The negative influent that the American media has on the psyche of Essay

The negative influent that the American media has on the psyche of American teenagers in terms of violence amoung teens - Essay Example â€Å"An increasing number of public and private school administrators face situations involving serious violence perpetrated by and against adolescents. School officials are responding by adding violence prevention programs-often a commercially available ‘off-the-shelf’ package-to their schools already overcrowded curricula† (Posner,1998). There are many programs designed to fight the effects of media violence in the US on teens, and in other ways decrease violent behavior. These programs are distinct logarithms enforced by institutional and extra-institutional (sometimes political) interests, and they have not always been seen to be successful. In many cases, these programs are not specifically tailored towards the usually-small percentage of students who have problems with gang violence or are carrying weapons, and instead wind up cultivating student paranoia and negative involvement. Often, students are even profiled by these programs in terms of their style of dress or speech, and this may create a self-fulfilling prophecy in which students are seen to embrace the type of behavior attributed to them by gang violence prevention programs. Looking at media in the US and the relationship to youth violence, it has been stated that, â€Å"violence often results from a complex interaction of environmental, social, and psychological factors such as the learned behavior of responding to conflict with violence, the effects of drugs or alcohol, the presence of weapons, the absence of positive family relationships and adult supervision† (Posner, 1998). Not all of the reasons may be due to the media: many students who do not have positive family relationships and structured time under supervision during their hours away from school may see that by pursuing positive extracurricular activities that accentuate their futures rather than throwing their futures away by indulging in patterns of gang membership

Using SPSS computerized statistical tool Research Paper

Using SPSS computerized statistical tool - Research Paper Example As discussed previously, descriptive statistics is an important concept that helps researchers to summarize large data set and draw meaning from them. Tables, graphs and pie charts have been deemed the best in describing data.From the analysis, it is evident that with regards to highest qualification of the respondents, a greater proportion of respondents had acquired high school education 1003 representing 49.6%, followed by those who were bachelor’s holders 355 representing 17.5% of the sample, the individual with lower high school being 297 representing 14.7% of the sample, those with post graduate came forth with 194 individual contributing to 9.6% of the sample and lastly those who have junior college qualification were 173 representing 8.6% of the sample (Fig. 1). Concerning hours worked in the last week, the number of children and total family income, the descriptive table below summarizes it all. It is evident from the analysis that on average, families had 2children w ith the biggest family having 8 children while the smallest having no child. On average, respondents worked for 42 hours in the last week, having a standard deviation of 14.480.The highest number of hours worked standing at 89 while the shortest being 1 hour. Based on coding adopted, the maximum and minimum total family income are over $150,000 and under $1,000. From the histogram above, the mean age is 77.7 years with a standard deviation of 17.35 years, meaning that majority fell between 30.36 and 65.06 years.

Sen’s Theorem: Overview and Analysis

Sen’s Theorem: Overview and Analysis Table of Contents (Jump to) 1. Introduction 2. A Review of Sen’s Theorem 3. The Rise of New Interpretation 4. Merits of the New Interpretation 5. Conclusion References 1. Introduction The Sen’s theorem has an important impact on the decision and social choice theory. In the Nobel Prize lecture of 1998, Sen said that discovering the societal decision rules will be the main objective of the choice theory. However, Sen found it is difficult to achieve this objective in his paper of â€Å"Impossibility of a Paretian Liberal† (Sen, 1970a, b, 1976c). Sen’s theorem states that it is impossible to achieve the minimal aspect of liberalism when it is combined with the Pareto condition. According to the theorem of Sen, it seems that there is a fundamental conflict between the Pareto welfare concepts and the liberalism. After this argument, there is a pooling of studies that focus on the individual rights and there are also studies that find new interpretation for the theorem of Sen. According to Saari and his collaborators, the cyclic decision outcomes established by Sens theorem describe a transitional, dysfunctional state of society. This essay will mainly explain how this interpretation arises and discuss its merits relative to the original interpretation offered by Sen. The essay will be structured as follow: in the second session, the essay will briefly introduce the Sen’s Theorem regarding to the conflicting results between Pareto Optimal and Liberalism. Examples will also be used to better illustrate the choice decisions. In the third session, the essay will how and why there will be new interpretations of the theorem of Sen. Particularly, the essay will base its argument on the research results of Saari and his collaborators. In the fourth session, the essay will discuss the merits of the new interpretation compared with the interpretation by Sen himself. In the last session, a brief conclusion will be made based on the analysis in the previous se ssion. 2. A Review of Sen’s Theorem The Sens impossibility of a paretian libertarian theorem or Sens paradox Paratian liberal states that weak Pareto criterion and liberalism may have conflicts on the fundamental level, which indicated that the Pareto criterion is flawed. On one hand, it shows that the Pareto criteria only consider aspects of difference in efficiency among relevant states while ignoring the individual utility conflicts arising because of these states. On the other hand, the theorem also shows the in addition to considering some reasonable internal conditions, one also needs to consider issues such as liberalism for social order decision making. According to Sen, there are some choices that are purely of personal nature, such as the state (x) means everything else in the society as ÃŽ ©, when A is sleeping supine, state (y) means everything else in society as ÃŽ ©, when A is sleeping prostrate. If A has a preference of y than x, while many others in the society prefer the opposite, then it can be consid ered that social choice between x and y is a purely personal thing, because A is the only a real person that is related to the choice while other people are just nosy person. It can also be considered that one can choose one such a collective choice rule where As preference should be accurately reflected by social preferences in this purely personal nature choices (Sen, 1970). Based on this point, Sen emphasizes that people should pay attention to the study of individual rights and other issues affecting the social choice order and decision making. The new welfare economics and welfare economics research before the new welfare economics are consciously or unconsciously avoid these problems. Sen (1970) found that the Pareto criterion is incompatible with liberalism. Pareto optimality is used by the economists and other social scientists to measure the efficiency of society, which is also the the most common and widespread, even the only indicator. It refers to such a state that we are good as it gets, no one can make an additional welfare without compromising the welfare of others. And the principles of individual freedom are the relentless pursuit of mankind, both of which are on the intuition that people can fully accept and understand. However, Sens theorem shows that these two attractive standards are contradictory and cannot be simultaneously true. 3. The Rise of New Interpretation There are three assumptions that Sen’s theorem is based on and the realistic of these assumptions will be one reason why there will be new interpretations for the Sen’s theorem. First, the essay will briefly introduce the assumptions related to the Sen’s theorem. An unrestricted area principle; The Pareto principle; The minimum principles of liberalism (ML), which states society should give at least two people the right to choose between at least a pair of social status. If one thinks that A better than B, then society should not interfere and should agree with the preference. With Sens words, if you want sleeping supine and did not want to sleep prostrate, the society should agree with it. However, Sen also prove that for two or more people in the society, there exist no social choice functions that simultaneously satisfy these above three conditions because there will be the similar results of cyclical Condorcet voting paradox revealed by Arrow Impossibility Theorem when Pareto optimal is in combination with a minimum principle of liberalism. Sen’s theorem on freedom of the Pareto impossibility can be accurately described as: there does not exist the collective decision rule that meets the following conditions. The first condition is a sort of rational conditions. The sort is reflexive, relevance, and the preference relation is not circulating. Reflexive means for any choice x has xRx, which indicates that any choice is at least as good as its own. Relevance means for any two options, there must be xRy or yRx or both. The second condition is weak Pareto criterion. For any choice of x and y, if everyone i think xPiy, then the society also thinks that xPy. The third condition is the minimal liberalism. In this condition, there are two non-empty, disjoint subsets L1 and L2, two different options for the (a, b) and (c, d), if everyone in L1 considers a is better than b, then the society also thinks that a is better than b; if everyone in L1 thinks that b is better than a, then b is also better than a for the society. Similarly, if everyone in L2 believes that c is better than d, then the society also thinks that c is better than d; if everyone in L2 thinks d is better than c, then the society t hinks also that d is better than c. The two groups were decisive on the choice between the two groups. Anyone is free to do what he likes to do, which means there are some choices that are entirely personal, personal preferences should not be affected by some other people. How to walk out of Sens paradox? Mueller has proposed two solutions in the â€Å"public choice theory . One is to let the Pareto principle in some cases to comply with the right to liberalism. The other is through Pareto transactions. As Mueller noted, the matrix is similar to game theory, for example a state in the famous prisoners dilemma, and the Pareto inferior results are due to the independent exercise of each person in his own right, regardless of the damage to others such externalities. The results of Sen’s theorem are established mainly through examples. There are no rigorous proofs on the results why there will be inconsistency of minimal liberalism and Pareto conditions. The results are basically based on the assumption that there are conflicts between the Pareto Conditions and the Minimal Liberalism. There are questions keep asking whether the assumption is true and what if the cyclic societal rankings are not due to these conditions? In fact, in 1998 and 2001, Saari argues that the real reason of the seminal result of Sen’s theorem is not related to the nature of the Pareto condition and the Minimal Liberalism. The reason is that Pareto conditions and Minimal Liberalism needs the societal rankings to be made over pairs, which dismiss the transitivity of individual preferences. Therefore, it is not the conflicts between societal need and individual rights that undermine the assumption of individual rationality; it is the concentration of pairs that leads to the ignorance of individual rationality. And Saari also made geometric proof on this argument, which provides a new interpretation for the Sen’s theorem. 4. Merits of the New Interpretation There are several advantages of the new interpretation compared to the one that Sen present in the original version. First of all, the theorem carried out by Saari and his collaborates are proved using geometric proof, instead of using only examples and assumptions to derive the final results. In addition, the new interpretation can explain all the examples used by Sen in his prior papers and the new interpretation also supports Sen’s own interpretation that the three conditions in Sen’s theorem force the decisions to be made by ignoring the individual rationality. The new interpretation also thinks that the decision rule also wants to meet the demand in the cyclic preference (Saari 2001; Saari and Petron, 2004). Secondly, the geometric proof of the new interpretations has identified all possible profiles that support any examples of Sen’s model. In addition, Saari and his collaborates have also significantly expanded on earlier observations by providing a new statistical interpretation for Sen’s Theorem. And they also conclude that the cyclic decision outcomes established by Sens theorem describe a transitional, dysfunctional state of society. Thirdly, the new interpretation has pointed a new direction for the movements of individual rights. Compared with the interpretation by Sen, the new interpretation focus more on the intensity minimal liberalism, which will leads to social decision procedures without cyclic outcomes and at the same time satisfy weak Pareto conditions. They pointed out the deeper reason of the ignorance of individual rationality instead of concluding that the reason is because of the inconsistency of the Pareto condition and the Minimal Liberalism. 5. Conclusion As discussed in the previous session, the Sen’s theorem provides a good direction for the research of individual rights. And there are many researchers working on the topic to find new interpretation for the seminal results of Sen’s theory. Saari and his collaborates find that Minimal Liberalism makes some of the information in the society irrelevant. However, depending on that information, individual preferences may or may not be transitive. Therefore, they conclude that Minimal Liberalism makes transitivity information irrelevant and this happens for any possible example of Sen’s cycles. They find a way to solve this problem and the response to this is to modify Minimal Liberalism in a way that is sensitive to transitivity information. They use the Intensity Minimal Liberalism (IML), which is a decisive that agent can impose his preferences only when the choice does not create a strong negative externality for some other agent. And they finally find that there are social decision procedures without cyclic outcomes that satisfy weak Pareto and IML, which provides a new interpretation for the Sen’s theorem. The new interpretation finds a more appropriate way to proof Sen’s theorem and expends Sen’s theorem in several aspects. References Li, I. and D.G. Saari 2008. ‘Sen’s theorem: geometric proof, new interpretations’, Social Choice and Welfare 31: 393-413. Focus especially on pages 393-401. Petron, A and D.G. Saari 2006. `Negative externalities and Sens liberalism theorem, Economic Theory 28: 265-281. Read Sections 1 to 4. Saari, D. G. (1995). Basic Geometry of Voting, Springer-Verlag, New York Saari, D. G. (1998). Connecting and resolving Sen’s and Arrow’s Theorems, Social Choice Welfare 15, 239-261 Saari, D. G. (2001). Decisions and Elections; Explaining the Unexpected, Cambridge University Press, New York Saari, D. G., and Petron, A. (2004). (April), Negative Externalities and Sen’s Liberalism Theorem, IMBS working papers, University of California, Irvine, to appear in Economic Theory,June, 2006. Saari, D. G. and Sieberg, K. (2001). The sum of the parts can violate the whole, American Political Science Review 95, 415-433. Salles, M. (1997). On Modelling Individual Rights: Some Conceptual Issues: Discussion; p 129-133 in Social Choice Re-examined, Vol. 2; Ed. by K. J. Arrow, A. K. Sen, and K. Suzumura,St Martin’s Press New York. Sen, A. K. (1966). A Possibility Theorem on Majority Decisions, Econometrica, 34(2), 491-09. Sen, A. K. (1970a). Collective Choice and Social Welfare, Holden-Day, San Francisco. Sen, A. K. (1970b). The Impossibility of a Paretian Liberal, The journal of Political Economy, 78(1), 152-57. Sen, A. K. (1976). Liberty, Unanimity and Rights, Economica 43(171), 217-45. Sen, A. K., Liberty and Social Choice, Journal of Philosophy, 80(1), 5-28. Sen, A. K. (1992) Minimal Liberty, Economica, 59 (234), 139-60. Sen, A. K. (1999) The possibility of social choice. The American Economic Review 89 (3), 349-378

