Incarceration of African American Males Essay Example for Free

Incarceration of Afri goat American Males EssayIntroduction The trend of African American males between the ages of 25 and 29 has seen a hammy increase of incarceration. Attention has been focusing on areas of housing, education, and healthcare but the most prominent problem for African American males is the increase in the incarceration rate. African American males between the ages of 25 and 29 incarceration rate has been thought, by many, to be caused by economic factors such as under employment or unemployment, hapless housing, overleap of education, and overlook of healthcare. Yet, others believe it is due to the imbalance of minorities within the deplorable justice system, such as judges, equityyers, and lawmakers. This paper volition explore deuce different outlooks society has come up with so far, as to why African American Males between the ages of 25 and 29 are change magnitudely incarcerated. Fin solelyy, the schooling will give awareness to the problems that i s faced by African American Males between the ages of 25 and 29. preponderance Problem 1 More than 40% of either American pris unityrs, men and women, are African American men, yet they make up just 13% of the U. S. male population (Roberts, 2004).This statistic does not include those African American men who are in local jails nor does it include those African American men under custodial supervision (Table 2). They enter the state and federal prison system, at the prime of their economic and reproductive lives and yet they exit prison behind both economically and socially. The high rate of incarceration among African Americans has been noted by the interconnection of poor economy, lack of affordable housing, mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence, absence of a strong black male situation model, lack of access to education, or some type of combination of these factors.Statistics dont even give African American males a good befall to stay out of jail. They have a on e in four chance of being incarcerated, while Hispanic American males have a one in six chance, and white males scarcely have a one in twenty three chance of incarceration. The color of African Americans sets them apart and makes them targetable. Prevalence Problem 2 There is evidence, in our American Justice System, of structural inequality as seen in the percentages of minorities to the percentage of majorities employed in high be positions, within the system.The percentage of United States judges by race are 79% Caucasian, 12% African American, and 2% Hispanics American (Federal Judicial Center, 2012), as for the thousands of lawyers in the United States it is approximate of 3% are African American (National Law Group, 2010-2011), and about 1 in 4 police officers are members of a racial or ethnic minority in 2007 (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2013). An investigation into racial profiling showed that African American and Hispanic American offenders, who often are new-fangled unemployed males, are more likely than their white counterparts (Spohn, C., 2000). Their prison sentences are also typically longer or they receive differential benefits from guideline departures than do similarly situated white offenders (Spohn, C. , 2000). We must ac familiarity the problems of racial disparity within the criminal justice system, communicate racial disparity within the criminal justice system with those we who are not informed of the problem, and stay committed to changing racial disparity within our justice system for change to begin.Causes In researching the high rate of incarceration in America it is more likely than not that the increase in African American Males being incarcerated is due to the struggle on Drugs (Table 1). It is public knowledge that drug crime ranks high among the effects of poverty. These poor neighborhoods not all endure crime they have poor schools, poor food, cramped living areas, and shortage of jobs if any jobs at all.Drugs and drug crime has become regularity in low income communities, arrests of Hispanics made up 55% of cocain powder offences and 52% of marijuana offenses and 49% involving opiates African Americans were suspected in 75% of crack cocaine cases White males were suspected in 41% all methamphetamine cases (Motivans, M. , 2011). Decades of failed public and private remedies for chronic disparities and disadvantages in communities of color invite us to reexamine systems and institutions that provide and restrict opportunity in new shipway (Lawrence, K. , 2011).The causes seem to be intertwined being poor equals, equals a poor education, equals lack of employment, and ultimately equals an increased rate of crime. Consequences The causes seem to be intertwined being poor, equals lack of education, which equals lack of employment, which equals increased rate of crime which equals impossibility to join criminal justice system. Also, many of these men are incarcerated while all the other non-incarcera ted American youth men are finishing school, starting careers, earning seniority at work, marrying and having children thus gaining capital.Even when released from prison, these men return back to their communities with a felony record that will dress extreme problems for them. The incarceration leads the released convict into a dismay social class even if they were considered lower class Americans prior to their incarceration they now are lower in social class standing in most instances. This leads to a poor African American community, perhaps as many as 50% of the male population will have been in prison.These incarcerated African American Males, who are in their prime of life, also are leaving half the families in this community facing such things as poverty, lack of affordable housing, mental illness, substance abuse, violence, absence of a strong black male role model, lack of access to education, or some type of combination of these factors. The community ultimately will be come poverty stricken, struggling to survive, and ultimately vulnerable to the situation repeating. Solutions How can this be changed? There are four key aspects to addressing racial disparity, in my opinion 1.Acknowledge 2. Communication 3. Setback = Strength 4. Commitment Not only is the problem of racial disparity under recognized by society it is not being communicated effectively to make change. Majority groups needs to acknowledge racial disparity and minority groups need to communicate their knowledge regarding racial disparity. As from separately one group majority and minority begins to become share their information with each other and work together for a common solution acknowledging there will be setbacks but with continued commitment systemic change will happen.Conclusion By refusing to tolerate disparate treatment of people of color or anyone within the criminal justice system we empower ourselves and our country. It is time that everyone including our legislators, law enforcement, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges work collectively and courageously to eradicate this negative stigma. Despite, America being known for its equal rights we are living proof that in this era inequality is a factor that cannot be taken lightly. The statistics that are surrounding African American males is astounding.We need to empower African American males with the knowledge that they have a one in four chance of becoming incarcerated. It is also important to know that Hispanic males have a one in six chance, and white males have a one in twenty three chance of incarceration. All of these statistics need to be addressed to empower each and every one us. Throughout history we have not seen a change in majority groups (White, Male) and minority groups (Women, anyone that is not White) although we have seen numbers of minorities increasing at a fast pace.Today, however, the election of Barack Obama, not once but twice, may set the new ideal of what an American actually is. As we kiss different cultures and their ethnic backgrounds society will prosper. As society increases their knowledge, in regards to each persons differences, they will acquire greater strength and prosperity. The only issue, that can occur, will be in the short term empowering others to embrace diversity. When we look beyond short-term, focus will shift to diverse empowerment through with(predicate) embracing the knowledge of our differences thus making us stronger as a society.TABLE 1 BLACK PROPORTION OF DRUG ARRESTS, EXCLUDING MARIJUANA POSSESSION social class BLACK % 1999 40. 1 2000 39. 3 2001 39. 1 2002 35. 8 2003 33. 8 2004 33. 1 2005 33. 2 Data calculated from drug arrest figures by race provided by the like Crime Reports division of the FBI TABLE 2 FBI CRIME REPORT Arrests By Race, 2006 11,249 agencies 2006 estimated population 216,685,152 Total White Black American Indian or Alaskan Native Asian or Pacific islander Total White Black American Indian or Alas kan Native Asian or Pacific Islander TOTAL 10,437,620.7270214 2924724 130589 112093 100. 0 69. 7 28 1. 3 1. 1 Drug abuse violations 1376192 875101 483886 8198 9607 1000 63. 6 35. 1 0. 6 0. 7 DUIS 1034651 914226 95260 13484 11681 100 88. 4 9. 2 1. 3 1. 1 Liquor laws 466323 398068 50035 12831 5389 100 85. 4 10. 7 2. 8 1. 2 Drunken-ness 408439 344155 54113 7884 2287 100 84. 3 13. 2 1. 9 0. 6 Dis-orderly conduct 5117264 325991 179733 7606 3934 100 63. 0 34. 7 1. 5 0. 8 (The FBI Uniform Crime Report, 2010) References Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2013, http//bjs. ojp. usdoj. gov/index. cfm?ty=tptid=71 The FBI Uniform Crime Reports, 2010, Table 43, http//www. fbi. gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u. s/2010/crime-in-the-u. s. -2010/tables/table-43 Federal Judicial Center, 2012, Overview of the United States Court System, http//www. fjc. gov/public/pdf. nsf/lookup/FJC_Standard_PPT_English_June_2012. pdf/$file/FJC_Standard_PPT_English_June_2012. pdf Lawrence, K. , 2011, Race, Crime, and Pu nishment Breaking the Connection in America, http//www. aspeninstitute. org/sites/ default on/files/content/docs/pubs/Race-Crime-Punishment.pdf Motivans, Mark, 2011, Washington, DC US Dept. of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, http//bjs. ojp. usdoj. gov/content/pub/pdf/fjs09. pdf National Law Group 2010-2011, http//blacklawyers. net/ Roberts, D. , 2004, Measuring the Social and moralistic Cost of Mass Incarceration, in African American Communities, http//www. law. fsu. edu/faculty/2003-2004workshops/roberts. pdf Spohn,C. ,2000, Thirty Years of Sentencing Reform The Quest for a Racially Neutral Sentencing Process, http//www. justicestudies. com/pubs/livelink3-1. pdf.

