Money Webquest Essays - Currency, , Term Papers

Money Webquest Each of the questions below has a website listed to find the answers. To open the website, press the CTRL key while clicking on the hyperlink. | What are the dimensions of a dollar bill? |US currency bills are are 2.61 | |http://www.enchantedlearning.com/math/money/bills/one/ |inches wide and 6.14 inches long; | | |they are .0043 inches thick and | | |weigh 1 gram. | | What is the average life span of a dollar bill? |18-22 months | |http://www.enchantedlearning.com/math/money/bills/one/ | | |Mississippi is served by two Federal Reserve Banks: |Atlanta and St. Louis | |Where are they located? | | |Which one is Madison in? |Atlanta | |http://www.federalreserveeducation.org/pfed/byregion.cf| | |m | | |Who are the three men whose portraits appear on |Benjamin Franklin, Alexzander | |currency that were not U. S. Presidents? What were |Hamilton | |their claims to fame? | | |http://www.moneyfactory.gov/faqlibrary.html | | |Who is the only woman to appear on currency? |Martha Washington | |http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0774850.html | | |What is the largest U. S. currency denomination printed|$100 | |today? | | |http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_there_a_1_million_dollar_b| | |ill | |

Teamwork and the divorce between ownership and management Essay Example

Teamwork and the divorce between ownership and management Essay Example Teamwork and the divorce between ownership and management Essay Teamwork and the divorce between ownership and management Essay Transaction Costs: cost of conducting an economic exchange between two parties. Transaction costs have two important implications for the theory of the firm; firstly the theory of transaction costs predicts that economic exchange will tend to be organized in ways that minimize the costs of those exchanges (explaining the very existence of the firm), secondly transaction costs play an considerable role in limiting the size of firms. Coase wrote in 1937 that Economic exchange will tend to be organised in ways that minimize the cost of exchanges. One way to do this is to offer general contracts.If firms do not have general contracts, an employee cannot be asked to perform beyond his specific task- limiting the size of the firm. The firm, by offering general contracts, can minimize transaction costs. The firm may be described as a tool to minimise transactions costs. Any contract will be incomplete; there will be some chance of something happening that the contract does not cover. This is because, firstly it would be impossible to foresee everything that can happen, secondly, even if everything were foreseeable, it would be prohibitively costly to have a contract that covered all possible bases.Consider what happens when an uncovered contingency arises. Under market based relationship, each party would bargain to get a good deal for themselves. Bargaining is costly, waste of time, may break down cooperation. Also if purchase made now, other party may take advantage of this in future bargaining (Williamson 1985). However, when transaction takes place within firm, one party has residual control rights. Transaction costs are minimised as bargaining taken out of the equation.For this reason we expect to see large scale firms which require the coordination of, and cooperation among, many people to take place within a firm, rather than through a market. Something that suggests that the size of the firm should be limited is specialisation. If the costs of buying in the product for firm 1 are less than the actual costs of making the product, then it should be left to the other firm 2 to make this product which it specialises in, and firm 1 to buy it.For example, take the household as a firm 1 and a bakery as firm 2. It is more efficient for the household to buy in bread from the bakery, as the transactions costs are less than the cost of a bread maker, and the time and ingredients put into making the bread F, A, G p270-272 management economics book Teamwork occurs when an output is produced by the simultaneous cooperation of several team members to perform tasks. This cooperation reduces transactions costs. However, it can create other costs within the firm, such as shirking.Teamwork can cause, for the selfish individual, incentive to shirk, due to 2 related reasons. Firstly, it is difficult for the manager or principle to distinguish between the marginal products of each worker and detect which worker is shirking, and so production units within each team tend to be paid the same rate. Secondly, the shirker reaps benefits from his shirking, whereas the other team members bear the costs. The dilemma posed in providing motivation in these situations is termed the incentive problem.In the absence of perfect and cost-free monitoring, each team member can rationally be expected to shirk and hope to free ride on the efforts of other members. Another problem is that the productivity of any one-team member depends crucially on the input provided by other members. So if one team member shirks, the marginal product of the others, as well has total product of the team will fall. Giving employees some property rights, and a cut of the profits, through partnerships, or making the manager the residual claimant can reduce the incentive problem.1 Partnerships often exist where set-up costs are low, and where quality of production is difficult to observe, in markets such as accountancy, law and architecture. 2 The residual claimant should be the monitor, so he has incentives to increase profits. He should be a capitalist as they are more able to bear risk; workers bear no risk and always get the same wage. Although most property rights are in the hands of capitalists, some may be owned by labour in the form of cooperates.

