Computers in Modern Manufacturing

COMPUTERS IN MODERN MANUFCTURING INTRODUCTION: Computers play invaluable role in modern manufacturing. In fact, nearly all modern manufacturing support systems are implemented using computer systems through automation. It reduces manual work in manufacturing and production. Computer Integrated Manufacturing(CIM) is the terminology used to describe the complete automation of a manufacturing plant. CIM involves integrating the functions of designing products, production planning, operational control and business-related functions in one system that operates throughout the enterprise.All of the processes function under computer control. Digital information ties them altogether. The different computer controlled processes are as follows: -aided design , computer-aided manufacturing CAD/CAM: The heart of CIM is CAD/CAM. Computer-aided design(CAD) denotes the use of computer systems to support the product design function. Using CAD, it is possible to simulate in three dimensions the moveme nt of a part through a production process.Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) denotes the use of computer systems to perform functions related to manufacturing engineering, such as process planning and numerical control(NC) part programming. Some computer systems perform both CAD and CAM, and so the term CAD/CAM is used to indicate the integration of the two into one system. CAD/CAM is concerned with the engineering functions in both design and manufacturing. The method of manufacturing a product is a direct function of its design.Through CAD/CAM technology, it is possible to establish a direct link between product design and manufacturing engineering. They have together overcome traditional NC shortcomings in expense, ease of use, and speed by enabling the design and manufacture of a part to be undertaken using the same data encoding system. CAD/CAM has also given the designer much more direct control over the manufacturing process. ADVANTAGES: CAD/CAM enables manufacturers to reduc e the costs of producing goods by minimizing the involvement of human operators.They enable manufacturers to make quick alterations to the product design and obtain instant results. Also there is no risk of human(repetitive) error. This finally results in lower operational costs, lower end product prices and increased profits for manufacturers. CAD/CAM systems also facilitate communication among those involved in design, manufacturing, and other processes. This is of particular importance when one firm contracts another to either design or produce a component.DISADVANTAGES: There are no means of comprehending real-world concepts in CAD systems, such as the nature of the object being designed or the function that object will serve. CAD systems function by their capacity to codify geometrical concepts. Thus the design process using CAD involves transferring a designer's idea into a formal geometrical model. Thus CAD cannot build the exact design as it is on the designer’s mind. Also, there are several limitations of CAM. Setting up of infrastructure to begin with is very expensive.CAM requires not only NC machine tools themselves but also an extensive software and hardware to develop the design models and convert them into manufacturing instructions. The output from the CAM software is usually a simple text file of G-code, sometimes many thousands of commands long, that is then transferred to a machine tool using a direct numerical control (DNC) program. CAM packages still cannot reason like a machinist. The field of computer-aided management is fraught with inconsistency.While all numerical controlled machine tools operate using G-code, there is no universally used standard for the code itself. CAD systems tend to store data in their own proprietary format, so it can often be a challenge to transfer data from CAD to CAM software. There are some problems with CIM also. Existing equipment and software may be incompatible with each other leading to expensiv e updates or replacements. Extensive programming may also be required to produce optimal schedules and part sequence.CAE: Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) systems are very useful systems for engineering area. Integrated or independent CAE systems are used by design engineers and specialists. Computer simulation is very significant tool for designers. The reason is to understand to the behaviour of the technical systems before their prototype production. Therefore many analytical programmes have been created in the last thirty years for engineering area. These programmes are entitled as Computer Aided Engineering (CAE).UTILISATION OF CAD/CAM SYSTEMS PRO/ENGINEER: Pro/ENGINEER is full parameter 3D graphic CAD/CAM system, determined mainly for general manufacture engineering and for automation of design engineering. With graphical system Pro/ENGINEER is able to create fully, unambiguous and accurately spaced model of solid body simply and quickly. CONCLUSION: Utilisation of CAD/CAM sys tems is highly effective because it enables to reduce the process development time and the introduction of a new product in the market in a large scale. Recent technical developments have fundamentally impacted the utility of CAD/CAM systems.For example, the everincreasing processing power of personal computers has given them viability as a vehicle for CAD/CAM application. Another important development is the establishment of a single CAD-CAM standard, so that different data packages can be exchanged without manufacturing and delivery delays.REFERENCES: 1. Groover, M. P. : Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing. USA, January 2000, Prentice Hall 2. Paper on Design for Engineering Unit # 6 Research and Development Annette Beattie August 10, 2006 3. www. wikipedia. com

Orientation Training Essay

Blanchard & Thacker (2010) describe how orientation can be described as the type of activities that an individuals or organization may seem most interested in and can give most attention. Orientation training can be described as training designed for newly hired employees to allow them to understanding the organizations operations. Also, orientation training give new employee’s opportunities to learn polices and procedures for making decision and activities of various units are coordinated. Orientation training can being with the socialization process with new employees and help the employee learn information about the organization and the values of the organization (Blanchard & Thacker, 2010). Orientations can be short or have longer approach dew to the kind of organizations the employees will be working for. The value of orientation training can with the how the learning theory prospective can be based on previous learning. New information can be interpret and understand in the context that is already know. Blanchard & Thacker (2010) show how successful organization can recognize the need for providing new employees with orientation training. They also view how new employees can use the organization and the first entry into the organization and whit will coming next tin the upcoming days in the organizations. The first view of the organization can be a lasting one and can important for organization to have good imaged an impression to chance the effectiveness the organization and new employees (Blanchard & Thacker, 2010). Another value of orientation training can be how employees who attend orientation training can be flexible to accepting the organizations goals and values. Orientations training can be effective with the use of the guidance that is provided to employees regarding manage ment expectations. Also orientations can be effective in reducing anxiety, reducing role ambiguity. In addition reducing turnover, improving job performance, providing high levels of commitment and can show the effective and efficient of the organizations (Blanchard & Thacker, 2010). In conclusion, orientation training is designed for new employees to allow them to understanding the organizations operations. Orientation training gives new employee’s opportunities to learn polices and procedures for making decision in the new organizations. Orientations training can be effective with the use of the guidance that it helps to provide to new employees regarding management expectations. References: Blanchard, N. P., & Thacker, J. (2010). Effective Training, System, Strategies and Practices (Custom 4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Ugly or Beautiful

Ugly or Beautiful? It is well known that beauty and ugliness are opposites. If that is so, how can art be ugly and beautiful at the same time? Some pieces of art are ugly to the eyes but beautiful mind. The Venus of Willendorf (Venus of Willendorf: 1-3) is an example of such. It is a small figure of a large woman. She has very large breast with skinny little arms rested on top of them. Her breast lay on her even larger stomach, which hangs down to just above her pubic area.Her pubic area and belly button are well defined but there is only small evidence of nipples. Starting at her wide hips her thighs touch and press together down to the knees, and then become much smaller than the rest of her. Her head is completely wrapped with what seem to be braids, with no face visible. This figure, at first glance, and second, isn’t one of beauty. After all, it is a rather plump nude woman with no face. But, looking closer and noticing where the emphasis lies gives it a different look.Th e woman’s breasts, stomach, and pubic area grab the most attention; all three of these being attributes of a woman’s fertility. It seems as though they are being used to show a celebration of her fertility and ability to have strong children like her. Looking deeper into this figure it can go from something ugly to something special. Another example would be Punitavati (Punitavati/Karaikkal Ammaiyar: Intro 8). Punitavati is a bronze sculpture of a rather grotesque woman. She is very lanky.She sits with her bony legs crossed and spread, her arms in front of her holding a small musical instrument. She has the face of a crone, with large high raised eyebrows, a long protruding nose, and a fang-toothed smile. Her entire body is bone skinny, except for a slight bulge in her stomach. This sculpture was made to symbolize her immense inner beauty. According to legend, this now hag-like woman was once stunning. Her husband had left her because she gave away one of his mangoes t o a beggar. She then turned her god, the Hindu Shiva, offering up her beauty.Shiva accepted, turning her into this figure. Her appalling appearance is used to show the beauty of her generosity and sacrifice. One other would be Rebellious Silence (Shirin Neshat, Rebellious Silence 20-33). This is a photograph of an Iranian woman, she is wearing a traditional Iranian women’s wardrobe, except her face is completely uncovered. Calligraphy is written across her entire face besides her eyes, and straight through the middle of her face she is holding up a gun barrel. This image wouldn’t strike most as an object of â€Å"beauty†.It does grab your attention though. It makes you stare at the woman who is staring so intensely back at you. She wants to make her presence known and speak out in a country that doesn’t see women as equal. She is a strong and defiant woman. The longer you hold her gaze the more you can see the beauty in her braveness. All art may not be p leasing to look at, but a lot of the time there something deeper and more appealing in the meaning. Sometimes you must search to find the beauty of something ugly.