Value of Pop Culture Essay Example for Free

Value of Pop Culture EssayJim and Pam got married, Ke$ha brushes her teeth with whiskey, and brothel keeper Gaga ponders if we atomic number 18 actually born predisposed to be weird. No matter where you look, we are surrounded by go stopping point. Popular goal is a sub-culture that is often mocked and scrutinized as not being meaningful or significant, pop culture is seen as what is considered cool at the moment in time, and carries no semipermanent effects on society or culture as a whole. Emile Durkheim once said For Sociology really to be a science of things, the generality of phenomena essential be taken as the criterion of their normality. In the same book, He argues for the subprograms of crime in society, I believe that these functions are the same functions that popular culture has in society. In brief, these functions are to scram social norms, establish social boundaries, create rituals that generate social solidarity, generate innovation, and pave the way for social change. It is measurable to identify what pop culture is identified as, seeing as how it can be lend oneselfd in several different ways. When I refer to pop culture, I mean so in the commercial culture sense. Commercial culture produces a product in order to generate a profit. render us first to examine the way popular culture produces social norms. In the book The Dominant Ideology Thesis, the authors argue that mass media is the key by which ideas of the dominant class is spread to the rest of society. I believe this view is crucial to understanding how popular culture produces social norms. For example, lets use what we wear as a way to show how social norms are produce. The fashion industry tells us what to wear in magazines and advertisements, these norms are reinforced oer and over again by idiot box, actors, film, musicians, and celebrities who embrace the fashion trends.Stores begin to only sell a certain type of clothing, and it becomes increasingly more difficult to not conform to the fashion norm. Popular culture is not limited only to the fashion world in terms of the norms it produces, it is impossible to go with a checkout at the store and not be bombarded by magazines that share what type of sexual practices are not acceptable, what type of music is on the rise, and however what type of foods we should eat. Even children are being conditioned to be eat up a certain way thanks to programming much(prenominal) as Sesame channel and Barney.In addition to producing social norms, popular culture also helps us establish social boundaries. The music we discover to, along with the clothes we wear and the television we watch not only helps to shape our identities but also helps us find those people more like ourselves. It is because of the rise in popular culture that we are able to embrace certain musical tastes and reject others, allowing us to find others who share the same likes and dislikes as ourselves. People who listen to Metallica probably jadet have much in common with those people who listen to Miley Cyrus.Pop culture offers us a unique system to identify those who are like us, this is seen more obviously in the pornography business. The cyberspace has normalized amateur pornography to the point where there is an unjustifiable amount of naked people on the internet, most of whom clear (and I mean clearly ) do so for non-profit. Perhaps the easiest aspect of popular culture to observe is the rituals that it creates. Teenagers are brought together through dance clubs, college students come together to view television events, comic book fans wait in line hours to see a new movie.All these rituals produce feelings of belonging, bonding with members of society over a common interest. The super bowl for example is a multibillion dollar affair because of the fact that millions of people from all demographics pull up stakes sit down and watch the game for three hours. Going to a concert gives you a since of soc ial solidarity, singing along to a song in unison with fifteen-thousand other people creates close social bonds even if you hardly know anyone else at the concert.They share a sense of meaning in their individualism this shared meaning is the basis of group solidarity. According to Durkheim, it is solidarity that is the basic building block of social cohesion. Popular Culture has also helped to generate innovations that have no only progressed itself, but all of culture. Obviously the most important area that popular culture has helped progress is clearly the internet. The World Wide Web has progressed and is set by what could be considered the largest are of pop culture, pornography.I suspect that pornography hasnt exactly helped the advancement of civilization, but it has helped the advancement of technology greatly. The development of wideband internet, streaming videos online, high definition quality pictures, all came to be as a result of the pornography business. Of course i nnovation isnt held strictly by the adult entertainment business another huge industry spurred by pop culture is the music industry, specifically the way we listen and buy music. beforehand 1999, and the invention of Napster, the internet was not a medium that many in the music industry embraced and it wasnt until Napster exploited the lack of regulation over the internet that big music corporations saw the advantages of using the internet as a means to spread their product to a whole new audience. Before, the customer had to jeopardise to a record store and sort through hundreds of albums in order to find a new type of music or band to listen too, now it can be accomplished with a quick Google search.The film industry has also been touched by the advancement that pop culture has allowed. With companies such as Netflix set up to combine movies with the internet, and the invention of the DVD, thousands of films are at our disposal and all with crystal clear clarity. Arguably the mos t important function that popular culture serves in our society is that it paves the road to social change, numerous times it is actually the driving force behind social change. This can be seen all the way back to 1906 when Upton Sinclairs book The Jungle helped lead to a revolution of the food industry in America.We can see this clearly most recently with the sudden involvement of celebrities who got involved in the 2008 presidential election, primarily in Barack Obamas campaign. Robert DeNiro, Oprah Winfrey, Usher, Chris Rock, Scarlett Johansson, Ron Howard, Magic Johnson, and John Mayer are just a few of the actors/athletes/comedians/musicians that are linked with Obama. It is no surprise that Obama won the 2008 presidential election in a landslide. Companies have long known the effect that celebrities have on America and have used them to push products.We are seeing this again with the involvement of such celebrities as Lady Gaga in the ethereal Rights movement. Rap music is a great example of a group inside of pop culture which constantly challenges the social norms and the power structure of the gaberdine majority. It is clear that popular culture serves many functions in society, many of which are shared by crime. These functions include producing social norms, establishing social boundaries, creating rituals that generate social solidarity, generating innovation, and surface the way for social change. We cannot simply push pop culture off to the side as low-brow culture and has no significance.

William Preston Essay Example for Free

William Preston EssayThe Half-Brothers is a short, realist, tragedy story, that illustrates the hardships that the poorer people had to undergo in the late Victorian period curiously the hardships faced by widows and some of those around them. I think that the spirit of the story other than to entertain the reader is more to make people micturate how difficult it is for people living in harsh conditions and to perhaps examine human relationships.I think that the genre of the story is perfectly suited to the purpose because of its realism and tragedy, I think that the reader is possibly affected emotionally even if the emotion felt is a slight feeling of happiness because they argon not in the scenario faced by the fictional characters portrayed by the author Elizabeth Gaskell. Obviously the reader faced with such a tragedy would insufficiency to read all of the story and that is why I think that genre is well suited to this story. The story can be divided into six sections. The number one section is the introduction, the second section is the development of the story, the third section is the climax, the fourth section is the narrator of the younger pal and the final section is the conclusion of the story. more events take place in the story, in the introduction the story mentions the death of the eldest brothers farther, the story tells us that the narrators sister dies before he is born, it also tells us that the narrators mother did not cry at her daughters death but instead did not cry until the coming of the narrators half-brother were I quote, When my aunt came back from the funeral, she lay out my mother in the same place, and in the same place, and as dry-eyed as ever.So she continued until after Gregory was born and, somehow, his coming seemed to loosed the tears, and she cried daytime and night, day and night, in the development of the story it tells the reader about how the narrators mothers job and how his mother had to end her job beca use of bad eyesight, this part of the story also tells about William Preston asking the narrators mother to marry him and her reaction to that, the narrators mother gets married and has a child early she then dies, with the farther blaming the narrators brother for hastening his brothers birth.In the climax the story tells the reader about the narrator leaving home and getting lost. In the rescue the narrator gets rescued by his elder brother but his older brother dies in the process. And in the conclusion of the story, the narrator tells the reader how his brother saved him, about the respect that his brother gains from saving his life and the sadness faced by e realone because of the way they treated his eldest brother.I think that the plot fits well into the structure because the structure and plot work up gradually to the tragic terminate that concludes the story, that is why I think that the story can induce emotion into the reader because of the tragedy involved especially a t the end. There are very few settings involved in this story, in that location is the home of the narrators mother at the beginning, the home of the narrator at his farther farm and the fells which the narrator describes it as, It looked dark and bad enough but everything was so still that I thought I should have plenty of time to get home before the snow came down. And, The rightfield path was clear enough in the daytime, although at several points two or three exactly similar diverged from the same place but when there was a good light, the traveller was guided by the sight of distant objects, a piece of rock, a fall in the ground which were quit infrared to me now. This is where the narrator gets lost. I think that the narrator choose these settings because this is were the narrator grew up and so new the most about.I think these settings achieved the purpose of the story because the brave setting illustrates the difficulty faced by the eldest brother to find the narrat or at great risk. There are few main characters in this story, the narrator, his brother Gregory, his mother, his aunt fanny and his farther William Preston. The narrator describes himself as, I suppose I was a cleaver lad at any rate, I eer got plenty of praise and was , as we called it, the cock of the school. He also says how everybody thinks of his brother, But everyone said he was stupid and dull, and this stupidity and dullness grew upon him.