Adaptive memory

Adaptive memory Memory is one of the intriguing topics to study in cognitive psychology; it is something we rely on for our daily activities i.e. we use memory remember/recollect information relevant to our day to day activities. Whereas there are traditional approaches to study memory by conducting researches on the framework of levels of processing model and so on. This study has tried to investigate factors of memory from an evolutionary point of view. According to the adaptive memory concept, memory systems are tuned to retain information having survival fitness value. A crucial feature of adaptive memory is that the notion memory has evolved (over the period of time) to increase survival by better retaining information having fitness value. In the recent years, James S Nairne-et-al. research on adaptive memory has interested a lot of other researchers of evolutionary psychology to study this topic. Nairne and colleagues conducted a series of experiment to test the phenomenon of adaptive memory. Central to the school of thought in human memory research is the assumption that human memory systems are functionally designed and like other biological systems, memory is likely evolved to enhance fitness (survival and reproduction). Thinking about the relevance of information to a survival situation produces excellent long-term retention. A few seconds of survival processing produces better free recall than virtually all other known memory-enhancement techniques. Memory is essential to adaptive behavior because it allows past experience to guide choices. In the experiment conducted by Narine-et-al., participants are asked to imagine that they’re a part of a small tribe living in grassland of a foreign land. They’re asked to gather or hunt food items in order to help their and their tribes’ survival. Next a list of words are presented, and participants are asked to rate the relevance of each word to the imagined scenario. In a later surprise memory test, participants typically remember the words rated for relevance to this fitness-relevant scenario better than they remember words that are not fitness relevant (to the scenario). This can be explained through the theory of natural selection. Human memory is evolved because it enhanced survival and fitness in environments that were present during the extended period of human evolution. Anderson Schooler (1991, 2000) suggested that certain mnemonic characteristics, such as the general form of the retention function, mimic the way events tend to occur and recur in the environment. It has been suggested that sex differences in spatial abilities, including a memory for object locations, may have an evolutionary basis. Silverman Eals (1992) suggested that the division of labor typically found in hunter-gatherer societies-men hunt and women gather-may have led to unique foraging-related cognitive specializations of the sexes. Men generally outperform women on tasks thought to be related to hunting skills (e.g. navigation and orientation), whereas women often show an advantage on tasks requiring memory for objects stored in fixed locales. The experiment conducted is based on the study done by Narine-et-al. (2009), here the participants are randomly divided into three groups; hunter, gatherer, and scavenger. Participants in the experiments were asked to rate the relevance of words to scenarios that were specifically designed to mimic prototypical hunting and gathering activities. Following the rating task, participants received a surprise recall test on the rated words. Participants always rated the relevance of the target words to hunting or to gathering food, but under conditions that were either fitness relevant or not. The purpose of this study was to learn whether or not memory systems have evolved to better retain information related to fitness-survival value. Rationale: According to past studies (Narine, Klein, Cosmides, Tooby Chance,2002) suggest that human memory systems are â€Å"tuned† to remember information that is processed in terms of fitness value. Hence it is predicted that when a person is asked to rate the relevance of words to a survival scenario the performance is better on recall scores.

