Persuasive Speach – Buy vs. Rent

Project 4 Written Outline Even in this economy it is still better to buy a home then rent. I. Why pay rent and make the landlord richer when you can own your own home for basically the same monthly payment and reap the tax benefits yourself. II. In 2006 I was faced with having to make the decision to buy or rent. After researching found I could buy a 4 bedroom house in a good area for same price of renting a 2 bedroom apartment. Also working for the government I knew the tax advantages I would get so I don’t have to tell you which decision I went with.III. Today I am going to show you that buying a house is a better choice then renting even in this unstable economy. IV. There are many programs that help people purchase a home. First time homebuyers even with bad credit can qualify. Do you know where to look? I will provide you with some internet sights that can be of assistance. V. There are many reasons why home buying is better than renting; the few that I will talk about ar e 1. Long term buying costs less on a yearly basis then renting. 2. Good financial investment and low interest rates and 3.Tax advantages Now that we are coming to a close on the semester some of you are going to be faced with the decision upon graduation as to whether you should buy or rent. I. If you have already decided that you will be staying in a certain area for at least 7 years it is shown that buying is cheaper than renting. a. On April 21st. 2010 the NY Times reported that if you remain in your home for 7 or more years you will save approximately $759/year over renting. b. Did you know you could also use the rent ratio to help determine what areas are better to buy in?To determine rent ratio you look at the average purchase price of a house and divide that by rent of a similar house. If the rate is under 20 it is a good indication to buy i. Some areas that are currently under 20 include Philadelphia, New York. Boston. Washington, Cleveland, Chicago, Dallas, Sacramento and Los Angeles ii. In the 4th quarter of 2005 the rent ratio for Philadelphia was 17. 2, since then it has dropped to 16. 7 (4th quarter of 2009) this shows that now is still a better time to buy then rent in our area.In 2006 I had to evaluate my own circumstances and the Pros and Cons of buying vs. renting. II. I compared what I would pay for a 2 bedroom apt to what I would pay for a home. I found that I could buy a 4 bedroom house in a good area and get a mortgage with a 7. 5% interest rate. My monthly payment would have been the same as renting an apartment. a. Last year I refinanced with all the programs that were being given out because of the financial problems banks were having. I was able to get my interest rate down to 4. % and now my mortgage is only $750/month (and that includes my taxes being escrowed) b. Now where can you rent a 4 bedroom house for $750/month in a good stable area? c. Even though the housing market is on the mend you can still get in on a low interest rate today at about 5. 13%. d. Owning home helps to build equity that you can use later in life for other events like your child going to college; adding an addition to your home. It also lets you be in control of your interior decorating and your outdoor landscaping.No need to sit around waiting on a landlord to come fix something that has broken, or losing a deposit if place isn’t in condition the landlord wants it to be in. Buying a home has tax advantages that renting does not. III. When buying a house certain costs can be deducted on your tax returns giving you benefits instead of a landlord. a. Closing costs and points paid are deductible on Schedule A as Itemized deductions. b. You can also deduct your interest payments on your mortgage as well as School Taxes, County Taxes, etc. c.Also recently added was that you can now claim PMI payments. d. Even if your itemized deductions are lower than the standard deduction you can still reap the tax benefits of being a homeowner. i . If you can not itemize you can claim an additional $500/1000 deduction (single/joint) added to the standard deduction line on the tax return. Today I have shown you that buying a home is better then renting. Conclusion Buying saves you money in the long run. You’re investing in your future and providing yourself with stability and security in your community.Your building up equity in your home as you pay off your mortgage and reaping the tax benefits instead of writing a check to a landlord and watching your money go out the window. You can find more information at the following sites: www. Rentlaw. com, www. smartmoney. com, www. hud. gov/buying. comq. cfm, and to find out current mortgage rates you can visit www. bankrate. com I. So let’s stop making others rich and give yourself the financial security and stability you deserve by owning the American dream. Your own home†¦

Persuasive Letter Essay

Possible internships for your company In such a successful and powerful company such as, M&M Title Services, inc. , you probably are a very busy company. Sometimes having a few extra people around to help out in the company can be very helpful. For this reason, City College is offering well trained and qualified interns to work and internship in your company. At City College, our students are very hardworking and intelligent people. In order for us to allow a student to become an intern, they must meet certain requirements such as having completed two or more courses in the area of internship and received a â€Å"B† or better. According to our internship program: Interns that work for your company can either be paid or unpaid, should involve substantive work supervised by someone in your company and must have at least 100 hours of on-site work experience during the term. We at City College are more then willing to discuss and compromise on any of these requirements. You may be debating whether or not students at City College can really be good interns, but let me assure you, these students are one of the best and can be outstanding interns. I encourage you and your company to have one or more of our student’s intern in your company, you won’t regret it. Sincerely, Stephanie Morales Stephanie Morales Director of Internship Program