Cholesterol Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cholesterol - Assignment Example Cholesterol bromination can be used to purify cholesterol (Barton, Miller & Young 98). In most cases, oxidation refers to the addition of the oxygen atom to a substance. However, in organic chemistry, oxidation refers to the loss of bond by carbon atom to hydrogen forming new bonds with other atoms. The overall reaction is characterized by loss of electron density hence loss of the electron. Cholesterol is capable of undergoing both autoxidation and photo-oxidation to produce oxysterols in each case. The common oxidants used for cholesterol oxidation are zinc and sodium dichromate. The first step involves the formation of the ketone, where the O double bond replaces the OH functional group. Then zinc is used to remove the bromine atoms (Stewart, Lee & Can 439). Debromination is the opposite of the bromination because it involves the removal of the bromine atoms from the organic molecule. It is one of the dehydrogenation reactions where cholesterol dibromide is boiled in the presence of alcoholic halide to produce the corresponding alkene molecule. The chemistry behind this reaction is that the bromine attached to the carbon in the alkyl bromide undergoes a reaction with hydrogen that is attached to the ÃŽ ²-carbon that releases the hydrogen bromide. The product of the reaction is the formation of a double bond between ÃŽ ± and ÃŽ ² carbon resulting into an alkene (House & Row 182). Isomerization is a process involving the transformation of a molecule into another with the same atoms but different arrangement. The new molecule is called an isomer. In the case of cholesterol, oxalic acid assists in shifting 5-Cholesten-3-one to a 4-Cholesten-3-one by shuffling of the position of the carbon-carbon double bonds. Oxalic acid provides the acidic medium that favors shifting and formation of a double bond to a new location leading to the formation of the conjugated system with the ketone group (Seager, Spencer & Slabaugh 123). Crystallization is the

The Difficulty of Connecting with the Parties Responsible for Addressi Assignment

The Difficulty of Connecting with the Parties Responsible for Addressing Important Problems - Assignment Example It took an extraordinarily long time for the emergency response services to start responding to the effects of the hurricane and even then, there were evident signs that the emergency services were clearly struggling, and were having trouble coping with trying to help the hurricane survivors (Kettl, 2009). In contrast to this, Kettl’s mother in law was seen to receive an excellent end of life case through the government’s Medicaid. All her wants and needs were adequately and sufficiently addressed by the program which was seen to be doing an excellent job at ensuring that it was able to deliver quality and timely services (Kettl, 2009). Through the aid of these two illustrations, Kettl is able to identify that although the United States government has consistently proven to be good at the delivery of the basic services like medical care, garbage collection, and management of pension schemes. It had proven to be quite incapable of handling large-scale and unexpected problems like the effects of hurricane Katrina. Kettl argues that as opposed to the standard â€Å"vending machine model† that has been proven to work just fine when it comes to handling repeated problems that might face the system such as garbage collection, the handling of disasters is seen to require concentrated public-private and multi-agency partnerships (Kettl, 2009). Kettl argues that it is increasingly becoming more and more difficult for the government to adequately meet the needs and demands of its citizens. As a result of this increasing difficulty for citizens to connect with the government so as to have their important issues addressed, there has been a general drift towards the creation of a situation whereby most of the work geared at meeting the demands for better and more services by the government has now been placed in the hands of private contractors (Kettl, 2009).     

Classroom management strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Classroom management strategies - Essay Example But teaching and learning was considered as a divine thing earlier. The teachers were considered as â€Å"Gurus† earlier and apart from the parents, they were the most influential persons in the life of a student. Classroom is considered to be another place where the scientific management principles are required now because of the immense changes happened in the student-teacher relationships. Disruptive children often create problems for the teacher in managing the class. Kellie Hayden, a famous teacher of 16 years of experience, in her article ‘Top Five Classroom Management Strategies’ argues that, a simple question like â€Å"Are you OK?† can make lot of changes among the disruptive students. For example, hyper activity among children often considered due to lack of care from the parents. Such children will engage in some kind of activities in the class which may trouble the teacher and the fellow students. The teacher should take extreme care while managing such disruptive students. The teacher must try to identify the reason for his disruptive behavior. The teacher should never question the problematic student in front of his colleagues; instead he should be taken to another place where the privacy can be guaranteed and ask him â€Å"Are you okay†? That student may have lack of care from the parents and when the teacher enquires about his well being, he may feel some confidence in the teacher and will open his closed faculties of mind. In a private environment only the disruptive student may open his heart and will tell the truth about the reason why he became disruptive. The teacher’s smooth, calm and encouraging behavior may force him to think about the problems he has caused to the teacher and the class and may refrain from such behavior in future. It is important to maintain privacy while dealing with the problematic students Gene Van Tassell, in his article ‘Classroom management’ wrote that â€Å"control of students by teachers tends to

Illogic of american Racial Categories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Illogic of american Racial Categories - Essay Example The illogical aspect of American racial categories raises questions on how a standard criterion can be reached at. Another question many people are concerned about is what led to overriding debate on racial categorization despite anatomical homogeneity of humanity. In the opinion of Paul, there is innate competitive trait in humanity that seeks to rank races in terms of superiority. For instance, in United States non-Hispanic race feels more superior to the Black immigrants. However, there are cases of individuals with same geographical background still being categorized on other minor basis. Interracial marriages have given rise to an intermediate group which is entangled in identity confusion (Spickard 41). It is therefore illogical to apply political gain strategies in defining what one’s race category is. Considering the untraceable racial mixture of some individuals, it not proper to claim any form of politically motivated criterion. Paul offers an insight into the divergent approaches of defining races and the existing controversy that characterize America in regard to its political inclinations. The bottom line is that racial categorization is relative and any attempt to apply politics amounts to the illogic

Sustainable Agricultural System for Cities Research Paper

Sustainable Agricultural System for Cities - Research Paper Example Therefore, food insecurity could become a daily phenomenon to those who are already experiencing shortage of food supply or had serious lack of it in any given time of the year. When food insecurity occurs in a given household it affects children, adults, family members, and in general any given community in the US. According to Economic Research Service (ERS), more than 85% or close to 102 million households in the US had not food insecurity problem in the year 2011. In the US food insecurity occurs when household do not have enough money to buy the food they need for normal sustenance. ERS states that close to 15% or 18 million households in the US falls under the category of food insecure households for the year 2011. Another 9% or around 11 million households in the US had suffered a lower level of food insecurity in 2011 according to the same research agency. Those categorized in this group were better off that the above food insecure group because their case was shortage of food for lack of having enough money and were able to make up for the shortage by relying on federal food assistance programs and by obtaining emergency food from various charitable outlets and pantries. There was also another group labeled as very low food security group that numbers around 7 million and made up 5.9% of the population and such households could have experienced hunger at some time in the year 2011, due to lack of their own resources to obtain the required food supply. Furthermore, it is possible to look at the food insecurity by the number of people who lived in households afflicted by such problems, where around 50 million people had lived in households labeled as food insecure, another 12 million people had lived in a highly food insecure households, while between 8 and 9 million children had lived in food insecure households in the year 2011. This particular program helps around 40

Black Enlightenment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Black Enlightenment - Essay Example The role of Black intellectuals in the era of Black Enlightenment is extraordinary. Some of the prominent Black intellectual of the time were Phillis Wheatley and Benjamin Benneker. Phillis Wheatley was like a role model not only for the African Americans but also for the White Americans. She had transformed from a slave into a highly confident, courageous, and intellectually enriched poet and analyst. Phillis Wheatley wrote a letter to an American Indian minister named Samson Occom in 1774. At that time, tensions between England and the American colonies had increased. In her letter, Phillis Wheatley expressed her desire and need for personal liberty, natural rights, and establishment of the divine order. She believed that emergence of order in Africa and Christianity would mutually result in termination of the Atlantic trade of slaves. â€Å"How well the cry for Liberty, and the reverse Disposition for the exercise of oppressive Power over others agree, I humbly think it does not require the Penetration of a Philosopher to determine† (Wheatley cited in Gates 1987 p. 77). ... â€Å"decidedly negro† from his appearance, Benjamin Banneker mastered the Greek and Latin languages and alongside acquired good knowledge of French and German using his white neighbor’s library. Benjamin Banneker referred to the Declaration of Independence in these words holding Thomas Jefferson accountable for the continued existence of Black slavery in America, â€Å"You were then impressed with†¦the free possession of those blessings, to which you were entitled by nature; but, Sir, how pitiable is it to reflect, that although you were so fully convinced of the benevolence of the Father of Mankind, and of his equal and impartial distribution of these rights and privileges. . . that you should at the Same time counteract His mercies, in detaining by fraud and violence so numerous a part of my brethren, under groaning captivity and cruel oppression† (Banneker cited in Wallenfeldt 2011 p. 24). Black Enlightenment was the age when Black people came to realize through personal experience and witnessing that if they establish close ties with religion and education, they can solve their problems and work toward establishing a respectable lifestyle for themselves on equal basis with the White Americans. Although Black intellectuals had to overcome a lot of obstacles and muster up a lot of courage to speak on national and international platforms, yet with their courage and determination, they took such measures that left a powerful effect on the psychology and understanding toward the Black people of the White Americans. Black churches were not only the places of spiritual rejuvenation and practice of religious festivals, but also serves as places of union for the Black community where they could share their experiences and give each other love and hope. To conclude, Black

