Week 5 discussion questions and participation Essay

Week 5 discussion questions and participation - Essay Example The direct method ignores any other service departments when allocating service cost to production departments. The step down method is different because it recognizes that in some service departments support the activities in other service departments as well as the producing department. The direct method is simpler for accountants to calculate the costs since there are less variables involved. The step down method uses a sequence of service department allocation to arrive at the different costs. In the business world accountants prepare information differently depending on the purpose. Managerial accounting focuses on providing information for internal purposes. Financial accounting on the other hand focuses in making reports for external users of information. Variable costing system monitors changes in costs that occurred on a daily basis. This helps managers in their day to day decision making process. Data and information that is presented to outside users must summarize the results of a period of time. External users are not concerned about the day to day operations of the enterprise. Cost distortions are a potential problem that can lead to many obstacles for a manager. If the costing system is not accurate the managers will make erroneous assumptions that can lead to business errors. For example imagine if a company had a costing system that stated that each unit cost $2.00 to produce. The costing system was distorted and the real cost of the product is $3.05. The made a decision to sell the product at $3.00 which a price that is 50% above cost based on the inaccurate costing system. The manager would lose $0.05 on every sale instead of making a $1.00 profit. If the company is able to develop a costing system that provides a lot of detail the decision seems like a good idea. The manager of that company has to determine if the benefits of maintaining the system outweigh the costs of

Legal Strategies to Protect the Civilians in Syria Research Paper

Legal Strategies to Protect the Civilians in Syria - Research Paper Example The crisis in Syria has become a humanitarian crisis. The Syrian regime has committed mass atrocities against the population, most used one being the crimes against humanity. Some legal analysts argue that Syrian regime is on the verge of committing genocide, as the Alawi minority dominates the country and is currently fighting the Sunni majority. Moreover, a humanitarian disaster is present, as thousands have fled Syria and burdened neighboring countries such as Turkey. With only few solutions available under the international law to the Syrian conflict, even the ones at hand are either not politically feasible, or need UNSC authorization. Under the international law, military intervention in another country of any kind must be authorized by the UNSC, and it must be done in cases where human rights are in some way violated on a massive scale. The international community has a duty to protect Syrian civilians. There are many prerogatives that demand protection of civilians, two of wh ich are crucial for Syria. The first is the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), aiming to protect civilians from mass atrocities, and the second is elements of the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflicts (POC). Under elements of POC referring to a conflict, the international community is again obliged to assist civilians and address their most basic needs. The proposed solutions so far have been mostly focused on either intervention or diplomacy. Military intervention conducted in the same style as in Libya has been proposed by some legal analysts. However, others claim that Russia and China would never vote in favor of such an intervention in UNSC. Moreover, factors present in Libya are absent in Syria, and thus an intervention of any type cannot take place. Instead, others propose the use of diplomacy through sanctions and referral of the regime members to the International Criminal Court (ICC) under the Statute of Rome. Since Syria signed the Statute, even in the absence of its r atification, ICC is authorized to prosecute Syrian regime members. However, again, UNSC referral to ICC is needed. Russia and China will never interfere with Syrian sovereignty. A third solution, also based on diplomacy, would be more feasible. It would be to ignore the Statute of Rome and simply allow the Syrian regime to save face and find a common dialogue with the opposition through an organized ceasefire agreement and peacekeeping mission. This option would be based on diplomacy. Sanctions on Syria are crucial in this option, but so is the option offered to the Syrian regime to leave and let the opposition take over the country. Ceasefire agreement would be arranged through sanctions. Once it would take place, peacekeepers would enter the country. The latter would need to be authorized by UNSC, but chances are higher that the resolution would pass, as it is non – interventionist and it does not involve ICC. Kofi Annan or another high profile figure in the Middle East cou ld be used to mediate the negotiations. This option could include a gradual transition to a consolidated democratic system through retention of the former regime members who

A Model of Driving Tests Battery Validation

A Model of Driving Tests Battery Validation MARKUS SOMMER, GERNOT SCHUHFRIEDâˆâ€", MIHAI ANIÃ…Â ¢EI, MIHAELA CHRAIFâˆâ€"âˆâ€" Abstract Designing a driving test battery is the most secure way to predict the driver behavior before  obtaining driver license. The objective is to design a psychological test battery to predict the driving  behavior of the potential drivers. The participants were 106 persons, both male and female, age  between 18 and 45 years old (M=34.4, 4; S.D. =1.32), different levels of education. The validity  criterion has been selected according the driving tasks during driving on the road. Thus, the value of  the test reveals the fact that the model has a strong predictive value for the chosen criteria. Key words: criteria, predictors, tachitoscopic test, determination test. 1. INTRODUCTION First studies in simulated task environments have shown that quite a large  part of the participants do not notice information that is not in accordance with  their expectations or when they do notice the information responses are delayed  (Martens, 2004; Martens Fox, 2003). This negative side of getting familiar with  a certain task environment might be the result of not spending enough time fixating  the objects in the task environment. But this decrease in fixation times to objects in  the task environment once people get familiar with the environment has only been  shown in computer-simulated environments. Drivers should question any driving skills test that does not include all the  test components as described in the appropriate study guide. In Table 1 can be seen  the required driving skills test components and the approximate time needed to  complete each. Thus the times are estimates based on an average length driving  route, good weather conditions, light traffic and a well-prepared driver. Furthermore  the same authors underline that skills tests must include all the segments listed in   Table 1. In this way a test may take more time than shown in this table, but should Also the guide underline the procedures of taking curves, entering into the  crossroads and others. These represents for the psychologists criteria in validation  of the driving tests baterry. Underlining the importance of visual functions in driving, such as acuity,  field, contrast, color and night vision can be measured as part of an eye  examination. Functional vision includes performance of daily living skills, reading  ability, mobility skills and driving skills. In this way the measurement of visual  functions is often used as a substitute from which to estimate functional vision.   According to the visual standards (Colenbrander, A. De Laey, J.J., 2006), the  visual acuity is measured often, visual field sometimes and contrast sensitivity  rarely. The authors underline that estimating predicted driving performance on the  basis of a few parameters, many other factors, such as training, experience and  familiarity with the driving environment can affect the prediction. In this way the  authors present in Figure 1 particularities of vision related functioning. As it can be observed in Figure 1, the authors undeline that the driving tests  included into the tests battery has to predict the driving performances in traffic. In  this way, they highlite that the driving safety does not depend so much on what is  seen, but rather on how quickly and how adequately drivers respond to what is  seen. So, is the moment when the time reaction tests has to be included into a  driving tests baterry. When human observers look at an optic flow stimulus their eye movements  show a regular alternation of gaze shifts and slow tracking movements at a  frequency of about 2 Hz (Niemann, Lappe, Buscher Hoffmann, 1999; Lappe   Hoffmann, 2000).Many perceptual experiments have shown that heading can be perceived  from optic flow (J.E. Cutting, P.M. Vishton, M. Flà ¼ckinger, B. Baumberger, and  J.D. Gerndt, 1997; Turano and X. Wang, 1994; Warren, D.R. Mestre, A.W.   Blackwell, and M.W. Morris, 1991; Stone and J.A. Perrone; 1997). They have  identified important requirements for accurate analysis as well as sources of error. A particular concern are eye movements which are induced by optic flow and  which, by distorting the structure of the flow field projected in the eye, compromise  heading detection. 2. THE OBJECTIVES, HYPOTHESYS, PARTICIPANTS The objective is focused to design a psychological test battery to predict the  driving behavior of the potential drivers in the way of decreasing the accident risk. The independent variables of the tests baterry are predictors for the driving  performances in traffic. The participants were 106 persons, both male and female, age between  18 and 45 years old (M = 34.4, 4; S.D. = 1.32), different levels of education. Also,  the participants were driving school students tested at two driving schools from  Bucharest. Organ structure Organ function Skills and abilities Societal consequenc. THE ORGAN THE PERSON Examples: Injury Degeneration Visual acuity Visual field Reading Mobility Employment Quality of Life ICIDH: Disorder Impairment Disability Handicap ICF: Body structure Body function Activities and Participation Barriers and Facilitators Vision: Visual Functions How the eye functions Functional Vision How the person functions DRIVING Acuity test Field test Contrast Driving ability test Driving in actual trafic Traffic conditions 246 Markus Sommer et al. 4 3. THE METHOD 3.1. THE INSTRUMENTS – RT – Reaction Test (Schuhfried, 2007). With the RT is it possible to  measure reaction time as both a simple choice and a multiple-choice reaction. Yellow light stimulus modalities are available in the test battery, so that different  stimulus constellations for the measurement of reaction time can be created. These  can range from individual stimuli to simultaneous or sequentially presented  stimulus combinations. The use of a rest key and a reaction key makes it possible  to distinguish between reaction and motor time. – Determination test (Schuhfried, 2007). The test is used to measure reactive  stress tolerance and the associated ability to react and requires the respondent to  use his cognitive skills to distinguish different colors and sounds, to memorize the  relevant characteristics of stimulus configurations, response buttons and assignment  rules, and to select the relevant responses according to the assignment rules laid  down in the instructions and/or learned in the course of the test. The difficulty of  the DT arises from the need to sustain continuous, rapid and varying responses to  rapidly changing stimuli. – Tachitoscopic test (Schuhfried, 2007). The ATAVT tests observational  ability by briefly presenting pictures of traffic situations. The items are constructed  using an explicit, theory-led rationale which is based on detailed analysis of the  cognitive processes involved in working the test. The design of the ATAVT is  based on the principles used in the well-established TAVTMB test but builds on  these by taking account of recent research findings relating to the perception of  scenes and objects. – Visiotest-Stereoscopy. The Visiotest-Campitest with 6 visual acuity tests  and the extension of the peripheral visual field. For the research, only the  stereoscopic visual test was used. The test consist in a table with letters (A, B, C)  which for a person with stereoscopic vision appears at different distances.The correlation matrix from Table 3 reveal the statistically significant  correlations between the criterias and the predictors. Thus, the criteria right curve,  cross road correlate statistically significant and positive with the following  predictors: tahitoscop corect (34**), DT corect (.27**), reaction time (.41**),  motor time (.32**). The same criteria correlate statistically significant and negative  (p Taking in consideration the criteria stop to the pedestrian crossing from the  same Table 3, can be observed a statistically significant and positive correlation  between this criteria and the following predictors: DT corrrect (.38**), motor time  reaction (.19*) and S.D. motor time (.17*). The same criteria correlate statistically  significant and negative with the following predictors: Viziotest-stereoscopy  (–.42**), DT omitted (–.41**) and tahito incorrect (–.18*).Analizing the correlation between the criteria total performances in driving  and the predictors can be observed a statistically significant and positive  correlation with the following predictors: tahitoscop correct (.46**), DT correct  (.53**), reaction time (.38**), motor time (.42**), S.D. reaction time (.31**) and  S.D. motor time (.27**). The same criteria correlate statistically significant and  negative with the predictors: Viziotest-stereoscopy (–.51**), DT omitte d (–.27**)  and tahito incorrect (–.32**). Applying the regression model for the criteria total performances in driving  the following regresssion model had been obtained (5). Table 4 Summary Model R R Square Adjusted R square 1 0.742 0.550 0.526 a) Predictors: (Constant), tahitoscop correct, tahitoscop incorrect, DT correct, DT incorrect, DT  omitted, TR motor time, S.D. reaction time, S.D. motor time, viziotest-stereoscopy;  b) Dependent variable: total performances in driving. Table 4 underlines an error reduction of the model with 55% and a strong  correlation between the independent variables and the criteria (0.742). Calculating the F value (23.29) the regression model have a strong predictive  value for the criteria total performances in driving (p Continued driver training in the form of guided lifelong self-improvement activities  is essential for acquiring new skills (Sommer, Herle, Hausler, 2007). These new  skills are required as driving gets more complex with technology: car audio  devices, reading maps on screens, using computers, note taking, talking on phone  or radio, GPS device. The Standard Quality Driving Curriculum needs to be kept  up-dated continuously and the latest additions are to be made available. These updates  are to focus on new developments that technology brings to vehicles and roads, all of which require the acquisition of new skills by drivers. The research finding reveal that designing psychological test batteries comes  in the help of safety traffic and minimizing the accident probability to occur only  taking in consideration the criteria validity.