Beauty is not so easily measured

It is a story about beauty and this man’s relationship to beauty, and the psychological relationship he has to the idea of beauty and what is behind the idea of beauty. Yasunari wrote â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile† as a first-person account from the film writer’s standpoint.   The man is on location for a film he has written about patients in a mental hospital, and is in the process of discovering a final scene for his film.   He finds it one morning while â€Å"gazing out on the Kamo River,† (Yasunari, 1929/1990, p. 128) upon waking, finding himself amid the memories of a previous day and recalling a mask that he had seen in a display window.   It is that image that gives him the idea for his final scene of the movie, â€Å"a daydream† (p. 129) filled with masks of smiling faces. The search for the masks to be used in the film becomes the central drama of the story—and the protagonist’s relationship to those masks once he takes them to his wife and children after the filming of the movie is complete.   The masks are delicate and the actors must handle them carefully.   Yet, there is some power within those masks.   The film writer decides to buy them so they can be handled without fear of them being destroyed, and it is in the power of those masks that the protagonist realizes his own relationship with beauty. â€Å"Well then, I’ll buy them.   I did actually want them.   I daydreamed as if awaiting the future when the world would be in harmony and people would all wear the same gentle face as these masks.   (p. 131) His children love the masks, but he refuses to wear them.   His wife agrees to put one on, and it is in that moment that he discovers his true relationship to his wife’s beauty.   â€Å"The moment she removed the mask, my wife’s face somehow appeared ugly† (p. 131).   It is as though he is seeing her face for the first time—and his own idea of her beauty, or, in this case, the â€Å"ugliness of her own countenance† (p. 131).   As his wife lay in the hospital bed, he is faced not only with a new idea of beauty, but his own sense of self—one that might appear as â€Å"an ugly demon† (p. 132) to his wife.   He would be exposed to his real self, his true nature. Psychologist C. G. Jung writes that the mask can be seen as the outer persona we show to the world, the way we want to be seen (Jung, 1929/1983, p. 96).   â€Å"The mask is the ad hoc adopted attitude, I have called the persona, which was the name for the masks worn by actors in antiquity† (Jung, 1921/1983, p. 98).   The narrator is forced to confront not only what lies behind his wife’s beauty/ugliness, but also his idea of his own beauty/ugliness.   The â€Å"beautiful mask† (p. 132) reveals another question, too:   whether or not the face he sees on his wife could be artificial, too, â€Å"just like the mask† (p. 132).   It’s a perplexing question, but one that reveals, like the mask, much about the filmmaker’s relationship to himself and his world. While the idea of beauty colors Yasunari’s 1963 â€Å"palm-of-the-hand† story â€Å"Immortality,† the concept of eternal love is the central theme.   In this short story, two lovers have reunited after being apart for at least five decades—but their reunion comes in the afterlife, as they are now each dead.   Yasunari presents a portrait of an eighteen-year-old girl and a man sixty years her senior walking through some woods in a land they’d both known together while alive.   The scene is haunting as the girl is not aware the man has passed on into the afterlife until the end, when, upon that realization, the two â€Å"go into the tree and stay† (Yasunari, 1963/2005, p. 326). The love between the two has been eternal, in a sense—the girl killed herself because of her love for the man when they had to separate, and he wound up spending much of his life on the land overlooking that spot in the ocean where she died. The man has returned to the land where she died to reclaim her.   He wants to be with her forever.   However, he doesn’t know he is dead, and neither does she. Once she realizes he, too, is dead, they are able to reunite into eternity in nature, merging themselves into an old tree where they will live forever. Like â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile,† Yasunari uses the idea of beauty and the mask that we wear—Jung’s â€Å"persona†Ã¢â‚¬â€as an aspect of â€Å"Immortality.†Ã‚   The girl tells the old man, Shintaro, that she has lived in the afterlife with the image of him as a young man.   â€Å"You are eternally young to me,† (p. 325) she says, even though the man is now old. If I hadn’t drowned myself and you came to the village now to see me, I’d be an old woman. How disgusting.   I wouldn’t want you to see me like that.   (p. 325) For the girl, memories are important.   Her spirit carries them as she lives in the afterlife.   Scholar James Hillman says that memories are important for the soul, carrying with them energy that thrives for the departed person.   The girl realizes this, too, in a way:   â€Å"If you were to die, there wouldn’t be anyone on earth who would remember me,† she says (p. 325). The soul, they say, needs models for its mimesis in order to recollect eternal verities and primordial images.   If in its life on earth it does not meet these as mirrors of the soul’s core, mirrors in which the soul can recognize its truths, then its flame will die and its genius wither.   (p. 159) The girl imagines ugliness representing old age—that ancient mask we all wear once we have passed from the prime years of our life.   Even though the old man is wearing that mask, she doesn’t see it:   she has only her memories carried with her at the time of her death, so she sees him as an eighteen-year-old, also.   For the man, he never experienced his lover as an old woman; thus, her youth is indeed eternal for him. Yasunari uses few characters in both stories, keeping each â€Å"palm-of-the-hand† short and simple.   The narrator in â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile† is joined by the mask buyer, his wife, and his children in the tale, while it is only Shintaro and his young lover in â€Å"Immortality.†Ã‚   We do not see deeply driven characterization in either story, as Yasunari essentially paints portraits of each actor through their thoughts and actions.   Like a beautiful painting of a sunset or sunrise, we must use our imagination amidst the texture and colors of the painting to grasp its deeper meaning. Indeed, Yasunari’s beautiful use of words shines in both stories in his colorful imagery.   It is simple:   â€Å"An old man and a young girl were walking together,† he writes to begin â€Å"Immortality.†Ã‚   He ends that story almost the same way he begins â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile†Ã¢â‚¬â€with the picture of the sky. The color at evening began to drift onto the small saplings behind the great trees.   The sky beyond turned a faint red where the ocean sounded.   (p. 326). â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile,† on the other hand, begins with the image of the sky as well.   â€Å"The sky had turned a deep shade; it looked like the surface of a beautiful celadon porcelain piece† (p. 128).   It is a daydream of sorts, a beautiful portrait into which Yasunari takes the reader as he moves through the inner world of the film writer. Both stories are magical.   It is the â€Å"magic of those trees† (p. 325) that captures the imagination of Shintaro and his young lover.   Those trees are part of land his family owned, and he later sold to the men who turned the land into a golfer’s driving range.   The trees are on land overseeing the ocean where the girl jumped to her death.   Trees are sacred and magical in many mythologies.   Buddha gained enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree, and many myths use trees as the focus for rebirth (Anderson, 1990, p. 25).   In the same regard, the ocean, too, is a mythical place:   from where gods and goddess reside and in the Greek legend Odysseus sailed before being reuniting with his lover (Anderson, p. 25). The magic of â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile† comes in the healing properties of the masks.   It is through the image of the mask that the film writer is able to create an ending for his story—a â€Å"beautiful daydream† (p. 128) to conclude the â€Å"dark story† (p. 129).   The masks represent his own distrust of himself and the world around him, covering with an artificial beauty the truth that lies behind them.   The masks magically hide what is true and meant to be revealed—whether it is an â€Å"ugly demon† (p. 132) or an â€Å"ever-smiling gentle face† (p. 132). What is also interesting about â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile† is in how the film writer’s screenplay is based on a scene inside a mental hospital.   We learn later that his wife is in a hospital of sorts—and we never learn the exact nature of her illness.   Could it be a mental hospital?   And might her hospitalization also be a reflection of his â€Å"gloomy† personality (p. 129)?   He’s afraid of what is hiding behind the masks—so much that his initial reaction to putting on the mask himself is fear.   â€Å"The mask is no good.   Art is no good† (p. 132).   Masks and art each reveal the hidden dimensions.   The film writer himself uses his films to balance his own â€Å"gloomy† personality.   Yet the shadows of life are revealed through film and art, and are experienced in hospitals.   Each is an aspect of â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile.† Yasunari gives much to think about regarding our relationship to each other and ourselves in â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile,† and to our relationship with the magic of eternal love in â€Å"Immortality.†Ã‚   Both reveal the hidden aspects of our existence on earth, offering us a short look at the feeling of living in a world of melancholy and loneliness amid what we call beauty.   Our own mortality rises from the depths of eternity through these stories, and it is in the hidden beauty of our daily lives that Yasunari’s works can be realized. Bibliography Anderson, William.   (1990).   Green man:   The archetype of our oneness with the earth. London:   HarperCollins. Hillman, James.   (1996).   The soul’s code.   New York:   Warner Books. Jung, C. G.   (1983). Definitions.   (R. F. C. Hull,Trans.). In   A. Storr (Ed.). The essential Jung:   Selected writings.   (V. S. de Laszlo, Ed.) (Pp. 97-105).   Princeton:   Princeton University Press.   (Original work published 1921). Jung, C. G.   (1983). The relations between the ego and the unconscious.   (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). In   A. Storr (Ed.). The essential Jung:   Selected writings.   (V. S. de Laszlo, Ed.) (Pp. 94-97).   Princeton:   Princeton University Press.   (Original work published 1929). Ljukkonen, Petri.   (2005).   Yasunari Yasunari.   Retrieved November 19, 2005 from http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/Yasunari.htm. Yasunari, Yasunari.   (1990).   The man who did not smile.   (L. Dunlop, Trans.).   In Palm-of-the-hand Stories.   (J. Martin Holman, Trans.).   (Pp. 128-132).   San Francisco:   North Point Press.   (Original work published 1929). Yasunari, Yasunari.   (2005).   Immortality.   In (G. Dasgupta, J. Mei, Ed).   Stories about us.   (Pp. 323-325).   Nashville:   Thomas Nelson Publishers.   (Original work published 1963). Beauty is not so easily measured It is a story about beauty and this man’s relationship to beauty, and the psychological relationship he has to the idea of beauty and what is behind the idea of beauty. Yasunari wrote â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile† as a first-person account from the film writer’s standpoint.   The man is on location for a film he has written about patients in a mental hospital, and is in the process of discovering a final scene for his film.   He finds it one morning while â€Å"gazing out on the Kamo River,† (Yasunari, 1929/1990, p. 128) upon waking, finding himself amid the memories of a previous day and recalling a mask that he had seen in a display window.   It is that image that gives him the idea for his final scene of the movie, â€Å"a daydream† (p. 129) filled with masks of smiling faces. The search for the masks to be used in the film becomes the central drama of the story—and the protagonist’s relationship to those masks once he takes them to his wife and children after the filming of the movie is complete.   The masks are delicate and the actors must handle them carefully.   Yet, there is some power within those masks.   The film writer decides to buy them so they can be handled without fear of them being destroyed, and it is in the power of those masks that the protagonist realizes his own relationship with beauty. â€Å"Well then, I’ll buy them.   I did actually want them.   I daydreamed as if awaiting the future when the world would be in harmony and people would all wear the same gentle face as these masks.   (p. 131) His children love the masks, but he refuses to wear them.   His wife agrees to put one on, and it is in that moment that he discovers his true relationship to his wife’s beauty.   â€Å"The moment she removed the mask, my wife’s face somehow appeared ugly† (p. 131).   It is as though he is seeing her face for the first time—and his own idea of her beauty, or, in this case, the â€Å"ugliness of her own countenance† (p. 131).   As his wife lay in the hospital bed, he is faced not only with a new idea of beauty, but his own sense of self—one that might appear as â€Å"an ugly demon† (p. 132) to his wife.   He would be exposed to his real self, his true nature. Psychologist C. G. Jung writes that the mask can be seen as the outer persona we show to the world, the way we want to be seen (Jung, 1929/1983, p. 96).   â€Å"The mask is the ad hoc adopted attitude, I have called the persona, which was the name for the masks worn by actors in antiquity† (Jung, 1921/1983, p. 98).   The narrator is forced to confront not only what lies behind his wife’s beauty/ugliness, but also his idea of his own beauty/ugliness.   The â€Å"beautiful mask† (p. 132) reveals another question, too:   whether or not the face he sees on his wife could be artificial, too, â€Å"just like the mask† (p. 132).   It’s a perplexing question, but one that reveals, like the mask, much about the filmmaker’s relationship to himself and his world. While the idea of beauty colors Yasunari’s 1963 â€Å"palm-of-the-hand† story â€Å"Immortality,† the concept of eternal love is the central theme.   In this short story, two lovers have reunited after being apart for at least five decades—but their reunion comes in the afterlife, as they are now each dead.   Yasunari presents a portrait of an eighteen-year-old girl and a man sixty years her senior walking through some woods in a land they’d both known together while alive.   The scene is haunting as the girl is not aware the man has passed on into the afterlife until the end, when, upon that realization, the two â€Å"go into the tree and stay† (Yasunari, 1963/2005, p. 326). The love between the two has been eternal, in a sense—the girl killed herself because of her love for the man when they had to separate, and he wound up spending much of his life on the land overlooking that spot in the ocean where she died. The man has returned to the land where she died to reclaim her.   He wants to be with her forever.   However, he doesn’t know he is dead, and neither does she. Once she realizes he, too, is dead, they are able to reunite into eternity in nature, merging themselves into an old tree where they will live forever. Like â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile,† Yasunari uses the idea of beauty and the mask that we wear—Jung’s â€Å"persona†Ã¢â‚¬â€as an aspect of â€Å"Immortality.†Ã‚   The girl tells the old man, Shintaro, that she has lived in the afterlife with the image of him as a young man.   â€Å"You are eternally young to me,† (p. 325) she says, even though the man is now old. If I hadn’t drowned myself and you came to the village now to see me, I’d be an old woman. How disgusting.   I wouldn’t want you to see me like that.   (p. 325) For the girl, memories are important.   Her spirit carries them as she lives in the afterlife.   Scholar James Hillman says that memories are important for the soul, carrying with them energy that thrives for the departed person.   The girl realizes this, too, in a way:   â€Å"If you were to die, there wouldn’t be anyone on earth who would remember me,† she says (p. 325). The soul, they say, needs models for its mimesis in order to recollect eternal verities and primordial images.   If in its life on earth it does not meet these as mirrors of the soul’s core, mirrors in which the soul can recognize its truths, then its flame will die and its genius wither.   (p. 159) The girl imagines ugliness representing old age—that ancient mask we all wear once we have passed from the prime years of our life.   Even though the old man is wearing that mask, she doesn’t see it:   she has only her memories carried with her at the time of her death, so she sees him as an eighteen-year-old, also.   For the man, he never experienced his lover as an old woman; thus, her youth is indeed eternal for him. Yasunari uses few characters in both stories, keeping each â€Å"palm-of-the-hand† short and simple.   The narrator in â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile† is joined by the mask buyer, his wife, and his children in the tale, while it is only Shintaro and his young lover in â€Å"Immortality.†Ã‚   We do not see deeply driven characterization in either story, as Yasunari essentially paints portraits of each actor through their thoughts and actions.   Like a beautiful painting of a sunset or sunrise, we must use our imagination amidst the texture and colors of the painting to grasp its deeper meaning. Indeed, Yasunari’s beautiful use of words shines in both stories in his colorful imagery.   It is simple:   â€Å"An old man and a young girl were walking together,† he writes to begin â€Å"Immortality.†Ã‚   He ends that story almost the same way he begins â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile†Ã¢â‚¬â€with the picture of the sky. The color at evening began to drift onto the small saplings behind the great trees.   The sky beyond turned a faint red where the ocean sounded.   (p. 326). â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile,† on the other hand, begins with the image of the sky as well.   â€Å"The sky had turned a deep shade; it looked like the surface of a beautiful celadon porcelain piece† (p. 128).   It is a daydream of sorts, a beautiful portrait into which Yasunari takes the reader as he moves through the inner world of the film writer. Both stories are magical.   It is the â€Å"magic of those trees† (p. 325) that captures the imagination of Shintaro and his young lover.   Those trees are part of land his family owned, and he later sold to the men who turned the land into a golfer’s driving range.   The trees are on land overseeing the ocean where the girl jumped to her death.   Trees are sacred and magical in many mythologies.   Buddha gained enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree, and many myths use trees as the focus for rebirth (Anderson, 1990, p. 25).   In the same regard, the ocean, too, is a mythical place:   from where gods and goddess reside and in the Greek legend Odysseus sailed before being reuniting with his lover (Anderson, p. 25). The magic of â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile† comes in the healing properties of the masks.   It is through the image of the mask that the film writer is able to create an ending for his story—a â€Å"beautiful daydream† (p. 128) to conclude the â€Å"dark story† (p. 129).   The masks represent his own distrust of himself and the world around him, covering with an artificial beauty the truth that lies behind them.   The masks magically hide what is true and meant to be revealed—whether it is an â€Å"ugly demon† (p. 132) or an â€Å"ever-smiling gentle face† (p. 132). What is also interesting about â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile† is in how the film writer’s screenplay is based on a scene inside a mental hospital.   We learn later that his wife is in a hospital of sorts—and we never learn the exact nature of her illness.   Could it be a mental hospital?   And might her hospitalization also be a reflection of his â€Å"gloomy† personality (p. 129)?   He’s afraid of what is hiding behind the masks—so much that his initial reaction to putting on the mask himself is fear.   â€Å"The mask is no good.   Art is no good† (p. 132).   Masks and art each reveal the hidden dimensions.   The film writer himself uses his films to balance his own â€Å"gloomy† personality.   Yet the shadows of life are revealed through film and art, and are experienced in hospitals.   Each is an aspect of â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile.† Yasunari gives much to think about regarding our relationship to each other and ourselves in â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile,† and to our relationship with the magic of eternal love in â€Å"Immortality.†Ã‚   Both reveal the hidden aspects of our existence on earth, offering us a short look at the feeling of living in a world of melancholy and loneliness amid what we call beauty.   Our own mortality rises from the depths of eternity through these stories, and it is in the hidden beauty of our daily lives that Yasunari’s works can be realized. Bibliography Anderson, William.   (1990).   Green man:   The archetype of our oneness with the earth. London:   HarperCollins. Hillman, James.   (1996).   The soul’s code.   New York:   Warner Books. Jung, C. G.   (1983). Definitions.   (R. F. C. Hull,Trans.). In   A. Storr (Ed.). The essential Jung:   Selected writings.   (V. S. de Laszlo, Ed.) (Pp. 97-105).   Princeton:   Princeton University Press.   (Original work published 1921). Jung, C. G.   (1983). The relations between the ego and the unconscious.   (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). In   A. Storr (Ed.). The essential Jung:   Selected writings.   (V. S. de Laszlo, Ed.) (Pp. 94-97).   Princeton:   Princeton University Press.   (Original work published 1929). Ljukkonen, Petri.   (2005).   Yasunari Yasunari.   Retrieved November 19, 2005 from http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/Yasunari.htm. Yasunari, Yasunari.   (1990).   The man who did not smile.   (L. Dunlop, Trans.).   In Palm-of-the-hand Stories.   (J. Martin Holman, Trans.).   (Pp. 128-132).   San Francisco:   North Point Press.   (Original work published 1929). Yasunari, Yasunari.   (2005).   Immortality.   In (G. Dasgupta, J. Mei, Ed).   Stories about us.   (Pp. 323-325).   Nashville:   Thomas Nelson Publishers.   (Original work published 1963).