The Turkish Pogrom of 1955 and the Elimination of the Greek Minority of

With an official statement, issued on 7 September 1955, the Menderes government expressed its deepest sorrow for the losses suffered by Greek minority in Istanbul. The Turkish Prime Minister blamed the riots on communists, underlining its commitment to the exemplary punishment of the perpetrators (Xristidis 2000). The interpretation of the pogrom as a conspiracy of international communism was repeated during the extraordinary meeting of the Grand National Assembly, which took place on September 12, 1955. However, under the force of circumstances, Adnan Menderes admitted that the government knew about the demonstration on September 6th, in advance. Also, the Turkish Prime Minister argued that, the riot was a spontaneous expression of national sentiment of the Turkish people who was stimulated by the news about the imminent massacre of Turkish Cypriots on 28 August. Moreover, he stated that the hysteria that gripped the crowd was so strong that immobilized the police forces, which foun d themselves between their quest to restore order and their commitment to the homeland, thus leaving full freedom of movement to the protesters. The claim of the Turkish government that the country suffered a severe blow because of the Communists was met with scepticism by foreign observers (Guven 2006). First of all, the number of Communists in Turkey was small and secondly, their activities were under the watchful eyes of the Turkish Intelligence Services (MIT). It seems that, only a small percentage of people who were arrested immediately after the episodes were communists. The arrest of those who had communist beliefs, such as the well-known Turkish writer Aziz Nessin, was totally unjustified, since there was no evidence for their participation i... ...itly the Christian Orthodox and Jews, which were the largest minority groups from Turkey. In addition, according to nationalist elites, these minorities were assimilable thus, were not capable of becoming part of the Turkish nation. Also, they stated that, the Non-Muslim minorities, mainly the Greek, were not composed of loyal citizens but possible traitors to the Turkish state (Guven 2006). Adnan Menderes believed that was national and extremely important responsibility of every Turk to implement the Turkification, in an attempt to establish an independent Turkish state. A corollary of this concept was the effort of assimilation of the Greek minority by force, exercising a policy of discrimination and restrictions against it. In this context, the language, culture and desires of Non-Muslim minorities had to be connected with the history and dignity of Turks.

Peer-reviewed journal articles Essay

Purpose: The purpose of this assignment is to familiarize you with peer-reviewed journal articles published in psychological journals. By completing this assignment, you will learn how psychologists conduct research and communicate their findings. You will also learn how to critique psychological research. This assignment is worth a possible 50 points. The scoring rubric for this assignment is on the last page of this document. Directions (Part I): This is a two-part assignment and in this first part of the assignment, you are to review, and analyze the Stanley Milgram article provided by your professor. The complete citation for this article is: Milgram, S. (1963). Behavioral study of obedience. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, Vol 67(4), 371-378. Doi: 10.1037/h0040525 General Information: A peer-reviewed journal article has the following major sections: Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, References, Table and Figures. The abstract for th is article is a summary statement that highlights the information in the Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion sections of this research article. Before you can begin writing your critique assignment, you will need to read and understand the Stanley Milgram article. Here are your guidelines for writing your critique assignment: This paper should be three pages in length, including your cover page. Please note your instructor will schedule a mandatory library class session for your class. Use the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Style Manual (6th edition), create a page that includes: Running head Page number Title of Article Your name Class Professor’s name Hint: use â€Å"Word† to set-up/format your paper for APA style writing Write an introduction for your paper that includes the following: Who conducted the study? Why they conducted the study? Who were the subjects? What did the researchers hope to learn from their findings? What research methods were used? What were there results? Write a two paragraph critique that includes: The research methods used and findings How the study relates to the Psychology 1010 course, and What impact the research findings have had on you as a student in this course? Assignment Schedule Library Session either in class or online Learn how to access databases Learn about which journals are applicable to your major area Complete the PGCC’s Library Plagiarism and APA tutorials Take quiz In class or online small group activities Identify components of the Milgram Study – See Critique Assignment I Write your 1st draft and share it with your assigned peer-reviewer Re-write your 2nd draft and submit to your instructor for feedback Submit your final paper to your instructor for a grade SCORING RUBRIC FOR CRITIQUE I ASSIGNMENT Grading Criteria- Please see the rubric below. This assignment is worth a possible 50 points. CRITERIA A B C D F Analysis of the Components of a Research Article (i.e., problem statement, hypotheses, methodology, results and discussion) and a Critique of the importance of the article for the discipline and the general public 15 points Presents a thorough analysis of all components of a research article ( i.e., statement of the problem, hypotheses, methodology, results, discussion, and a critical analysis of the importance of the research for the discipline and the general public (14-15 points) Presents a thorough analysis of three components of a research article and includes a critical analysis of the importance of the research for the discipline and the general public (12-13 points) Presents an analysis of two of the components of a research  article and omits critical components of the research article and the critical analysis (10-11 points) Presents analysis of at least one component the research article and identifies at least one component of the critical analysis (i.e. states the importance of the study for the discipline and or the general public (8-9 points) No attempts are made to present an analysis of the components of the research article or to a critically analyze the importance of the study identified (0 points) Peer-reviewed Journal Article is integrated in the critique assignment 15 points Psychology peer-reviewed journal article is used to write the critique assignment; the research article is data-driven and fully integrated in the critique assignment (14-15 points) Psychology peer-reviewed journal article is data-drive and integrated in the critique assignment (12-13 points) Psychology peer-reviewed journal article is only mentioned in body of essay and not fully integrated into the critique assignment (10-11 points) Psychology peer-reviewed journal article is only mentioned in reference list (8-9 points) No psychology peer-reviewed journal is used (0 points) General Writing Skills (i.e., syntax and mechanics) 10 points Uses college level writing that skillfully communicates meaning to readers with clarity and fluency, and is error-free (9-10 points) Uses college level writing that generally conveys meaning to readers. The writing has 1 – 3 errors (8 points) Uses college level writing that generally conveys meaning to readers with clarity, although writing has 4 – 6 errors (7 points) Does not use college level writing consistently throughout the assignment and this sometimes impedes the meaning of the text because of 7-10 errors in usage and spelling (6 points) Do not use college level writing and is generally unresponsive to the task(s) because of errors in usage and spelling (0 points) APA Format 10 points Demonstrates detailed attention to and successful execution of psychological writing task including organization, content, presentation, formatting and stylistic choices ( 9-10 points) Demonstrates consistent use of important conventions particular to psychological writing task including organization, content, presentation, and stylistic choices (8 points) Follows expectations appropriate to psychological l writing task for basic organization, content and presentation (7 points ) Attempts to use a consistent system for basic organization and presentation (6 points ) No attempt to use a basic format for organization or presentation