What effect does the brightness of light have on the growth rate of a Coursework

What effect does the brightness of light have on the growth rate of a plant - Coursework Example Any change in the growth of plants will thus affect the ecosystem, and thus is important to be studied. In this experiment, pea plants were used to determine whether sunlight has an effect on plant growth. A group of growing seedlings were exposed to the sun, while another set was placed away from light. The heights of the plants were measured repeatedly for 7 days after the seed germination. Results are shown below. Figure 1: Scatter plot of the average values from Table 1. Standard deviations are indicated as error bars. It can be seen that plants L1-L5 were generally taller than D1-D5. As well, it can be noted that the rate at which the plants grow from day 7 to day 14 are faster in well-lit plants than in non-lit plants, as the slope of the trend line for the former is steeper than that of the latter. Conclusion After the experiment, it was observed that well-lit plants grow longer than the non-lit plants. Sunlight is thus necessary in the growth of plants. Theory Photosynthesis Sunlight, through the photons it bears, drives photosynthesis, the food-making process of plants. Without it, plants do not have a source of nutrition needed to power even the most basic processes such as growth (Campbell and Reece, 2002). Photosynthesis is a collection of reactions that results in the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) to carbohydrate and the production of oxygen gas (O2) from water (H2O). Pigment molecules such as chlorophyll and carotenoids in the chloroplast organelle are converted to excited electronic state, called excitons, by the photons. This conversion, no matter how effective, is still inefficient, as some of the excitons are converted back into photons as fluorescence, while some are lost as heat. For those that remain in the chloroplast, they drive the electron transport chain along the membrane proteins of the chloroplast, and produce a proton gradient between the membranes. This gradient, in turn, drives the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), w hich is necessary to drive the other part of photosynthesis that converts CO2 to carbohydrates (Whitmarsh and Govindjee, 1995). Phytochromes Aside from photosynthesis, light influences the plants on its other functions through molecules called phytochromes. The light-sensing portion (chromophore) of phytochromes has two isomeric forms, the red-absorbing (Pr) and the far red-absorbing (Pfr), with the former being the synthesized form and the latter instigating most of the plant developmental processes such as germination. Upon exposure of the seed and plant to light, especially red light, Pr is converted to Pfr (Campbell and Reece, 2002). According to Batty (1989), this mechanism ensures that wherever the seed falls, it will be germinating in a place with sunlight, which is needed for photosynthesis, as described above. In contrast, when it falls in a shaded soil, germination is delayed until, by some mechanical force, it is transferred to an area with more sunlight. Aside

Skechers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Skechers - Essay Example Online buying of products have been made possible with the establishment of the company's website. Starting in 2003, the company expanded its product portfolio to include branded apparel such as sportswear, underwear, sleepwear, socks and swimwear. Annual revenues in 2007 amounted to $1,394,181 which slightly increased to $1,440,743 in the fiscal year of 2008. The expectation for 2009 is slightly lower and is seen to amount only to $1.3 Billion Dollars but is still seen as quite remarkable considering the global crisis and the cut-throat competition in the retail industry. a. Return on equity (ROE) ratio relates earnings to shareholder equity. It gives people a measure on whether the company is an asset creator a cash consumer. Simply put, ROE refers to the amount gained for a unit of amount invested. If the ratio is 0.5 then that means that for every dollar invested, 50 cents is additionally created. We can see from the table that the ROE is diminishing signifying a decrease in profitability which may be a result of the global slump. b. Current ratio provides a measure that indicates the ability of an entity to settle its near-term obligations. It is given by dividing Current Assets with Current Liabilities. A high result indicates a greater probability that the company can pay on time. From the values above, we can see that for the quarter ending June 2009, current assets were 3.55 times larger than current liabilities. c. Inventory turnover is the ratio of net sales over total assets which measure the ability of an entity to use its assets. A high figure indicates that there is efficient management of assets to produce a good sales number. We can see that that net sales is 3.79 times larger than total assets which is indeed remarkable. d. Accounts Receivables Turnover and Days of Collection - Accounts Receivable is the ratio between net sales and average accounts receivable. This ratio is a measure of how much sales are quickly turned into cash. Days of Collection is defined as 365/accounts receivables turnover and average number of days the company's receivables are outstanding which is defined between the credit sale and collection of cash. e. Debt Ratio - this ratio is defined as debt/total assets. This indicates how much of the capital of the company is provided by borrowing. 3. Analysis The principal goal of Skechers U.S.A in the design of its products is "to generate new and exciting footwear in all of our product lines with contemporary and progressive styles and comfort-enhancing performance features". The focus is on "new styles to be fashionable and marketable to the 12 to 24year-old consumer" while expanding operations to also include lines that "appeal to the broader range of 5 to 40year-old consumers, with an exclusive selection for infants and toddlers". Skechers, while producing shoes with some performance features, "generally do not position our shoes in the marketplace as technical performance shoes". Designers determine lifestyle trend information by "the review and analysis of modern music, television, cinema, clothing, alternative sports and other