The Effect of Minimum Wage Policy on Poverty Reduction Essay Example for Free

The Effect of Minimum Wage Policy on Poverty Reduction Essay 1 Introduction Minimum wage policies are widespread throughout the world. More than 90% of all countries have a minimum wage policy (International Labour Office, 2009, p. 34). Although the goals of mandating and maintaining a minimum wage, such as the reduction of poverty and the creation of income equality, are widely accepted around the world, there is a disagreement about the policy’s efficacy regarding these goals. Opponents of setting a minimum wage argue that it leads to unemployment, and it does not result in the reduction of poverty (Burkhauser Sabia, 2007, p. 263). Meanwhile, employment plays an important role in poverty alleviation, because it secures income and empowerment for the poor (United Nations, 2005). However, proponents of the minimum wage policy appoint that the policy leads to decrease in poverty rates and the unemployment effect is not significant (Lustig and McLeod, 1997). That means, there is controversy over the use of minimum wage as an anti-poverty tool, and this makes the topic interesting to study. This paper will evaluate the extent to which the minimum wage policy is an effective anti-poverty tool. The evaluation will be based on literary reviews of scientific articles and theoretical materials regarding the influence of minimum wage on employment and poverty. Such a focus is selected because studying the effect of minimum wage only on employment does not lead to a conclusion about the influence of minimum wage on poverty. Even if the unemployment effect is moderate, an increase in the minimum wage leads to net income losses for poor families (Neumark Wascher, 1997, p. 1). In addition, criteria such as the effect of minimum wage on employment and poverty level will be used for evaluation of efficacy of minimum wage policy as anti-poverty tool. The paper will be structured in the following way: section two will provide a summary of works related to the topic; in section three, the selected assessment criteria will be described; evaluation and the conclusion will be presented in section four and five respectively. 2 Theoretical framework A few empirical investigations were made to find evidence in favour or against the minimum wage as an anti-poverty tool. There are several research studies that demonstrate that the minimum wage policy is an ineffective means of achieving poverty reduction in many cases because of the unemployment effect . Neumark and Wascher (1997) conducted one such investigation. They studied the effect of minimum wage on poverty on the basis of changes in net income of poor families. The researchers discovered that raising minimum wages increases the probability that some poor families escape poverty and the probability that, initially, non-poor families fall into poverty. The discovered result supposes that the unemployment effect combined with minimum wage increases causes reductions in the income of previously non-poor families (Neumark Wascher,1997, p. 3). The conclusion of Neumark and Wascher (1997, p. 31) is that there is no strong evidence to support the idea that minimum wage policy helps in poverty alleviation because of the concomitant unemployment effect of minimum wage. Another research study was conducted on the basis of Brazilian microdata by Paes de Baros, Carlos, and Samir (as cited in Gindling Terrell, 2010). The result of the research showed that there was no effect of the minimum wage on poverty because the unemployment effects of the minimum wage increase. Pauw and Leibbrandt (2012) also decided to check the efficacy of minimum wage as an anti-poverty tool. To investigate the influence of the minimum wage policy on poverty in South Africa, they used an advanced micro-simulation model, which assesses the distribution of employment gains and losses and the implications for household income. The results showed that minimum wages led to a marginal decline of poverty. Moreover, job losses, price increase and income decline are more likely to affect the poorest. The investigators found that the minimum wage policy targets a small fraction of the poor. As such, they concluded that the policy was not an effective tool in South Africa because it was not well targeted (Pauw Leibbrandt, 2012, p. 780). However, there are few empirical research studies that prove that the minimum wage policy reaches the poor. The first estimates on the effect of minimum wages on poverty were made in the United States by Card and Krueger (as cited by Gindling Terrell, 2010). They used regression analysis to examine the change in the poverty rate of states from 1989 to 1991 and took into consideration only a small fraction of workers who were influenced by the minimum wage increase. The researchers found weak evidence of a modest poverty reduction effect because of the minimum wage increase. Lustig and McLeod (1997) also investigated the effect of the minimum wage on poverty but in Latin America and Asia. They concluded that an increase or fall in minimum wage leads respectively to a decline or increase in the poverty rates in developing countries (Lustig McLeod, 1997, p. 81). However, it was also noticed by the investigators that an increase in the minimum wage could increase slightly unemployment. (Lustig McLeod, 1997, p. 77). In addition, they mentioned that even if the minimum wage is shown to reduce poverty in the short run, employment opportunities could decrease in the long run. The result of research by Saget (2001, p. 22) shows that an increase in minimum wage reduces poverty; however, for a set of Latin American countries, where regression analyses were made on the basis of a one- or two-dollar poverty line, there was no effect on the poverty level. Moreover, they remark that the result confirms their intuition that minimum wages in developing countries do not influence the poorest population but the low-income population of the upper level instead. The empirical research of Gindling and Terrell (2010) regarding the influence of minimum wage on poverty in Honduras provided evidence that a raise in the minimum wage had a modest poverty-reducing effect. The results are true for the formal sector and could be higher, if there was no the unemployment effect in the formal sector. Moreover, the researchers suggested that those who lost jobs probably found jobs in the informal sector, where the minimum wage regulation does not hold power (Gindling Terrell, p. 915). Although in the majority of studies above, the unemployment effect of the minimum wage policy is mentioned, Card and Kruger (1994, In: Ropponen, 2011) discovered that a minimum wage increase can lead to an increase in employment. Such evidence they received by investigating fast food restaurants in New Jersey in 1992. Thus, there are several studies that provide evidence both in favour and against the minimum wage policy as anti-poverty tool. 3 Criteria Two criteria were selected for the evaluation of the extent to which the minimum wage is an effective tool for poverty alleviation: They are the influence of the minimum wage on the poverty level and its effect on the employment of the poor. The measuring of the effect of the minimum wage on the poverty level supposes focusing on the transition into poverty and out of poverty and the changes in poverty rates. Such a focus follows from the analysis of theoretical frameworks, where researchers used poverty rates (Gindling Terrell, 2010) or transitions out or into poverty for the evaluation of the influence of the minimum wage on poverty (Neumark Wascher, 1997). The employment effect of minimum wage criterion was selected because in the theoretical framework, the employment effect seems to be a critical factor that identifies the effectiveness of the minimum wage as an anti-poverty tool. For example, Samir, (as cited in Gindling Terrell, 2010) mentions that there is no effect of the minimum wage policy if the employment effect increases. These criteria will be applied by finding in the empirical investigations the evidence of the negative or positive changes in the poverty level and employment or the evidence of the absence of corresponding minimum wage influences. After that, evidence will be weighed, and a decision about the effectiveness of maintaining a minimum wage will be made. 4 Evaluation Although economists agree that the primary goal of minimum wage policy is poverty alleviation, many disagree about its effectiveness as an anti-poverty tool, as shown in section 2 of this paper. In this section, arguments for and against the policy were compared using criteria from section 3, evaluating the extent to which minimum wage served as an effective anti-poverty tool.