Women and poverty Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Women and poverty - Research Paper Example Statistics constantly brings in the fact that women are more likely to be poor than men. In fact, women are more susceptible and more exposed to hunger because of the universal subordination and gender discrimination they contend with in education, healthcare, employment, and in controlling resources and political authority. Although violence against women is existent across all economic groups, women who are suffering from poverty experience it more frequently and they have less possessions or means with which to deal with the situation. Poverty among women is a global truth that reveals itself differently from one country to another; nevertheless, the factors and figures in global gender discrimination are blindingly comparable: gender disparities in wages, work-related discrimination, dangerous employment conditions, and uneven necessities in household and childhood care among others. Over the last few decades, studies on the explosion of households supervised by females and the s tudies into the societal influences and gender-specific consequences of structural adjustment policies have brought about the increased awareness on what is considered to be a â€Å"feminization of poverty† (Moghadam 2). This is to say that a mounting percentage of the world’s poor population are women. ... The Causes of Poverty among Women Violence According to various studies, a great majority of women are victims of human trafficking that is manifested in various forms such as prostitution, which is considered to be the most common and widespread form of human trafficking (UNICEF 11). Women involved in this kind of activity do this for survival and as a response to their economic despondency. Worsening of living conditions usually forces children to quit school in order to help the family survive, placing them susceptible to exploitation and violence. For instance, some young girls in Zimbabwe are trading sex in exchange for food for survival due to intensifying poverty (Thomson, â€Å"Zimbabwean Girls Trade Sex for Food†). Violence against women is a global dilemma of endemic quantity. Anywhere in the world today, women represent the main casualties of physical and sexual violence. Greatly entrenched in prejudice and discrimination between genders, violence against women is o ne of the most pervasive forms of violation to human rights. Contrary to the famous belief that violence against women only exist in homes, this violence against women takes various forms: â€Å"domestic violence, sexual abuse and harassment of girls in school, sexual harassment at work, or rape by husbands, strangers, in refugee camps or as a tactic of war† (7). The least effect of domestic violence is reduced efficacy in their jobs. If a woman is more exposed to physical violence, it affects her productivity at work, which can be manifested through excessive absences and poorer efficiency at work. Consequently, this forbids the possibility of receiving salary increases and they will have less chance for promotion; even worse, violence against women could cause women to lose their jobs

Discuss at least four situations in which a law enforcement officer Essay

Discuss at least four situations in which a law enforcement officer may conduct a search without first obtaining a warrant. Explain when those exceptions apply - Essay Example Dwelling house of man has been expressed as his castle even before the advent of English jurisprudence. The natural desire for privacy led to formation of homes as a place for hospitality, shelter and protection even in ancient times. The Biblical times also had respect for home as a dwelling place to which officials were not being allowed to visit arbitrarily. Bible has it that Joshua desisted from sending his men to Achan’s tent for searching and seizing the prohibited article, even though it had been known that he had been in possession. Under Hebrew Law also the question of search does not arise since enquiry of cases depended on the testimony of witnesses. The point here to be noted is that the right not to be disturbed at home had been there even in ancient times. In olden times no body could enter a house without the occupant’s permission. In Bible, a creditor could not enter a debtor’s house but must wait outside to collect his security for the pledge. A bailiff from court also was barred from entering the house of a debtor. The respect for home in those times is evident from the fact that thieves found guilty of house breaking at nights were punished with death penalty. (Lasson 1937 p 14) In Roman literature, a home was considered not only as an asylum but also was protected by the household Gods who were believed to have dwelt and were worshipped there. If a thief was found inside a house’s fire place, it was assumed that he needed protection. (Lasson p 15) Fourth amendment guarantees the right of the people in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against searches and seizures without reason and no warrants shall be issued without a probable cause supported by an oath or affirmation specifically mentioning the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be subjected to search. (U.S.News 2002) In Boyd v

Design a bioreactor that can replicate the in vivo loading conditions Essay

Design a bioreactor that can replicate the in vivo loading conditions experienced by bone cells in the body - Essay Example It is followed by the dedifferentiation of the cells. This process produces only a minimal concentration of the cells. Hence the use of micro carrier cultures is done for the well-mixed bioreactor systems. The defects in the skeleton system are a big impediment to the normal functioning of the human system. The autogenous bone transplantation is practiced for the bone replacement so far. (Schieker, 2006).This method has increased risk of surgery and post operative morbidality to the patients. This method also has the disadvantage of limited quantity and the secondary operational procedure costs. The calcium phosphate ceramics is widely used for the production of the bone supplement. The hydroxyapatites of the calcium phosphate ceramics have considerable clinical use because of their chemical and relvant crystallographic structures to bone. The cell based therapy aims at developing the 3D biohybrid structure of a scaffold and cultured cells. The bioreactors that are established for th e microbes and mammalian cultures are not suitable for the 3D structure constructs. Hence the need for a tissue specific bioreactor design arose. To restore back the skeleton function, the bone tissue engineering is used. The production of tissue engineered piece of spongy bone is one of the challenging fields in bone tissue engineering. The three key elements of bone tissue engineering are osteogenic progenitor cells, osteoinductive growth factors and osteoconductive matrices. Osteoblasts are the differentiated cells that arise from the osteoprogenitor cells. These cells are very mobile and they change the shape and size according to the matrix of the bone. These cells appear with in the vascular tissue. These cells are responsible for the synthesis and the secretion of the organic matrix of the bone. Bone remodeling and the bone reformation are the two types of the tissue engineering processes that can are possible with the osteoblast cells.