The Tiger Essay -- essays research papers

Tigers are the largest members of the cat family. They live in Asia and belong to the same genus as the lion, leopard, and jaguar. Two major subspecies of the tiger are the Siberian tiger and the Bengal tiger. The tiger is thought to have originated in northern Asia during the Pleistocene Epoch. Scientific classification: Tigers belong to the family Felidae. The scientific classifications of each tiger are listed in the "Types of Tigers" section of this report. Appearance The Siberian tiger measures 4.6 to 9.2 ft long, excluding the tail, which is 27 to 37 in long. The Siberian Tiger weighs 400 to 675 lb. It has thick yellow fur with dark stripes. The Bengal tiger is about 10 ft long, including the tail, and weighs around 400 to 569 lb. It is found in southeastern Asia and in central and southern India. Its coat is flatter than the Siberian tiger's coat, it has a darker color, and the stripes are darker. The Sumatran tiger is even smaller and darker. Ears The tiger's ears are its main advantage when hunting. Tigers have white spots behind their ears to help identify one another in the jungle. Hearing is the tiger's sharpest sense. Eyes The tiger's night vision is six times greater than ours. They have a mirror like layer at the back of the eye that reflects extra light. Tigers also have very good colorful eyesight. Mouth Tigers have long, canine teeth that they use to stab and kill their prey. The molars behind them are like scissors. They slice strips of ...

An Analysis of the Eight Fold Path of Buddhism

The Eightfold Path is a way that leads to the stopping of suffering and the achievement of self awakening. This instrument was brought forth through the teachings of the Buddha, Gautama Buddha. He taught his disciples how to follow this path how he did, so they may have self awakening and liberation. The eight steps in the Eightfold Path are as follows: Right belief, Right purpose, Right speech, Right conduct, Right livelihood, Right effort, Right mindfulness, and Right meditation or concentration. In Buddha’s time, if a potential Arahat strayed from the Eightfold Path or the Four Noble Truths, he would have to confess his sin or sins to the public. They followed it very strictly and took it very seriously for they wanted to be able to reach Nirvana. Nirvana is â€Å"the unconditioned state of liberation, release from the cycle of rebirth-redeath† (Noss, 2008, 2003: 185). In present time, we live in a very fast-paced, high-stress environment. I wonder if a present day Buddhist would be able to live life in accordance with the Eightfold Path. The first step in the Eightfold Path is Right belief. The Right belief can also be translated as â€Å"right perspective†, â€Å"right vision† or â€Å"right understanding†. It is the right way of looking at life, nature and the world as they really are. It acts as the reasoning for the practitioner to start practicing the path. It gives direction and efficacy to the other seven path factors (Encyclopedia, Aug. 2006). Another way of looking at the Right belief phrased in a contemporary form is: First you must see clearly what is wrong (Soccio, 2007: 51). The second step is Right purpose. In this step, the Arahat should constantly try to succeed at ridding themselves of whatever qualities that they know are wrong and immoral. Correct understanding of Right purpose will help the Arahat to distinguish the differences between right intention and wrong intention (Encyclopedia, Aug. 2006). A contemporary definition of Right purpose is: Next you must decide that you want to be cured (Soccio, 2007: 51). The third and fourth step, which are I found have been lumped together in all of my reading, Right speech and Right conduct. One must love all creatures with the right sort of love in word and deed (Noss, 2008: 182). When practicing steps three and four, Arahat’s must make good use of their words and train themselves to not bring harm to themselves or to others. You must act and speak so as to aim at being cured is a contemporary form on steps three and four (Soccio, 2007: 51). Right means of livelihood is the fifth step of the Eightfold Path. In this step, the Arahat’s are not to participate in occupations that can cause harm to human beings. This would include occupations that deal with weapons, the buying or selling of sex, killing animals to sell as food, and making or selling alcohol. Historian and philosopher, Gerald Heard, modified this step into a contemporary version meaning: Your livelihood must not conflict with your therapy (Soccio, 2007: 51). Right effort is the sixth step. In this step, the Saints should make a die hard effort to desert all the wrong and harmful thoughts, words, and deeds they might have. Instead they should be persevering in coming up with thoughts, words, and deeds that would be good and helpful to others and themselves (Encyclopedia, Aug. 2006). â€Å"That therapy must go forward at the â€Å"staying speed†, that is, the critical velocity† (Soccio, 2007: 51). The seventh and eighth final steps of the Eightfold Path are Right mindfulness and Right meditation or concentration. In these steps, the Arahat’s should constantly keep their mind alert to developments as they are affecting the body and mind. They should be aware and careful, making sure not to act or speak through the power of carelessness or forgetfulness. During the practice of right concentration, the practitioner will need to investigate and verify their right view; in the process right knowledge will arise and then followed by right liberation (Encyclopedia, Aug. 2006). The contemporary definition of these steps is: You must think about it incessantly and learn how to contemplate with the deep mind (Soccio, 2007: 51). Now having listed and clearly defined what each step is, I have concluded that it would be impossible for a present day Buddhist to live a life in accordance with the Eightfold Path. Even the most open-minded person would still fail at one or more of these steps. Following the Eightfold Path in today’s society would make it pretty much impossible for a person to be a productive member of the community. Just look at how choosing a college major would be affected by following the Path. If someone aspired to be a Police Officer, the Eightfold Path would prevent that due to the possibility of taking a human life. Or if a present day Buddhist wanted to become a lawyer, that would be halted since the Right Speech prohibits one from speaking in any sort of abusive or divisive manner. No one would be able to properly argue their point of view. In today’s electronic driven, media everywhere, fast-paced world I don’t see how the Eightfold Path could be a successful practice to a contemporary Buddhist. It is a very strict instrument to follow for the Path of Nirvana and I believe that at least one or more steps would be broken even by the most devout Buddhist.