Conceptions of crime Essay Example for Free

Conceptions of crime Essay Conceptions of crime are distorted by exposure to media coverage. Discuss. This cours from coursework. inf coga ga . r se . ga . ga . w or. ga . . ga . k inga foga . ga . ! The media constitutes a major part of modern society and plays a large role in our lives. It is the prime source of information and entertainment, and moreover acts as a strong influence on public belief and opinion. The media is highly influential in coae ae . r se . ae . ae . w or. ae . . ae . k inae foae . ae . . shaping our views upon the world in which we live. When it comes to crime, coae ae .r se . ae . ae . w or. ae . . ae . k inae foae . ae . . however, do the reports shown by the media present an accurate picture of the true This cours from coursework. inf events? The more horrific the report, the more likely it is to capture the attention of the public, which obviously secures plenty of profit for media barons. Is our increasing reliance on an institution that relies on sensationalism to create profit unwise, as this could well mean that the facts they report lack truth? The media reinforces social myths by selective reporting, and thus presents a distorted view ofreality. This could be leading to an increasingly misconstrued public view of certain crimes. The media is a very powerful influence on the way in which we behave and how we view the world, therefore it is important that it shows a realistic picture of what is taking place in our society, otherwise we will gain a false perception of aspects such as crime. Is the media really portraying crime as it truly is, or is it selectively reporting the most colourful events in order to secure audiences and therefore profit? It is important to understand that there are many crimes that are completely ignored by the media, as they are not seen as ? newsworthy?. Usually only those that will capture public attention are mentioned. This means that the crimes that fill our screens and pages are usually violent or shocking in nature. From a functionalist perspective this can serve a positive function, as the deviant behaviour makes ordinary people feel safe in the knowledge that they are morally better than the criminal, and reporting of crimes and subsequent punishments can also serve as a deterrent to others and a good method of reinforcing the social order. However, there is also a certain degree of bias present in all reporting that stems from the integrated norms and moral background of the journalist involved. It is almost impossible to be completely objective when reporting, and most journalists will slant their stories to appeal to the widest possible audience. This is theorized in the hegemonic model, and works on the basis that the majority of journalists are likely to be white, male and middle-class and will therefore bring with them to their stories their own similar set of norms and values, be this unconsciously or otherwise. The editors will also carry out a selection process on the stories before they hit the public view; therefore it is highly unlikely that any crime report reaches the news in an unbiased state.? Journalists also tend to use a set of stereotypes, which serve to easily identify ? types? of people and reduce complexities of character to a series of ? bad guys? and ? good guys?. These can lead the public to make quick judgments, which may not be based on true fact.? The media? s presentation of stereotypical images can change the public opinion on certain groups in society, and may create a false picture of them that may be harmful. The groups most often portrayed as criminal are the less privileged and minority groups such as those from ethnic minorities. Because our lives are so deeply influenced by the media we begin to see the portrayal of these groups as a reality, and this may cause crimes committed by other groups or individuals (such as corporate crime in the middle class) to be overlooked or seen as less serious.? In addition, the police can make use of the media to help maintain social order by choosing what to tell reporters, as many news stories use police accounts as a major source for their information. A good example of the media distorting aspects of crime is shown with the reporting of women involved in criminal activity. The common media portrayal of women is more passive and much less inclined to commit crime, and when they do it is seen as less violent or shocking in nature, or as influenced by a stronger male personality, for example Myra Hindley was commonly said to have been under the influence of Ian Brady when the horrific Moors murders were committed. Media coverage usually concentrates on the most violent and shocking aspects of crime. This can often be far from the truth, and puts the public in fear when in reality there is a tiny chance of them falling victim. Listening to the news, it appears that the country is riddled with serial killers and rapists however official crime statistics would show that this is not the case. Reporting like this can lead to mass panic and fear across the country, and this aspect was investigated further by Stanley Cohen in his book ? Folk Devils and Moral Panics? where he studied the 1960s mods and rockers conflicts. The media? s handling of the fights between the rivals groups made it sound as if Brighton was full of riots and was a very dangerous place, when in reality this was a false picture of events. However, these stories grabbed the headlines, and as a result appealed to a large audience and gained lots of attention