs living on earth disappeared. So how didthese dominant creatures just die off? Was it a slow extinction, or did ithappen all of the sudden? These questions bring rise to many different beliefson how the dinosaur disappeared over 65 million years ago. Extinction itself iseasily defined: When the birth rate fails to keep up with the death rate, it iscalled extinction. But, the definition does not answer the question about thenature or causes of extinction. Paleontologists generally divide extinctionsinto two types, for that of different causes arose. The first is calledbackground extinctions, isolated extinctions of species due to a variety ofcauses. Included is out competition, depletion of resources in a habitat,changes in climate, the development or destruction of a mountain range, riverchannel migration, the eruption of a volcano, the drying of a lake, or thedestruction of a forest, grassland, or wetland habitat. The second type ofextinction is called mass extinctions. There are four main components involved:Large numbers of species go extinct; many types of species go extinct; theeffects must be global; and the effects must occur in a geologically shortperiod of time. 1 The dinosaur could not have lived for ever. No creatures, noplants, no tiny bacteria are forever, not even Homo sapiens. Extinction is thefate of all species. One theory on how the dinosaurs became extinct is that ofcarbon dioxide, and the ?greenhouse effect?. Volcanoes produced the proposedconditions. A massive volcanic eruption could have saturated the atmosphere withcarbon dioxide so that it caused a sharp rise in temperatures worldwide. Theexcessive carbon dioxide would have permitted solar energy to enter theatmosphere but would have blocked the radiation of most surface heat back outinto space, therefore causing the ?greenhouse effect?. Rising temperaturescould have killed off or reduced the activity of plankton, disrupting foodchains and also messing up the plankton?s normal role in converting carbondioxide to oxygen through photosynthesis. From there it would not have been longfor all the dinosaurs to have been suffering, and then to become extinct.

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Benifits Of Technology Essays (3024 words) - Philosophy Of Life

Benifits Of Technology Man, powered by his imagination and inquisitive character, has wondered he mechanisms of Nature since time infinite. This quest for the truth, the ways in which his surrounding works, has led to many a scientific discoveries and innovations. Since the art of making fire and creating handcrafted tools, our civilization has come a long way. Science and Technology are making advances at an amazing rate. From telephones to the Internet, calculators to computers, cars to rockets and satellites, we are submerged in a sea of discoveries and inventions made possible by Science. Fields like Medicine and communications have made inroads into our cultures and thus our lifestyles. So vast is the impact of Science in our lives, that people fear the unthinkable. It leads them to accusations such as Science tries to play God. However, according to Hume, God is part of the order that exists in the universe. If so, then Science is just helping us discover the Almighty, which most people perceive as the Ultimate Truth. To quote Charles Pierce, There is one thing even more vital to science than intelligent methods; and that is, the sincere desire to find out the truth, whatever it may be. Repeatedly, it is also heard that we are so dependent on Science and Technology that we who create it are nothing but mere puppets. How can we be the slaves of this great resource? In fact, it would not be wrong to term Science as a friend of Humanity. This faithful friend has come through many a times. We have reaped innumerable benefits out of this friendship. In return, the sacrifices we had to make constituted just a small price in return. This price can be termed as a small token of appreciation for our friend, Science. According to an existential argument, existence precedes essence. If so, then human existence is absurd and unjustified. The goal of a human being then is to justify his existence. We humans tried to take charge of our own lives by choosing to justify its cause. According to Mahlotra, a person who is aware of the fact that by the freedom of choice we have, we are responsible for our actions and performs those actions acknowledging freedom of others too, is the one who shall find meaning in his life. Satre points out for us that a man is nothing else than a series of undertakings, that he is a sum, the organization, the ensemble of the relationships which make up these undertakings. For some people Science and Technology are those actions, which fill their life with meaning. Medicine for instance, is one of the thousands and thousands of fruits that we have harvested from this friendship. It has helped humankind in innumerable ways. People have started taking charge of their own health and life. Therefore, the life expectancy of a person living in the nineties is about twenty years more on an average from that which people enjoyed at the start of the last century. By the virtue of medicine, not only does a person live longer but also lives his life to the fullest in the best of health. Deadly diseases such as small pox, plague and polio have caused a large number of epidemics resulting in major loss of life. The Plague Epidemic of London in the 1600's had wiped out nearly a fifth of its' population. Researches and scientific effort led many scientists to find cures or preventive vaccinations for these life-threatening diseases. Today these diseases have been eradicated from the face of the earth. Thanks to our Science, millions of lives have been saved from the clutches of these evils. The benefits of discovery of these vaccines needed to be passed on to the public. To cater to the huge human population, Technology in this field evolved side by side the scientific progress. Better techniques resulted in faster and more efficient developments of these scientific discoveries. The field of medicine today is well equipped to cope with the health problems faced by man. Science behind Medicine has led to awareness and preventive education among the public. Certain procedures propagated through these awareness programs such as regular exercising and taking

Monday, November 25, 2019

buy custom Americas Influence on Japans Constitution of 1947 essay

buy custom America's Influence on Japan's Constitution of 1947 essay The constitution of Japan was propagated on 3rd Nov, in the year 1946 and put into effect on 3rd May in the year 1997. Both American Constitution and the Government had a significant influence on the enactment process of the Post War Constitution. It is frequently known as the Mac Arthur Constitution, since it was drafted by the staff of General Mac Arthur the Supreme Commander for allied power (SCAP) and both the Japanese people and the Japanese Government had limited amount of input to it. Therefore, this paper will discuss the influence of the United States on Japans Constitution. At the end World War II, allied powers such as the United States with other assistances from countries such as India, Australia, and New Zealand occupied Japan (Hook, Glenn, and Gavan, 2003). Political Influence There are many pressures on the new Post-War Constitution, for analytical principles, they can be divided into two types of pressure. The first one is a more deliberate political pressure, while the other one is a subtle indirect pressure. The political pressures originated from SCAP and its staffs, whereas the legal pressures rooted from the text plus fundamental ideas of the American Constitution. One of the political pressures is noticeably manifested in the latest status of the monarch and rules of the United States Government same as of Gen. MacArthur to protect the ruler as the head of state, so as to perform a stable and efficient occupation reforms in order for Japan to be a democratic state. MacArthur decided to clear Emperor Hirohito and at the beginning of year 1945, MacArthur had stated that the emperors abdication is not necessary. He cleared Hirohito and disregarded the advice of several members of the royal family plus the Japanese intellectual who openly requested for the resignation of the ruler and the execution of regency. For instance, Prince Mikasa the youngest Hirohitos brother stood up in the year 1946 and contended his brother to be accountable for the conquer and still the well known poet by the name Tatsuji Miyoshi wrote an article in Shicho magazine with the title as emperor should abdicate quickly. Decision of MacArthur to protect the monarch system was powerfully supported after meeting with the monarch in the year 1945, for the first time and he was intensely enlightened by the emperors genuine attitude (Hook et al, 2003). During that time, the emperor appeared at the top of the war criminal list planned by the Britain and Soviet Union. MacArthur was terrified by the fact that if the ruler were put to death, it might become necessary to own military rule with the likelihood of rebellions happening within Japan. Then, he considered that the ruler shoud be taken care of and anticipated that the ruler would implore and not to be accus ed as being against the law as various leaders of conquered countries would have done. Surrender of Japan Initially, Japan gave into the allies on 14th August in the year 1945, when the Japanese government informed the allied that it had admitted the Post-dam declaration. The Emperor Hirohito proclaimed the unconditional surrender of Japan in the following day on the radio. This declaration was the first radio broadcast made by the emperor and became the first time the Japans citizens heard their independents voice and this date is called Victory for Japan. This also indicated the end of WWII and the start of a lengthy path to revival for a smashed Japan (Hook et al, 2003). On Victory over Japan day, Gen. Douglas MacArthur was appointed as a supreme commander for allied powers (SCAP) by Harry Truman the president of the United States to manage the Japans occupation. During the period of war, these allied powers arranged to divide Japan among themselves for reasons of occupation, as was done for the occupation of Germany. There is no clear reason why occupation plan was altered but common theories add the raised power of the U.N following expansion of the atomic bomb, and the greater distrust by the United States President of the Soviet Union when compared with Roosevelt, plus high desire to hold Soviet Union in the Far East after the Yalta Conference. Outcomes of Occupation Disarmament The Post-War Constitution of Japan adopted under allied management incorporated a peace clause article 9, which gave up war and barred Japan from sustaining any armed forces. This aimed to stop the country from turning into a violent military power once more. Nevertheless, for a decade, American was demanding Japan to reorganize the Japans army as a barricade against collectivism in Asia after the Korean and Chinese Civil War and Japan set up a Self Defense Forces. Conventionally, spending of Japans military has been limited to around one percent of its Gross Net Profit, although this is a well-liked practice, not law and has changed down and up from the country figures (Higuchi and Yoichi, 2008). Currently, past prime minister and other politicians have attempted to modify the clause, even though the intention of the American occupation was to demilitarize the Japanese because of the succeeding Asian peril of collectivism. According to the American argument, the Japanese military wa s gradually resorted to substantial strenngth, and currently, the Japan has the 6th biggest military budget in the world. Liberalization The occupation wasnt a straightforward trial in a democracy; it is frequently depicted to be with a strengthening of the cold war supreme commander allied powers reined in its reforms initiatives. In the year 1947, the United States main concerns moved audibly from open-minded social change into economic revival and internal political constancy. Democratization demilitarization lost impetus and then appeared to stall, economic de-concentration, for instance, it was left unfinished as GHQ replied to the latest imperatives. American systems motivated business practices plus industrial rules, which have since turn to sources of disputation between Japan and its focal trade partners, markedly the U.S. In the occupation, SCAP/GHQ effectively put an end to several of the financial alliances called Zaibatsu that had before monopolized firm. Together with later American alteration of heart, nevertheless, these economic changes were also held back by the powerful and wealthy Japanese who clea rly stood to mislay a vast deal. Consequently, there were those who opposed any kind of efforts at changes proclaiming that the Zaibatsu were needed for Japan to finish globally and looser industrial federations called Keirestu developed (Higuchi and Yoichi, 2008). A key land reform was carried out, guided by Wolf Ladejinsky of Gen. Douglas MacArthurs SCAP staffs. Between year 1947 and 1949, about 5,800,000 hectares of land were bought from the landowners under reform program of the government and resold at tremendously low costs to the cultivators who worked them, and by the year 1957, 3 million peasants had obtained land dismantling authority structures that the landowner had long conquered. Conclusion The constitution of Japan is currently more than 60 years old and it has been modified more than once. The American constitution is more than 200 years old and it has been modified 27 times. Therefore, views and evaluations of the Japanese constitution at the age of 60 are tremendously differed and some individuals would states that it has turn into simply a nominal document, some deprecate its erosion, whereas others declare that the constitution is out of touch with actuality and should be modified. Nevertheless, it could be incorrect to propose that the constitution of Japan is insignificant, since by doing so, one may be misconstruing post-war history the fact is that the constitution has endured cruel critics both at home and overseas for more than 60 years and turn out to be a foundation of constitutionalism in Japanese society. Buy custom America's Influence on Japan's Constitution of 1947 essay

