A Definition of Environmental Science

A Definition of Environmental Science Environmental science is the study of the interactions between the physical, chemical, and biological components of nature. As such, it is a multidisciplinary science: it involves a number of disciplines like geology, hydrology, soil sciences, plant physiology, and ecology. Environmental scientists may have training in more than one discipline; for example, a geochemist has expertise in both geology and chemistry. Most often, the multidisciplinary nature of environmental scientists’ work comes from collaborations they foster with other scientists from complementary research fields. A Problem-Solving Science Environmental scientists rarely just study natural systems, but instead usually work towards solving problems stemming from our interactions with the environment. Normally the basic approach taken by environmental scientists first involves using data to detect a problem and evaluate its extent. Solutions to the issue are then designed and implemented. Finally, monitoring is done to determine whether the problem was fixed. Some examples of the types of projects environmental scientists may be involved with include: Coordinating cleanup efforts at an abandoned oil refinery labeled as a Superfund site, determining the extent of the pollution problem and putting together a restoration plan.Forecasting the effects of global climate change and sea level rise on a coastal bay system, and assisting with finding solutions to limit damages on coastal wetlands, shoreline property, and public infrastructure.Consulting with a construction team to help them with minimizing sediment pollution coming from the site of a future grocery store.Assisting the managers of a state government’s fleet of vehicles with taking steps to reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.Designing a restoration plan to bring acreage of oak savanna in the proper ecological state to host the endangered Karner blue butterfly and its host plant, the blue lupine. A Quantitative Science To evaluate the condition of a field site, the health of an animal population, or the quality of a stream most scientific approaches require extensive data collection. That data then needs to be summarized with a suite of descriptive statistics, then used to verify if a particular hypothesis is supported or not. This type of hypothesis testing requires complex statistical tools. Trained statisticians are often part of large research teams to assist with complicated statistical models. Other types of models are often used by environmental scientists. For example, hydrological models help understand groundwater flow and the spread of spilled pollutants, and spatial models implemented in a geographical information system (GIS) will help track deforestation and habitat fragmentation in remote areas. An Education in Environmental Science Whether it is a Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Bachelor of Science (BS), a university degree in environmental science can lead to a wide range of professional roles. Classes typically include earth science and biology courses, statistics, and core courses teaching sampling and analytical techniques specific to the environmental field. Students generally complete outdoor sampling exercises as well as inside laboratory work. Elective courses are usually available to provide students with the appropriate context surrounding environmental issues, including politics, economics, social sciences, and history. Adequate university preparation for a career in environmental science can also take different paths. For example, a degree in chemistry, geology, or biology can provide a solid educational basis, followed by graduate studies in environmental science. Good grades in the basic sciences, some experience as an intern or summer technician, and positive letters of recommendation should allow motivated students to get into a Master’s program. Environmental Science as a Career Environmental science is practiced by people in a wide variety of sub-fields. Engineering firms employ environmental scientists to evaluate the condition of future project sites. Consulting companies can assist with remediation, a process where previously polluted soil or groundwater is cleaned up and restored to acceptable conditions. In industrial settings, environmental engineers use science to find solutions to limit the amount of polluting emissions and effluents. There are state and federal employees who monitor air, water, and soil quality to preserve human health. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts an 11% growth in environmental science positions between the years 2016 and 2026. The median salary was $69,400 in 2017.

The Best Way to Read the Passage in SAT Reading

The Best Way to Read the Passage in SAT Reading SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips The SAT Reading section presents you withchallenging tasks. Not only will you have to sustain your focus over a long 65-minute section, but you’ll also have to search activelyfor evidence in each passage to back up your answers. The testmay be time intensive and full oftricky â€Å"distractor† answers, but you can learn to avoid the common pitfalls with the right approach. This guide will discuss the best strategies for reading the passages effectively and achieving a high score on the new SAT Reading. To start, let’s go over what the redesigned passages are going to look like on your test. Types of Reading Passages On the SAT Since the 2016 SAT (out of 1600 points) was rolled out, every SAT reading test featuresfour individual passages and one pair of passages. One of these passages comes from US and World Literature, two come from History and Social Studies, and two deal with Science.In total, each passage (or set of paired passages combined) will contain about 500 to 750 words. One or more of them will feature a graph, table, or chart. You’ll be tasked with answering a total of 52 Reading questions.You’ll complete the Reading section all at one time in one 65-minute section- the first section you'll do on the SAT. There are a few strategies you can use when readingthe passages. Before delving into these reading strategies, let’s review the types of Reading questions you’ll encounter. Types of Reading Questions On the SAT The new SAT asks reading comprehension questions about main points, details, inferences, vocabulary in context, function, author technique,evidence support, and data analysis from a graph, table, or chart. The new SAT is primarilyconcerned with howyou connectevidence to your answersand deconstruct logic and arguments. By keeping this emphasis in mind, you can keep an eye out for relevant details and meaningas you read through the passages. These are the main ways that College Board will test your reading comprehension skills: Big Picture / Main Point: What is the overall purpose of the passage? Is it describing an issue or event? Is it trying to review, prove, contradict, or hypothesize? Little Picture / Detail: Detail questions will usually refer you to a specific line within the passage. They might ask what a sentence means or how it functions within the overall passage. Inference: These questions ask you to interpret the meaning of a line or two in the passage. Don't worry, they won't be too vague or open to interpretation, as there can only be one absolutely correct answer. Vocabulary in Context: These questions usually also refer you to a specific line and ask how a word functions within a sentence. These words are often not too advanced; instead, they're often common words that may have an unusual meaning based on context. Function: These questions often ask what a phrase, sentence, or paragraph is accomplishing within the context of the whole passage. This links to your understanding of the big picture / main point. Author Technique: What's the author's tone, style, or other technique in this passage? Paired passage questions often ask you to compare and contrast author techniques or opinions. Evidence Support: These questions ask you to choose a line or series of lines that provide the best evidence to your answer to a previous question.Therefore, an evidence question could refer back to any of the question types mentioned above, with the exception of vocab-in-context. These evidence support questions often take the form, â€Å"Which choice provides the best evidence to the previous question?