Typical Course of Study - Kindergarten

Typical Course of Study - Kindergarten The elementary years lay the foundation for learning throughout a students educational career (and beyond). Childrens abilities undergo dramatic changes from kindergarten through 5th grade.   While public and private schools set the standards for their students,  homeschooling parents  may be unsure what to teach at each grade level. Thats where a typical course of study comes in handy.   A typical course of study provides a general framework for introducing appropriate skills and concepts for each subject at each grade level. Parents may notice that some skills and topics are repeated in multiple grade levels. This repetition is normal because the complexity of skills and depth of topics increases as a students ability and maturity increases. Kindergarten Kindergarten is a highly-anticipated time of transition for most children. Learning through play starts to give way to more formal lessons. (Though play remains an essential part of education through the elementary years.) For most young children, this first foray into formal learning will include pre-reading and early math activities. It is also a time for children to begin understanding their role and the roles of others in the community.   Language Arts A typical course of study for kindergarten language arts includes pre-reading activities such as learning to recognize upper- and lower-case letters of the alphabet and the sounds of each. Children enjoy looking at picture books and pretending to read. Its crucial to read to kindergarten students on a regular basis. Not only does reading aloud help children make connections between written and spoken words, but it also helps them acquire new vocabulary skills. Students should practice writing the letters of the alphabet and learn to write their name. Children may use drawings or invented spelling to tell stories.   Science Science helps kindergarten students begin to understand the world around them. It is essential to provide opportunities for them to explore science-related topics through observation and investigation. Ask students questions such as how, why, what if, and what do you think. Use nature study to help young students explore earth science and physical science. Common topics for kindergarten science include insects, animals, plants, weather, soil, and rocks.   Social Studies In kindergarten, social studies focus on exploring the world through the local community. Provide opportunities for children to  learn about themselves and their role in their family and community. Teach them about community helpers such as police officers and firefighters.   Introduce them to basic facts about their country, such as its president, its capital city, and some of its national holidays. Help them explore basic geography with simple maps of their home, city, state, and country. Math A typical course of study for kindergarten math includes topics such as counting, number recognition, one-to-one correspondence, sorting and categorizing, learning basic shapes, and pattern recognition. Children will learn to recognize numbers 1 through 100 and count by ones to 20. They will learn to describe the position of an object such as in, beside, behind, and between.   They will learn to recognize simple patterns such as A-B (red/blue/red/blue), complete a pattern that has been started for them, and create their own simple patterns. First Grade Children in first grade are starting to acquire more abstract thinking skills. Some begin to move toward reading fluency. They can understand more abstract math concepts and can complete simple addition and subtraction problems. They are becoming more independent and self-sufficient. Language Arts A typical course of study for first-grade language arts introduces students to age-appropriate grammar, spelling, and writing. Children learn to capitalize and punctuate sentences correctly. They are expected to spell grade level words correctly and capitalize common nouns. Most first grade students will learn to read one-syllable words that follow general spelling rules and use phonics skills to decipher unknown words.  Ã‚   Some common skills for first graders include using and understanding compound words; inferring a words meaning from context; understanding figurative language;  and writing short compositions. Science First-grade students will build on the concepts they learned in kindergarten. They will continue asking questions and predicting outcomes and will learn to find patterns in the natural world. Common science topics for first grade include plants; animals; states of matter (solid, liquid, gas); sound; energy; seasons; water; and weather. Social Studies First-grade students can understand the past, present, and future, though most dont have a solid grasp of time intervals (for example, 10 years ago vs.  50 years ago). They understand the world around them from the context of the familiar, such as their school and community.   Common first-grade social studies topics include basic economics (needs vs. wants), beginning  map skills (cardinal directions and locating state and country on a map), continents, cultures, and national symbols. Math First-grade math concepts reflect this age groups improved ability to think abstractly. Skills and concepts typically taught include addition and subtraction;  telling time to the half-hour; recognizing and counting money; skip counting (counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s); measuring;  ordinal numbers (first, second, third); and naming and drawing two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes. Second Grade Second-grade students are becoming better at processing information and can understand more abstract concepts. They understand jokes, riddles, and sarcasm and like to try them on others.   Most students who did not master reading fluency in first grade will do so in second. Most second graders have also established foundational writing skills. Language Arts A typical course of study for second-grade children focuses on reading fluency. Children will begin reading grade-level text without stopping to sound out most words. They will learn to read orally at a conversational speaking rate and use  voice inflection for expression. Second-grade students will learn  more complex phonics concepts and vocabulary. They will begin to learn prefixes, suffixes, antonyms, homonyms, and synonyms. They may start learning cursive handwriting.  Ã‚   Common skills for second-grade writing include using reference tools (such as a dictionary); writing opinion and how-to compositions; using planning tools such as brainstorming and graphic organizers; and learning to self-edit. Science In second grade, children begin using what they know to make predictions (hypothesis) and look for patterns in nature. Common second-grade life science topics include life cycles, food chains, and habitats (or biomes).   Earth science  topics include the Earth and how it changes over time; the factors affecting those changes such as wind, water, and ice; and the physical properties and classification of rocks.   Students are also introduced to force and motion concepts such as push, pull, and  magnetism. Social Studies Second graders are ready to begin moving beyond their local community and using what they know to compare their region with other areas and cultures.   Common topics include Native Americans, key historical figures (such as George Washington or Abraham Lincoln), creating timelines, the United States Constitution, and the election process. Second graders will also learn more advanced map skills, such as locating the United States and individual states; finding and labeling oceans, continents, the North and South Poles, and the equator. Math In second grade, students will begin to learn more complex math skills and attain fluency in math vocabulary.   