Reflection of When Things Fall Apart Essay

Pema Chodron should be considered a spiritual teacher for anyone. Whether they are aspiring to have one, they already have one or don’t desire one at all. In her book, When Things Fall Apart, Pema Chodron exposes the overwhelming potential for happiness, wisdom and courage. She explains how one can experience all of these even during the most painful of circumstances. She introduces us to the face that there is an ultimate opportunity for the right of happiness that is right within our reach and she explains how we usually miss the opportunity for that happiness. She conveys to us that we miss that opportunity for happiness because we are all caught up in the attempts to escape the pain, fear and suffering in our lives. Her stellar story, which should and probably does guide many lives, demonstrates to us how we can utilize all of our painful emotions and develop them into compassion and courage, wisdom and understanding, and ways of communication that open up to more opportun ities for openness and true interaction with others. She gives us practices for reversing our negative everyday habits and methods for operating with stressful chaotic situations. She shows us ways to develop our painful and fearful emotions into compassionate and energetic feelings that manifest themselves into social action. She worked for 20 years to develop the practices that she preaches as a Tibetan Buddhist nun, while drawing in from her earlier years of experience and feelings as an everyday housewife and mother. She gives whole-hearted and thoughtful advice and wisdom that drew from all of her experience in her life. Her deep-seated and kind hearted advice establishes the grounds for what to do when lings begin to fall apart in our live and go against the normalcy in our environments and expectations. The instruction and assistance that she gives us is meant to offer us comfort and is meant to challenge our actions in our daily lives to live deeply, whole-heartedly and contribute to creating a more loving, peaceful and honest world. She teaches us how to hone in on our painful emotions in order to gain substantial amounts of wisdom and compassion for ourselves so that we many bring it outwards to our neighbors and the world around us. When we have the courage to step into the uncharted waters of our mental and emotional territory and relax, we can discover the happiness and contentment that does not need to depend on the world around us but the world in our minds that we can control and make our own. In her story she shows discuss and depicts many of the aspects of her life that she has experienced. She also discusses how a man named Trungpa Rinpoche taught her all about Buddhism and deeper was or meditation. â€Å"Fear is a universal experience. Even the smallest insect feels it. We wade in the tidal pools and put our finger near, the soft, open bodies of sea anemones and they close up. Everything spontaneously does that. It’s not a terrible thing that we feel fear when faced with the unknown. It is part of being alive, something we all share. We react against the possibility of loneliness, of death, of not having anything to hold onto. Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.† As I read this passage writing by Pema, I was astounded. I had never thought of our lives like this. It was completely true. As we enter the unknown in our lives we never just jump at the chance. We have to stop and think to ourselves if we should keep going or if we should turn around. We all have fear and we may externally deal with fear in different ways however, we are all the same on the inside when we deal with fear. We all wish that we could curl up into a little ball and make the fear go away. Fear itself is always a result of the unknown. When you are afraid of something, it is because we don’t really know what to do or what is going on. I agree with what she says. It isn’t a terrible thing to feel fear. We all experience fear in our lives and we should embrace it and hone in on our fear so that we can make the unknown the known. If you walked up to someone on the street and asked them what they were afraid of it would be a form of something that is to them, the unknown. It is universal. Not everyone has the same fear, but we all have one. She uses the metaphor of wading in the tide pools but not going all the way in and the sea anemone closes up as someone gets close to it. When you think about it, as you go to the swimming pool in the summer, you don’t see many people just jump in. They all test the water and are afraid to get splashed because they aren’t used to the water and the way it feels. In a way, we are all like the sea anemone. We close up when we are pushed into experiences that we aren’t yet comfortable with. But we need to continue to be like the anemone and open up. â€Å"I have a friend dying of AIDS. Before I was leaving for a trip, we were talking. He said, ‘I didn’t want this and I hated this, and I was terrified of this. But it turns out that this illness has been my greatest gift.’ He said, ‘Now every moment is so precious to me. All the people in my life are so precious to me. My whole life means so much to me.’ Something had really changed, and he felt ready for his death. Something that was horrifying and scary had turned into a gift.† I have come across a few people in my life that have HIV or AIDS and they all say the same thing. This quote hit me really hard because it was so personal. If you ever have a conversation with someone who has dealt with this for most of their life, they explain to you that the fear is gone. They had fear. A lot of fear in fact. But eventually, all of that fear went away and they began to accept what had happened to them and they realize that this is the path that they were meant to lead. I once listened to a man teach a seminar on HIV and AIDS. At the end of the seminar, he told us that he himself had full blown AIDS. He told us that yes he would eventually die and he wasn’t afraid of that. He was afraid of not being able to educate and prevent someone from making some of the same mistakes that he had made before he died. I fell that this was the best way for Pema to express the being able to hone in on your fear and turn it into happiness. When I read that part of this story, I truly understood what she was trying to tell us. We all have fear but if we can accept that fear and project it in a different way, we can have happiness†¦

Jamestown essays

Jamestown essays In what ways might the European encounter with the Americas be seen as a disaster or tragedy, and in what ways might it be seen as an inevitable development in the history of humanity with long-run positive results. What would the world be today without the United States of America? Humanity itself may have never evolved into what it is today with the advance technology brought forth. From here we go back to the 1600s when plans to sail to find a so called New World, were inevitable. But even though the benefits of finding the new world were so great, could it have really been a disaster in the making? From Slavery and conflicts with the Indians to the new cash crop, all of these are enough reason to conclude that the European encounters with the Americas were a disaster. Although there was a scare when John Smith was captured by the Indians during the early years of the Americas it was soon resolved. Moreover as the years continued the Indians as well as the settlers had several good and bad meetings. And over the course of several years they became better allies to each other. But one event in particular stands out among the most deceiving. In 1622, the Indians and the Settlers created a close bond together which was believed to be everlasting. But with the Indians now knowing the pilgrims hideouts, procedures, routines, and weak points they took great advantage of it. On March 22nd, 1622 the Indians ambushed the settlements and killed nearly 347 stunned men, women, and children. It is said that, ...most of them falling by their own instruments and working tools (Robert Beverleys Description of the1622 Indian Attack). The Indians had taken the Americans by storm while at work. And because of this the settlers now had no trustworthy allies and coul dnt defend against brutal attacks on a foreign land. This is yet another conflict of the European encounter with the Am ...

Sports and Religion

Sports and Religion Religion is an efficacious element of society since it forms a basis for various systems of meaning, that are of great assistance to people in handling the reality of ultimate issues and questions. These systems of meaning are informative on ideas that concern movement, the body, physical activities, and sports. They also inform on people’s thoughts about the world, and influence social relationships and social life organization.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Sports and Religion specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Religion helps individuals to justify and define the relationship they have with God, or gods (Stark, 1999 cited in Coakley, 2004, p. 528). There are so many confusing and contradicting discussions regarding sports. Various similarities and differences have been pointed out by various scholars. This paper aims at giving insight into these similarities and differences, as well as on how Overman’ s seven key virtues have been reflected in modern sports. Similarities Sports are considered to be a new form of religion. This is attributed to the stronger and more relevant forms of religious beliefs and meanings that are apparent in sports. Both sports and religion share several characteristics as indicated by Hoffman (1992). One, sports and religion have their communal gatherings and special events held in structured places and/or buildings. These buildings are adorned with relevant decorations and statues that relate to the event. Secondly, both disciplines are controlled by structured forms of authority, that are hierarchical in nature, and which ensure that all events or activities going on in these places are carried out in a dignified manner. Thirdly, sports and religion have the same quest, to get perfection of the mind, body and soul. In both disciplines, one’s physical discipline is required if good results such as excellent performance in sports, and spiritual p urification in religion are to be achieved. A lot of commitment and preparation to ensure personal betterment are apparent in both. This includes practices and time-outs in sports, and retreats and prayers in religion. These elements leading to personal development are very essential in as far as obtaining perfection and satisfaction of the body, mind and soul, seen through substantial achievement and success, is concerned. Fourthly, both religion and sports are unifying factors. Religion brings people of different races, nationalities and statuses together with the common goal of worshipping a common Deity. Sports are also seen to unify people with different cultural backgrounds, in support of a particular team.Advertising Looking for essay on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Another similarity is that there are historic heroes and legends involved in both disciplines. In sports, heroes are elected to halls of fame. Religious heroes are also elected to high statures like sainthood. Stories on these heroes transcend generations where sports’ heroic stories are propagated through newspapers, or told over and over again by the sports’ coaches, journalists, and/or fans. Stories on religious heroes are also narrated over and over again by religious followers, writers, and religious ministers (Coakley, 2004, p. 530-533). Differences There are also differences involved between sports and religion. To start with, human actions in religion are based on beliefs, events, meanings and rituals that are mystical and based on sacred and supernatural realms whereas the beliefs, meanings, events and rituals defining human action in sports are distinct and not governed by divine nature. Whereas religion is supernatural, sports are not because they make use of concrete and tangible events, which are not grounded in supernatural beings. In addition, spiritual goals are evident in re ligion whereas in sports, material goals are sought. Secondly, religion relies on faith while sports are basically rooted in distinct, clear-cut rules and relationships. In religion, one’s faith is what determines his/her commitment and attachment to religion. In sports on the other hand, the ability to abide by the rules and liaise well with other players governs the commitment and success to be achieved. There is a lot of cooperation in religion because all the followers seek a common goal, which is spiritual nourishment and is not associated with any form of material reward. Sports on the other hand entail competition between opponents, in search for material reward. It is therefore apparent that, in sports, athletes seek success grounded in human nature, whereas the success derived in religion is grounded in divine inspiration. Overman’s Seven Key Virtues and how they are reflected in Modern Sports Overman has argued that the seven virtues based on Protestant ethic are related to the entire organization or spirit that defines sports. One of the key values as indicated by Overman is worldly asceticism. Based on a religious standpoint, this entails enduring pain and suffering with the goal of getting spiritual reward. For example, in order for one to have goodness within their selves, self-denial and disdain for self-indulgence has got to be achieved. In comparison to religion, one has got to work very hard, and have diligence in order to win in any game/sport (Bryant McElroy, 1997, p. 55).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Sports and Religion specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Rationalization is a second virtue as indicated by Overman in relation to Protestant ethic. Based on this virtue, the world is rationally organized and it is possible to discover religious truth through human reason. This virtue is measured in terms of concrete success. In the same way that religion seeks o rganization in order to achieve success, modern sports rely on rational organization of players in the field in order to realize success. Another virtue is goal directedness. Goal directedness is related to a focus on salvation from a religious point of view. In the light of salvation, human action is judged by its results, where an action is deemed good if it yields to substantial achievement. Worthless or evil action does not bring about success. This is reflected in modern sports by the mere fact that prudent actions are associated with success, while untactful ones are associated with failure. Salvation is one’s own individual initiative, responsibility and choice. An individual’s conscience plays a very important role in determining one’s virtue, and their personal relationship with God/Christ. In modern sports, the reflection of this third virtue of individualism is reflected through one’s own initiative to become part of a certain team, and powerfu lly working towards ensuring its success. In religion, success is attributed to goodness and salvation; while on the other hand, failure is attributed to sin and damnation. The status that one achieves whether in religion or modern sports is determined by one’s input. With this notion in mind therefore, it only means that worldly success is basically not a sign that one is predestinated to be saved, rather it is a mere means of earning salvation. In modern sports, one’s input determines the outcome, as seen in religion. Work, is a vocation and is seen to be a calling from God. The virtue behind work is working very hard, and building on God’s given potential. Sports are synonymous to work and therefore, require a lot of hard work and sacrifice since they are a calling from God, and require athletes to be the mighty best despite the fact that they may entail domination over other athletes. Time is a valuable asset with a moral quality. It should not be wasted bec ause moral judgment depends on one’s prudence and efficiency in utilizing time (Overman, 1997). As seen in modern sports, time is very essential factor. Each second on the playfield means a lot to the players because; time is a governing factor in any sports competition. It is obvious that sports and religion are important elements of people’s culture in different parts of the world including America. This paper has explicitly discussed these two disciplines, showing how they relate to and differ from each other. It is obvious that the similarities between the two are more than the differences, indicating that the relationship between sports and religion is significant.Advertising Looking for essay on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More References Bryant, J. E., McElroy, M. (1997). Sociological Dynamics of Sport and Exercise. Englewood, CO: Morton Publishing Company. Coakley, J. (2004). Sports in Society: Issues and Controversy. 8th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill. Hoffman, S. J. (1992). Sport and Religion. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Overman, S. J. (1997). The Influence of the Protestant Ethic on Sport and Recreation. Brookfield, VT: Avebury.