† While these questions can help you check your thinking, they may also contain a trap; if you answered wrong to the previous question, you'll probably find that the mistake in your thinking hasa corresponding answer in the evidence question. Data Analysis: These questions are entirely new and refer to graphs and charts. They may ask something like, â€Å"Which claim about traffic congestion is supported by the graph?† The hardest ones may combine with an inference question, like, â€Å""The author is least likely to support which interpretation of the data in this figure?† Understanding the types of passages and questions will begin to improve your understanding of the Reading section and how you approach each passage. As you take SAT practice tests, keep a critical eye on how each question fits into one or more of the above categories.Now let's look specifically at what steps you should take when reading through the passages to maximize your comprehension and take control of your time management. One step at a time... How to Read the Passages Some students jump into reading, others read the questions first, and still others swear by a â€Å"back and forth† method. In our view, the five steps described below represent a tried and true approach that works for most students. It uses effective methods to understand the important points of the passage before you even read it, and it helps you save time digesting the passage. With five passages to read and 52 questions to answer in only 65 minutes, time is of the essence. Read over these steps, give this approach a try, and see if it helps you preserve your focus and work efficiently as you prep for the SAT Reading. Step 1 A good standard approach is to glance over the corresponding questions before you begin to read the first passage. This way, you'll have a sense of what you're looking for and where to focus your attention. Even though the passage may be a fascinating description of space mining or Japanese marriage customs, deep reading is not your goal here- answering the questions correctly and efficiently is. You can always learn more about a topic after the SAT. For now, you want to laser your focus onto the tasks at hand. As you read the questions, you can circle the Big Picture / Main Point questions right off the bat. You can leave these for the end, as in this example from College Board'sSAT Practice Test 1: Here,the main purpose question comes first. You can choose to answer it last, though, once you have a strong understanding of the passage. As for the specific line questions, you can make a mark on the lines referenced and pay special attention to them when reading. All of this marking and prioritizingis not to suggest that you won't be quickly reading the whole passage; instead, it's a way to know what you're looking for before you start. Again, this is an approach that saves time for most students, but you should also feel free to use the method that works best for you. Step 2 Quickly read the information blurb that comes at the very beginning of the passage. This shouldhelp you situate the passage in context. When is the author writing, for instance? Is she an author of fiction, a scientist, or a historian? Having this context at the beginning may help you begin to have an understanding of the tone, style, and purpose of the passage. This passage is from the dads of DNA themselves! Things are about to get science-y! Step 3 Now, go ahead and read the passage. You should read quickly, even skimming for important features. These include the last line of the introduction (usually the thesis of the passage), opening sentences of paragraphs, and the conclusion. Also, look out for transitional words and phrases, like however, additionally, and despite,that might mark a shift in or continuation of ideas. This approach will be much more helpful and time-saving than trying to understand each and every word. Another consideration as you read is your own mindset. You probably know that being interested in a subject helps you pick it up faster. You may think you can't help what you're interested in, but actually, you have a great deal of control over your mindset. If you try to approach the passages beingreally interested in, even fascinated by, the topic at hand, then you'll be able to speed up your reading and improve your retention. You might be skeptical, but the SAT actually can have some pretty intriguing, random information, and they have such a great range you're likely to be interested in some, if not all, of the passages. Step 4 On to answering the questions. Leave the ones you circled for the end. It can be helpful to predict your own answer before actually looking at the answer choices. They are designed and worded so that they all sound plausible, so they could distract you from your original understanding of the question. If your passage includes a chart or graph, then you'll have one or two data interpretation questions. You may be able to answer these even before skimming the passage, but in most cases it will be helpful to have context. Many of these questions don't ask for data analysis alone, but instead ask if the data supports a claim made in the text or if the author incorporated a data point to prove or refute an argument. These kinds of questions will call on you to find evidence in numbers as well as in prose, as in this tableand questionbased on the above mentioned passage by Watson and Crick: Notice how this question isn't straightforward data analysis. It goes one step further by asking a "little picture/detail" question about the authors' proposed pairing of bases in DNA. You'll have to locate info in both the passage and the table. As you work through the various passage and data-based questions, itcan be distracting to go back and forth between the test booklet and bubble sheet. It can be useful and save timeto answer the entire set of questions in your test booklet and then transfer all your answers to the bubble sheet in one chunk.But make sure you don't run out of time doing this, and be careful that your answers line up corrently on the bubblesheet! The detail questions shouldgo in chronological order with the passages, so the first detail question might refer to a line near the beginning of the passage and continue in order after that. They're not all mixed up in random order, but rather coincide with the flow of the passage. Step 5 Once you've answered the other questions, you can go back to the general purpose questions you circled. You should have your best sense of the passage at this point, after you've read it and answered other questions about it. Finally, you can go ahead and carefully transfer your answers to the bubble sheet. These 5 steps are an effective approach for most students reading and answering questions on the Critical Reading passages. If you've never tried this kind of reading strategy before, definitely try it out on your next practice test and see if your score improves. This is especially