Drug policy in Mexico and Colombia Research Paper - 1

Drug policy in Mexico and Colombia - Research Paper Example South America, in stark contrast to its other counterpart North America or U.S.A, the world of riches as we know it, has long being plagued with the curse of poverty and deprivation coupled with alarmingly low levels of overall development. It is known that poverty, chronic unemployment and underemployment and illiteracy often give birth to crimes and Latin America has been no different. In Mexico, unemployment is around 20% while underdevelopment is just the double of unemployment (Gilbert 22). Drug trafficking, with all its vices in this context has been alleged as the prime concern spreading its â€Å"wings† with each passing day not only in Latin American nations but also in the U.S and the whole world. Countries like Mexico and Colombia have been the main architects of drug trafficking throughout the American sub-continent. In the early’80s Colombia used to be the main exporter of drugs and narcotics throughout the world, but with the Colombian government policy ge tting more stringent, Colombian drug-lords started using Mexico, mainly due to its suitable geographic locations to export drugs through Mexico to the U.S. (Rosin, 2). Mexico One prime social policy taken by the Mexican government towards curtailing the drug trafficking is to decrease violence in the Mexican drug market and reduce increasing crime frequency to controllable levels (Venda Felbeb-Brown,1). The ongoing drug war in Mexico is mainly an armed conflict among the several drug cartels fighting each other for market control and also with the Government armed forces installed to fight drug trafficking. Mexico is the main supplier of heroin in U.S.

End of Cousre assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

End of Cousre - Assignment Example If the bank assets take a long time to sell or cannot be converted to cash with ease such as fixed assets they are considered to be illiquid. According to Melicher & Norton (2011), there are various factors that contribute to the liquidity of banks. Banks with a strong capital base can be able to effectively absorb risks associated with assets and ensure safety of depositors funds as well as maintain creditor confidence hence if a bank has a high amount of Tier 1 capital, it has a higher liquidity. Adequate liquidity also involves having a strong bank positive image. If depositors or creditors view the company negatively or suspect it does not have a sound liquidity, they will shun away from the bank and the effect is felt systematically throughout the financial market. The senior managers thus must devise efficient ways of managing liquidity risks so as to gain confidence from creditors and depositors. This can be achieved through offering quality customer services and being transpa rent in its activities by publishing reports. Positive bank image thus contributes to liquidity and vice versa as adequate liquidity ensures banks positive image (Melicher & Norton, 2011). According to Financial Services Authority (2008), asymmetric information can lead to speculation or uncertainty in the financial market regarding the banks creditworthiness and its true worth hence lead to loss in confidence by other banks who can lend it money to settle its debts and maintain liquidity and other creditors and depositors hence transparency is essential. Adequate liquidity also ensures the banks have reduced risk of asset sales at fire-sale prices (FSA, 2007). If a commercial bank wants to meet its obligations and has no assets that can be changed into cash in short time, it may result to selling its illiquid assets which are of high worth at low price leading to an imbalanced balance sheet or solvency. This has the effect of destabilizing the asset market hence influencing asset p rices thus the effect is felt in the whole market. Managing liquidity risks and having adequate liquidity prevents this from happening as a bank can take its time to convert the asset to cash without any loss. Maintaining adequate liquidity also ensures the bank does not hold a high stock of liquid assets as this increases its costs of mitigating risks. This may affect the banks competitiveness especially if other banks do not mitigate risk by maintaining high liquid assets hence run at low costs thus attracting depositors. Greuning & Bratanovic (2009:191) observe that adequate liquidity enables banks to â€Å"compensate for expected and unexpected balance sheet fluctuations and provide funds for growth†. It is also essential to have adequate liquidity as all financial transactions involve elements of liquidity. Liquidity problems have an effect on the whole financial system hence having adequate liquidity is important in maintaining the safety and solvency of commercial bank s. Capital Adequacy The availability of capital as well as its costs is essential in determining the soundness and safety of commercial banks (Greuning & Bratanovic, 2009). Capital adequacy standard is stipulated by Basel I and Basel II capital accords whereby commercial banks are supposed to ensure adequate amount of capital and reserves is maintained in order to guard the bank against solvency. According to Farid & Salahuddin (2006-2010), all countries are supposed to maintain a minimum regulatory

Romanticism And Realism Art And Literature English Literature Essay