Nike and Child Labour

Nike and child labour Nike is a household name when it comes to sports apparel and equipment. It has worked hard to burnish its image, especially by garnering endorsements from big names in the sports world,such as Michael Jordan. But in 1996 its silver image began to tarnish. It knew it was in trouble when an article on child labour in Pakistan appeared in Life magazine with a picture of a 12-year-old boy sewing a Nike soccer ball in a factory, and activists started showing up in front of Nike outlets holding posters with the boy's picture on it.Although child labour is illegal in Pakistan, the law is not enforced and child labour is widespread. The factory in question was not run by Nike, but by a subcontractor or supplier. Nonetheless,Nike was held responsible by many,especially in the US and Canada. One immediate result was a ,,Boycott Nike† movement, which has continued to monitor and report on Nike's actions. Nor was the report from Pakistan an isolated incident for Nike. Also in 1996, CBS's 48 Hours reported on working conditions in Vietnam, featuring Nike and the abuses of workers who made some of Nike's prosucts.Since 1996, Nike has been charged by critics with engaging in a variety of unethical employment practices in countries that exercise little or no control over the conditions of labour or whose governments are corrupt and can be bought off. For Nike had and continues to have a reputation for producing its products in less developed countries, known for the cheapest labour and the laxest law enforcement, including China, Viet Nam, Bangladesh and Indonesia.At Nike's invitation, the Viet Nam Labour Watch conducted a six-month investigation and its report details discrepancies between what Nike told American customers and what the group itself uncovered. One significant item in the report is the statement that non-Nike shoe factories the group visited in Vietnam had better working conditions and paid haigher wages. In 1998 , Nike pledged to ma ke sure its factories adhered to acceptable labour practices and agreed to let labour and human rights groups inspect its facilities.Yet its critics continued to track the company. In 2000, Victoria International Development Education Association (VIDEA) in Canada published a book of facts about Nike, which noted among other things that Nike, which paid its 80,000 Indonesian factory workers ten cents an hour,could double their wages at a cost of less than 20,000,000-the amount that Nike paid Michael Jordan for promoting its products. It paid $200 million to sponsor the Brazilian soccer team. VIDEA also claimed that the cost of making one pair of Nike running shoes was approximately $5. 0, although they retail for more than $100 and for as much as $189. The figures by themselves, of course, do not present the whole picture. However, at least on the surface they suggest exploitation of labour and a terrible disparity between manufacturing and advertising expenditures. In 2001, Nike's CEO, Philip Knight ,claimed that the company's policy with respect to the employment of child labour was ,,the highest in the world: 18 for footwear manufacturing, 16 for apparel and equipment. ‘ Nonetheless, he acknowledged that there were instances in which the company used contract factories abroad, where the policies had been violated. With respect to the company's violations in Cambodia, violations reported by the BBC, Mr. Knight cited the fact that evidence of age could buy there for as little as $5 and that, following the charge, the company re-examined all employee records there. The reply did not satisfy critics. The athletic shoe company has been the centre of a controversy over its responsibility for the mistreatment of the workers who make its shoes.Nike does not actually manufacture any of the athletic shoes it sells. Instead,Nike designs its shoes in Seattle,and then pays companies in developing countries (China, Indonesia, India, etc. ) to make the shoes accordi ng to these designs. These foreign supplier companies have directly mistreated and exploited their workers. Nike has claimed that it is not morraly responsible for this mistreatment, because the supplier companies caused the injuries of their employees. Thus, Nike itself did not cause the injuries.Critics have responded that although it is true that Nike did not directly cause the injuries, Nike could have prevented those injuries by forcing its suppliers to treat their workers humanely. If it is true that Nike had the power to prevent the injuries, and should have done so, then Nike met the first condition for moral responsibility. However, if Nike was truly powerless to prevent the injuries-if Nike had no control over the actions of its suppliers-then it did not meet the first condition.People are morally responsible for an injury when they failed to prevent it, only if they ,,should have† prevented it. People cannot hold morally responsible for all the injuries they know ab out and fail to prevent. Each of us is not morally responsible for failing to save all the members of all the starving groups in the world that we learn about by reading the newspapers, even if we could have saved some of them. If we were morally responsible for all these deaths,then we would all be murderers many times over and this seems wrong.A person is responsible for failing to prevent an injury only when, for some reason, the person had an obligation to prevent that particular injury. Such an obligation generally requires some sort of special relationship to the injury or the injured party. For example, if I know I am the only person near enough to save a drowning child, and I can do so easily, then m special physical relationship to the child creates in me an obligation to save the child and so I am morally responsible for the child's death if I fail to prevent it.Or if I am a police officer on duty and see a crime thet I can easily prevent, then, because it is my job to pre vent such crimes, I have a specific obligation to prevent this crime and I am morally responsible if I fail to do so. Employers likewise have a special oblgation to prevent work injuries on their employees and so are morally responsible for any foreseen work injuries they could hav prevented. The second requirement for moral responsibility is concerned with the agent's knowledge of the relevant aspects in a situation. The person must know what she is doing.If a person is ignorant of the fact that her actions will injure someone else, then she cannot be morally responsible for that injury. A person may be ignorant of either the relevant facts the relevant moral standards. I may be sure that bribery is wrong (a moral standard), but may not realize that in tipping a customs official I was actually bribing him into cancelling certain import fees(a fact). In contrast, I may be genuinely ignorant that bribing government officials is wrong (a moral standard), altough I know taht in tipping the customs official I am bribing him into reducing the fees I owe (a fact).Ignorance, however, does not always excuse a person. One exception occurs when a person deliberately stays ignorant of a certain matter to escape responsibility. If Nike managers told their suppliers that they did not want to know what was going on in their factories, they would still be morally responsible for whatever mistreatment went on that they could have prevented. A second exception occurs a person negligently fails to take adequate steps to get information about a matter that has its own importance.A manager is an asbestos company, who has reason to suspect that asbestos may be dangerous, but who, out of laziness, fails to gather information on the matter, cannot plead ignorance as an excuse. The third requirement for moral responsibility: The person must act of his own free will. Someone acts of his own free will when the person acts deliberately or purposefully and his actions are not the result of some uncontrollable mental impulse or external force.A person is not morally responsible if he causes injury because he lacked the power, skill, opportunity. Nor is a person morally responsible when physically forced to inflict an injury on someone else. The same when the agent is physically restraint from doing something to prevent the injury, nor when a person’s mind is psychologically impaired in a way that prevents her from controlling her actions. An employee may injure a fellow worker when a machine he thought he knew how to operate suddenly veers out of his control.A manager working under extremely stressful circumstances may be so tense that one day he is overcome by rage at a subordinate and genuinely is unable to control his actions toward the subordinate. An engineer who is part of a larger operating committee may be unable to prevent the other committee members from making a decision that the engineer feels will result in injury to other parties. An assembly-li ne worker with an un diagnosed malady may suffer muscle spasms that cause the assembly line to malfunction in a way that inflicts physical injuries on other workers.In all of these cases, the person is not morally responsible for the wrong or the injury, because the person did not choose the action deliberately or purposefully, but was forced to inflict the injury by a mental impairment or some uncontrollable external forces. We can distinguish three types of factors that can lessen a person’s moral responsibility:first, we should consider circumstances that minimize,but don’t completely remove a person’s involevement in an act that caused or brought about an injury.This kind of circumstances affects the degree to which the person actually caused or helped to cause the injury. An engineer may be aware of the unsafe features in somebody else’s design,but passively stand by without doing anything about it because ,,that’s no my job’’. I n general,the less one is morally responsible for that outcome. Certain circumstances leave a person uncertain, but not altogether unsure about a variety of matters (facts, moral standards, seriousness of the wrongdoing etc. ). This king of circumstances affects the person’s knowledge.An office worker who is asked to carry proprietary information to a competitor might fell fairly sure that doing so is wrong, yet may also have some genuine uncertainty about how serious the matter is. Finally, there are circumstances that make it difficult but not impossible for the person to avoid doing it. This kind of circumstance affects the person’s free will. Sometimes, middle managers meet intense pressure or threts or to keep certain health information secret from workers or the public, although it is clearly unethical to do so.If the pressures on managers are great enough, then their responsibility correspondingly diminishes. The extent to which these three mitigating circumstan ces can diminish a person’s responsibility for a wrongful injury depends on the seriousness of the wrong. Supposing that I have a firm and my employer threatens to fire me unless I sell a used product that I know will kill someone,it would be wrong for me to obey him,even though loss of a job will impose heavy costs on me.