A second-grade math course of study usually includes place value (ones, tens, hundreds); odd and even numbers; adding and subtracting two-digit numbers; introduction of multiplication tables; telling time from the quarter hour  to the  minute; and fractions. Third Grade In third grade, students begin to make the shift from guided learning to more independent exploration. Because most third-graders are fluent readers, they can read directions themselves and take more responsibility for their work. Language Arts In language arts, the focus on reading shifts from learning to read to reading to learn. There is an emphasis on reading comprehension. Students will learn to identify the main idea or moral of a story and be able to describe the plot and how the actions of the main characters affect the plot. Third graders will begin using more complex graphic organizers as part of the pre-writing process. They will learn  to write book reports, poems, and personal narratives. Topics for third-grade grammar include parts of speech; conjunctions; comparative and superlatives; more complex capitalization and punctuation skills (such as capitalizing book titles and punctuating dialogue); and sentence types (declarative, interrogative, and exclamatory).   Students also learn about writing genres such as fairy tales, myths, fiction, and biographies.   Science Third graders start to tackle more complex science topics. Students learn about the scientific process,  simple machines  and  the moon and its phases. Other topics include living organisms (vertebrate and invertebrates); properties of matter; physical changes; light and sound; astronomy; and inherited traits. Social Studies Third-grade social studies topics help students continue to expand their view of the world around them. They learn about cultures and how the environment and physical features affect the people of a given region. Students learn about topics such as transportation, communication, and the exploration and colonization of North American. Geography topics include latitude, longitude, map scale, and geographic terms. Math Third-grade mathematical concepts continue to increase in complexity.   Topics include multiplication and division; estimation; fractions and decimals; commutative and associative properties; congruent shapes, area and perimeter; charts and graphs; and probability.   Fourth Grade Most fourth-grade students are ready to tackle more complex work independently. They start learning basic time management and planning techniques for long-term projects. Fourth-graders are also starting to discover their academic strengths, weaknesses, and preferences. They may be asynchronous learners who dive into topics that interest them while struggling in areas that dont.   Language Arts Most fourth-grade students are competent, fluent readers. It is an excellent time to introduce books series since many children at this age are captivated by them.   A typical course of study includes grammar, composition, spelling, vocabulary-building, and literature. Grammar focuses on topics such as similes and metaphors; prepositional phrases; and run-on sentences.   Composition topics include creative, expository, and persuasive writing; research (using sources such as the internet, books, magazines, and news reports); understanding fact vs. opinion; point of view; and editing and publishing. Students will read and respond to a variety of literature. They will explore genres such as folklore, poetry, and tales from a variety of cultures.   Science Fourth-grade students continue to deepen their understanding of the scientific process through practice. They may try conducting age-appropriate experiments and document them by writing lab reports.  Ã‚   Earth science topics in fourth grade include natural disasters (such as earthquakes and volcanoes); the solar system; and natural resources. Physical science topics include electricity and electrical currents; physical and chemical changes in states of matter (freezing, melting, evaporation, and condensation); and the water cycle. Life science topics typically cover how plants and animals interact with and support one another (food chains and food webs), how plants produce food, and how humans impact the environment. Social Studies The history of the United States and the students home state are common topics for social studies in fourth grade. Students will research facts about their home states such as its native population, who settled the land, its path to statehood, and significant people and events from state history.   U.S. history topics include the Revolutionary War and westward expansion (the explorations of Lewis and Clark and the lives of American pioneers) Math Most fourth-grade students should be comfortable adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing quickly and accurately. They will apply these skills to large whole numbers and learn to add and subtract fractions and decimals.   Other fourth-grade math skills and concepts include prime numbers; multiples; conversions; adding and subtracting with variables; units of metric measurements; finding the area and perimeter of a solid; and figuring the volume of a solid. New concepts in geometry include lines, line segments, rays, parallel lines, angles, and triangles.   Fifth Grade Fifth grade is the last year as an elementary student for most students since middle school is generally considered grades 6-8. While these young tweens may consider themselves mature and responsible, they often need continued guidance as they prepare to transition fully to independent learners.   Language Arts A typical course of study for fifth-grade language arts will include components that become standard through the high school years: grammar, composition, literature, spelling, and vocabulary-building.   The literature component includes reading a variety of books and genres; analyzing plot, character, and setting; and identifying the authors purpose for writing and how his point of view influences his writing. Grammar and composition focus on using correct age-appropriate grammar to write more complex compositions such as letters, research papers, persuasive essays, and stories; honing pre-writing techniques such as brainstorming and using graphic organizers; and building on the students understanding of parts of speech and how each is used in a sentence (examples include prepositions, interjections, and conjunctions). Science Fifth graders have a strong basic understanding of science and the scientific process. Theyll put those skills to work as they delve into a more complex understanding of the world around them. Science topics usually covered in fifth grade include the solar system; the universe; Earths atmosphere; healthy habits (proper nutrition and personal hygiene); atoms, molecules, and cells; matter; the Periodic Table; and taxonomy and the classification system. Social Studies In fifth grade, students continue their exploration of American history, studying events such as the War of 1812; the American Civil War; inventors and technological advances of the 19th century (such as Samuel B. Morse, the Wright Brothers, Thomas Edison, and Alexander Graham Bell); and basic economics (the law of supply and demand; the primary resources, industries, and products of the United States and other countries). Math A typical course of study for fifth-grade math  include dividing two- and three-digit whole numbers with and without remainders; multiplying and dividing fractions; mixed numbers; improper fractions; simplifying fractions; using equivalent fractions; formulas for area, perimeter, and volume; graphing; Roman numerals; and powers of ten. This typical course of study for elementary school is intended as a general guide. The introduction of topics and acquisition  of skills can vary widely based on the studentss maturity and ability level, a familys preferred homeschooling style, and the type of homeschool curriculum used.