effective if you find that you keep running out of time! Let's discuss some other tips and strategies that are helpful to keep in mind. Be on the lookout for SAT "red herrings"! Tips and Strategies forCritical Reading Beyond practicing your reading efficiency, you can use some other strategies as you answer the questions and prep for this section. The age-old trick of process of elimination is alwayse useful. An unexpected preparation strategy is to practice answering ACT Science questions. Read on for a few more useful strategies that will help you do your best on SAT Reading. Want to learn more about the SAT but tired of reading blog articles? Then you'll love our free, SAT prep livestreams. Designed and led by PrepScholar SAT experts, these live video events are a great resource for students and parents looking to learn more about the SAT and SAT prep. Click on the button below to register for one of our livestreams today! Look to Eliminate Wrong Answers None of the answers will be glaringly wrong. In fact, they're worded in such a way that they'll often all seem plausible! This means you'll have to play interception on your own brain. It may be easily distracted by answers that seem sort of right, but you have to halt your distracted thought processin its steps. If you find yourself overly rationalizing or justifying an answer, it's probably not the correct one. There is only one 100% correct answer, and it won't cause you too much overthinking. Generally, wrong answers are too specific, too broad, describe a relationship in reverse order, or just present a totally unrelated concept. This article goes into further detail about how to eliminate wrong answers in order to land on the one 100% correct one. A good rule of thumb is to avoid extremes. Words like "never" or "always" are not usually present in the correct answer. But to follow my own advice, I should never say never! Another essential mindset, and one that the new SAT will ask to use explicitly, is one that looks for evidence. Back Up Your Answers With Evidence Don't just choose an answer that "feels" right- instead, make sure you can back up all your answers with evidence direct from the text. None of these questions require you to have any pre-existing knowledge of the topic. Instead, they're testing your reading comprehension. All your answers should be proven and supported by the passage. Even if the answer were to be factually inaccurate (don't worry, it won't be), the questions are still completely about the passage, not about knowledge you already have. This is an important point to remember for the SAT, which will use texts with which you may be familiar or that are especially relevant to history or contemporary life. To answer questions correctly, it's crucial that you turn off your personal biases or opinions and base your understanding completely on the text at hand. Luckily, the new evidence support questions will be a good reminder to keep referring back to the text for your responses. You’ll likely get two to three evidence support questions per passage that explicitly ask you to choose one or a few lines that prove your answer to a previous question. These help you check your thinking and ensure that you have proof for an answer. Even if a question is not followed by an evidence support question, though, you should try to use this mindset of backing up your responses with evidence directly from the text. That way you know you’re basing your answer on the words on the page, rather than on your own assumptions. Practice Data Analysis with ACT Science Questions Those who consider themselves English buffs may not love the addition of charts, tables, and graphs in their SAT Reading questions. What's this data doing in a reading comprehension section, anyway? According to College Board, the inclusion of data analysis is part of itsattempt to connect the new SAT with what students are learning in the classroom and with real-world skills. You can actually sharpen your data interpretation skills by practicing with ACT Science questions. The ACT questions may call for more specialized scientific knowledge, but they still demand the same skills of interpretation as will the SAT Reading questions. By referring to charts and graphs for your answer and looking for evidence in data, you'll be better prepared for the data and evidence-based Reading questions on the SAT. Know Your Literary Terms and Techniques SAT Reading is primarily concerned with understanding function (of words, sentences, paragraphs) and argument. Therefore, most of your SAT reading practice should focus on deciphering the logic and structure of a piece. However, it's stilluseful to review the most common literary terms, like theme, style, tone, foreshadowing, and imagery, as well as some of themost common words to describe them.In addition to reviewing definitions, you should learn how to apply and find them in something you read.It's one thing to know that a tone can be somber, hopeful, or suspicious; it's another to determine the tone of a given passage. Test prep will help you get better and better at this, along with reading and analyzing as much as you can in and out of the classroom. Study Vocabulary As mentioned above, the vocabulary questions based on passages will not test your understanding of little-usedbig words.Instead of obscure vocab, Reading questionsmight ask aboutrelatively common words that are used in an unusual way within the context of the passage.This means you should practice interpreting meaning in context, along with understanding the denotations (definitions) and connotations (what words imply or suggest) of words. To give a simplistic example, note how the phrase, "Nice job," can have two very different connotations in these two contexts. "Nice job," Kathy snickered to her friends, after tripping you in the cafeteria. "Nice job!" Kathy said admiringly, as you showed her the bowl you made in ceramics. Understanding multiple-meaning words, as well as tone, is all aboutcontext. Given these steps and strategies,how can you strengthen your Reading skills? Practice, Practice, Practice The Reading section on the SAT is not always so closely aligned with your high school English classes, although the redesigned version is more connected than ever before with its emphasis on evidence-based reading. While your English classes may encourage you to be creative and support all kinds of interpretations, your SAT Reading questions will only have one absolutely correct answer, and that answer must be derived from and supported by the text itself. You can strengthen your ability to read and answer questions quickly with serious test prep, which will not only help your reading comprehension skills, but also your time management and pacing. Reading sources outside of class, like news articles from the New York Times, will also help you hone your skills of analyzing logic, deconstructing arguments, and determining author opinion and tone. If you're applying as a humanities or social sciences major, you especially want to make sure you score highly on the Reading section of the SAT. Take practice tests, identify your weaknesses,understand your mistakes, and practice often and effectivelyso you can score highly on Reading. With the right approach and sufficient test prep, youcould even achieve a perfectReading score. What's Next? Now that you know about the changes tothe Reading section, check out ourComplete Guide to the New SATto learnabout the rest of the redesigned test! Are you deciding between the new SAT and the ACT? You can readall about how the two tests compare to each other here, as well as learn about the changes taking place to theWriting section of the ACT. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points?We have the industry's leading SAT prep program. Built by Harvard grads and SAT full scorers, the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics, then customizes your prep program to you so you get the most effective prep possible. Check out our 5-day free trial today:

A life of the Senses Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

A life of the Senses - Research Paper Example This research will begin with the statement that throughout history, technology has had indelible impact on the lives of the people and through it; several changes in the way we do things have been realized. For instance, communication has been made possible such that we are able to communicate to those in far-flung areas without necessarily transiting to those places. Away from communication, technology has also enable us to produce goods in a more efficient and faster rate than before, with the increase in the world population, there is high demand for the products, without technology, it would be difficult to satisfy the requirement of the all people without an efficient mechanism through which production can be hastened. It is also important to note that technology has also enabled us acquire knowledge with ease, for instance, the use of Google enables us to get information at the click of the button. These are the benefits that technology as brought to our doorsteps to make life bearable and possible for us, to enable us run errands with ease and communicate issues in a timely manner. Notwithstanding, whereas there are technological advancement that has made our lives easier, there are also some bad effect that technology has brought to us, it is not that advantageous per se. For instance, in his book A life of the Senses, Richard Louv categorically proposed that Google is making us not enjoy nature in the sense that it has created a culture that do not appreciate the value of reading. Most of the people today cannot sustain reading hard copy academic materials for just one hour. This is attributed to the technological advancement that has brought Google, through this mode of getting information, it has been realized that the culture of reading has been fading with time and most of the people no longer considers reading books to be a way of sourcing information. In this doing, to find student reading hard copy materials has become rare, as most of the yout hs prefer technology to enable them get information in a click of a button. The natural reading environment has been pushed to the periphery and no more book are there to read (Goodbody 66). In the contemporary United States, young people have been so engraved in the technology that they have been deflected from getting in touch with nature. The technological advancements experienced in the US are rapidly depriving the young people from enjoying the provision of nature since most of the things they are doing are technology based. There is a strong fear that teenagers in the United States soon will be completely be disconnected from nature if they continue to rely on technology as they do today. In this paper, I have examined the different ways in which technology is affecting the extent through which young people should enjoy nature (Negrotti 43). Overreliance on technological provisions is making the young people to miss associating with nature and there is need that they balance t heir relation between nature and technology. Young people in the US have been deprived nature in the following ways through their skewed interest in the technology used. Using technology, most of the natural things have been enabled in the technology through animations, young people then use this animated or simulated programs to satisfy their quest for the natural system. The use of technology has thus made the youths to lose a lot of natural real time experience of the world by engaging in technology. Take for example tourism, before the onset of technology, there was need for tourism activities where people would go out to have fun in the natural environment, to appreciate the diversity of flora and fauna but with the onset of technology, young people have grown lazier and have no time to visit even parks to see wild animals. Instead, they opt for the movie series to enjoy the natural world as captured and availed in the movies. There are several computer games that has made it p ossible for the young people

Adding customer value to your financial organisation for competitive Essay

Adding customer value to your financial organisation for competitive advantage - Essay Example These perceptions extensively influence their decisions on their interests to purchase from, work with, and market or support these companies. In the present competitive market and unpredictable economic environment, customer value may be an organization’s greatest asset – an aspect that makes a company to survive and beat their competitors in the market. Therefore, effective customer value is crucial to aid the company manage its public image by communicating and establishing strong relationships with other companies and stakeholders. This paper will investigate how Deutsche financial company in Australia can add customer value and importance of customer value in maintaining the competitive advantage of an organization. Additionally, it will investigate different ways of enhancing customer value to enhance the profitability of an enterprise. Background Customer value is an effective concept of marketing and business that aims at analyzing the customer satisfaction from the products and services provided. Customer value attempts to analyze the tendency that clients will turn out to be a permanent customer offering an ongoing organizational business. Our organization analyzes the value of customers to strengthen the customer base, investigate performance of product and effectively market products. The value of customer is a crucial means in which the board has always wanted to attain satisfaction of customer. The competitive nature of the business and government policy is an external issue that brings the issue before the board to increase the repeated purchase and increase the competitive advantage of the organization. Satisfaction of customers has been the main aim of the organization because of market saturation (Barnes, Blake and Pinder, 2009, p. 37). The board agrees that growth is mainly possible through market share attainment, from rivals. In addition, when clients perceive the value of customer to be extensive, they always share the experi ence and spread the public image of the organization via a word of mouth, leading to increased sales. The value of customer has occurred since the business world inception and customer loyalty is significant factor of business in various industries. Various 1990s studies have revealed that organizations can utilize value of customer to enhance the margin of business. Similarly, applied market literature suggests increased expectations for strategies of building loyalty. The theory of expectations-confirmation of satisfaction of customer suggests that satisfaction of customer about a service and product is centered on the expectations of the clients for such products, together with the expected product performance. The value of customer exploration tries to measure clients’ satisfaction; methods entail investigations about satisfaction or customer disconfirmation. Disconfirmation happens when expectations of customer differ from the possible satisfaction that products can offe r. Negative disconfirmation suggests that services do not satisfy the expectation of the customers, while positive disconfirmation indicates customer expectations are met. Discussion Financial services is an increasingly developing worldwide industry and entails various products and services types such as those related to insurance, management of funds, banking, trading of securities and superannuation. Irrespective of the form of market, marketing role has a crucial popular significant theme – that is to create critical value of customer which is more effective over the available alternatives whereas at the same time establishing organizational value. Marketing