A Look into the Computer Virus essays

A Look into the Computer Virus essays Most of us swap disks with friends and browse the Net looking for downloads. Rarely do we ever consider that we are also exchanging files with anyone and everyone who has ever handled them in the past. If that sounds like a warning about social diseases, it might as well be. Computer viruses are every bit as destructive, and come in a vast variety of strains. A computer virus tears up your hard drive and brings down your network. However, computer viruses are almost always curable diagnosed, and cures for new strains are usually just a matter of days, not months or years. Virus, a program that "infects" computer files (usually other executable programs) by inserting in those files' copies itself. This is usually done in such a manner that the copies will be executed when the file is loaded into memory, allowing them to infect still other files, and so on. Viruses often have damaging side effects, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. Most viruses are created out of curiosity. Viruses have always been viewed as a well written, creative product of software engineering. I admit there are many out there who create them out of malice, but far more people are just meeting a challenge in software design. The people who make anti-virus software have much more to benefit from the creation of new virii. This is not a slam, just an observation. A common type of virus would be a Trojan Horse, or a destructive program disguised as a game, a utility, or an application. When run, a Trojan Horse does something devious to the computer system while appearing to do something useful. A Worm is also a popular type of virus. A worm is a program that spreads itself across computers, usually by spawning copies of itself in each computer's memory. A worm might duplicate itself in one computer so often that it causes the computer to crash. Sometimes written in separate "segments," a worm is introduced secretly into a host system eithe r for "fun" or w ...

Why A High Read Ratio On Your Medium Blog Matters

Why A High Read Ratio On Your Medium Blog Matters Medium is a place where, according to their manifesto, you can write collaboratively and alongside many other quality writers. It  works simply, has a wonderful interface, is simple to use, looks pretty, and, despite all of that, I wrote a post a while back on why you should not blog at Medium. I have only  written 20 blog posts  on my Medium blog, neither a heavy user nor convinced that I should become one. But Medium grows in popularity, and one of the features that people tout is its unique approach to analytics.  Theyre much like the writing interface in that they are clear, understandable, and deceptively simple. They dont exactly track the stats youre used to seeing in a blog analytics package. What Does Your Medium Blog Measure? At the top of your dashboard in Medium, in 30-day segments, you can track three basic stats for all of your posts: views, reads, and recommendations. A chart gives you an overall view of how your content is performing. All of your stories are listed below this chart. Clicking on the post changes the bar graph to show that storys stats.  You can also see those same three stats, plus an extra one (read ratio), for each story that you write. Each story you write on medium has four stats for just that story. Sometimes the most viewed are the least read, which is more common than we realize on our own blogs. Views: This is the classic stat, and answers how many sets of eyeballs saw your story. It is, pure and simple, a measurement of who came in to take a peek. Reads: This stat is a bit different. In some ways, its similar to the idea of a bounce, but not exactly. A bounce is when someone visits your site, and then leaves without doing anything beyond that initial page that brought them in. Your bounce rate analytics dont really tell you if anyone read what you had on the page. It simply says they left after this one page. Medium measures whether or not someone actually read your article. So, your views and your reads will not always be the same number. Read Ratio: Medium uses an algorithm that calculates how many people actually read your post out of those that view it. Though it isnt clear on how this is measured, Medium has indicated that they want to use this in determining which posts get recommended or more visibility on their site. According to Ev Williams, founder at Medium, read ratio has an effect on how your post is ranked and found (emphasis added by me): It’s not a direct popularity ranking. It takes in a variety of factors, including whether or not a post seems to actually have been read (not just clicked on) and whether people click the â€Å"Recommend† button at the bottom of posts. The ratio of people who view it who read it and who read it and recommend it are important factors, not just the number. (This is an attempt to level of the playing field for those who don’t already have large followings and/or a penchant for writing click-bait headlines.) In other words, they want to promote posts that get read, and not just clicked on. A sexy headline might grab, but the content better hold em. Its an attempt to put an end to viral content that doesnt actually get read, and maybe an attempt to stop people from gaming the system. Sharing and recommendations are done at the bottom of a story in Medium. Recommendations: This stat shows how many people recommended (kind of like a share) the post on Medium. The number of people who recommend your post also plays into how it is ranked in Mediums system. The button to recommend a post is found at the bottom of the post (as are the social share buttons), where youd naturally click it if you had theoretically read the post.  This is in contrast to the popular idea that social sharing buttons should be at the top of your blog post or page. Again, Medium seems to be going against the current and wanting their system to be built on promoting the reading of posts, not mindless sharing. Why Does Reader Behavior Matter? Out of the four stats that Medium offers, the two that stand out as something different from traditional analytics is reads and read ratio. These two stats are putting a number on something that was previously difficult to measure: is anyone reading what Im writing? Proof That Your Content Is Valuable In some situations, the case can be made for not really worrying whether anyone is reading or not. There are times Im blogging more for myself and to achieve clarity of thought on particular ideas rather than whether or not someone is reading. Plus, as a writer, sometimes you need to be careful to not get too caught up in whether or not you are being 100% read.  These sentiments are fine for a personal or hobby blog. But what if you are a business investing time and money into content creation with a specific desired return?  It matters if anyone is reading. You need to know the investment isnt being wasted.  Your job might even require that you offer some proof that people are reading the content youre being paid to write. Clicks and shares are fine, but to be able to say that your content is read 90% of the time is quite a different matter. On @Medium, it matters if people actually read what you write. How about on your own blog?Leads To Better Writing The idea of measuring how much of your content is read should lead to better writing (if you care about people reading).  It used to be enough to measure clicks, hits, and shares (often based on click-bait headlines), but Medium has introduced an interesting new dynamic: it matters if people actually read what you are writing. When you have a number to work with, you have something you can measure and improve.  Typical blog stats dont exactly measure whether people read your posts or not, so that wasnt important for you. Instead, you likely focused on methods, such as headlines or social sharing, to get them to click and get hits because that was what you were able to measure. Medium has attempted to change this. The very nature of putting a number on readability makes it unsurprising that people are already asking about  how to get their read ratio up.  What gets your read ratio up? You cant control how much time people have to devote to reading, but you can control whether or not youre writing something worthwhile. On Medium, especially, shocking headlines and regurgitated content that others are writing wont fly. You might get the view, but you wont get the reads. What can you do to get people to read more of your story? Shocking headlines dont always work. Better Understanding Of Engagement How many times do you get comments to your blog post and you  know  the reader didnt fully read (if at all) the post? I know more than once Ive found myself absolutely confused by the comments people have left, and I wonder did they even read this post? Mediums measurement of reads, combined with a comment system that happens not at the bottom but as the post is read, helps you better understand the engagement you receive and perhaps weeds out the wacky comments of someone who has not read your post at all. Test Long And Short Content This is not exactly a stat associated directly with read ratio, but it is another aspect of how Medium is trying to tap into the actual reading behavior of people. In the story itself, Medium shows readers an estimate of how long a post will take to read. Medium shows you how long it will take to read a post. Blogger Matt Swanson talks about the benefits he gets as a reader in knowing how much time he will commit to what he is about to read, and what effects that information has on whether he even starts to read or not. Medium is, after all, catering to the readers experience and letting them know how much time they will have to invest to get the whole story is part of that. Lets use another example. On Hulu.com, Im told during the commercial break whether the commercial is 1 of 2, or maybe 1 of 4. What do I do when I see that? If its a set of four commercials, I have time to go to the kitchen and get something to drink, but if its only one or two commercials, I just stick around. While I have the option at any time to pause the show, you cant skip through commercials on Hulu and its easier to just let them play and skip them while leaving if I know theres enough time. All of that to say: I make decisions on what I will do with the content based on how much time it will take me to commit to it. So, when a reader sees that your post is only going to take about two minutes to read, or that it will take eight minutes to read, it will have some effect on the decisions readers make about your post. The effect will vary based on your readers, how you write, and if you are established as a thought leader.  Some of the very long articles written by established journalists or content sources get read despite estimated read times of more than 10 minutes. That might not work for you. Readers make decisions on what to do with content based on time they must commit to it.How this estimated read time impacts your views and read ratio would be a fascinating A/B test for each writer. Similar topics and titles, but as a longer version and shorter version. Look at your content in general and see if you find a correlation between read time and view/read ratio. There has been quite a bit of discussion lately about how Google search likes longer content, but with Medium–a site very much about the reader and promotion based on what is worth reading–high quality short content might be just as viable. Medium Wants Your Stories, Not Your Articles What does all of this talk about Medium have to do with you, a WordPress blogger using ? Its because these Medium stats indicate a possible trend on where content is going, and in some ways, its quite different from what youve been hearing you ought to do elsewhere. Traditionally, getting more readers is less popular than the idea of getting more traffic. Mediums approach flies in the face of that. Instead of a focus on traffic, Medium is focusing on readers. 1. Medium is basing discovery of your content on whether or not people have read it. Not hits, not sexy headlines.  Readability, not gimmicks or tricks, wins. 2. Do you notice how Medium, on its dashboard and elsewhere, does not refer to what you write as blog posts, or content? It calls them stories, and thats the key here. Medium wants your stories. Medium has visually stripped away anything that might get in the way of the story–no ads, and it uses a clear and simplified design.  Medium caters to readers, and readers like stories. Even readers who say I dont like fiction and stories actually want stories. Stories get read, and Medium is trying to find a way for you to track what gets read and reward that. All of the 25 Ways To Do This blog posts in the world cant hold a candle to the power of something told as a story. A great writer can turn nearly any piece of content into a story. In some ways, its an attempt to level the playing field and say that if you can tell a good story, if you can write well, youll be rewarded.  No tricks or gimmicks will get people to read to the end other than good writing. While your WordPress blog isnt in the walled garden of Medium, and you still have to use the old methods to get found by readers and search engines, it doesnt hurt to consider what Medium is trying to do and see if you cant incorporate a new goal in your writing: Write for readers. Getting read matters. Tell stories.