Romanticism And Realism Art And Literature English Literature Essay The history of art and literature was developed under the influence of different intellectual movement, the most prominent and important of which are Romanticism and Realism. Romanticism was a complex artistic, literary and intellectual movement of 18th-19th century that appeared in Europe and was spread all over the world. It appeared as a reaction to rationalism and mechanistic aesthetics of classicism and the Enlightenment. It was one of the most complex and internally contradictory phenomena in the history of culture. Disappointment in the ideals of the Enlightenment, in the results of the French Revolution, the denial of utilitarianism of modern reality, the principles of bourgeois practicality, whose victims was human individuality, a pessimistic view of prospects for social development were combined in romanticism with the desire of harmony and spiritual integrity of the individual with a tendency towards infinity, the search for new, absolute and unconditional ideals. Sharp d iscord between the ideals and oppressive reality made romantics feel the morbidly fatalistic sense of indignation, bitter mockery of the discrepancy between dreams and reality. Specific of the romantic art is the problem of two worlds; writers of that time compared and contrasted the real and imaginary worlds. And the reality, the prose of life with their utilitarianism and lack of spirituality were understood as subhuman empty sense, which opposed the true world of values. Representatives of Romanticism sharply condemned urban culture and left it for description of the Middle Ages or nature. In the quiet life of countryside and simplicity they looked for the salvation from social problems of urban life, opposing it to a simple uncorrupted life of the province. Simple way of life was their ideal, and for example, William Wordsworth showed it in fiction. He set a rule to take a creative material from everyday life, to make out it in ordinary manner, using an ordinary language(Sutherland 125). In his Preface to Lyrical Ballads, he said that the chose an ordinary life because all components of it are natural and truthful, simple life does not contradict the beautiful and sustainable forms of nature (Wordsworth 6). As a real romantic writer, Wordsworth wrote a lot about people and nature. Conventional farmers are well represented in the ballad We Are Seven, and for example his Excursion Book is an example of magnificent descriptions of nature. At the same time, another outstanding representative of English Romanticism, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the author of Ancient Mariner, Christabel and other novels, showed the strange mix of reality and fiction. He was the representative of English Romanticism, oriented on desire for the miraculous. Coleridge chose the area of events and characters of fiction and romantic genre, giving them human interest and a semblance of reality, which attracts readers. Such gradual transition from reality to pure fantasy is the main reception of Coleridge; it magically works in the Ancient Mariner, where incidents of an ordinary voyage transform to the area of wonders, where the natural and the supernatural merge into an indivisible unit. American Romanticism differed from European. In America, romantic ideas have contributed to the spiritual and aesthetic knowledge. Romantics argued that art more than science was able to express the truth. Romantics underscored the importance of art for people and the whole society. For example, in the essay The Poet, written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of the most influential writers of Romanticism, the author stated: All men live under the laws of truth and need a way to express their thoughts. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦The man is only a half of himself; the second half of him is thats how he expresses his feelings (Emerson 109). Representatives of Romanticism criticized the reality, for example the works of American novelist William Howells The Lady of the Aroostook, Chance meeting show the strong influence of romanticism on the author. The novels of William Howells contain criticism of American reality, which increases and in later works even socialist ideas appear (Through the Eye of the Needle). Thus, the features of Romanticism in varying degrees are common for many artists. Romanticism is inherent in paintings and drawings of Swiss Henry Fuseli. In his works, grim sophisticated grotesque breaks in through the classical clarity of images. Also romantism is inherent in mystical visionary works of poet and artist William Blake and works of the late Francisco Goya, full of unbridled fantasy, tragic pathos, and passionate protest against the national humiliation in Spain. In France, it is inherent in created during the revolutionary years heroic portraits by Jacques-Louis David, early dramatic compositions and portraits by Antoine-Jean Gros, dreamy and lyrical works of Pierre-Paul Prudhon and also in the works by Francois P. Gerard, who combines romantic tendencies with the academic methods. The works of many later Western romantics are imbued with pessimism in towards society. The heroes of many romantic works (Franà §ois-Renà © de Chateaubriand, Alfred de Musset, George Byron, Alfred de Vigny, Alphonse de Lamartine, Heinrich Heine, etc.) were influenced by the mood of hopelessness and despair, which acquired the common human nature. The main themes of works sounded like: the perfection is lost forever, the world is ruled evil, the ancient chaos is resurrecting. The theme of terrible world was inherent to all romantic literature, and the most clearly it was embodied in the so-called black genre (in Gothic novel Ann Radcliffe, Charles Maturin; in the drama of fate or tragedy of fate Heinrich von Kleist, Franz Grillparzer), and also in the works of George Byron, Clemens Brentano, Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann, Edgar Allan Poe, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Realism was an intellectual movement, characterized by truthful and objective reflection of reality by specific means that were peculiar to various forms of art. During the historical development of art realism there were formed concrete forms of some creative methods, such as educational, critical, and socialist. Various realistic trends were expressed in different types and genres of art. Hence, there were two opposite directions in the theory, one realism the desire of the art to reproduce, to show the reality truly; and the other idealism the desire of the art to complete the reality, to create new forms. And the starting point doesnt consist of real facts, but of ideal representation. The first American writer, who has fully realized the idea of realism in art, was Mark Twain. His work was developed under the influence of critical realism, which objectively reflected the American reality first in comic and later in satiric way (Licentiousness of Print, Running For Governor). The authors later works, such as pamphlets and