Distribution of Foreign Direct Investment in Kazakhstan

Distri only ifion of Foreign Direct Investment in KazakhstanIn his book author (RRRRR), wrote that domestic ornamentors of whatever particular demesne who read in enthronements activity step to the foreside their kingdom of residence and this enthronizations earn them returns which be then repatriated to their domestic country be salty in hostile direct enthronization. From the lay of view of a country, outside direct enthronisations be the enthronisation made by non-citizens of that country or enthronement made by citizens in early(a) exotic countries.Foreign direct enthronisation is possible where there is a good logical argument relationship mingled with the investing order or parent company and its subsidiary company excavated abroad. This kind of business relations has led to the emergence of multi subject fields company that engage in foreign direct enthronisation in many parts of the world. harmonize to (DDDD), a business analyst whose studies refe r to only those companies which suck in a minimum of 10 percent shareholding in foreign subsidiaries as companies that participate in foreign direct investment, to a fault companies which retain voting rights in the annual general meeting of foreign subsidiaries engage in foreign direct investments.Types of Foreign direct InvestmentsAs by the definition, foreign direct investment mass be classified in two categories namely the internal FDI and external FDI, the classification of the two categories is mainly guided by the restrictions that are imposed for these investments and the requirements entangled for such investments to take place.External FDI also k right offn as direct investment abroad usu bothy supported by the local governing collectible to the benefits it go away bring to the country one among them is foreign exchange that pass on help the country to adopt a balance of payments in its international trade. The government offers there support by giving such inves tments tax incentives that will reduce the cost of doing business and as well as make the investment outlaywhile without eroding their income. External investments become unfavorable when companies abroad get special treatment by their local governments which in a way distribute them competitive advantage over the external FDI by granting them subsidies and covering of their risks.Internal FDI is encouraged by the host country in different manners which allow subsides, elimination of trade or investment barriers that makes doing business for foreign investors hard, lowering of interest on loans granted to them and tax allowances.Other classifications of foreign direct investment are vertical FDI and horizontal FDI. Vertical FDI occurs when a multinational company that owns more than 10 percent of foreign subsidiary, engage with its subsidiary in business activities whereby the foreign subsidiary is the main supplier of raw materials to the multinational company or it uses the go ods and serviced produced by the multinational company. Horizontal FDI is when a local multinational company engages in the same business activity in different parts of the world.Motives behind Foreign Direct InvestmentFDI which are driven by the spring of establishing a strong grocery store presence or venturing into new markets are termed as market-seeking FDI, while FDI which are driven by the motive of tapping into factors of production alike(p) labor, world resource which are in foreign countries and are more efficient in operations and cost are termed as resource -seeking FDI. FDI prompt by maximizing the opportunities available and reaping on the benefits of sparings of scale are termed as efficiency seeking FDI.Determinants of foreign direct investmentThe main factors which will determine if a foreign direct investment can take place are the stinting prospects of the foreign country and the size of the potential market. If the foreign country has wide market then for eign investors will assume that they will be able to grow their investments rapidly and get big returns of it.The foreign countrys population will also play critical part in reservation decision on whether to participate in foreign direct investment, because its the size of the population that determines the consumer size available thus a big population will mean a big consumer base.If the foreign country citizens have a reasonably higher per capita income it would mean that they would be ready to spend and to the foreign investor he or she would translate this to potential of good investments.Foreign investors will also be lured into investing in foreign country if the workforce thats available is well capable and competent enough, who will offer to them big returns on their human capital.The availability of natural resources like gold, oil and diamond will attract foreign investors to these countries, an example is Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and other oil rich countries have all attracted foreign investors into their country to tap into the oil exploration industry thats unlimited and has good future prospects.The level of technological growth and infrastructure that are available in a country will also influence on foreign direct investments. Recent reports and studies have shown that countries which have properly rigid infrastructure facilities have experienced a high core of foreign direct investment.(PPPPPPPP) studies noted that over the past countries have made tremendous reforms to their economic policies in bid to create conducive environment which can attract more foreign investments and companies that engage in foreign investments have altered their effective framework to make them more transparent and sensitive to their business environment.Advantages of Foreign Direct Investment in KazakhstanAccording to statistics released by the Ministry of Economy and cypher supply of Kazakhstan they have shown that the country main benefit fro m foreign direct investment has being the economic development witnessed in that country, especially since the country was referred to as among those economically developing countries in the 1990s. Foreign direct investment has also being the source of financial assistance for Kazakhstan during times of economic hardships.Kazakhstan has also witnessed technological advancement since foreign investors who allocate a big percentage of their capital towards technology and research in the field that they plan to invest in.The workforce in that country has become more skilled and resourceful because the foreign companies bring in new skills and train their human resource according to their high standards, in do-gooder they have contributed to the education development in that country because of the revenues they pay to the Kazakhstan government in the form of corporate taxes which are channeled to building of schools and technology-focused training institutions.New jobs have being creat ed in the country which can be mainly attributed to FDI that has also led to the rapid development of the manufacturing industry in that country, e employees working in these companies are also paid according to international standards which affords them good lifestyle and ontogeny in the living standards of the countries population.Kazakhstan revenue line of battle has shot up because like a shot it not only relies on domestic taxes but also taxes that come from these foreign investment made in that country, the growth in revenue collection has played a big role in the growth of the prudence. Companies in Kazakhstan that have ventured to foreign markets have being able to increase market for their goods and go thus have being able to earn the country foreign exchange that helps it to attain a balance of payment in the international trade.The Kazakhstan cardinal bank reportedly has lowered it interest rates on loans made out to business ventures which is attributed to the inf luence of foreign direct investment. Business can now access capital from the local banks at a low interest rate level the small and medium sized companies have tapped this advantage and have grown their business to a high level.Disadvantages of Foreign Direct Investment in KazakhstanOperations of the companies, Human resource working for these FDI companies and the distributions of revenues made out of foreign direct investment are the main areas that are given to suffer from the disadvantages of FDI. The fragile parts of the economy of the host country are also prone to any negative shift in foreign direct investment. Studies done by (GGGGGG) have indicted that negative consequences of foreign direct investment in a host country can be reduced if the government is strict in ensuring that these companies that participate in FDI in their country are industrious in business activities that environment friendly, they abide by the social and legal regulations that the government has accomplished.In Kazakhstan foreign investment has forced the government to make some economic reforms that which have not being received well by the locals, some of the economic policies do not even favor the foreign investors themselves.The geographical military dumbfound of Kazakhstan and also the fact that it is land locked has made foreign investors view it as an isolated region unfavorable for doing business because of the high transport fee to vaporise in and out of the country especially when moving goods or capital goods that need to be shipped or transported through the railway.In allowing foreign direct investment Kazakhstan will be placing their local companies at the disadvantage of being taken over by the large multinational companies who are exposed to huge amount of capital to invest. For Kazakhstan local companies which engage in direct investment abroad will be exposing themselves to the danger of nationalized in the foreign country.The government of Kazakhstan aims at make the economy more liberal to attract even more foreign investment into the country, in doing so they loss control of these companies that operate there as subsidiaries fully owned by multinational companies. When the government does not exercise control over these companies the environment and locals interest cant be represented and employees are exposed to potential exploitation by such companies. Some of the companies will even disregard economic policies set by the government.Foreign direct investment wont be of benefit to the Kazakhstan economy if the subsidiaries of multinational companies directly channel their profits to their mother country without making any developments in the country the invest in, there would also be imbalance of payment as more capital will be moving out of the country than capital approach into the country.Foreign Investment in KZ economyThe foreign investment turnover in Kazakhstan has shown a continuous growth over the past ten days wi th an annual growth average of 19.1% with a authoritative growth being recorded in the years between 1995-2006, the rapid growth that was estimated to have reached more than fifty billion US dollars by August the year 2007 was largely associated with the sharp rise in prices of both oil and gas coupled with the significant increase in oil exporting volumes. Kazakhstan main partner in trade is still viewed to be Russia who are the country largest importers, the country basically extol a large export market in the western countries where there are leading in export of oil and metals that are used by industries there as raw materials.Foreign investment in Kazakhstan economy has increased because investors are attracted to the country by the fact that economy of the country has be experiencing tremendous growth, evidence is shown by figures which show that about eighty percent of all capital inflows that went to the fundamental Asia region were direct towards the countrys economy wi th the European heart and soul topping the list in terms of source of investments. Author (PPPP), in his studies show that this sharp raises in foreign investment is due to the economic reforms made, enduring institutions that have being set up and the development experienced in the banking sector.Foreign investment led to about eighteen Kazakhstan companies being listed in the capital of the United Kingdom Stock Exchange with four being listed at the main market in the period between the years 2005-2007.Foreign direct Investment in KazakhstanSources Ministry of Economy and Budget Planning of the Republic of Kazakhstan.Foreign Inflow by various countries to Kazakhstan figures according to the year 2009COUNTRYJapanFranceUSRussiaNetherlandsChinaItalyUKOthers%3%7%16%4%28%6%4%6%22%Source Ministry of Economy and Budget Planning of the