Top Criteria for Choosing a Law School

Top Criteria for Choosing a Law School Choosing a law school is one of the most important decisions youll make in your life. First, you need to narrow down your list of potential schools; even applying to schools can get expensive with application fees up to $70 and $80. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that Ivy League law schools are the only ones worth attending, though, as you can get a great legal education at many schools across the countryand you just may find that one of those is actually a better fit for you by considering: 10 Criteria for Choosing a Law School Admissions Criteria:Â  Your undergraduate GPA and LSAT scores are the most important factors in your application, so look for law schools that line up with your numbers. Dont limit yourself to just those schools, though, as other aspects of your application just may sway an admissions committee to take a chance on you. Divide your list into dream (a stretch that youd get in), core (line up with your credentials) and safety (very likely to get in) schools to give yourself choices. Financial Considerations:Â  Just because a school has a high price tag doesnt mean its the best for you and your interests. No matter where you go, law school is expensive. Some schools can be downright bargains, though, especially if you can get a scholarship or other financial aid that doesnt include loans like scholarships and grants. When looking at finances, dont forget that most schools have fees beyond standard tuition. Also, if your school is in a large city, remember the cost of living will likel y be higher than in a smaller location. Geographic Location:Â  You dont have to go to law school where youll want to take the bar exam and/or practice, but you do have to live in that location for at least three years. Do you want an urban atmosphere? Do you hate cold weather? Do you want to be near your family? Do you want to make connections in the community that you’ll be able to use in the future? Career Services:Â  Be sure to find out about job placement rate and the percentages of graduates who move on to careers in what you think might be your chosen field, whether it’s a small, medium or large firm, a judicial clerkship, or a position in public interest, academia or the business sector. Faculty:Â  What is the student to faculty ratio? What are the credentials of the faculty members? Is there a high turn-over rate? Do they publish many articles? Will you be learning from tenured faculty or from associate professors? Are professors accessible to their students and do they employ student research ass istants? Curriculum:Â  Along with first-year courses, look at what courses are offered for your second and third years and how often. If youre interested in pursuing a joint or dual degree, or in studying abroad, be sure to compare that information as well. You also may be interested in whether Moot Court, writing seminars or trial advocacy is required, and what student journals, such as Law Review, are published at each school. Clinics are another consideration. Now offered by many law schools, clinics can provide students real-world legal experience through hands-on work in a variety of disciplines, so you may want to investigate what opportunities are available. Bar Exam Passage Rate:Â  You definitely want the odds in your favor when taking the bar exam, so look for schools with high bar passage rates. You can also compare the schools bar passage with the overall passage rate for that state to see how your potential schools test-takers stack up against students from other schools taking the same exam. Class Size:Â  If you know you learn best in smaller settings, be sure to look for schools with lower enrollment numbers. If you like the challenge of swimming in a big pond, you should be looking for schools with higher enrollment numbers. Diversity of Student Body:Â  Included here is not only race and sex, but also age; if you are a student entering law school after many years away or returning as a part-time law student, you might want to pay attention to schools that have higher numbers of students who didnt come directly from undergrad. Many schools also list the most popular majors among students, as well as types of previous work expe rience. Campus Facilities:Â  What is the law school building like? Are there enough windows? Do you need them? What about computer access? What is the campus like? Do you feel comfortable there? Will you have access to university facilities such as the gym, pool and other recreational activities? Is there public or university transportation available?

Surgical and Rehabilitation Intervention of an open mid shaft tibia Essay

Surgical and Rehabilitation Intervention of an open mid shaft tibia and fibula fracture - Essay Example Fractures of the lower leg involve fractures of tibia and fibula, of which tibia is the only weight bearing bone. Tibia is the most commonly fractured long bone in the body (Konowalchuk, 2005). These fractures occur due to direct or indirect trauma. Tibial diaphyseal fracture due to foot ball injury is mainly due to high energy (Chang et al, 2007). The most common fracture pattern is transverse AO Type 42A3 (Chang et al, 2007) (table-2). Most of the times, fracture of tibia is associated with fibula fracture also, because; the force from tibia is transmitted along the interosseous membrane to the fibula (Norvell, 2006). In about 60% to 90% of football injuries, both tibia and fibula are fractured (Chang et al, 2007; Cattermole et al, 1996). These fractures can be open or closed. Tibial fracture is open in many cases because of thin soft tissue over tibia. Hence the chances of delayed non-union and infected non-union are common in tibial fractures (Patel, 2004). The fibula is however, covered well with soft tissues (Norvell, 2006). Immediately after fracture, there is hematoma formation due to rupture of blood vessels. This hematoma fills the fracture gap and surrounds the area of bone injury (Rosenberg, 2007). A fibrin mesh is provided by the clotted blood which helps seal off the fracture site and creates a frame work for inflammation and repair. There is influx of inflammatory cells, ingrowth of fibroblasts and development of new capillary vessels. There is also release of some cytokines by the degranulated platelets and migrated inflammatory cells (Rosenberg, 2007). Time for fracture healing and extent of changes in markers of bone metabolism are mainly dependent on fracture size (Stoffel, 2007). The cytokines activate the osteoprogenitor cells in the periosteum, medullary cavity, and surrounding soft tissues and stimulate

Purchasing and procurement in supply chains Essay

Purchasing and procurement in supply chains - Essay Example Thus, this study was initiated to investigate the application of supply chain management strategy in Boeing Company. The choice of Boeing is based on its strategic position in the aircraft manufacturing sector and the series of problems it faces of late. Using, appropriate theoretical framework, deduced from the work of previous researchers, the company was diagnosed, and the supply chain and suppliers relationship mapped out. Porters value chain framework also help us develop some feedback and the way forward where some value drivers, core competences and competitive advantage were identified. Having suppliers dotted all over areas and the need to link them through a common data base was emphasized. The report of calls on top management to successfully adjust Porters value chain to suit its need. Our recommendation is for customers and suppliers to be effectively integrated into the value chain, where consumers become Pro-sumers and suppliers are turned into consumers. The existing relationship with partners, suppliers, and customers should be turned in to a long term collaboration relationship. Boeing should integrate its logistics, procurement, operations, and marketing functions with other supply chain members so that materials, information, component parts, and finished product flow seamlessly from point of origin to final customer at low unit cost and at high levels of service (Christopher 1992). Supply chain management (SCM) is a strategic tool employed by present day business to efficiently integrate suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses, and customers so that merchandise is produced and distributed at the right quantities, to the right locations, and at the right time in order to minimize system wide costs while satisfying service-level requirements ( Cheng, Lai & Gunasekaran 2006). In the 90s, SCM gained momentum and received due attention from practitioners and researchers. It has become present day managerial competitive weapon

COMMERCIAL LAW Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

COMMERCIAL LAW - Essay Example In an effort to combat terrorism, the UK has introduced laws to punish perpetrators of these activities. Under the law, the principal terrorist offences are outlined. Under section 15 of the terrorism Act2, it is deemed an offence to get involved in a fundraising with prior information that the funds raised or property used for that matter may be used for terrorism activities. It is considered an offence to possess or use money or property for terrorist activities with reasonable cause to suspect such is used for the activities. The act further states that it is an offence to be involved in any arrangement that makes money or property to another party with knowledge or reasonable cause to have suspicion that it supports acts of terrorism. Finally the act clearly stipulates that it is an offence to be involved or concerned in arrangements that facilitate the control of terrorist property by or on behalf of a different person3. These laws have been effective in curtailing terrorism fin ancing in the UK. The discussion above clearly brings out the measures and their effectiveness in fighting the global vice. It is a measure that has been adopted across the world to combat and end terrorist activities. In conclusion therefore, it is prudent that states emulate the policies and laws enacted by the UK to fight terrorism financing. Being a global phenomenon, it is vital that other countries join the fight and come up with tighter legislations that will improve security for everyone around the world. Terrorism activities cause harm and instill fear to the general populace. Above all it causes death and punitive measures in form of legislation need to be adopted and effected. 1FH Newark, ‘The Boundaries of Nuisance’ (1949) 65 LQR 480; Richard Kidner, ‘Nuisance and Rights of Property’ [1998] Conv 267; Ken Oliphant,

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT - Assignment Example In the job position the following things will be considered as vital: The title for particular job position Job responsibilities Critical success factors Official reporting link Supports, authority and assets needed along with accessibility for the job (Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 2009) Advertisement for Job Position After formulating the job description, there is a need to advertise for the job vacancy so as to inform the potential candidates regarding the job openings. Advertisement has emerged as a very significant and common basis for generating manpower in Human Resource Management practices. The advertisement for the post of nurse practitioner and medical records clerk will be given through online websites so as to reach a larger population or young candidates stating the specific position duties. It will be beneficial for appealing appropriate candidates for the positions. In the internet advertisements, the following information will be provided: A summary of job positions which includes fields of works and language requirements An explanation of obligations and accountabilities which classifies the major jobs to be performed by the employee The minimum qualification requirement for fulfilling the position such as educational certificates, special skills, etc The advertisement will be exhibited on one of the popular job websites named ‘careerbuilder.com’. The cost of advertising on ‘careerbuilder.com’ will amount to be around 390 USD/job. Thus, to advertise two posts for job advertisement the cost will be around (390?2=) 780 USD (Careerbuilder, n.d.). Selection Process The selection process will conducted in four phases, which are: Screening of Application Forms Before selecting employees, it is essential to lessen the candidates to a manageable amount. With this concern, the initial screening will be conducted with the application forms and resumes of the candidates. The accurate information will be assessed against the lea st adequate requirements with respect to job specifications. The statistical technique will be used for screening of application forms. After checking the measurable aspects of candidates, the reliability of candidates will be evaluated. Any gap during education years or any kind of indefinite information will be identified and followed up in the interview stage (Pattanayak, 2005). Testing After initial screening of candidates, tests will be conducted for evaluating the intelligence, aptitude and skills of the selected candidates. For the post of medical records clerk, aptitude test of candidates will be conducted with the aim of measuring their ability or underlying skills to absorb the given job responsibilities if adequate training is provided. For the post of nurse practitioner, achievement test will be conducted for assessing candidates’ pertinent capabilities. The achievement test will be applied to varied series of nursing tasks ranging from patient care to clinical ac tivities. The candidates will be selected on the basis of performance on those tests (Bernardin, 2008). Interview Interview will be conducted for measuring the profile of candidates and associating it with job appropriateness. Interview is widely