The postcolonial of The Tempest Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The postcolonial of The Tempest - Essay Example As this agony of slavery preceded the natives longed for freedom and liberty, they took initiatives to find other colonists who could resist the original colonists. This strategy could not help them to establish peace and harmony in the society, and even the natives would be more brutally enslaved and exploited. The captured or enslaved resembled Caliban who wanted to depend on a jester Trinculo and a drunken butler Stephano to kill his master Prospero to retake the ownership of this island. Shakespearean plays are highly associated with the then current issues of the society. To be precise, the play The Tempest clearly depicts the class structure of the era with Prospero being at the top, Ariel in the middle, and Caliban at the lower end. Many postcolonial characteristics are showed in the drama called ‘The Tempest’. Although all characters may not influence everyone, at least a few characteristics will have a kind of influence on the reader or viewer. The two character istics that would touch every reader are â€Å"the master and the slave† and â€Å"The identity of postcolonial†. The master Prospero plays a significant role, making plots to protect his daughter and to avenge his enemies. Sarwoto purports, ‘Prospero lands on an island and enslaves a native inhabitant, Caliban, who is considered as savage and uncivilized’ (2). ... In addition, Ariel who contributes remarkably in his revenge is identified as an airy spirit, which serves the master Prospero in the magic performed in the island. She is also in great desire for freedom from the bondage as being enslaved by Prospero. The identity of Prospero is of high value as he was the Duke of Milan but was usurped by his own brother over a period of time. Therefore, no doubt that the master Prospero belongs to a higher class and race of Milan, identity of postcolonial class varies from one to the other, as the identity of Ariel and Caliban is entirely different and low class. They are well identified as the servants who long for freedom, connecting with the situation of natives, they are real sufferers. Master and slave is essential characteristic to describe the postcolonial. Prospero is the symbol of European colonial power. Caliban is one of the strongest symbols of post colonialism. Caliban, as a native of the land, experiences a most painful situation in h is life, compelled to do all works forcefully and not willingly. And Ariel is the other example for this characteristic of post colonialism. Although she has exceptional power, she serves the master. Knowing the past shaping the life is very important, it shows the play that how the master and the slave have achieved success. At first, Prospero the master of the drama undergoes the greatest crisis in life that he is being overthrown by his own brother and banished. However, he does not give up, and he is an optimistic. He prepares his power for a long period of twelve years in the island and strengthens himself with the assistance of the slaves. Whereas, Ariel

Ethical Expectations In Workplace Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Ethical Expectations In Workplace - Case Study Example The epistemological view involves a lot of application in the principle rule governing efficient handling of the entire aspect of ethics. The impasse and overall ethical doctrine can illustrate a practical approach through which a contingent resolution provides a prescription (Oliver, 2003). Philosophy and Ethics The research practice concerned with social sciences provides a suitable base for the analysis of social sciences. The underlying principle that ensures efficient evidence draws a conclusive view of the entire research program. The evaluation of the doctrine of social science provides light to educational research and the contemporary approaches towards this science. The objective of the ethical attribute ensures a reflection on the main issues of research methodology and the relationship between traditional methodologies. The techniques applied in ethical guidelines should reflect sound standards that will oversee an integral part with much integrity and acceptance. Many de bates provide an attempt to give a viable definition to the global village. The kind of moral philosophy determines the good, right or wrong behavior mechanism of an individual. Social science ethics means value-free science. Philosophy is a great study that focuses on the analysis of an argument. The society in which individual lives must portray relevant beliefs expected of that community. A perfect example is the issue of witchcraft. Some communities exercise the vice of witchcraft to their belief as a way of life. The analysis of philosophy can refer to the loss of practices and styles maintained by the family. This happens when there is an element of skepticism that ensures the assistance and development of important aspects of the nature of humankind. Some guidelines apply and direct towards the means for an end of the majority.

The History of Money Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The History of Money - Assignment Example A trade deficit occurs when a country buys more than it sells. As of 2007 the total debt of the United States was $8.7 trillion (Youtube). If a new currency called Google Bucks appeared in the market I would probably be interested in owning the currency. The reason that I would be interested in Google Bucks is because I make a lot of online purchases. I would accept Google Bucks. I think that Google Bucks could be considered a form of money because it can be used to buy goods and services. The problem with the form of currency is gaining acceptance from the general public. Most people would not consider Google Bucks money if they cannot use the online currency to buy goods outside the internet. A way to legitimize Google Bucks is for the currency to be converted into U.S. dollars or other currency through ATM mechanisms. China benefits from the linkage of its currency to the dollar because its currency does not have to face competition from other currencies to keep its value. The Yuan does not have to compete in the foreign exchange market based on the internal economic conditions of China. China prefers to peg its currency and let the stable dollar become its shield to protect its economy. The United States benefits from this relation because China has become one of the top importers in the world due to the fact that the purchasing power of its people is rising. When the value of the dollar goes down the U.S. reaps the benefits of more Chinese people buying goods from the United States. I do not think that Google Wallet is going to be that influential in the lives of people. The application simply lets you buy goods online using other forms of money that you already have. The application itself does not constitute a new form of currency. Google is offering prepaid debit cards as one of the forms of currency. Prepaid debit cards are a concept that already existed which the banking industry has been using for decades. Some of the

Dctionary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Dctionary - Essay Example One of the more distinguishing features of the word flourish as entered in both dictionaries, Encarta Concise English Dictionary 2001 and The Chambers Dictionary 1998 is the phonetic system used as a pronunciation guide. Encarta employs its own phonetic alphabet, as the pronunciation is clearly not comparable to the International Phonetic Alphabet symbols. The same could be said about the entry of the pronunciation of the word 'flourish' in the Chambers Dictionary. Both pronunciation symbols incorporated the accent sign found above the second syllable of the word. In the vocabulary section, both dictionaries enter the word once in bold fonts except that Encarta enters short definitions of the word in bold face provided with numbering but separated according to parts of speech, and for this entry, Encarta begins with the meaning of the word flourish as a verb which is numbered one to three, followed by five noun definitions, numbered one to five. Chambers dictionary also separated the definitions according to parts of speech, which include the word as a verb and then, noun but added an adjective definition as additional grammatical information.