Conversational Valence and Binge Drinking Relationship

Conversational Valence and Binge Drinking Relationship Results Manipulation check First, a manipulation check was conducted in order to check if the different conditions (valence and activeness) led to the intended positive/negative and active/passive responses, respectively. For this purpose, univariate analyses of variance (ANOVAS) were conducted with valence conditions as independent and valence as dependent variables. The results revealed a statistically significant effect of valence condition on the participants’ valence F(1,129): 80.94, p=.000, (M=3.80, SD=1.41) and on the partner’s valence F(1,129): 61.09, p=.000, (M=3.93, SD=1.50). Furthermore, the results revealed a statistically significant effect of the participants’ activeness condition on the level of activeness F(1,129): 41.73, p=.000, (M=4.47, SD=1.53) and a marginally significant effect of the partners’ activeness F(1,129): 3.76, p=.055, (M=5.09, SD=1.25). Additionally, we examined the extent to which participants followed the instructions and responded to the assigned role. For this reason, we conducted a crosstabulation check, which indicated that the 63.6% of the individuals assigned to the negative condition, perceived the conversation as negative whereas 33.3% as neither negative nor positive and 3.0% as positive. Also, 53.8% of the individuals in the positive condition perceived the conversation as positive, whereas 30.8% and 15.4% of the participants perceived the conversation as neither negative nor positive, and negative, respectively. Moreover, 52.9% of the individuals in the passive condition perceived that they have spoken passively. However, the majority (84.1%) of the individuals assigned to the active condition perceived that they have spoken as instructed.[1] The effect of conversational valence on binge drinking determinants To investigate H1 (i.e. whether conversational valence influenced attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and intention towards binge drinking) four univariate Analyses of Variance (ANOVAs) were conducted with conversational valence condition as the independent variable and attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and intention as the dependent variables. The results indicated a significant main effect of valence on attitude F(1,129): 8.53, p=.004, which means that participants with positive conversational valence about alcohol received higher binge drinking attitude (M=3.85, SD=1.32) than those with negative (M=3.20, SD=1.23). Similarly, a significant main effect of valence on perceived behavioral control F(1,129): 4.82, p=.030 was indicated, revealing that those in who were engaged in positively valence conversation had higher perceived behavioral control (M=4.48, SD=1.90) than those in negatively valence conversation (M=3.75, SD=1.93). Furthermore, a marginally significant main effect on subjective norm F(1,129): 3.25, p=.074, was revealed. This means that participants with positive conversational valence had higher subjective norm (M=3.61, SD =1.62) than those with negative (M=3.09, SD=1.70). However, a non-significant main effect on intention F(1,129): 0.08, p=.782. was found, and the binge drinking intention did not differ significantly across the two valence conditions (M=2.48, SD=1.51 and M=2.40, SD=1.70 respectively). As it is revealed, positive conversational valence about alcohol elicits more positive binge drinking attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control compared to negative conversational valence. Moreover, more positive binge drinking intention is indicated in positively valenced conversations, although the difference is not statistically significant. Therefore, according to these results, H1 was largely supported. Furthermore, according to previous research, four linear regression analyses with conversational valence as the predictor and attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control and intention as the dependent variables were conducted in order to explore if the conversational valence predicts the binge drinking determinants. The results are presented in Table 1. A more negative conversational valence about alcohol significantly predicts more negative attitude (ÃŽ ²=.25, p=.004) and perceived behavioral control (ÃŽ ²=.02, p=.030) toward binge drinking. Also, a more negative conversational valence about alcohol marginally significantly predicts more negative subjective norm towards binge drinking (ÃŽ ²=.16, p=.074). However, binge drinking intention is not significantly predicted by the conversational valence (ÃŽ ²=.02, p=.782). Table 1: Relationships between conversational valence and attitude, subjective norm perceived behavioral control, and intention The effect of activeness and conversational valence on alcohol determinants In order to explore the effect of activeness on attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control and intentions as well as the interaction between activeness and conversational valence, four univariate ANOVAs were conducted with conversational valence and activeness as the independent variables, and attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and intention as the dependent variables. The results revealed a non significant effect (p F(1,127): .69, p=.409, perceived behavioral control F(1,127): .69, p=.409, subjective norm F(1,127):1.08, p=.301, and intentions F(1,127): 1.28, p=.260. Additionally, the results revealed a non-significant interaction effect between valence and activeness (attitude F(1,127): 1.44, p=.233, perceived behavioral control F(1,127): 1.38, p=.537, subjective norm F(1,127):1.00, p=.319 and intention F(1,127): .40, p=.527). The result scores of the key variables of the study can be found in Figure 1. Figure 1: Mean scores of binge drinking determinants across valence and activeness conditions Concluding, our results indicate that whereas conversational valence significantly influences binge drinking determinants (attitude, perceived control, subjective norm), the level of active participation in a conversation had no significant effect on these factors. Discussion The main objective of the study was to provide a profound understanding of the influence of interpersonal communication on alcohol determinants, by manipulating two different facets: conversational valence and level of active participation in the conversation. We first hypothesized that a more positive (negative) conversational valence about alcohol elicits more positive (negative) binge drinking attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control and increases (decreases) binge drinking intention (Hypothesis 1). An additional hypothesis was that the influence of conversational valence depends on the level of active participation in the conversation about alcohol (Hypothesis 2). The results of the study partly supported H1, but not H2. Two important conclusions can be drawn based on our results. First, when participants speak positively (negatively) about alcohol, their attitude, behavioral control, subjective norm towards binge drinking are more positive (negative). However, the intention to (refrain from) binge drinking is not significantly influenced by the conversational valence. Second, there is neither significant effect of the level of activeness in the conversation on alcohol determinants, nor a significant interaction effect of the activeness with the conversational valence. The first main conclusion conceptually replicates previous results, which proposed that the conversational valence in alcohol-related discussions influences the binge drinking determinants (e.g. Hendriks et al. 2012). Nevertheless, the results of the current study do not indicate a significant influence of the conversational valence on the intention to binge drink. Although, the concept of conversational valence has also been addressed in previous research (e.g. Hendriks, De Bruijn, Van den Putte, 2012; Hendriks et al., 2012), this study was the first to examine this factor by manipulating it. Thus, the discrepancy between the current study and previous research may be due to differences in research designs. As the conversational valence was experimentally manipulated in this study, it is assumed that conversational valence causally provokes changes in binge drinking predictors. However, the fact that participants are instructed to speak in either a positive or a negative way about alcohol, may be opposed to their actual views (negative/positive) and role (passive/active) in a conversation resulting in a non significant effect of the conversation in their binge drinking intention. Therefore, although an instructed conversation may be effective in influencing attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control, it is not sufficient and may take a longer time to change the participants’ intention to binge-drink. Additionally, according to previous studies (Jamison and Myers, 2008) the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was relatively weak in explaining intention to binge-drink. Also, it was found (Armitage Conner, 2001) that the TPB accounted for only 39% of variance in the intention to binge drink. Thus, as Gibbond, Houlihan Gerrard, 2009) supported, the TPB cannot thoroughly define the irrational nature of health risk behaviours. An additional finding is that participants reported a high level of perceived behavioural control (PBC) in all the four conditions and showed the largest differences between the valence and between the activeness conditions. Notably, as Norman, Bennettand Lewis (1998) supported, the control factor is the most important determinant in binge drinking. Moreover, as previous research suggested, perceived behavioural control and subjective norm may affect intention indirectly through attitude formation (Susanto Goodwin, 2013; Chung et al., 2012; Tarkiainen Sundqvist, 2005). †¦.As in other studies in the domain of binge-drinking (Johnston et al., 2003), in our research we employed single construct measures of general perceived behavioral control (we do not distinguish between self-efficacy and perceived controllability), which tap the extent to which behavioral performance is believed to be easy or difficult (Armitage Corner, 2001). Admittedly, research revealed that only self-efficacy predicts binge-drinking intention (Norman, 2011; Normal et al., 2007). Further research distinguishing these two components of perceived behavioral control is therefore required. We suggest one reason for the non-significant influence of perceived behavioural control on intention to binge drink In addition, the second goal of this study was to introduce a new factor that may influence the effect of interpersonal communication about alcohol on binge drinking determinants. For this purpose, we investigated how the level of activeness in a conversation (active vs. passive) influences binge drinking predictors and how this interacts with the effect of conversational valence in conversations about alcohol. In order to investigate this we instructed participants to speak either actively or passively in positively or negatively valenced alcohol conversations. This factor has not been explicitly explored in the past, thus this research provides preliminary evidence on this topic. Although no significant main effect of activeness on alcohol determinants was found in the analyses, positive valence and high activeness in the conversation result in the most unhealthy alcohol determinants (attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, intention), as predicted. Respectively, negative valence and high activeness result in the most healthy alcohol attitude. Overall, despite encouraging results from the manipulation checks, the hypotheses were partly (H1) or not supported (H2). In fact, further exploration of the manipulation outcome revealed significant deviations from the instructed valence and activeness conditions, thus a great percentage of participants demonstrated either that they have not complied with the manipulation or that they unconsciously deviated from the instructions. On the one hand, it may be possible that some participants were affected by their existed views when discussing about alcohol and resisted to the counter-attitudinal message such that they did not talk in line with the condition that they were assigned to. One the other hand, people may have perceived the valence that they have talked differently comparatively to how they did actually talk. As recent research suggested, ( Hendriks, Van de Putte de Bruijn, 2015) perceived valence significantly influences attitudes and intention to binge drink. Similarly, personal characteristics (talkative/ concise) of people may intervene in the way that they finally act during the discussion. In particular, as the analyses demonstrated, only 52,9 of the participants who were instructed to talk passively, perceived their role in the conversation as passive. Generally, extroverts who want to talk more, perhaps they didn’t support the instructed passive role hence the difference between the two conditions hasn’t influenced significantly the alcohol determinants itself, nor interacted with the valence condition to †¦ Markedly, there wasn’t an effective way to take into consideration the partners’ evaluations during the main analyses, rendering some items partly ineffective to objectively evaluate the content of conversations about alcohol. Nonetheless, according to the shared reality theory (Hardin Higgins, 1996), there is an interdependence between dyad partners’ responses on the outcomes of interest that may also influence the attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control and intention toward binge drinking. As this theory suggests, through the process of interpersonal communication, discoursers come to a shared understanding of the world, mutually reinforcing one another’s experience. Nevertheless, in real –life settings, these determinants may influence how negatively or positively people talk about alcohol-related topics, thus conversational valence and activeness can influence the determinants of binge drinking behavior, and these binge drinking determinants may inversely influence whether and how positively/negatively or actively/passively people discuss this issue. Implications The present findings have important implications for understanding binge-drinking and developing health interventions. we found support for the effect of conversational valence on attitudes, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control. Therefore, in future health campaigns, targeted in creating more negative attitudes, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control (but not intention) to binge drink, an effective strategy to use would be to stimulate people to discuss negatively about alcohol. To change attitudes towards binge drinking, interventions should highlight the negative consequences associated with binge drinking and challenge the perceived positive consequences of binge drinking. Alternatively But if it was the change of intention/behavior= another campaign planning would be needed Limitations This study adds to a growing body of research examining factors predicting binge drinking among student populations, however, there is a number of methodological issues that should be considered when interpreting the results. First, binge drinking attitudes, subjective norm and PBC were measured using self-reports, which are vulnerable to cognitive (e.g., Luchins, 1957), affective (e.g., Bower, 1992) and self-presentational (e.g., Paulhus, 2002) biases. Armitage and Conner (2001) reported that the TPB provides stronger predictions of self-report behaviors than observed behaviors. Therefore employing alternative observational techniques (e.g. nominated peers) may be useful in revealing the qualities of the drinking environment that directly influence binge drinking (Van de Goor et al.,1990) although these also have their own limitations (Gill, 2002) Another limitation is as other studies using the TPB to understand student binge drinking behavior, they have not examined beliefs about drinking alcohol. Given that according to Ajzen (1991), beliefs are the ultimate psychological determinants of behavior one needs to alter those beliefs (Ajzen, 2007) in order to bring about change in behaviour, or at least intentions to perform a behaviour, Thus, to design interventions to alter intentions to binge drink in students, one needs to know not only what are the salient beliefs regarding this behaviour in this population, but also which beliefs are associated with intentions and behaviour (Sutton, 2002; Sutton, 2010). -Manipulation of activeness Our sample included English-speaking students with different cultures, thus different perception of (binge) drinking. Interestingly, research has shown that the society’s culture of alcohol determines how much people drink in that community (Heath, 1982).Communities with a culture of drinking have much higher rates of binge drinking, while communities where drinking is disapproved have lower binge drinking rates Conclusion Considering the prevalence of binge drinking as well as the damaging consequences especially in young people we conducted this research in the context of alcohol in student populations. This research highlights the need to broaden the context in which conversations about alcohol are examined. More effective measurement tools in research about alcohol, coupled with improvements in alcohol prevention, will hopefully lead to a downward trend of alcohol use among students and the negative consequences of binge drinking . Therefore, when participants were instructed to discuss about alcohol in either positive or negative aspect, their attitude, subjective norm and behavioral control were influenced by the conversational content whereas intention to refrain from binge drinking was not significantly affected by the conversation [1] A univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to check whether the active condition influenced feelings of power. The results indicated a marginally significant effect of activeness on mean power F(1,129): 3.22, p=.07. Thus, participants who were assigned in the active condition have experienced feelings of power M=5.29, SD=0.69 more in comparison to those who had been assigned to the passive condition (M=5.04, SD=.92). However, no statistically significant effect of valence on mean power was revealed F(1,129): .001, p=.971.

