How war dehumanizes people Essay

During the war people were deprived of their everyday necessities and also their living conditions, They never got the luxury of sleeping in big warm clean beds or even clean clothes therefore changing the way they act and the way look at things such as murder. During the war you go through the trenches and fields watching people die, and even killing people themselves. Everyday people would not be able to just sit there and watch someone as they slowly die. The narrator of this novel, Charles Yale Harrison was enlisted in the war. Charles explained everything that went on during is outings, some of which were pretty harsh and intense I could only imagine some of the things that he probably was not allowed saying. Charles had a few main buddies whom stuck by his side and fought with him. In this novel he tells us the things he saw some of the things he explained were pretty gory, for example he watched people as their flesh tore off and blood gushed everywhere. War definitely dehumanizes people for the most part. Soldiers don’t have as much sympathy for the people who are dying it’s almost as if they really don’t care but being that must be kind of necessary for a soldier because you can’t really sit there and cry over a friend who is dying while your enemies were slowly creeping up on your base. During war you do things you never thought you could ever do in your lifetime such as stabbing someone in the stomach or shooting a man in the face. â€Å"I lunge forward aiming at his stomach. It is a lightning instinctive moment. The thrust jerks my body; something heavy collides with the point of my weapon.† Charles says. I doubt Charles would have ever been able to do this without spending months in war, with the same platoon and even watching them all slowly die.

Previous knowledge of the novel Essay

From your reading of Chapters 1, 2 and 26 of â€Å"Jane Eyre†, as well as any previous knowledge of the novel you might have, write about the links you begin to see between that text and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†. â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1892 for a number of specific purposes, including the author’s desire to raise awareness of the condition post-partum depression, from which she suffered, and to illustrate her views on the patriarchal nature and the inequality of Victorian society, particularly with relation to marriage. Perhaps most importantly, Gilman wanted to expose the flaws in the male treatments propositioned for post-partum depression and other similar conditions; treatments from which she herself ailed even more than from her ‘nervous disorder’ when waylaid in bed, much like the narrator of her novella – albeit to a less extreme end. By contrast, Charlotte Bronti ‘s â€Å"Jane Eyre† has no such definite intentions, but acts most prominently as a bildungsroman and a partial autobiography, which leads to a very different treatment of characters as constructs rather than as Gilman’s use of them as representations. While Bronti ‘s characters in â€Å"Jane Eyre† cannot be labelled with much more precision than Mr. Rochester’s standing as a Byronic hero, the characters in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† are clearly intended for various purposes. The most obvious examples are John, the narrator’s husband, who embodies the Victorian male and the Victorian physician, and the narrator herself, who is intended to represent all of womankind subjected to the aforementioned Victorian male doctor. A commonality between the two novels exists in their inclusion of characters exhibiting madness. There can be drawn many similarities between the two differing presentations, including an obvious physical manifestation of insanity. In â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†, as the narrator falls into madness – and particularly at the end of the novel when she has succumbed to it entirely – Gilman depicts her ‘creeping by daylight’ about her room, ‘crawling’ on the floor, ’round and round and round’, after having the narrator herself earlier assert that ‘most women do not creep by daylight’, therefore proleptically implying something abnormal about herself. In â€Å"Jane Eyre†, this same physicality is used by Bronti in her presentation of Bertha Mason Rochester, as she is first introduced to Jane and to the readers ‘on all fours†¦ like some strange wild animal’. Bertha is said to have ‘snatched and growled’, and ‘laid her teeth to [Mr. Rochester’s] neck’, which is an animalistic image also shown by Gilman when she has her narrator say she ‘bit off a little piece’ of her bed. Both authors are in this way very deliberate in creating the metaphor of their insane characters being animals; Bronti refers to Bertha through her narrator Jane as a ‘beast’, a ‘wild animal’ and a ‘clothed hyena’, and besides these more obvious physical links, there are also allusions to hair ‘wild as a mane’, ‘a fierce cry’, an instance in which the woman ‘bellowed’, and her ‘stature almost equalling her husband’, who is built athletically, so this comparison therefore reinforces Bronti ‘s presentation of Bertha as something of a behemoth – her name even bears a visual similarity to the words ‘beast’ or ‘bear’. There are several other parallels discernable between Bronti ‘s Bertha and Gilman’s narrator, for example in â€Å"Jane Eyre† Bertha commits the mortal sin of suicide by jumping out of an upstairs window after burning down the house in her final act of freedom, while in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†, Gilman’s narrator is far more trapped than the character of Bertha, so she can only express a desire to ‘jump out of the window†¦ but the bars are too strong even to try’, and before that Gilman had had her narrator state: ‘I thought seriously of burning the house – to reach the smell’. Both identical actions are used by the two authors to illustrate their characters’ insanity and an implicit breaking down of social norms; and especially a desire for suicide that goes against the core of human nature in our intrinsic survival instinct, which was a deviation seen before in the presentation of the two women as animals rather than human beings. Bertha is referred to by Bronti through Jane Eyre as an ‘it’, solidifying this idea of her insanity rendering her inhuman. However, the marked difference between the protagonist of â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† and one of the antagonists of â€Å"Jane Eyre† is indeed the fact that Bertha has the freedom to carry out her insane thoughts, while Gilman has created in her novella such an image of imprisonment that her own character fails to complete either undertaking. This idea is crucial to Gilman’s message of women’s entrapment in a Victorian patriarchal society, and therefore contributes to the novella’s effectiveness. On the other hand, since â€Å"Jane Eyre† was not written with such a definite intention as â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†, the actions of Bertha are designed to contribute to the plot of the novel more than to convey a message about the treatment of women, the mentally insane or the handicapped, though the latter readings could also be taken. A more obvious difference between the two novels is that it is the autodiegetic narrator we can assume to be called Jane of â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† that exhibits insanity, thereby directly demonstrating to the reader the lack of cohesion in her mind, while in â€Å"Jane Eyre† Bertha’s insanity is regarded by the readers through the eyes of Bronti ‘s eponymous narrator. Additionally, while the reader experiences the breakdown of the narrator’s mind from sanity to its loss in the former text, in the latter the only experience given to the reader of Bertha is of her already mentally degraded, with no transformation shown, and little information given about her prior to the exhibition of her allegedly genetic insanity. Bronti emphasises the fact that the reader is not given the whole story of her character Bertha through the interesting manipulation of her narrator. Despite the fact that Jane Eyre is an autodiegetic narrator, the same as that of â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†, in the scene in which she is presented with Bertha, and indeed in ensuing scenes featuring Mr. Rochester’s first wife, Jane Eyre becomes more of a homodiegetic narrator – simply conveying the events before her but clearly on the edges of a much deeper story and a more extensive narrative than she has the ability or knowledge to recount.

Quality of Work Life of Cement Industry Essay

Abstract Quality of work life is an important indicator and yardstick for any organization to measure its overall performance and overall satisfaction of its stakeholder‟s .Quality of work life comprises of several factors which are influencing the quality of work life in different dimensions. Quality of work life of this industry is concerned the safety, healthy work environment, adequate and fair compensation and social relevance are undedicated by the internal stakeholders (Employees).Also the lower level workers don‟t have ,that much amount of quality of work life that is why they don‟t have that much level of involvement in their company. Hence to bring-up the expected level of involvement of the employees they must be provided enough amount of training and they must be given on –par treatment while compare with the rest of the level of employees of their organization. Key words: Quality of work life – Total life space, social relevance – Quality of work life feeling stakeholders. Introduction Historically, cultural values about work have shifted greatly over the years. In ancient time work was performed only by slaves, The Renaissance and Reformation brought great changes in prevailing attitude towards work. Work acquired a moral dignity of its own. Work serves many purposes. The economic function of work for producing goods and services is its most obvious value. In return form of production the work is paid wages that enable the purchase of good, shelter, plus other needs and luxuries of life. But work serves other values as well. As part of social needs people are supplied at the work place, were they meet, and converse and share experiences. One‟s job connotes a certain social status both for the worker and his or her family. Work also contributes to an employee‟s self-esteem by reflecting a contribution to the work group, department and company. If a person is competent and meets his own personal and the boss‟ satisfaction expectations, this contributes to a sense of personal worth. Quality of Work Life (QWL) is a relatively new concept. It refers to the favorableness or unfavrableness of a job environment for people (Davis and Newstrom, 1985). Evolution of quality of work life Walton attributes the evolution of QWL to various phases in history. Legislation enacted in early 20th century to protect employees from job-injury and to eliminate hazardous working conditions, followed by the unionization movement in the 1930s and 1940s were the initial steps. Emphasis was given to „job security‟, due process at the work place and economic gains for the worker‟. The 1950s and the 1960s saw the development of different theories by psychologists proposing a „positive relationship between morale and productivity‟, and the possibility that improved human relations would lead to the enhancement of both. Attempts to reform and to acquire equal employment opportunities and job enrichment schemes also were introduced. Finally, in the 1970s the idea of QWL was conceived which according to Walton, is broader than these earlier developments and is something that must include „ the values that were at the heart of these earlier reform movements‟ and „human needs and aspirations‟(Walton, 1973). The modern interest in the quality of work life was stimulated through efforts to change the scope of people satisfaction job in attempting to motivate them (Tyagi 1997). The jobs should seek to employ higher skills of workers, improve their skills, and contribute to general Social advancement as well as programs that offer employees, the opportunity to purchase equity in their firms or programs that provide protection against arbitrary action for their supervisors (Robins, S. 1997). Criteria for quality of work life: It has been pointed out by Ted Mills that one of the problems with the tern is that â€Å"quality of work life† is not a single, specific notion. Rather, it subsumes a whole pass of terms and notions, all of which he feels really belong under the umbrella â€Å"quality of work life†: 1. Industrial Effectiveness 2. Human Resource Development 3. Organizational Effectiveness 4. Works Restructure 5. Job Enrichment 6. Organizational Restructure 7. Socio- Technical Systems 8. Work Humanization 9. Group work concept 10. Labour – management cooperation 11. Working together; work involvement; and worker participation 12. Cooperation work restructures Importance of Quality of Work Life: Quality work life is essentially the concept of favorable situation of a work environment. It is imperative in any type of organizations to ensure high productivity and involvement of employees in generation of goods and services of better quality. The global economy presents the organization with new challenges to be faced by the employees. To make it more imperative employee‟s involvement and commitment are required in achieving organizational goals. Such involvements and commitments could be secured only through improved quality of work life. Furthermore working life is regarded as a larger ecological complex of human resource. So ultimately the quality of working life of employees should be made better and pave the way for satisfied working conditions and make them involved in the growth of the organization. Review of Literature: Cohen. D.S (1979) Quality of work is a process of joint decision making, collaboration and building mutual respect between management and employee, which seems to cause a change in how people feel about labour their work and each other. It is this change in the human climate that quality advocated, maintains, increases satisfaction and facilitates better solution to management and production. Ekramul Hoque, M. and Alinoor Rahman (1999) They attempted to compare the QWL of industrial workers according to the nature of the organizations and to measure whether there is any significant relationship among quality of work life, job behaviour and demographic variables of the workers. The result revealed workers of private sector textile mills perceived significantly higher QWL than in the public sector; QWL has significant negative correlation with absenteeism and accident and QWL has significant positive correlation with performance. 3 Tambe M.R. (2000) In a broad sense QWL includes job enrichment group work concept, labour management cooperation, workers involvement, co-operative work environment and organizational industrial effectiveness. In a narrow sense it is a conductive and encouraging job and physical environment. Mentz (2001) conducted a study to determine the quality of work life of teachers in farm schools in South Africa. The sample consists of 60 teachers in 15 farm schools. Findings indicate that teachers in rural schools are generally satisfied with circumstances and enjoy teaching; they are satisfied with classroom size, physical facilities and teacher student relations. Topper (2008) The literature reviews of psychological and sociological studies of job satisfaction in general and specifically for library workers were under taken by Topper(2008). The investigation was primarily intended to measure the job satisfaction among library workers. It revealed that the library workers are very satisfied in their job. It also underlined the fa ct that job satisfaction should be the key factor for recruitment of the next generation library workers. Edwards, J.,Van laar ,D.L &Easton ,S.(2009).Regular assessment of quality of work life can potentially provide organization with important information about the welfare of their employees, such as job satisfaction, general well-being, work related stress and the home-work interface. Objective To find out the existing level of Quality of Work Life perceived by the employees in cement industry Research methodology: Research Design The research design is an important yardstick and it is describing the properties of the proposed research with related to a particular domine. This article is concerned; the research design is descriptive in nature. This article is going to evaluate the existing level of quality of work life which is prevailing in cement industry at Ariyalur District. Survey and sampling method: The researcher is decided to deploy the primary data from the concerned indust ry [respondents] with the help of the data collection tool [questionnaire]. Apart from the primary data the required data‟s to enhance the quality of the article is to be collected from the secondary sources such as books, magazines and annual reports of the companies. The data which is to be collected from the respondents on random basis [simple random sampling]. The companies which are included in this survey are TANCEM, BIRLA and RAMCO. The sample size which is a determined for the study is 300 from all three companies. Statistical tool used: The collected data which is analyzed with the help of ANOVA. Analysis and Interpretation: Quality of Work Life (QWL) includes a host of issues ranging from occupational safety and health, job training, retraining, educational opportunities to society recreational facilities and childcare. QWL is a process of work organizations, which enables its members at all levels to participate actively and efficiency in shaping the organizations environment, methods and outcomes.