Criminal Organization Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Criminal Organization - Research Paper Example MS-13 was formed in 1980s on the streets of Los Angeles’ Rampart and Pico-Union barrios by immigrants running away from civil war in El Salvador. Initially, MS-13 referred to itself as the Mara Salvatrucha Stoners2. It stressed partying and friendship, and the members defended each other from Hispanic bunch of criminals that intimidated them. MS-13 has evolved into a latent, atrocious, transnational criminal organization right from its foundation as a turf-oriented street gang. MS-13 had its origin in the barrios of 1980s Los Angeles (LA). It was started with an objective of providing its members with a means of negotiating economic adversity, victimization and social isolation by other gangs just like any other LA gangs. Gangs advance an alternative, yet powerful individuality for individual associates in doing so, and usual provide entry into wider criminal activities3. MS-13, translated slackly as street-smart Salvadoran group, appeared as a means for Salvadoran immigrants to unite together against exploitation by the then dominant 18th Street gang. The Mara Salvatrucha Stoners evolved into Mara Salvatrucha 13 when it became a section of the constellation of Sureà ±os- gangs in the red fealty to the Mexican mafia prison gang referred to as La Eme. The 13 refers to the letter M (Eme) the 13th letter of the alphabet, not 13th street as is usually incorrectly stipulated. Since it was formed, the gang known as ms-13 has been evolving from a territorial gang to a more sophisticated gang that is working in the disguise of development activities, like influencing on good grounds and creating opportunities. Instead, the gang that was formed with positive intension has turned out to be a gang of thugs. They have been divided in order of ranks. Members of this gang assume that the gang is brought together by peaceful links and co-existence amongst themselves4. Hence, it is assumed that members from Los Angeles and San

Impact of Audit Quality of Real Earnings Management

Impact of Audit Quality of Real Earnings Management Abstract This study aims to evaluate the influence of audit quality (auditor size and auditor tenure), political connection, and institutional ownership toward real earnings management. Purposive sampling was conducted and 83 manufacturing companies registered in Indonesian Stock Exchange during 2010-2014 were acquired as the samples. For testing the hypotheses, panel data regression random effect model was used. The results showed that auditor size and institutional ownership had positive influence toward real earnings management, while audit tenure and political connections did not influence real earnings management. The control variable testing showed that   leverage and loss had negative influence toward real earnings management, while cash ratio had positive effect towards real earnings management. These result have implication for the investors to pay attention to operating cash flow average, because there is still a possibility of real earnings management, although the company audito rs were from the big-4 auditors. Keywords: real earnings management, audit quality, auditor size, audit tenure, political connections, institutional ownership.. INTRODUCTION Managers can apply accrual earnings management and real earnings management to achieve the desired profit (Fisher and Rosenzwig, 1995; Roychowdhury, 2006). The real earnings management is impose bigger long-term costs, because it has negative consequences toward future cash flow which reduce firm value (Roychowdhury, 2006; Cohen et al., 2008; Cohen and Zarowin, 2010). Graham et al., (2005) and Cohen et al., (2007) clarify that the reasons why a company using real earnings management is to avoid auditors and regulators detection. The real earnings management is more difficult to detect because it is almost similar to a companys operational activity (Kim et al, 2010). Becker et al. (1998); Johnson et al.( 2002); Balsam et al.,(2003); Chen et al. (2011), and Inaam et al. (2012)   showed that audit quality (auditor size and auditor tenure) reduce accrual earnings management. Therefore, companies that want to conduct earnings management will shift from accrual earnings management to real earnings management (Chi et al., 2011). Auditor size positively affect real earnings management (Chi et al., 2011; Inaam et al., 2012). Meanwhile, Nihlati and Meiranto (2014) showed that the auditors size negatively impact real earnings management. Chi et al. (2010) found that auditor tenure had positive influence toward real earnings management. While Inaam et al.(2012), Herusetya and Pujilestari (2013) found that auditor tenure did not affect real earnings management. Inaam et al., (2012) conducted a research about the influence of audit quality toward the real earnings management in Tunisia and suggested that the future research can include political connection and institutional ownership as independent variables. Pollitically connected companies have bad reporting quality (Chaney et al., 2010). Meanwhile, Batta et al. (2014) found that political connection positively affect the reporting quality. The phenomena of pollitically connected companies in Indonesia is state-owned enterprises became disorganized after were interfered by political parties (Muqoddas, 2012). Indonesian Corruption Watch data showed that there were 48 legislators who were entrepreneurs that were exposed for corruption case (Gabrillin, 2014). Shleifer Vishny (1986); Bathala et al. (1994); Velury Jenkins (2006); Mehrani et al. (2016) showed that institutional ownership reduce accrual earnings management. The institutional investors monitoring toward managerial process and accounting information accuracy are stronger. For avoiding detection by the institutional investors, companies will shift from accrual earnings management to real earnings management. The aim of this research is to evaluate the influence of audit quality, political connection and institutional ownership toward real earnings management. This study contributes in adding political connection and institutional ownerships as independent variables, as suggested by Inaam et al. (2012). Up to now, studies about real earnings management in Indonesia are rarely conducted and, if any, they have not correlated political connection and institutional ownerships toward the real earnings management study yet, so this study will fill in that gap. As the structure of this paper, literature review and hypotheses development will be discussed on the next part. The research method will be discussed in the third section. This is followed by result and discussion and the final section concludes the study. LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES DEVELOPMENT Auditor Size and Real Earnings Management Earnings management can be applied through accrual and real activities (Roychowdhury, 2006; Zang, 2007; Cohen and Zarowin, 2010). The methods of real earnings managements are sale manipulation, overproduction, and reducing discretionary expenses (Roychowdhury, 2006). DeAngelo (1981), Becker et al. (1998) and Krisnan (2003) found that big size auditors   have better audit quality   than small auditors.   