satirical short stories (The man who seduced Gedliberg, The United States of Lyncherdom, Monologue of the king) show the true face of American imperialism. Henry James was also one of the brightest representatives of realism; he was one of the first in American literature, who spoke against the bourgeois banality of reality. Dissatisfaction of American way of life forced him to move to Europe, so many characters of his works were the Americans who emigrated from the United States (Roderick Hudson, The American). In the novel, The Bostonians he sharply and uncompromisingly criticized the U.S. reality that is the essence of realism. Many realists wrote prose narrative stories about the fate of ordinary people, the epic of private life. The most important realist novel of the 18th century were written in the UK (Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, Tobias George Smollett, Laurence Sterne), in France (Antoine Franà §ois Prà ©vost, Denis Diderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau), in Germany (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe). The most interesting fact is that very often the heroes of novels were not monarchs and nobles, but people of middle class the merchants, townspeople, soldiers, sailors, etc., showing them in everyday family life. There is also a need to mention that in the middle of the 19th century Realism changed. If the main characters of Stendhal, Balzac and Dickens could withstand adverse conditions, then European Realism of the 2nd half of the century represents mainly the alienation of personality, its leveling, the loss of character, will, the resilience of environment. It is particularly expressive shown by William Thackeray and Gustave Flaubert. However, this kind of alienation, partly in the UK (George Eliot), but particularly in Russia (Ivan Turgenev, Leo Tolstoy) resisted adoption of high humanity and the struggle for humane ideals. The depth of philosophical problems in the works of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, the widest coverage of social reality, compassion for the fate of the insulted and injured, the subtlety of psychological analysis made these writers famous. Summarizing, it is possible to say that Realism in literature and art was characterized by the wish of artists to depict, represent the reality as it was. Artists of Realism represented the life in the way the person actually sees it, using the forms of the life itself. At the same time, Romanticism is characterized by denial of current reality, the criticism of capitalist civilization, new forms of subjugation of the masses, reproof of philistine stagnant and limited parties of the bourgeois culture and spiritual life. Most representatives of Romanticism criticized the reality; they were unsatisfied with it and couldnt accept it. Artists of both, Romanticism and Realism left a great heritage their wonderful works of art.

Death Among the Ibo Essay

Although the book Things Fall Apart and The Joys of Motherhood cover about seventy years, the difference between life in 1880s Nigeria and Nigeria in the 1950s is extreme. The Ibo people change from a clan and tribal people to a much less closely knit people much like Europeans or North Americans. The change should not necessarily be construed as an improvement in the life of the Ibo people. When Things Fall Apart begins the Ibo people are much the same as they have been for presumably centuries. They are an agrarian people living close to the land without lives that have isolated and sanitized from death. Death is a natural part of life and is common. They have rules and traditions that have taught them how to deal with death. Although many of their beliefs may seem strange to people in the twenty-first century North America the seem to work well for the Ibo until their traditions are interrupted by European Christian missionaries. The Ibo beliefs have a certain innocence and simplified world view that is remarkably refreshing when compared to today’s efforts to remove death away from society and to prolong death and aging as long as possible. There is a matter of fact character in the Ibo approach to death that makes death both real and normal. There are rules to be followed. When a man dies with a swollen abdomen and swollen limbs, he is not to be buried in the earth because his body would pollute the land (Achebe, 14-15). When an Umuofia girl is murdered, the leaders meet to decide what to do. After discussion they decide they should request compensation for the girl’s death. They elect Okonkwo a young leader who is a self-made man to visit the tribe of the man who has killed the girl and demand that a girl be sent to the Umuofia to replace the girl and another youth be given to the Umuofia as punishment for the murder. There is a balance here that lacks the vengeance of â€Å"an eye for an eye† of the Judeo-Christian culture. Instead it is more of a â€Å"tit for tat† response. Okonkwo visits the neighboring tribe and presents them with the demands of the Umuofia. Clearly there is the threat that war will result if their demand is not met, but it is not made in the â€Å"do it or else† manner common in the twentieth and twenty-first century western civilization. The tribe agrees to the demands of the Umuofia and gives a young girl who is given to the father of the murdered girl. A second youth, Ikemefuna sent to the Umuofia where he is given to the charge of Okonkwo with whom he lives for three years where he is treated like a son Three years later the leaders decide Ikemefuna should be killed to satisfy justice about the girl’s murder. Despite his having treated Ikemefuna as a son, Okonkwo participates in the slaying. He does this in spite of a warning of an elder not to participate because Ikemefuna calls Okonkwo â€Å"Father.