Offshore Outsourcing Essays

Offshore Outsourcing Essays Offshore Outsourcing Essay Offshore Outsourcing Essay The American Electronics Associations reports that 560,000 IT Jobs were lost in calendar year 2001 and 2002, roughly 10 of the total Information Technology work force and the numbers are growing. More overly, 30 of all new Information Technology work for U. S. Companies is now done abroad, mostly in India. In the U. S. , the average salary is around 50,000 for an average Information Technology worker, though overseas its very different. Conversely, the salary of an Information Technology worker in India is a fraction of the cost and triple revenue. As a result many small and mid-sized companies alike are sending their Information Technology work offshore, so that they can reduce operating costs. Statement of the Problem This study explores Offshore IT Outsourcing by U. S. Companies. Within the study, information will be provided on the details of Offshore IT Outsourcing including the advantages and disadvantages. It also evaluates different strategies for offshore Information Technology Outsourcing that could benefit both U. S. Employees and employers. This study utilized qualitative information provided by a number of agencies that monitor and track on the performance of Offshore Outsourcing. Within this study, library resources include electronic and computer database searches. As we move toward a purely global economy, many U. S. Companies look for opportunities to gain a competitive edge. Offshore Outsourcing appears to be the answer. Offshore outsourcing is the consumed. Executives of many U. S. Reparations feel that the only way they can remain competitive is to rapidly reduce their operating costs thereby increasing their profit margins. Finding cheaper sources of labor is one way to reduce operating costs. Unfortunately, these sources usually reside outside of the United States. Offshore Outsourcing is no longer the wave of the future it is the current direction most businesses in virtually every industry are focused. While companies are rewarded for reducing their costs, it has resulted in the displacement of a large percentage of U. S. Technical workers, skilled and with specialized training. Main Research Question The main research question is What is The Impact of Outsourcing Information Technology Information Technology Offshore Sub-Research Questions The sub-questions are What is Information Technology Offshore Outsourcing What are the advantages and disadvantages of using Information Technology Offshore Outsourcing How can employees and employers benefit from Information Technology Offshore Outsourcing Significance of the Study This study is important due to the following implications of the American economy Economic Implications, which include Increase in unemployment and underemployment rates and as a exult of displaced employees. Reduction in domestic investment because work is sent to other countries. Ultimate dependency on other countries to provide highly skilled technical resources. Political Implications, which include Unemployment is a major political issue. Politicians often use this issue for re-election purposes. Many politicians are afraid that they will be voted out if they support sending Jobs offshore. Party Politics Debating The issue of party politics is ongoing. The two major parties (Republicans Democrats) are heavily debating over who cares the least about the employed and underemployed. Social Implications, which include Reduction in the need for local technical expertise. Students will be diverted from these areas of education resulting in a lack of knowledge and advancement in education in the information technology field. Increase in the number of corporations leaders that show more interest in the bottom line versus the welfare of their employees. The content of this study will address the advantages and disadvantages of offshore Information Technology Outsourcing and the impact it is having on our economy and the workforce. Research Design and Methodology This study utilized qualitative information provided by a number of internet Journal articles that report on other studies that monitor and track the performance of Offshore Outsourcing. Within this study, library resources include electronic and computer database searches. The mission of this research project is to inform others on the activities and use of Offshore Information Technology Outsourcing. Understanding should be gained from the answers of the three sub-questions related to the main research question on Offshore Information Technology Outsourcing. Resources such as reading existing literature, work experiences, and economical and global perspectives allowed the researcher to form a personal perspective, conclusion, and recommend solutions. A number of recent articles were referenced to provide information on how offshore outsourcing is being conducted by businesses across the United States. Results from other studies on offshore outsourcing were reviewed to understand the feedback of companies. Lastly, personal experience in working with Offshore Outsourcing team was relied upon to support the results collected from literature reviews. Offshore Outsourcing is no longer the wave of the future it is the current direction most businesses in virtually every industry are focused. Many companies using offshore outsourcing have reported that they have experienced at least a 30 to 40 cost savings as a direct result of offshore outsourcing. When offshore outsourcing first became a trend, it resulted in the displacement of a large percentage of U. S. Workers, skilled and unskilled. As offshore outsourcing evolves, leaders of organizations are learning to leverage their offshore resources while transitioning their current employees to work on corporate opportunities in the business strategy that concentrates on market growth. Corporations use offshore companies to perform tasks that have been refined onshore, and they try to redirect their freed up staff toward new targeted areas. As a result corporations profits intention to rise without a reduction of workforce. This has shown to help companies to grow tremendously as they find ways to uncover new opportunities that allow them to expand into different markets. The phrase used to describe this use of offshore resources is termed transformational outsourcing. Many executives are discovering how offshore outsourcing can be focused on corporate growth, finding better ways to use skilled U. S. Staff, and creating new Jobs in the U. S. , not Just cheap wages in other countries. One executive stated, True, the labor savings from global rouging can still be substantial. But its peanuts compared to the enormous gains in efficiency, productivity, quality, and revenues that can be achieved by fully leveraging offshore talent. One example in the use of transformational outsourcing is the organization, Chapman. The company turned around its dying businesses and accelerated its pace of innovation by using offshore resources to reduce cost and applying those cost savings to fund development projects that otherwise would have been unaffordable. As part of its turnaround strategy, the president of engineering revives shifted some design work to its 160-engineer center in Achaean, India. By having U. S. ND Indian designers collaborate 24 hours a day / and 7 days a week, they projected that they would slash development costs and time and win orders often missed due to engineering constraints. This article provided examples on how transformational outsourcing works very well in every industry with exception of Information Technology offshore outsourcing. The reason is probably because when Information Technology offshore outsourcing is implemented, in most cases it completely replaces all functions that are performed by U. S. Information Technology Staff and moves the processes, staff and environments offshore. It is similar to buying a complete Information Technology solution with integration only between the offshore service provider and the business customer. The type of Information Technology work sent offshore includes, but is not limited to network and security administration, application development and implementation and helpless purport and research and development of software products. Countries that are renowned for having inexpensive technical specialties in these areas are India, and most recently the Philippines and China. These countries state that they have the worlds highest technically skilled human resource base. What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of using Offshore Information Technology Outsourcing While opposing sides of Information Technology Offshore Outsourcing debate on lower operating costs experienced by company owners versus unemployment experienced y their employees, there are other major pros and cons as detailed in the next sections. Advantages of using Offshore Information Technology Outsourcing Overseas Innovation The Faux Study put on by Duke University in collaboration with consulting firm Bozo Allen Hamilton contained results from a survey of 537 companies in the U. S. And Europe. The study key finding was that one of the major reasons for offspring Information Technology is due to the difficulty in finding tech talent in the United States. The 2004 survey showed results of less than 40 percent of Impasses cited access to qualified personnel and the number increased to 70 percent in 2005. It is believed that the reduction in technical talent is a result of the sharp cut in temporary work visas and declining enrollments in U. S. Science and engineering programs, especially at the masters and doctorate levels. The issue no longer is cost but availability of talent. The data is very clear on this, stated Rare Lenin, a Duke Business professor who led the Faux study. A significant talent gap has risen between 1995 and 2006, and thats a problem for companies that depend on engineering talent. 4 Hours a day and 7 Days a Week Access Multinationals corporations that need operations going 24 hours a day and 7 days a week have found it advantageous for strategic reasons to outsource offshore. They have found that by sending Information Technology Development offshore they can shrink product-development times by working 2417 using tech centers around the world. They have also found that it is easier to provide 2417 helpless support. Refocus Employees on Core Competencies of the Organization Technical Managers have reported that they feel there are more than enough technical opportunities in the United States and that many of the companies mainly are going abroad to free up their employees to work on the organizations core competencies. They conclude that there is a major qualitative difference between technologist in the U. S. And in developing nations. Consequently, they are sending routine work offshore and freeing up their employees to work on such things as research, conceptual design, customer interactions, or business analysis. Disadvantages of using Offshore Information Technology Outsourcing Breaches in Mallard Security Mark Willoughby, tutor of the Hidden Mallard in Offshore Products Raises Concerns says that currently, the United States National Security Agency is spending millions of dollars to have potential mallard code that has been developed offshore in a global software marketplace thoroughly regulated. By definition, mallard code is similar to a virus that has been hidden within layers of modules and complex applications for the purpose of creating backdoor to other more sensitive data Mallard is a problem that the offshore outsourcing companies are facing with the software that is coming o America. According to Willoughby in 2003, the threat of hidden Trojan horses and back doors surfaced when the government of the U. S. Announced plans to strengthen national security policies covering information processed by applications written in the global software marketplace The National Security Agencys information assurance director, Daniel Wolf, in testimony before the House Select Committee on Homeland Security cyber security subcommittee, called for a federal lab that would find malicious software routines that are designed to morph and burrow into critical applications Mallard is interlinked with outsourcing, because of their products produced are sometimes are infected by these viruses when they enter into the U. S. Borders and that is definitely a disadvantage. The United States needs to seriously re-evaluate the laws around offshore outsourcing. Other countries have placed limits around the use of offshore outsourcing. For instance, the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China in August of 2003 directed all government ministries to buy only Chinese software in the next upgrade cycle in an effort to not only encourage the development of local software companies but also to protect sensitive government data China should serve as an example for the United States to tighten limits around offshore outsourcing to improve its economy and strengthen national security. Breaches in Data Privacy In addition to breaches in security that result from mallard, privacy of data is also at risk. Earlier this year, a report circled the globe concerning confidential customer data that had been stolen and used to conduct fraud. Police in Bangor, India, reported the arrest of the chief suspect in the theft f funds from a score of customers of HISS bank in the I-J. The suspect is being charged in India with stealing customer data that was sent to his accomplices in the I-J. As a result funds were withdrawn from customers HISS bank accounts. It was later learned that a proper background check before allowing the suspect to access customer data was not performed. Standards of privacy are often neglected in countries like India because its a close-knit society where, say, reading someone else e-mail wouldnt be considered much of an invasion. In 2005, police in India