Answering the five cases Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Answering the five cases - Assignment Example I can also step in where they are defeated and cover my own medical bills. 3. I will warn the employee against such behaviour and demand for an apology from them, failure of which could result to serious disciplinary action against them. I will then write an apology letter to the customer conveying sincere regret to such despicable behaviour. I will seek to assure them that the employee has either been warned or disciplined according and that behaviour won’t happen again in the future. 4. Rules in any examination does not permit talking or sharing of answers. I will therefore call to attention the nearest examiner/instructor and let them know of the unfortunate behaviour. It will be under the discretion of the instructor to determine the discipline the two students should receive. 5. Let him know that the business is family oriented and that the rule of conduct does not tolerate gay-like behaviours. They should therefore abstain from public display of such behaviour or otherwise risk dismissal from the

International trading blocks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

International trading blocks - Essay Example TRIAD refers to three regional free-trade blocs which include NAFTA (USA, Mexico and Canada), EU (27 nations primarily located in Europe) and ASEAN (10 Asian countries). These are also grouped around some common currencies (the euro, the yen and the dollar) According to Fan Zhai (2006) by 2005 in Asia, there were 18 bilateral trade agreements and at least 30 new preferential trade agreements. The graph below is a glimpse of different regional trade agreements in Asia. Recent trends Trade diplomacy is now a part of the relationship that a country shares with another. After the establishment of WTO, 20 PTAs are formed on average on yearly basis. However one can notice the decline in regional cooperation, as cross-regional agreements are increasing in number. According to Heydon Ken (2010) over half of the world’s trade is through preferential trade agreements. Countries that get involved in these trade agreements have preference for speed and responsiveness. Bilateral agreements are preferred over multilateral agreements due to ease of enforcement and require less negotiation. Zhai (2006) reports that the new PTAs in Asia agree on more that tariff and non-tariff policies, rather they include provisions on nvestment liberalization, services, assistance in trade and technical and economic collaboration. The graph below shows the drastic rate at which the number of PTAs are increasing. Benefits of PTAs The foremost reason for creating a PTA is to gain concessions in trade with member countries. Being in a PTA implies that the member countries will get preference over other non-member countries. This removal of barriers of trade has a number of inherent benefits. These can be in several forms, such as: Economies of scale In countries that are located nearby each other, having preference can also benefit through lower transportation costs. Japan-Singapore Economic Partnership Agreement (JESPA) is an agreement in which both the nations have promised coordination in technology, regulatory, e-commerce, media and broadcasting, and human resources. This will benefit the multinational companies in both the countries because they can take benefit of economies of scale at regional level. Tax benefits Countries in PTA agree to trade with member countries at low tariffs, but do not abolish them; this reduces the cost of trade. The loss of tax revenue from import duties can be made up by more trade and more taxes from increased activity in the country. More trade Integration of international markets through reduction in tariffs and other barriers have led to reduction in the cost of trade. Thus countries can now concentrate on their production facilities only and produce those goods in larger quantities in which they have absolute or comparative advantage. More trade is expected to raise the standard of living of people in countries. Hub and Spoke structure The hub and spoke structure works in a way that several smaller vehicles (spoke), remain indi vidually managed but pool their assets to contribute to a central investment vehicle (hub). So the well established businesses become the hub and can give a few countries preferential treatment to a few

Macroeconomics - Term Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Macroeconomics - Term Paper - Essay Example In the regulation of the money in circulation, central bank makes adjustments to the interest rate that entails the price of borrowing money. This paper keenly discusses fiscal and monetary policies theories and application. Fiscal policy In their efforts to regulate spending and maintain taxation at an affordable level, governments emulates three types of fiscal policies. The first one is neutral fiscal policy. This type of policy is adopted when the economy is in equilibrium. One of the key aspects of neutral fiscal policy is that all the fund that the government uses to establish projects such as roads, factories, ports among others, is full obtained from tax revenue (Hansen 34). Another type of fiscal policy that government can use to achieve economic development is the expansionary fiscal policy. This entails a situation whereby government spending exceeds tax collected from the residents. This will mean that governments must look for donors to fund them so that they are able to maintain their economy at a competitive level. The policy must be looked keenly to make sure that funds borrowed from the donors are not diverted to other unplanned project .The third policy is contractionary fiscal policy. ... The federal government controls how the money is shared according to the financial year and how they have planned for the budget. The budget must be gone through by the stake holders that include president and the congress. The two bodies must work together so as to come with a comprehensive report that is going to make life bearable to its citizens (Larch and Nogueira 46). The president makes sure that the proposed budget is passed to the congress so that they can decide how much money the government is going to spend on public needs for example, the issue of security is a problem world wide and health care .On the other hand expansionary fiscal policy is commonly used by the federal government to make sure that their business problems are stabilized. Another application area in expansionary policy is the issue of unemployment to its citizens. The unemployed high number of people has to borrow money and return the same money with low interest. In contrast, contractionary fiscal poli cy is mainly used by the central bank or the finance ministry to make sure that the rapid economy growth of a country is put under control. This means that the government must come up with the measures to control it. The government has to increase the interest rates, the central bank then regulates the money their customers are going to deposit and the notes the other bank are going to hold. Monetary policy Monetary policy refers to the process by which the government through central bank regulates the money supply to its citizens with aim of controlling price fluctuations (Heyne et al, 19). This means that the government must make sure that the prices of commodities are stable. The government must still ensure that the interest rates and exchanges rates are guarded fully against

Bringing Out the Best in People Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Bringing Out the Best in People - Essay Example In fact, the superior leaders were even using these principles long before psychology was formally given its name. McGinnis' book, "Bringing Out the Best in People," showcases interesting anecdotes and case studies illustrating how a person can put 12 key principles to work for any group, may it be a family or an organization. So whether one is a parent, a friend, a teacher or an executive, his/her satisfaction can be guaranteed by "Bringing Out the Best in People." The author makes it really easy for his/her readers. The 12 principles or rules that he discovered are incredibly easy to follow. The list, however, is not meant to be limiting. It is actually meant to entice the reader to devour the whole book. Right from the start, McGinnis declared that he is taking a Christian standpoint in his approach of the topic at hand. With that said, he actually gives hope to anybody who wants to make a difference by motivating other people. As he points out, "Motivators are not born-they are made." The author asserts that the mental attitude already exists for prospective motivators since it is a human instinct that drives people to do something about lethargy and boredom, and be challenged instead. "Deep in the breast of everyone there is a drive to achieve something, to be somebody," McGinnis says. McGinnis develops his book by doing several things. First, he tells his readers about his observation on listening. According to him, if one will only listen to other people patiently, they will actually reveal what will motivate them. Next, he expounds on the value of encouraging others and creating the optimal work environment in an organization. He said this means giving space for failure because failure is sometimes inevitable when risks are taken, though temporary. Toward the end, the author includes an inspiring section on various leaders, dreamers and the lonely lifestyles these individuals often lead. The book ends with a quote from Goethe, "Whatever you dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." This book is actually useful since it can help a person gain more focus if he/she will take to heart whatever he/she has read and follow whatever the book suggests. McGinnis also guarantees that communication skills will actually be enhanced because of this book. And because of this benefit, a person will be respected more by other people as his/her ability to relate to them improves dramatically and becomes more efficient. In order to help others to grow, it would be helpful to rise up to the challenge of the 12 rules or principles outlined by McGinnis in his book. According to the author, anyone who wants to be a great motivator and help others grow should do the following: 1. Expect the best from his/her employees and those he/she leads. 2. Understand the needs of his/her employees and use the information to create an environment that builds their motivation. 3. Establish standards of excellence that are attainable for your employees and those he/she leads. 4. Create an environment where failure isn't fatal. 5. Encourage his/her employees as opposed to nagging them. 6. Provide models of success