† Okonkwo seems surprised about this warning. The decision has been made by the Umuofia leaders and therefore must be followed. There are several interesting attitudes about death and children. Certainly infant death is common among the Ibo. When a child survives infancy and it appears will live to become an adult, the child is said to be staying (Achebe, 42). Similar to this is a belief that some children are reluctant to be born into this world and retain a iyi-uwa that allows them to die so they can be reborn to their mother to torment them. To stop this cycle a medicine man will take the body of the deceased infant and mutilate it so that it will be unable to return, though some have been know to return with a missing finger or mark from the medicine man’s action. Okonkwo who is a renown and admired member of the Umuofia accidentally kills a youth, he and his family are banished. When this happens Okonkwo appears to accept his sentence stoically because it is the established rule. During his banishment European, Christian missionaries move into the area and begin to â€Å"civilize† the Ibo. Laws are made and enforced by hanging and imprisonment. Ibo who suffer such punishment lose their dignity and are no longer the man he had worked to be. When Okonkwo knows that he is going to be killed by the Europeans, he hangs himself rather than submit to the white man’s law. As one might expect from the title Emecheta’s book, The Joys of Motherhood ¸ is more concerned with childbirth and motherhood than with death. It is interesting that the perspective of this book is decidedly written from the female point of view and is concerned with life, instead of the masculine point of view expressed in Things Fall Apart where death is a more prominent concern. In this book death is treated much like it is today. The characters in this book no longer live in the tribal or clan community that Okonkwo lived in where death is considered a normal part of life. Instead they move to the city, Lagos, where they work for low wages doing the chores the more wealthy white people consider beneath them. Here death is not so common and not accepted so easily. When Nnu Ego’s son dies in infancy and she attempts to commit suicide, she is judged as insane until she is able to move on and continue her day to day life. Her dead son’s body is taken away soon to be replaced by the birth of additional children. Death is less acceptable and hidden from the people because the British people don’t want to think about it. Instead they sanitize it and move it away from day to day life. This happens to the Ibo as well as they move into the twentieth century British colonial lifestyle. Unlike the deaths occurring seventy years earlier where the clan is aware of each death and is able to accept it for the sake of the clan, Nnu Ego dies lying at the side of the road unrecognized. She is not missed by her clan or her people who are scattered throughout the country. The lack of concern about the rights of the individual regarding death in Achebe’s book is disturbing. Given today’s sensibilities where the individual is more important than the society the idea of   replacing one murdered girl with another girl to take her place and the idea of offering a hostage as a response to having committed a crime is troubling. People today   want to move on and get on with their lives after death, almost as if they were to acknowledge death, they will be stricken with some horrible contagious disease. Acceptance of death is still a societal problem today. American’s today seem unable to accept it. However, after reading these books, one if forced to wonder which of the approached to death, the 1880s Ibo, the 1950’s Ibo, or that of Americans in 2006 is best. In some ways the 1880s version with its innocent and almost nostalgic response to death seems to the best.

Age of Computer Essay

Eras in the history of art and architecture may be distinguished by styles such as Renaissance, Gothic, Impressionist or Surrealist, and so on. Techniques too have marked different eras over the centuries: from the primitive tools of the Stone Age, to the Industrial Age marked by steam and electrical power and the discovery of turbines, and engines. Today, we have entered a new era: the computer age – an age which owes everything to inventors. Charles Babbage, an English mathematician, is considered to be the great-grandfather of the computer. Over 150 years ago, in 1840 to be exact, he invented a sophisticated calculating machine, and called it the â€Å"Analytical Engine.† As with many inventions, his creation was far in advance of its time. It took another 100 years before the first computers were built, and as you know, they were huge and incredibly heavy. Take, for instance, the famous Mark I. It was the world’s first electro-mechanical computer and was used during World War 2 by the U.S. Navy. In comparison to 20th-century systems,  it could be likened to a battleship: 2.6 meters high, 16 meters wide, 2 meters deep, and weighing a massive 5 tons! The machine – the hardware – could not develop without the software to match, of course. In this respect, two women mathematicians played key roles. Ada Lovelace Byron, daughter of the poet Lord Byron, wrote in 1843 what today we’d call programs for Charles Babbage’s â€Å"Analytical Engine.† She was a pioneer and is considered to be the very first programmer in history. That’s why 130 years later, the U.S. Department of Defence gave her forename – Ada – A-D-A – to one of the most important computer programs in the world. It is used not only by the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force but also by big industry, universities, and other centers of research. Grace Hopper, an American woman, invented in 1952 the very first compiler of all times, a program which translates a programming language so that it can be understood by computers. It was a sensational breakthrough which opened doors to automatic programming and thus directly to contemporary personal computers (PCs). Today, computers are at the center of thousands upon thousands of other inventions. They are the heartbeats of the modern world. Computers are every-where – from kitchens to concrete mixers, from planes to pockets. They listen. They speak. They act. Never in world history has one invention had such an influence on humanity as a whole. Without the computer age, there would be no global awareness. Internet, in particular, has created a brand new environment. A new culture has been born – free, rapid, and universal – where people share their knowledge and expertise. Information and communication techniques have been turned upside down, distance has been