with the public. At the moment there is lots of media coverage about murders in Cornwall, and about the girl who was kidnapped and murdered on Dartmoor. The way these are reported makes people fearful that there is a serial killer on the loose, when in reality there is probably little chance of this happening to them and they should be more concerned with the more common but less ? colourful? crimes that threaten society, most of which would be much more obvious if the public were able to look at official crime statistics. This viewpoint fits in well with the idea of the media as a manipulative entity that is ideologically biased and therefore bases its selection of news on this fundamental bias. This manipulation theory is Marxist in origin and works on the idea that the public are passive and absorb the information that the media presents them with without question, and that the media consist of the ruling class who use media channels to perpetuate their views and opinions in society. Official statistics paint an interesting picture of the true nature of crime levels in society. It is a fact that crime rates have actually remained stable over the last year, after experiencing a period of decline. This challenges the constant media message that crime is everywhere and on the increase. When people were interviewed about crime rates many of them believed that crime was well on the increase, as result of a ? heightened degree of press coverage which particularly focused on a claimed rise in crime.? (Jon Simmons in the Home Office Report 2002).? It is a well-known fact that the media tend to emphasise aspects and types of crime that are violent or shocking, such as murder and rape, which affects the general population by creating huge worry about occurrences of violent crime when it is a statistical fact that one is over four times more likely to fall victim to burglary. Another form of media that can, and often does, present distorted representations of crime are television shows such as The Bill, Merseybeat or reality shows such as Crimewatch. For example Crimewatch focuses on catching criminals who have carried out violent crime and places little or no emphasis on occurrences of burglary or more ? normal? crimes, even though this type of crime is much more frequent. The Bill shows many incidents of violent crime, however also tends to show other less ? newsworthy? forms of crime such as theft which is a more realistic approach. coac ac . r se . ac . ac . w or. ac . . ac .k inac foac . ac . . There are a number of media influence models that attempt to explain the extent and nature of media influence. The manipulation theory presented earlier is one of these theories; however there are others that attempt to explain the media? s effect on society in different ways. The pluralist model argues that the public are not passive receptors but active participants with the ability to choose and form their own opinions from the vast variety of information presented by the media, whether about crime or about other social issues. The media only serve to reinforce the existing values that people possess. Tversky and Kahneman suggest that the easier it is to recall or imagine an event, the more likely we are to see it as risky or as frequent in occurrence (Tversky and Kahneman cit. 1994: 303). Therefore if this is correct then constant media coverage of violent crimes could lead us to believe that such crimes are the ones most likely to affect us. Mass media reporting can also serve as a substitute for direct experience, however research into this supports the pluralist model by showing that people are usually active consumers and interpreters rather than passive recipients. The issue at hand seems to be the growing difference between the way the public perceive crime and the reality as shown by official statistics. For some reason, society has a far greater fear of murder and other violent crime than is justified by the actual number of occurrence, when in reality there is far greater likelihood of incidences of burglary or car crime. So where do these fears stem from? The answer appears to be that they come from the way in which the media report crimes and how they select the most newsworthy aspects so that more papers will get sold and so viewing figures will increase. In conclusion it is an unavoidable fact that our society is so immersed in the media that its influence is hard to get away from. To a large extent, media does form our social world, however it is also true that people are active interpreters of information, and are able to utilize their own opinions on events and stories shown by the media. We are only taking in what the media offer to us not the real truth about what is happening. It is very easy for our conceptions of crime to be distorted by the way that the media portray it, as the only information we are receiving on the events is that which comes from the media. However if people really are actively interpreting and thinking about the true nature of crime levels, while attempting to broaden their horizons of information, then they will be more aware of the reality of the situation and our conceptions will be far less influenced by media constructed images and opinions. Bibliography Maguire, M, R. Reiner and R. Morgan. 2002 The Oxford Handbook Of Criminology New York: Oxford University Press Haralambos, M. 2000? Themes and Perspectives in Sociology? 4th edition Cohen, S and Young, J. 1973? The Manufacture Of News: Deviance, Social Problems and the Mass Media, London: Constable and Co Ltd.