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Video review Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Video review - Assignment Example Another thing that stood out for me in the video was the idea that we no longer need to select fonts anymore in the quest of trying to separate format from content. The video looks at Helvetica in a way that tries to explain how typeface affects our lives. I previously believed that san-serif type of font was related in some way to the old serif font that was used in the early twentieth century. It is amazing how the font represents an approach with no embellishments, no-nonsense font that simply shows figure of symbols, directly giving the message. The video confirmed that the use of san-serif saves some ink when used as opposed to old serifs. Now, I understand why, most often than not, Helvetica font has been used in utilitarian contexts. One thing that is still circling in my mind is how graphic design, typography, and global visual culture relate. This is issue is still unresolved because I still don’t clearly understand how typeface affects our lives. a. The first thing that stood out for me in this documentary is how it tries to trace the history of how the need of mass production came to exist. Especially, where it explains how the t Chinese armies needed their arrows standardized, and as such, mass production of the arrows. b. Secondly, the way the video looks at different designers from different countries irrespective of their status, whether eccentric showoffs or serious thinkers in the quest of trying to illustrate designer’s role really stood out for me in this video. c. The way the video tries to explain why things are or feel the way they are, from a toothbrush, potato peeler or a computer really stood out for me. For instance, the video explains that the invention and the design of the modern potato peeler was so as to help people with arthritis (Hustwit, Objectified). One feature regarding the role of designers in the design process is how they are expected to ensure that products are aesthetically pleasing, useful, easy to understand,

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Technology and Human Resources Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Technology and Human Resources - Essay Example These laws clearly stipulate that the applicant’s proposal to be included among those being evaluated for placement as front desk position be justly considered without focusing on age or disability; but on similar requirements and qualifications (educational background, skills, work experiences, etc.) noted for the identified position. In no way should be employer disregard the applicant’s intention to apply due to neither age nor disability. Likewise, if the position expressly require escorting visitors to identified departments within the hospital setting, the reasonable accommodation clause addresses any challenging concerns by making sure that despite being confined in a wheelchair, the applicant could, in fact, escort visitors since the hospital has been designed to ensure that â€Å"existing facilities used by employees (are) readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities† (U.S. EEOC, n.d., p. 1). Therefore, the applicant’s application should be handled based on qualifications deemed essential in undertaking â€Å"the essential functions of the employment position that such individual holds or desires† (U.S. EEOC, n.d., p. 1) without disregarding the application due to age nor

Monday, November 18, 2019

Law Of Tort Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Law Of Tort - Coursework Example rs note an increase in the tendency of claimants to claim damages for any injury to them caused by any action or any omission on the part of others regardless of whether there was a duty to care a breach of that duty. The factor of the injury being foreseeable has also been neglected in a favour of the claimants. This tendency to litigate is fuelled by the so called ‘Ambulance chasers’i.e. lawyers who instigate parties to seek redressal in court regardless of the likelihood of success in the action. It is argued that this is the result of the influence essentially of the culture of litigation in the United States. The aim of this study is to analyze whether the so called ‘compensation culture’ exists in Britain and whether the imposition of liability might be adverse to the public interest by preventing desirable activity from taking place. As a harsh reminder of the state of affairs no other incident is more empathetic than the speech delivered by the then Prime Minister Tony Blair. This was regarding risk in public policy making. Tony Blair said â€Å"We are in danger of having a wholly disproportionate attitude to the risks we should expect to run as a normal part of life. This is putting pressure on policy making †¦ -to act to eliminate risk in a way that is out of all proportion to the potential damage. The result is a plethora of rules, guidelines, responses to ‘scandals’of one nature or another that ends up having utterly perverse consequences†1 He went on to say â€Å"Something is seriously awry when teachers feel unable to take children on school trips, for fear of being sued†¦where health and safety rules across a range of areas is taken to extremes.† The speech goes on to talk of a girl who sued the girl guides association because she burnt her legs on a sausage and the man who was injured as a result of his failing to apply the break on a toboggan run in an amusement park. The cases did not result in big compensation awards but leave