eliminated, frontiers abolished. A tremendous interactive potential is burgeoning on our planet Earth today. Like it or lump it – none can stop it! I would like to mention something concerning Internet. The inventors in 1990  of the World Wide Web (WWW), which revolutionized the contemporary computer world, did not become millionaires. British Tim Berners-Lee and Belgian Robert Caillau, both researchers at European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, did not make any money through their invention of the WWW. They refused to patent it. They feared that in so doing, the use of the Web would prove prohibitively expensive preventing its use worldwide. Thus, they passed up a fortune so that our world can learn and communicate today, and we should be grateful to them for their foresight. The invention of the computer with its multitude of programs and new information technologies is transforming the traditional perception of an inventor. A more positive image is emerging. No longer personified by an eccentric crackpot, a crackpot male genius working alone in attic, garage or basement, today’s inventors resemble more and more millions of other scientists, industrial researchers and entrepreneurs in workshops or laboratories surrounded by a computer station. All use the â€Å"mouse† instead of a pencil, and their drawing boards are computer screens. Women inventors have also contributed to this change in the traditional image of the inventor, particularly in certain fields such as chemistry, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, not to speak of computer software. In the USA, for instance, the number of women inventors with patents in the field of chemistry increased three-and-half times during the period from 1977 (2.8%) to 1988 (9.9%). It would be interesting indeed to see what further increases have taken place over the past 10 years. Another popular fallacy is not only that the large majority of inventors are eccentric and male, but they are also perceived as being raZther ancient! The truth is that, thanks to the computer, people are actually inventing more and more at an increasingly youthful age. In Silicon Valley, a 30-year old inventor is considered already long in the tooth, and many newcomers to the inventive world are in their 20s. Some predict that in a few years time,  there’ll be a new generation of 14-year-old millionaire inventors appearing in Silicon Valley! Unfortunately, this new generation of inventors – women and very young people – is insufficiently present among representatives of most inventor associations worldwide. These are still run by people who, although totally dedicated to their work, were neither born nor grew up in the computer age. Therefore they find adaptation difficult. Information technology frequently passes them by. This is often a cause of very real problems. lighbulbInternet.jpg (1394 bytes) Let’s now consider some of the ways inventors can make use of the new technologies of the computer age. We all know that inventors need a lot of information. Technological information contained in patent documents is essential at the very earliest stages of invention. It can avoid duplication in research work. It can provide ideas for further development of existing technology. It can also give a glimpse of the technological activities of competitors. That is why Patent Offices have put their patent documentation databases on the Internet. Access is not only fast, but easily accessible, and available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It’s also free in the sense that it doesn’t cost the inventor a single cent to consult such documentation! Time-consuming travel to Patent Offices or libraries storing patent documents is a thing of the past. The inventor also has access to much more data than through a single database. Obviously, the ideal is one huge library, containing millions of patent documents from all over the world. The European Patent Office (EPO) has tried to create this world library of patent documents. I am glad to inform you that IFIA Web site allows surfers to visit this EPO site, and through it, to jump to the major providers of patent information in the world, whether they be Patent Offices or private  enterprises, such as IBM. A further advantage is the constant updating of all these databases by each of the providers. In brief, it’s sufficient to click on one address, the EPO address, to access millions of documents: . lighbulbInternet.jpg (1394 bytes) For many inventors, the marketing stage often starts with a prototype to prove that the product works satisfactorily, and what’s more, works safely. The greater a model’s perfection, the greater the chances of selling a license to a manufacturer. But a professional prototype, as close to the final product as possible, can rapidly become extremely expensive. One fantastic and inexpensive alternative to a physical prototype is a computerized model. Basically, it amounts to modelling the invention from all angles on a computer, with self-running commentary, demonstrations and animation of all the invention’s functions. The diskette or ZIP disk can be duplicated in as many copies as necessary, and sent via regular mail. The computerized prototype can also be loaded onto a video tape and copies made. Busy executives – prospective investors, licensees or buyers – seem, however, to prefer a diskette which is easy to put into the computer, in addition to the fact that most offices do not have a TV and VCR. The video tape would seem more appropriate when presenting an invention at an exhibition or fair. On the subject of invention shows, let me stress in passing that virtual exhibitions exist already. One of IFIA’s members, the Hungarian Association of Inventors, even launched an international competition of inventions last March with a virtual jury, each member sitting serenely in front of his/her computer screen, somewhere around the world. lighbulbInternet.jpg (1394 bytes) With the computer age upon us, we are also moving slowly but surely away from the traditional paper system of filing patent applications to the new  electronic filing system – a rapid and cheap transmission system of text and image data. Patent Offices are now engaged in