Choosing Wrong-The Twilight Saga-Eclipse Movie Review

Choosing Wrong-The Twilight Saga-Eclipse - Movie Review Example This paper helps to provide an analysis of the mise-en-scene that takes place in a scene titled ‘Choosing Wrong’ from the movie Eclipse: The Twilight Saga, and discusses the various aspects of these spatial and temporal elements used within the scene. The production designer for the scene ‘Choosing Wrong’ was Paul D. Austerberry and art direction was carried out by Jeremy Stanbridge. The two directors have had a great amount of contribution in the overall process of design as they helped in designing the backdrop and sets used by the two characters present in the scene. The chosen scene consists of a conversation between Rosalie and Bella about whether or not Bella is making the right decision in choosing to become a vampire because of her irrevocable love towards Edward Cullen. Rosalie points out blatantly by saying that she envies the fact that Bella is a human being and ahs the choice to turn down the offer of becoming a vampire eventually due to the pain and trauma that the process and after effects of the same cause. (IMDB) A great amount of emotion can be seen as portrayed through this scene which last for about 40 seconds. Within the given time frame, anyone watching will be able to discern the kind of characters the two women have. Their personalities have been shown wonderfully within the given scope of time with the help of the elements in the scene around them. The setting in the scene is of one small area of the house of the Cullens; the balcony outside the kitchen. This helps to provide a certain amount of warmth to the scene and also gives a homely aspect. The fact that the conversation is taking place in such a setting helps the audience to understand the intensity of the conversation between the two women in the movie; one can easily comprehend that this conversation contains importance and is talked out in a civil manner. Not much of the kitchen or the balcony area is shown but it helps to tell a great deal about the c haracters and their outlook towards each other and assures the audience of a solution or thought process emerging out of the conversation between Bella and Rosalie. This setting thus helps to influence the overall mood of the film by providing the film with the set design of a house thus meaning that the characters have a place to carry out personal discussions in and talk things out with each other. This puts the audience’s mood in a very subtle and mellowed manner. Very mild lighting has been used within this scene. It is soft and warm and shows an evening scenario in the balcony outside the kitchen where the two women are talking to each other. This has been used to depict the kind of warmth that they might be able to share with each other if they are able to set their differences aside and reconcile with each other. The reason that night time has been chosen is to place emphasis on Rosalie as she is a vampire, and to put Bella in a sort of muddle that she would find herse lf in within the darkness of the night. However, the scene is lighted in the balcony outside the kitchen depicting no signs of danger and the fact that she is safe from any kind of harm. The lighting helps to evoke a mood of frustration that is caused by the dilemma that Bella has been put into and the indifference that she is forced to being subject to by Rosalie.