The Many Ways that Educational Technology Can Help Students Essay

The Many Ways that Educational Technology Can Help Students Abstract There are many ways that educational technology can help students develop literacy. First, reading programs, such as the Reading Computer-Assisted Tutoring Program can provide students with effective reading remediation, even when the schools cannot. Students can work with paraprofessional tutors and the Reading CAT, in order to receive necessary specialized instruction, which schools could not otherwise afford to provide. Second, educational technology is a powerful tool for motivating students to develop literacy. Students are able to actively construct their own learning, which has been proven to make learning more intrinsically motivating. Third, Electronic stimuli of sound text and visuals, and the wide variety of enjoyable literacy games, grab students’ attention and motivates them to read. There is also a wide variety of software that makes literacy easier and therefore motivational. Students can use talking books to follow along and listen to, at the some time that the books are read aloud. Also, students can use reading assistant programs, which alert students to mistakes they have made, by pronouncing misread words correctly. There is also computer software that can be used to assist in developing comprehension, vocabulary and writing. Fourth, educational technology can help remediate dyslexia through extended practice, which targets the phonological, and word decoding skills areas i n which students with dyslexia are most deficient. Lastly, English as Second Language Students can use educational technology to increase verbal interaction, and to develop phonetic reading, comprehension, vocabulary and writing skills. There are many w... ...1998). Turn on to Reading Through Technology. Library Talk, 11 (4), 16-18. Fawcett, A., Lynch, L., & Nicholson, R. (2000). Computer-Assisted Reading Intervention in a Secondary School: An Evaluation Study. British Journal of Educational Technology, 31 (4), 333-349. Green & Ybarra. (March, 2003). Using Technology to Help ESL/EFL Students Develop Language Skills. Retrieved on October 11, 2002, from: http://iteslk.org/Articles?ybarra-Technology.html Lafferty, I. (2002). Ready, Set, Read! Technology and Learning, 23 (2), 20-27. Lalas, J., & Wilson, T. (1993). Focus on Multicultural Schools: New Technologies for ESL Students. Media and Methods, 29 (4), 18-20. Quenneville, J., (2001). Tech Tools for Students with Learning Disabilities: Infusion into Inclusive Classrooms. Preventing School Failure, 45 (4), 167-170.

Defining Social Roles for Men and Women in India through Traditional Hi

Social Roles for Men and Women in India through Traditional Hindu Texts Throughout this essay, I will discuss the social roles of men and women in the home, within rituals and within creation. I will look at the roles of a husband and wife, as well as Goddesses and Kings. The main traditional texts that support these roles are the Rg Veda, the Kalpa Sutras, the epics (the Ramayana and Mahabharata), Tryambaka, and Manu Smrti. They are believed to lay the foundations for order in society, as well as giving people the knowledge of their duty. I will show how these separate texts have defined roles within castes and genders and show how their different styles of writings have defined roles in different ways. A person's role in society depends largely on their caste/class. Firstly, I think it is important to distinguish the difference between `Caste' and `Class'. A person's class (Varna) is dependant on their occupation. It can be changed throughout a person's life. "A varna is very far from being the same thing as a caste" A person's caste (jati) comes mainly from their blood line. The only way that a persons caste can be changed is through "violations of its rules" or through marriage to a member of another caste (although this is greatly frowned upon). In the past, a person's caste and class were the same. "There are fixed occupations for many castes" . In our more modern society however, two people who belong to the same caste do not necessarily do the same job. For example, a person belonging to the Warrior caste can be either a soldier or a doctor for the soldiers. This is where `sub-castes' are introduced. They distinguish between jobs as well as wealth within a certain caste. It shows different roles within society a... ...rsity press Hutton J.H 1980 Fourth edition Hinduism: A very short Introduction Oxford University press Knott K 1998 Hindu Goddesses; Visions of the divine feminine in the Hindu religious tradition University of California press Kinsley D 1986 The Perfect wife: The orthodox Hindu woman according to the Stridharmapaddhati of Tryambakayajvan Delhi- Oxford University Press Bombay Calcutta Madras Leslie J 1989 Roles and Rituals for Hindu Women Pinter Publishers, London Leslie J 1991 Dharma's daughters; contemporary Indian women and Hindu Culture Rutgers University Press Mitter S. S 1991 The rise of the Goddess in the Hindu tradition State University of New York Press; Albany Pintchman T 1994 Hinduism and Human rights: a conceptual approach Oxford University press Sharma A

The Taming of the Shrew Essays -- English Literature Essays

The Taming of the Shrew Examine the different ways in which Shakespeare presents the attitude towards marriage in the play, ‘The Taming of the Shrew.’ The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare’s earliest comedies, and it shares many essential characteristics with his other romantic comedies, such as Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. These characteristics include light-hearted and slapstick humour, disguises and deception and a happy ending in which most of the characters come out satisfied. The play has been dated from as early as 1594 and as late as 1598. (http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/shrew/context.html) The main themes in the play are love, marriage, domination, society expectations, betting and money. Does love really exist in the play or is it just love for money. It seems that the key to a happy and successful marriage is money. This comedy written by Shakespeare uses disguises and that also is a key part to the play. Although it is intended to be a comedy, there is sometimes a black cloud hanging over it. For instance the way in which Katherina is treated doesn’t always seem to be funny; instead it is quite cruel and degrading. â€Å"She eat no meat today, nor none shall eat; last night she slept not, nor tonight she shall not.† (Page 62, act 4 scene 1 line 182-183) Men saw marriage as a way to get rich; love didn’t even enter the equation. Padua is a rich area and therefore many suitors fled there in the hope of becoming wealthy. â€Å"I come to wive it wealthily in Padua,† says Petruchio. He asks outright, â€Å"Then tell me – if I get your daughter’s love, what dowry shall I have with her to wife?† (Page 37, act 2 scene 1, line 119-120) The husbands were given a dowry by the father of the daughter when they became married. Women didn’t have any say in who they chose to marry; instead the decision was given to the father. If a daughter was not married then they were looked shoddily upon within the society. In this era every woman was to be married otherwise they were frowned upon within the community. Further more without Katherina getting married, Bianca would also never marry. Within a family the eldest daughter must be married off first and in this play turned out to be a bonus. â€Å"Her father ke eps from all access of suitors and will not promise her to any man until her elder sister first be wed.† This is the main an... .... She now obeys what is asked of her by Petruchio like such as when she is told to lecture the other wives about how to be a good wife, â€Å"Katherina, I charge thee, tell these headstrong women, what duty they do owe their lords and husbands.† Without arguing and saying a word against what is asked of her she gives her advice, â€Å"Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee.† Women in the Elizabethan era were presented as very obedient to their husbands and respectful to them also. They had no power and no say, they were treated badly and nothing would be done to stop the behaviour. In modern society most women have as much say as the men, they are not expected to stay at home and clean etc, and instead they go to work as well. Some women are like Katherina before she was supposedly tamed, very out spoken, yet inequality still exists. During the Elizabethan era marriage was like a business contract, if the money is there then so is the signature. Love was never a part of the play and this showed in both Hortensio and Petruchio, who Shakespeare uses to expose this superficial approach to the supposedly romantic notion of marriage.