Pretty Babies, Child Beauty Pageants Essay Example for Free

Pretty Babies, Child Beauty Pageants Essay Many of us first learned about the world of child beauty pageants when a 5  ½ year old beauty queen named JonBenet Ramsey was found murdered the day after Christmas in 1996. The child was murdered in her Boulder Colorado home and found in the basement with her hands tied, her mouth duct taped, and her throat garroted. Her death was ruled strangulation but there was also blunt force trauma to her head as well as vaginal injury (Auge, Karen, par. 13-15). Her death brought these pageants into our minds, conversations and living rooms and many people were shocked to see a child of that age made up like an adult woman, some even said like a prostitute and accused the pageants of sexualizing her and the other children. Images and videos of JonBenet with her hair curled, teased, and sprayed, wearing heavy make-up and glamorous outfits were splattered across the newsstands and she pranced across our televisions winking, flirting and dancing. Any link of her death to the pageants is speculative since the murder remains unsolved, but many people could not help but wonder how safe it was for a child to be made a spectacle of in such a fashion. This past Monday would have been JonBenets 22nd birthday. Perhaps it is time that we as a society take a good look at child beauty pageants and decide what place if any they have in the future for our daughters. JonBenet was the daughter of a wealthy businessman named John Ramsey and his wife, a former Miss West Virginia 1977, Patsy. Patsy has since passed away but John Ramsey has written a book titled â€Å"The Other Side of Suffering† and in an interview with Nightline, John has expressed his regret that JonBenet participated in the pageants. He states in the interview â€Å"Only because- that possibly (the pageants) might have drawn attention to us. † â€Å"I don’t know. But- I think for- for advice to parents is just recognize that- regardless of where you live, there could be evil around you. And don’t be naive about it. And keep your kids protected† (Chang, par. 0). He wonders now about some of the public appearances JonBenet made and if the murderer was maybe in the audience. He says â€Å"Patsy had her sitting atop a friend’s convertible in the Christmas parade waving at people lining the streets. † â€Å"Patsy’s mother later told me that a strange man approached the car during the parade and it made her uncomfortable. I think about these things now and it makes me cringe. We were so naive. I now believe with all my heart that it is not a good idea to put your child on public display. (Chang, par. 7). His words give weight to the issue at hand and initially, it seems, many people felt the same way as child pageants took a financial hit as less people wanted to be associated with the â€Å"publicly tainted industry† (Friedman, par. 5). Fifteen years after the tragic death of JonBenet the pageants have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity (Friedman, par. 6) thanks in large part to the hit show on The Learning Channel, Toddlers Tiaras. The show is immensely popular and is now in its fourth season (IMDB, 2012). Understanding, of course that this is a television show and not a documentary, that it has been edited for drama and to create what is commonly called â€Å"good television†, the show nonetheless gives a viewer a look inside this somewhat alien world. In his interview John Ramsey stated that he had never watched the show but had caught snippets that he finds disturbing. â€Å"It is very bizarre† he states â€Å"And, it certainly- Patsy and JonBenet didn’t approach it that way. We-they just did it for fun. †(Chang, par. 5). Will the parents or the pageant officials take heed? Or will the allure of glamour and profit make them justify their actions? Watching the television show you are immediately struck by one fact; this is a southern thing. To the people who do this, none of it is strange. In fact many of the parents were overjoyed to learn they were pregnant with girls and began to buy gowns before their babies were even born. One mother who has a boy and a girl stated that she had been very upset when she found out that she was pregnant with the boy until she found out that boys could participate in pageants as well. She even stated, on television, that she had only had children so she could put them in pageants. This would seem very strange to many people, but if you watch the show you will hear statements like this over and over, often in front of the children and always on camera (Toddlers Tiaras, 2009-2012). What is apparent is that this is truly a culture. They call themselves â€Å"Pageant People† (Toddlers Tiaras, 2009-2012) and this encompasses not only the contestants and their families but also the judges, pageant directors and announcers and the many, many service people used by the contestants from dress designers to make-up artists and hairstylists to spray tanners and waxers and many of the girls even get facials before a pageants even though their skin cannot possibly look much younger. The popularity of this television show is evident, anyone using a search engine that types in the name of the show will be directed to literally thousands of articles, opinion pieces and fan based websites as well as many spoofs of the show starring big names like Ashley Tisdale and Tom Hanks and has enjoyed the pinnacle of success in the eyes of many, satire on Saturday Night Live. But what about the tiny stars of the show? How safe are they? Is all of this good for them? Watching the show you will see a few kids and moms that seem almost normal, of course these people never get to be the stars. The stars are the children who are bratty, who throw temper tantrums, hit their parents, try to bite other kids and just generally misbehave. The mothers who get the most airtime are of course the ones who say the meanest and most bizarre things. Who treat their children like performing monkeys and seemingly will do anything to get their small progeny to perform on stage. It is remarkable to watch a child transform in just moments from a sparkling banshee into a sweetly smiling and composed young lady, or gentleman on stage. The majority of the children featured on Toddlers Tiaras are little girls but there are a few boys featured as well. It seems unfortunate that the more poorly behaved the people on the show are the more they are rewarded with fame. One strange family has even got their own spin-off show called, Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo (IMDB, 2012). The children often throw fits because they are being forced to do something they do not want to do. Over and over, in almost every episode the children state that they hate doing the beauty portion of the competition. For those unfamiliar with how things work it important to know that the beauty portion is the most important piece of the pageant where girls are judged on their poise, their attire, hair and make-up, and most of all their facial beauty. They are not really expected to perform at this stage of the pageant but only to walk slowly from mark to mark on the stage stopping briefly at each mark to spin and smile sweetly at the judges and the audience and slowly turn from side to side so that all spectators can take in their appearance. One little girl who was seven was criticized by a female judge for â€Å"having too much personality for beauty† although of the same girl a male judge stated that he â€Å"could not take my eyes off her†( Toddlers Tiaras, season 4, 2012). The girl went on to win the biggest crown in the pageant and a contract with an agent. The judges of the pageants can often seem harsh and mark the children down for seemingly acceptable things for the contestants to do, given that most of the girls featured on the show are only between the ages of four and nine. A six year old was marked down because her ankle rolled. She was wearing high heels. A four year old was marked down because her fake teeth or â€Å"flipper† fell out during the beauty portion. Another girl was marked down for being too â€Å"fake†(?! ). And in one episode the little girls were competing for ten thousand dollars and some former contestants came out of retirement to compete. They were as old as twenty-one and some were doing very sexy dances; the male judge was obviously captivated and would not stop talking about the older contestants. A 20 year old won. Against little girls. (Toddlers Tiaras, 2009-2012) You will see some moments on the show where the parents are caring and the children seem to be keeping the whole thing in perspective. One of the fathers, who has 3 children in the pageants does not allow his kids to be tanned or wear fake teeth and lashes and says some of it is â€Å"too far†. He also keeps the bills for the pageants a little lower by renting the dresses and says he preferred the natural pageants. Another one of the parents, this one a mother, laughed when her nine year old daughter’s hair fell down during the pageant, she told her she did â€Å"so good† and reassured her when she began to cry that it was okay. Then said she was just glad she got a crown (in many of the pageants every contestant gets some type of crown) and that she did not need to win the ultimate title and the little girl stated after she calmed down â€Å"win graciously, lose humbly†. Another little girl who won a high title stated that the title she had gotten was really good because â€Å"There’s a lot of girls here†¦ and they tried hard too†. One mother who had seemed very extreme during the beginning of the pageant seemed to have an epiphany at some point during the pageant and said that this would be her seven year old daughter’s last pageant and that her daughter was â€Å"beautiful on her own†. (Toddlers Tiaras, 2009-2012). In one touching episode, a mother had only boys and it seemed that her six year old son and her had a very special relationship based on the pageants. The father, in spite of being supportive, was done with his son being in the pageants and wanted this to be his last one. The boy seemed happy to do the pageants and seemed to have a very special relationship with his mother. At the end of the show they were crying and hugging each other and it was actually hard not to be sad for them (Toddlers Tiaras, 2009-2012) Most of the other parents are not like those ones and the majority of the scenes shown depict these women as bitter and jealous. The way they speak of the other children is disgraceful. They say mean things in front of their own kids about the other children, especially if the other children win and their daughter did not, like that the girl who won did not deserve it and often say that the pageant was unfair or rigged. One mom on the sidelines said about a girl on the stage â€Å"If she wins, she better go get some cellulite treatment done†(Toddlers Tiaras, 2009-2012). The little girls definitely pick up this cattiness from their mothers. Many times over these children say that they are better or prettier than the other girls. One six year old girl knew from her mother that one of the other girls was her biggest competition at the pageant. The other girl was well known for her continuing pacifier dependency and first girl said that she had a secret weapon for her opponent so she could beat her and held up a gag pacifier that had funny looking teeth on the front of it and then snickered. In one sad scene there were sister aged ten and eight who were competing in the same pageant, the eight year old stated that she was going to beat her sister and if her sister started crying she would â€Å"beat her to he ground†. When the older sister started to cry and said that it was because she was being mean the younger one told her to â€Å"Stop crying, you’re embarrassing me! † (Toddlers Tiaras, 2009-2012). If you think the â€Å"tiger moms† would be less cruel to their own offspring you would learn that often that is not the case. Over and over when the children cry because they are hungry, tired, something being done to them hurts or they lost they are told not to cry because they are on camera or that the pageant is not over and their make-up will be ruined. One mom talking about her daughter said that she, the mom, had been better at cheerleading and that her daughter just can’t â€Å"get it† like her. Her daughter was nine. One child was forced to stop doing gymnastics because it was making her muscles too big for her costumes and her mother told her â€Å"that was sucky† when she came off stage. Over and over the children are cruelly disregarded or ignored when they state that they are in pain, feeling sick, hungry or tired. In a heart stopping scene a nine year old girl went missing in full hair and make-up and was no longer in the hotel. In every scene shown by the television show the mom was worried about her being late for her age line up and not concerned for her safety. Luckily, she was found in time, and her standing in the pageant was unaffected. That the girls often cry when they lose is no surprise when you take in that the mothers often cry or state they are going to throw up and berate their daughters for blowing on stage by forgetting to smile at the judges or forgetting part of their routine. The moms let their daughters know that they lost too if their crown is not big enough and does not come with a high title attached to it. The moms will tell their daughters who are smiling and holding a crown that they lost and the crown they have is for losers. One mom while sitting in the audience was â€Å"pissed† and going to cry and listed what the other little girls got and that her daughter didn’t get anything. No wonder the little girl had a tantrum and screamed that she wanted a crown (Toddlers Tiaras, 2009-2012) Many of these mothers are, like Patsy Ramsey, former beauty queens themselves and will stop and nothing to ensure their daughters success in the pageant world. Sometimes it becomes so extreme that it makes the news. In 2011 ABC News did a story on a mom who gave her 8 year old daughter Botox injections because she had wrinkles (Hagan, Kunin and Ghebremedhin, par. 5). The mother was not a doctor but an esthetician, which is basically a beautician for the skin. She claims her daughter wanted to try it herself because her wrinkles bothered her. This is hopefully a rare case but more commonly these young children have their eyebrows waxed, they receive spray tans, even if they are African American or bi-racial. They have acrylic nails put on, they are fitted for fake teeth to go over their own teeth called flippers, they have hair extensions put in because often their baby fine hair either is not thick enough for the large hair-dos or not strong enough to take the heat and styling. Some of the girls have their hair bleached before a pageant. Sometimes these things hurt or are uncomfortable and the children complain. There seems to be a particular hatred amongst the little girls for the false eyelashes. Many of the girls scream and cry and beg to not have to wear them to no avail. These are typically services reserved for very high maintenance women and many adult women would not have the patience for them. The FDA has not done studies on the safety of these chemicals for use on children either. How does it feel to sit in make-up and hair for two hours for a child of say four? On pageant day the real magic begins. The girls are up early in the morning in their hotel rooms. They are fed breakfast and then the beauty regime begins. The pageants last all day and usually include several outfit changes and the performance of practiced routines. The girls, some very young, are not allowed to eat or nap so their hair and make-up do not become ruined. To make up for this, the moms have found some magic. On pageant day the girls have sugar cubes and Pixie Stix poured into their mouths all day long and are fed through a straw high caffeine and sugar drinks like Mountain Dew and some†¦ Red Bull energy drinks. There is some serious concern over the safety of these drinks (Ostrow, 2011). One mother asked her daughter before the pageant if she wanted to quit doing them. The girl nodded yes and the mom said â€Å" Let’s look at your crowns! Doesn’t that make you feel better? † (Toddlers Tiaras, 2009-2012). One of the reasons many of the parents say they do it is often for the prizes, money, bonds and scholarships. Indeed, some of the pageants featured on the television show do boast some large prizes. But most of the parents admit that they have spent many times over what their child has received. Several of the moms admit to lying to their husbands about how much they spend and one single mom has moved in with her parents so they could continue to pay for pageants and it is common for the mothers to take a â€Å"pageant job† (Toddlers Tiaras, 2009-2012) to cover some of the expenses. Some of the parents spend lavishly on the pageants. Many of the pageants have a top prize of only several hundred dollars yet the girls will show up in 2500$ dresses. In one episode two sisters have their very own trailer for pageant accessories that have their pictures emblazoned on the sides. One very enterprising mother has published a pageant book about her daughter, recorded a song and had a doll made in her daughters image. In an episode where they went to the Tonight Show she was saying how she was planning to get her daughter and agent and a two million dollar contract so she could quit her job and move to Hollywood. It seems as if the parents either have delusions about some pay off that will eventually come if they keep plugging away or they really have just found a very expensive habit that they justify for other reasons.