Opportunities in the Hospitality Industry Assignment

Opportunities in the Hospitality Industry - Assignment Example Any part of hospitality industry such as theme parks, hotels regardless of its status and restaurants try to maximize the number of visitors and the turnover of the business. Almost all businesses in this line use various avenues for increasing their business and sales. One of these ways  is  eWOM.   The full form of eWOM is Electronic word of mouth and can be defined as the customer reviews that are posted on Social Media as well as other websites. The marketing experts have studied the importance and relation of eWOM with existing and future paying customers and the relation between content of  eWOMand increase in sales volume.   The main mediums of eWOM include blogs, social media sites such as facebook, pintereste, Twitter and others. This medium also includes various popular travel websites where most of the people do their bookings, chat rooms and other user-generated websites in this field. It is a fact that the hospitality business in UK must pay attention to these online reviews, as most of the potential customers prefer to check the reviews before booking of the room in any UK Hotel (Melià ¡n-Gonzà ¡lez, Santiago, Bulchand- Gidumal,, Jacques and Gonzà ¡lez Là ³pez-Valcà ¡rcel, Beatriz (2013)). Due to this, the hospitality industry should keep the  negative  reviews at minimum and positive reviews at the maximum. One way with which this can be done is to contact the person who  has  posted  negative  reviews and sort out the issue.   These studies also consider some factors such as the role of volume and valence of eWOM  for  an increase  in sales for future. The volume of reviews of any hotel affects the (RevPAR  revenue per room.  The valance refers to the ratio of positive review vs the negative review and has  a lot of effect over business of luxury hotels. The volume refers to the number of reviews posted on relevant websites, blogs and other social media (Melià ¡n-Gonzà ¡lez, Santiago, Bulchand- Gidumal,, Jacques and Gonzà ¡lez Là ³pez-Valcà ¡rcel,

You should choose the topic about Hitler Term Paper

You should choose the topic about Hitler - Term Paper Example Adolf Hitler was born on 20th April in the year 1889, in Braunau, a small town in Austria. His father, named Alois, was a strict and short tempered person, brutal by nature. It had been stated that Adolf Hitler, in his young days, was frequently beaten up by his father. He was brought up by his father in a very strict manner. He wanted to be an artist in his early days but due to the disapproval of his father, he could not pursue his dream of being an artist. His mother Kara was an affectionate lady and used to support Adolf Hitler whenever he was depressed. As a student, he was not friendly by nature and had only few friends. He used to be very lazy. As he was not a good student and so he was not much interested to pursue the higher studies. He left his school at the age of 15 (Historylearningsite. â€Å"Adolf Hitler†). Adolf Hitler was a person with no much qualification. He did not even complete his 10th standard. He always wanted to be an artist. But his application was not accepted by the Vienna Academy of Art, as he did not have any ‘school leaving certificate’ or even till 10th educational background. His pieces of work had few human characters in them and the examining board did not entertain a landscape artist. His mother died when he was 18 years old, which was considered to a very miserable period for him. Without any source of earning or any other financial support, he was to lead a miserable life, thereafter. His only means of earning income was then through clearing the pathways of snow and by selling his painting. It was in this stage of his life when he tended to develop hatred for Jewish people which encouraged him to be against them which was in the year 1908. He wrote a book dedicated to his own life named ‘Mein Kampf’ where he mentioned this part of his life in Vienna as ‘five years of hardship and misery’. In this same book he

Young Modulus of Copper Essay Example for Free

Young Modulus of Copper Essay Theory The following quantities is important for the experiments concerns: Stress is defined as ? =Force / Cross-sectional area ( F/A ) Strain is defined as ? = Extension / Natural length ( e/l ) The ratio of Stress to Strain, is the Young modulus (E= ?/?) Since a stiffer material requires larger stress to produce the same strain , a stiffer material would have a greater Young modulus ( a greater slope in a graph of ? against ? ) . For a non brittle material, usually there are two stages of deformation before breaking. Stage 1 : Elastic deformation In this stage, the wire would return to its natural length when the stress is removed. Hookes law is usually obeyed in this stage, therefore the graph is almost a straight line. When the wire is further stretched, it reaches the elastic limit and get into stage 2. Stage 2 : Plastic deformation In this stage, the stress is not directly proportional to the strain and and a small amount of stress can produce a large strain. If the wire passes the yield point, its will have permanent extension and will not return to its original length. Finally, when the wire is kept to stretched, it will break at the breaking point. Procedure Experiment 1: Study the stress-strain behaviour of a copper wire 1.A micrometer screw gauge was used to measure the diameter of the copper wire at several points. Mean value was taken and the cross-sectional area of the wire was calculated. 2.A pulley was mounted on one side of the table. A 2 m segment of the wire was cut out and was clamped firmly by using a G-clamp which was at a distance about 1.5 m form the pulley. 3.The wire was placed over the pulley. Some newspapers were put one the ground below the pulley. 4.A label marker is sticked on the wire at a distance about 0.5 m from the pulley. A metre rule was placed below the wire and was fixed on the table by sticky tape. 5.A 100g hanger was tied to wire. 6.The length between the G-clamp and the sticker, which represents the natural length, was measured. 7.100g load was added to the hanger one by one , and the extension was recorded each time. 8.Load was kept increasing until the wire broke. Experiment 2 : Elastic deformation and Young modulus 1.A new wire of the same length and thickness was used and steps 1 to 7 in experiment 1 were repeated. 2.Load was added to the hanger carefully. All the load were removed each time to check whether the wire would return to the original length. Results were recorded. 3.Step 2 was repeated until the elastic limit was just exceeded. Precautions 1.The hanger should be more than 0.5 m above the newspapers. This allows the wire to get enough space for extensions before it breaks. Also it should not be kept too high from the ground, this may cause the tiles of the floor to break. 2.The sticker should not be placed too close to the pulley. If not the wire may touch the pulley when the wire is extended. A distance of 0.4 m is preferred. 3.The load should be added to the hanger slowly and carefully. This is to avoid exerting impulse to the wire and making the masses to oscillate. Otherwise the wire may get extra extension and make the records not appropriate. 4.Records should be taken only after the sticker stops moving. This is because the wire takes time to extend itself, especially at the later stage when the wire passed the elastic limit and was near breaking. Results Diameter of the copper wire: D1 D2 D3 D4 Mean Value (in à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½0.005mm) 0.370 0.365 0.670 0.370 0.3688 Natural length of the wire=1.15m Experiment 1: Load(kg) 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 Extension(10^-3 m) 0 0.5 0.5 1 1 1.5 1.5 2.0 Load(kg) 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Extension(10^-3 m) 2.5 2.5 3.0 3.0 3.5 4.0 5.5 12 Load(kg) 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Broken Extension(10^-3 m) 19 34 46 60 77 98 125 / Maximum load for elastic deformation=1.3 kg Load for breaking the wire=2.3 kg Experiment 2 : Load(kg) 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 Extension (10^-3) 0 0.5 0.8 1 1.2 1.5 1.5 2 Load(kg) 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 Elastic limit exceeded Extension(10^-3) 2.5 2.5 3 3.5 / / / Calculations Graphs Maximum possible error of metre rule = 0.1 cm=0.01m Maximum possible error of micrometer screw gauge =0.005mm=510^-6 m Cross-sectional area of the wire = 1.06810^-7 m^2 Percentage error = 26.77810^-3 =1.3557% ?Cross-sectional area = (1.071 à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ 0.01)x10^-7 m^2 Experiment 1 Stress Strain relationship: Stress (M Pa) 9.345 18.69 28.03 37.38 46.73 56.07 65.42 74.76 Strain (10^-3) 0 0.4348 0.4348 0.8696 0.8696 1.304 1.304 1.7392 Stress (M Pa) 84.11 93.45 102.8 112.1 121.5 130.8 140.1 149.5 Strain (10^-3) 2.174 2.174 2.609 2.609 3.043 3.478 4.783 10.44 Stress (M Pa) 158.9 168.2 177.6 186.9 196.3 205.6 215.0 Broken Stress (10^-3) 16.52 29.57 40.00 52.61 66.96 82.61 108.7 / Stress at elastic limit=124 M Pa Percentage error=Percentage error of the area of the wire =1.3557% ?Stress at elastic limit=(124 à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ 2)M Pa Breaking stress=(215 Pa à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ 3)M Pa Experiment 2: Stress Strain relationship up to elastic limit: Stress (M Pa) 9.345 18.69 28.03 37.38 46.73 56.07 65.42 74.76 Strain (10^-3) 0 0.4673 0.7477 0.9346 1.121 1.402 1.402 1.869 Stress (M Pa) 84.11 93.45 102.8 112.1 Elastic limit exceeded Strain (10^-3) 2.336 2.336 2.804 3.271 / / / Mean of the stress=60.7 M Pa Mean of the strain=1.5610^-3 Slope of the best-fit line=38.9 G Pa Maximum slope=42.2 G Pa Minimum slope=30.0 G Pa Mean error=(38.9-36.1)=2.8 G Pa ?Young modulus of the copper wire=(38.9 à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ 2.8)G Pa Errors and Difficulties 1.There were systematic errors in this experiment. The masses were not weighted to check what its actual weight is. The wire may not be made of pure copper. The air temperature may vary due to air-conditioners. Besides, gravitational acceleration is taken as 10ms^-2 instead of 9.8ms^-2 2.There was a random error in viewing the sticker. Since the sticker had a few distance from the ruler, errors due to parallax would arise if we view form a little bit right or left. So it is difficult to obtain the precise value. To improve this, a nail can be added onto the sticker. The nail was more stable and gave readings very sharply. 3.At the beginning of the experiment, the wire is very uneven. The first few extensions we taken may be only due to the reform of the wire into a straight shape.(just like stretching a spring into a straight wire) Discussion 1.Near the breaking point, the shape of the wire is very narrow. 2.During elastic deformation, the hanger falls and loses gravitational potential energy. This energy change to elastic potential energy. If the wire is unloaded, the energy will be restored to GPE and the wire will return to is original length. 3.During plastic deformation, the loss of gravitational potential energy becomes the work done to increase the length of the wire (increase the separations of the particles in the wire). This energy would not be restored even the wire is unloaded. 4.Double of the amount of the load is required to break the wires. Conclusion To obtain the Young modulus of the copper wire by this experiment is convenient. A few apparatus and steps are needed, and it only involves easy calculations. But by comparing to the actual value(124G Pa), the result we get (38.9 G Pa) has a great difference from it. This may due to the experiment is done in several assumptions and estimations. We assumed g=10ms^-2 and the wire is made of pure copper. We neglected environmental factors and assumed the wire was stretched evenly in every parts. In short, although the experiment is not accurate enough, it provides a good chance for students to practice what they have learned. It is quite shocked that a very thin and long wire can withstand more than 2 kg load.