Myths of the Native American Cherokee Tribe

Myths are sacred to all Native American Tribes, and the two popular myths for the Cherokee Indian tribe is The Creation Myth, which explains how the world was made, and the other myth is The First Fire which is about how the fire was discovered. The Cherokees are a very large and powerful American Indian tribe and has a lot of history background and interesting facts. They use their cultural myths in their day to day lives in many different ways. The creation myth is used more in their religion beliefs than the first fire is, but they both are similar with each other. The Cherokee Indians have a personal and trusting relationship with the earth, animals, and Plants to show that they love the earth and trust in it. The creation myth is about how the world was made in the Cherokee Indians point of view. This myth explains how the world was created and all the background information about it, and how and why we have mountains and valleys. The Indians believe that â€Å"The earth was a great island floating in a sea of water, suspended by a cord at each of the four cardinal points, hanging down from the sky vault, which is solid rock†, (Cherokee Beliefs Creation Of Earth), nd they fear that once everybody dies on this earth the earth will go back underground like it was before everyone was created. There was a arch floating on this island of water with a few animals aboard, and on this arch was a little Water-beetle, who went on a journey to see what was under the water, and what he discovered was some mud. The mud some how created a soft surface so that the animals could then walk on, which became the earth which was flat and very wet at first. All of the animals were very anxious to see if the ground was ready to walk on, so each bird on the arch was sent on to check, but they could not find a place to land. Each time something was discovered or complete they would send out a different animal to do that task to help get the earth ready to live on. The father of all Buzzards than flew out to get everything ready, he is the one who made the valleys and mountains. This happened when the Buzzard got very tired of flying, when he was in the Cherokee country his wings would touch the ground Ahich turned into a valley than it turned in a mountains. The sun was created after the earth was dry, the animals saw that it was still very dark. So then the animals got the sun in track so it would come up each day across the island from east to est. The first inept didn’t work due to it being really hot, it took a different animal and seven attempts to get the sun in the sky at a just enough spot. The Indians believe that there is another world under the one we live in. They call it the underground and they say everything down there is the same with animals, plants, and people, the only thing different is the seasons they have. Its not known to whom and when the animals and plants were made, but they were a great use of help when the earth was being created. The animals did a lot of work on trying to get everything in order so they could have some where to live. The plants and animals had to stay up seven nights to test their abilities. Only the owl, the panther and two other animals were able to stay up the full seven nights and were rewarded with the powers to see in the dark and stay awake at night. The tree’s that were able to stay up was the Cedar, the Pine, the Spruce, the Holly and the Laurel, they were giving the ability to always stay green and to be the greatest medicine. Men were created after the plant and animals were. First there was just a brother and sister that was living on earth and then the brother. Then one day he made her multiply by striking her with a ish, which she did. In seven days there was a baby and then every seven days another baby was born. It came to a conclusion that earth couldn’t keep all of the babies, because there were too many and it was dangerous. That’s how it came about that its more healthy for women to only have one child in a year. The animals and people were at one point living in harmony with each other, but then the humans speeded all over the earth and there wasn’t enough room for the animals or plants. Then the animals declared a war against the humans, the animals were really mad, so they each chose a disease to send the humans to make them ill or die. The plants were the only things that was still pure and harmless to one another, they were friendly to both men and plants but, â€Å"when the plants, who were friendly to man heard what had be done by the animals they determined to defeat the latter’s’ evil designs†(Conley pp. 10. After the trees defeated the plan that was made, they cured the humans with their medicine from themselves. The first fire myth explains how fire came about and who was discovered it. In mythology, fire appears both as a creative, cleansing force and as a destructive, punishing one, although positive aspects of fire generally outweigh negative ones. The fire was first made by some thunder that sent their lighting to a empty sycamore tree that was on a island which caught on fire. The earth was really cold, and when all the animals saw that there was fire they did everything they could to get to it. Since the fire was on a island only certain animals could try to retrieve the fire. The Raven had tried first because he was so strong he tried to bring back the fire, but he failed. In the process in trying to bring back the fire, the Raven got all of his feathers scorched black so he flew back. After most of the animals that could fly tried to get the fire failed nd got hurt in the process, none of the other animals that could fly didn’t want to try, because they were afraid. The next animal that tried was the black racer snake, he swam under he water and came up from the bottom of the tree where there was a hole at, and he made up it up the tree. The snake almost had the fire, but it burst in flames in his face and he fell in the hole and climbed out just into, but he got turned all black. By then all of the animals were afraid to try to get the fire, so the animals held a council to see what they should do next, and the rest of them made up xcuses why they couldn’t try to go retrieve the fire. The last brave animal that was willing to make the trip across the island was the water spider. For her journey she weaved a bowl and put it on her backed to carry back the fire in. she crossed over the island and came back with a piece of coal in her bowl still burning. The water spider still wears the bowl strapped around her body to remind everybody how she got the fire. Cherokee Indians were one of the largest native American group in the Unites States. They were one of the most important tribe in the United States and the most civilized. They riginally came from the southeastern region of the United States. The Cherokee people also lived in different parts of the United States, such as Georgia, North and South Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. The location of the Cherokee Indians changed in the 1800’s, due to the Trail of Tears. The Trail of Tears is also known as Indian Removal, is when the government created an Indian territory in Oklahoma, and sent all the Eastern native Americans to live there. The Cherokee people were treated really badly and some died on the long journey to Oklahoma, which resulted in the deaths of 4000 Cherokees. The name Cherokee comes from a Muskoge word meaning speakers of another language, and is pronounced Tsalagi in their language, but the Cherokee language belongs to the Iroquoian . The Cherokee originally called themselves Aniyunwia which means the principal people. The roles of the men and women Cherokee tribe were like their distant cousins the Iroquois. The Cherokee men and women were equal to each other, they had the same amount of power as each other. The men did the hunting, war and diplomacy. For hunting the men would make their own and weapons by hand, the material they used was tomahawks. When the Cherokee man hunters would prepare to hunt for their food, they would pray to the animals to ask for forgiveness from them, than they would continue to hunt, â€Å"Man fasted prayed before hunting, and then offered thanks in a ceremony after killing an animal; on returning to their village, they shared the meat, used all parts of the animal, and often danced to honor the animal†, (Cherokee Indian Heritage and History). The Indians were thankful for the animal that gave them food, but They also felt bad so they honored them to show their appreciation to the animals and earth. Cherokee man would use blowguns to catch birds and sometimes to play a small game. They were good with building things also, building canoes and house frames and roofs. The women in the tribe duties was to be in charge of farming, property, and taking care of their families. The women also made their own tools, they wove mats, blankets, clothing and pottery. When the time came for making important political decisions in the Cherokee tribe the men would step in and play the important role, and when it came down to social decisions for the clan they would be the women place to step in and make the decisions. In the modern time in the Cherokee history women couldn’t be chiefs or anything in higher power, only landowners, and the man could only be the chiefs. Times have changed in the Cherokee tribe and now woman can be chiefs, but some Indians still prefer the traditional way to live. Some activities both genders did in the Cherokee tribe was artwork which is making drums and rattles, music which included them dancing to their traditional songs, storytelling and traditional medicine the pure healing. The Indians were really serious about their ways of healing themselves and others in their tribe. The Cherokee’s would have big ceremonies relating to this process of healing and forgiving with their traditional ways and beliefs. The Cherokee’s religion and beliefs are based up on the protective spirits of the upper world to help them keep balance and harmony on earth, and it connects to the creation myth in a Many different ways. The Cherokee Indians did a lot of rituals, prayers, and ceremonies giving thanks to the earth, plants and animals. They use the creation myth as guide to lead them through their lives. This myth means a lot to the Cherokee Indians and their religion. Even though the Cherokee Indians don’t use the term religion to describe the rituals, ceremonies, the cleaning of their bad feelings, and all of their other daily life styles, every part of their world had some scared connection or religious meaning to it. They began their day and end their nights with daily prayers, rituals, and seasonal ceremonies to deal with their problems and receive guidance and forgiveness from the earth. The Cherokee did a lot of rituals and ceremonies about how to rid all the bad feelings and getting the earth and animals to forgive them. They did special rituals for the animals they have killed â€Å"a hunter was required to follow ertain prescribed rituals, and to apologize to the spirit of the animal he killed† (Conley pg. 7). One of the rituals they did was Going To The Water, the purpose of this ritual is to help get rid of any bad feelings they may have and renew them in a positive way so they can began a fresh start with a clear mind. They began by stepping into a river or creek facing east, and dipping their bodies under the water seven times to come up with a clear mind, â€Å"they prayed to the sevens directions: the four cardinal points, the sky, the earth, and the center-the spirit†, (Cherokee Indian Heritage and History). This was performed by men, women, and children. Another ceremony the Cherokee’s used was called the called The Green Corn Ceremony, which was used to help give them a fresh start and seek forgiveness for their quarrels and any crime they did. This ceremony was held each year at harvest time. The meaning of this ceremony was to forgive one another and get forgiveness from the earth from what they did in their past year. In conclusion the Cherokee Indian were a very powerful tribe, who live their lives by many myths and traditional rituals, which is very sacred to them. They focus on all of the good things in life, they are very respectful and thankful for a lot of things. To show thanks they usually do ceremony or a traditional ritual. The Cherokee Indians have a lot of balance and harmony in their lives. Cherokee Indians have a lot of love for the earth, plants and the animals, most of there stories, rituals, ceremonies, and legends are based upon those three things they love and respect the most. Animals, earth, and the plants all give something to the Cherokee Indians that they can use feed, nurture and protect their tribe.