Friday, November 15, 2019

Data warehouse and data mining

Data warehouse and data mining Abstract Data mining and data warehouse is one of an important issue in a corporate world today. The biggest challenge in a world that is full of information is searching through it to find connections and data that were not previously known. Dramatic advance in data development make the role of data mining and data warehouse become important in order to improve business operation in organization. The scenarios of important data mining and data warehouse in organization are seen in the process of accumulating and integrating of vast and growing amounts of data in various format and various databases. This paper is discuss about data warehouse and data mining, the concept of data mining and data warehouse, the tools and techniques of data mining and also the benefits of data mining and data warehouse to the organizations. Keywords: Data, Data Warehouse, Data Mining, Data Mart Introduction Organizations tend to grow and prosper as they gain a better understanding of their environment. Typically, business managers must be able to track daily transactions to evaluate how the business is performing. By tapping into the operational database, management can develop strategies to meet organizational goals. The process that identified the trends and patterns in data are the factors to accomplish that. By the way, the way to handle the operational data in organization is important because the reason for generating, storing and managing data is to create information that becomes the basis for rational decision making. To facilitate the decision-making process, decision support systems (DSSs) were developed whereas it is an arrangement of computerized tools used to assist managerial decision making within a business. Decision support is a methodology that designed to extract information from data and to use such information as a basis for decision making. However, information re quirements have become so complex that is difficult for a DSS to extract all necessary information from the data structures typically found in an operational database. Therefore, a data mining and data warehouse was developed and become a proactive methodology in order to support managerial decision making in organization. Concept of Data Warehouse A data warehouse is a firms repositories that running the process of updating and storing historical business data of organization whereas the process then transform the data into multidimensional data model for efficient querying and analysis. All the data stored are extracts or obtains its data from multiple operational systems in organization with containing the information of relevant activity that occurred in the past in order to support organizational decision making. A data mart, on the other hand, is a subset of a data warehouse. It holds some special information that has been grouped to help business in making better decisions. Data used here are usually derived from data warehouse. The first organized used of such large database started with OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) whereas the focused is analytical processing of organization. The diffrences between a data mart and a data warehouse is only the size and scope of the problem being solved. According to William H.Inmon (2005), a data warehouse is a subject-oriented, integrated, time-varying, and non-volatile collection of data in support of the managements decision-making process. To understand that definition, the components will be explained more detailed; Integrated Provide a unified view of all data elements with a common definition and representation for all business units. Subject-oriented Data are stored with a subject orientation that facilitates multiple views of the data and facilitates decision making. For example, sales may be recorded by product, by division, by manager, or by region. Time-variant Dates are recorded with a historical perspective in mind. Therefore, a time dimension is added to facilitate data analysis and various time comparisons. Nonvolatile Data cannot be changed. Data are added only periodically from historical systems. Once the data are properly stored, no changes are allowed. Therefore, the data environment is relatively static. In summary, the data warehouse is usually a read-only database optimized for data analysis and query processing. Typically, data are extracted from various sources and are then transformed and integrated, in other words, passed through a data filter, before being loaded into the data warehouse. Users access the data warehouse via front-end tools and end-user application software to extract the data in usable form. The Issues That Arise in Data Warehouse Although the centralized and integrated data warehouse can be a very attractive proposition that yields many benefits, managers may be reluctant to embrace this strategy. Creating a data warehouse requires time, money, and considerable managerial effort. Therefore, it is not surprising that many companies begin their foray into warehousing by focusing on more manageable data sets that are targeted to meet the special needs of small groups within the organization. These smaller data warehouse are called data marts. A data mart is a small, single-subject data warehouse subset that provides decision support to a small group of people. Some organizations choose to implement data marts not only because of the lower cost and shorter implementation time, but also because of the current technological advances and inevitable people issues that make data marts attractive. Powerful computers can provide a customized DSS to small groups in ways that might not be possible with a centralized syste m. Also, a companys culture may predispose its employees to resist major changes, but they might quickly embrace relatively minor changes that lead to demonstrably improved decision support. In addition, people at different organizational levels are likely to require data with different summarization, aggregation, and presentation formats. Data marts can serve as a test vehicle for companies exploring the potential benefits of data warehouses. By migrating gradually from data marts to data warehouses, a specific departments decision support needs can be addressed within a reasonable time frame (six month to one year), as compared to the longer time frame usually required to implement a data warehouse (one to three years). Information Technology (IT) departments also benefit from this approach because their personnel have the opportunity to learn the issues and develop the skills required to create a data warehouse. Concept of Data Mining Data mining is the forecasting techniques and analytical tools that extensively used in industries and corporates to ensure the effectiveness in decision making. Data mining is a tools to analyze the data, uncover problems or opportunities hidden in the data relationships, form computer models based on their findings, and then use the models to predict business behavior by requiring minimal end-user intervention. The way it works is through search of valuable information from a huge amount of data that is collected over time and defined the patterns or relationships of information that present by data. In business field, the organization use data mining to predict the customer behaviour in the business environment. The process of data mining started from analyzed the data from different perspectives and summarized it into useful information, which from the information then created knowledge to address any number of business problems. For the example, banks and credit card companies u se knowledge-based analysis to detect fraud, thereby decreasing fraudulent transactions. In fact, data mining has proved to be very helpful in finding practical relationships among data that help define customer buying patterns, improve product development and acceptance, reduce healthcare fraud, analyze stock markets and so on. Data Mining in Historical Perspective Over the last 25 years or so, there has been a gradual evolution from data processing to data mining. In the 1960s business routinely collected data and processed it using database management techniques that allowed an orderly listing and tabulation of the data as well as some query activity. The OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) became routine, data retrieval from stored data bacame faster and more efficient because of the availability of new and better storage devices, and data processing became quicker and more efficient because of advancement in computer technology. Database management advanced rapidly to include highly sophisticated query systems, and became popular not only in business applications but also in scientific inquiries. Approaches of Data Mining in Various Industries With data mining, a retail store may find that certain products are sold more in one channel of distribution than in the others, certain products are sold more in one geographical location than in others, and certain products are sold when a certain event occurs. With data mining, a financial analyst would like to know the characteristics of a successful prospective employee; credit card departments would like to know which potential customers are more likely to pay back the debt and when a credit card is swiped, which transaction is fraudulent and which one is legitimate; direct marketers would like to know which customers purchase which types of products; booksellers like Amazon would like to know which customers purchase which types of books (fiction, detective stories or any other kind) and so on. With this type of information available, decision makers will make better choices. Human resource people will hire the right individuals. Credit departments will target those prospectiv e customers that are less prone to become delinquent or less likely to involve in fraudulent activities. Direct marketers will target those customers that are likely to purchase their products. With the insight gained from data mining, businesses may wish to re-configure their product offering and emphasize specific features of a product. These are not the only uses of data mining. Police use this tool to determine when and where a crime is likely to occur, and what would be the nature of that crime. Organized stock changes detect fraudulent activities with data mining. Pharmaceutical companies mine data to predict the efficacy of compounds as well as to uncover new chemical entities that may be useful for a particular disease. The airline industry uses it to predict which flights are