Feasibility Study Essay Example for Free

Feasibility Study Essay Going to school requires a lot of paper works. For instance, some courses being offered by a particular school require Accounting Thesis and Feasibility Studies as part of the curriculum. These paper works consume large amount of time since they necessitate a good deal of thinking and analysis. Students usually need to travel or walk in different locations in the process of Thesis or Feasibility making, which also requires time. Though the services needed are offered everywhere near the vicinity, students are in need of good location to assemble- free from disturbance, and with everything they need. The proponents then came up with an idea to design an all-in-one place for paperwork- making where meeting with group mates and completion of the book at the same time are done. This business would strive to eliminate the time lag in waiting and walking for printing, binding, photocopying and encoding. This business also offers discounts in its photocopy services depending on the number of pages. It also provides convenience with its fully air-conditioned environment for students to discuss and share ideas. Aside from this, there is also canteen and free Wi-Fi adding the one-stop shop services of the establishment. Business Name The propose business shall be named as â€Å"A-Z P-Spot† in which â€Å"P† stands for paper works, which is the main reason for the establishment of the business. â€Å"A-Z† means that the area is a One-stop center, with all-in-one services for paper works for the convenience of the students. Business Location This proposed study shall be located at Lopez Jaena St., Butuan City in front of Medonna Mart as shown in Figure 1.1 Vicinity Map. The figure is specifically located 300 kilometers away from FSUU College. This lot, in a current state, is vacant. It has a total land area of 180 square meters. Because it is in the city proper, it is accessible to all those who need it and since it is in the corner establishment, it is easy to locate. Figure 1.1 (Vicinity Map) Services Rendered Conference Rooms – the students can rent a room inside the establishment to meet with colleagues without noise and distraction from other people. Canteen – It can provide the food needs of the students. They will not waste time in going to some other place just to eat since it is already within the establishment. Printing Services – When work is done, they can easily produce a hardcopy for the project and again, they will not be wasting time in going somewhere else just to print. Photocopy Services – Allows students to reproduce copies of the project with discounts. Encoding – Gives student lesser work since they can let other people encode.

Effect of Learning Environment on Child Arithmetic Skills

Effect of Learning Environment on Child Arithmetic Skills Abstract The main aim of this experiment is to find out whether learning environments will affect children’s arithmetic skills. The hypothesis is children in kindergarten will performed better in arithmetic skills than children receiving home-schooling (N=40). These 40 children will be categorize into 2 groups, Boys and Girls and according to their learning environments, they are sub-grouped into kindergarten and home learning environments. Two different arithmetic tasks were carried out to assess the children skills. The experiment lasted for 12 weeks and at the end of the last week, all the scores were tabulated for the groups. A factorial between design was used in this experiment The statistical analysis yielded support for the hypothesis that children who study in kindergarten score better than children who study at home. However, due to lack of generalisation to population, further replication of the study is recommended with adequate sample size. How Learning Environments Affect Children Arithmetic Skills Acquiring basic literacy skills bring about a significant change to the advances in  research and educational practices. The preschooler years are viewed as the point whereby those kids are at their crucial point to learn the basic abilities of learning in how to read and write. So there is a dilemma for parents whether they should send their child to kindergarten or they should go along with homeschooling. Children tend to learn numbers counting before language acquisition and formal education (Lipton Spelke, 2003; Xu, Spelke, Goddard, 2005). As the child progress, his numerical accuracy gradually refined throughout his childhood until he gained more insightful knowledge in later year. (Halberda Feigenson, 2008). Subsequently, with language acquisition, children will understand the numbers in words and break them in smaller groups (Wynn, 1996), that are within their counting range and gradually move outside of the range to know more numbers (Lipton Spelke, 2006). Talking about cognitive development in children, Jean Piaget (1896) had devoted all his life to study how children think and not to just what children know. Piaget believes that children are able to seek understanding of the world through the process of assimilation and accommodation. Therefore, Piaget placed great emphasize on cognitive development associated with the experience and not social interaction. Another perspective of cognitive development is a Russian psychologist Lev  Vygosky(1896). Vygosky focused on culture and society when it comes to cognitive learning ability. He believed that children learn differently when they are learning independent as compared to learning under the guidance of a more capable partner. This is what he called ‘zone of proximal development†. In conclusion, Vygosky believed that cognitive development is affected by social interaction as compared to be independent. The difference in how Piaget and Vygotsky’s approaches to children cognitive development are the concept of individualistic and social processes. On a research study by Rea and Reys (1970), before children start to enrol in formal education, they are equipped with little of mathematical understanding .Children from early age is constantly practicing their counting skill. Geary (2004)stated that childrens counting abilities could be seen as a combination of inherent constraints and inductions based on counting experiences Seo and Ginsburg (2004) studied the types of informal mathematical activities which four- and five-year-old children express in natural settings during free play. Children demonstrated five mathematical categories; classification activities, magnitude activities, enumeration activities, dynamics and pattern and shape activities. According to Sarama and Clements (2009), children construct mathematics notions as they get actively engaged in the following sorts of play: sensorimotor or manipulative play, symbolic constructive play, symbolic dramatic play and games with rules. Children getting involved in play use it as a means to get them in problem solving situations to develop their thinking on mathematical ideas and procedures. Informal mathematical knowledge undergoes considerable development during the  preschool years and provides a basis for the later acquisition of formal mathematics in the school context (Clements and Sarama 2007). In this sense, successful early childhood instruction builds on children’s informal knowledge and supports the linkage of this prior thinking to more analytical mathematical representations, while taking into account diversity in terms of language, culture, needs and interests. Children possess informal knowledge of many complex mathematical ideas, enjoy the challenges of playing with these complex ideas and, with adult or peer guidance, they can achieve greater understanding than previously expected (Ginsburg, Greenes and Balfanz 2003). It was hypothesized in this study that children who receive education in kindergarten performed better in their arithmetic skills as to children who are receiving their education at home. Another hypothesis in this study is that boys in both school and home will score higher than girls in home and school environment in the assessment test. Methods Participants There will be a total of 40 toddlers involve in this experiment and they are staying at the same community area. They will be divided into 10 male and 10 female toddlers will attend the designated kindergarten while the remaining toddlers will be receiving home schooling at their own respective homes.The age of the toddler will be 5 years old for both genders to ensure fairness of their learning capability. The two different teaching environments that are set for this experiment will be at a kindergarten or at the toddlers’ homes Materials Math ability task. Math ability was measured using the Early Number Concepts component of the British Ability Scales II (Elliot et al., 1996). This math test comprises 24 items that assess various basic numerical competencies through four items (Recognizing numbers names and numerals, identifying quantitative relationships and matching corresponding Number estimation task Three number lines were used: 0 –10, 0 –20 and 0 –100. Each line was 25-cm long, with 0 on the left end and 10, 20, or 100 on the right end, depending on the scale. Procedure The 20 children will be divided into 2 groups according to their genders and in each group, they will be further split in another two groups, based on their learning environments kindergarten or home schooling. The children were instructed to follow the instructions in accordance to each task. The children are shown pictures and they were told to use pencil to circle the correct answer in the given questions. Next, they were told to match the same shapes from a group of mixed shapes of all sizes. Lastly, they were given simple basic addition and subtraction problems to solve and verbally voice out the answer. The total scores for the worksheet will be 20 marks. Results A factorial between groups analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to investigate the effects of gender and learning environments on children’s arithmetic skills. Shapiro-Wilk and Levene’s test were used to evaluate the assumptions of normality and homogeneity of variance respectively. Neither was violated. Levene’s statistics for the test of equality is non-significant with F (3, 36) = .679, p=.571. The results for ANOVA was statically significant with children who attend kindergarten performed better than children who did not attend kindergarten with F (1, 36) = 8.112, p=.001, Õ ²2= .184, as well as statistically significant main effect for practice, F( 1, 36) = 1.073, p=.307, Õ ²2= .029. However, there is no significant interaction indicated that the effect of different learning environments on children’s arithmetic skills are associated with gender differences, F(1,36)= 1.00,p=0.01. The nature of the interaction is shown in Figure 1. Discussion This study aims to find out whether 5-year old children who attend kindergarten tend to have better arithmetic skills than children who have home schooling. This is a double blind experiment whereby both experimenter and children are unaware of what are there being tested, this is to protect the experiment from having the observer-expectancy effect. It was hypothesized that children who attend kindergarten tend to have higher scores than those children who have home schooling, and it was supported by the data using two-way analysis of variances (ANOVA). The data showed that there is a significant difference of the scores between the two learning environments. The two approaches that Piaget and Vygotsky had come across with are closely associated with the type of learning environments which children learn their cognitive skills in both kindergarten and home schooling. Children who attend kindergarten tend to be following Vygotsky’s concept of ‘zone of proximal development whereby children are able to learn under an adult’s supervision while children who receive educations at home from their parents, the home-schoolers are moving towards Piaget’s teaching as the children depend on themselves to gain knowledge about what is happening around them. As the child progresses from infants, his/her ability to learn also progresses along with the growth. Infants demonstrated word segmentation ability when adults were talking to them. When they reach the preschool age, environment play a significant role in their learning ability. At this age group, they are prone to pick up new information quickly even though it is an adult conversation (Whitehurst Valdez-Menchaca, 1988). So, the new information that the child had picked up, if the learning environment and the caregivers reinforces them to gain a better understanding of the things around them, the child will be more advanced in learning new skills. Therefore, in order for child to acquire good arithmetic skills, they can be exposed to more numbers-related information and problems and a positive reinforcement learning environment to gain better understanding of arithmetic problems. However, despite the fact children at the early onset toddlers’ age they are constantly using their arithmetic skills during their playtime with other children such as counting the numbers in their group and dividing themselves up for their games, but parents’ are always looking for educational videos to stimulate those children’s intellectual development at home(McCormick, 1998),which indeed raises the children’s academic achievement but it lowers their expectancies of success and pride in accomplishments in their future (Deborah.,et,al., 1995). Studies are consistent with the hypothesis that children tend to gain better cognitive development in kindergarten as children are exposed to active interaction conservations, feedbacks and corrections are given to them so they are able to understand the concept better to avoid future mistakes. There are some limitations in this experiment. First limitations is generalization of the population, the sample size of this children was taken at one community area and the conclusions are based on the responses of those pre-schoolers children that have yet to have better understanding of the world. Therefore it does not generate enough data to prove that this experiment is reliable. This greatly reduces the external validity of this experiment. Second limitation is the history effect whereby some children are enrolled in other arithmetic classes that could possibly allow them to score higher than the others and eventually lead them to become outliers in the groups. This is one of the confound variable which this experiment had failed to control. Therefore, further studies are needed to eliminate this variable and including a control group will eliminate this confound. In conclusion, there are some improvements that need to make for this experiment to have better reliability and usefulness to the population. Researchers who are curious about how children acquire higher level of arithmetic abilities or cognitive development should conduct more studies and analyse how different age groups solve problems or question with increasing difficulty under different learning environments, what are some of the tools that they use to assist them in the process of learning, and last of all, the interaction between gender and learning environment should be further analyse and require further research.