preparing the necessary tools to assist inventors and other applicants in this form of electronic commerce. Naturally, their Web sites will have to provide links to reference material, technical guidelines and instructions on filing applications. The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva, provides inventors and industry with an advantageous route for obtaining patent protection worldwide. Starting from January 1, 1999, the PCT is offering a reduction of US$ 200 (two hundred) for every electronic filing. That’s quite an encouragement to use this system! However, no system is perfect. It still remains a fact that Patent Offices are faced with serious technical issues related to information security. Namely: How to ensure the security and authenticity of the transmission and exchange of unpublished – therefore confidential – data? The next question to arise is: Who will be responsible in case of third-party intrusions? The Patent Office? – or the applicant? Because of the international nature of the patent system, it has been decided recently that all information security issues will be examined in the framework of WIPO. To better understand some of the many issues involved, I would like to give two examples as described in a WIPO document discussed a few days ago in Geneva: † †¦ any exchange between applicants and examiners requires excellent levels of security and data privacy. Furthermore, many of these activities require some assurance of the identity of one party or another. For example, if an applicant is exchanging information with an examiner, the examiner needs to know that the individual is indeed authorized to provide  information, (e.g. proof of identity), and the applicant needs to be confident that he or she is indeed in contact with a patent examiner and not a clever hacker. [†¦]† â€Å"The exchange of priority documents provides another interesting example. If a priority document is to be exchanged in electronic form, it needs to be validated by the originating party. In other words, the document needs to be signed to demonstrate its authenticity, it needs to have a guaranteed time stamp associated with the transaction, preferably by a third party (to prevent presumed or actual forgery of dates and times), and it needs to have some guarantee of accuracy, so that a party obtaining the document can tell if tampering occurred†¦Ã¢â‚¬  lighbulbInternet.jpg (1394 bytes) Every now and then we hear some people say, â€Å"There’s hardly anything left to invent. Everything has been invented already!†. What a silly remark! You can be certain that inventors will continue inventing, and new discoveries will be made, right up to the very last minute before the world comes to an end! But to return to today, with the computer age, the possibilities of invention are endless and in all possible fields. It has also been said that the computer will eventually invent the inventor. By that I mean that one day, the computer will replace the inventor. Up to a point, I must agree – but only to a certain extent. You can feed the computer with billions of data. One has even beaten a world chess champion. Nevertheless, the computer has no humanity, no imagination, no sensitivity or affectivity, and no inherent wisdom. Can it smell the perfume of a rose? †¦interpret the color of a sunrise? Can it caress the cheek of a child? †¦or savor the taste of Hong Kong’s dim sum?! Above all it’s a machine – a fantastic machine – but remember, it’s only a machine. So let’s not make a new god out of the computer, as some tend to do. But rather use its possibilities to a maximum †¦ and through it, try quite simply to build a better world. That should be our motto.

Inclusive Education For Children With Disabilities And...

Inclusive Education Introduction From many years, the topic of inclusive education has become a center of debates and discussions related to the educational practice and policy development around the globe (Farrell and Ainscow, 2002). Presently, the Education of youngsters and children with disabilities and special educational needs (SEN) is a well-recognized primary objective of policies in several countries (Lindsay, 2007). The policy and legislative trends from previous three to four decades have shown an apparent move from the approval of the orthodoxy of the segregated education of children with SEN. The United States opened new ways of introducing the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975. Which, was consequently revised by the 1990 Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) and updated afterwards in the year 1997. Promoting the ‘whole-school’ approach to the inclusion education and inclusion concept (Evans and Lunt, 2002). Currently, all of the European Union countries have legislation that is designed to require or promote inclusion. Few commentators (Pijl et al., 1997) also have described it as ‘global agenda’. Nevertheless, the meaning and definition of inclusive education is still the topic of much debates and discussion, and it is not a simple task to define the best practice (Slee, 2001). The inclusive education movement has been recognized internationally by the Salamanca Statement of UNESCO (UNESCO, 1994). Which, reflects the ‘Education for All’Show MoreRelatedImproving Student Participation Is A Matter Of Importance1543 Words   |  7 Pagesability, ethnicity and learning needs. Ensuring student participation is a matter of importance, since children are at times deprived of equal right to use inclusive education from early childhood through to adulthood. Inclusive education means eliminating the distinction between special and regular education and giving equal opportunities despite their level of disability. It implies that providing educational facilities to students with additional educational needs which are used by most other studentsRead More1.6 Justification Of The Study. The Exclusion Of Pwds By1223 Words   |  5 Pagesbuilt environments that are sensitive to the needs of this category of people. Such designs can only be developed using sci entific information on existing designs, how they are experienced by PWDs and therefore how they can be improved. Children with disability in Kenya are often consigned to