Republic of Kazakhstan.Movement in the key economic indicators tombstone economic indicators200320042005200620072008Real GDP growth (%)9.39.69.710.78.93 .1Consumer price inflation (av. %)6.86.77.58.410.89.5Exchange rate TengeUS$ (av)149.58136.00132.88126.09122.60122.55Exchange rate Tenge (av)168.79169.04165.42158.27167.8167.75Budget balance (% of GDP)-1.7-1.9SOURCES Kazakh Statistical Agency, Investors Guide, groundalbankKazakhstanMain exporters and importersMain destinations of exports 2007% of totalMain origins of imports 2008% of totalRussia9.8Russia35.5Italy16.3EU24.5France8.3China10.7Switzerland15.7US5.1China11.8Ukraine4.7Others38.1SOURCES Kazakh Statistical Agency, Investors Guide, NationalbankKazakhstanMain export and imports study exports 2007% of totalMajor imports 2007% of totalmineral products69.8Mineral products12.8Chemicals, plastics, rubber4.1Chemicals, plastics, rubber10.7Non precious materials, its products17.3Non precious materials, its products13.5Machinery, equipment transport, instruments and apparatus1.8Machinery, equipment transport, instruments and apparatus46.8Foodstuff3.9Foodstuff6.8Others3.1Others9.4SOURCE S Ministry of Energetic and Mineral Resources, Investors Guide, Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan Investment Environment in KazakhstanKazakhstan located in the central Asia and Europe region is the ninth largest country in the world thats inland with a gross national income per capita of more than six thousand and a population of more than fifteen million whom according to reports released by United Nation are averagely in the income group of middle income earners.Kazakhstan currently leads the central Asia in terms of social and economic growth, it has the potential to make the region independent and an economic success, the European Union in the year 2000 elevated the country to the market economy status due to its attraction to international investors and multinational companies who prefer to locate their. The same move was followed by the United States of America who in the year 2002 also elevated the status of Kazakhstan to a market economy up from a non-m arket economy opening up for their local companies the wider western nations market that includes the US this conclusion was arrived at after observing economic indicators that showed improvements such as the increase in level of wages for the workforce, convertibility of countrys currency, increase in foreign direct investment, drop in corruption level, control of production, public control and reduction in human rights violation.The transition to market economy is a journey that started 17 years ago from the former soviet economy to a free market economy. After independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the high rate of inflation and economic decline that was witnessed in the early parts of 1990s Kazakhstan engaged itself into a series of political, economic and social reforms. Currently the economic reforms are geared towards diversifying the economy more particular is to remove the economic reliance on natural resources and focus on developing other key sectors of the economy.K azakhstan investment environment has seen an overall macro- economic stability coupled with economic reforms that are aimed at making the environment more investment friendly. Figures released by the Index of Economic Freedom show that over the past five years the country has witnessed a recommendable economic growth that can be attributed to the increased revenues from the Oil industry.The Kazakhstan high corruption level, unfavorable tax rates and lack of access to funds for investment are the main difficulties experienced in the investment environment that has made doing business even harder this is according to the 2009 reports by Enterprise Surveys.It is important to note that the investment environment in Kazakhstan has shown improvements in these three problematic areas making doing business easier in that country. The nearly notable improvements were in reduction of costs from 1,431 dollars to 119 dollars which are incurred when applying for turn of events permits, the oth er sectors that transformed so as to improve the investment environment was shown by the 10 percent fall in corporate tax, reduction in labor taxes and even compulsory contributions by the Kazakhstans working population was lowered. A new tax code and the Kazakh law were also introduced all aimed at making the country a good investment harbor, the new law mainly focused on ensuring that there was equality in the distribution of investment incentives to both local investors and foreign investors, safeguard the rights of investors and establish procedural system that was free and fair in settling dis dresses of investors. Some of the measures that the new tax code put into considerations included adjusting the tax code so that it can be in line with the international financial reporting standards, eliminating the advance payments by all but three hundred biggest companies of their corporate tax, extension of loss deferral period to up to ten years, lowering of value added tax from 13% to 12%, inactive introduction of traditional payment scheme for value added tax and the implementation of a common social tax rate of 11% replacing the regressive scale.The drastic changes and economic policy reforms all paid of when the country was voted as the leading country in CIS because of its efforts in creating an investment environment that was conducive for doing business. supranational rating agency in 2002 rated Kazakhstan highly in terms of investment and due to the fact that Kazakhstan was the first Soviet Union republic to repay all the loan advanced to it by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the year 2000 which was seven years ahead of the repayment schedule, Standard Poors and Fitch affirm the same in the year 2004 as other surveys and research done by international organizations all showed the same. In particular Fitch analyst pointed out that Kazakhstans finance and economy in general was better placed to raft with pressure from Oil and the ever chang ing oil prices than any other country in the world.The organization of top forty most industrialized countries (OECD) in the year 2003 put Kazakhstan at position four in terms of export credit rating which was an upward movement from the last rating done by OECD before 2003. The better ratings meant that the country could now enjoy good opportunities for doing trade.According to figures given out by World Bank business experts they show that out of all the foreign direct investment made in central Asia nearly eighty percent of these investments were made in Kazakhstan, the same report also showed that the country is regarded as being among top twenty countries which are most favorable to foreign investors.Recent years have seen research and survey place Kazakhstan in the top spot in foreign direct investment per capita which has being increasing steadily. In the period between 1993 and 2005 FDI was reportedly to have grown to be more than 37 billion US dollars, important point to no te is that in the period of 2001 to 2003 there was only 4.5 billion US dollars worth of FDI made while in 2004 there was a drastic increase of up to 8.4 billion US dollars worth of investment made in Kazakhstan which was due to the increase in local companies that had foreign direct investment from 6,579 companies in 2003 to 7070 companies in 2004.Literature ReviewRegional distribution of foreign direct investment is the allocation of the investment opportunities and resources in economical manner so that every(prenominal) region gets a piece of the cake.When Kazakhstan is making strategic planning, they make a regional distribution plan considering the available FDI. It involves distributing FDI among the much needed projects or sectors of the economy and regions in the country. In the strategic planning decisions are made as to what areas or regions need FDI and what amount of FDI is needed, afterwards a contingency mechanism is established which sets out regions or area that sho uld be given more priority than the others incase FDI is limitedRegionally the country enjoys great leadership thanks to its well-nigh ties with the Russia, China and the central Asia region also the creation of habitudes union between the country Russia and Belarus this year has cemented its position as the regional leader.. Major Key sectors that Kazakhstan has mainly focused on improving through the help of foreign direct investment include agriculture which offer investment opportunity in over twenty million hectares of farmland with more than a hundred and sixty five million hectares of pasture, the government has tried to promote these sector to investors by putting in place infrastructure facilities that offers smooth transport system. The textile industry also offers investment opportunities thats backed up by availability of qualified workforce, availability of bringing factories that are already in place the government also make grants to these industry in form of tax h olidays, favorable custom tariffs plus there is a wide ready market for textile products in East-Europe region and Russia, close links that exist between neighboring cotton producers like Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan make the sector highly capable of big returns.The telecommunication sector has being liberalized to attract more foreign investors enhanced by the increase number of information technology an internet penetration which has resulted to a sharp demand for broadband ISP services. The power generation sector will attract FDI due to high electricity consumption attributed to increased income/quality of life, infrastructure and hydrocarbon projects, recent reports show that a total of twenty two billion US dollars worth of investment are expected by the year 2015 plus the government has set aside thirteen billion US dollars that are to be channeled in the expansion program of power generation capacity a further nine billion US dollars will be invested in distributio n and national grid.The other potential area that the Kazakhstan government focuses on distributing FDI to is the Metallurgy sector which produces huge amount of world-class base, precious minerals and metals, the sector has well developed infrastructure that are already in place and the closeness to biggest consumers of metallurgical products makes it worthwhile to channel FDI to.According to National Bank of Kazakhstan, the country is ranked at the 20th position in terms of its oil reserve, 13th position in terms of natural gas reserve and 24th in the world in natural gas production.RecommendationKazakhstan should take the advantage of its strategic location which put it at a better place to become the centre of business in central Asia with ready markets form Russia and China. To gain competitive advantage over other country Kazakhstan should focus on creating conducive business environment in concert with political stability and increase the incentive granted their local compani es that want to participate in direct investment abroad. All this will be attainable if there will be zero tolerance to corruption cases, improving of the education standards and the logistical infrastructure.Political institution should be strengthen by instituting captain training for government officials, engaging the local government in the developments of clusters, design a process to ensure that the political environment is transparent in its deal and consistent, institute professional civil service with transparent rules and performance based promotion.Zero tolerance to corruption will be achieved if the government institution spend the long tendering procedure that are involved with tenders, put in place comprehensive strategy to fight against corruption in national and local government, the other way to eliminate corruption is to ensure maximum punishment for those officials who engage in corrupt deals plus salary increment to government staff.The other tribute that will see increase in FDI is removal of labor quota on expatriates promote the transfer of skills as show of commitment to the growth of FDI, promoting the entrance of foreign banks in to the local banking industry, establishing transparent small and medium enterprises lending institutions, reduce the complexity in regulatory procedures that are involved in the licensing and registration process and the involvement of existing multinational companies in setting up private sector IFCs. Privatization of government owned industries and establishing a competition oversight authority that will make the country more attractive for foreign direct investments.