Essay --

Q 1: Discuss how the SEC has influence (if any) over the audit of Smackey Dog Food, Inc Solution: SEC has a significant influence on the audit of Smackey Dog Food, Inc because it sets certain auditing standards that need to be adhered to while conducting and audit of any organization. One of the standards is ensuring a professional independence of auditors as they carry out their audit. Keller CPA would be more objective in their opinion by maintaining independence in all maters and be free from conflict of interest in performing their professional engagement. Thus, although SEC does not possess direct control over privately held companies like Smackey, it, however, sets up generally accounting principles and disclosure requirements for all auditors to follow in order to prevent fraud and misstatement and to ensure fairness to users of audited financial statements for investment purposes or decision making. Therefore, Keller CPA would be required to follow the six generally accepted auditing standards established by ASB of the AICPA with regards to field work and reporting which were established through the influence of SEC. (Arens, Alvin A., Elder, Randall J., and Beasley 2012 p. 31) Q2: Discuss the essential activities involved in the initial planning of an audit. How do these all specifically relate to Smackey Dog Food client? Solution: Keller CPA would first understand the clients’ industry operations and in particular how the clients’ business functions. This understanding will set the stage for assessing clients’ business risk, risk of significant and material misstatement of the client’s financial positions and the overall audit risk. The four major part of audit planning are: (i) Understanding internal control operatio... ...ble to third parties. Liability under SEC can also arise as well as violation of SAS 99 by not exercising professional skepticism. (Arens, Alvin A., Elder, Randall J., and Beasley. 2012. P. 115-116) REFERENCIES Arens, Alvin A., Elder, Randall J., and Beasley, Mark S. (2012). Auditing and Assurance Services: An integrated Approach. 14th ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Hall PCAOB (Public Company Oversight Board), Auditing Standard number 9, audit planning, retrieved 1/22/14 http://pcaobus.org/Standards/Auditing/Pages/Auditing_Standard_9.aspx AICPA (American Institute of CPAs) Section 50, Principles of Professional Conduct, retrieved 1/17/14 http://www.aicpa.org/Research/Standards/CodeofConduct/Pages/et_52.aspx

Computer Fanatics - Good or Evil? :: essays papers

Computer Fanatics - Good or Evil? Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Charles Manson, and David Koresh were all fanatics of some nature. These fanatics did not have a helpful side effect for people but caused death and one of them a World War. Fanatics don’t all have to be bad though some fanatics helped our way of life or increased it with entertainment. Such fanatics like Michael Jordan and Larry Bird have made basketball a more enjoyable sport to watch. A fanatic is a person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal. All of the above mentioned have had or have these qualities. One type of fanatic that has grown larger in numbers is the computer fanatic. With the rise of technology and the Internet kids and adults are becoming fanatical with computers. Some of the traits of a computer fanatic are a need or want to be around a computer most of the time, talks a lot about computers, and there incredible knowledge for them. A computer fanatic always wants to be around a computer and if he isn’t it’s almost like a withdrawal from a drug. To a computer fanatic a computer is almost like a drug and if he doesn’t get a constant supply of it then he gets moody or restless. Programmers and other computer technicians are almost all computer fanatics and they spend at least 40 hours a week on a computer. Computers to these people are basically there life and that is why the coined term computer nerd was created. A good example of a computer fanatic can be seen in the movie Matrix that the main actor is seen next to his computer asleep and it looks as if he hasn’t moved all day. They love computers like someone might love their wife. When a computer fanatic isn’t around their computer they are always talking about them. They will always at some point have to talk about some thing related to computers. They have a difficult time separating their computer from any other part of their life. It’s hard to carry a conversation with a computer fanatic because sooner or later they will mention something related to computers. Sometimes it can be interesting but usually they speak at a level of understanding that a non-computer fanatic would not understand. There level of understanding is above most normal people and that is another way to tell if they are computer fanatics.

The Struggles Facing LD Students Essay -- Learning Disabilities Educat

The Struggles Facing LD Students Students with learning disabilities are a part of the educational system and they always will be. These students have a single goal in mind, but their disability and social barriers keep them from it. On the other hand, educators have pledged to teach all students, but some fail to teach LD students. This represents an ethical, moral, and legal breakdown of their responsibilities. Educators need to be properly trained and aware of how to meet the needs of these students. The lack of such leads to failure. Students fail because they are afflicted by a disability that forces them to learn in unconventional ways. Teachers fail because they do not embrace the challenge brought about by the diversity of the situation. Students, all over the world, enter into a classroom environment all with a common purpose. The purpose is to learn and excel in all subject areas. This purpose is the same whether the student is in kindergarten or at the university level. The same is true for male and female students, and it is also the case for students who have a learning disability. For these students, the goal is the same, but they can not effectively learn without the help of educators. Learning disabilities alter how these students learn; therefore, the outcome changes. It becomes one of failure and frustration. The student with the disability fails, and educators become frustrated and discouraged. Learning Disabilities (LD) are hidden (obscure) disabilities that affect many people. These people usually have average or above average intelligence, but they are not able to achieve their full potential. The Learning Disability Institute estimates that 5 to 20% of the school-age population has a Specific Le... ... unified purpose. The purpose for the student is to learn while the teacher's purpose is to help that student learn. Learning Disabilities stand in the way of this unified purpose of learning/teaching. Students with a learning disability encounter untrained, unwilling educators who are not prepared to teach them. Students fail because educators fail to live up to their moral and legal obligation to make accommodations to meet their needs. This outcome makes educators also a failure because their goal (to teach all students) is not met. Works Cited "About Learning Disabilities." http://www.ldaca.org/ld.htm (7 Oct. 2001). "Learning Disabilities - Reading Initiatives." http://www.ldinstitute.org/readgrade3.htm/ (7 Oct. 2001). Rose, Mike. "Lives on the Boundary." The Presence of Others. ED> Andrea A. Lunsford. Boston: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2000. 105-118.

Educational Systems Essay

Educational Laws| Twelve years of primary and secondary education prior to attending university.| * All children in the UK of compulsory school age must receive a full time education. * Classes from September to July * Long vacation from 1 July to 30 September * Languages of instruction.| * Academic year runs from March to December. * Primary: 4 or 6 hours * Holydays: two weeks in July| Organization of education at all levels| * Pre- primary education: from 3 to 6. Kinder garden – Child care center – Nursery level * Primary school (elementary) from 6 years old to 13/14. Private or state schools, * Secondary school (highschool): from 13/14 to 16/18Highschool diploma (basic or honour)GED (gral. educ. diploma) test for immigrants or international students to certificate de level.IB examination in different subjects.AP course in order to enter university. * Higher education/university education Undergraduate 1- Associate degree (AS/AA): 2 years. â€Å"General†. Semi- skilled job. Administrative.Bachelor’s degree (BA/BS): 4 years aprox.Graduate 2- Master’s degree (MS/MA): 2 or 3 years.Doctorate degree (PhD): university teachers, doctors, lawyers, scientific. You can choose the subjects and you obtain credits. That is why bachelor’s is more general.Universities divided in schools/orientation. | * Nursery school 1 – 4/5 * Primary school: Infant (4 – 7) Junior (7 – 11) * Secondary school: * Senior * College/ sixth form GCSE: General Crtificate of Secondary Education. One year. Pupils can leave secondary schooling.One more year: AS-Levels (higher level of secondary)A-level (required for university entrance)Diploma: skills and and knowledge needed for work. (like the associated)VOSE * Higher education * Undergraduate level (sometimes referred to as tertiary education) * Graduate (or postgraduate) level (sometimes referred to as quaternary education). Higher education differs from other forms of post-secondary education such as vocational education.There is a three-level hierarchy of degrees (Bachelor, Master, Doctor) A graduate student is an individual who has completed a bachelor’s degree (B.A., B.S.) and is pursuing further higher education, with the goal of achieving a master’s degree (M.A., M.S.) or doctorate In the United States, Graduate education can also refer to those pursuing a post-master’s Educational Specialist degree or post-master’s Certificate of Advanced Study (law school or business school.)| * Pre-primary level – kinder garden (two stages 4 and 5 obligatory) * Primary level – EPB (elementary). From 6 to 11 (it depends on the province) * Secondary level: from 12 to 17 years old. 1) ESB/CBU2) Polimodal/ CE/ ESO * Higher education: private/ national universities or institutions. | In college ≠  in university College: smaller Focus on undergraduate degrees There are a lot of variations especially in qualification. Each state has the possibility of regulate. University: divided into colleges but they are not specialized in one area ancient universities (Oxford/Cambridge). Each school has an orientation. Many courses of study in the same college. (â€Å"autà ³nomos†) OPEN UNIVERSITY: there are some degrees very prestigious. There is a curriculum: pass one subject in order to go on advancing in your program of studies. Diploma in higher education/associated: tecnicatura Undergraduate: after school Higher education: tertiary university undergraduate graduate and postgraduate as synonyms SLA: school leaving age