Child Recognition of Emotions

Child Recognition of Emotions CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Human emotions serve as a means of expression, often indicating an individuals internal conscious experience or physiological arousal. Emotions also serve as a form of communication, alerting individuals to important aspects of their environment and their relationships with other individuals. Emotions influence a persons actions, cognitions, and how they are perceived by others (Strayer, 2002). For example, emotions may influence how individuals respond to an environmental threat, as feelings of sadness may indicate a withdrawal of behavior or feelings of fear may engage the activity of flight (Strayer, 2002). The experience of emotions, in turn, provides individuals with meaning about both their internal and external environments and information about how they should respond to a social situation. The ability to develop an adequate understanding of emotions is known as emotional competence. More precisely, emotional competence is defined as a demonstration of self-efficacy in emotion-eliciting social transactions (Saarni, Campos, Camras Witherington, 2006, p. 250). For children, one way to gauge their emotional competence is to examine their ability to perceive their own emotions and the emotions of others (Saarni et al., 2006). This type of assessment allows researchers to determine an approximate measure as to childrens emotional development level. The first skill of emotional competence is for children to develop an understanding of self. Through an ability to be aware of their own personal emotional experience, children begin to develop self-conscious emotions. Feelings of shame, guilt, and embarrassment, for example, allow children to refer to themselves as having conscious awareness that they are distinct from others (Lewis, 1993, 1995; Mascolo Fischer, 1995). In addition, childrens emotional competence is developed through an ability to be aware of multiple emotions or to feel that their emotions are in conflict with their environment (e.g., ambivalence; Stein, Trabasso, Liwag, 2000). As children become aware of their own emotions, emotional development is strengthened and refined. A second important skill development to emotional competence is for children to make sense of others inner states (Saarni et al., 2006). Specifically, children learn to comprehend and interpret others behaviors and begin to realize that others are capable of forming their own beliefs and emotions (for a review see Dunn, 2000; Halberstadt, Denham, and Dunsmore, 2001). Understanding the distinction between ones own emotions and the emotions of others is crucial to emotional development in children. For instance, studies indicate that childrens ability to accurately identify emotions in self and in others may work as a gauge to assess social competence (Halberstadt et al., 2001). In these types of studies, childrens social competence is established by correlating their understanding of emotion terms, facial expressions, and elicitors of emotion terms (e.g., situational descriptions of a happy or sad event) with their social competence rating from teachers ratings or by peers sociometric choices (Saarni et al., 2006). Childrens ability to distinguish differences in emotional features in combination with how others view their ability provides a measure of their social competence. Monitoring childrens social competence allows one to identify socially disadvantaged children and implement effective coping strategies before any harmful, long-term effects manifest (Benford, 1998). Through childrens awareness of their own emotional state, in combination with the skill to discern others emotions, children begin to achieve more effective emotional processing skills. Understanding childrens emotional processing is important because it affects many social outcomes, such as childrens helping behavior (Chapman, Zahn-Waxler, Cooperman Iannotti, 1987, Miller Jansen op de Haar, 1997), aggressive responses (Harris Siebel, 1975), and self-control (Ceschi Scherer, 2003). Few studies, however, have examined how emotion affects childrens abilities to accurately identify the emotional state of others. Consequently, the present study sought to examine the effects of childrens own emotional states on their social/cognitive abilities to recognize emotional states in others. More specifically, this research sought to understand how positive, negative, and neutral emotional states of children affected performance on emotion recognition tasks that utilized different levels of cognitive complexity. By utilizing two types of emotion recognition tasks, the research examined the influence of differently valenced emotions on childrens social-cognitive abilities. Results may help to expand existing social information processing models by incorporating the influence cognitive complexity and affect may serve in childrens recognition of others emotions. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW Understanding Others Emotions through Facial Expressions The ability for children to understand what others are experiencing emotionally develops through an interaction between the awareness of their own emotional experience and the ability to empathize and conceptualize the causes of emotions in others (Saarni et al., 2006). In addition, the more children learn about how and why others act the way they do, the more they can make inferences about the emotional state of others. Children typically rely on facial expressions to infer others emotional state (Ceschi Scherer, 2003; Holder Kirkpatrick, 1991). The face is considered the primary indicator of human emotion (Ekman, 1992). For example, body gestures are easily concealed (e.g., hiding a clenched fist behind ones back) or verbal communication can be eliminated by simply refusing to speak. Facial expressions, however, are more difficult to disguise (Ekman, 1993). Additionally, the diversity in an individuals face allows for a variety of emotional expressions, each associated with a distinct facial expression (Ekman, 1993). Facial expressions serve a dual purpose; facial emotions can indicate a persons internal emotional state or function as symbols referring to something else, such as a form of communication (e.g., deterring or placating someones actions; Lewis Michalson, 1985). Facial expressions are commonly used as a means for gauging emotion states in research. By 2 Â ½ years, children can distinguish a number of basic emotional states in the facial expressions of adults, but do not always label them accurately (Izard, 1971). At 5 years, children can accurately label 41% of the emotions depicted in a set of adult photographs (Odom Lemond, 1972). Overall, young children can recognize some of the more common emotional expressions as displayed by adults (e.g., MacDonald, Kirkpatrick Sullivan, 1996). By the ages of 11 or 12, most children recognize and verbalize that a persons expression may be both a social and an emotional response (e.g., Underwood Hurley, 1999). Consequently, children realize that a persons facial expression may indicate both the individuals internal state (e.g., I am feeling sad), as well as what the cues represent socially (e.g., I am expressing my feelings of sadness towards others). Each form of emotional expression is essential in order for children to interpret and comprehend anothers emotion (Underwood Hurley, 1999). Developmental Differences in Childrens Understanding of Others Emotional Experiences As children mature, they acquire greater abilities to make inferences about what others are feeling (Gross Ballif, 1991). Children, in an attempt to understand the emotions of others, begin to combine facial and situational cues. The ability to combine these cues, however, is strengthened and refined as children age. The easiest emotions for children to discern are positive ones (Saarni et al., 2006). Children can more readily identify happy reactions in a naturally occurring setting as compared to negative reactions (e.g. Fabes, Eisenberg, Nyman, Michealieu, 1991). Negative facial expressions, on the other hand, such as sadness, fear, and anger, are more difficult for children to decode. Negative emotions become easier to interpret, however, when they are paired with an emotion-eliciting situational context (Saarni et al. 2006). In addition, the causes of negative emotion are easier for children to decode than causes of positive emotion, an explanation that appears consistent with negative emotions eliciting a more intense response (Fabes et al., 1991). For example, children can easily determine the causes for their goal failures because it is an undesired consequence. Developmental differences are apparent when evaluating childrens understanding of the causes of emotions (Fabes et al., 1991). Younger children (i.e., 3 year-olds) are more prone to attribute causes of emotion to a persons wants or needs, whereas older children (i.e., 5 year-olds) make use of others personality traits to determine their future reactions to an emotional event (Fabes et al., 1991). Children aged 5 to 10 years can use a characters past experience to determine the characters reactions to a new situation (Gnepp Gould, 1985). For example, if a characters best friend harasses him, children aged 5 to 10 can infer how that character will later react to seeing the best friend on the playground. The developmental difference is evident in the quality of the response. Younger children are more likely to infer what the character is feeling solely through the current situational information (e.g., the character would be pleased to see the best friend), whereas older children are m ore likely to use the prior experience to evaluate how the character will react (e.g., the character will avoid the best friend on the playground; Gnepp Gould, 1985). Further support for this developmental difference is that younger children (i.e., preschoolers) are more likely to infer the emotional state of others when a characters emotional cues are presented explicitly (e.g., pictorial representation of the characters face) as compared to older children (i.e. school-aged) who can adeptly determine the characters response when less explicit cues are utilized (Lagattuta, Wellman, Flavell, 1997). These investigations demonstrate that by school age, children are well equipped to identify emotional expressions in others. Although there are developmental differences in childrens abilities to identify reasons for the emotional expression, by the age of 5, children generally distinguish differences in emotional cues and identify different types of emotional expressions in others. Integrating Cognition and Emotion There has been considerable interest in how children interpret, encode, and respond to social environments. One such model that attempts to explain the relationship is the social information processing model (Crick Dodge, 1994). The social information processing model assumes that the way in which children understand and interpret social situations directly influences how they respond behaviorally (Lemerise Arsenio, 2000). In turn, the social information processing model offers an explanation for how children process and interpret cues in a social situation and arrive at a decision that facilitates their understanding of the social environment (Crick Dodge, 1994; Dodge, 1986). For any social interaction, children utilize their past experiences and biologically determined capabilities (e.g., memory store capacity) in order to rapidly assess the situation (Crick Dodge, 1994). To illustrate the social information processing model, imagine a child who gets pushed on the playground by another child. First, the child must encode the social cues (both internal and external) to determine what happened (attention, encoding) and then determine why it happened (interpretation: an accident or on purpose?). In the third step of the model, the child begins to clarify his or her goal in the social situation (e.g., goal to show others he/she wont tolerate the behavior). In step four and five of the model, possible responses to the situation are generated in terms of anticipated outcomes and how those actions relate to the individuals goals (Lemerise Arsenio, 2000). The child may choose to retaliate in response to the other childs actions or the child may choose to not retaliate for fear of the situation escalating. Finally, the majority of children generally choose the most positively evaluated response with respect to goals and anticipated outcomes before the behavio r is enacted (e.g., the child ignores the push and walks away; Crick Dodge, 1994). The social information processing model has been useful in assessing how children encode and interpret social situations. The model, however, does not specify how emotion affects the processing strategy (Lemerise Arsenio, 2000). Lemerise and Arsenio (2000) argue that it is possible to expand Crick and Dodges models explanatory power by integrating emotion processing with social information processing. Before integrating emotion and social information processing, it is important to understand the relationship between the two. Emotions and cognitions may appear similar because both are types of information processing, but the way each influence human behavior makes them distinct (Lemerise Arsenio, 2000). Emotion is about motivation; cognition, on the other hand, concerns knowledge. This view is shared by many functionalist theorists, neurophysiologists, and some cognitive theorists (e.g., Campos, Mumme, Kermoian, Campos, 1994; Damasio, 1994; Oatley Jenkins, 1996). Because cognition and emotion are two distinct processes, an attempt to devise a model that integrates and utilizes the two is pragmatic. In Lemerise and Arsenios (2000) social information processing model, the researchers added and expanded to Crick and Dodges (1994) original concept. In particular, the researchers implemented other emotion processes that could influence accessing and evaluating responses. As an example of this approach, intense emotions can interfere with the steps of Crick and Dodges model where children assess possible responses to a situation (Steps 4 and 5). For example, children with intense emotions may react negatively to a social situation (e.g., becoming easily upset and running away), thereby reducing the probability that they will interpret and encode the situation from the perspective of all parties (Lemerise Arsenio, 2000). Intense emotions, in turn, can influence how a child responds in a social situation. In addition, the childs reaction to the soci al situation may be dependant on whether he/she cares about and wants that person to like him/her (Lemerise Arsenio, 2000). Emotions heavily influence this social decision making process. It is difficult to adhere to a social informational processing strategy without accounting for the influences emotion may serve. Support for the role emotions play in social information processing has been demonstrated in more recent research (e.g., Orobio de Castro, Merk, Koops, Veerman, Bosch, 2005). Specifically, researchers examined the relationship between emotional aspects of social information processing and aggressive boys. After hearing a series of vignettes that instilled provocation by their peers, participants answered questions concerning social information processing, including feeling of their own emotions, the emotions of others, and emotion regulation. Aggressive boys used less adaptive emotion-regulation strategies, attributed more hostile intent to others actions, and reported less guilt concerning their own actions (Orobio de Castro et al., 2005). For aggressive boys, anger attribution (i.e., encoding of emotions) significantly influenced the interpretation step of the social information processing model, a view that is consistent with Lemerise and Arsenios (2000) model. Clearly, emotions can influence childrens social information processing strategies. By combining emotional processing with social decision making processes, researchers can expand Crick Dodges models explanatory power, perhaps offering further insight into the influence emotion serves for childrens cognitive abilities (Lemerise Arsenio, 2000). Induction of Positive and Negative Affect Researchers examine emotional influences on social information processing and other social behaviors by experimentally inducing emotions and assessing the effects (Bryan, Mathur Sullivan, 1996; Bugental Moore, 1979; Burkitt Barnett, 2006; Carlson, Felleman Masters, 1983; Masters, Barden Ford, 1979; Stegge, Terwogt Koops, 2001). Inducing affect typically consists of an experimenter having subjects recall events that make them happy or sad before examining their responses to a variety of social and cognitive problems. These problems can range from measures of altruism, self-gratification, or delay of gratification (Bugental Moore, 1979). For this type of induction procedure, the researcher asks the child to recall and reflect upon a happy or sad past event for approximately 30 seconds to 2 minutes (Bryan et al., 1996). This type of procedure allows psychologists to examine how affective states influence individuals social and psychological behaviors (Bugental Moore, 1979). Pre-recorded videotapes or audiocassettes are another technique used to implement positive or negative affect in children (e.g., Carlson Masters, 1986; Rader Hughes, 2005). The recordings improve the reliability and standardization of the affect inductions. The recording typically follows the same procedural method as the other affect induction studies (e.g., Carlson et al., 1983; Masters et al., 1979; Moore, Underwood, Rosenhan, 1973)—the person reading the script (e.g., actor, puppet) asks the child to ruminate on a past experience that is positive, negative, or neutral for approximately 30 seconds. For any procedural method chosen, it is important to validate if the affect induction actually takes place. There are multiple methods for conducting manipulation checks. Procedures include: having two or more experimenters rate the childs mood and assessing interrater agreement (e.g., Carlson Maters, 1986); having participants use a word item check-list to indicate their current mood (e.g., Vosburg, 1998); or comparing if the performance of children in the positive or negative condition differs from those in the neutral condition (e.g., Bugental Moore, 1979; Stegge et al., 2001). As demonstrated in past research, the induction of positive and negative moods is experimentally possible. Positive and Negative Affect and Emotional Processing There are a number of experimental studies that demonstrate the influence of childrens emotional states on a variety of emotional processes and behaviors, such as altruism (Chapman et al., 1987, Miller Jansen op de Haar, 1997), aggression (Harris Siebel, 1975), and self-control (Ceschi Scherer, 2003). One study, in particular, induced positive emotional states in a group of 5-6-year-old children to examine their responses to social comparison situations where the participant was rewarded unfairly, sometimes in the participants favor, sometimes in anothers favor (Carlson Masters, 1986). Children were exposed to one of three emotion inducing conditions: self-focused happy, other-focused happy, or neutral. After the children focused on their own happy emotional experience (self-focused) or the emotional state of a friend (other-focused) or had no emotional focus (neutral), they and other players received a reward for participating in a game. Children received either more (positive inequality) or less (negative inequality) of an award as compared to the other players. Children in the self-focused happy condition did not demonstrate a reduction in generosity after receiving an inequality of rewards (Carlson Masters, 1986). The authors interpreted their results as supportive of the po sition that positive mood facilitates tolerance of aversive experiences (Carlson Masters, 1986). What these studies did not answer, however, is what influence emotion serves in other social information processes. Specifically, how do inductions of positive or negative affect influence childrens emotion recognition? One research experiment did attempt to investigate the influence childrens own emotional states has on their ability to recognize emotions in others (Carlson et al., 1983). Experimenters induced emotions such as happiness, sadness, anger, or neutral affect in eighty 4 and 5 year-old children. The children were then provided with a label of an emotion (e.g. happy) and asked to identify the correct facial expression from a group of photographs of other children who were displaying various emotions. Significant differences in accuracy across the mood induction conditions were not found, but childrens own feelings of sadness did influence their perception of sadness in peers (Carlson et al., 1983). Sad participants were not more inaccurate than happy participants when identifying emotions, but when they were inaccurate they tended to confuse sadness with anger. The induction of positive and negative mood in children appears to have an influence on childrens emotional processing. Negative affective states appear to lead to inaccuracies in the perception of others sadness, whereas positive affective states appear to help children maintain positive emotional experiences, even in the presence of aversive social situations. Influence of Emotional States on Cognition for Adults Despite the number of studies assessing childrens emotion processing ability, only a few studies have investigated how emotion-directed information processes, such as perception, attention, judgment, and memory recognition and recall, are influenced by the childs own emotional state, whether enduring or temporary (Greene Noice, 1988; Masters et al., 1979; Rader Hughes, 2005). Because of this dearth in the literature, it is useful to review studies conducted with adults. One particularly important study, which examined the role affect plays in adults cognitive performance, induced positive and negative affect through the use of a role-playing technique while participants carried out three cognitive tasks (Izard, Wehmer, Livsey, Jennings, 1965). The cognitive tasks ranged from participants generating as many possible uses for a particular object (multiple-use task), recalling sets of numbers (digit span test), and giving verbalized responses for creativity problems. Positive affect increased performance for both the multiple-use task and the creativity problems as compared to those in the negative affect condition. Some literature supports the finding that positive affect results in higher productivity and creativity (Ashby, Isen, Turken, 1999). Specifically, induced positive affect improved cognitive processes such as memory, judgment, risk-preference, decision-making, creative problem solving, categorization, and logical problem solving (Ashby et al., 1999). Other research, however, does not support the claim that positive affect improves cognitive productivity and creativity. Positive affect may actually interfere with performance on some tasks (e.g., Kaufmann Vosburg, 1997). In an attempt to explain the discrepancy in these results, Forgas (2000, 2002) affect infusion model (AIM) suggests that affect results in inattentive processing for complex tasks. As participants experience positive affective, for example, substantive processing or systematic processing may be hindered, thereby interfering with their ability to solve elaborate and complex problems. Specifically, negative moods may facilitate differentiated, analytic processing whereas positive moods may facilitate global, synthetic processing (Forgas, 2000). Negative moods may be more adaptive for cognitive tasks that require one to reduce complex decisions to a series of one-on-one comparisons, thus simplifying the results (i.e., analytic processing). Positive moods, on the other hand, may be more adaptive for cognitive tasks that require one to generate a wide variety of responses, often seeking out all possibilities for a solution (i.e., global processing). Following Forgas (2000, 2002) AIM model, it is clear how research supports the notion that positive and negative affect are adaptive for different types of cognitive tasks. To clarify, some studies show that positive affect facilitates cognitive performance by increasing participants creativity (Ashby et al., 1999; Isen, Daubman Nowicki, 1987; Isen, 2002; Izard et al., 1965). Other research, however, shows that positive affect results in inattentive processing, thereby reducing participants creativity and problem-solving (Forgas, 2000; Kaufmann Vosburg, 1997). These seemingly contrasting findings are explained by differences in task specificity. In the research conducted by Kaufmann and Vosburg (1997), for example, positive affect significantly inhibited creative problem solving. After the researchers experimentally induced affect, participants responded to a series of tasks presented in a paper-and-pencil format, and received no outside feedback. Contrastingly, in research conduct ed by Isen et al. (1987), they used creativity measures such as the candle-problem, which required participants to physically manipulate objects and to come up with as many solutions to the problem as possible. In addition, the participants received feedback, which allowed them to instigate further solutions to the problem. Clearly, the tasks used in each of these studies are distinct. The notion that positive and negative affect are adaptive to different types of cognitive tasks is important because it points out the need to carefully consider the type of cognitive task being performed. Positive or negative moods may facilitate processing for different types of tasks in adults; therefore it is useful to examine how positive or negative moods affect childrens processing in different types of tasks. Influence of Emotional States on Cognition for Children There are indications that the influences of positive affect on childrens cognitive performance are similar to those in adults (Rader Hughes, 2005). For example, eighth-grade students who were experimentally induced with positive affect showed greater cognitive flexibility than students in the control condition and obtained higher scores on a verbal fluency test (Greene Noice, 1988). Likewise, researchers have examined the effects of emotional states on learning (Masters et al., 1979). After the induction of a positive, negative, or neutral emotional state, children completed a series of shape discrimination tasks. The dependent variable in the experiment was how many trials it took the children to achieve perfect mastery for the task (e.g. identifying 12 consecutive trials of shapes correctly). For children in the positive affect condition, positive affect enhanced performance. Contrastingly, for children in the negative condition, negative affect hindered performance dramatically (Masters et al., 1979). In addition, positive affect increased performance for children on a block design task, a challenging cognitive task that requires the use of spatial analysis (Rader Hughes, 2005). Research also suggests a relationship between affect and childrens thinking processes (Bryan et al., 1996). Specifically, negative affective states decrease participants efforts for processing cognitive information (Ellis, Thomas, Rodriquez, 1984). Positive affective states, on the other hand, improve participants memory on various tasks, which include: mastery of a discriminatory task (Masters et al., 1979); altruism (Chapman et al., 1987; Miller Jansen op de Haar, 1997); and child compliance (Lay, Waters Park, 1989). In sum, positive affective states increase complex cognitive functions when participants are required to synthesize information in new and useful ways (e.g., word association and memory tasks, creativity tasks, problem-solving tasks; Bryan et al., 1996). Social Information Processing and Cognitive Complexity Childrens awareness of their own emotional state, in combination with their skill to discern others emotions, allows them to develop more effective social information processing skills. As children become more aware of emotions they or others are experiencing, it facilitates problem-solving (Saarni et al., 2006). In turn, when children know how to respond emotionally to an encounter, it can aid in their decision making strategy, thus influencing behavioral or cognitive processing strategies. Task complexity can negatively influence accuracy in identifying emotional expressions in others (MacDonald et al., 1996). Specifically, research has shown how incorporating contextual information for an emotion recognition task results in lower levels of performance as compared to a task where children are given the label for the emotional expression (MacDonald et al., 1996). Labeling tasks involve an extremely easy stimulus (i.e. children are given a word), whereas contextual information tasks involve integrating and synthesizing implicit information (i.e. children must derive a word from the vignette)plexity. paragraph should be eliminated. This is more relevant to cognitive processing strategies rather than levels of task. Adding contextual information to an emotion recognition task, therefore, increases the difficulty of the task, resulting in lower performance, especially for younger children (MacDonald et al. 1996). Past research on childrens emotional recognition has not adequately addressed the influence of childrens own emotional states (positive or negative) on the accuracy of the perception of emotional states in others. Research addressing the topic is minimal; only a few studies have approached the issue (e.g., Carlson et al., 1983). In addition, past research has not directly demonstrated how emotion and cognitive task complexity influence childrens ability to recognize emotion in others. Based on the information regarding childrens ability to recognize emotions in others through their facial expressions; the developmental differences in childrens facial recognition abilities; the influence of emotion on childrens emotion processing; and the influence of emotion on adults cognitive processing, researchers can devise an appropriate social information processing model. The model, in effect, should integrate emotion and cognitive processes to determine the influence affect and task complexity have on childrens recognition of emotions in others. The component of the model the present study investigated is how childrens own emotion affects their interpretation of social cues, specifically the emotional expression of others. Inaccurate interpretations will provide potential consequences to childrens subsequent social decision making processes. The Present Study The study examined the influence positive and negative affect has on childrens emotion recognition. Children, aged 5-to 8-years, participated because of their ability to identify emotions in others (Fabes et al., 1991, Gnepp Gould, 1985, Saarni et al., 2006). Because emotion processing and cognition are considered an integral part of childrens social competence (Lemerise Arsenio, 2000), the study design combined and evaluated cognition and emotional processes. Specifically, the study investigated how the cognitive complexity of the task interacted with mood effects on emotion recognition performance. In the experiment, children were individually tested. They were first exposed to one of three mood induction conditions (positive, negative, or neutral) using a computer setup with a pre-recorded audio file, a method that is consistent with a brief mood induction procedure (Rader Hughes, 2005). For the testing procedure, the experimenter utilized two forms of emotion expressing questions: label-b