Conflict & group Facilitation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Conflict & group Facilitation - Essay Example on is necessary between the parties, with a skilled facilitator mediating the discussion so that the genuine concerns of both parties can be understood and a mutually acceptable solution found. (Estes et al, 2006). There is a strong conflict existing between David and Peter and it is likely to polarize the group along two different lines. Therefore, there is a need for mediation of a dispute, by getting the two parties to face each other in a non confrontational manner. A skilled facilitator may be used, or suitable members from the group itself may be used as mediators. Conflict resolution in schools between disputing students has been found to be improved through using peers to mediate the resolution of such disputes.(Schrumpf et al, 1991). In this case, the individuals selected to mediate must not offer any opinions or assume responsibility for solving the dispute. Their only function is to listen and enable both Peter and David to fully express themselves and their dissenting viewpoints. The process of mediation must first of all establish certain ground rules, such as not allowing any personal vilification and requiring the parties to address each other calmly, with consideration and respect for each others’ viewpoints. When one party is speaking, he must not be interrupted, but allowed to speak and to fully express his feelings on the matter. Since it is the underlying emotion that each party feels regarding parental and cultural issues which is the source of the conflict, they must learn how to deal with their feelings and keep them under control while interacting with others in the group. This would help to prevent escalation of the conflict. One each party has had their say; the conflict areas must be clearly defined. In the case of David and Peter, the specific areas on which they disagree and the reasons for such differing opinions must be clarified, so that the underlying causes of the conflict are clearly laid out, whether they are cultural,

Potatoes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Potatoes - Essay Example Its Latin name is Solanum tuberosum L. and is a perennial plant i.e. present at all seasons of the year. (Rhodes, 2009). In the genus Solanum, Petota comprises of around 190 wild tuber-bearing species, and are extensively spread in the Americas, from the South Western USA to Southern Chile and Argentina and from sea level to the highlands of the Andes Mountains (Visser et al., 2009). A universally accepted taxonomy does not exist for cultivated potatoes. The interested part of the potato crop plant is a tuber, the enlarged end of a stolon, or underground stem. Externally tuber appears as tan to purple color while; its flesh is normally white or light yellow, except for some purple Andrean potatoes. The tuber buds off externally that can sprout into new crops. These buds or eyes function like a fruit seeds which give rise to new plants (Rhodes, 2009). Cross breeding techniques between common potato varieties and wild potato varieties are used to produce crop plants with desirable traits such as broad spectrum resistances to pests and diseases, tolerances to frost and drought, high yielding and highly nutritious crops in adverse biotic and abiotic stimuli, high quality storage characteristics, easy processing etc (Visser et al., 2009). In addition to this, developed countries are also emphasizing on organically prepared and processed potato. The production of diverse and abundant food to sustain the demand of increasing population is the need of the day. The supply of abundant, cheapest, diverse and safest food becomes an immense challenge in developing world. In this regard, root and tuber crops can contribute significantly. The annual growth rates of potato production are increasing by 4.5 million tons per year (Visser et al., 2009). It tops the list in non-grain food commodity, while secures third position as an important food crop after wheat and rice (Visser et al., 2009). It has been reported that in 2007, 325 million

Conflict & group Facilitation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Conflict & group Facilitation - Essay Example on is necessary between the parties, with a skilled facilitator mediating the discussion so that the genuine concerns of both parties can be understood and a mutually acceptable solution found. (Estes et al, 2006). There is a strong conflict existing between David and Peter and it is likely to polarize the group along two different lines. Therefore, there is a need for mediation of a dispute, by getting the two parties to face each other in a non confrontational manner. A skilled facilitator may be used, or suitable members from the group itself may be used as mediators. Conflict resolution in schools between disputing students has been found to be improved through using peers to mediate the resolution of such disputes.(Schrumpf et al, 1991). In this case, the individuals selected to mediate must not offer any opinions or assume responsibility for solving the dispute. Their only function is to listen and enable both Peter and David to fully express themselves and their dissenting viewpoints. The process of mediation must first of all establish certain ground rules, such as not allowing any personal vilification and requiring the parties to address each other calmly, with consideration and respect for each others’ viewpoints. When one party is speaking, he must not be interrupted, but allowed to speak and to fully express his feelings on the matter. Since it is the underlying emotion that each party feels regarding parental and cultural issues which is the source of the conflict, they must learn how to deal with their feelings and keep them under control while interacting with others in the group. This would help to prevent escalation of the conflict. One each party has had their say; the conflict areas must be clearly defined. In the case of David and Peter, the specific areas on which they disagree and the reasons for such differing opinions must be clarified, so that the underlying causes of the conflict are clearly laid out, whether they are cultural,

Alcoholic Anonymous Essay Example for Free

Alcoholic Anonymous Essay Recently, I attended an A.A. meeting, which stands for, alcoholic anonymous. The meeting I went to was located in Penfield, NY at 1601 Jackson Road, area code 14526. It was called the Yellow House. When I walked in, everyone was very welcoming and nice. Many people stared at me intensely as I entered the Yellow House. I think they thought I was a recovering alcoholic, until I explained to them later that I was there to listen and observe for a school project for my drugs and behavior class. The place was very cozy inside, had a number of chairs lined up for everyone to sit down and coffee ready to drink. I sat down in one of the chairs. A lady came up to me and handed me a coin that said â€Å"24 hours recovery†; this was before I had the chance to tell her that I was there to observe for a school project. I guess when you go to an alcoholic anonymous meeting for the first time you get awarded a 24 hour recovery coin to make you feel good and know you’re doing something good to help you recover from your alcoholic addiction. The meeting started promptly at 5:30 P.M. like it said it would. The leaders read out announcements and let everybody know if someone new has showed up. If you’re new joining alcoholics anonymous, you introduce yourself by saying your name and stating you are an alcoholic, and then everyone else in the room say â€Å"hi†¦Ã¢â‚¬  whatever your name is to make you feel welcome. Then the person can either talk more about why they came or stop talking and then another person will randomly say their name and why they are attending and so on. There was a vast majority of adults and older people in their 50s or 60s. There were a couple grandfathers, grandmothers and one or two kids my age. I sat next to a kid who was around the same age as me and I felt shocked that he would be attending this type of meeting at such a young age. As the stories from the crowd of people kept going on, I recognized everyone clapping very deliberately and diligent at everyone’s accomplishments for the most little to no importance scenarios, for instance, a man got up and said he had been sober for 90 days and everyone clapped for a really long time. I also realized everyone laughed at everything that was the least bit funny to make it feel like a warm, comfortable, atmosphere. There are meetings every night at this place in Penfield at 5:30 P.M. Each meeting has a different name every night. The meeting I went to was called a â€Å"First Step† meeting. It was for people attending the yellow house or an alcoholic anonymous meeting somewhere for the first time and admitting they are an alcoholic and that they want to get sober. When you start the program, you commit yourself to following a â€Å"12 step program† and attending 90 days of alcoholics anonymous. The first step states â€Å"We admitted we were powerless over alcohol-that our lives had become unmanageable.† And when you finish the program, you end with the last step, step number twelve, which states: â€Å"Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.† Attending the alcoholics anonymous groups around the world has changed many recovering alcoholics lives and brought stability to their mind body and soul.