Gun control Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Gun control - Research Paper Example This law is, in effect, in many parts of the world. Even with the gun-control policy, gun ownership is still faced by many controversies and challenges. The Gun-control policy has a significant importance on the safety of people and ensuring that guns licensed are not used wrongly and addressing the challenges and controversies facing this policy will be imperative in meeting the objective of safety of individuals, societies and communities. The Gun Control Gun control is policies and laws that are designed to restrict gun ownership in a given jurisdiction. Most countries are concerned about the safety of the people. They license individuals to carry guns. Those licensed are supposed to use their guns for defense only. However, there are cases where the owners get false alarm and use their guns out of panic. At the same time, there are some people who feel they are secure enough and threaten other people using the gun they obtained (Hemenway 1). Some licensed gun holders may also use their guns inappropriately and for criminal purposes. This has made it a challenge for the gun-control policies and law makers. They do not know who to trust and who not to trust. The current regulations Any person in any country across the world has right to a licensed gun. However, there are regulations that come with this. ... Policy makers usually worry that a mentally ill person owing a gun can be disastrous to the society and have to ensure that applicants are sane. The third process involves providing reasons as to why the applicant would like to own a gun. In most countries, the applicant has to go the nearest police station for an interview. Once they provide all the reasons why they would like to own a gun, a police board evaluates the application. It is discussed by that board and decision made. It is important to note that the police have the right to disregard an applicant’s application without providing any reasons. If the police decide that the application is successful, the applicant has to prove that they know how to handle and use guns. If they do not know how to use, they have to enroll for a class on the same. The class may day a few days after which the applicant is provided with the gun and the permit. The newly licensed gun holder has to go through the requirements and conditions for using the gun (The New York Police Department 1). The terms and conditions for gun application and the process differ from country to country. They also differ in different parts of an individual country, especially countries that have a state system. This also differs if the applicant requires large guns for hunting or other purposes. The Gun Control Debate There has been a gun-control debate for the last decades. Of course, some support gun ownership while others do not. Most people apply for gun ownership for self-defense purposes. They claim that there are times they may be in danger, and guns may be important in protecting them. For example, a person could be walking down a dark alley at night only to come across criminals. If they

John Stuart Mill Essay Example for Free

John Stuart Mill Essay Moral theories try to explain what distinguishes right actions from wrong ones. The theory of utilitarianism tries to do the same by incorporating several aspects that set up a moral standard to help investigate the balance between right and wrong. John Stuart Mill, a British philosopher of the 1800’s defends the utilitarian school of thought by pointing out what it is that makes utilitarianism the standard theory for morality. According to Utilitarianism as explained by Mill in his essay â€Å"In Defense of Utilitarianism† the fundamental principle of morality is the promotion of happiness on a scale that benefits an individual and the ones around him; also to promote pleasure and to prevent pain. Several major objections are raised towards the moral theory of utilitarianism some examples can be the idea that the theory asserts too much emphasis on pursuing pleasure which makes it a doctrine worthy of swine (â€Å"Defense†). Another objection is that in everyday circumstances it is impossible for humans to make a morally just decision (â€Å"Defense†). An additional counter-argument that struck me the most was the statement that utilitarianism sets standards that are deemed too high for humanity (â€Å"Defense†). What this objection projects are the predisposed and unwarranted capabilities of the human race. According to this statement humanity is made comparable to other (lower ranking) species that lack the intrinsic values that make us humans human; like thinking faculties that are much superior to other animals or the ability to have languages or develop intricate cultural systems, just to name few. Therefore, making this objection a weak one and one that displays an inferior and subjacent view towards the principle of morality. Mill on the other hand deduces the true motives of these objections and labels these ideas as being of such nature that promote actions in accordance with one obliging to a certain duty. If that is the case then individuals can be comprised of nothing but a niche in society. He argues that ethics holds the responsibility of outlining our duties, fulfilling them is dependent only on factors that promote the larger well being of a society. Mill states such objections as misapprehensions and transcribes an important point which nonetheless reconstructs and fabricates the idea of utilitarianism; he states this affirms that the motive has nothing to do with the morality of the action, though much with the worth of the agent. † (â€Å"Defense†).

The Secret That Exploded :: essays research papers fc

The Secret that Exploded by Howard Morland   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Secret that Exploded† written by Howard Morland is a non-fiction book based on his findings on the H-bomb. Howard dedicated his life to finding out the secret of the H-bomb and releasing his findings to the public who have been in the dark since the beginnings of the Manhattan Project. The book goes through everything he went through from when he became an airforce pilot to him becoming involved in radical groups to him fighting the government in court for freedom of press. His book goes through everything he had to do to get the information he needed to find out the secret of the H-bomb. Howard felt that if â€Å"He would attack secrecy; if secrecy could be dismantled, then the opponents of nuclear weaponry would have a fighting chance. (pg.50)† He wanted to break down the secrecy of the government and give the radical groups that were against the bomb a chance to get there views heard around the U.S. and possibly bring a stop to the nuclear arms race. Howard thought that the â€Å"secret of the H-bomb could be the centerpiece of the secrecy structure and that if he could crack it he could bring down the whole secrecy structure.(pg.50)† This is what he wanted and he wanted all of the secrets that the government has been keeping from the public to be revealed so that the public could know what was going on and not be in the dark.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Howard knowing that finding the secret would be near impossible moved on in his journey and visited every major nuclear manufacturing sight in the U.S. that he knew about. On his journey he encountered problems with security. The government has bottled up the secret by giving security clearances to anyone who knew the secret. These people could not tell anyone anything that was deemed classified and they could get in very big trouble if they did. Howard had to get by this by asking questions that would bring back answers that wasn’t classified material but the information that he needed. Howard got so good at asking questions that he eventually put together all the information he found out from all of his sources and put together his version of the H-bomb. This version was so near accurate that the government wanted to classify it so that Howard could not publish it in the The Progressive magazine. Howard and The Progressive took the government to the Supreme court where the government dropped their case because the info that they wanted to contain had already leaked out to the public. Howard and The Progressive got what they wanted and earned