A Study On Adobe Flash Cs4 Computer Science Essay

A Study On Adobe photograph Cs4 Computer Science EssayAdobe Flash CS4 provides virginly indications which atomic number 18 rattling easy to be accustomd. Designing using Flash had become easier and to a greater extent efficient. Designer nates easily applies tweening proficiency to a symbol and swimmingly modify the app arent movement paths. The success project jakes be delivered to a very wide audience. Adobe Flash CS4 can help to deliver this synergetic multimedia to web browsers, mobile devices and computes. The vernally 3D Translation and 3D Rotation, Bones, and Deco had bring a new animating, interesting and creative experience to the designers. The workspace of the Adobe Flash CS4 is instanter more elegant and can be set into different style which suit satisfactory for everyone. With Adobe Flash CS4, the complicated energy can now be created easier and quicker.In Adobe Flash CS4, creating animation had become easier compare to the previous(prenominal) version whic h needs to involve with the primaevalstrokes, symbol creation and manual situation of key frames and adjusting the tweens on the timeline. It will be more difficult and time consuming when creating and editing the animations. With Adobe Flash CS4, designers can straightly apply the motion tweens technique directly to the heading itself compare to the previous version which need to apply finished the key frames. Now, creating an animation is incredibly easy which only within ii steps. The motion path which is automatically generated can be easily edited using the Bezier handles. Besides that, the timing of the animation can be easily change in the timeline and with unwrap breaking the tweening of the object. With this features being introduced in Flash Adobe CS4, new exploiters and in advance(p) developers or designers can gain more control on the object for developing an animation. (Adobe, 2008)Motion Presets PanelAdobe Flash CS4 provides a library which is full of prebuilt animations for the designers or developers to start their project. The motion presets panel is very easy to apprehend and use. Besides that, it will be a time saver for project which had little time. Users can easily define a motion preset with saving the object which had tween applied on it. While users can apply the presets by just simply click on the preset on the motion presets panel.Motion Editor PanelAnother new feature of the Adobe Flash CS4 is the motion editor panel. In Adobe Flash CS4, key frames had a new and important role with the introduction of the object based animation. With the new motion editor panel, users can now independently control over the key frames parameters which include size, scale, positions, etc. The motion editor panel allows users to control over the key frames of the animation graphically using curves. The fine control over tweens had been brought hold up with the motion editor panel which will let the users to fine tune the animation parameters for their each attributes. (Adobe, 2008)Bones toolIn Adobe Flash CS4, in that respect is a new feature which is known as bones tool. With the bones tool, users can now create inverse kinematics animation easily. The bone tools are very useful for the movement of character in an animation. The bones tool is a tool which can colligate a series of objects together and create an fix like chains. The bones tool is like bones in human bodies which will moves in a definitive way. The bones will be able to let users to link several objects together. After that, users can easily and quickly animate the object via controlling the movement of each segment of the object which had link with the bones. The bones can be easily created by just simply click and drag between the symbols. For an example, the bones tool can be use in the part of the mechanical machine which is use to pick up things. (Adobe, 2008)Deco ToolIn the designing part, deco tool is the new feature which was being added in A dobe Flash CS4. The deco tool provides a new and more creative way to design symbols for users. It is great whether on creating or other effect. The deco tool lets the user to unleash their creativity through the different pillowcases of drawing effects which are available. The vine fill effect fills the background with a pattern of branching plant formation. The grid fill effect fills the background with patterns of symbol which are selected by the users. While the symmetry brush will allows the user to create kaleidoscope-like effects. (Adobe, 2008)Sample Sound program libraryAnother fantastic feature of the Adobe Flash CS4 is the sample choke library. Adobe Flash CS4 has a library which is full of various kinds of sound effects. Users can now easily apply sound effects to their project. In point to add sound effects to the project, users can simply drag and drop the sound to the project from the library to the frame on the timeline. Besides that, users can also download sou nds from the internet and then import it to the sound library in order to apply it to the project. (Adobe, 2008)Macromedia Flash 8Macromedia Flash 8 is the software which allows designers to design animations, videos, games and advertisements. In Macromedia Flash 8, it had several improvements over the work flow and the design tools which are the run time blend method, imbues and effects, alpha channel video and file size shrinking and playback time. The major change of Macromedia Flash 8 compare to the previous version is the Flashs video capabilities. The enhanced video capabilities provide a wider range of codec and output options which unavailable in the previous version. Macromedia Flash 8 provides more advanced controls for the users and made complex fills and effects just within one click. The action ledger for Macromedia Flash 8 now has script assists which will help the enlightened users to attend and use action script easier. (Jacobi, 2005)New Blend ModeIn Macromedia Flash 8, the new blend mode is a totally new feature compare to the previous version. The blend mode is a feature which can applies graphical effects to the movie clips or buttons which are created by the users. The new blend mode includes the normal, darken, lighten, hard, light, invert, alpha, etc effects. (Cipollo, 2011)http//www.webdesign.org/get.php?type=imgartid=6822name=blend_modes_adj.pngno-downloadNew Filter EffectsBesides the new blend mode, users can now also add glow, blur, shadow and adjustable color effects to the movie clips or buttons. This feature will be an ideal for creating the Fireworks style of effects quickly and easily. Users can easily apply these effects by just choosing it from the filter tab which is located on the Property Inspector. The size of the Flash document file will not incr liberalisation because the filter effects were applied on the runtime. (Cipollo, 2011)New Drawing ModeMacromedia Flash 8 is now features with the new drawing which is called the object drawing mode. In this mode, users can now draw an object on another object and the shapes of both of the objects will still remain. So, users can now move the top object and no need to worry the shape of the object below will be destroyed. Users can easily change between the new object drawing mode and old merge mode through the toggle button which is located in the toolbar of Macromedia Flash 8. (Cipollo, 2011) handwriting AssistsNow, Macromedia Flash 8 comes with a new feature which is known as the script assists. It will become easier to apply action script to the movie clip with the new scrip assists feature. The script assists feature will prompts suggestions of syntax for the users. Besides that, it will also explain the parameter choices of the code for the users. So, users which are not very familiar with action script can easily learn it through this feature and use the action script. (Cipollo, 2011)Custom Ease In/Ease OutThe custom ease in or ease out is also o ne of the new feature which is available in the Macromedia Flash 8. Users can now easily control the speed, scale, color and filters of the animation with this custom ease in/ease out feature. Users will control the animation through a graph like tool that uses a Bezier curve. Users can edit the attributes of the animation via editing the curve in the dialog box. With this new feature being introduced, designer can now have a better control and runtime results of the animation. (Cipollo, 2011)http//www.webdesign.org/get.php?type=imgartid=6822name=custom_ease.jpgno-downloadBitmap CachingFlash continuously redraws the vector object when movie plays because it is a vector based program. Bitmap caching will help users to improve the animation transaction to become faster through reducing the calculations which occur during the movie. Users should cache their vector movies into bitmap before continue on their vector image. Users will know which vector objects can be cache as bitmaps in the Flash movie through the use action script or property inspector. (Reiven, 2006)Action ScriptAction Script is a type of coding language which was developed by Adobe. It is use with flash to create animations, videos and games. There are few versions of action script which are 1.0, 2.0 and the latest 3.0.Action Script 2.0Action script 2.0 adds some new runtime functionality which improves the object orientated development in flash. It formalizes the object lie programming syntax and methodology. In action script 1.0, it is lack of traditional vocabulary for creating classes and objects. While action script 2.0 has the feature of supporting syntactic for traditional object oriented. It will provide class keywords for the user when creating classes and extends for inheritance.Action Script 3.0In action script 3.0, there is a new action script virtual machine which is known as the AVM2 that uses new instruction set of byte code and the performance also had been improve. Besides th at, the 3.0 version also had become a more modern compiler code base which is now closer to the ECMAScript standards. The application programming interface (API) of action script had also been expanded and improve compare to the previous versions.In this version of action script, it is designed to work with a more complex application which has large data sets and object oriented code bases. With AVM2, the code can be executed ten times faster than the previous versions of action script code. Action script 3.0 also is harmonious with the older version. For example, action script 3.0 codes can load swf files which are written in 1.0 or 2.0.In this new version, there will be no more stage coding available. It means that users cannot apply scripts directly to the movie clip using on() and onClipEven(). Now, the stage instanced will be automatically declared. With Flash CS3 or greater versions, it will help users to simplify the application entry point. It will help instantiating the c lass for the users. Besides that, there will be no more onEventHandlers and is now replace by EventDispatcher. Users can now access the data from the URLs immediately. The object oriented programming will improves the development of a project through breaking down into objects. Object oriented programming actually is not a must in action script 3.0, but it helps the cases with large projects which tangled multiple programmers. (Adobe, nd)