The Big-4 auditors is considered to be more competent than the non Big-4 auditors if seen from their education, training, and experience (Amijaya and Prastiwi, 2013), their independencies (Zou and Elder, 2003) and their good reputation (Christiani and Nugrahanti, 2014). Big-4 auditors competency will ease the earnings management detection. Therefore, companies tend to choose real earnings management, so it will be more difficult to be identified. Cohen and Zarowin (2010), Chi et al. (2011), Inaam et al. (2012) found out that auditor size positively influences real earnings manag ement. H1: Auditor size has positive influence toward real earnings management. Auditor tenure and Real Earnings Management Auditor tenure is the number of years of an auditor being assigned by a company (Myers et al., 2003). The longer engagement duration, the higher auditors knowledge about that company, so it ease in detecting earnings management (Giri, 2010). The company will shift from accrual earnings management to real earnings management so that it will not be detected easily. The real earnings management tends to be out of the auditors supervision (Chi et al., 2011) and it will be hard to detect because it is almost the same as companys daily operational activity (Kim et al., 2010). Cohen and Zarowin (2010) and Chi et al. (2011) found that auditor tenure has positive influence toward real earnings management. H2: Auditor tenure has positive influence toward real earnings management. Political Connection and Real Earnings Management A company can be called politically connected if the biggest shareholder (has minimum 10% of voting rights) or top officers serves as the parliamenterian, minister, or has close relation with a politician or political party (Faccio, 2006). A company which has political connection will get the benefit such as capital allocation (Fisman, 2001; Goldman et al.,2010), better business opportunities (Fisman, 2001), and bailouts from the government (Faccio et al., 2006). If a company is not able to maintain its reputation and profit, It will loose special previlege from political connection (Braam et al., 2015). For increasing their performance, the companies tend to perform real earnings management. Earnings management detection would lead decreasing in companys reputation, increasing in political cost and the companys external interventions (Watss and Zimerman, 1990; Faccio, 2006; Ramanna and Roychowdhury, 2010; Kothari, 2012). For avoiding that detection, the company will shift the accrual earnings management to real earnings management. Chaney et al.,   (2011) found out that politically connected companies tend to conduct earnings management. H3: Political connection has positive influence toward real earnings management. Institutional Ownership and Real Earnings Management Institutional investors generally have a big number of shares, so they carry out strict monitoring to the companies performance and   companies information quality (Velury and Jenkins, 2006; Pound, 1988; Shleifer and Vishny, 1986). Bushee (1998) and Potter (1992) found out that institutional investors were too focus on the short-term performance, so they force the managers to achieve that short-term profit. For improving their performance and for avoiding the detection from institutional investors , the managers will prefer real earnings management than accrual earnings management. H4: Institutional ownership has positive influence toward real earnings management. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Samples and Source of Data This study used the manufacturing companies listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange during 2010-2014 periods. The criteria for purposive sampling method are the companies published annual report sequentially during that periods and the annual reports were finished on the December 31st. There were 83 companies were selected as the samples, so there were 415 firm year observations. The annual reports acquired from the Indonesia Stock Exchange website. The political connection data were acquired from (1) annual report and tracing down the Board of Directors and Board of Commissioners biography from the sites in Google, (2) the Indonesian Republic National Portalwebsite (indonesia.go.id), the Indonesian Republic House of Representative website (www.dpr.go.id), and Tokoh Indonesia Indonesian Leaders (www.tokohindonesia.com). Variables Real Earnings Management (Dependent Variable) Abnormal Cash flow from operation will be used as proxy of real earnings management. When the companies apply real earnings management, the average of   CFO will be negative (Roychowdhury, 2006; Chi et al., 2011., Inaam et al., 2012 and Ratmono, 2010). CFOt= operating cash flow of company i in year t At-1= the total asset of company i in t-1 year St= the total sales of company i during year t ÃŽÂ µt= abnormal cash flow from operation (regression residual, real earnings management proxies, REM) Independent Variables Political connection, auditor size, auditor tenure and institutional ownership are the independent variables. Table 1: Independent Variables Measurement Independent Variables Measurement Political Connection ( Political connection variable will be measured by calculating the number of Board of Directors and Board of Commissioners, both the chiefs and the members who are also the House of Representative members, ministers or vice ministers, or related to prominent politicians and political party members (Braam et al., 2015) Auditor size (AUDSIZE) A Dummy variable, 1 if the firm was audited by a Big 4 auditor, 0 otherwise (Chi et al., 2011; Inaam et al., 2012.,Christiani and Nugrahanti, 2014). Auditor Tenure (TENURE) The number of engagement years or auditing period assigned in which the auditors from the same Public Accountant Firm conduct audit engagement to the auditee during 2010-2014 periods (Chi et al., 2011; Inaam et al., 2012) Institutional Ownership (INSTOWN) The percentage of shares owned by the institutional investors (Velury Jenkins, 2006; Mehrani et al., 2016; Wiranata and Nugrahanti.,2013) Control Variables Leverage, company loss and cash ratio were used as control variables in this study. Leverage/ LEV (the total debt/ the total asset) positively influence the REM (Herusetya and Pujiletari, 2013). The loss of the company is measured using a dummy variable, 1 if company has net loss and 0 otherwise (Herusetya and Pujilestari, 2013). One of the reasons why a company applies real earnings management is to cover up the company loss (Roychowdhury, 2006). Cash ratio (CCE) is the ratio of the cash and cash equivalents toward the total asset (Herusetya and Pujilestari, 2013). The higher CCE ratio, the faster companys cash flow, so it will ease the manager in utilizing the available cash to have earnings management (Herusetya and Pujilestari, 2013). Regression Model Panel data regression analysis was chosen to perform the hypotheses testing because this study used data combination of time series and data cross section (Winarno, 2015). Hypotheses H1, H2, H3, H4 and control variable in this study will be tested using empirical model as follows: RESULT AND DISCUSSION Descriptive Statistics Table 2 below showed descriptive statistics used in this study. Table 2 Descriptive Statistics (Pooled Sample, n= 415) Variable Mean Maximum Minimum Std .Deviation REM -0.006352 0.659900 -1.217470 0.188328 POLCN 0.245783 2 0 0.468655 AUDSIZE (dummy variable) 1 0 0.485552 TENURE 2.554217 5 1 1.381844 INSTOWN(%) 70.4841 100 0 19.61332 LEV 0.470906 4.189190 0.000265 0.321157 LOSS (dummy variable) 1 0 0.339475 CASH 0.102345 0.500295 0.000078 0.122287 From 415 firm years, 157 companies (37.8%) used the big-4 auditors and 258 companies (62.2%) used the Non-Big 4 auditors. Besides, there were 55 companies (13.3%) reported a loss. Real Earnings Management (REM) Testing Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was conducted to confirm whether REM are validly applied in the sample companies.   