Virgie Ammons Patents a Fireplace Damper Actuating Tool

Virgie Ammons Patents a Fireplace Damper Actuating Tool Virgie Ammons was an inventor and woman of color who invented a device for dampening fireplaces. She received a patent for a fireplace damper actuating tool on September 30, 1975. Little is known about the life of Virgie Ammons. One source says she was born on Dec. 29, 1908 in Gaithersburg, Maryland and died on July 12, 2000. She lived in West Virginia for most of her life.  Ammons filed her patent on August 6, 1974, at which time she was living in Eglon, West Virginia. There is no information to be found about her education, training or profession. One unverified source says she was a self-employed caretaker and a practicing Muslim who attended services in Temple Hills. Fireplace Damper Actuating Tool - Patent US 3,908,633 A fireplace damper actuating tool is a tool that is used to open and close the damper on a fireplace. It keeps the damper from opening or fluttering in the wind.   If you have a fireplace or stove, you may be familiar with the sound of a fluttering damper. A damper is an adjustable plate that fits in the flue of a stove or the chimney of a fireplace. It helps control the draft into the stove or fireplace. Dampers could be a plate that slides across the air opening, or it could be fixed in place in the pipe or flue and turned so the angle allows more or less air flow. In the days when cooking was done on a stove that was powered by burning wood or coal, adjusting the flue was a way of controlling the temperature. Virgie Ammons may be have been familiar with these stoves, given her date of birth. She may also have lived in an area where electric or gas stoves were not common until later in her life. We have no details as to what her inspiration was for the fireplace damper actuating tool. With a fireplace, opening the damper allows more air to be drawn into the fireplace from the room and convey the heat up the chimney. More air flow can often result in more flames, but also in losing more heat rather than warming the room. Keeping the Damper Closed The patent abstract  says Ammons damper actuating tool addressed the problem of fireplace dampers that flutter and make noise when gusty winds affected the chimney Some dampers do not remain fully shut because they have to be light enough in weight so the operating lever can open them easily. This makes small differences in air pressure between the room and the upper chimney draw them open. She was concerned that even a slightly open damper could cause a significant loss of heat in winter, and could even result in loss of coolness in summer. Both would be a waste of energy. Her actuating tool allowed the damper to be closed and held closed. She noted that when not in use, the tool could be stored next to the fireplace. No information was found as to whether her tool was manufactured and marketed.

A letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal Assignment - 1

A letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal - Assignment Example Additionally, he also made mention of emerging markets as reaching attractive levels because of short-term troubles that brought price levels to near- bargain levels. What his article basically said is that investment advisers made wrong guesses or bets as to which way the markets will go and those investors who believed in the advice are now sorry. However one looks at it, any investor should do his or her own homework and not accept as the gospel truth any so-called â€Å"sage advice† offered by some self-proclaimed financial market experts. It is worth noting that any investor who looks at the long-term prospects (whether stocks, bonds, or other investment vehicles) is bound to come out ahead if the investment horizon is long enough for dividends and price appreciation to take its effect (meaning, the time element kicks in like in the time value of money when invested). Anyway, most investors have a wrong or unrealistic time frame when they invest, so many are well advised to listen to reason (Jaffe para. 9) and look at the longer term instead. (Note: word count = 295) Jaffe, Chuck. â€Å"Always invest in what scares you: How to build a portfolio with a long-term outlook.† Wall Street Journal, 10 Feb. 2014. Web. 15 Feb. 2014.

The impact of celebrity endorsement Coursework

The impact of celebrity endorsement - Coursework Example Marketing has always been a challenge and more so for products that are costlier as the customers for the same are restricted in numbers due to need for higher purchasing power. The common products of daily use are a must for all, and although the marketers need to push these products too, due to high competition by similar products, the real test for marketing lies in pushing the highly priced premium products like watches that can only attract discerning buyers who wish to be seen as a class apart from the ordinary buyer. Brands like Rolex, Omega and Breitling fall under this category of products. The rationale of a watch is to show accurate time and almost any watch can serve the purpose. However their class, premium features, speciality materials, extraordinary quality and their aura command certain respect from both the customer and the onlooker. They exude an aura for the user and awe of the observer. What motivates the customer to buy them? How are these marketed? Is value created through normal advertising or does it need special advertising support in form of celebrity endorsement? 2.0 Advertisement Companies need to advertise in order to spearhead their marketing efforts. Earlier advertisements were informative in nature and were used to convey the properties of the products and their general usefulness. Price information became a part of advertisement in order to bring home the point about it being affordable and competitive. The homogeneity of many products needed some distinguishing factors and for this branding of products was the new method of distinctiveness. A company could have different brands for a variety of products. Later even the branding of the company became an identifying factor for excellence of products or service. 2.1 Medium of Advertisements The first medium was the print media as this was the prevalent mass method and targeted consumers could read about the products. Rival companies made campaigns out of such advertisements and from positive advertisements portraying the

English lit, fiction short story Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

English lit, fiction short story - Assignment Example That is why short stories are appealing to the audience and people appreciate reading it. The text under consideration is â€Å"A Sound of Thunder†, written by Ray Bradbury. Story depicts a strange adventure of wealthy businessmen who intend to accomplish a time travel to the past for hunting dinosaurs. The theme of the story states the idea that everything is interconnected in this world, and even the smallest changes in the past may lead to unpredictable implications in the future. The author succeeds in elucidating the central message curiously and figuratively. The plot of the story reveals events chronologically, as the heroes’ adventure shown logically from its beginning to the end in the story. The story occurs in 2055 year, but it contains time travel to the past. Ray Bradbury provides a play with the time continuum in this fiction work. He writes â€Å"First a day and then a night and then a day and then a night, then it was day-night-day-night. A week, a month, a year, a decade! A.D. 2055. A.D. 2019. 1999! 1957! Gone...The Machine howled. Time was a film run backward. Suns fled and ten million moons fled after them† (Bradbury, n.p.). Such game with the temporal dimensions makes a story interesting and catches the reader’s attention. What is more, the plot of the story is rather unpredictable as we start to read and cannot predict what is going to happen next. As for the characters we may view them as a usual people in an unusual environment. The protagonist of the story, Eckels, considers himself a stubborn hunter and wants to shoot a dinosaur. He is confident, successful man with significant perspectives and skeptically relates to the directing rules of the maintainers and hardly believes that one small move can fundamentally transform the future. And the time when Travis tells him about the accidental killing of one mouse he replies: â€Å"So theyre dead†¦So what?† (Bradbury, n.p.). Still, his opinion

Company Law case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Company Law case - Essay Example In addition, a promoter is also expected to disclose any secret profits that he may have made in the process of promoting the company. This is illustrated in the case of Erlanger V New Sombrero Phosphates company limited (1878)2. In this case,Syndicate Erlanger purchased an island that was rich in phosphates at a price of 55,000 pounds; he later promoted a company and sold the sand island to the company he formed at 110,000 pounds which later failed. During the formation of the company, two of the directors were abroad while the rest had been nominated by Erlanger himself. When new directors took over the company, they filed a motion to rescind Erlanger. The court held that no proper disclosure on the sale was made and for this reason the company had a right to rescind the contract. Ricky is the individual who put everything together and saw to Ricky`s footwear becoming a legal company and is therefore the promoter of the company. He sold premises and stock and assets from his former business and made huge profits from the sales. The fiduciary duties that he owes the company would dictate that he discloses these profits. He however did not disclose them to either the members of an independent board or to all the new owners of the company as per the prospectus as was expected of him. For this reason, Ricky`s footwear limited has a legal claim against its promoter for making secret profits which is a breach of his obligations and it is therefore advisable that they pursue the matter in the relevant court of law. However, the company would not have had a case against Ricky had he disclosed the profits. In the event that Ricky`s footwear limited decides to file a motion against Ricky there are certain possible remedies that are available to the company at law should the court rule in their favor. These are: Under this remedy, the contract in question is reverted and relevant efforts are made

Network security tools Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Network security tools - Essay Example Wireshark along with insider are two open source programs that are essential for any cybersecurity threats. Packet filtering is a crucial component of ingress and egress filtering must be conducted. Network protocols tend to protect traffic within the realms of their own networks. However, embedding ingress and egress network filtering will ensure that outgoing traffic gets approval. Another great tool for networks security is Secunia. The functionality of Secunia PCI is to act as an IDS and an anti-virus system, a multi-beneficial aspect for network security. It scans the PC and identifies programs. It then supplies your computer with the necessary software security updates to keep it safe and scanning. One of the most prominent idea of this software. Secunia PCI  firewalls  provide comprehensive security measures that monitor activity within clients. If one machine is to be attacked by a host, the other machine automatically copies data in almost dynamic time that the user is n ot aware of the situation. Another great network tool is EasySoft is great third party solution that will halt an intruder from injection malicious code intro strings. This remedies against hackers and other malicious intruders trying to spoof the