Effects Of Bullying On School Achievement

Effects Of hector On School AchievementThis chapter critically analyzes extant literature on the relationship of blustering(a) and instruct achievement. Many studies corroborate been made on the growing of the learning process but literature is s laughingstockt on how discouragement restores upon the intellectual growth of children. There is even shortsighted research conducted to de vergeine how perceptions of educators or enlighten staff influence the learning process in children.To provide backb integrity to this study, the fol blueing aras of literature were reviewedLiterature on cultivate achievement and theories on motivation that whitethorn be applied to blustering(a) in the tutor environment.Literature on bullyrag, its descriptions, identification of bully and victim, and types of blustery behaviors.Literature on the relationship of bullying and groom achievement.Literature on the role of teachers in bullying prevention.School AchievementDefinitions of sc hool achievement vary. The term itself is often used interchangeably with academician achievement. Achievement is described as procedure which features routine evaluation occurs (Spence Helmreich, 1983) and skills which children learn via instruction or direct noise (Stetson, Stetson, Sattler, 2001). Other definitions specify the use of tests to tone achievement found on accuracy of solving problems in reading, mathematics, or spelling (Buhs, Ladd, Herald, 2006). Describing achievement among children is main(prenominal) not only in the educational setting. Research work on achievement gaps for instance has several implications not only for the academe but for the economic and favorable well- universe of a particular community. creation able to compargon and explain achievement gaps boast be per contour line an imperative because of the No Child Left hindquarters Act (NCLB) (Magnuson Waldfogel, 2008). Closing the achievement gaps early on in elementary schools is an imp ortant step in ameliorating the impact of discrimination among minority children who grew up in the United States. At present, the achievement gap is still a reality. For instance, research has established that the entire academic advancement process earning outstanding checks, preparing for college, applying for aid, passing done the complex application process for college, and obtaining good recommendation letters puts minorities much(prenominal) as Black and Hispanic scholars at a disadvantage (Downey, 2008). angiotensin converting enzyme way to break through the barriers of racial inequality is to close the test-score gap (Barton, 2003). Test scores account for a great percentage in ascertain high school graduation rate, preparation for college, and gaining a professional license in the future (Beltfield Levin, 2007). The measure for achievement is predominantly the test score on various stills such as reading, math, and vocabulary. Although the test score is incisiv ely but one component and does not account for all factors related to academic achievement, is performs a gatekeeping maneuverction for consequential life course transitions (Magnuson Waldfogel, 2008, p. 2). For this study, school achievement is defined as a students degree of comprehension of proficiency and information with particular skills such as reading, mathematics, and spelling.The Ecological model of achievementSchool achievements is grossly assumed to be a cumulative function of family, school, and community experiences, and is therefore hard to measure (Rivkin, Hanushek, Kain, 2005). Since achievement is a holistic process where several factors come into play, studying achievement is an empirical challenge because complete family, community, and school histories, and such data are rarely if ever available (Rivkin, Hanushek, Kain, 2005). Efforts to downstairsstanding how achievement develops in children use a priori models such as the Ecological model of developmen t (Broussard Garrison, 2004).The Expectancy-Value model of development points to the influence of tender contexts and interactions with other people as significant determinants of childrens achievement in the school setting (Eccles et al., 1983). The Expectancy-Value theory posits that achievement occurs upon the presence of an environment jeer amongst childrens learning needs and their socialization experiences at various levels. Children start their early socialization inside the family and soon progress into wider and to a greater extent than complex settings such as the school. It is in the classrooms and the school environment that children are provided a venue to pursue new life experiences which are crucial to the intellectual growth and development. When the school environment becomes incongruent to childrens needs, they whitethorn develop a low expectancy for success that may in consequence result to low academic outcomes (Eccles et al., 1993). A poor person-environme nt fit may lead to rejection, frustration, violence, and victimization.Alternatively, poor fit can lead to rejection and victimization whereby students become passively isolated from their looks. It is possible, therefore, that social experiences such as being bullied may reduce a students sense of competence for social and perhaps, academic situations. Further to the role of the aforementioned demographic characteristics, we were interested in the impact that students feelings active their school may have on their doings, in particular their involvement in bullying and victimization. School climate has been studied from different theoretical and methodological perspectives and with regard to a myriad of developmental and organizational outcomes (Kuperminc, Leadbeater, Emmons, Blatt, 1997). Social-ecological theorists suggest that perceptions are paramount in understanding the way in which individuals function within their environments (Lewin, 1935). This hypothesis has received maintenance in a substantial body of research examining the role of perceptions of school climate in a variety of important outcomes.For example, Solomon, Battistich, Kim, and Watson (1996) found that teacher supportiveness was associated with more positive behaviour in the classroom and positive perceptions of connectedness among students. In other research, Kuperminc and colleagues (1997) demonstrated that perceptions of school climate were associated with psychosocial maladjustment in adolescents, both in terms of internalizing and externalizing problems. Similarly, Griffith (1999) found that perceptions of an orderly and fair school with positive student-teacher relationships moderated both internalizing and externalizing problems among students. Students sense of connectedness to their school has been investigated as a caramel brown amid exposure to violence and later violent behaviour (Brookmeyer, Fanti, Henrich, 2006) and the investigators found that students who felt mo re connected to their schools showed a reduction in violent behaviour over time. Feeling connected to school may make it more likely that students will confide in teachers or peers about experiences of victimization, which may in turn help them to neck with these problems or avoid behaving violently themselves (Brookmeyer et al., 2006). In another study, Totura and colleagues (2009) found that perceptions of school climate as being characterized by misdemean or as having higher adult monitoring impacted the likelihood that students with internalizing or externalizing behaviour problems would be classified as bullies or victims by teachers. In the current study, we countered that students who indicated feeling that their school is a fair and safe place, that they feel connected to their peers, and that they perceive their teachers as helpful and supportive would report lower order of bullying and victimization. Furthermore, we saw these perceptions as integral to understanding th e overall climate of a school.Definition of BullyingThe most comprehensive and extensively used definition of bullying is provided by Dan Olweus very few studies exist that do not cite his original work (Dake et al., 2003 Dulmus et al., 2004). This study used the definition of bullying real by Olweus (1993), which states, a student is being bullied or victimized when he or she is exposed, recurrently and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other students (Olweus, 1993, p. 9). shun actions are further defined as when someone intentionally inflicts, or attempts to inflict, injury or discomfort upon another (p. 9).Negative actions can be verbal (including threatening, taunting, teasing, or name-calling) or somatogenic (such as hitting, kicking, pushing, shoving, or pinching). Negative actions also may occur without verbal or sensible interaction, such as making faces or gestures, intentionally excluding someone from a group, spreading rumors, or refusing to c omply with the wishes of another. Different types of bullying are discussed in more detail in a later section.The definition emphasizes repeated interactions that are carried out over time. According to Olweus (1993), it is reasonable to assume that any time students are forced together within social environments where they have little choice over with whom they interact, tendencies to bully may arise. Further, some conflict among students is natural and expected. Students may come to school in an irritable mood because of a confrontation at home, or they might be tired or hungry. Students also may have a disagreement with one another that leads to a more serious altercation, though still not necessarily a bullying episode. The focus toward repeated interactions carried out over time is meant to exclude random interactions or isolated incidents that occur in a nonsystematic way. Random and isolated incidents are seen as sensibly natural, with less severe consequences for those invo lved. Thus, bullying is typically defined as occurring repeatedly and over time.Additionally, it is not considered bullying unless the targeted individual has impediment defend him or herself against the bullying behavior. The overall intent is to focus on systematic victimization among participants with an imbalance of power or strength. Depending on the type of bullying that occurs strength may relate to somatogenetic, emotional, or mental strength. Differences in emotional or mental strength may be more difficult to identify than differences in bodily strength. Regardless, deuce individuals of approximately the same physical, psychological or social strength that socially interact in an aggressive manner are not considered to be assiduous in bullying behavior. There must be an imbalance in power or strength amid the participants involved for the episode to be considered bullying. The near section addresses bullying in the school environment.Who bullies and who is victimize d?Studies indicate that bullies often come from homes where physical punishment is used, where the children are taught to strike back physically as a way to handle problems, and where parental