The Odyssey Essay -- Homer, Odyssey Essays

The Odyssey details Odysseus’ arduous return to his homeland. Ten years have passed since the end of the Trojan war and Odysseus, the â€Å"most cursed man alive†, has been missing and presumed dead by many. (10.79). Throughout the novel, gods play a significant role in the fate of Odysseus and other characters. The extent of the gods’ role though is not unqualified, contrary to Telemachus’ suggestion that, â€Å"Zeus is to blame./He deals to each and every/ laborer on this earth whatever doom he pleases† (1.401-403). While Zeus does have this power, his description of how humans meet their fate is more accurately depicted throughout the novel. As he aptly points out, â€Å"from us alone, the say, come all their miseries, yes,/ but they themselves, with their own reckless ways,/ compound their pain beyond their proper share† (1.38-52). While the gods do doom certain mortals, many of these mortals exacerbate their ill fate by making ras h decisions and ignoring the gods’ warnings. The gods are also not always disrupting mortals lives; they often aid mortals in need. In fact, mortals who effectively court the favor of the gods often benefit greatly. While the gods’ powers are unquestionable, no one god’s power is insurmountable. Gods can be outsmarted and their wrath escaped. The Odyssey, in congruence with Zeus’ statement, ultimately, portrays human freedom as existent, but limited. While mortals do not unjustly complain about their fates, they fail to acknowledge that they are also responsible for their ill fate, as mortals themselves, possess a sizable degree of control. There is little doubt that Odysseus and his crew are unlucky, but had it not been for their brash decisions they would have reached Ithaca much sooner. After Od... ...st have some level of freedom, even if it is limited. Telemachus is valid in complaining of how Zeus dooms mortals. Zeus, unequivocally, causes many mortals pain and suffering. Zeus, though, aptly points out that mortals magnify their own pain and suffering. Zeus’ ability to acknowledge that gods are the root of mortals’ pain strengthens his credibility. Mortals’ abilities to successfully navigate their circumstances will lead to an easier life. If mortals are able to avoid the ill will of the gods, by securing the favor of the gods and making intelligent decisions, they will not â€Å"compound their pain beyond their proper share† (1.52). The final position of The Odyssey supports Zeus’ belief in regard to mortals’ misery, since he acknowledges his own role in their suffering, which is clearly evident, while also recognizing how mortals increase their own pain.

Decision Making Process Essay

Decision-Making Process Carol Hartfield MGT/230 June 20, 2011 Mike Osby Decision-Making Process Decision-making can be difficult and disastrous if not thought out carefully. Some decisions once made cannot be changed, and the outcome could change your life forever. Of the six stages of the decision-making process, I, like others, can say I do not use all the stages, if I made my decision using the stages my outcome may have been better that it was. I wanted to change jobs to spend more time with my son and make our lives better. If I had used the decision-making process my decision would have been different. The first step of the process is identifying and diagnosing the problem. I identified the problem, I needed more money and a daytime job with as few hours of overtime required. The diagnosis for the problem was to switch from nighttime data entry to daytime dialysis. I was not clear about what I wanted the decision to achieve. I was putting my situation in a negative perspective, e. g. , I do not want to work at night any more and I did not like the company. But such framing of the outcome in the negative does not set a direction to move towards, only what to move away from (McDermott, n. . ). The positive outcomes should have been stated for my goal to be achieved. The decision-making process steps are, generating alternative solutions and evaluating alternatives. I did not follow these two processes; maybe if I would have I would have had a better outcome. I would have had a plan if the new job failed to give the results anticipated. Within evaluating the alternative I would have d one more research on my earnings potential of the new job versus my old job. The next step of the decision-making process was implementing the decision. This was not an easy task to complete. My schedule for sleeping was hard to change, and I had to work the night job for two weeks before I could leave. Implementation of the decision was the hardest part of the process since I had to work and train at the same time for two weeks with hardly any sleep. I would have allowed time to transition from one jog to the other if I had used the six steps in the readings from this week. Evaluating my decision was also an easy task; my bills started piling up because I was not making the money promised from taking the job. I had to do something to make more money or go back to my previous position. I was lucky that I was friends with the new supervisor and she needed help because people had left. I could resume my position with the same seniority and pay. The decision to switch jobs would have been different if I had used the decision-making process listed in this week’s reading. I would have had alternative solutions and investigated the new job more than I did. In generating alternative solutions, I would have ensured I could have returned to my previous job and not agonized over if I could return or not. Reference McDermott, D. (n. d. ). How to make a decision. Retrieved from http://www. decision-making-confidence. com/index. html