Individual Report on Econometric Models

Context This report pertains to the selection of an academic paper (Caporale et al., 2009) which is examined based on its aims and results, citing new insights offered by its analysis. It also involves another paper (Oshio et al., 2011) that cited that of Caporale et al. (2009), explaining the kind of data being used for the analysis. The report also includes a description of the economic model adopted by the authors to analyse the issues, as well as a critical reflection of the issues that are likely to arise with the use of these specific econometric models. a.Summary of the selected paper The selected paper in this report is that of Caporale et al. (2009), which was centred on income and happiness across Western and Eastern Europe. The authors utilised data from the European Social Survey (ESS) for 19 European countries, whereby they examined the association between income and subjective well-being. The aim of their study was to find out whether income can buy happiness. Happiness and life satisfaction served as the dependent variables in the study, which were likewise contained in the ESS data. These variables were tested for whether social comparisons and reference groups wielded a relevant influence on the subjective well-being of individuals in the countries involved, which likewise served as the sample. The findings revealed that for all these countries – despite the positive correlation between income on one hand and happiness and life satisfaction on the other – a negative effect was being exerted by reference income on individual well-being, a result that harmonised with the relative utility hypothesis. A separate analysis was conducted by the authors for some countries in Eastern Europe in which they were able to discover some evidence that supported a so-called ‘tunnel effect’, which was suggestive of a positive impact caused by reference income on subjective well-being. The findings maintained that situations characterising stable income and employment have income serving as the basis for social comparisons. In social comparisons, the authors posited that reference income served as the informant for future status expectations. Further, empirical findings revealed a tendency for males to report lower satisfaction than their female counterparts. The authors also cited that the literature holds robust pattern that mirrors the life-cycle areas of people’s social, economic, and family situations. The findings also suggested that happiness perception was positively related to being married, whilst a negative relationship was suggested for divorce. Moreover, the presence of children had a negative effect on happiness perception whilst good health fostered a significant positive association. There was shaky evidence on the likelihood of university qualifications to cause a negative impact on happiness. In addition, a positive effect was indicated by previous employment occurrence on the perception of happiness, which was more deep-seated for more recent unemployment occurrence. The distress accompanying a recent unemployment occurrence may diminish the aspiration value of the presently employed individua l. As the study’s sample was dominated by countries with liberal social welfarism, the influence of the welfare systems on individual’s happiness may also be indicated by the positive impact of unemployment on life satisfaction during the time of joblessness. The new insights offered by the analysis include an apparent wedge between countries in Western Europe and Eastern Europe, which clearly showed that the pursuit of life satisfaction has become embodied in countries’ political framework, serving as a source of valuable insights in policy development concerning welfare reforms. b. A paper citing the selected paper A paper that cites the selected paper here is that of Oshio et al. (2011) whose aim was to examine the effects of relative income on well-being in China, Japan, and Korea based on nationwide surveys in these countries and comparing them with that of the United States. The various factors for which control was undertaken at the individual level were age, gender, and marital status, to name a few. The results were parallel to past researches the same topic involving Western countries. The study exhibited a significant relationship between a person’s income and that of the reference group on one hand, and perceived life satisfaction on the other. In China, individual income showed stronger relationships between relative income and life satisfaction compared to family income, whilst the opposite was demonstrated for Japan and Korea. The comparisons of income within the reference group were necessary for evaluating life satisfaction, particularly when family income was used. Additi onally, Yitzhaki index was used to determine the relative deficiency within the reference group, which was found to have a negative relationship with life satisfaction. Oshio et al. (2011) used Caporale et al. (2009) as a cited paper in their study in that the former utilised it in its claim that apart from the absolute income levels, the happiness of a person is reliant to comparisons with those of others, particularly those with similar socio-economic distinctiveness. Oshio and colleagues also used Caporale and colleagues’ findings on relative income proposition, whereby both found a positive effect fostered by absolute income on both happiness and life satisfaction. Further, both Caporale et al. (2009) and Oshio et al. (2011) used regression analysis to analyse the findings on income and perceived happiness. The apparent difference that could be cited in their studies was the nature of the countries on which their studies were emphasised – Western and Eastern European countries for Caporale et al. (2009), and Asian countries and the United States for Oshio et al. (2011). The former was also more extensive as it used 19 countries f or a generalisation of income-happiness hypothesis, whilst the latter involved only four. The comparison in Caporale and colleagues’ study was between Western European and Eastern European countries, whilst that of Oshio and colleagues was between three Asian countries and the United States. If the cross-country findings in Caporale and colleagues demonstrated a political agenda (i.e. social welfarism), those of Oshio and colleagues were focused on the level of the individual, such as people’s precautious outlook on individual income than family income in China and the United States, leading to the influence of culture for income perception (e.g. individual-orientedness vs. family-orientedness).Whilst Caporale et al. (2009) asserted a positive relationship between income and happiness, Oshio et al. (2011) declared stronger correlations between individual income (rather than family income) and life satisfaction in China, which was not true in Japan and Korea. c.Data used, structure of the data set, and manner of data collection The ESS data in Caporale and colleagues’ (2009) study contained information about a set of demographic and employment characteristics, which the authors utilised as controls in their regressions. Some of these controls were education, income, and position in the labour force, to name a few. The data set also involved information on previous unemployment encounter, which was used in assessing whether a person’s perception of present economic situation was influenced by previous income shocks, commonly due to unemployment. The structure of the data set included all individuals possessing similar levels of education, age brackets, and current countries of residence. The sample was also limited to employees earning full-time salaries. Alternatively, in Oshio and colleagues’ (2011) study, the data were collected from the countries’ (Japan, China, Korea) General Social Survey (GSS), from which data were downloaded. The GSS of these countries were originally gathered by a research office at the University of Chicago. The basis of their empirical analysis was the GSS of these countries which were recorded in 2006, with widely similar survey questionnaires. The results were compared with those of the United States. All income data were converted into logarithms to enable comparing the results across models and countries. In addition, the authors used sampling weights from GSS and made a computation of standard errors to provide correction for any possibility of heteroscedasticity. It may be inferred that even though both studies aimed at determining happiness and life satisfaction vis-a-vis income, their methodologies and approaches were however different but were appropriate to the nature of their hypoth eses. d. Econometric models used by the authors In this section, the econometric models used by the authors are described to analyse the issue. Caporale et al. (2009) used ordered probit model, which they deemed appropriate for their study, given the ordinal nature of the happiness variables. This model enabled a close correlation between happiness and life satisfaction, in which the authors were able to indicate a high level of happiness or satisfaction amongst the research participants. A clear skewness towards the high end was exhibited by the distribution on happiness. Some variations began emerging with the investigation of the level of happiness across the countries involved, with Denmark achieving the highest score, and Portugal, amongst others, recording the lowest scores. Reference income was used as an explanatory variable in the regressions. The estimated coefficients also showed a general consistency with those of previous studies. On the other hand, Oshio et al. (2011) used the ordered logit model to explain perceived happiness across the three countries involved in their study. The model contained an assumption of care amongst individuals in relation to their individual (or family) income when making a comparison of their income with those of others. Family income was included in both specifications, with an assumption that it represents material living standards. It was expected that the coefficient ? was significantly positive in each specification, given the relative income hypothesis. e. Critical reflection of the issues relating to the econometric models The econometric models used in each of the study of Caporale et al. (2009) and Oshio et al. (2011) were appropriately justified and carried out to suit the aim and expected results of each. The use of the ordered probit model in Caporale and colleagues’ study was suitable as this model was able to deal with the variables in ordered categories, which were present in the dataset. According to Jones (2007) and Gailmard (2014), ordered probit model is utilised in the modelling of a discrete dependent variable with ordered multinomial results. Similarly, Caporale and colleagues also noted fixing some of the threshold values, which Jones also pointed out as a characteristic of the model. The study was able to generate the specific results with the utilisation of this model, which is likewise used in a range of the social and behavioural sciences, as emphasised by Aldrich et al. (2007) and Gill (2008). Using other econometric model for the study of Caporale et al. (2009) might not ge nerate similar results, since the study involved an analysis of more than two outcomes of an ordinal dependent variable (i.e. happiness and life satisfaction). In the same manner, Oshio and colleagues’ (2011) use of the ordered logit model was suitable as the study involved a survey that aimed to find out how well responses to questions can predict a response to one question, to which the model was appropriate. In the study, the model was used for dichotomous dependent variables (happiness and life satisfaction), in which more than two response categories were enabled.Apparently, the study adopted proportional odds assumption, to which the model was applicable, as Sadler (2008) and Allegrezza and Dubrocard (2012) also pointed out. Moreover, the model clearly pursued an estimate for multiple equations in the study, whereby the number of these equations were tantamount to the number of categories minus 1. The study also showed that each equation modelled the odds of being in a category, which is consistent with the ordered logit model (Sadler, 2008; Allegrezza and Dubrocard, 2012). It is important to note that the use of the aforementioned models for the two studies was consistent with their intention to quantify or measure variables in order to come up with objective and systematic results for the relationship between income and happiness. Both studies opted to use data from established data sets (ESS and GSS) to apparently facilitate generalisation of findings, with which they were successful. It may be pointed out that Oshio and colleagues’ (2011) results were congruent with Caporale and colleagues’ (2009), reflecting the validity of the latter’s findings. References Aldrich, J. H.m Alt, J. E., and Lupia, A. (2007) Positive Changes in Political Science: The Legacy of Richard D. McKelvey’s Most Influential Writings. Michigan: University of Michigan. Allegrezza and Dubrocard (2012) Internet Econometrics. Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan. Caporale, G. M., Georgellis, Y., Tsitsianis, N., & Yin, Y. P. (2009) Income and happiness across Europe: Do reference values matterJournal of Economic Psychology, 30(1), 42-51. Gailmard, S. (2014) Statistical Modeling and Inference for Social Science. NY: Cambridge University Press. Gill (2008) Bayesian Methods: A Social and Behavioral Sciences Approach, Second Edition. NW: Chapman & Hall/CRC. Jones, A. (2007) Applied Econometrics for Health Economists: A Practical Guide. Second Edition. Oxon: Radcliffe Publishing Ltd. Oshio, T., Nozak, K., and Kobayashi, M. (2011) Relative income and happiness in Asia: Evidence from nationwide surveys in China, Japan, and Korea. Social Indicators Research, 104 (3), 351-367. Sadler, A. M. (2008) Determinants of Entrepreneurial Behavior among Immigrant and Non-Immigrant University Scientists in the US: The Impact of Cultural Predispositions and Learning. MI: ProQuest LLC.