likely to be delayed (well before the flight is scheduled to depart). Weather analyst determine weather patterns with data mining to predict when there will be rain, sunshine, a hurricane, or snow. Bes ide that, nonprofit companies use data mining to predict the likelihood of individuals making a donation for a certain cause. The uses of data mining are far reaching and its benefits may be quite significant. Data Mining Tools and Techniques Data mining is the set of tools that learn the data obtained and then using the useful information for business forecasting. Data mining tools use and analyze the data that exist in databases, data marts, and data warehouse. A data mining tools can be categorized into four categories of tools which are prediction tools, classification tools, clustering analysis tools and association rules discovery. Below are the elobaration of data mining tools: Prediction Tools A prediction tool is a method that derived from traditional statistical forecasting for predicting a value of the variable. Classification Tools The classification tools are attempt to distinguish the differences between classes of objects or actions. Given the example is an advertiser may want to know which aspect of its promotion is most appealing to consumers. Is it a price, quality or reliability of a product? Or maybe it is a special feature that is missing on competitive products. This tools help give such information on all the products, making possible to use the advertising budget in a most effective manner. Clustering Analysis Tools This is very powerful tools for clustering products into groups that naturally fall together which are the groups are identified by the program. Most of the clusters discovered may not be useful in business decision. However, they may find one or two that are extremely important which the ones the company can take advantage of. The most common use is market segmentation which in this process, a company divides the customer base into segments dependent upon characteristics like income, wealth and so on. Each segment is then treated with different marketing approach. Association Rules Discovery This tool discover associations which are like what kinds of books certain groups of people read, what products certain groups of people purchase and so on. Businesses use such information in targeting their markets. For instance, recommends movies based on movies people have watched and rated in the past. There are four general phases in data mining which are data preparation, data analysis and classification, knowledge acquisition and prognosis. Data Preparation In the data preparation phase, the main data sets to be used by the data mining operation are identified and cleaned of any data impurities. Because the data in the data warehouse are already integrated and filtered, the data warehouse usually is the target set for data mining operations. Data Analysis The data anlysis and classification phase studies the data to identify common data characteristics or patterns. During this phase, the data mining tool applies specific algorithm to find: Data groupings, classifications, clusters, or sequences. Data dependencies, links, or relationships. Data patterns, trends, and deviations. Knowledge Acquisition The knowledge-acquisition phase uses the results of the data analysis and classification phase. During the knowledge-acquisition phase, the data mining tool (with possible intervention by the end user) selects the appropriate modeling or knowledge-acquisition algorithms. The most common algorithms used in data mining are based on neural networks, decision trees, rules induction, genetic algorithms, classification and regression trees, memory-based reasoning, and nearest neighbor and data visualization. A data mining tool may use many of these algorithms in any combination to generate a computer model that reflects the behavior of the target data set. Prognosis Although many data mining tools stop at the knowledge-acquisition phase, others continue to the prognosis phase. In that phase, the data mining findings are used to predict future behavior and forecast business outcomes. Examples of data mining findings can be: 65% of customers who did not use a particular credit card in the last six months are 88% likely to cancel that account. 82% of customers who bought a 27-inch or larger TV are 90% likely to buy an entertainment center within the next four weeks. If age < 30 and income < = 25,000 and credit rating 25,000, then the minimum loan term is ten years. The complete set of findings can be represented in a decision tree, a neural net, a forecasting model, or a visual presentation interface that is used to project future events or results. For example, the prognosis phase might project the likely outcome of a new product rollout or a new marketing promotion. The Benefit and Weaknesess of Data Warehouse to Organization Data warehouse is the one of powerful techniques that applies in organization in order to assist managerial decision making within a business. This methodology becomes a crucial asset in modern business enterprise. It is designed to extract information from data and to use such information as a basis for decision making. The organization will get more benefit with application of data warehouse because the features of data warehouse itself is its a central repositories that stores historical information, meaning say that eventhough the data come from differ location and various points in time but all the relevant data are assembled in one location and was organized in efficient manner. Indirectly, it makes a profit to company because it greatly reduces the computing cost. One of the advantage of using data warehouse is it allows the accessible of large volume information whereas the information will be used in problem solving that arise in business organization. All the data that are from multiple sources that located in central repository will be analyze in order to allow them come out with a choice of solutions. However there are also having weaknesses that need to concern as well. The processes of data warehouse actually take a long period of time bacause before all the data can be stored into warehouse, they need to cleaned, extracted and loaded. The process of maintaining the data is one of the problems in data warehouse because it is not easy to handle. The compatibility may be the isssued in order to implement the data warehouse in organization because the new transaction system that tried to implement may not work with the system that already used. Beside that, the user that works with the system must be trained to use the system because without having a proper training may cause a problem. Furthermore, if the data warehouse can be accessed via the internet, the security problem might be the issue. The biggest problem that related with the data warehouse is the costs that must taken into consideration especially for their maintenance. Any organization that is considering using a data w arehouse must decide if the benefits outweigh the costs. Conclusion Successfully supporting managerial decision-making is significantly dependent upon the availability of integrated, high quality information organized and presented in a timely and in simply way to understand. Data mining and data warehouse have emerged to meet this need. The application of data mining and data warehouse will be apart of crucial element in organization in order to assist the managerial running the operation smoothly and at the same time will help them to accomplish the business goal. It is because both of these techniques are the foundation of decision support system. Today data mining and data warehouse are an important tools and more companies will begin using them in the future. REFERENCES Bonifati, A., Cattaneo, F., Ceri, F., Fuggetta, A., and Paraboschi, S., (2001). Designing data marts for data warehouse. ACM Transactions On Software Engineering And Methodology, 10, 452-483. Retrieved February 15, 2010 from: http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezaccess.library.uitm.edu.my/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?contentType=ArticleFilename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldAbstractOnlyArticle/Pdf/2810110103.pdf Chaplot, P., (2007). An introduction to data warehousing. Retrieved February 14, 2010 from: http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezaccess.library.uitm.edu.my/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?contentType=ArticleFilename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/0291000304.pdf Roiger, R.,J., (2005). Teaching an introductory course in data mining. Retrieved February 13, 2010 from: http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1070000/1067620/p415-roiger.pdf?key1=1067620key2=7107846621coll=ACMdl=ACMCFID=76668031CFTOKEN=26856088 Santos, R., J., and Bernandino, J. Real-time data warehouse loading methodology. Retrieved February 13, 2010 from: http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezaccess.library.uitm.edu.my/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?contentType=ArticleFilename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/0291010105.pdf Chowdhury, S., Chan, J.,O., (2007). Data warehousing and data mining: a course in mba and msis program from uses perspective. Data Warehousing And Data Mining. 7. Retrieved February 15, 2010 from: http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezaccess.library.uitm.edu.my/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?contentType=ArticleFilename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/1640150202.pdf Ranjan, J., Malik, K., (2007). Effective educational process: a data mining approach. The Journal Of Information And Knowledge Management Systems. 37, 502-515. Retrieved February 16, 2010 from: http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezaccess.library.uitm.edu.my/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?contentType=ArticleFilename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullText Mora, S., L., Trujillo, J., Song, I, Y., (2006). A uml profile for multidimensional modeling in data warehouses. Data Knowledge Engineering. 59, 725-769. Retrieved February 20, 2010 from: http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezaccess.library.uitm.edu.my/science?_ob=MImg_imagekey March, S., T., Hevner, A., R., (2005). Integrated decision support systems: a data warehousing perspective. Retrieved February 21, 2010 from: http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1460000/1451949/p49santos.pdf?key1=1451949key2=1956846621coll=ACMdl=ACMCFID