Disruption of High School Education by Arrest and Court Involvement

Gary Sweeten utilized the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to research an understudied element of high school drop out rates, using the factors of criminal involvement, specifically first-time arrests and involvement in the court system. He then examined the outcome of their completion of high school after these events. In the article â€Å"Who will graduate? Disruption of high school education by arrest and court involvement†, theoretical approaches are tied into more statistical data to encompass a more comprehensive view of the issues surrounding juvenile arrests and court involvement on future school success.This study is extremely useful, in that the populations studied were more broad, as studies before have honed in on specific subsets of school populations. 8,984 youths were qualified for this study and assessments were conducted in the selected group. Several follow-up study waves were then conducted after initial selection, the first being obtaining backgro und information, then over a period of three years, self-reports by the cohorts and their court involvement was assessed followed by drop-out statistics on this group.4,432, who reported dropping out of high school were then analyzed. Theories that came into play to assist in the process of assembling data were labeling theory, deterrence theory, and propensity theory. Propensity theory was dismissed in that it gauged no correlative and valid results. Labeling theory and deterrence theory pose results that range on the opposite ends of the spectrum with deterrence theory proposing success in stopping future criminal activity, but gives no regard to educational and vocational achievement in the long-run.Therefore, labeling theory emerged as the most crucial with the idea presented that students, who feel stigmatized, will struggle with that stigma and with interruptions of schooling due to the criminal process and will face overwhelming odds to complete high school. Sampson and Laubà ¢â‚¬â„¢s life-course theory of cumulative disadvantage is also introduced, as is 39 other references and 5 tables to show the extent of analysis and the found effects in this article.Sampson and Laub’s theory furthers the labeling theory that is used throughout the paper and suggests that labeling is especially detrimental to already disadvantaged youth. In other words, if one already carries a label of poor or any minority status, the label of â€Å"criminal† will accelerate negative internal attributions of self-worth. Sweeten uses both traditional labeling theory and Sampson and Laub’s assessments not only to compliment his findings in the paper, but to also suggest irregularities with particular points that do not correlate.This leads Sweeten to realize that with both the limited amount of studies already completed on this particular subject without a broad base of research subjects, as he uses, and the lack of consensus among different theorists, that more research need be done on this topic. He realizes that looking at mediating factors and certain types of intervention may lead to studies that have a conclusive and usable strategy in its findings that will ameliorate the issues that he concludes in this study.

Summary of the first confession Essays

Summary of the first confession Essays Summary of the first confession Essay Summary of the first confession Essay Essay Topic: Confessions Name: Instructor: Course: Date: Summary of the first confession The First Confession is a short story that talks about the experiences of a young boy, his family and the different events that shape his environment. The story begins with Jackie’s grandmother moving in to live with them at their home. The arrival of their grandmother is welcomed differently by the family members. While his mother was skeptical of her arrival, his father and sister, Nora was particularly fond and supportive of the old woman’s arrival. Jackie, on the other hand, did not like his grandmother’s attitude and behavior. She had a peculiar habit of going about life as if she was still in the countryside that included her unusual diet of potatoes and porter. Jackie was particularly averse to her cooking that landed him in trouble with his father. One event that made Jackie very apprehensive was the confession and communion. It was his first time, therefore; he was rather taken aback by Ryan, the old woman who administered the confessions. Ryan was almost as old as his grandmother was and had a great liking for preparing children for confession by dishing out stories about hell. Some of Ryan’s stories included one that involved a priest who was visited in his sleep by a man who did not confess all his sins. The man was regretfully asking the priest for another chance before he was suddenly sucked into hell before he could do so. Mrs. Ryan also gave the children daunting tasks such as displaying the intensity of the fire in hell by daring the children to hold their fingers over a candle flame. Mrs. Ryan also had a conscience exercise where she subjected all the children to the best ways of examining their inner selves. After this exercise, Jackie felt extremely guilty about all the things she had done to her grandmother. As much as these tactics were horrifying, they were also efficient in changing the children’s attitudes towards being truthful in the confessions. Jackie, therefore, tried to evade confession but Mrs. Ryan was particularly keen on all the children attending it so she sent for Jackie along with all the other children. On the way to the church, Nora tormented and criticized her for her bad behavior. Nora went in for confession before Jackie and soon enough came out in a pretentious holy pose. When it was Jackie’s turn, he entered the confession box and immediately became very confused. Jackie made a mistake and climbed on the shelf above the conversation window. When the priest slid back the window, he caught sight of Jackie dropping from the shelf that made him burst in a fit of angry questions over what Jackie was doing on the shelf. The question startled Jackie, and he fell flat on the church aisle outside the box. Nora then rushed and hit him in full view of the priest and the other church members. The priest stopped Nora from spanking Jackie and sent her away. The priest then told Jackie to wait for the other members to finish their confessions, as it was his first time that made him somewhat happier. Soon enough the priest called Jackie into confession. Jackie started on the issue of his grandmother whom he described as awful and evil. Jackie told the priest how his grandmother had favored his sister over him and how his father sided with the old woman. Jackie also revealed his plot to kill his grandmother and cut her into little pieces, as well as trying to kill his sister Nora by stabbing her with a bread knife. These confessions of murder surprised the priest especially because they were emanating from a very young boy. The priest, after hearing Jackie’s confessions, informed him of his wrongdoing and that if he did those wrong things, he would end up being hanged by the state. After ten minutes, they both left the confession box and walked up to the churchyard where the priest gave Jackie a couple of Bullseyes on which to suck. Nora immediately inquired what Jackie had not confessed to the priest. Jackie replied that he had said everything that he had though of doing o r had done. Jackie then told her than he had only been given three Hail Marys that irked Nora even more. In the end, even Nora regretted trying to pretend she was very well behaved and good.