Emergence of Confucianism Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Emergence of Confucianism - Assignment Example He is well celebrated for coming up with the textual traditions of china. The texts became the foundation and the state ideology of the Chinese dynasties. The texts were mastered by few in the society but penetrated deep in the society and are held sacred by the members of the Chinese community (Xinzhong, 2005). Confucius is locally known as the king qui the founder of the school of thought that is well studied and celebrated. Every country and nation experiences a financial depression at a certain period. It is up to the government to make sure that the situation is well handled and make sure that the financial position is restored as quickly as possible. In Britain, the financial hurricane hit in the year 2008.The financial advisor suggested that they should shrink the government. However, this did not work and led to high taxes and strangled and weakened the economy of Britain. The repercussions were loss of jobs and income to the people, high taxes, high interest and many more effects which that are detrimental to any state. As explained in the documentary, mandate of heaven is a myth and ideology the Asian empires of ancient times grant that they have the right to govern and lead the nation. Heaven is said to bestow the mandate to an individual to be a leader and the ruler of the people in question. Mandate of heaven does not require a leader with the royal blood but rather id concerned with the unique qualities of the person. If a ruler was overthrown, he is considered as have lost the mandate of heaven. This ideology is common in china and was used to support the kings and the rulers of the Shang and Zhou dynasties. The past of the Chinese society is vet strong and influences them greatly. They development is hindered by their retention of tradition practices and philosophies. Culture mix refers to the mixing together of different groups of people with differences in art and

Network security tools Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Network security tools - Essay Example Wireshark along with insider are two open source programs that are essential for any cybersecurity threats. Packet filtering is a crucial component of ingress and egress filtering must be conducted. Network protocols tend to protect traffic within the realms of their own networks. However, embedding ingress and egress network filtering will ensure that outgoing traffic gets approval. Another great tool for networks security is Secunia. The functionality of Secunia PCI is to act as an IDS and an anti-virus system, a multi-beneficial aspect for network security. It scans the PC and identifies programs. It then supplies your computer with the necessary software security updates to keep it safe and scanning. One of the most prominent idea of this software. Secunia PCI  firewalls  provide comprehensive security measures that monitor activity within clients. If one machine is to be attacked by a host, the other machine automatically copies data in almost dynamic time that the user is n ot aware of the situation. Another great network tool is EasySoft is great third party solution that will halt an intruder from injection malicious code intro strings. This remedies against hackers and other malicious intruders trying to spoof the

The rate of a chemical reaction Essay Example for Free

The rate of a chemical reaction Essay The equation for resistance using resistivity is Resistance = resistivity x length / area of cross section of the wire The resistivity of Nichrome at 250C is 100 x 10-8 ohm-m. The radius of the wire isResistance = resistivity x length / area of cross section of the wire Resistance = 100 x 10-8 x 0. 4m / 6. 16m2 x 10 -8 Resistance = 6. 49 ? rounded 2 d. p. TPlan Aim I aim to find out if the length of a Nichrome wire affects the resistance. Safety To ensure this experiment is safe I will:  Ensure that the power pack does not exceed 2 volts in case the wires overheat.    I will also only leave the power pack on for short amounts of time so the wire does not overheat. I will not perform the experiment in a wet area because water is a very good conductor of electricity and so this would be very dangerous.   I will not touch the wire once the power pack is switched on because the current will heat up the wire. Factors to control The independent variable will be: 1 The amount of resistance in different lengths of wire. The variables that I will keep the same will be: 2 Width of wire- I must keep the wire a thickness of 32SWG. If I change the width of the wire the resistance will change because there is more resistance in a thicker wire because there are more fixed ions so there are more collisions in the wire and more successful collisions means the resistance will increase 3 Material of wire- different materials will affect the amount of free electrons that are able to move through the wire. If there are more or larger atoms then there will be more collisions. This causes the voltage of the wire to increase causing a higher resistance. Also if the atoms in the material are more closely packed then the electrons will have more frequent collisions and the resistance will increase. I will use Nichrome only. 4 Density of wire- In a higher density wire there will be a higher resistance because there will be more fixed ions and more collisions. 5 Temperature of wire- If the wire is heated up the atoms in the wire will start to vibrate because of their increase in energy. This causes more collisions between the electrons and the atoms as the atoms are moving into the path of the electrons. This increase in collisions means that there will be an increase in resistance. 6 Shape of wire- the wire will be straight and taped to a meter rule, the shape of the wire may increase the resistance. 7 Voltage of 2 volts- I will have to keep a constant voltage because if the voltage changes then the resistance will change. The equation for resistance = voltage / current. If voltage increases, resistance increases. Apparatus The apparatus I will need to perform this experiment will be: 1 Power pack (2volts) 2 Ammeter 3 Voltmeter 4 6 wires 5 2 crocodile clips 6 Meter rule 7 Masking tape 8 Board marker Circuit diagram Method I have chosen to take a range of 10 lengths. I have chosen a range of 10 as to plot an accurate graph I will need at least 10 points to mark on the graph. The lengths that I have chosen are as follows: 10cm, 20cm, 30cm, 40 cm, 50cm, 60cm, 70cm, 80cm, 90cm and 100cm. I have chosen these lengths because the meter ruler can easily measure them and enough results to make a firm conclusion. To change the length of the Nichrome wire during the experiment I will tape down 1 meter of Nichrome 32 swg wire to a meter rule. I will then connect the 2 crocodile clips different distances apart using the measurements on the meter rule. The wire will be attached at X in the circuit. In my experiment I will find the current in the circuit using an ammeter and I will find the voltage in the wire using a voltmeter. I will take these two readings so I can then calculate the resistance using the equation resistance = voltage / current. I want to make my experiment as accurate as possible so I want to produce repeat readings so that I can find an average resistance. I will be using a variable resistor in my experiment to produce these repeat readings. I will draw 4 equally spaced points on the variable resistor with a board marker. To get my repeat readings I will move the variable resistor to these 4 points and get four readings for each length. After I have found the average resistance for each length of wire I will produce a graph showing the average resistance against the length of the wire. I will draw on my graph a line of best fit and then from this I will be able to see if my prediction was correct and if the resistance does increase when the length of wire increases. 1. Set up a circuit as shown above. Set the power pack at a constant voltage of 2 volts. 2. At X in the circuit the wire will be placed. I will first connect the crocodile clips 100cm apart. Then turn the voltmeter and ammeter on and ensure the variable resistor is set at the first point. 3. Now turn on the power pack and record the first results shown on the ammeter and voltmeter. I must take the first results because the results may change due to overheating if the power pack is left on. Now turn off the power pack. 4. To take my repeat reading of 100cm I will then move the slider on the variable resistor to the second marked point. I will now turn on the power pack and record the first result shown on the ammeter and voltmeter. 5. I will continue taking my repeat readings and moving the variable resistor along and recording the results for 100cm. 6. I will then change the length of wire to 90cm by moving the crocodile clips and i will set the variable resistor at the first point. Then I will turn on the power pack and record the first set of results. I will take 4 repeat readings for each length of Nichrome wire. 7. I will record 4 repeat readings for each length of Nichrome wire until I have results for all 10 lengths. Results table Length (cm) Repeat number Voltage (volts) Current (amps) Resistance (? ) Average 17. 82 I have put in bold any anomalous results. Analysing and considering evidence Conclusion From my graph I can tell that my prediction was correct. As the length increases the resistance increases, a piece of 20cm wire has a resistance of 3.8 ? and a piece of 30cm wire has a resistance of 5. 6 ?. This is because a longer piece of wire has a higher resistance because in a longer piece of wire there are more collisions between the electrons and the metal ions. In every successful collision energy is lost from the electron to the wire ions. The result is that the voltage of the wire increases. Because the equation for resistance is resistance = voltage / current, the resistance then increases. From my line of best I can also tell that as the length doubles the resistance always almost doubles too. A piece of 20cm wire has a resistance of 3.8 ? and a piece of 40cm wire has a resistance of 7. 4 ?. Double 3. 8 ? is 7. 6 ? this is almost double but not quite probably because my experiment was not quite accurate. A piece of wire 30cm long had a resistance of 5. 6 ? and a piece of wire 60cm long has a resistance of 11. 1 ?. This is also almost double, double 5. 6 ? is 11. 2 ?. The resistance doubles as the length doubles because there can be double the amount of successful collisions so double the amount of energy is lost causing the voltage to double and so the resistance doubles. Key Electron Metal ion Predicted results Length (cm) Predicted resistance ( ? ) Actual resistance ( ? ) Difference (ll of my results were quite close to my predicted results but as the length increases my predicted resistances become less accurate. This could have been for several reasons that are mentioned in my evaluation but probably as my experiment went on the wire overheated so my results became less accurate. Evaluating My method of collecting my results worked quite well. I gained the results I expected from my experiment. The quality of my evidence was good. My line of best fit went through almost all of my points on my graph and was quite similar to my predicted line of best. I did have some anomalous results. When I experimented with 10cm of Nichrome wire my fourth repeat readings was quite different to the other readings. It had a resistance 0. 87 ? that was the lowest repeat readings for 10cm. The second lowest was 1. 80 ? , this is quite a lot more than the anomalous result. When investigating which 30cm of Nichrome wire I had another anomalous result that was 6. 48 ? , the third repeat reading. This was the biggest repeat reading. The second largest was only 5. 89 ?. This could have been because: I left the power pack on too long. This causes the wire to overheat.   When I was measuring the lengths of the Nichrome wire my measurements might have been slightly inaccurate. The rulers used might not have been exact and it was difficult to get an accurate reading of length by eye as the wire was not completely straight. Also the ruler may have been of different thicknesses throughout the length. This would have contributed as a slight error in my results.   The ammeter and voltmeter could have been slightly faulty and not given me correct, accurate readings.   I connected the wire into the circuit using crocodile clips. These were quite loose and so this could have made my results less accurate. If I improved my method I could either attach the wires with tape but this may affect my results so instead I could solder the Nichrome wire into my circuit. It was difficult to adjust the variable resistor slider accurately only by eye. If I did the investigation again I could try to and adjust the variable resistor accurately I will use an advanced digital variable resistor.   I also found it difficult to measure exact lengths against the meter rule because the crocodile clips didnt clip on to the wire very securely. If I did the investigation again I could pre cut all the lengths of wire before the experiment instead of just connecting the crocodile clips at different distances apart on the meter rule. To further my investigation I could use the same method but increase the range of lengths. I could use lengths of up to 3 meters. I could take readings from lengths at smaller intervals; I could take reading every 5cm instead of every 10cm as I did. I could also take more repeat readings to get a even more accurate average. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Electricity and Magnetism section.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Indecency Policies