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Growth of Mormon Church Essay -- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day

On, April 6, 1830, a then 24-year-old young man named Joseph Smith Jr. gathered in a small room along with six other people to organize a Church that would change American history. Since the age of 14, Joseph Smith had always been a source of contentment and ridicule by people of all social classes and religions. Ten years earlier, in the spring of 1820, this young boy declared that he had seen a vision, that he had been visited by both God, and His Son, Jesus Christ. This vision is a cornerstone of the Church that is known today as, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, nicknamed the â€Å"Mormons†, a religion that was built on the ideals of communal living and strict obedience to religious guidelines, a people that would be hunted by mobs, and that would eventually erect a â€Å"sanctuary† of 15,000 â€Å"saints† only 13 years after its foundation, a religion that Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum would be murdered for at the age of 38, a Church that would grow from 7 members in 1830, to a congregation of over 11 million in the year 2000.# Why did many early American settlers, both rich and poor, believe in the Mormon doctrines and, by contrast, why did so many early settlers despise these people for their beliefs? In order for us to understand how the early Mormon Church grew at such a rapid pace, and why this particular new religion survived when many others started with the same fervor, but did not have the staying power of Mormonism, we have to first look at the time and region in which this new faith began. I don’t know if there could have been a time and place any where in the world that was more prepared for Joseph Smith Jr., and the Mormon religion, than western New York in the early 1830’s. At this time in U.S. history, what was called the â€Å"Second Great Awakening† was taking place throughout the country,# and western New York had been labeled the â€Å"Burned-over District† by a lawyer from New York, named Charles Finney, because it â€Å"had been scorched by the flames of religious enthusiasm.†# Revivals and religious fervor were taking hold, and many new denominations were being formed, this area of the country became famous â€Å"for its hist ory of revivalism, radicalism, utopian experiments. It was fertile ground for new ideas to take root and spread to other parts of the country.†# Joseph Smith was able to capitalize on this when he founded the LDS Church ... ...wakening and Rise of Evangelicalism, 15 February 2005, http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA95/finseth/evangel.html Brodie, Fawn McKay. No Man Knows My History, The Life of Joseph Smith, The Mormon Prophet. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1945. Joseph Smith-History: Extracts From the History of Joseph Smith, The Prophet. Utah: Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1979. Mississippi River Home Page, Mormons in the Midwest, 1830-1846, 15 February 2005, http://www.greatriver.com/mormons.htm National Humanities Center, Evangelicalism, Revivalism, and the Second Great Awakening, 15 February 2005, http://www.nhc.rtp.nc.us/tserve/nineteen/nkeyinfo/nevanrev.htm Public Broadcast Service. American Prophet: The Story of Joseph Smith. 15 February 2005, http://www.pgs.org/americanprophet/index.html. San Diego University History Department, The Burned-Over District, 15 February 2005, http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/civilwar/01/burned.html The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 15 February 2005, http://www.lds.org/ The National Parks Service, Mormon Pioneer, 15 February 2005, http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/mopi/hrs1.htm