Drug and Alcohol Use Among Adolescents and Young Adults

Running head: REGULATION OF DEVIANCE: DRUG AND ALCOHOL USE Regulation of Deviance: Drug and Alcohol Use among Adolescents and Young Adults Nikkee L Payne University of Nebraska at Lincoln Abstract This paper explores the overall affects that peers, family members, and religious affiliations have among adolescents and young adults when it comes to the use of deviant substances such as drugs and alcohol. Here we will examine the specific affects that peers tend to have on individual adolescents and how subgroups can influence the future of the individual.We will look at the errors in the limitations placed throughout the different studies done and speculate on what could have been done to better generalize the results. Drug and alcohol use among adolescents and young adults is common and tends to lead to later abuse of said substances. Here we will find better understanding of the overall outcomes of deviant adolescents and their choices that they make about drugs and alcohol in congru ency to environmental factors.Regulation of Deviance: Drug and Alcohol Use among Adolescents and Young Adults There have been numerous studies done on the use of drugs and alcohol within the different cultures and subcultures seen throughout society. Many of these studies tend to focus more so on the young adults and adolescents use of different substances more often than the use across all different age groups. There has been much speculation among many psychologists and sociologists around the different influences of these adolescents and young adults.Different studies have focused on the influences of peers and parents as well as religion on the use of drugs and alcohol. It is seen that peers tend to have a more direct influence on the use of different substances than that of parents. Research by Bahr, Hoffmann and Yang (2005) shows that the attitudes of the parents tend to affect the overall outcome of adolescent drug use. It is easy to see the correlation between drug use, devi ance, and future accomplishments of the adolescents who choose to partake in these deviant acts.No matter what the choice of substance is there is a direct correlation between the use and committing different deviant acts. Literature Review There are many studies that emphasize the direct connection between adolescent drug use and the influences that family members and peers have on this. According to Walden et al (2004) there is a clear correlation linking parents, peers and substance use among youth. This study attempts to look at the genetic influences versus the environmental influences in question of which is more significant to adolescent sway.In the study they attempt to illustrate two possible genetic influences that could possibly help explain the connection between peers, parents and what is seen as substance use phenotypes. â€Å"First, the associations could be the product of active genotype–environment correlations, wherein individuals gravitate to different env ironments (or perceive similar environments differently) on the basis of their unique, genetically influenced dispositions. To the extent that risk for early adolescent substance use is influenced by heritable factors (e. g. temperament), selection into deviant peer groups by adolescents with a propensity to use substances would represent an active genotype–environment correlation. Second, the associations could owe to evocative genotype–environment correlations, which occur when individuals elicit reactions from their environments on the basis of their own genetically influenced behavior. For example, an adolescent’s early use of substances (again, as influenced by heritable factors) could negatively impact the relationship between the adolescent and his or her parent(s) by resulting in increased parent–child conflict.Given the possibility that these putatively environmentally mediated associations could, in fact, result from genotype–environment correlational processes† [ (Walden, McGue, Iacono, Burt, & Elkins, 2004, p. 441) ]. When looking at the results of the study Walden et al (2004) came to the conclusion that these genetic, heritable factors were far less significant than that of the environmental factors to influence youth early youth substance use. The findings here provided a much needed view on the different relationships between peer influence and substance use and parent haracteristics and substance use. The different parenting styles definitely had a great affect on the choices that the youth made when it came to the different uses of substances. It is speculated that the choice of peers can also influence the parent-child interactions and account for relationship problems amongst youth and their parents. There are many positive correlations that came out of this study; however there were limitations on the study that did not account for specific aspects of young adult use of specific substances.There is an absence of the influence of that of teachers in the environment as well as a lack of an overall representative sample in that it consisted of mostly Caucasians. Also, there was a lack of recognizing the sibling influences possible. For the lack of coverage on the influence of the siblings of the deviant youth Stormshak et al makes up for in her article covering Sibling and Peer Deviance. Here the study looks at the different constructs set in place as predictors of substance use of adolescents; these constructs consist of sibling deviance, warmth, and conflict.It is also speculated that the sibling relationships will outweigh that of peer relationships when it comes to influencing deviant behavior [ (Stormshak, Comeau, & Shepard, 2004, p. 637) ]. The results compare significantly with that of the hypotheses of the study. Sibling deviance was the more significant forecaster for adolescent substance use in comparison to that of peer influence. They bring up a good perspective on th e fact that the antisocial youth, especially those with behavior problems, often are rejected from the main social groups around them; however they usually end up making their own subgroups.Usually these subgroups are focused on the thing that they have in common; the deviant acts they partake in. This study tends to jump back and forth on the stance of peer groups versus sibling influence on the outcome of the adolescents. However Stormshak does state that sibling relationships comparatively to peer relationships are far more stable and therefore could possibly serve as a more high risk context for adolescents [ (Stormshak, Comeau, & Shepard, 2004, p. 645) ]. One thing that we need to keep in mind is the limitation of age in this study.Age here can be applied in numerous cases; that is the age of the adolescent at risk as well as the age difference between the youth and their siblings. One thing that the majority of these articles can all agree on is the fact that early initiation of substance use is associated with more addictive behaviors later on in the youth’s lifespan. Often early substance use is associated with more delinquent behavior, academic problems, impairments in the individual’s ability to function as a contributing member of our society, and health problems.Kumpulainen (2000) gives several examples of different studies done with the conclusion that psychiatric problems reported earlier in the adolescents life is correlated with that of drug use later on in life; also, â€Å"mental disorders generally precede the development of addictive disorders† [ (Kumpulainen, 2000, p. 1848) ]. Here she focuses more on the mental state of the individuals and its correlation with the drug use.One can see that the mental health is significantly lower when it comes to the use of drugs and alcohol earlier in the adolescents life. Again, Kumpulainen (2000) refers to other sources to confirm that addictive behaviors and mental disorders tend to go hand in hand. Additionally, in a separate study by Andrews and Duncan (1997) they address the mental capacity and academic motivation of youth and its inverse relationship with substance use; rather than the mental state of the individual.Andrews and Duncan’s study had three major constructs to it; focusing on the family relationships, the deviance of the adolescent, and the academic motivation. One of the limitations as well as benefits to the study was the fact that all of the information gathered came from the reports of the mother and the target adolescents [ (Andrews & Duncan, 1997, p. 527) ]. Also, the confine of the individuals mostly being Caucasian and living in single-parent households may slightly skew the overall generalization of the study.The study comes to the conclusion that there is no significant relationship between alcohol use and that of academic motivation; also, for the other substances of marijuana and cigarettes it is inconclusive to the fact th at the results cannot determine which act precedes the other. In that substance use precedes academic motivation or the inverse of this as well. However, they can conclude that the increased use in marijuana and cigarettes does lead to more of a lack of motivation when it comes to academics. [ (Andrews & Duncan, 1997, p. 541) ].There are two separate longitudinal studies that focus more so on the transitions made from these earlier adolescent years into the later adolescent years and adulthood. Here we look at the friendships and peers to understand the direction in which the adult will end up going. Dishion and Owen (2002) have findings consistent with numerous other studies in that many of these individuals tend to be put into specific peer groups that more regularly use substances [ (Dishion & Owen, 2002, p. 488) ]. One needs to remember that the connection made between these peers with the use of these substances is substantial and tend to be long lasting.Therefore we can assume that these connections will be significant throughout the individual’s life and not just the adolescent years. Similarly, the study done by Mason, Hitch and Spoth (2009) shows the transition from early to late adolescents in that with the interaction of the proper peer group at age sixteen along with what they see as the negative affect can be a predictor of the amount of substance use in later adolescence. This negative affect that they speak of is alluding to the use of substance to escape or cope with the current reality that each individual may be facing at that time.This is one of the few studies that hint toward this hypothesis; â€Å"other studies have not supported the self-medication hypothesis among teens† [ (Mason, Hitch, & Spoth, 2009, p. 1153) ]. Here you see more of a lack from this study when it comes to the overall assessment of negative affective states. This is where you gain more insight through other articles concerning the actual mental states of individuals and the direct correlation that it has with the use of different substances.The study done by Dishion and Owen (2002) has fewer limitations on it; their unexpected findings helped to further understand the hypothesis of deviant friendships and the relationship to dangerous drug use. They have seen to have fewer discrepancies when it came to the results and findings. â€Å"The Young adult years are a critical transition point for many individuals,† Dishion and Owen (2002) state; this is â€Å"when selection of partners, formation of families, and the foundation for the next generation are established† [ (Dishion & Owen, 2002, p. 89) ]. One cannot forget the influence of religion and its effects on the use of what is seen as deviant substances by our different sub-cultures and societies. Walker et al states that, â€Å"research has shown religiosity to the a protective factor with regard to substance use and other problem behaviors† [ (Walker, Ainette, Wills, & Mendoza, 2007, p. 84) ]. There are clear indications of differentiation of substance use dependent upon the entirety of the relationship that one has with religion.When it comes to religion they tend to encourage certain behaviors that are more socially accepted and fewer deviants. Therefore, one can assume that adolescents involved in their religious organizations will be less likely to commit acts of deviance such as use of specific substances. This study is yet another indication of the inverse relationship between religiosity and substance use. Discussion It is clear that there are many factors that come into play when it comes to deviance in adolescents and young adults.Many of the findings in the articles come to the same conclusions; that is that numerous environmental factors along with that of peer groups, religious groups and family members all come into play. The speculation that the sibling relationship is more significant than that of peer relationships by Sto rmshak et al. is simply just that, speculation. Looking at the results as a whole we can see that peer relationships are just as significant of that of sibling relationships as well as parent relationships. Peer groups are what help adolescents more or less decide who they would like to be and the activities that they would like to partake in.Bahr, Hoffmann and Yang (2005) also concluded that â€Å"peer drug use had stronger affects than any of the other variables; However, the results [also] showed that the family variables had significant impacts on adolescent drug use as well† [ (Bahr, Hoffmann, & Yang, 2005, p. 545) ]. A major limitation of the majority of the studies would be the ability to generalize them across a number of populations. Many studies are done on Caucasians and also have other specific measures that are not easily able to be generalized across many cultures and subcultures.In order to fully understand the compete influence on peer, family and religious gr oups one would need to look at numerous characteristics not just specific sub-groups. Conclusion and Future Study As a whole the amount of research done on peer, family and religious influence is significant enough that we can get a good idea on the overall affects. Substance use among more troubled adolescence is far more common than that of adolescence involved in religious organizations and those who are motivated academically as well.Those youth who have been labeled as antisocial and having more mental health problems are forced into this more deviant peer group and are more likely to become substance users and abusers later in life. There are clear correlations between deviant peers and drug usage among adolescents. In future studies we should make sure to have a more wide population to study. Not focus as much on the Caucasians and troubled youth. When it comes to troubled youth you need a comparison of what is seen as society as the more angelic adolescents who tend to not g et mixed up in substances that are deviant.Here, however, it is clear that there are many factors that come into play when determining the adolescent’s use of drugs and alcohol. References Andrews, J. A. , & Duncan, S. C. (1997). Examining the Reciprocal Relation Bewteen Academic Motivation and Substance Use: Effects of Family Relationships, Self-Esteem, and General Deviance. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 20(6), 523-549. Retrieved from http://0-web. ebscohost. com. library. unl. edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer? sid=21d20bb2-d5ad-4a31-8aef-c9c56a727cbf%40sessionmgr10&vid=1&hid=16 Bahr, S. J. Hoffmann, J. P. , & Yang, X. (2005). Parental and Peer Influences on the Risk of Adolescent Drug Use. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 26(6), 529-551. Retrieved from http://www. inspirationsyouth. com/Teen-Substance-Abuse/Parental-and-Peer-Influences-Adolescent-Drug-Abuse. pdf Brook, J. S. , Lukoff, I. F. , & Whiteman, M. (1977). Peer, Family, and Personality Domains as Related to Adoles cents' Drug Behavior. Psychological Reports(41), 1095-1102. Retrieved from http://0-www. amsciepub. com. library. unl. edu/doi/pdf/10. 2466/pr0. 1977. 41. 3f. 109