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Indecency Policies The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is the agency in the United States tasked with the regulation of interstate and international communications carried out via radio, satellite, television, wire and cable. The agency was commissioned by the Communications Act of 1934, and its scope of authority extends throughout the 50 US states, the District of Colombia and all the US territories (Commission). The FCC has the responsibility of prohibiting the display of obscene programming at any time between 6 am and 10pm. In the event of a breach of this rule, the FCC policy requires that the license granted to the station breaking this rule be revoked, or a monetary fine be imposed. Also, it can give the station a warning with regard to its breach of rule (Commission). Ever since its institution, the FCC has sanctioned companies for brief curse words aired, or accidental nudity on live award shows. A particular case in point is the 2004 Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction saga, which cost CBS a whopping $550,000 in fines though it was appealed to an appellate court (Calver, p. 1-29). The FCC policy requires it to take appropriate punitive action, in respect of any media outlet, following documented complaints received from the public about any obscene, profane, or indecent material aired to viewers. Following such complaints, the FCC conducts a review to determine whether there has been a breach of the profanity, indecency, or obscenity laws. In cases where it is found that a broadcast station has violated the law, investigations into the claims are carried out. In this regard, the FCC policy requires complainants to follow a three-step process, before the act being complained about can be labeled as obscene, profane, or indecent. First, the average person must find that the content is appealing to the prurient interest, or an excessive interest in sexual matters. Following this stage, the material must be found to be depicted in a manner that is patently offensive and sexually explicit, and falls within the confines of the applicable law, in the particular case. In the third and last step, the content of the material must be determined to lack, in one way, or another, educational, artistic, scientific, or political value. In other words, it adds no value to the viewer. However, one crucial aspect of the entire process is putting the content of the material in context to determine its obscenity, indecency, or profanity (Commission). My opinion, in regard to the FCC policy, is that it is not doing much when it comes to censoring inappropriate content. One major reason is that the policy requires claims of obscenity, profanity or indecency, to pass the three steps before they can be so labeled. This process makes it extremely difficult to successfully censor, or prosecute, media outlets for airing inappropriate content. Therefore, the FCC should make the process less restrictive, to be able to accommodate more punishable cases of indecency. Indecency is defined by the FCC as, â€Å"Language or material that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms of patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory organs or activities† (Commission). Putting this statement in context, indecent programming basically comprises sexual or excretory references that are patently offensive in nature; however, they do not reach the obscenity level. Hence, courts hol d on to these indecent materials, as protected by the first amendment to the constitution, and do not ban them completely. Hence, viewers are left with the same initial problem of indecent material being aired. However, this indecent material can be restricted to avoid times when children are the primary audience. The FCC should make a policy that stipulates zero tolerance for any form of indecency, instead of having courts back them up with loopholes, such as by arguing that they are protected by the first amendment which upholds the right of free speech (Courts). An example is Nicole Richie’s 2003 speech at the Billboard Awards, where she categorically stated, â€Å"Have you ever tried to get cow st out of a Prada purse? Its not so fing simple† (CNN). The statement is a clear example of an indecent speech. The case brought up issues to do with the constitution and administration. The courts argued that FCC’s policy on the case violated the first amendment and, therefore, it was unconstitutional. The courts argued that the policy restricted free speech. Another major issue that the FCC should look into is amending its policy to include monitoring broadcasts for violation of its laws. This will make it more restrictive by broadening the scope of its mandate. . Currently, the FCC only responds to claims from the general public. Though this is a safe move to prevent pressuring a media outlet the FCC might be at loggerheads with, it is also a disadvantage. The FCC only investigates cases brought in by the viewers, and at times, not all the issues are given attention, although a significant number is analyzed. The major problem arises when specific viewers bear a grudge with a particular station, or individual, which is broadcasted. Such a scenario defeats the reason for the establishment of the FCC and makes it look like a platform, where personal grudges people hold can be settled. By being able to monitor broadcasts on their own, they can identify reasonable claims of a violation, instead of allowing individuals to act as if they own the FCC. A good example is Al Wescot, who is well known as a self-made watchdog. His grudge with Howard Stern is well recorded. He has on several occasions made it his job to file complaints with the FCC, with regard to Howard Sterns conduct (Mintzer, p25). In conclusion, the FCC should maintain its broadcast indecency policies. However, they should be made more stringent. Isolated expletives, or non-sexual nudity, should be treated the same; they are indecent. Furthermore, it should consider having a policy to be able to scrutinize broadcasts, instead of waiting for the viewers to file complaints. In this manner, broadcasters will be more aware of a watchdog that is the overriding authority. This will minimize cases of indecency in broadcasting. Works Cited Calver, C. Imus, Indecency, Violence (and) Vulgarity: Why the FCC Must Not Expand Its Authority Over Content. 30 Hastings Comm. Ent. Law Journal (2007): 1-29. CNN. Justices tackle free speech dispute over broadcast TV indecency. 6 January 2012. 24 February 2015 http://edition.cnn.com>. Commission, Federal Communications. Federal Communications Commission. 14 August 2014. 24 February 2015 http://www.fcc.gov>. Courts, United States. United States Courts. 24 February 2015. 24 February 2015 http://www.uscourts.gov>. Mintzer, Rich. Howard Stern: A Biography. United Kingdom: Simon Schuster Publishing, 2010.

Family Planning Population Policy In India :: essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  India's population is in peril. Without the implementation of stringent, effective population management policies, the country's population will rise above 2 billion within the next 20 years (www.fpaindia.com). In the absence of control programs, India's ever growing population will lead to increased incidents of famine, disease, environmental stress and result in a severe shortage of housing facilities. However, if the Indian government quickly administers population regulations so that couples have, on average, 2 children by 2001-2006, India's population will stabilize at approximately 1.7 billion (www.fpaindia.com). A drop in both the fertility and birth rates is essential. To achieve this goal, the 5 Year Planning Commission intends to follow the new population control program outlined by India's central government. We intend to explore reasons why family planning is essential, issues concerning the expansion of health care, and also sterilization practices a nd alternatives, proving that our 5-year plan for population management most plausible and logical method to control a rapidly burgeoning population. Family Planning - An Essential for India   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A swiftly growing population does not always seem like a nuisance. An increase in the number of citizens in a country, may for example, signify the improvement in health care, sanitation and a drop in death rates. Developments such as these, naturally lead to an expansion in population. Many areas may easily handle this increase in some areas, but what happens when the population continues to grow at an accelerated pace? The outlook is bleak. Uncontrolled population growth will lead to difficulties regarding food, environmental stress, health and housing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Food shortages are commonly a symptom of high population growth rates, and as such, India is steadily losing the capacity to feed itself. Despite improvements in agricultural productivity, India's population continues to grow at a faster rate than the countrie's agriculture can support. The maximum efforts toward increasing agricultural output are just enough to meet the needs of the existing population, not for the additional population added each year (Mathur, 1995, 127). As a result, more than half of India is malnourished, and thousands are suffering from starvation (Mathur, 1995, 100). The solution to this situation is to seek out ways to decrease population growth, and maintain high yield agricultural production.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The desperate need for food has significant impacts on the environment. The soil can only produce so many yields before it becomes depleted and unproductive. In India, the soils are being stripped of their nutrients too quickly, thus speeding up environmental degradation and lowering crop yields. Family Planning Population Policy In India :: essays research papers fc   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  India's population is in peril. Without the implementation of stringent, effective population management policies, the country's population will rise above 2 billion within the next 20 years (www.fpaindia.com). In the absence of control programs, India's ever growing population will lead to increased incidents of famine, disease, environmental stress and result in a severe shortage of housing facilities. However, if the Indian government quickly administers population regulations so that couples have, on average, 2 children by 2001-2006, India's population will stabilize at approximately 1.7 billion (www.fpaindia.com). A drop in both the fertility and birth rates is essential. To achieve this goal, the 5 Year Planning Commission intends to follow the new population control program outlined by India's central government. We intend to explore reasons why family planning is essential, issues concerning the expansion of health care, and also sterilization practices a nd alternatives, proving that our 5-year plan for population management most plausible and logical method to control a rapidly burgeoning population. Family Planning - An Essential for India   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A swiftly growing population does not always seem like a nuisance. An increase in the number of citizens in a country, may for example, signify the improvement in health care, sanitation and a drop in death rates. Developments such as these, naturally lead to an expansion in population. Many areas may easily handle this increase in some areas, but what happens when the population continues to grow at an accelerated pace? The outlook is bleak. Uncontrolled population growth will lead to difficulties regarding food, environmental stress, health and housing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Food shortages are commonly a symptom of high population growth rates, and as such, India is steadily losing the capacity to feed itself. Despite improvements in agricultural productivity, India's population continues to grow at a faster rate than the countrie's agriculture can support. The maximum efforts toward increasing agricultural output are just enough to meet the needs of the existing population, not for the additional population added each year (Mathur, 1995, 127). As a result, more than half of India is malnourished, and thousands are suffering from starvation (Mathur, 1995, 100). The solution to this situation is to seek out ways to decrease population growth, and maintain high yield agricultural production.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The desperate need for food has significant impacts on the environment. The soil can only produce so many yields before it becomes depleted and unproductive. In India, the soils are being stripped of their nutrients too quickly, thus speeding up environmental degradation and lowering crop yields.