involvement and warmth are frequently lacking. Students who regularly display bullying behaviors are generally defiant or oppositional toward adults, antisocial, and are likely to break school rules. In contrast to prevailing myths, bullies appear to have little anxiety and to possess strong self-esteem. There is little evidence to support the contention that they victimize others because they feel bad about themselves (Batsche Knoff, 1994 Olweus, 1993).Students who are victims of bullying are typically anxious, insecure, cautious, and suffer from low self-esteem, rarely defending themselves or retaliating when confronted by students who bully them. They may lack social skills and friends, and they are often socially isolated. victims tend to be close to their parents and may have parents who can be described as overprotective. The major defining physical characteristic of victims is that they tend to be physically weaker than their peers-other physical characteristics such as weight, dress, or wearying eyeglasses do not appear to be significant factors that can be correlated with victimization (Batsche Knoff, 1994 Olweus, 1993).Victims often fear school and consider school to be an unsafe and unhappy place. The act of being bullied tends to increase some students isolation because their peers do not want to lose status by associating with them or because they do not want to increase the risks of being bullied themselves. A child being bullied leads to depression and low self-esteem, problems that can carry into adulthood (Olweus, 1993 Batsche Knoff, 1994).Bullying in the school environmentAn important feature of bullying is its essential public nature (Jeffrey, Miller, Linn, 2001, p. 145). Those who bully tend to do so in front of an consultation of their peers. T herefore, bullying is best conceptualized as an interaction between the individual and his or her peer group, school, family, and community (Swearer Doll, 2001, p. 19). The seminal definition of bullying provided by Olweus also describes a behavioral interaction rather than an individual or a behavior. Thus, bullying interactions occur when individual characteristics of the child who is bullying are combined with the actions of their peers (including those of the individual who is being bullied), the answers of teachers and other adults at school, the physical characteristics of the school grounds, family factors, cultural characteristics, and community factors (Swearer Doll). Therefore, propensities for bullying are the result of continued interactions between individuals and their immediate environment.Bullying has been commonly misidentified as occurring primarily in larger, city schools (Olweus, 1993). Results from Norway and Sweden show this to be invalid. Additionally, one study (Dulmus et al., 2004) done in a rural school setting reported that just over 82% of students experienced some form of bullying at least once in the three months prior to the study. Students who were called mean names, made fun of, or teased was the most common type of bullying experienced by students and being threatened or forced to do things and being called racial names were the least common types of bullying experienced. As many as 24.1% of students acted they had been threatened or forced to do things and 26.1% reported being called names based on race or color (Dulmus et al., 2004). Additional research has shown that the size of the class or the school appears to be of little importance for the amount of bullying found in the class or school (Dake et al., 2003 Olweus, 1993).There is a natural hierarchy of status in schools, commonly referred to as popularity, which exists among students. The top 15% of students can be classified as very popular, the next 45% as accepte d, and another 20% as average or ambiguous (Thompson Cohen, 2005, p. 17). As a result, approximately 80% of children are not at serious risk of being bullied. On the other hand, the remaining 20% of students who are considered in the bottom of the social hierarchy are at serious risk for bullying (Thompson Cohen, 2005). Younger students also are at different stages of social development and may not yet understand that bullying is unacceptable behavior. However, recognition of bullying as unacceptable behavior is not always enough to deter it from happening. In addition, older students have generally had more opportunities to acquire the necessary skills and assertiveness to either respond more effectively to bullying or to cope with being subjected to such behavior (Smith, Shu, Madsen, 2001).Types of BullyingOlweus (1993) research initially distinguished between direct and indirect bullying. Direct bullying involves relatively open attacks on the target and may include words, ges tures, facial expressions, or physical contact, such as hitting, kicking, pushing, shoving, and pinching. Indirect bullying is more covert and less manifest, generally achieved through social isolation or intentional exclusion from a peer group. This can be accomplished through different methods and will differ match to age and development (Crick, Nelson, Morales, Cullerton-Sen, Casas, Hickman, 2001).For example, in early childhood, this might be accomplished by one individual simply telling another that they do not want to play together anymore. In middle childhood and adolescence, students may not invite others to join in some activity or may ignore an individual while paying excessive attention to another. The distinction between direct and indirect bullying has been further divided into three categories physical bullying verbal bullying and relational bullying, which are discussed in the following sections (Liepe-Levinson Levinson, 2005 Olweus, 1993 Ralston, 2005 Smokowski Kopasz, 2005).Physical BullyingPhysical bullying refers to hitting, pushing, shoving, slapping, kicking, tripping, and other such bodily attacks, as well as damaging anothers property (Howard, Horne, Joliff, 2001 Liepe-Levinson Levinson, 2005 Ralston, 2005 Smokowski Kopasz, 2005). Physical bullying is described as action-oriented and often uses direct bullying tactics (Smokowski Kopasz). Until recently, the majority of U.S. research about bullying has been conducted as a subset of aggression and has focused primarily on physical aggression (Griffin Gross, 2004). Aggression and bullying contain conceptual similarities, but their equation largely depends on how each has been measured within individual research studies.Due to the relatively open nature of the attacks, physical bullying is considered the most visible and least sophisticated among the various types of bullying (Liepe-Levinson Levinson, 2005 Smokowski Kopasz, 2005). Less than one-third of all incidents reported by children involve physical bullying (Liepe-Levinson Levinson). Those who engage in physical bullying may become more aggressive over time and continue to manifest bullying in adulthood (Dake et al., 2003 Smokowski Kopasz, 2005). In addition, students who are targeted for physical bullying are generally targeted for verbal and relational bullying as well (Olweus, 1993). Research also shows that physical bullying is used more in lower grades (i.e., primary school) among younger students (Olweus, 1993).Verbal BullyingVerbal bullying is the most common form of bullying concord to student reports in one study, accounting for nearly 70% of all reported incidents (Liepe-Levinson Levinson, 2005). Verbal bullying includes teasing, taunting, name-calling, racial slurs, or any instance where words are used to terms or humiliate another. Due to the ease and quickness with which verbal bullying occurs, this type of behavior often goes undetected, making such interactions more difficult to r espond to for teachers (Smokowski Kopasz, 2005). Verbal bullying often is a precursor to physical and relational bullying (Liepe-Levinson Levinson, 2005).Relational BullyingRelational bullying includes such acts as ignoring individuals, social isolation, intentional exclusion from peer groups, gossiping, and spreading rumors (Liepe-Levinson Levinson, 2005 Ralston, 2005 Smokowski Kopasz, 2005). Relational bullying also includes aggressive gestures, such as staring, rolling ones eyes, sighing, frowning, sneering, and other hostile body vocabulary (Liepe-Levinson Levinson). It is most powerful and prevalent at the onset of adolescence, when children are exploring their identities and expanding their social networks, also making it very difficult to identify.Verbal and relational bullying are quite common and are relatively unnoticed by teachers as students report these behaviors occurring more frequently than physical bullying (Griffin Gross, 2004 Hazler, Miller, Carney, Green, 2001). Oddly enough, physical bullying continues to attract more attention in the school environment. This is despite the widespread attention given to longstanding emotional and social forms of bullying as precursors to school shootings and self-destructions. This is most likely due to the visible nature of physical bullying and its relative ease of identification.CyberbullyingHistorically, bullying primarily occurred in school during school hours however, with the common use of computers and the internet since the 1990s, on-line bullying has become an increasing occurrence amongst adolescent girls (Li, 2005). The internet offers the perfect tool for mass, covert bullying due to its anonymity, its difficulty to regulate, and the removal of traditional social rules in regards to appropriate communication (Giuseppe, Galimberti, 2003).The nature of new technology makes it possible for cyber bullying to occur more secretly, spread more rapidly and be easily preserved (Li, 2006, p. 16 1). Bullying is a major problem in schools, and it seems to be on the rise with the widespread use of the Internet. Cyber bullying, according to Willard (2004) as quoted by Li (2006), can occur in various formats including flaming, harassment, cyber stalking, denigration (putdowns), masquerade, outing and trickery and exclusion it can lead to stalking, death threats and suicide (Li, 2006). Unlike face-to-face bullying, people often feel that cyberspace is impersonal and they can therefore say whatever they want. Further, it is reported that females prefer this type of bullying (Nelson, 2003 Li, 2006). Electronic bullying allows a persons identity to remain hidden and can pose less of a physical confrontation that face-to-face bullying.Relationship of Bullying and Academic AchievementBullying behaviour is a social, group process that is prevalent in the school environment and there are well enter findings regarding the behavioural and health consequences of bullying behaviour at sc hool for both direct and relational bullying profiles (Kumpulainen et al., 1998 Owens, Slee, Shute, 2000 Williams, Chambers, Logan, Robinson, 1996 Wolke et al., 2000). However, there is a dearth of research that has considered the fellowship between bullying behaviour per se and academic achievement among primary school children.Olweus (1978, 1983) first speculated that aggressive behaviour of bullies towards peers could be considered as a reaction to frustrations and failures at school. However, data from a large sample of boys from