Planned Preventative Maintenance Essay

Planned Preventative Maintenance Essay Assessing the implementation of a Planned Preventative Maintenance Programme for Strategic Estate Planning. In order to understand the implementation of a planned preventative maintenance programme for estate planning, one will first need to understand the practice of condition surveys and the meaning attached to the concept. The Audit Commission (1988), with regard to condition surveys have been critical of most local authority practice in the UK of estimating maintenance expenditure by simply taking a notional percentage of the property value, and urge the use of proper condition surveys to derive more accurate estimates of maintenance expenditure. Condition surveys should, however be commissioned for more than just budgeting purposes, as they have a wider application in the managing of building condition, Bargh (1987). A major obstacle to carrying out the first comprehensive survey is the expense. On a national scale the UK building stock possesses very poor condition records and this represents a massive impediment to developing good maintenance management practices. Some progress has been made in recent years, particularly with respect to local authority buildings, where the prompting of the Audit Commission has had some effect. Within the private sector in the UK, there is still a startling reluctance amongst property managers to commit funding and commission detailed condition surveys of their buildings, Sahai (1987). Within the public sector as well condition surveys now being carried out are strictly limited in their scope. In many cases they are carried out for very specific purposes, usually related to financial management, rather than as part of a professional approach to managing building condition, Colston (1987).Condition surveys also include, building surveys, manual surveys, optical m ark surveys, bar-code reader, hand-held computer, and reports. These are all used to carry out condition surveys. With this in mind one can now talk about the use of this concept in a planned preventative maintenance programme for strategic estate planning. The process of planning for maintenance work has much in common with the planning of any construction activity. Therefore the basic principles of planning should be firmly understood before considering maintenance planning specifically. As the nature of the product or activity becomes more complex a point is reached where it becomes necessary to commit some, or all, of this plan to paper and a formal programme is produced, Sahai(1987). At a simple level this may only involve writing dates into a diary whilst, at a more advanced level, the use of a powerful computer based management technique may be necessary. Planning as an intellectual process permeates all activities in one form or another, always with some objective in mind, whether or not this is overtly stated. The clear identification of objectives is an essential prerequisite of the whole process, but particularly prior to the committal of a plan to the formal programming process. In the construction industry, planning has all too often been afforded insufficient credence. In many cases this is because not enough attention is given to the purposes for which a plan is required, leading to a failure to produce programmes that are consistent with the planning objectives, Tavistock Institute (1966). This tends either to bring the planning process into disrepute, or to the setting up of an intensely bureaucratic management regime. Now, there are a number of aspects of maintenance that require planning, which may not necessarily be part of a formal planned maintenance programme. For example, it may have been decided to institute a programme of planned inspections to verify that statutory requirements are being fulfilled, or considered prudent to operate a planned replacement policy, as part of a preventive maintenance programme, Chanter and Swallow (2005). This may operate separately from an on-going planned maintenance programme. Within any maintenance organisation there will be planned and unplanned work. The balance between the two will vary, depending on the nature of the organisation and its attitude to building maintenance. A low level of planned maintenance in an organisation does not necessarily reflect a poor attitude, as it may be appropriate for the given situation. It is quite possible to envisage a scenario where the introduction of a sophisticated planned system is not justifiable. For example, the owner of an estate consisting of one relatively simple building may choose to carry out all maintenance on demand, and plan only relatively obvious items, such as a redecoration every four years. The latter mentioned may be carried out on an ad-hoc basis. This closely mirrors the approach of the owner/occupier of a dwelling house, and is an inevitable consequence of work which is characterised by a large number of relatively small, low level operations and a small number of larger ones, Gibson (1979). The latter are more likely to be foreseeable ones, and hence planned for. They are likely to fall into two categories, namely, . A regular on-going requirement to perform certain operations, such as decoration. These tasks will tend to be cyclical in nature and, in theory at least, quite conveniently form part of a rolling programme. . Major renewal or repair projects which, from time-to-time become necessary. For example, there may be a programme instituted by a housing association to replace all flat roof coverings over a fixed time period. Some of these larger exercises fall into the category of what may be termed preventive maintenance, and need to have been subjected to a rigorous decision making process, Lees and Wordsworth (2001). For example, a decision to replace flat roof coverings ahead of failure is a preventive measure. In reaching this decision, account would have been taken of the disruption and possible consequential damage of not replacing until failure had occurred. In addition to this the aims of planned maintenance programmes with regard to estate planning are extremely diverse and, hence, many types of programmes will be encountered. The applications of the basic principles of planning are of paramount importance to estate planning, Chanter and Swallow (2005). In particular, it is essential to define the objectives of maintenance plans very accurately at the outset, to ensure their relevance, and to enable them to be realistically formulated. These objectives may include all or a combination of the following: . To help ensure that major defects are rectified and that the building fabric is maintained to a defined acceptable, safe and legally correct, standard. . To sustain the building condition at an acceptable level and prevent undue deterioration of the building fabric and services by preventive means. . To preserve the utility of the estate as an asset, and maintain its value . To maintain the engineering and utility services in an optimum condition to safeguard the environmental conditions of the building, and hence its productive capacity. . By effective planning, to ensure that maintenance is conducted, over a number of years, in a sensible sequence which reflects a careful consideration of priorities. . By proper planning, to ensure that maintenance operations are carried out in the most effective way to ensure that best value for money is being obtained and the best use is being made of scare resources. . To provide a tool for financial management, in particular budgetary control, and to assist maintenance managers in bidding for financial resources. . As part of a broader facilities management scenario, to assist management to relate programmed repairs and maintenance to other demands and alternatives, such as refurbishment, redevelopment or changes in leasing policy. The characteristics of maintenance work make accurate and comprehensive long-term predictions rather difficult. It is therefore necessary to define carefully what is realistically possible, and have an explicit recognition of levels of uncertainty. Because of this all programmes will need to have built into them some flexibility to permit modification if necessary and up-dating in order to ensure their continuing relevance. CONCLUSION It will be worthwhile to conclude that although the relevance of condition surveys to the implementation of planned preventative maintenance programmes for strategic estate planning enables an efficient allocation of scare resources such as funds and management expertise through periodic inspections of a property portfolio; its practice in scope within the UK is rather limited. Hence, authorities such as the audit commission should promote and ensure that condition surveys are carried out at the beginning of an estate management plan in which an adherence should be complied to, so that resources with regard to property portfolio are used efficiently, rather than wasted.