â€Å"special schools† which, though well intended to provide responsive learning environments, actually perpetuate segregation from other children. The inclusive education movement proposes that all schools shouldRead MoreTheme 1: Legislation. The Irish Constitution Enshrines1521 Words   |  7 PagesConstitution, every child has a protected right to education regardless of their needs or ability. The right to education goes beyond academic achievement to the development of the child’s personality, talents and abilities to their fullest potential and providing them with the tools to live a full and responsible life within society. The State must ensure that children with disabilities have equal opportunities to participate fully in education through the removal of barriers that impede the realisationRead MoreEffective Methods For Accommodating Students With Disabilities Essay1479 Words   |  6 Pagesaccommoda ting students’ with disabilities in inclusive settings in elementary schools? Preface The right to equal education should be in reach of all students’ regardless of their educational needs and backgrounds. The barriers that students’ with disabilities face are evident in today’s public school education. We as educators sometimes ignore the capabilities of some of our disabled students’ and impede them from achieving their fullest potential. Inclusive education implementation has helped improveRead MoreLegal Framework Supporting Inclusive Education1632 Words   |  7 PagesSUPPORTING INCLUSIVE EDUCATION. The International Year of Disabled Persons in 1981 and the United Nations Decade of Disabled People 1983-1992 led to major breakthroughs globally in the recognition of the rights of PWDs and in realization of international policies/framework to protect those rights. One of these rights is the right to education. This right is enshrined and reasserted in various international documents . The Statement and Framework for Action from the World Conference on Special Needs EducationRead MoreInclusive Education For Children With Disabilities1631 Words   |  7 PagesAbstract Inclusive education is where children with disabilities receive special education services in the general education setting. Many factors can make inclusion difficult or complex. Accommodating instruction to meet the educational needs of all students is one of the most fundamental problems in education. Many argue that inclusive practices benefit all students. While others argue that inclusive education is inadequately designed to meet the needs of exceptional students. Benefits of inclusiveRead MoreSOcial and Economic Development: Inclusion and Inclusive Education1133 Words   |  5 Pages INCLUSION: A BIRTHRIGHT Education is the most important factor in any country’s social and economic development. It builds human capital by producing informed and productive citizens. Education creates opportunities for marginalized and socioeconomically disadvantaged communities to become better adjusted and productive citizens. People with disabilities are still at a severe disadvantage in terms of accessing education in many parts of the world, especially in Pakistan. World Health OrganizationRead MoreEssay about Students With ADD/ADHD and Class Placement1218 Words   |  5 Pageslearning-disabilities such as ADD/ADHD are continuously perceived as incompetent to adapt in an ordinary classroom setting with other students without learning-disabilities. Consequently, many students with learning disabilities are placed in classrooms that are designated only for students with learning disabilities. It is because of this classroom placement problem that many learning-impaired students are doing worse academically and socially in a non-inclusive setting than in an inclusive one. ARead MoreSpecial Education Students Placement and Performance Outcomes on Math Assessments1508 Words   |  7 PagesThe issue of educational placements for students with disabilities has been an ongoing issue of debate brought to atten tion in 1975 by the passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). This act required that procedures be enacted that would protect the rights of disabled children and assure that to the extent appropriate handicapped children are educated with children who are not handicapped and that the removal of handicappedRead More Inclusion in the Classroom Essay1638 Words   |  7 PagesInclusion in the Classroom Inclusion in classrooms is defined as combining students with disabilities and students without disabilities together in an educational environment. It provides all students with a better sense of belonging. They will enable friendships and evolve feelings of being a member of a diverse community (Bronson, 1999). Inclusion benefits students without disabilities by developing a sense of helping others and respecting other diverse people. By this, the students will

Predictors Of Academic And Academic Motivation - 1153 Words

Predictors of Academic Persistence in Higher Education EDPS 189H Section 001 Term 1 Alex McKinney Abstract Accurately predicting academic persistence for incoming and returning college students is constant problem for all involved. Multiple predictors currently exist to help determine the academic motivation of students. Traditional predictors cover the cognitive aspects of students. The most common predictors are standardized tests and high school GPA. Noncognitive predictors are difficult to accurately measure but still contribute to a student’s persistence. Cultural predictors such as economic status, moral support and ethnic differences also play a role in a student’s academic motivation. The purpose of this paper was to explain the effectiveness of these predictors. Predictors of Academic Persistence in Higher Education I. Introduction a. Define Persistence II. Predictors in a Traditional Sense a. Standardized Tests i. Validity ii. Effectiveness b. High School Grades i. Validity ii. Effectiveness III. Non-cognitive Predictors a. Validity b. Effectiveness IV. Cultural Predictors a. Economic Status i. Validity b. Social Support i. Validity c. Ethnic Differences i. Validity V. Conclusion a. Restate Important Results VI. Discussion It is a common concern whether a higher education is economically viable for many individuals. A college education can be, to some extent, equated to gambling. There is a considerable amount of risk involved when choosing to further one’sShow MoreRelatedâ€Å"Academic Stress, Achievement Motivation, and Academic Achievement as Predictors of Adjustment Among Highschool Students.