Greater Stockholm provided no evidence to suggest that aggressive behaviour was a consequence of poor grades at school. Rather, it was found that both bullies and victims had lower than average marks than neutral children (Olweus, 1978).In a recent study, Schwartz, Farver, Chang, and Lee-Shin (2002) reported that children who exhibited poor academic performance in school tended to emerge as frequent targets of bullying. However, it was only a subset of victimised children, the aggressive victims (or bully/victims) who were likely to be characterised by poor school performance (Schwartz, 2000). What remains to be established by research studies is whether poor academic achievement leads to bullying involvement or whether being bullied leads to poorer school achievement, possibly talk terms by less participation in school. Research on peer rejection has also considered the relationship to academic achievement and school adjustment. Peer rejection is predominantly valueed by standardized scores that are comparable across classes and school, but does not take into account individual bullying roles within classes. Ladd (1990) considered the academic behaviour and school adjustment of children over the first year of school life and reported that rejected children had less favourable school perceptions, importantly higher levels of school escape and significantly lower school performance compared to popular, average, and neglected c hildren.While the research is clear that students with behavior problems do less well in school (Shanahan 2000 McLeod Keiser 2004 Trzensniewski et al. 2006 Allard 2007 Buchmann et al. 2008), it is undecipherable whether engagement in bullying behaviors directly leads to negative academic outcomes (Miller 2008). Moreover, empirical research has provided mixed support for a cross-sectional relationship specifically between bullying behavior and academic achievement (Nansel et al. 2001 Spriggs et al. 2007). On the one hand, Nansel et al. (2001) found that persons who bullied others showed poorer school adjustment, both in terms of academic achievement and perceived school climate (p. 2097). Glew et al. (2005) criticized Nansel et al.s (2001) findings because although the authors found important evidence regarding the potential detrimental effects of bullying on self perceived academic achievement and school attendance, no objective measures of academic achievement or attendance were collected (p.1026). In contrast, these authors, utilizing objective measures of school performance, found that being a bully was not significantly correlated with lower achievement scores. More recently, Spriggs et al. (2007), using the 2001 Health Behaviors in School-Aged Children survey (HBSC), found that among a representative sample of sixth to tenth graders that bullying impacts achievement. Their results also indicated that this relationship varies by race. For Whites and Hispanics, being a bully, victim, or a combination of the two, was associated with poorer academic performance. However, for Blacks, bullying was not related to academic performance (Spriggs et al. 2007). Instead, Blacks family and peer relationships had a greater influence on achievement than did bullying.This paper presents a meta-analytic review of 33 studies, with a total of 29 552 participants, that examined the concurrent association between peer victimization and academic achievement. The results revea led a small but significant negative correlation between peer victimization and academic achievement under both the random-effects model (r=.12, p This study utilized a multi-informant approach to investigate the concurrent association between peer victimization and school mental process in a sample of 135 Latino children (55 boys 80 girls) in the third, fourth, and fifth grades. The children attended elementary schools in distressed urban neighborhoods. Victimization by peers was associated with low grade point averages (GPA) and poor academic engagement. The analyses showed academic engagement mediated the relation between peer victimization and GPA. Moderator analyses indicated that the negative association between peer victimization and academic engagement was exacerbated for children with numerous friends in their classrooms. Additional moderator analyses revealed that the negative association between victimization and engagement was stronger for children with many aggressive friends. Overall, the results elicit past research by investigating mediators and moderators of the association between peer victimization and school functioning in an understudied population (Nakamoto, 2008).This short-term longitudinal investigating focused on associations between victimization in the peer group and academic functioning over a 1-year period. The authors used a multi-informant approach to assess peer victimization, symptoms of depression, and academic outcomes for 199 elementary schoolchildren (average age of 9.0 years 105 boys, 94 girls). Frequent victimization by peers was associated with poor academic functioning (as indicated by grade point averages and achievement test scores) on both a concurrent and a predictive level. Additionally, the authors analyses provided some evidence that peer group victimization predicts academic difficulties through the mediating influence of depressive symptoms. Taken together, these results highlight the potential negative imp act of victimization by peers on childrens academic functioning (Schwartz et al., 2005).Adjustment difficulties such as loneliness and depression are less likely to occur among students who are liked by their peers and who have friends in comparison to those children who are isolated and solely (Erdley et al., 2001). Thus, peer acceptance and reciprocal friendships may pevent socio-emotional maladjustment. In the context of school bulyying, students who are bullied may not gain a sense of protection from tie-up with a group (Beran Violato, 2004). These particular(a) social skills and access to friends increase the likelihood of bullying. Furthermore, this lack of peer support may inhibit children from seeking academic support from teachers. If children do not trust their teachers to stop the bullying, they may not seek their assistance with academic difficulties.It is likely that children who are bullied disengage from their learning, experiencing little enjoyment and low conscio usness for academic work. In addition, children whose parents provide little support for their education, are likely to experience academic difficulties. When these students also exhibit behaviour problems in the form of hyperactivity, aggression, and poor social skills, they may experience learning difficulties.Other studies, however, show contrary results. Hanish and Guerra (2002) examined the effects of peer victimization on levels of academic achievement and rigid that peer victimization was correlated with concurrent and subsequent aggressive behavior, inattention in the classroom, delinquency, symptoms of anxiety and depression, rejection, and low popularity among classmates. It was not however, correlated with academic maladjustment or withdrawal. (p. 85). Being bullied may have affected some aspects of academic life such as inattention in the classroom and low popularity among classmates but it did not predict low achievement (Hanish Guerra, 2002). In addition, Woods and W olke (2004) reported achievement levels to be similar between children who are victimized and those who are not. Some victimized children may experience poor achievement whereas others may not.Role of Teachers in Bullying PreventionThe basic assumptions are that ever-changing the environment is more powerful than changing individuals, that prevention is better than intervention, and that changing the environment requires support and understanding among teachers.Teachers understand the levels of influence and recognize the power of the family, the community, and the popular culture to influence behavior. What they often do not understand is the extent or limit of their sphere of influence. When teachers are asked to identify risk factors for the development of bullying, they generally rank the family and cultural factors such as television films, and pop music as having the strongest impact on childrens development of bullying behaviors. When teachers are asked to indicate which fact ors they can influence, they recognize for the most part, that their influence is limited to the classroom and school environment. Teachers are encouraged to focus their energy and resources on changing the areas within their sphere of influence, that is, the classroom and the school.Because of the amount of teacher contact with students, perceptions of teachers regarding student bullying forms an important first step in minimizing this risk. Research found that teachers considered bullying the second most serious student behavior after dose use, (24)

Order, Disorder and Imagination in John Buck’s Sculptures :: Art Essays

Order, Disorder and Imagination in John Bucks SculpturesThere is always a depression impression, a first glance flow through the corner of your eye. When passing by one cant help but to notice the overwhelming presence of John Bucks freestanding sculptures which stand in front of the Gallery. I find myself overwhelmed by both the size and the boldness by which these sculptures speak. Their organized structural nature combines a variety of ideas from branches, birdhouses to molecular structures and globes, and in the middle of it all stands the ringing human form. Initially, the forms and elements I saw in these sculptures impressed me but their composition did not gainsay or stimulate my curiosity. So I kept up with the flow of traffic and continued on walking by. I couldnt quite word form out why I had an aversion to these sculptures. It wasnt until I started to break down the elements of these sculptures and take a closer look within the walls of the gallery that my firs t impression faded and a new aura of his work came into being. A have found an appreciation for both his ways of making and the perceptions he presents. I am a big fan of wood shape, so I am thoroughly impressed by John Bucks carvings of both his sculptures and woodblock prints. I appreciate the details of his work for instance the visibility of the chip carving and the control he has over the bends of the wood. I am intrusive to know the techniques he uses to get these details and his methods to making them. I read that John Buck uses a special kind of wood called jelutong. The artist verbalize about working with wood, There is an automatic and direct relationship between the nature of the wood and how I am able to work with itIn the carving of wood there is a physical activity that is more about nature in the making not just the concept of the image, but the positive making, is connected to nature.His connection to nature and the environment go beyond his use of wood as a medium, but are explicit in the stories he tells. In the lecture Pillar to Pole, Bruce Gunter commented on three forces which he found impacted Bucks art work, these being Midwest roots, environmental degradation and relationships to humanity.