The result of this test are presented in appendix 1. If the average abnormal CFO was negative, the companies were assumed to apply REM in operating cash flow (Oktorina Hutagaol,2008). The Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Testing result showed that the mean of abnormal CFO was -0.006352 and its significance value was 0.046, so it was confirmed that those companies applied REM through operating cash flow. Panel data Model Testing Chow Test and Hausman Test for determining the appropriate estimation method were presented in appendix 2. Based on the Chow Test and Hausman Test results, the estimation method applied in this study was panel data regression using random effect model. Hypotheses Testing The results of hypotheses testing using panel data regression random effect model within 5% alpha level were presented in Table 3. Table 3 Hypotheses Testing Results Variable Expected sign Coefficient Probability Conclusion Intercept -0.077146 0.0997 AUDSIZE + 0.084373 0.0031*** H1 accepted TENURE + -0.008594 0.0968 H2 rejected POLCN + 0.001902 0.9380 H3 rejected INSTOWN + 0.001100 0.0372** H4 accepted LEV + -0.075769 0.0071*** LOSS + -0.067431 0.0083*** CASH + 0.268174 0.0043*** Dependent variable        Real earnings management (REM) R-squared                           0.119266 Adjusted R-squared 0.104118 F-statistic                           7.873503 Prob(F-statistic)              0.000000 **significant on alpha 5% ***significant on alpha 1% Auditor Size and Real Earnings Management The H1 testing shows that auditor size positively influence REM. This result is in line with Chi et al. (2010), Cohen and Zarowin (2010), Inaam et al. (2012), Nihlati and Meiranto (2014). The big-4 auditors are assumed to have better skills compared to non big-4 auditors, regarding from their educational backgrounds, trainings, and experiences (Amijaya and Prastiwi, 2013), their independencies (Zou and Elder, 2003) and their good reputation (Christiani and Nugrahanti, 2014).   The big-4skills will ease the auditors in detecting the accrual earnings management. Hence, companies will cover up the earnings management from the   auditors and prefer to apply real earnings management. Real earnings management is harder to be identified than accrual earnings management since it is almost the same as the companies daily operational activity (Kim et al., 2010, Graham et al., 2005; Gunny, 2010; Badertscher, 2011). Auditor tenure and Real Earnings Management The H2 testing result shows that auditor tenure did not had an effect toward REM. This result consistent with Inaam et al.(2012), Herusetya and Pujilestari (2013), Nihlati and Meiranto (2014). Gul et al. (2009) categorized the audit placement period into three categories, the short term (2-3 years), medium term (4-8 years), and long term (9 years).   Table 2 show that auditor tenure average is 2.5 years, and the short auditor tenure had not been able to influence real earnings management. By limiting auditor tenure, there will be a gap between the auditor and the company. In order to verify a company, auditors had to identify in advance the companies characteristics and managements, and it usually took quite a long time (Kono and Yuyetta, 2013). Amijaya and Prastiwi (2013) stated that why audit tenure did not have any influence toward earnings management was the auditors incapability in identifying earnings management. Political Connection and Real Earnings Management Based on Table 3, it can be seen that political connection did not had an effect toward REM. This result is in contrast with Braam et al. (2015). Political connection did not had an effect toward real earnings management because the numbers of political connections in the samples was few, which was 27.71% (23 out of 83 companies). There were only one person in board of directors and board of commissioners that were involved in political connection, so political connections did not influence real earnings management. Institutional Ownerships and Real Earnings Management The H4 testing result indicates that institutional ownerships positively influence REM. The institutional ownerships mean was 70.48%. Institutional investors who had a big number of shares will strictly monitor companys performance and companys information quality (Velury and Jenkins, 2006; Pound, 1988; Shleifer and Vishny, 1986). The strict monitoring made the companies that want to apply earnings management shift from accrual earnings management to real earnings management. Institutional investors were too focus on short term performance, so they urged the managers to fulfill that short term profit (Bushee,1998; Potter, 1992). For increasing their performance and for avoiding institutional investors detection, the managers would prefer real earnings management to accrual earnings management. Leverage, Company Loss, Cash Ratio and Real Earnings Management The testing results of control variables show that leverage negatively influenced REM. If a company has high levels of debts, it has to pay principal and high debt interest. The obligatory of those payments limit managers in using cash flow, including for real earnings management (Zamri et al.,2013).The company loss negatively influences REM. This finding is in line with Herusetya and Pujilestari (2013) and Roychowdhury (2006). When the company reported positive earnings, the company was assumed that they were covering up the loss through REM. If the company reported negative earnings, the company would be assumed that they did not apply REM, and the company was considered to not cover up the loss (Herusetya and Pujilestari, 2013). Cash ratio positively influence REM. The higher cash ratio, the better companys liquidity, so it would ease the managers in utilizing the provided cash for real earnings management (Herusetya and Pujilestari, 2013). CONCLUSION Although a study about audit quality and real earnings management has been conducted before, this study contributes in adding new independent variables, which are political connection and institutional ownerships. The testing results show that the auditor size and institutional ownerships can increase real earnings management. Meanwhile, audit tenure and political connection do not influence real earnings management. The testing toward control variables showed that leverage and company loss negatively influence real earnings management, while cash ratio had positive influence. The applied implication of these result is the investors need to see the operating cash flow average , because there is still a possibility of real earnings management, although the company auditors were from the big-4 auditors. The limitation of this study was a few number data of political connection although depth investigation had been carried out by looking at the name of legislative members/ ministers and vice ministers/ kinships to members of political parties. For the future study, the political connection criteria can be added by including the Indonesia National Forces retirees or ministry officials (for example the secretary general, directorate general, staff member of ministry, assistance of ministry). The future study may also add corporate governance mechanism as independent variables, such as managerial ownerships, auditing committee, and independent board of commissioners. REFERENCES Amijaya, M, D., Prastiwi, A., 2013. The impact