End of History Economics Essay

The set of short essays in question–compiled into a single essay by Foreign Policy–states the facts correctly about the current economic depression (they refuse to call it that, they opt for the less alarmist term of â€Å"recession†). But merely stating the facts correctly completely misses the point. Most couch-potato news junkies already know everything that is present in this essay. But that’s exactly the point: the essays in question here cover up more than they reveal. Their job–or so it seems–is to calm a public that might begin to ask fundamental questions about capitalism and globalization. The facts are clear: the structures and attitudes behind the facts are not. This is the purpose of this review. The facts are the following: that the economic depression will continue. Due to globalization, a depression or recession is not merely American or western, but it is global. Many economies in the developing world, through pressure from the US and the IMF, have linked their economies to the US market, which means, as a result, to the US dollar. These economies are talking given the fall in American consumer spending. The dollar has been wildly overvalued in recent years, but, in a recession of global proportions, running to the dollar for protection seems to be a popular–albeit irrational–option. The increase in the value of the US dollar means several things. On top of the already deep depression, food prices will begin to go up. This is social disaster, and not just for the US. Rises in food and transport mean that millions of economically marginal families will go into permanent decline and default. It means that the families that have already seen their homes foreclosed and dreams dashed will not be able to recover. As banks no longer lend as much, investment and spending are choked off, making recovery that much harder. The conclusion of all this is that the depression is here to stay. But the very last thing the writers in this essay want to deal with are the structural reasons for this decline and its global scope. The objections to the approach of this essay will now follow: 1. Not a single one of these writers mentions the word â€Å"gold. † For a long time, prices of gold have skyrocketed. The reason is not hard to see: gold is stable, it retains its value, it is a universal signal that something is not right with the globalist economy. God is a safe investment, far more safe than the dollar. But apparently, this is invisible to the authors. 2. The above authors have adeptly avoided the basic structural issues at work. a. First, that the basic contradiction in American capitalism is that excess production needs to be continually mopped up by wild consumption. As a result, American capital has gone insane in hiring PR firms and advertising agencies to create demand. b. The global economy is dependent on this artificially expanded and inflated demand, since these economies are export oriented, and that is economic code for â€Å"dumb Americans need to go into debt. † Without constant and deepening debt, the production not merely of American firms, but also the economies of the development world (largely shaped by American financial and political power), cannot sell their wares to the US and EU markets. c. Therefore, the basic contradiction is clear: debt drives the economy, but debt cannot last forever or get infinitely deeper. Therefore, global depressions and radical structural â€Å"re-adjustments† are a â€Å"normal† part of economic life. Put more succinctly, the entire artificial creation of demand is a scam designed to make a handful wealthy, while the remainder of the population drown in debt. Such a situation can only but deepen the already outrageous distinctions among classes in American and European life, as the majority default, while the liquidity becomes more and more monopolized by an oligarchy. The money here is not â€Å"lost, it merely changes hands. Well then, who now has it? The question is not even brought up, let alone answered. Money in these things is never â€Å"lost,† gone down some financial black hole: it changes hands. But the political and social implications of such a question cannot be realistically dealt with by major establishment publications such as FP. 3. But it gets worse: the contradiction in the relations between consumption and debt at the root of the economy is also related to the US dollar and its foreign holdings. Stephen Roach reminds American readers that home construction and personal consumption make up a whopping 80% of the US GDP. This means that no amount of â€Å"restructuring† can deal with the contradiction above. The contradiction lies at the very heart of the US economy and the global system, itself fashioned by the US. But its relation to the dollar is another matter. Most major trading states with the US such as China, South Korea or Saudi Arabia have been stocking dollars for decades for the purpose of facilitating trade with the US as well as maintaining a safe investment. But this is a major crisis that is closely connected to the credit contradiction, and the fact that it is avoided in the article mentioned cannot be an accident. The major trading partners of the US have trillions of liquid dollars in its banks. If the dollar weakens, or is replaced by the Euro for global trade, or that financial markets become regionalized (e. g. locally dependent on the Yuan or ruble), that liquid remains relatively worthless in foreign banks. Therefore, if the American economy is no longer the market of choice, due to the fact that credit cannot be extended any farther, then those now useless dollars will be ejected. That ejection, even by the most optimistic economist, can only means not merely the collapse of the US economy, but the collapse of the globalized economy as well. The notion, common to all the above authors, that the economy will eventually â€Å"recover† is a matter of dogma: it is not argued, merely assumed. But this is an assumption with a strong base. It is assumed because the alternative in unthinkable: a restructuring of the global economy based on regional or national lines, based around local production and occasional import substitution. Most economists are not even trained to handle such contingencies, and it is just not part of their vocabularies. But it is a necessity if the global recession turns into a major depression, and national states and regions begin being forced to protect their own populations instead of being part of the IMF/US led global economic system, where the irrationality of the American consumer and the amoral manipulation of the American elites mean the destruction of families and societies across the globe. They assume that globalization is â€Å"inevitable† and morally correct, and hence, that there is no other option. Theirs is the infamous â€Å"end of history† thesis of the official American ideologies at George Mason University: American empire is providential and has been crated by the â€Å"forces of history. † All moral problems have been solved and liberal democracy, anti-nationalism and globalism are here to stay. The subconscious acceptance of this fantastic view of history and American life colors all establishment writing on this subject. There is no real connection between university based economics and the average American. The former does not write for the latter, but for the system as a unit, more and more isolated from the average American family. Therefore, the question here is not merely an economic one, but a political one: there are now two Americas: the wealthy elite, university professors and TV talking heads on the one side, and the vast bulk of the (globe’s) population, on the other. They live two different lives: one suffers for the enrichment of the other. The global economy will not â€Å"bounce back,† as the nature of the current recession is built right into its assumptions and maxims. The job of modern economics, or so it seems, it to make sure that the average American consumer does not know that.

Do Personality Traits Predict Behaviour?