Monday, November 11, 2019

Multiculturalism in Early Childhood Education Essay

Introduction In recent times, early childhood education is becoming more diverse. Early childhood providers are required to attempt many challenging tasks. One of the most difficult of these is providing our children with diverse, multicultural experiences. (Ogletree & Larke, 2010) Since the beginning of times, young children have been raised by their families, extended families, clans and communities. Even today, most childcare homes and many early childhood programs tend to be fairly consistent and quite similar to the child’s home background. Parents tend to choose childcare and early childhood programs based on whether the programs match their own views of education and discipline. (Tarman & Tarman, 2011) Programs nowadays are expected to provide the children with experiences outside of their groups, offering opportunities to teach them to be tolerant, respectful and accepting of differences. (Derman-Sparks, 1989) Bennet (1995) described multicultural education â€Å"as an approach to teaching and learning that is based upon democratic beliefs and seeks to foster cultural pluralism within culturally diverse societies and an interdependent world.† In Singapore, where we have a culturally diverse population, it is essential to be sensitive towards each other’s cultural practices, beliefs and views. Thus, the reason to include multicultural education into the early childhood education system deems as important. The logical reason being that brain research has proved that the â€Å"prime time† for emotional and social development in children is from birth to twelve years of age. (Abdullah, 2009) Issues in Including Multicultural Education in Early Childhood Education There are several issues that do not allow multicultural education to permeate the early childhood programs in Singapore. Curriculum The curriculum of a center shows the process in which learning outcomes will be achieved. Therefore, including the goals and objectives of multicultural education into the center’s curriculum is essential. It has to be infused throughout the curriculum. Good early childhood pedagogy reflects and empowers the diverse cultural backgrounds of the children and families with whom they work. (Robinson & Jones, 2006) Including children’s identity into the daily programming and planning of the early childhood curriculum is considered necessary for developing their self-esteem as well as cultivating  their appreciation for diversity that exists more widely in our society. (Abdullah, 2009) In Singapore, multicultural education is not a mainstream issue. With Singaporeans being more aware of issues and events through globalization and internet, it is truly essential that multicultural education is included in schools. Quah (as cited in Berthelsen & Karuppiah, 2011) has discussed the expanded ethnic and religious awareness strain among Singapore in recent years. Recent cases such as the wearing of the Muslim head-dress in government schools drummed up a buzz around the diverse ethnic groups in Singapore and resuscitated ethnic strains. These cases show that government policies need to be re-evaluated painstakingly so as to safeguard cultural harmony and maintain respect for cultural diversity. Thus, gaining support from the Government to deal with this issue indepth is significant. Language Development Usually the educational system in most countries applies the national language as the medium of instruction. However, multiculturalism and the distinguishment of the important role of language in studying makes it compulsory for differing qualities of dialect, abilities and correspondence styles to be recognized, esteemed and utilized within all early childhood services. The procurement for children to study the majority language whilst maintaining their first language ought to be underpinned and energized. This obviously is to propose bilingualism or in any event underpin for the home dialect as a strategy even at the unanticipated youth level. (Abdullah, 2009) Research has demonstrated that there can just be favourable circumstances to the child other than ensuring and regarding home dialect. (Hakuta, 1986) This primary issue and challenge for the procurement of bilingual training is one of human assets. Relatively few countries will have the personnel who themselves are bilingual or multilingual. Consequently, children with languages other than the national language to look, maintain and to develop  and broaden their language and concept development within early childhood services.(Vuckovic, 2008) All children have the chance to listen to, utilise and study the majority language in a steady environment where assets, materials and individuals are utilized to scaffold their learning in a majority language. Early Childhood Education Staff Staff working in childcare centers and early childhood education programs has the ability to create an impact on the children’s developing attitudes towards cultural diversity more than any other person in the child’s life. This is an undeniable fact. It is crucial that staff go through appropriate training or staff advancement programs, which include the essential knowledge, skills and attitudes for such an avocation. Teacher must take the steps necessary to better themselves as teachers in multicultural education settings. With the changing face of today’s classrooms, there is a growing need to address multiculturalism an diversity awareness. (Riskowski & Olbricht, 2010) Training courses for early childhood educators might as well have components in both content and conveyance that address diversity of cultures. (Verma, 2003) Pre-service preparation in the form of actual scenarios where teachers are set in multicultural or classrooms made up of cultures different from their own are particularly adequate in getting them to re-look at their existing convictions and biases.(Jacobson, 2003) This type of learning emphatically influences teachers’ manners towards teaching in diverse settings. Pre-service learning has the potential of enabling teacher candidates to stand up to challenging issues of social inequities and to start the deconstruction of lifelong attitudes and the development of socially just educators. (Baldwin, Buchanan & Rudisill, 2007) Issues Affecting Child as a Learner Children need an education, which allows them to take their place in this multicultural society. A child as young as two and three years are familiar with human distinctions and this mindfulness is connected with the improvement of specific disposition. An essential socialization as well as  preferences and habit pattern in the early years of life leaves a preserving impact on the individual. .(Jacobson, 2003) These findings feature the importance of bringing social values and attitudes to children’s attention during this critical developmental period. Using this evidence, it becomes clear that early childhood community needs to address the needs of multicultural children and their unique families. These children include biological, multiracial and multi-ethnic children in blended homes, foster homes, adoptive homes and a variety of biological homes. In the early years, the child’s family assumes the leading role in socialising the child to the conduct, beliefs, convictions and plans held inside their culture. (Garbarino, 1992) With the rise in the amount of working parents and children partaking in group programs from an early age, preschools have likewise turned into compelling socialisation force. (Berthelsen & Karuppiah, 2011) Young children who live in a multicultural community experience social differences firsthand; it is part of their world. Then again, other children who live in a monocultural group frequently have challenges comprehending and tolerating an environment that is not the same as theirs. Knowing increasingly about the noteworthiness of children’s voyages between home and school and the impacts of these adventures, teachers can help these children unite the universes of home and school and all different worlds that they might experience in theirdaily lives. (Vuckovic, 2008) Pressures from mass media likewise push an impact on children to fit in with a uniform set of necessitites, dialect, method of articulation inshort, a whole way of life. They are exposed to a ‘counter culture’, which declines and demoralizes articulation from expressing their culture of origin. Regularly, this brings about immense pressures for the children, with parents demanding adherence to the old customs, with traditions practised in the home and frequently in activities outside the home. The consequence is that by and large, parents get estranged from their children who are attempting to comprehend and adapt to their transitory sub-culture, yet endeavouring to make a successful modification into another society, which  secretively and frequently unintentionally denies them this right.( Lin & Bates, 2010) Misconceptions in Teachers The most common issue is misconceptions in multiculturalism. Educators are unsure of their own ability to define what their role is in teaching culture. Teachers need the knowledge, skills and positive attitudes to know what to teach and how to teach. (Berthelsen, & Karuppiah, 2011) Teachers need to teach in a way that will meet the needs of all of their students. It may not be easy and may require more attention, time and effort. An issue teachers face is that pre-service teachers are leaving their courses unassuming to educate in today’s diverse classrooms. The dominant parts of them are leaving courses after just having one or two essential modules on educating in a multicultural setting. They are not ready for interacting with different cultures than the shielded ones that a large portion of them live in. (Lin & Bates, 2010) They are not ready for the distinctive needs controlled by today’s multicultural student population. They end up being not as qualified in this area as they should be. One reason for this could be that teachers express that students oppose multicultural education. (Atwater, Freeman, Bulter & Morris, 2010) Why is this the case? Everyone holds his or her beliefs about things. The zone of multicultural instruction is no distinctive. One of the first things that a teacher must do is to analyse herself. She ought to perceive how the conclusions, convictions and viewpoints that she holds influence the curriculum that she is planning to teach. Whether purposeful or not, a teacher’s comtemplations, recognitions, inclinations and sentiments can likely be depicted to her students. (Nichols & Dong, 2011) A â€Å"tourist approch† towards multiculturalism where cultures are only taught through celebrations, food and traditional clothing is a very common sighting in Singapore. (Berthelsen & Karrupiah, 2011) It is both disparaging and trivializing and does not give a genuine comprehension of different societies.(Derman-Sparks, 1989) Teacher need to comprehend their own particular convictions about cultures and differing qualities so as to  execute multicultural education programs viably with young children. Teachers should take the steps important to better themselves as instructors in multicultural settings. This is no feat that can be accomplished overnight. Multicultural Education in Singapore Singapore is a multi-racial, multi-lingual and multi-religious society. Our population comprises mainly Chinese, Malays, Indians and others. Multicultural education is not a mainstream issue in Singapore. While the government has been capable to keep up peace and congruity through its political, social and financial strategies and unique days, it does not manage the issue in profundity. As Singaporeans are presently for the most part more mindful of issues and occasions around the world through globalization and the web, it has become progressively critical for Singapore to think about multicultural education in schools. In the meantime as empowering differences through conservation of the social personality of the racial and ethnic aggregations in the nation, the government has likewise attempted to work towards building social union around diverse assemblies, which offered ascent to the trademark ‘unity in diversity’. (Berthelsen & Karuppiah, 2011) For multicultural ed ucation to be viable, it must be taught in the early years of education and strengthened in the later stages. Since children’s attitudes to their and other social assemblies start to structure in the early years, early childhood educators can impact the improvement of uplifting demeanor towards others, as well as consolidating an educational program concentrate on tolerance wand cross-cultural understandings of others. Early childhood educators, however, cannot adopt a â€Å"tourist approach† to multiculturalism which generalizes other societies and transforms the multicultural educational module into a â€Å"tourist curriculum†. ‘Tourist curriculum† which educates about cultures through festivals and antiquities of society, for example, food and traditional clothing, is both disparaging and trivializing and does not give a genuine comprehension of other cultures. Teachers need to understand their own beliefs about culture and diversity in order to implement multicultural education programs effectively with young children. (Berthelsen & Karuupiah, 2011) A survey was done by Berthelsen & Karuppiah(2011) to find out their understandings of multicultural education and their perceptions of its  importance in early childhood education. This was conducted in Singapore among a variety of teachers workingin private and public kindergartens and childcare centers. The participants came from different ethnic groups in Singapore. Perceptions about multiculturalism and children’s learning In this case study, they found that most teachers had restricted comprehension of multiculturalism. They saw multiculturalism as just regarding race and in the connection of Singapore.  