The History Of Parenting Programmes Children And Young People Essay

The History Of Parenting Programmes Children And Young People Essay Education is a giant step forward to achieving sustainability. Education for sustainable development encompasses the three areas: the environment, society and the economy (Pace, 2010). ESD is meant to inculcate ideals and values about key sustainable issues such as poverty reduction, environment protection, human rights, democracy, and so on. The basic concept of ESD entails helping people to develop the right attitude and knowledge to facilitate decision-making and create a better future for themselves and others (UNESCO, 2011). In this regard, Parenting Programmes might help to orient both parents and children towards this new mind set. Contrary to popular belief, education begins at home. This is why parents should be the primary targets. Parsons (1959), states that the family is bounded by two irreducible functions which are the primary socialization of children and stabilization of adult personalities (Haralambos and Holborn, 2007). The quality of education a child receives will therefore be a determining factor to the type of adult he will develop into (Morawska et al, 2011). Dealing with a child is no easy task. However, very often parents tend to forget that the parent-child relationship is a two-way street. As a matter of fact, many parents lack the proper coping and communication skills to deal with conflict situations. There are several organizations, also known as Parenting Programmes, to assist parents to cope with emotional, behavioural and social problems in their children (Morawska et al, 2011). Research has indicated that children are very likely to face impaired educational development, adult mental health problems and even entry to crime, due to long-term consequences of these problems (Lindsay et al, 2008). Evidence indicates that Parenting Programmes have indeed contributed towards helping adults to better integrate their roles as parents. Some examples of these parenting programmes are the Incredible Years, Triple P and Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities among others. The Parenting Early Intervention Pathfinder (PEIP) has shown great interest in the matter and funded 150 local authorities in England to deliver Parenting Programmes (Lindsay et al, 2008). The Incredible Years Programme in the USA dealt mostly with parents with children having conduct problems. The Triple P in Australia was based on a five-level intervention basis and was more beneficial for parents having mental health problems and relationship problems, therefore with children at risk. Home interventions were frequently required. Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities was mainly designed for minority ethnic groups. Consequently, evidence indicated an increase in the level of activity, decrease in negative discipline and enhanced communication between parents and children (Lindsay et al, 2008). Education for Sustainable Development aims at creating better citizens of tomorrow. Parents, therefore, as primary agents of socialization should be able to grasp the concept of ESD, so that they can in turn pass it on to their children. However, this would be more effective if children were taught to adopt sustainable lifestyle since birth itself. Problem Statement Parenting programmes, termed as Ecoles des Parents in Mauritius, is a rather new concept. However, there are many existing policies and laws put into place by the Government to provide security and welfare for the children, and also Ministries such as The Ministry of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare and The Ministry of Education and Human Resources. There are many alarming issues that led to considering the need for such a programme. Firstly, the family, as an institution, doesnt stand as firmly as it did before, and with the increase in divorce rates, children often find themselves being brought up in broken homes. Moreover, degradation of family values has accentuated, and that adults are lesser involved in family activities but instead focus more on themselves. Juvenile Delinquency is yet another serious problem which is on the rise. This ranges from thefts, physical violence, and drug addiction to even rape. It is very common in households today, to see both parents working, sometimes even doing extra hours hence leaving a minimum amount of time to carry out family activities or simply have a conversation with the kids. Youngsters are nowadays lost in a virtual world, where social networks are the only means to communicate with what they call friends. Eventually, social life suffers and teenagers become virtual beings where face-to-face interactions are becoming more and more scarce. It is very important for parents to foster good relationships with their children. But parents cannot hope to do this when the child has already reached 16. This process starts right when the child is born. With so many problems on the rise, namely anti-social behaviour, juvenile delinquency, crime rate, teenage pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse, we cant help but wonder: Have parents somehow failed to fulfill their roles? A pilot project was set up at La Valette, Bambous, which is actually a reconstituted village. Parents who attended the program were from poor regions of the island. The project Ecole des Parents was launched in October 2010 under the supervision of the Ministry of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family (Anon, 2010), and is focused towards helping parents to develop the necessary coping and communication skills to deal with their children and also to encourage group discussion between parents. Since the program has been introduced only recently, it is very difficult to get proper feedback about its effectiveness. Aims and Objectives Aims The aim of this study is to assess how the programme Ecole des Parents enhances the lifestyle of its participants and promotes sustainable development within the locality through education. Objectives The objectives of the study are listed below: To produce a comprehensive literature Review To assess how government promotes sustainable development through education To determine the need for parenting programmes To assess how Ecole des Parents has changed the lives of the participants To evaluate how Ecole des Parents eventually benefits the community To recommend measures which could improved the sustainability of the programme Research questions: What are the measures taken by the government to inculcate a sustainable lifestyle? Are parents failing to fulfil their roles? How far has the programme influenced family lives? What are the impacts of such programmes in the area where it has been implemented? What are the limitations of the programme and how we can tackle them? Flow of dissertation: Chapter 2: Literature Review In chapter 2, we will firstly be reviewing sociological perspectives on parenting support and education; we will then move on to an overview about existing parenting programmes and its effectiveness. We will then look at sustainable development and the importance given to education in achieving sustainability. Finally we will look at the Mauritian context, how and why Ecole des Parents was introduced. Chapter 3: Methodology In this chapter, we will identify what method can be best used to conduct our study, what are the variables which need to be taken into account while designing our questionnaire. We will elaborate about our sampling method and how data will be collected. Chapter 4: Results Discussion This chapter will include the analysis of our findings and a comprehensive discussion about the results obtained. Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendations Finally, we will conclude by summarising our findings and provide recommendations on how the programme can be improved. 2.0 Literature Review Sociological perspectives In order to explain the parent-child relationship, various theories have been used. Research has been conducted by dominant perspectives like social learning theory, attachment theory and parenting styles to understand parenting and the parent-child relationship (OConnor and Scott, 2007). The social learning theory is one of the most important models of the relationship between parents and children. Many theorists have used the social learning model in the way social conditions of parents may lead to poor child rearing. Robert Wahler (1965) conducted a programme which took into consideration the specific needs of lone mothers; he concluded that these mothers were more unpleasant with their children when others rejected them. A childs experience shapes his behaviour directly or indirectly. If the child is getting reward for his action, such as parental attention, he is most likely to repeat the behaviour while if the child is being punished, he is less likely to do the behaviour again. Attachment theorists have established parenting relationships according to ethology, cognitive psychology and control systems. John Bowlby was interested on detecting the nature, impact and function of the childs affiliation to his parent. This theory also focuses on important issues such as how far the relationship protects the child against harm and provides an emotional security. Baumrind studied four typologies linked with the outcome of children: authoritative, authoritarian, permissive and neglectful. Authoritative parents have children who were more decent and clever; those parents who were authoritarian, permissive and disengaged had lower results while authoritarian parents had the worst outcomes of the four child rearing types. As such, having an insight of what have been said by sociologists and psychologists about the influence of parental support on the education of their children will enable us to analyse how parenting programmes really enhance relationship between parents and children; family life; education success or failure and also their influence on society. In the next part we will be discussing about parenting programmes and its various aspects. Parenting Programmes Parenting is not a new concept, as many might believe. Society has had concerns about family life and childrens upbringing for very long. Unfortunately the realities of life at home, between parents and children, are not quite how we expect them to be. Parenting is undeniably an asset to shaping tomorrows adults, and through school the child is expected to grasp the concept of parenting and thus become model parents of the next generation (Jenkinson, 1995). The idea of School Parenting or Parenting Programs as it is known worldwide, might be the answer to the chaotic situation between parents and children. We should firstly circle the facts that led to considering the need for such a program. The generation gap has been increasing due to several factors over the years. To start with, the family, as an institution, doesnt stand as firmly as it did before. With the increase in divorce rates, children often find themselves being brought up in broken homes (Smith, 1970 1990). Moreover, U.S. Census data, shows that degradation of family values have accentuated since 1960, and that adults are lesser involved in family activities but instead focus more on themselves, leaving children to fend for themselves (Popenoe, 1993). Another serious issue to be considered is that of Juvenile Delinquency. Due to weak social relations, youngsters nowadays are more vulnerable to temptation. Statistical analysis reveals that the rate of crime among youngsters has increased ranging from theft, drug addiction to physical violence. However, sociologists believe that, these form part of the process of growing up and that such behaviours fade when adulthood is reached, for most. More importantly, it should be noted that, children who have received appropriate parental guidance, are less prone to engaging in such damaging activities (World Youth Report, 2003). With the advent of industrialization, both mothers and fathers have rushed to the big cities for jobs, supposedly for the betterment of the family and to secure the childrens future. Consequently, squeezing in between jobs and spending quality time with the kids have become a major challenge (Moen, 1989). The number of internet users, as at December 2011, was estimated to be 2, 267, 233, 742 (Internet World Stats, 2011). The internet, however, not only brought about positive changes to our lives, but also threats to our well-being. One such target nowadays is teenagers, who seem to associate more importance to virtual life than real life itself. Social networking sites are a means for youngsters to re-invent themselves by broadening their contacts. On the hand, research indicated narcissistic tendencies, health problems such as anxiety and depression, and alienation from social life through overuse of social networks. Parents are therefore advised to engage in as much social activities as possible with their children. They need to encourage dialogue and also monitor the teenagers ventures on social networking sites, so as not to create virtual teenagers (Rosen, 2011). A Childs socialization is crucial to determining what kind of individual he/she will eventually develop into. The socialization process is a means for the child to internalize appropriate norms, values and behaviours inculcated by the agents of socialization, namely the parents (Haralambos and Holborn, 2007). Therefore, parents as key agents should be given some kind of training so as to better understand what is really in the childs interest. After all, the relationship goes both ways, where mutual understanding is the core to establishing fruitful interactions for both parties. Types of parenting programmes Parenting Programs are one such incentive, where the central aim is to help parents gain insight to potential behavioural and emotional difficulties that children encounter (Morawska, et al, 2010). The Triple P-Positive Parenting Program is one such program, which starts with providing relevant information about parenting to parents, who are willing to cooperate. The Triple P-Positive Program operates on a five level basis, and comprises of parents of new born babies to 16 year old teens. Level 1 consists of helping parents to detect minor behavioural problems, and is directed towards promoting the childs development. Level 2 is mostly for parents with specific concerns about their child and they usually seek advice on how to tackle the problem. Level 3, is no different from level 2, but simply incorporates practice and self-evaluation sessions to deal with the problem in a more effective way. Level 4, however, gather parents whose children have more severe behaviour issues and may require health professionals. And finally level 5 includes home visits and intensive family interventions which are specific depending on the situation, for e.g. conflict between parents themselves, involving cases of depression (Sanders, et al, 2003). The Triple P-Positive Program also demands that parents abide by a set of principles. To start with, children need to feel safe and free to explore, experiment and play. Under no circumstance should parents hamper the healthy, natural development of a child. As primary agents of socialization, parents should educate their children and also be open for questions and dialogue. Discipline is important and punishment should have a limit. Parents should establish rules but should also consider childrens opinion. Parents should allow children the freedom to choose their own path to fulfil their dreams, rather than imposing their desires