Essay --

1. PAPILDYTOS REALYBÄâ€"S MIKROPROGRAMÃ… ² SAVYBÄâ€"S IR REIKALAVIMAI 1.1 Papildytos realybÄâ€"s samprata ir savybÄâ€"s Papildyta realybÄâ€" (angl. augmented reality, lietuviÃ… ¡kai dar vadinama iÃ… ¡plÄâ€"stine tikrove) – tai sparÄ iai populiarÄâ€"janti nauja technologija, leidÃ… ¾ianti realiu laiku per vaizdo stebÄâ€"jimo Ä ¯rangÄ… matomÄ… vaizdÄ… papildyti virtualiais objektais ir informacija (1 pav.). Tarp daugybÄâ€"s skaitmeniniÃ… ³ nuotraukÃ… ³, televizijos reklamÃ… ³ ir video filmÃ… ³ kartais sunku suprasti, kur prasideda papildyta realybÄâ€", o kur tik skaitmeniniai elementai. Grafikos redagavimo programa (pavyzdÃ… ¾iui „Photoshopâ€Å" ar „Corel Drawâ€Å") nuotraukos realÃ… ³ vaizdÄ… papildÃ… ¾ius 2D iÃ… ¡galvotais objektais, papildyta realybÄâ€" nebus sukuriama – nÄâ€"ra 3D elementÃ… ³ ir interaktyvumo, o tai yra labai svarbios Ã… ¡ios technologijos sÄ…lygos. Ã…  iai technologijai taip pat nepriskiriami filmai ir televizija. Kai kurie filmai, tokie kaip „JÃ… «ros periodo parkasâ€Å" ar „Avatarasâ€Å" gausiai naudoja erdvinius ir virtualius objektus, sklandÃ… ¾iai perdengtus su realia 3D aplinka, taÄ iau jie nÄâ€"ra interaktyvÃ… «s ir negali bÃ… «ti priskirti papildytai realybei. Siekiant plaÄ iau Ä ¯sigilinti Ä ¯ papildytos realybÄâ€"a sÄ…vokÄ…, iÃ… ¡skirsime tris pagrindines jos savybes [9]: 1) galimybÄ™ sujungti tikrÄ… ir virtualiÄ… informacijÄ…; 2) papildyta realybÄâ€" yra interaktyvi realiu laiku; 3) papildyta realybÄâ€" veikia ir yra naudojama 3D aplinkoje. Papildytos realybÄâ€"s sistemos dÄâ€"l naudojamÃ… ³ platformÃ… ³ gali bÃ… «ti skirstomos Ä ¯ dvi kategorijas: mobilias ir fiksuotas. Mobili papildytos realybÄâ€"s sistema suteikia vartotojui judÄâ€"jimo laisvÄ™ daugybÄâ€"je aplinkÃ… ³, o fiksuota sistema atvirkÃ… ¡Ã„ iai – negali bÃ… «ti perkelta ir yra naudojama tik ten, kur yra Ä ¯rengta. IÃ… ¡skiriamos keturios papildytos realybÄâ€"s platformos: 1) asmeniniai kompiuteriai su internetinÄâ€"mis kamero... ...aguoja Ä ¯ Ã… ¾mogaus ar kitÃ… ³ objektÃ… ³ prisilietimus, ir suteikia jiems virtualiÄ… informacijÄ… realiu laiku. Tinkamiausias pavyzdys Ã… ¡iam metodui suvokti yra „Microsoftâ€Å" projektas „LightSpaceâ€Å", kuriame panaudota papildyta realybÄâ€" ir 2007-ais metais iÃ… ¡leistas „Microsoftâ€Å" stalinis kompiuteris „Surface. „LightSpaceâ€Å" sukuria aplinkÄ…, kurioje bet koks pavirÃ… ¡ius ir netgi erdvÄâ€" tarp tÃ… ³ pavirÃ… ¡iÃ… ³ yra visiÃ… ¡kai interaktyvÃ… «s [12]. Kombinacija tarp pavirÃ… ¡inÄâ€"s kompiuterijos ir papildytos realybÄâ€"s yra vadinama erdvine kompiuterija (angl. spatial computing). „LightSpaceâ€Å" kameros ir projektoriai yra sukalibruoti Ä ¯ 3D realaus pasaulio koordinates, kurios Ä ¯galina tas kameras ir projektorius atvaizduoti bei stebÄâ€"ti grafines projekcijas ant bet kokio pavirÃ… ¡iaus – tam nÄâ€"ra reikalingas skaitmeninis pavirÃ… ¡ius. Ä ®diegus tokiÄ… sistemÄ… Ä ¯ bet kokiÄ… patalpÄ… ji tampa skaitmenine, interaktyvia erdve [13].

Aristotle :: biographies biography bio

Background Again, men in general desire the good, and not merely what their fathers had. - Aristotle, Politics * Aristotle was born in 384 BC at Stagira in northern Greece. * He was the son of Nicomachus, a physician with close connections to the Macedonian court. * Some believe it to be his father's influence that gave Aristotle his interest in anatomy and the structure of living things in general. * He was a Greek philosopher and scientist. Life / Career Education is the best provision for the journey to old age. - Aristotle * Aristotle went to Athens to study at Plato's Academy at the age of 17. He stayed for 20 years, first as a student and then as a teacher. * Aristotle moved to Assos, a city in Asia Minor, after the death of Plato in 347 BC. Here he counseled his friend, Hermias of Atarneus, and married Hermias' niece and adopted daughter, Pythias. * After Hermias' execution at the hands of the Persians in 345 BC, Aristotle travelled to Pella, the Macedonian capital. * In 342 BC, he began tutoring King Philip II's young son Alexander, who later became known as Alexander the Great. * When Alexander became king in 335 BC, Aristotle returned to Athens where he founded his own school, the Lyceum. * The Lyceum was involved in a greater range of subjects than the Academy, even during Plato's time. * The Lyceum was often refered to as the Peripatetic ('walking' or 'strolling') school because many teacher-student discussions took place while walking on its grounds. * Aristotle spent the last year of his life at a family estate in Chalcis on the Aegean island of what is now Evvoia. He died in 322 BC. # Many believe Aristotle to be the most influential philosopher in the history of Western thought. * The logic of this last century was based on much of his thoughts and logic.

Advantages of Rainwater Harvesting in a Modern World

Professor Renville English I 14 September 2012 The Advantages of Rainwater Harvesting in a Modern World Picture yourself on a hot summer day†¦is water involved? Does your damp skin feel the cooling effect of a light breeze? Maybe you’re thirsty and sipping on a glass of lemonade, ice cubes bobbing at the surface. Perhaps you are at the beach, listening to the waves crash onto the shore, or you’re in your backyard hearing the sprinklers on the lawn. Yes, water is involved. Water, in all of its forms, is one of the most essential substances on Earth and provides the opportunity for life.We, as a society, take water for granted. Every day, if you want water, all you have to do is walk to the nearest sink and turn it on. There is no thought as to where that water comes from, or the fact that it may not be there forever. Our everyday consumption behaviors such as showering and clothes washing can have a significant impact on the environment. Imagine a future where water is scarce and restricted. How would you survive? All over the world regions with sustainable ground water balance are shrinking every day.This can be due to depletion because of overdraft, salinization from inadequate drainage or pollution from agricultural and industrial activity. In Yemen alone, ground water extraction is expected to exceed recharge by 400 percent. Aquifers in Mexico are declining at an average rate of 1. 79 to 3. 3 meters per year (Shah, Molden, Sakthivadivel and Seckler, 2000). At such an alarming rate of recession, it is important to find another alternative source of water to help recoup some of the ground water supply.For this reason I do believe that rainwater harvesting is a viable option to substitute ground water extraction in some regions and to help replenish ground water. About 70% of the Earth is covered with water, and 96. 5% of that is part of the oceans. Only a small portion of the Earth’s water is fresh water. 1. 7% is below ground and 1. 8% is above ground in ice caps, glaciers and permanent snow, with only . 06% usable above ground in lakes, rivers and swamps (Shah, Molden, Sakthivadivel and Seckler 2000). Rainwater harvesting can be used in many ways.Rainwater can be used as water for livestock, irrigation for crops, to water plants around your house, to replace water for showering, flushing your toilet, for your dishwasher or for laundry, and with the right treatment, it can be used for drinking water. There are many advantages to rainwater harvesting. After the initial cost for equipment, rainwater harvesting is essentially free. It eliminates the need for intricate and expensive dispensing systems. It can replace groundwater supplies where the groundwater is unacceptable or unavailable or it can increase finite ground water supplies.Rainwater has a nearly neutral pH and is not hard, so it eliminates the need for adding salts for softening the water and it is also sodium free. Plants thrive in rainwater (as seen when it rains). One of the most interesting aspects of rainwater harvesting is learning about the methods of capture, storage and use. The idea of rainwater harvesting is to intercept precipitation before it gets dirty. Contamination can still take place in the air, on the collection surface or in the storage facility itself. For that reason it may be more desirable to treat the water or restrict it to non-potable use (non-potable meaning not for consumption).Boiling is resource intensive and there is the danger of accidental scalding. Chemical disinfection requires some management, but it is well understood and compatible with water storage (Thomas 1998). However, possibly the best way to treat rainwater is via a filtration system. When assessing the health risks of drinking rainwater, consider the path taken by the raindrop through a watershed into a reservoir, through water treatment and distribution systems to you, the consumer. Water absorbs contaminants and minerals on its wa y to the reservoir.While in the reservoir, the water can come into contact with all kinds of materials: oil, animal wastes, chemical, pharmaceutical and industrial pollution and trash. It is the water treatment plant’s job to remove contaminants and kill pathogens, however when chlorine is used, it degrades into byproducts that may pose health risks. The raindrop harvested on site will travel down a roof by way of a gutter to a storage tank. Before it is used for drinking, it is treated by a simple process with filtration equipment that occupies about nine cubic feet of space (Krishna 2005).Rainwater harvesting can also reduce the volume of storm water lessening the impact on erosion and decreasing the load on storm sewers. This would help to keep pollutants, such as pesticides and fertilizers, out of rivers and ground water (Krishna 2005). The summer of 2012 was harsh. Several regions suffered. Almost 61% of the country was in drought according to Brian Fuchs in an interview with USA Today posted on their website July 17, 2012. Rain was few and far between, however a lot of rainwater was wasted. Having water shipped in can be very expensive, and so many farmers cannot afford the added cost.Harvesting rainwater for irrigation is already utilized in some regions of the world such as India where the bulk of their rainfall happens in about 100 hours of heavy downpour with little time to replenish the ground water supply (Keller, Sakthivadivel and Seckler 2000). If more farmers would utilize rainwater harvesting during the times that it does rain, and build up a back up supply, then when rain is scarce, more of their crops could be irrigated, helping to offset some of the devastation. Next year, in 2013, the prices of gas as well as groceries are expected to rise immensely because of the scarcity of crops in 2012.It is no surprise that rainwater harvesting is utilized more in poorer countries where it is generally more difficult to get clean water; however, in the long term clean water scarcity is expected to intensify globally, even in richer countries (Thomas 1998). Systems can be as simple as a rain barrel for garden irrigation at the end of a downspout or the can be as complex as a potable (for consumption) system. It makes sense, then, that for showers and flushing the toilet, rainwater could be used to offset using water from other sources that are shrinking annually.Only three key elements are needed for this: a collection surface, such as a roof, guttering and a storage tank large enough to moderate fluctuations in usage and rainfall (Thomas 1998). It is the third element that poses the greatest cost burden, however it may be worth it to try to help alleviate groundwater usage and eventual depletion. From a financial perspective, a system for potable use cannot compete with water supplied from a municipality; however, it is cost-competitive with the installation of a well in rural settings (Krishna 2005). An estimated 100,000 residential rainwater harvesting systems are in use in he United States (Krishna 2005). More are being installed by gardeners and homeowners seeking a sustainable, high-quality water source. Rainwater harvesting is recognized as an important water conserving measure. I am not proposing that anyone completely rely on rainwater for their household consumption. It would be very hard to rely solely on a rainwater supply. However to try to supplement some every day water usage such as shower water, toilet water or even water for laundry would greatly benefit the water supply and, in the end, the planet. Works Cited Krishna, Dr.Hari J. â€Å"Texas Manual on Rainwater Harvesting. † Texas Water Development Board (2005). Print. Pandey, Deep Narayan, Anil K. Gupta, and David M. Anderson â€Å"Rainwater Harvesting As an Adaptation to Climate Change. † Current Science, Vol 85 (2003). PDF file. Shah, Tushaar, David Molden, R. Sakthivadivel and David Seckler. â€Å"The Global Groun dwater Situation: Overview of Opportunities and Challenges. † International Water Management Institute (2000). Print. Thomas, Terry. â€Å"Domestic Water Supply Using Rainwater Harvesting. † Diss. University of Warwick (1998). Print.