Stones Cynicism Exposed in Natural Born Killers :: Movie Film Essays

Stone's Cynicism Exposed in Natural Born Killers As a hardworking college student living (without a TV) in this impenetrable Gothic galaxy, I am usually quite oblivious to popular culture. I was not even aware of the barrage of hype surrounding the release of Natural Born Killers. My attention was directed belatedly to the movie by a letter from a friend in which she lamented the present state of humanity - or lack thereof. And yet, I still stayed away from the movie for over a month despite my knowledge that it would be at the very least thought-provoking. I've learned that I have not been desensitized to images of violence, perhaps because of my earlier-mentioned insulation from pop culture. However, I was intent on listening to what Oliver Stone had to say. So last night I spent the entire 100+ minutes of the film curled in my seat, my head in my hands. Now that I've seen the movie, I'm left with questions_questions which kept my body shifting in bed all last night and my mind shifting from work all day today. Questions about life, death, humanity, and efficacy. Big questions, giant_the kind that could keep me in my own world for weeks if they weren't constantly forcing me to look at the world around me. This is an article of questions, of seeking answers, of wondering if, indeed, there are answers. Stone's film is extreme in every way. Extreme in its violence. Extreme in its visual imagery, flashing hyper-speed bits of reality which don't quite register in one's mind. Extreme in its sit-com presentation of an abusive family as the ordinary stuff of entertainment. Extreme in its depiction of mass-murderers revered as icons of popular culture. Extreme in the banality with which the killers approach their crime. Perhaps this extremity is what caused me to react so strongly to the film at first. The impact has by now lost its initial force, and I'm able to attempt to evaluate that impact. I feel ambivalent about the success of the movie, and by success, I mean neither monetary value nor entertainment value. I mean whether or not Stone was effective in conveying his message. In my estimation, he definitely had a message. It seems impossible to me that anyone could exit this movie not understanding that Stone is criticizing the glorification of violence. If the Stone's Cynicism Exposed in Natural Born Killers :: Movie Film Essays Stone's Cynicism Exposed in Natural Born Killers As a hardworking college student living (without a TV) in this impenetrable Gothic galaxy, I am usually quite oblivious to popular culture. I was not even aware of the barrage of hype surrounding the release of Natural Born Killers. My attention was directed belatedly to the movie by a letter from a friend in which she lamented the present state of humanity - or lack thereof. And yet, I still stayed away from the movie for over a month despite my knowledge that it would be at the very least thought-provoking. I've learned that I have not been desensitized to images of violence, perhaps because of my earlier-mentioned insulation from pop culture. However, I was intent on listening to what Oliver Stone had to say. So last night I spent the entire 100+ minutes of the film curled in my seat, my head in my hands. Now that I've seen the movie, I'm left with questions_questions which kept my body shifting in bed all last night and my mind shifting from work all day today. Questions about life, death, humanity, and efficacy. Big questions, giant_the kind that could keep me in my own world for weeks if they weren't constantly forcing me to look at the world around me. This is an article of questions, of seeking answers, of wondering if, indeed, there are answers. Stone's film is extreme in every way. Extreme in its violence. Extreme in its visual imagery, flashing hyper-speed bits of reality which don't quite register in one's mind. Extreme in its sit-com presentation of an abusive family as the ordinary stuff of entertainment. Extreme in its depiction of mass-murderers revered as icons of popular culture. Extreme in the banality with which the killers approach their crime. Perhaps this extremity is what caused me to react so strongly to the film at first. The impact has by now lost its initial force, and I'm able to attempt to evaluate that impact. I feel ambivalent about the success of the movie, and by success, I mean neither monetary value nor entertainment value. I mean whether or not Stone was effective in conveying his message. In my estimation, he definitely had a message. It seems impossible to me that anyone could exit this movie not understanding that Stone is criticizing the glorification of violence. If the