and expectations. Finally parents should respect themselves, and foster good communication with one another, so as to create a stable and healthy home (Sanders, et al, 2003). Other types of Parenting Programs include the Incredible Years and the Strengthening families strengthening communities Programs. The Incredible Years Program comprises of parents with children from 0 to 8 years. Like the Triple P program, Incredible Years help parents to gain better understanding of childrens behavioural problems. However, this program tackles the situation by encouraging parents to foster good relationships with one another, and by dealing with their own issues (Geoff Lindsay et al, 2011). The Strengthening Families Strengthening Communities (SFSC), most particularly deals with small ethnic groups, but still the primary concern being helping parents develop effective coping skills. However, the program also covers the cultural and spiritual aspects of society, for example engaging in community activities, following traditions, etc (Geoff Lindsay et al, 2011). Parenting Programs are alternatives geared towards helping parents develop effective coping and communication skills. Parents are also more aware of childrens side of the story, and thus can look for collective solutions to misunderstandings through dialogue. These may seem to be quite simple, but the truth is many adults do not know their roles as parents, and how to tackle conflicts. This is where Parenting Programs come into the picture. Thus, having proved the importance of such programmes to family, children and society, we will now look at the role the state plays in promoting parenting programs. The role of the state One of the main aims of the government is undoubtedly the safety of the citizens. The state should cater for the physical safety of children and social crime prevention, i.e. ways to promote adequate child rearing and decrease the risk delinquency in children. It may be considered right to link it to aspects of communitarians as a reinforced community and family relations help to form a safety network that a society deprived of its ties cannot offer. Safety of the citizens is probably the governments most important responsibility; however an economically stable and balanced community is also of high importance. Here providing education and welfare benefits, easing work and acting to support the family unit as an economic system are involved. Leaving the protective measures behind, other impacts on our expectations of the role of government should be taken into consideration. One of the most important is the Christohumanistic tradition that has guided the state and welfare organizations since years. Societies depend on shared values. Shared values are passed on through children. Values wont be passed on from one generation to the next unless they are reinforced by the parent child relationship. So parenting is a public as well as intensely private act. Hence societys interest is in the parent-child relationship. Families are crucial to the survival and development of shared values. (Straw, 2000) The governments contribution to supporting a rights perspective is obvious in its introduction of the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law. There has been an effort to attain sexual parity at work furthermore there has been the promotion of a childs perspective by setting up the Children and Young Peoples Unit and effort to improve children participation in the service development. Societal trends have shifted the state beyond preserving physical and financial safety to human centred, charitable caring and most importantly an increasingly modified and rights orientated relationship with families. Nowadays both parents and government are facing problems of having to regulate morality while having to abide an era of democratized relationships. Review of parenting programmes According to a study, by Roger Grimshaw and Christine McGuire (1998), group-based parenting programmes had a low public profile. Many parents found it interesting however they found it difficult to attend. Some thought that attending such a programme would mean being a bad parent. Those who were willing participate wished to go on a programme before their child turned 3 years old (Grimshaw and McGuire, 1998). Around half of the parents who attended rated the advice helpful while the rest found it less interesting and an eighth found that it was not a good thing. Those parents who attended the parenting schooling were quite happy with it. Concerning the style of the programme, parents found it important that the leader should be a parent. Instead of being told about what to do, they wanted to have options from which they could choose. Both parents and organizations thought that programmes should lead to: benefits arising from group support, for instance a supportive network of friends; a better relationship with the children; greater information on issues such as child health and development; and emotional benefits. The managers who set up the programmes and the coordinator had some common aims. However, managers were more prone to distinguish strategic objectives for the courses, for instance community development. Coordinators were more likely to get involved in the aims that had impacts on individual participants, like a rise in confidence. Children who were interviewed had lucid perception of the responsibilities that parents had in protecting, guiding and instilling discipline in them. Effectiveness of parenting programmes Parent education helps to improve caring and positive child rearing which is crucial in creating a good atmosphere for children. The risk of child abuse is more when parents do not possess the necessary abilities, back up and knowledge of child development. School parenting helps to increase the knowledge of parents on the development of children, to guide them in developing parenting abilities and make them familiar with the difficulties involved with child rearing. Parenting programmes takes place at different levels. For instance, community awareness strategies operate at the primary level; group training sessions and one-on-one programmes such as the triple P-Positive Parenting Programme operate at the secondary or tertiary level. However, all parenting programmes serve to increase parental knowledge and decrease stress. Parental schooling helps to reach these results by training parents behavioural management skills, ways to solve problems, and personal adaptation abilities. Parenting programmes are important aspects of dealing with families which are at risk. Recent audits evaluated that progress has been made in areas like preventing child maltreatment. Factors limiting the effectiveness of parent education There are various factors that can limit the effectiveness of parenting programmes. Parenting beliefs often unconscious are difficult to change; parents may make us of same ways of parenting even if they have come across new skills. Furthermore, courses which are not intensive do not have the desired impact on both children and parents. Parents who have psychological problems or a drug or alcohol addiction may have difficulties to grasp new skills and build better relationships; the parents own development needs may be an obstacle in being able to participate fully in the programme (Holzer et al., 2006). Cultural values, negative experiences with social service providers, language barriers, time commitment, scheduling issues, travel, and general lack of interest may reduce participation in parent education programs. Parental depression, drug or alcohol addiction, low level of education, domestic violence, marital conflict, remarriage, harsh punishment on children may decrease the effectiveness of parenting programmes. Moreover, parents with low education and low income are less likely to believe that the can control their childrens development. Also, parents that are hassled about their environment, for example violent neighbours may be less prone to gain from parent schooling (Solutions for America, n.d.). Limitations of parenting programmes Although parenting programmes have proved to be an effective measure to help adults become better parents and ensure a better inclusion of children in society, they have several limitations. One of the major disadvantages of parenting programmes is that it is discriminating in nature, for instance for a programme which is aiming at ensuring the welfare of the family, the children and society in general; research have shown that while delivering the course to families in risky groups the programmes are excluding families from other background who are facing difficult issues with their children (Lindsay et al., 2011). The second drawback, concerns ethnicity, some researches conducted in the United Kingdom have shown that attendance to parenting programmes vary greatly depending on the ethnicity of the parents (Patel et al., 2011). For example, the study conducted by Patel et al (2002) showed that out of eighty participants, 37.5% were white British, 18.8% were Pakistani, Asian and black British accounted each for 10% and other minority groups accounted for less than 10% each. Thirdly, the high level of drop out from the programmes is another limitation. According to Lindsay et al. (2011), there are 17%-19% of participants who quit the programme due to socioeconomic issue or other problems. Therefore, the programmes need to take into account motivational factors which will stimulate candidate to pursue the course till the end. Parenting programmes and sustainable development All parenting programs do one thing in common, that is, improving the lifestyle of its citizens by providing the right skills to the people in order to shapes the future of the youths and improves their quality of life. From this perspective, we can clearly see that the aim of parenting programmes is closely linked to the four pillars of sustainable development. For instance, by providing parents the required tools to become better guides for their children and improving their relationship, such programs are ensuring that the latter will become good citizens for the welfare of society. Secondly, parenting programmes enables the moulding of future wealth producers by ensuring that future generations have the required environment to grow up as respectable and responsible adults. Thirdly, through such programmes both children and parents learn to respect people different from them that is, from other culture, religion and so on; they also learn to be respectful towards their environment and manage resources accordingly for a better lifestyle. Sustainable development Sustainable development is a concept which has become popular during the 1970s and has been defined in various ways but the most recognised definition is from the Brundtland Report, (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987) stating Sustainable Development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.. This definition highlights that when setting up new policies, governments need to take into account features such as, resources available, respect them and work towards protecting them so as to ensure that future generations could also benefit from them. The terms sustainability and sustainable development is sometimes used interchangeably and although they seem vague in nature, they in fact consist of three main components, namely economic prosperity, social justice and environmental protection (GoodPlanet.info, 2008). The economics aspect involves the creation of employment, increasing production, income and wealth for everyone; and using new technologies to attain these objectives. The social component means that everyone should have access to justice, healthcare, participation in social activities, education and so on. Finally, the environmental component comprises good resource management and conservation (The Encyclopedia of Earth, 2011). Since the year 2000s, culture has been added as a fourth pillar to sustainability. With globalisation, the world has become a global village, as such for development to occur; governments need to take into consideration cultural diversity. In addition, cultural sustainability also implies the protection of cultural values, arts and heritage (Nurse, 2006). Below is a picture illustrating the four pillars of sustainable development and what are their aims (Just Focus, 2009). Source: Just Focus, 2010, available at http://www.justfocus.org.nz/tag/education-and-training/ The concern about sustainable development started in 1962 with the publication of the book Silent Spring by Rachel Carson which provided an insight of the relationships between the environment, the economy and the social well-being of people (International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2002). However, sustainable development is said to have started with the declaration of human right in 1948 as it promoted universal rights for freedom of speech, belief and movement (Pesqueux, 2009). In addition, it is only in the 1970s that the concept gain popularity, with the focus being mainly on the environmental component due to the increase awareness about the depletion of our resources due to the growth of human population. This lead the creation of several movements such as Green Peace or Chipko movement in India; it lead to the organisation of several major conferences such as the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, also known as the E arth Summit or the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002 (Sustainable Development in Government, 2011). Several agreements were reached during the Earth Summit, under the Agenda 21, pertaining to programmes leading to sustainable development in the twenty-first century (One World, 2012). Since then, awareness about our resources has been on the rise resulting in the emergence of new managerial concepts and responsible business practices, for example Corporate Social Responsibility which was adopted by business after the Enron case but also with changes in legislation. Furthermore, in line with the Rio summit, the Millennium Summit in 2000 lead leaders around the world to adopt the United Nations Millennium Declaration which consist of eight diverse goals, including eradication of poverty; universal primary education; combat HIV/AIDS among others, to be achieved by 2015 (The Encyclopedia of Earth, 2011). Therefore, it can be seen that sustainability can achieved through better health, alleviation of poverty or access to education; this leads us to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development which was proclaimed in 2002 as a programme which promote education as an indispensable element for achieving sustainable development (DESD, 2002). Education for sustainable development As said above, the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, 2005-2014 was launched in 2002 by the United Nations. It is a programme which is under the supervision of the UNESCO and whose target is to provide quality education for all, inculcate values, beliefs and behaviour for a better and sustainable future (DESD, n.d). However, the concept of using education to achieve sustainability was introduced much before, for instance as Pace (2010) mentioned, during the Tbilisi Conference in 1977, environmental education was proposed as a framework for sustainability. Both frameworks are quite similar except that the environmental education was more focus on the preservation of our resources whereas the DESD is a global approach aiming at achieving various issues such as alleviating poverty or disaster risk reduction (UNESCO, n.d.). At the Rio