About 60% of the participants expressed that multicultural education implied having information of one;s culture and additionally other cultures. They believed that this learning is sufficient and would immediately carry individuals out of diverse societies together. Another 40% showed that children learn prejudices, dispositions, convictions and qualities from the adults around them, parents and teachers. They communicated convictions that schools assume a paramount part in educating children about diverse cultures. Beliefs about teaching for multiculturalism The same group of teachers were asked their beliefs about teaching for multiculturalism. Twenty of them thought directing a multicultural program implied examining distinctive cultures regarding their food, clothing, celebrations, traditions and so forth. This brings it back to the â€Å"tourist approach† that Derman-Sparks(1989) implied when educating about multiculturalism. They did not go past a tourist point of view in advancing an ‘anti-bias’ approach to educating and researching the distinctive cultures. Thirteen others said preschool centers should treat kids of diverse cultures similarly and decently. Sixteen teachers thought individuals might as well put stock in multicultural education and be supportive of it. The greater part of teachers who had constructive encounters in multicultural situations or with multicultural individuals were likewise more agreeable than others without such encounters in examining multicultural issues. A few teachers had reservations about talking over  Ã¢â‚¬Å"delicate† issues, for example race or religion. Professional learning needs about multiculturalism Based on the survey done by Berthelsen & Karuppiah(2011), the teachers comprehended that they needed to understand more about multicultural education. They agreed that teachers needed knowledge, skills and positive attitudes to know what to teach and how to teach. However, the teachers did not explicitly discuss the vitality of individual reflection to comprehend their own particular prejudices, demeanor, convictions and qualities, and how these could influence their educating and learning. There were no critical or elaborated ideas on the challenges and opportunities to implement multicultural education programs. Recommendations James A. Banks, a specialist in multicultural education, has developed the five dimensions of multicultural education. He realised that in his work, numerous teachers considered multicultural education as simply content integration, meaning utilizing samples, information and data from diverse cultures. (Ogltree & larke, 2010) The five dimensions are content integration, knowledge constructions, equity pedagogy, prejudice reduction and empowering school culture and social structure. He desired for teachers to have the skills and knowledge and racial attitudes needed to work with people from diverse groups and to use a wide variety of strategies that cater to a wider range of students. (Banks, 2002) Content Integration Teachers should use several different approaches to integrate content about racial, ethnic and cultural groups into the curriculum. One of the most popular is the Contributions Approach. When this approach is used, teachers insert isolated facts about ethnic and cultural group heroes and heroines into the curriculum without changing the structure of their lesson plans and units. Knowledge Construction It helps students to understand how knowledge is constructed and how it reflects the experiences, values, and perspectives of its creators. In this approach, the structure, assumptions, and perspectives of the curriculum are  changed so that the concepts, events, and issues taught are viewed from the perspectives and experiences of a range of racial, ethnic, and cultural groups. The center of the curriculum no longer focuses on mainstream and dominant groups, but on an event, issue, or concept that is viewed from many different perspectives and points of view. This is done while at the same time helping students to understand the nation’s common heritage and traditions. Teachers should help students to understand that while they live in a diverse nation, all citizens of a nation-state share many cultural traditions, values, and political ideals that cement the nation. Multicultural education seeks to actualize the idea of e pluribus unum, i.e. to create a society that recogn izes and respects the cultures of its diverse peoples united within a framework of democratic values that are shared by all. (Banks, 2002) Prejudice Reduction According to Banks, this dimension is important in creating a â€Å"more positive racial and ethnic attitudes.† Basically, this dimension is the aspect of education where the teacher helps to lessen the amount of prejudice within students. Equity Pedagogy Teachers change their methods to enable kids from diverse racial groups and both genders to achieve. Empowering School Culture and Social Structure James Banks talks about looking not just at individual classrooms, but at the total school culture to see how to make it more equitable and using the other four dimensions to create a safe and healthy educational environment for all. James Banks’ five dimensions support that a child’s racial attitudes can change but education must start early and that early childhood programs are the perfect place to start multicultural education. (Vuckovic, 2008) Teachers As such, how can we make this a better transition for both teachers and the children? Sheets(as cited in Nichols & Dong, 2011) said, â€Å"all teachers can begin and most evolve into culturally competent educators; however, it is  important to become conscious that the ardous journey from novice to expert requires hard work, relentless commitment, and a high investment of time and energy†. Two evident approaches for joining multicultural education with teacher education programs are infusion versus segregation, and culture-specific versus culture-general. (Melnick & Zeichner, 1997) Ladson-Billings (as cited in Berthelsen & Karuppiah,2011), proposed a basic structure for breaking down teacher preparation programs. She argued that, paying little mind to prospective teachers; race, ethnicity or backgrounds; the educational module should include a target on comprehending the way of pre-service teacher relationships and the cultural bases of the educational program, educating and society. The education of teachers should boost self-reflection on values and beliefs about cultural difference and advocate the studying approaches, which allow for teacher inclusion that is dymanic, significant and ethno-linguistically appropriate. The plans of Melnick and Zeichner (1997) and Ladson-Billings (as cited in Berthelsen & Karuppiah, 2011) could be connected to teacher education programs for early childhood education in Singapore. Such programs might investigate how preschool educators characterize and conceptualize multicultural education; fuse investigations of the history of race relationships; and use careful investigations and field encounters to provide teachers with chances to gain greater knowledge, skills and understandings of their own culture as well as of other cultural and language groups in their society. In particular, they should learn how to advance suitable programs for young children that consolidate encounters to permit children to comprehend cultural differences and encourage relationships between children of distinctive cultural backgrounds. Environment There is a need for physical environment where children are well versed to reflect the cultures represented by the children working within it. For example, pictures, books, art, music, activities, cooking and recognition of certain significant days important to each culture can reflect this orientation. (Jacobson, 2003) There is a need to advocate in children, knowledge of the similarities and contrasts in cultures, underscoring the  likeness while encouraging an inspirational demeanor towards and delight in the differences. This could be attained through celebrating various holidays, enjoying reading material, folklore, music, art, games and introducing foods of various cultures. There is a need for a social or racial match between some educating staff and children in schools to be accomplished. This shows how the administration and teachers work together to decrease racial stereotypes and prejudices in the school and increase democratic attitudes, values and behaviours. The support from management is definitely essential. (Banks, 2002) Conclusion Multiculturalism is worthwhile undertaking in early childhood education based on our country’s population. It prepares children for the challenges of the globalized world. To attain the above, early childhood settings need to plan an environment, which puts forth diversity positively through resources, and materials that do not sustain stereotypes. It is also essential that a multicultural education, from pre-school onwards permeates the whole curriculum. It is inadequate to commit a component regularly reputed to be ‘ethnic studies’ to a corner of the syllabus or to a half hour period for every week. Most desirable is that interpersonal relations ought to be passed on by long-term and rational modeling and that knowledge gained ought to be by first-hand experience. Important implications need to be addressed before infusing it into the early childhood curriculum and equal collaboration between children, teachers, parents, administrators, employers and the wider community is essential. (Vuckovic, 2008) References Abdullah, A. C. (2009) Multicultural education in early childhood: Issues and challenges. Journal of International Coopeation in Education, 12(1) Atwater, M., Freeman, T., Butler, M., Morris, J. (2010). A case study of science teacher candidates’ understandings and actions related to the culturally responsive teaching of â€Å"other† students. International Journal of Environmental and Science Education. 5. 287-318. Baldwin. S. C., Buchanan, A. M., & Rudisill, M. e. (2007). What teacher candidates learned about diversity, social justice, and themselves from service-learning experiences. Journal of Teacher Education, 58(4), 315-327. Bennett, C. (2003). Comprehensive multicultural education: Theory and practice. (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn Bacon. Berthelsen, D., & Karuppiah, N. (2011). Multiculturaleducation: The understandings of preschool teachers in Singapore. Australian Journal of Early Childhood Education. 36(4). Derman-Sparks, L. (1989). Anti-bias curriculum: Tools for empowering young children. Washington, D.C: National Association for the Education of Young Children. Garbarino, J. (1992). Children and families in the social environment (2nd ed.). New York: Aldine de Gruyter. Hakuta, K. (1986). Mirror of language: The debate on bilingualism. New York: Basic Books. Jacobson, T. (2003). Confronting our discomfort: Clearing the way for anti-bias in early childhood. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Lin, M., & Bates, A. B. (2010). Home visits: How do they affect teachers’ beliefs about teaching and diversity? Early Childhood Education Journal, 38, 179-185. Melnick, S., & Zeichner, K. (1997). Teacher education for cultural diversity. Enhancing the capacity of teacher education for institutions to address diversity issues. In J. King, E. Hollins, & W. Hayman (Eds.), Meeting the challenge of diversity in teacher preparation (pp. 23-39). New York: Teachers College Press. Nichols, M. E., & Dong, E. (2011). Meeting the needs for today’s multicultural classroom: A review of literature. The Journal of Multiculturalism in Education, 7(1). Ogletree, Q., & Larke, P. J. (2010). Implementing multicultural practices in early childhood Education. National Forum of Multicultural Issues Journal, 7(1). Quah, J. S. T. (2000). Government policies and nation-building & searching for Singapore’s national values. Singapore: South East Printing. Riskowski, J. & Olbricht, G. (2010). Student views of diversity: A multicultural mathematics activity. Viewing transformation during the middle school years. Multicultural Education. 2-12. Sheets, R. (2009). What is diversity pedagogy?. Multicultural Education. 11-17. Tarman, I., & Tarman, B. (2011). Developing effective multicultural practices: A case study of exploring a teacher’s understanding and practices. The Journal of International Social Research, 4(17). Verma, G. K. (2003). Ethnic diversity and multicultural education: Cross-cutting issues and concepts. Proceedings of The International Conference on Globalization and Multicultural Perspectives in Education, Penang, Malaysia, 3-4 Dec. 2003. Vuckovic, A. (2008). Making the multicultural learning environment flourish: The importance of the child-teacher relationship in educating young children about diversity. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 33(1).