Social Welfare System in Hong Kong

Question 1: Identify one type of the social welfare, discuss its services of Hong Kong and a)explain its values, rationales and objectives; b)ways of service delivery; c)discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the service and d)make suggestions to improve the services in future. CSSA—AN INTRODUCTION The comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme (CSSA) is surely one of the most influential social welfare in Hong Kong, in terms of money and beneficiary.In the fiscal year of 2010 alone, 19 billion was spent on CSSA, which increased noticeably by 40% as compared with the expenditure ten years ago. As at the end of 2009, total number of CSSA cases amounted to 289 139, representing an increase of 25. 3% over 1999. CSSA accounted for 8. 6% of government recurrent expenditure, compared with 7. 5% in 2000. During 1999 to 2009, the average growth in total number of cases per annum was 2. 3%. In fact, the growth rate of CSSA cases is expected to accelerate because the growth of eld erly population will peak in 2016-2026.In other words, the problem is not coming yet. But it will within 10 years. In view of the potential alarming situation, there is an urgent need to investigate the effectiveness of the scheme. This essay will give a brief review of the captioned scheme as well as to discuss possible ways to improve the services in the future, making the most effective use of government resources. CSSA—ITS VALUES, RATIONALES AND OBJECTIVES The CSSA Scheme was introduced in 1993, replacing the former Public Assistance Scheme, and evolved over the past 20 years into the current complex system.It is designed to provide a safety net for individuals or families who cannot support themselves financially for various reasons such as old age, disability, illness, unemployment and low earnings. The CSSA Scheme provides financial assistance to bring the income of such individuals or families up to a prescribed level to meet their basic needs. All CSSA recipients are entitled to free medical treatment at public hospitals or clinics. It is administered by the Social Welfare Department (SWD) and is non-contributory but means-tested.APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS To be eligible for assistance, the applicant must satisfy the residence requirements, that is, to have resided in Hong Kong continuously for at least one year before the date of application and be a Hong Kong resident for seven years. Yet, exception can be granted for discretion. They must also pass both the income and assets tests. To pass the income test means the applicant’s total assessable monthly household income is insufficient to meet their total monthly needs as recognized under the Scheme.To pass the asset test means the total value of the capital assets held by the applicant is below the prescribed limit. If the applicant lives with other family members, the application shall be made on a household basis. On top of the basic subsistence support, there is a number of supplement s, like disability, old age, community living, single parent, transport supplement, which is too excessive to mention here. A person can make an application directly to a social security field unit, or by referral to the Social Welfare Department by another government department or a non-governmental organization.Upon receipt of an application, staff of the SWD will conduct investigation and verification of the applicant’s circumstances. It is usually completed in a month and is very convenient. CSSA—ITS STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES Generally speaking CSSA has been quite effective in providing a safety nets towards the needy, whether the amount of grants is sufficient or not is subject to argument, one has to acknowledge the fact that there is no major starvation/freezing death caused by poverty in recent years. The general living conditions and nutrition’s of the poor improved, compared many years ago.In the past, social welfare is just a feeding station, or remedy measures after the problems exist, CSSA, with its recent reform of adding more and more subsidies like disabilities, elderly, transport supplement†¦etc, is a rather complicated cash transfer framework, which definitely, effectively created a safety net and contributed a part of improving peoples’ living standard. It seems that CSSA was able to fulfill the very basic philosophy of social security policy and social policy in general terms, which is residual or remedial. CSSA is somewhat a passive scheme as a rescue if the applicant himself, or his family failed to help.It is remedial because it functions only if you fall and will not prevent you from falling. This is of no doubt that CSSA can solve immediate issues, but not the root of it. In fact there are changes that CSSA can make to help better cope with this problem. Moreover, there is room of improvement of the efficiency of the scheme, as it has become more and more complex that something can be done to make it mor e efficient as a safety net. And as progress, it is vital that we look at the possible policy that can be adjusted to better cope with the situation as things do change over time.One of the major characteristics of CSSA is that it is a means tested scheme. In a nutshell, as long as the applicant meets the requirements, the applicants are entitled to get the benefits, as a matter of right. What they do is to assess the quantitative elements of the applicants, such as how many assets they have, how much they earn per month, the severity of his sickness, and treat them as fair as possible, without looking at their background, their ability, the reason they apply for the scheme.As a government servant, I comprehend the difficulty to do so because their job is to do assessment on the financial criteria. But CSSA is not just simple financial assistance, ideally speaking. When the unemployed come for assistance, their problem is not just short of money for assistance, they are unable or no t willing to find jobs which they do not like or do not match their skills or think the wage is too low for him. Recent news reporting a postgraduate graduated from The Chinese University of Hong Kong is an example. CSSA applicants have problems besides financing.I dare say a considerably proportion of staff running the program are not equipped with the skills that can deal with the key issue, thus missed the chance of preliminary investigation of the candidate while looking at the documents and data before the grant. However, CSSA is far from sufficient to provide something constructive, to help the recipients for taking constructive acts to participate in society. Right now we see that, the community is increasingly dependent, which is harmful. The CSSA should abandon the passive strategy of simply looking at needs and handing out cash.This can be done by demanding the recipients to take steps to help themselves as a prerequisite to receive the payments. It has in fact already bee n adopted and have a positive result. With the introduction of the intensified Support for Self-reliance Scheme measures in June 2003, there was a rapid deceleration in the rate of increase in unemployment cases during June to September 2003, the number of cases also started to decline as from October 2003 to October 2008. But the unemployment case started to rise since 2009, and almost reached the level of 1999, which is the year of financial crisis.As a suggestion, the said scheme can add community service work as a component of the criteria of getting subsistence, such as to clean toilets in governmental departments, of some minimum hours per month as a way to encourage them to contribute to the society. Back to the postgraduate in CU as an example, of course he will get something better than looking after elderly as a job! Even if he cannot do so what he has done will be beneficial to the society. Moreover, the scheme is becoming more complicated as more and more supplement and discretionary items have been added.It is no longer a system that is administratively simple or efficient. The lack of training of the said officials and the complexity the system deter the efficiency of the officials to tackle the applicants specific needs, rather in a degree enhanced their reliability on CSSA. Alternative of solving the problems, despite of training workers, is to tidy up the current structure of the administration, such as diving the recipients into categories, with their own eligibility criteria, referrals, conditions of assistance and kinds of help to offer.Bureau working on this will be, despite more systematic, will have a much more clear idea of how to help the applicant and in turn, the applicant received a better idea of their benefit and get better helped. For instance the financial needs of the elderly should be considered with their health care. They may, because worrying insufficient money to pay their health care, save the already little grants receiv ed from CSSA, sacrificing their living quality. There seems little cooperation with the Social Welfare department with relevant charity organizations.The same applies to other groups, like, for single parents family, which they save the CSSA for family services. I have already made the point through the above that CSSA, generally speaking is effective and have done a good job in providing a safety net to Hong Kong, by a one-way handout of cash. But it can, in fact, requiring the recipients to contribute back to the society by adding a component of voluntary services element into the scheme. This, on one hand can screen out people who do not really need CSSA, thus focusing to the resources and attention to those desperately in need.And on the other hand to help those screened out forcing them getting back to the mainstream. And as mentioned about, the efficiency of the CSSA system can be more efficient by adopting a categorical approach, better matching the skills of staff working th erein and the background of recipients. In a nutshell, CSSA do create some sort of dependency because, looking at the amount of CSSA cases and the economy of Hong Kong it is not very much correlated. That suggests that the determining factor for the number of people on welfare is, maybe the welfare system itself.Therefore it is very critical for the government to formulate its social welfare policy so that the policy will not create dependency by itself, better organizing structure of manpower, so the budget can save a few billion and most importantly, better matching of resources and helping those really in need. (1719 words) Reference: 1. Research and Statistics Section, Social Welfare Department, Statistics on Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme, 1999 to 2009 2. Social Welfare Department, A Guide to Comprehensive Social Security Assistance