Concept of Demolition Man Essay

* The Hollywood film represents the danger of globalization and cultural and environmental homogeneity, standardization and sanitation. * Friedman argues that because globalization is creating a single marketplace, it is homogenizing consumption and culture and can run the risk of wiping out ecological and cultural diversity throughout the world. In the Cold War system, cultures didn’t interact as frequently or directly as they do today, where they are often offered up for global competition and comparison against one another. Diversity in Globalization * Friedman argues that because globalization is often associated with Americanization, countries need to develop strong cultural and environmental filters so they can interact with but not be overwhelmed and swallowed by the herd. He suggests the most important filter is the ability to â€Å"glocalize,† meaning a culture’s ability to absorb natural influences into their culture yet reject those that are alien—to assimilate aspects of globalization into your culture in a way that adds diversity without overwhelming. * Globalization will be sustainable as long as we manage these filters in a way that protects our culture while simultaneously getting the best out of others’ cultures. Methods for Greening Globalization * Mobilize the environmental entrepreneurs– term coined by Keith Algers for an organization meant to stop the logging activities in the rainforest in Brazil while formulating a plan to avoid unemployment among these loggers. Looking at the bigger picture, it implies finding solution to the growing problems of compromise in the industrialized society that environmental protection and economic development can coexist together. * Environmentally Sound Production Methods – Corporations and shareholders should be pressured by the government to adapt new environmental policies. The government hitting companies over the head with both new regulations and new tax incentives to be green, and with SFC telling companies they have to start accurately portraying their environmental liabilities to shareholders—such as where they are being sued for dumping and what the cleaning up cost—there has been a paradigm shift. * Learning how to use globalization itself. Where globalization is an asset is in the fact that it is creating â€Å"Super-empowered environmentalist†, who are acting on their own, can now fight back rather effectively against both the Electronic Herd and governments. Thanks to the Internet, environmentalists in one country are quickly relaying how a multinational behaves in their country to environmentalists in other countries. Preventing cultural homogeneity * GlocalizationHhlksal;kl;ksdsl;adkls;adkals;d—the ability of a culture, when it encounters another strong cultures, to absorb influences that naturally fit into and can enrich that culture, to resist those things that are alien and to compartmentalize those things that, while different, can nevertheless be enjoyed and celebrated as different. * Unhelathy Glocalization—when you absorb something that isn’t part of your culture, doesn’t connect with anything latent in your culture, but you have so lost touch with your culture, you think it does. * Glocalism alone is not sufficient to protect indigenous cultures from globalization. Some hard filters are also needed. To begin with you need zoning laws, protected area laws and educational programs to preserve unique regions and a cultural heritage from insidious homogenous development.

Highfield video store currently Essay

Highfield video store currently uses a paper system to perform all the functions required for this business. Before I reach a decision on how to produce an advanced and improved system to the existing system it is imperative to choose the correct software to overcome this situation. I will need to evaluate and consider the factors that need to be tackled on producing this system by evaluating the end users requirements and expectations f the system to ensure the software chosen has the capability to overcome these requirements successfully and competently. As the company is looking for a more flexible data management system, so a database system is likely to be the right solution. Using Microsoft Access as a solution Advantages: o Microsoft Access is a relational database management system which allows a one to many relationships between tables. Thus greatly reduces data inconsistency and data redundancy. o Uses a familiar interface to perform a range of tasks such as; setting up tables, forms, queries, macros and reports. o This software allows complex procedures such as querying, report and form creation, filtering to be produced and mastered by inexperienced users via the use of wizards. o Access can provide a variety of user friendly forms for different functions through the toolbox features of this software which include list boxes, command buttons, check boxes, labels etc. This allows forms to be customised and concurrently have a familiar look and feel of the forms. o Contains advanced features such as queries which can answer complex requests which the user may have and provide a combination of data from multiple tables and place specific boundaries on the data retrieved. Report features have the capacity to produce attractive professional formatted summaries of data contained in more than one table. Also macros can also perform complex or numerous operations with a click of a button/icon. Disadvantages: o This software package very large and complex piece of software. Therefore, it requires a lot of patience and perseverance to familiarize and learn the vast number of features available in this database package. o Microsoft Access is designed to manage small number of database records and the performance of the system will reduce with an increase in records as the software is a low capacity database. Using Microsoft Excel as a solution Advantages: o Numerous functions are available to perform a range of diverse tasks. These include VLOOKUPS which looks for a value in the leftmost column within a table and then returns a value in the same row from a column you specify. Other functions include COUNTIF, DCOUNT, MATCH etc. Also contains macro which can automate a series of commands and functions. o Excel forms can also be customised to satisfy the users requirements with different methods of data entry and appearance of the forms. o Graphs can be created to summarise data in a number of different graphs to allow the data to be more understandable to the user and also produces a professional outlook. Disadvantages: o The recording of macros can be problematic as it is easy to make a mistake and the whole process needs to be repeated again. This requires an experienced person with sound knowledge of macros and formulas to perform this task. o Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet package and doesn’t features such a relational database which are available in Access. Therefore data and tables need to be entered again leading to unnecessary data redundancy and data consistency. o Creating and editing macros needs to be done via Visual Basic Editor program in Excel. Users of this program need to be experienced in using this program as the macros commands need to be programmed by the user. This requires a sound knowledge as it requires commands to be written in a specific way and have the ability to remember the language to execute these commands. Solution using Lotus Pro Chosen solution From a detailed analysis of the Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, and Lotus Pro software I have decided after discussion with the end user to use Microsoft Access to produce the system I will create. Database packages are used for storing and retrieving information or data. With this type of software the user can set up table with relationships, set up queries, set up macros and make reports. The wizard features on certain database packages allows the complexity of administration tasks to be greatly reduced. The system I will produce will be created from using the Microsoft Access database package because of the following reasons: o Microsoft Access has the capacity to produce relational tables. This leads to a reduction in data redundancy and data inconsistency as data doesn’t need to be entered again due to the relationships which can be imported from one table into many other tables if needed. o The system can be customised to provide the end user with an interface which he requires. The forms can be customised to look and allow data entry in the method which the user requires. The toolbars can also be customised to allow the system to be even more user friendly. o A number of tasks which require a series of functions will be repeated a number of times when the system is in use. These series of function can be automated with the use of macros which Microsoft Access has. o Microsoft Access can provide customised reports to summarise a set of data. Access allows data to be brought together in a report which can be tailored to the user choice. So a professional output which is in line with the companies image can be produce whereas as other software such as Microsoft Excel would not have the capacity to do this. Data would need to be summarised into graphs and is difficult to suit the companies image so the output and interface of a system using this software would need be as professional compared to the software being use to created this system. o Access has the capability to update records in any table by setting up queries to update the necessary records. This will lead to more consistent data is it is more likely to be update and accurate. o Data and information that needs to be stored can be done so more easily due to the set up of the system. Tables are clearly defined and related, which is not the case with other software such as Microsoft Excel as relationships between tables cannot be emplaced.