Educational Change

Topic: Analyse a story about an educational reform happened in a secondary school and comment its effectiveness based on the organizational theories. ————————————————- 1. Introduction The Education Commission Report No. 7 released in September of 1997 suggested to build a quality culture in schools(EDB, 1997) . Since that, schools and education institutions of all levels experienced changes and reforms in various scale and kinds. Schools are no longer stable and predictable places.Schools and school systems had gradually turned into a mode of modern organization: departmentalized and bureaucratized in last century. However, in last two decades, the reform in education has been launched in all over the world. It is clearly because of the needs of new millennium – we are moving or even already in the postmodern age now. The postmodern age world is fast, compressed, com plex and uncertain(Hargreaves, 1994). Schools are places for preparing the generations of the future, therefore, changes are essential to all educational organizations.In this paper, the story about the culture reform happened in a one-through school will be told to provide a case-study of how an evolution occurred in an educational system. The dimensions, type and effectiveness of reform will be discussed. 2. Literature Review We know change is essential to postmodern education system. But change for change is not help and not what we want. An educational change, is assumed to help schools to achieve their goals more effectively, theoretically. It is important to bear in mind that change is a process, not an event(Fullan & Stiegelbauer, 1991)Literature provides the category for the change. Superficial changes , like changes in content, structure or policy, which induces improvement on something currently doing, are classified as first order change. Those changes occur on those fund amental, for example, goals and roles, are classified as second order change. (Cuban, 1988) â€Å"Educational change depends on what teachers do and think-it's as simple and complex as that†(Fullan, 1991, P. 117). While what the teachers do and think is a reflection of their basic assumption and belief or the change is just superficial.It is vital to understand the culture of the organization and how it affects the norms and behaviors. (Stoll & Fink, 1996). There are fundamental relationship between culture and effectiveness(Rossman et al. , 1988). Though school culture is powerful, schools are more comfortable to first order change than second order change (Cuban, 1988; Fullan & Stiegelbauer, 1991). But first order change would not be internalized without second order change(Leithwood, Aitken, & Jantzi, 2001). 3. A Story about Changing the School School X was a band three secondary school in a very new developed district in Hong Kong.Included School X, there were two seconda ry schools in the district, which with population of around 60,000. In the fifth year of school X being set up, a vice-principal of another school (for convenience, we called him/her W) of the same sponsoring body was sent to this school. At this time, school X was obviously in adverse position compared with another school in the district. Almost all higher banding students chose another school, over 80% of students of School X is in band 3 while over half of these students were in territorial bottom 10%.Most of the middle managers were not functioned. Teachers with negative attitude were majority. Some teachers had passion and willing to pay effort for students, but because of the norm and culture, what their effect was confined. Students lacked of interest and motivation in their learning, not mentioned to have any confidence and expectation on their own academic performance. The impression of School X was terrible in the community. â€Å"Fortunately†, the number of classes and teaching group of school X were small and still expanding with he increase of population size of the district. W already knew she would be vice-principal of school X for only one year and then would be promoted to be principal in the next year. W took the year of being vice-principal of school X to familiarize with the setting, the norm, the culture and social relationships in this school. The story of change began in the next year, W became principal of School X†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 4. Analysis of the changes Changes is a process, most researchers stated there are three broad phases involved: Initiation, Implementation and Continuation.Fullan (1991) added the idea of outcome to the process to give a come complete picture. Since the progress of educational reform occurred in School X involved numerous innovations each affected different domains of the school (Surely, this is common to all educational changes), the followed analysis will be written according to the framework shown in F igure 4. 1 . This framework is modified from the simplified overview of Fullan(1991), the titles of the points I will highlight for each phase are added to the box below each phase.Figure 4. 1 A simiplified overview for the process of change in School X No doubt, the new principal took a critical role in the initiation of change. But any educational change in school should involve all parties in school, therefore, the innovations are always not only from the principal but should be from all a stakeholders, especially from teachers and students. A group of teachers with similar belief with W were selected to act as a workforce to improve the performance and effectiveness of the school.Three teachers from this group became the new leaders for the academic, discipline and guidance department. The replacement was a quite severe step in school system. But it was also an effective way to remove the potential resistance to the change. The concept of workforce group was a successful startup . It involved teachers, the staff that would execute the change, as McGregor (1957) argued about the Theory Y of management, innovations and motivation are present in people, the manager only needed to make it possible for eople to recognize and develop. On the other hand, only small group of teachers were included in the workforce. Huberman and Miles (1984) argued that large-scale participation at the initiation phase is not productive and too much energy would be exhausted for pre-action discussion. The new department leaders, with W, leaded the group of workforce to review the rules and regulations, and drew up some new practice, then discussed these practice with the whole teaching team.Actually, the changes in rules and regulation were small, the focus was on the execution of these rules and regulations should be uniform and coherent. Though at this time the scale and degree of change on school was small, but it just like a pilot step for the consequence wave of reforming. Befo re these practices were introduced, W shared the bad news about the terrible intake of S1 in that year, over 70% of new comers are from the group of territory bottom 10%, with all teaching staff in the meeting. She also showed the data about the trend of population and development of the district in the meeting.What she pointed out was : more and more secondary schools were setting up in the district, all of them would be competitors of their school; the worst thing was, though the student population was going up that time, but it was not a long story, the population would decline after several year; they would finally face the crisis of shrink in number of classes, even being forced to close. W had capitalized on propitious moments for the change. The circumstances that call for change was dramatized to win the support and cooperation of teachers (Trice & Beyer, 1993). The results of pilot trial were satisfied.Though everything still had great room for improvement, but all of them seemed to be in progress. W celebrated the success with all staff (both of teaching and non-teaching). In the next year, some changes induced ‘externally† happened: Regional/national level: The ECR no. 7 recommended the idea of using performance indicators to assess the quality of school. This aroused the concern about effectiveness and quality of schooling in society. Local level: * School X moved to a brand-new campus equipped with extra facilities. * School X was changed from a traditional secondary school to a one-through school.School X now had its first class of primary one. These â€Å"external factors† provided good ground to fertilize the consequence changes,. Among various of innovations, the setting up of first quality circle took a critical role in the reform of School X. The quality circle was formed by a group of ten young and passionate teachers. Teachers in the circle were assigned to be the class teachers of S2 classes (the form with terrible S1 i ntake). They were empowered to design and execute the setting and rules (academic and discipline aspects) work on the whole form.Recalled the organization Y described by McGregor (1957), this was another example about â€Å"using† the motivation and potential for development already in people to direct behavior toward the organizational goal. The outcome of implementation of quality circle was inspiring. The success of the quality circle was originated from it decentralized the power to and enlarged the job of some staff in relative low position of the school hierarchy (by experience, status and responsibility), and caused a sense of satisfaction in their social and egoistic needs. The success of quality circle created a dramatic change in the belief of teachers.After that, quality circles were set up for each form. It was institutionalized as a school policy and long term practice. After years of implementation, the behavior and academic performance of students had obvious i mprovement. The job satisfaction of teachers was greatly improved. Most items in the APASO and KPM, especially those related with the teacher and students relationship, have index better than the territory norm. Now, School X is categorized in band 2. Fullan(1991) listed 9 critical factors organized into 3 main categories affecting implementation. Figure 4. shows the interactive relationship of them: In the case of School X, for the characteristic of change: the need of change was obvious, the goal of change was clearly explained to all staff, the individual complexity on most staff was not too high to create resistance. In addition, as most rules and regulations remained the same, the practicality was acceptable. For the local characteristics, though the district and community factors could not be examined, but the principal and teachers showed positive attitude to the implementation, especially after the success of trial done in the first year.By cultural perspective, Rossman et a l. (1988) identified the culture change processes to three types: Evolutionary, Additive and Transformative, depended on the degree of explicit, conscious focus on cultural change. The change in School X involved explicitly implementation of policies and practices, it should belonged to additive or transformative. While as the cultural norm was changed in a quite big scale with some severe means (replaced the heads, restructured the school system, etc. ), the reform of School X was classified as transformative.The developmental age of School X affected the cultural change in it as well. Stoll and Fink (1996) described the mechanisms likely to bring about change in three developmental age of school: Birth and early growth, Midlife, Maturity and /or stagnation and decline. School X should belong to Midlife stage, and the description about change through explosion of myths, quality circle was an exact example of this. The idea about creating new myth also echoed by(Trice & Beyer, 1993) , the effectiveness of myth to change cultures was affirmed in his article. 5. Comment on its effectiveness 5. Classical theory vs. Human resources theory The definitions of effectiveness of the change/reform were varied. The implementation of change in School X relied on application of human resources theory mostly. Compared with the classical theory, human resources theory took much more time and sometimes the outcome may be misled to be deflected from the organizational goal as it emphasized on the managing by objective instead of control with assumption about people had motivation already inside(McGregor, 1957). However, for the setting of school, human resources theory is much more appropriate.Though in earlier of this paper, the characteristic of schools in postmodern age was subjected to change; on the other hand, schools should be stable enough to let the teachers and students feel safe and secure. The scientific management emphasizes on selecting themost qualified employees to perform the job, this may not fit for the situation of school. Furthermore, the classical theory also included sense of bureaucracy. Bureaucracy was a common practiced in modern school for many years. However, this perspective may not suitable for the postmodern age school nowadays.Bureaucratic schools are close-ended, static and balkanized, in contrast, what we need now are open-ended, evolving and collaborative learning organizations. 5. 2 Cultural perspective Rossman(1988) argued culture defines effectiveness. In this part, I will comment on the effectiveness of the change in School X by cultural perspective. 5. 2. 1The classification of change by levels of culture The culture can be distinguished to three levels , on the base of basic assumptions, values and behaviours are observable manifestations (Schein, 1985). In Table 5. 1, the change of School X in each level of culture was described.Table 5. 1. Description on the change of School X by levels of culture. Level| Descrip tion| Artifacts and creations| The appearance of students was improved. The behavior of students inside and outside the classroom was improved. The academic performance of students improved. The intake of the school improved. | Values| The senses of belonging of students increase. The self-esteem and confidence of students improved. The satisfaction of teachers about the job improved. | Basic assumptions| The impression of community on School X changed to be more positive. The mission and goal of the school became clear and evolving.Senses of collaboration and cooperation were developed among teachers and students. Teachers’ belief migrated from â€Å"students cannot be changed† to â€Å"students can be changed through education, it just needs time and effort†. | 5. 2. 2Assessing Amounts of Change To understand the amount of change, the process can be described along four dimensions: Pervasiveness, Magnitude, Innovativeness, and Duration (Trice & Beyer, 1993). T he pervasiveness in change of culture was high. All the main business within the school was affected. The behavior of majority of teachers and students were changed.Surely, some of them tried to ignore the change, but the proportion was small. The magnitude of the change was high. The old negative values and belief evolved to much more positive ones. The innovativeness was not very varied in this case. Actually, the change in rules, rites and regulation were limited. The practices implemented were also common in other schools. But the idea of decentralization of power with quality circle was innovative among Hong Kong schools. Finally, the duration, it was high and actually, School X is still evolving even now, as a culture of evolving was developed. 5. 2. 3Definitions of effectivenessAccording to the research work of Rossman et al. (1988), from the cultural perspective, the definitions of effectiveness changes refer to the norms, beliefs and values of organizations. Took Rossman â €˜s suggestion, I tried to analysed the effectiveness of reform in School X by five criteria. Firstly, the definition should be multisided; Both of the academic and the non-academic achievement should be considered. The academic performance of School X was improved and the band of it was promoted. On the other hand , the sports teams and volunteer team had outstanding performance in region. Second,  the  concern  for  order  is  essential to  all  schools.Ordered environment facilitate learning and teaching, it also brought about the sense of respect. The behavior of students was improved. The lesson time spent on dealing with the problem of classroom management was greatly reduced. It brings about the achievement of the third criterion – the quality of teaching; as teachers had more time for preparing teaching activities with higher quality. The focuses of professional training activities included the new teachers training programs and school-based trainin g activities were migrated from classroom management to some more academic purpose.The fourth one is to establish appropriate expectations for intellectual outcomes. Except the first two years of implementation, the main concerns of School X in the followed six years all about enhancing the learning and teaching effectiveness. The performances of students in public examination also have been evaluated and discussed both in the meeting at subject levels and school level. Finally, value the diversity. School X developed teams for students with different education needs, for example, special education needs, non-native Chinese speakers, gifted, etc. 6. 2. Three perspective of culture The culture strength can be described by three perspectives: Integration, Differentiation and Fragmentation(Martin, 1992). Before the implementation of change, School X should be described as differentiation, teachers , those willing to pay effort and those not, worked on their own style, belief and goal. Conflicts between colleagues happened frequently. The reform caused the culture of School X evolved much more coherent, but the characteristics of sub-groups were still kept, so it is much more likely to be fragmentation rather than integration. . 2. 5Limitations of the cultural perspective on evaluating the effectiveness of change Culture is powerful, it affects the whole setting and every members of the organization. But the cultural perspective is only a way to give better insight of the organizational culture and also about the change. It never gives any fast and promising way for change. One can have a better planning and more precise expectation on the response of the members of organization to the implementation of change. 6. End of story? Never ended†¦.As we said in the start of this paper, schools nowadays are providing training to people who will deal with the fast, complex and mercurial life in the postmodern age. Schools that keep static and satisfy with their past achievement are no longer good schools. The senses of changes should be rooted within every stakeholder of the schools and education system. The cycle of planning, implementation and evaluation now was very familiarized by each educators in every levels of institutions, it is not just for documentary purpose and dealing with school external review, it is also a key for the keeping the schools change to right way.References Cuban, L. (1988). A Fundamental Puzzle of School-Reform. Phi Delta Kappan, 69(5), 341-344. EDB. (1997). Education Commission Report No. 7. Fullan, Michael, & Stiegelbauer, Suzanne M. (1991). The new meaning of educational change (2nd ed. ). Toronto? New York, NY: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education : Teachers College Press, Teachers College, Columbia University. Hargreaves, Andy. (1994). Changing teachers, changing times : teachers' work and culture in the postmodern age. London: Cassell. Huberman, A. M. , & Miles, Matthew B. 1984). Innovation up close : ho w school improvement works. New York: Plenum Press. Leithwood, Kenneth A. , Aitken, Robert, & Jantzi, Doris. (2001). Making schools smarter : a system for monitoring school and district progress (2nd ed. ). Thousand Oaks, Calif. : Corwin Press. Martin, Joanne. (1992). Cultures in organizations : three perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press. McGregor, Douglas Murray. (1957). The Human Side of Enterprise (4th ed. ). Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers. Rossman, Gretchen B. , Corbett, H.Dickson, & Firestone, William A. (1988). Change and effectiveness in schools : a cultural perspective. Albany: State University of New York Press. Schein, Edgar H. (1985). Defining Organizational Culture (4th ed. ). Belmont: Wadsworth Pub. Co. Stoll, Louise, & Fink, Dean. (1996). Changing our schools : linking school effectiveness and school improvement. Buckingham England ; Philadelphia: Open University Press. Trice, Harrison m. , & Beyer, Janice M. (1993). Changing Organizational Cu lture (4th ed. ). Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.