†3007 Words   |  13 Pagesâ€Å"ACADEMIC STRESS, ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION, AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AS PREDICTORS OF ADJUSTMENT AMONG HIGHSCHOOL STUDENTS.† ABSTRACT The main aim of the present study was to explore the relative contribution of academic stress, achievement motivation and academic achievement among adjustment of high school students. It was hypothesized that adjustment will be significantly predicted on the basis of academic stress, achievement motivation and academic achievement. 160 students of SangliRead MoreRelationship Between Personality And Academic Performance1075 Words   |  5 PagesThe relationship between personality and academic performance has been strongly identified in research that also suggests motivation, gender and different learning styles too have an effect on academic performance and are influenced by personality traits. Personality is not only related to academic performance but it is deemed a more valid predictor of academic performance than a student’s academic motivation (De Feyter, Caers, Vigna, Berings, 2012). The five factor model (FFM) introduced by McCraeRead MoreTeaching Styles, Lea rning Styles, and Cultural Location in Relation to Academic Success996 Words   |  4 Pagesand Cultural Location in Relation to Academic Success The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. -William Arthur Ward. Every teacher is different and teaches differently, but when it comes to academic success of students, how do the teaching styles affect the overall outcome of the student success. Although teaching styles and learning styles have a massive role to play and academic success, so does cultural location. TeachingRead MorePredictors Of A Student s Overall Level Of Satisfaction With The University1612 Words   |  7 Pages Noncognitive Predictors Furthermore, this is why noncognitive predictors need to be used with the traditional means of determining academic persistence. As stated previously, only so much information can be gathered from traditional predictors and to have a firmer grasp one a scholar’s capability to persist in a college environment. According to Sparkman, Maulding, and Roberts (2012), â€Å"the level of integration is inversely related to the potential that a student will drop out† (p. 642). This addedRead MoreThe Greatest Retention Issues Occur During The First Year At An Institution884 Words   |  4 Pagesretention theories of Tinto, Pasacrelli, and Astin, and the work of John Gardner. Literature speaks of finding the â€Å"right fit† (Astin, 1999; Freedman, 1956; Richmond Lemons, 1985). The level of involvement in â€Å"any of the components of an institution’s academic and social systems can be a critical factor in students’ persistence decisions† (Pascarella Terenzini, 2005, p. 426). With increasing attention on first year retention, the focus on attrition issues during the second year of a student’s interactionRead MoreRelationship Between The Big Five Personality Traits And Academic Motivation1136 Words   |  5 PagesPersonality Traits and Academic Motivation 13366876 School of Psychology Bond University THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY 2 The Relationship Between the Big Five Personality Traits and Academic Motivation: A Review of Personality and Individual Differences In this article, much is explained about the different learning styles, ways of achievement, and thinking patterns each individual has, but the main focus of it is on the academic motivation of the individual in predictingRead MoreSignificance of the Study: Predictive Power of High School GPA and Admission Test Scores on College Academic Performance 1026 Words   |  5 Pagesthis study can be valuable in three ways. First, they may guide admissions personnel and decision makers at the ministry of higher education and scientific research in identifying whether high school GPA and admission test scores help in predicting academic performance of students attending higher education institutions. This study might also help them in the development of future admission plans and student retention programs at Yemeni universities and colleges, resulting in changing the admissionsRead MoreImpact Of Student Motivation And Student Engagement1520 Words   |  7 PagesStudent Motivation and Stud ent Engagement According to Legault and Green-Demers (2006), one of the most salient academic problems beleaguering today’s students is a lack of motivation toward learning. While education is compulsory, and educators work diligently to create and implement academically appropriate lessons, students, year after year, lack the desire and motivation to participate in academic tasks required to prepare them for the 21st-century world. The lack of student motivation can leadRead MoreSelf Concept And Academic Success1657 Words   |  7 PagesOne of the most persistent and puzzling questions today is the one confronting parents and teachers which deals with the debate over uneven academic achievement among equally able and qualified students. The topic of self-concept and academic success is one that has been studied by many well-known phycologists across the world and leads to many different hypothesis and theories on the subjects influence. Once there is solid understanding of one’s self-concept can he or she essentially write theirRead MoreStudy Habits Are A Vital Predictor For Academic Performance1041 Words   |  5 Pages Study habits are a vital predictor for academic performance in students. Study habits are defined as a student’s pre-examination actions to improve learning and performance. Some constructive habits include: reading and taking notes, preparing for examinations prior to the week of the examination, choosing the best fit environment, having a positive attitude, and an underlying motivation. Research studies have shown that personality has an influence on study skills (Crede Kuncel, 2016). Study