Do personality traits predict behaviour? The trait approach to personality is focused on differences between individuals. After type theorists such as Sheldon, who focused on body parts to determine temperament, and lexical researchers such as Galton who provided the first dictionary of words to describe behaviour, the principles underpinning trait theory were first outlined by Gordon Allport (1937). He found that one English-language dictionary alone contained more than 4,000 words describing different personality traits and suggested that it is how the traits come together that produces the uniqueness of all individuals. Rather than relying on intuition or subjective judgement as did Freud and many other neo-Freudians, trait theorists used objective measurements to examine their constructs. The use of factor analysis was a major breakthrough in the trait approach and Raymond Cattell was the first to make the use of this to reduce the lists of traits to a smaller number. This marked the beginning of the search to discover the basis structure of personality. This essay will discuss the issues surrounding the use of personality measures such as Eysencks personality questionnaire (EPQ) and Costa and Mc Crae’s Big Five model (NEO-PIR) to predict behaviour. Cattell’s 16PF hasn’t had much of an impact but personality measures that followed such as Eysenck’s personality questionnaire, who claimed that 3 types/ supertraits, Extraversion, Neuroticism and Psychoticism, make up the basic structure of personality, and Costa and mc Crae’s Big Five Model measuring Openness, Conscientious, Extraversion, agreeableness and Neuroticism, have received a high level of support. The personality factors are found cross-culturally, in children as well as adults and specifically for Eysencks model in identical twins raised apart, evidence which seems to demonstrate that the observed personality differences are stable across time and have a genetic basis, although the underlying heritability estimate used in studies has been questioned by Plomin. Nevertheless, trait measures have great practical applications; they have been embraced by psychologists from almost every perspective and used by professionals working in a wide variety of settings, such as in the workplace and the education system etc, and are used to make important judgements about an individual’s behaviour in different situations. Employers have used scores from personality tests to make hiring and promotion decisions for many years (Roberts and Hogan, 2000). The methodology used to identify the dimensional structure of personality traits, factor analysis, is often challenged for not having a universally-recognized basis for choosing among solutions with different numbers of factors. More than one interpretation can be made of the same data factored the same way, and factor analysis cannot identify causality. However, some of the most common criticisms of trait theory centre on the fact that traits are often poor predictors of behaviour. While an individual may score high on assessments of a specific trait, he or she may not always behave that way in every situation. This was highlighted by Walter Mischel (1968, 1973) who stimulated a huge debate that raged until the early 1980s, concerning whether personality traits predict behaviour. At the heart of this debate was the questioning of the stability of traits across situations, known as the ‘personality paradox’. He demonstrated with his CAPs model that there is a complex interaction between situations and enduring individual personality differences, however the effects of many variables still have to be examined. Mischel criticised how personality measures were interpreted and used, demonstrating that on average personality measures statistically account for only around 10% of the variance observed in behaviour, therefore 90% is due to something other than the effect of personality. This reflects the fact that many factors contribute to any one piece of behaviour, such as: the characteristics of the specific situation, the person’s mood at that time, competing goals, etc. However an argument in trait theories defence is in regard to the . 30, . 40 correlation co-efficient. How high does a correlation have to be before its considered important? Research by Funder and Ozer (1983) looked at social psychological findings often cited for their â€Å"important† findings and found that they had similar co-efficient of . 36 and . 42. In their defence trait theorists argue that researchers often fail to provide a strong link between traits and behaviour is because they don’t measure behaviour correctly, only measuring one behaviour. As an alternative researchers can aggregate data, one study looked at trait measures of aggression and the number of aggressive acts students preformed, not only on one day but over the course of two weeks and found a correlation of . 1 between the aggregated measure and the trait score (Wu and Clarke, 2003). Burger (2008) states that when all the complex influences on our behaviour are taken into account we probably should be impressed that personality psychologists can explain even 10%. Mischels criticism has had beneficial effects in work settings, with the use of multiple measures of p ersonality such as, psychometric assessments, interviews, individual and group tasks used together as an assessment package to prevent overreliance on the psychometric tool. Furthermore, Mischels views led researchers to look very critically at their methodologies, admitting that measures were often weak and the selection of which traits to study was sometimes inappropriate (Funder, 1999,2001). Today most psychologists agree that the person and the situation react to determine behaviour ( Maggnusson, 1990) and Swan and Seyle (2005) conclude their review on Mischels work by saying that there are still instances where it is helpful to make distinctions between personal and situational determines of behaviour.

Crevecoeur essays

Crevecoeur essays St. John de Crevecoeur, a French Agriculturalist, came over to America in the mid eighteenth century. He wrote the Letters From An American Farmer to inform a friend in England about the way of life in the British Colonies of America. Letter IX gives a brief account of Charlestown, South Carolina and the lives of the plantation owners and their slaves. Charlestown is one of the richest colonies in all of America and it is not full of gold or silver but commodities like indigo or rice. These products create an industry far greater than any mines could produce. (223) In order for this industry to prosper, plantation owners need many workers to cover such vast properties. The owners buy slaves that are brought over from Africa to do all the labor on the farm. Crevecoeur visits these plantations and he cannot believe how the slaves are treated. Oh Nature, where art thou?-Are not these blacks thy children as well as we. (227) He cannot understand how the slaves can be treated worse than animals. They are arranged like horses at a fair, they are branded like cattle, and then driven to toil, to starve, to languish for a few years on the different plantations of these citizens. (226) How can these people be so different from us (whites)? Slavery is not new to Crevecoeur but the way the slaves are treated is. The slaves from the northern provinces have as much liberty as their masters. They are fed as well as their owners, when they are sick they are taken care of and they all live under one roof. (230-231) In Charlestown, the situation is much different. The whites eat drink and live contently while doing no work while the slaves eat from the ground, work in the boiling sun, during the warmest hours, raising crops for someone they know not. On one side, their is a people who enjoy all of lifes luxuries while never working and on the other side their are the slaves who have been torn from their families ...