Friday, November 8, 2019

Dos and Donts of Social Security Disability Video

Dos and Donts of Social Security Disability Video Do’s and Don’ts of Social Security Disability Video Applying for Social Security Disability can be a complicated process.   If you or a relative or friend is considering applying for benefits, you may be wondering what you should do to have the best outcome.There’s a lot involved in the process, and many tips and steps to remember. To help simplify this, we’ve created an engaging video that explains the main do’s and don’ts of the application process. These simple, yet effective tips are important to keep in mind before, during and after the application process.Check out the video today and share with your loved ones to help them on the journey to receiving benefits. Also, be sure to download our SSD Process Infographic.We Can HelpIf you are disabled and unable to work, call  Disability Attorneys of Michigan  for a free confidential consultation. We’ll let you know if we can help you get a monthly check and help you determine if any money or assets you receive could impact your eligibility for disability benefits.Disability Attorneys of Michigan  works hard every day helping the disabled of Michigan seek the  Social Security Disability Benefits  they need. If you are unable to work due to a physical, mental, or cognitive impairment, call  Disability Attorneys of Michigan  now for a free consultation at  800-701- 5524.Let Michigan’s experienced Social Security Disability law firm help you get the benefits you deserve.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Ethical Issue Whistleblowing

Ethical Issue Whistleblowing Abstract Whistle blowing is a courageous act of reporting misdoings of other people. This paper looks at the act in an engineering context, where an engineer raises concern about problems with a current system before or after a disaster. The actor hopes to prevent future disaster based on problems identified. The paper presents the case of Salvador Castro, an engineer with Air-Shields Inc. who discovered design flaws in his company’s product.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Ethical Issue: Whistleblowing specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The flaws had the potential to cause death to end users, yet reporting them to management did not cause the company to take corrective action. The paper analyses the ethical factors at play. It intends to explain why Castro ended up losing his job. The paper also provides recommendations for companies and individuals faced with such an engineering ethical dilemma to have me asures that ensure there is no victimization of whistle blowers or abuse of whistle blowing privileges. Introduction Whistle blowing refers to the action of reporting ethical behaviour of another person or other people. For the whistle-blower, the intention to report comes from the existence of conflicts in morality. The overall intention is usually to promote justice and fairness and have a positive outcome for the benefit of all stakeholders. On the other hand, those who are subjects of a whistle blowing case may feel betrayed, and the whistle-blower can be considered disloyal (Waytz, Dungan, Young, 2013). In engineering circles, whistle blowing can occur before and after a disaster happens. It usually involves the presentation of facts about a disaster, which will put blame on engineers. In cases where the reporting happens after an accident or disaster, the acts of whistle blowing still remains futuristic (Harris, Pritchard, Rabins, 2009). The aim of reporting is to ensure tha t the good of the public and other stakeholders is considered in future engagements.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In some engineering cases, there can be warnings about projects and other endeavours, but these may not qualify as whistle-blowing because they occur within the channels of communication used by the engineering community. Whistle blowing only happens when there is a clear deviation from the norm in reporting of ethical violations. The case presented in this paper is about a medical electronics engineering firm called Air-Shields Inc. that manufactures life support equipment for medical institutions. An engineer in the company discovers a design flaw and informs his supervisor so that the problem does not reoccur and cause untold damage in future. However, no one in the company takes any steps to remedy the situation (Kumagai, 2004). Case overvie w Kumagai (2004) reports the story of Salvador Castro, a medical electronics engineer who acted as a whistle-blower. Castro came to know that the design of one of the earliest incubators was faulty. Based on his engineering knowledge and role in the company, he immediately informed his supervisor of the problem. He explained the situation and its consequences, should the company fail to undertake corrective action. It would cost some money to fix the problem, and on the other hand, there was risk of patient death if the problem goes unfixed. When supervisors and no one else at the company seemed to pay attention to the dangers presented by the design flaw, Castro informed his superiors that he was going to inform the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) so that regulative action against the company would be taken. The intention of reporting to FDA was to save lives of patients that would rely on the faulty incubators. However, Castro’s actions were not well received by the company. His intention to report to FDA cost him his job. Castro faced an ethical dilemma of keeping his job by not reporting the design flaw, or going ahead to whistle blow and lose his job. On the other hand, Air-Shields Inc. had to consider making the recommended fix or dismissing the claims and face the risk of being accused of contravening engineering obligations to take actions that benefit health, welfare and security of the public (Kumagai, 2004).Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Ethical Issue: Whistleblowing specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More A description of the engineering failure The persistent objective should be to protect the safety, health, and welfare of the public in any work done by engineers. Where there are abuses in areas that affect the public interest, an engineer is expected to speak out (Saini, 2012). Castro spoke when he discovered a design flaw. He did the right thing as an engineer. H owever, the company’s failure to address the flaw was an engineering failure, a deliberate mistake that increased the risk of death for innocent people. On the other hand, Castro made a mistake of not fully understanding how the system operates. Going directly to supervisors with the information was good, but it would also present trust issues with management. As a result, there were conflicts of interest. The company failed its ethical test by retaliating against Castro’s whistle blowing activities, instead of embracing required changes. An in-depth analysis of the major issues surrounding the failure Whistle blowing has moral complexities. An accusation and a retaliation both produce injury. Castro’s action to report the flaw threatened his career. Similarly, his actions also threatened the careers of other employees in the company. Thus, an analysis of the case reveals that there could be a situation where actions by the company against one individual, such a s Castro are meant to protect the careers of many other people, the staff members. The company needs to have a system of dealing with bad news about its manufacturing process. It needs to accommodate the findings by engineers that highlight errors in its products. The setup of safety and corrective mechanisms for its engineering and manufacturing processes is a moral requirement. If these systems were in place, then the reporting by Castro would be welcome. The company did not have a means of informing the public about its products. In such instances, the expectation by the public is that the company will issue a product recall, if the design flaw is very grave. Otherwise, it may issue a cautionary message. If the problem is not very serious, the company can fail to inform the public so that it does not create unnecessary panic. Nevertheless, it must undertake corrective action for the problem identified.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More An analysis of the ethical lapses When an engineer like Castro is making a whistle blowing attempt, he or she assumes that someone somewhere having the right authority will respond to the discovery. Such a response would arise because the person understands the moral importance of disclosure. In many cases, the whistle-blower puts this faith in the employer’s top management. This is a mistake. The action assumes that top management will be free of corruption. It also fails to consider the repercussions of the report. The action dramatizes the moral situation of many engineers who have the ability to detect problems that can affect the public. However, engineers must also develop the capacity to convince others to react. If Castro had the required skills in negotiating, persuading and allying with colleagues, he could have approached the case differently. He could have convinced many of his colleagues to consider the moral implications of the flaw and compelled the company to take action (Waytz, Dungan, Young, 2013). A formal communication channel that relies on the management levels of the company acted as an impediment to the overall effectiveness of whistle blowing. Communication to supervisors may have not been interpreted well (Harris, Pritchard, Rabins, 2009). The company needed an alternative feedback mechanism that allows different levels of management and technical departments to get information without allowing one level or individual to dictate message reception. If this were the case, some other managers or engineers would have taken up the case based on its moral principles and acted right. Another reason for the observed reaction to whistle-blowing in Castro’s case is that the valuation of fairness by the whistle blower was different from that of the company. Recommendations for actions Whistle blowers who receive heroic acclaim are rare. Practical, ethical reactions to whistle blowers in engineering may not always match expectatio ns of the whistle blower. It is important for both parties in the accusations to understand their motivations and work towards reducing the cost of their actions while they increase benefits to all parties involved. Companies should not just interpret whistle blowing as a disloyal action, especially when it happens through the available channels of organizational communication. The best way is for engineers at all levels of the organization to set up a brute force deliberate reasoning process that will override any tendencies of partiality or in-group favouritism (Waytz, Dungan, Young, 2013). This will ensure that all cases receive fair treatment and actions are based on facts and values of an organization. Such a system will also prevent abuse of whistle blowing privileges for personal vendettas. References Harris, C., Pritchard, M., Rabins, J. (2009). Engineering ethics: Concepts and cases. New York: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Kumagai, J. (2004, April 1). The whistle-blowers di lemma. Retrieved from IEEE Specturm: https://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/tech-careers/the-whistleblowers-dilemma Saini, A. (2012, February 20). Social engineering. Retrieved from Engineering and Technology Magazine: https://eandt.theiet.org/ Waytz, A., Dungan, J., Young, L. (2013). The whistleblowers dilemma and the fairness-loyalty tradeoff. Journal of Experiemental Social Psychology, 49, 1027-1033.

Monday, November 4, 2019

Characteristics of civilized societies and civilization Assignment

Characteristics of civilized societies and civilization - Assignment Example â€Å"A Labyrinth that housed the Minotaur, a monstrous creature, half man and half bull, the product of the union of Minos’s wife Pasiphae with a bull. Minos exacted from Athens a regular tribute of seven boys and seven girls, who was sent to be devoured by the Minotaur. The Athenian hero Theseus volunteered to stop the grisly tribute. He went to Knossos with the new group of intended victims and, with the help of the king’s daughter Ariadne, killed the Minotaur in its lair in the middle of the Labyrinth. He then escaped with Ariadne and the Athenian boys and girls. Theseus later abandoned Ariadne on the island of Naxos, but the god Dionysus discovered her there and comforted her† (Cunningham and Reich).What aspect of the first chapter most intrigued you?The civilization process/ stage among the Greeks. The process was slow but intriguing because the amount of technology was limited.   The architects came up with different design models including doric and ico nic.How did the physical geography of Greece affect the development of the states?The mountains separated the city states; hence the states were able to develop independently.What are the causes of the many contradictions in Classical Greek mythology?There is no concrete evidence that backs the events in the myths. Distortion of the original events is prone to happen, leading to contradictions.How did the Doric style differ from the Ionic style or order of architecture (consider the base, capital, frieze)? Hoplite- meaning an armed infantry.

Friday, November 1, 2019

How shipowners deal with bad freight rates in a shipping recession and Dissertation

How shipowners deal with bad freight rates in a shipping recession and compare liner freight rates with dry bulk freight rates - Dissertation Example There are significant gaps in knowledge research on the Greek maritime shipping industry created by publicly-owned companies and lack of data on operations, pricing, and general business strategies. This study added to the limited domain of knowledge by discovering high dependency in debt, currency, exchange rates, port efficiency and asset value as it relates to price establishment during recessions. The study further identifies low dependency variables related to price-setting during difficult economic periods of recession. Unpredicted phenomenon in this industry was also identified, with a discussion of implications to this maritime shipping industry. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.1 Introduction................................................................................................................... 1.2 Research aims and objectives........................................................................................ 2.0 Literature review........................................... ................................................................. 2.1 Demand and crude oil prices.......................................................................................... ... .................................................................................................................. 2.6 Investment strategies...................................................................................................... 2.7 The competitive marketing environment........................................................................ 2.8 A discussion of knowledge gaps..................................................................................... 3.1 Research methodology.................................................................................................... 3.2 Ethical and other considerations...................................................................................... 4.1 Summary of results.......................................................................................................... 4.2 Presentation of results...................................................................................................... 5.1 Discussion of results........................................................................................................ 5.2 The nature of price setting in maritime industry.............................................................. 6.0 Conclusion........................................................................................................................ References Appendices LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Stability of Crude Oil Shipment Demand................................................... Figure 2: Aframax Tanker Asset Values..................................................................... Figure 3: The Clearing Process of Buyer-Seller FFA Swaps..................................... Figure 4: Mean Questionnaire Scores for High Dependency Variables Related to Pricing