Business Ethics Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Business Ethics - Case Study Example Additionally, informing the customers about the risky fuel tank versus keeping the issue under wraps is also another moral issue which had the potential of winning the trust of customers and spelling doom for the then Ford’s newest car model. If Ford officials were asked to justify their decision of making unsafe fuel tanks, they would have defended their actions as follows: firstly, they would cite the principle of fidelity in their effort to keep the weight and cost of the Pinto car at 2,000lb and $2,000 respectively. A remodel of the fuel tank would mean an upward adjustment of the cost and weight of the car. Secondly, the principle of autonomy would work in their favor. This is especially true because their decision was made from an informed, independent business point of view (Shaw, 2010). Thirdly, they would have cited the principle of beneficence as a defense for their continued survival in the US auto industry in their effort to offer affordable cars to millions of locals with lower income. Lastly, the moral principle of utility favored the actions of Ford officials since they tried to balance the ratio of benefits to harm to the company, its consumers, and the general society. Ford’s decision favored the c ompany’s business interests, and the economic contributions the company was making in the US market. In my view, Ford’s decision to build affordable cars with less fortified fuel tanks that could not withstand a rear impact of 20 mph meets the threshold of utilitarianism. This is especially true for a safer fuel tank that could withstand such an impact would have resulted in a more expensive Pinto model (Shaw, 2010). This would mean fewer sales of the car model and losses upon Ford, as many customers would opt for cheaper (foreign) car models with the same specifications.

Ender's game Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ender's game - Essay Example Valentine is the elder sister of Ender and due to her compassion; she is able to protect Ender from the sadism and ruthlessness of Peter. As the story progresses, we learn that valentine considers Ender as the best of the brothers and as a result of this loves him more. Her love is the one that ensures that she is able to save Ender when Battle School’s pointlessness is on the brink of breaking him up. She is kind hearted to the point of not wanting to harm anyone deliberately. Peter lacks the compassion that Ender and Valentine have, and instead, ruthlessness rules his life. Peter is so sadistic such that at some points, he even considers killing Ender and Valentine. Coupled to this ruthlessness is Peter’s extreme desire and thirst for power. As a result of this, people can be regarded as an individual who has no humanity. His ruthless further makes him to act for his own selfish interests. Peter has noteworthy understanding of other characters, but instead he uses thi s knowledge as a manipulation tool for his advantage (Card 50). Peter’s ruthlessness and aggressiveness benefits him in that he is able to regain the control of the whole world so that he becomes the Hegemon (leader of the world). Even though he acquires the power in a peaceful manner, Peter did not have to do this since he just sought this alternative so that he would appear a good leader in the face of his future subjects. Even though Peter uses his ruthlessness and aggressiveness to become the leader of all humans on the earth, his attributes alienate him from the rest of humans. Ender has taken the attributes of his two siblings. Compassion, an attribute that is also in the character of his sister, is his greatest trait which has ensured that he is an able commander. Compassion runs throughout his whole life. Compassion saves Peter a number of times and it is the factor that has ensured that he has a different life. Without