How to Punctuate Descriptions of Colors

How to Punctuate Descriptions of Colors How to Punctuate Descriptions of Colors How to Punctuate Descriptions of Colors By Mark Nichol Use of hyphens and commas in phrases that include names of colors is the cause of some confusion among writers. Here’s a discussion of when to insert or omit these punctuation marks when referring to colors. As with most other phrasal adjectives, pairs of words that together describe the color of an object should be hyphenated: A suit that is dark blue (referring to degree of saturation) is a dark-blue suit, and a suit that is blue gray (identifying a combination of colors) is a blue-gray suit. (Note, too, that a modifying phrase referring to color, like most phrasal adjectives, is not hyphenated when it follows rather than precedes the noun it modifies.) The previous rule applies not only to combinations of colors but to degrees (â€Å"greenish-blue dress,† â€Å"a dress that is greenish blue†) or comparisons (â€Å"snow-white fabric,† â€Å"fabric that is snow white†) of color. Remember, too, that light has two distinct meanings: A light green package is a green package that doesn’t weigh much; a light-green package is a package that is a light shade of green. When the adjective or phrasal adjective follows the noun or noun phrase, and no hyphenation occurs, the distinction is still clear: The first description is of a green package that is light, and the second is of a package that is light green. When the name of a color is one of two or more adjectives preceding a noun, whether and which of the adjectives are separated by commas depends on whether they are coordinate adjectives or not whether they each modify the noun, rather than one modifying a phrase consisting of an adjective and a noun. For example, in â€Å"a tall, green pole,† a comma separates the two adjectives because they are coordinate, or equivalent. To test this fact, either replace the comma with and (â€Å"a tall and green pole†) or reverse the order of the adjectives (â€Å"a green, tall pole†). If these changes make sense (even though the original syntax is better), the adjectives are coordinate, meaning that they both refer to the pole, and the comma is required. In â€Å"a weathered green pole,† by contrast, the adjectives are noncoordinate: Weathered and green do not each modify pole; weathered modifies â€Å"green pole,† so no comma is necessary. Various references to combinations of two or more colors are also distinguished by the use or omission of hyphens. For example, â€Å"She has only black and white shoes† means that all of the person’s shoes are either black or white, but â€Å"She has only black-and-white shoes† means that the person’s shoe collection consists only of shoes in which each pair is black and white. â€Å"Yellow, pink, and red flowers† refers to flowers colored yellow, pink, or red, whereas â€Å"yellow-pink-and-red flowers† denotes tricolored flowers. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Slang Terms for MoneyWhenever vs. When Ever50 Musical Terms Used in Nonmusical Senses

Critically evaluate, in relation to the common law duty of care, the Essay

Critically evaluate, in relation to the common law duty of care, the liability of employers for references - Essay Example The discussion in this paper shall deal with the liability of referee to the subject only. There is no law which specifically confers the right to demand for a reference thus there is no mandatory duty to issue one. It is not a matter of right but a mere privilege which may be stipulated in a contract or agreement. Without any contract, the discretion to give reference lies with the referee however there are instances when the refusal to issue reference is construed as discriminatory that compels the employer to issue one. Assuming the referee voluntarily agrees to issue a reference, it has legal obligation to the subject and the recipient to give an honest, truthful and fair account of the information it has in its possession. The award of damages which do not arise from actual physical injury or damage to property is frowned upon (Murphy v. Brentwood District Council, 1990). This is against public policy and the floodgates arguments (Spartan Steel and Alloys Ltd v. Martin & Co. Ltd ,1973) where courts will be inundated with gratuitous suits. The exception from this general rule is when misleading statements are contained in the reference which resulted in economic loss then the aggrieved party may demand compensation for such breach of duty. For duty of care to exist nonetheless the standards enunciated in the leading case of Caparo Industries v. Dickman (1990), must be complied with: the injury or damage suffered by the aggrieved party was reasonably foreseeable; sufficient proximity or special relationship between the parties; and it is fair, just and reasonable to impose liability. These elements are mandatory and concurring where the absence of one element negates the existence of duty of care. It is not sufficient that the referee made derogatory remarks that damaged the reputation of the subject it must be shown that the referee has a special relationship with the subject such as that of an employer and employee or that of university official towards the ir personnel or students. If the derogatory remarks was relied upon to reject the subject’s engagement, the imposition of liability is just, fair and equitable. The case of Spring v. Guardian Assurance (1995), is illustrative. The employer imputed dishonest conduct which became the basis for denying the employee’s employment which was later discovered to false. The court enjoined employers to exercise utmost diligence in the preparation of reference so as not compromise the economic prospects of subjects and take due care to protect the subject’s reputation. The court stated a caveat the referee should exercise due skill and care in the preparation of the reference before making it available to the third party since the recipient accord great importance on the reference issued. The referee must showcase the subjects’ skills and expertise to improve their employment prospects and not diminish it by imputing sordid personal traits. The value accorded the re ference is due to the referee’s personal observation on the subject and if the subject is not personally known to the referee, the reference should be based on recorded facts. If a mediocre reference with unproven allegations is disseminated to prospective employers contrary to the subject’s qualifications warrants the award of damages. The right of the

Gear box Managment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Gear box Managment - Essay Example Cars and tractors – in fact, almost every vehicle – have a gear box or transmission which allows the driver to shift from slow to fast or maintain speed. Management is very important in the life of the vehicle, so do with the proper handling of the gearbox. The life of the driver or owner also depends partly in its proper management. Accidents can be avoided with proper management, not to mention the financial savings accumulated. A power train is where the power from the engine goes to and maybe said to be synonymous to the power of the vehicle itself. The driver train is also everything after the power train, i.e. on a rear wheel drive, clutch, transmission, driveshaft, differential, and axle, on a front wheel drive. Another definition of power train is: it is a train of gears and shafting transmitting power from an engine, motor, etc., to a mechanism being driven.1 There are a lot of concepts on the words power train (in some sites in the internet these two words are written as one word). Some experienced drivers and mechanics state that on front wheel driver cars, the power train consist of the engine, transmission, rear end, which are made (read: assembled) together †¦ and on rear wheel driver, the engine, transmission, drive shaft and rear end †¦ if the car has a standard transmission, the power train would include the clutch.2 In other words the power train runs the vehicle – in this case, the car or the tractor – for purposes of our discussion. And when we speak of maintenance, this may involve a wide array of expertise and the mechanic/driver can not just focus on the gearbox but the entire connections relative to the power train, the different shafts, up to the differential. Maintenance here is overloaded and, to be precise, sensitive; meaning go to details, a simple crack, slight noise, anything you notice peculiar that may lead your car to be left