of audit quality towards earnings management. Diponegoro Journal of Accounting 2 (3), 1-13. Ahsen, H., 2011. Audit firm industry specialization and audit outcomes: insights from academic literature. Research in Accounting Regulation 23 (1), 114-129. Badertscher, B.A., 2011. Overvaluation and choice of alternative earnings management  mechanisms. The Accounting Review 86 (5), 1491-1518. Balsam, S., Krishnan, J., Young, J., 2003. Auditor industry specialization and earnings quality. Auditing: A Journal of Practice Theory 22 (2), 71-97. Bathala, C. T., Moon, K. P.,   Rao, R.P., 1994. Managerial ownership, debt policy, and impact of institutional holdings: an agency perspective. Financial Management 23 (3), 38-50. Batta, G., Heredia, R., Weidenmier, M., 2014. Political connections and accounting quality under high expropriation risk. European Accounting Review 23 ( 4), 485-517. Becker, C., DeFond,M., Jiambalvo, J., Subramanyam, K.R., 1998. The effect of audit quality on earnings management. Contemporary Accounting Research 15 (1), 1-24. Braam, G., Monomita N., Weitzel, U., Lodh, S., 2015. Accrual-based and real earnings management and political connection. International Journal of Accounting 50 (2), 111-141. Challen, A. E., Siregar, S. V., 2011. The Effect of Audit Quality on Earnings Management and Firm Value, Working paper. Chaney, P.K., Faccio, M., and Parsley, D., 2010. The Quality of Accounting Information In Politically Connected Firms. http://paperas.ssrn.com, accessed 10.11.2016. Chen, H., Chen, J.Z., Lobo,G., Wang,Y., 2011. Effects of audit quality on earnings management and cost of equity capital: evidence from China. Contemporary Accounting Research 28 (3), 892-925 Chi, W., Ling L.L., Pevzner, M., 2011. Is enhanced audit quality associated with greater real earnings management? Accounting Horizon 25 (2), 315-335. Christiani, I., Nugrahanti, Y. W., 2014. The effect of audit quality towards real earnings management. Accounting and Finance Journal 16 (1), 52-62. Cohen, D., Dey, A., Lys, T.Z., 2008. Real and accrual based earnings management in the pre- and post sarbanes-oxley periods. The Accounting Review 83 (3), 757-787 Cohen, D., Zarowin, P., 2010. Accrual-based and real earnings management activities around seasoned equity offerings. Journal of Accounting and Economics 50 (1), 2-19. DeAngelo, L. E., 1981. Auditor size and audit quality. Journal of Accounting and Economics 3, 183-199. Faccio, M., 2006. Politically connected firms. American Economic Review 96 (1), 369-386. Fischer, M., Rosenzweig, K., 1995. Attitudes of students and accounting practitioners concerning the ethical acceptability of earnings management. Journal of Business Ethics 14 (6), 433-450. Fisman, R., 2001. Estimating the value of political connections. The American Economic Review 91 (4), 1095-1102. Gabrillin,A., 2014. Indonesia corruption watch: 48 legislators were exposed for corruption case. www.kompas.com accessed 10.12.2016 Graham, J., Harvey, Rajgopal, 2005. The economic implications of corporate financial reporting. Journal of Accounting and Economics 4 (1), 3-73. Giri, F. E., 2010. The effect of auditor tenure and auditor reputation towards audit quality. Proceding National Conference Symposium XIII, 1-26. Goldman, E., Rocholl, J., So, J., 2010. Political connection and the allocation of procurement contracts. Review of Finance 17, 1617-1648. Gul, F. A., Fung, S. Y. K., Jaggi, B., 2009. Earnings quality: some evidence on the role of auditor tenure and auditorss industry expertise. Journal of Accounting and Economics 47, 265-287. Gunny, K., 2010. The relation between earnings management using real activities manipulation and future performance: evidence from meeting earnings benchmarks. Contemporary Accounting Research 27(3), 855-888. Herusetya, A., Pujilestari, R., 2013. The impact of audit quality toward real earnings management- revenue recognition strategy. Accounting and Finance Journal 15 (2), 75-85. Inaam, Z., Khmoussi, H., Fatma, Z., 2012. Audit quality and earnings management in the tunisian Context. International Journal of Accounting and Financial Reporting 2(2), 17-33. Jensen, M.C., Meckling, W.H., 1976. Theory of the firm: managerial behavior, agency cost and ownership structure. Journal of Financial Economics3 (4), 305-360. Johnson, V., Khurana, A., Reynolds, K., 2002. Audit-firm tenure and the quality of financial reports. Contemporary Accounting Research 19 (4), 637-660. Kim, B. H., Ling, L., Pevzner, M., 2010. Debt covenant slack and real earnings management. Working Paper. Kono, F.D.P., Yuyeta, E.N., 2013. The impact of fre cash flow, auditor size, auditor specialization, auditor tenure and auditor indepency toward earnings management. Diponegoro Journal of Accounting 2 (3), 2337-3806. Kothari, S.P., Mizik, N., Roychowdhury, S., 2012. Managing for the moment: the role of  real activity versus accruals earnings management in SEO valuation. Working paper. Krishnan, G., 2003. Audit quality and the pricing of discretionary accruals. Auditing: A Journal of Practice Theory 22(1), 109-126. Mehrani, S., Moradi,M., Eskandar, H., 2016. Institutional ownership type and earnings quality: evidence from iran. Emerging Markets Finance Trade 53, 54-73. Muqoddas, B., 2012. State-owned enterprises in Indonesia became disorganized after were interfered by people from political parties. Tempo.co accessed 10.12..16. Myers, J., Myers, L., Omer,T., 2003. Exploring the term of the auditor-client relationship and the quality of earnings. The Accounting Review 78 (3), 779-799. Nihlati, H., Meiranto, W., 2014. The effect of audit quality towards earnings management. Diponegoro Journal of Accounting 3 (3), 1-10. Oktorina, M., Hutagaol, Y., 2008. Operating cash flow analysis for detecting real earnings management and this impact toward market performance. Proceding National Accounting Symposium XI, 1-28. Pound, J., 1988. Proxy contests and the efficiency of shareholder oversight. Journal of Financial Economics 20, 237-265. Ramanna,K., Roychowdhury, S., 2010. Elections and discretionary accruals: evidence from 2004. Journal of Accounting Research 48 (2), 445-475. Ratmono, D., 2010. Acrual and Real Earnings Management: can qualified auditor d

The Effects Of Wearing School Uniforms :: essays research papers

The Effects of Wearing Uniforms in Public Schools Uniforms in public schools are becoming accepted throughout the world. The public school systems would benefit significantly if this policy were to be accepted. Wearing uniforms in public schools result in positive effects. A dress code enforces discipline toward learning by changing a person’s attitude toward success. Students generally act the way they are dressed. With fewer fashion distractions, school will be seen as a priority for teaching and learning rather than trend competitions. This alteration leads to modification in grades because it’s much easier to focus when everyone is dressed alike. Furthermore, a student’s attendance also improves; with the relief of picking out a new outfit every morning. Schools requiring uniforms will experience reduction in violence. Without the pressure of competing with different styles, students are more relaxed in school. They will feel equal and at peace, leading to disappearing thoughts of violence. Obligated uniforms will reduce the weapon dilemma considerably. They will be harder to conceal with all students dressed the identically, therefore fewer will be brought to school. Parents are also impacted when schools require uniforms. Some argue that this policy is too expensive; uniforms are actually more affordable. For example, an average parent of a teen that attends a public school spends over $500.00 a year on clothes alone, while a parent of a teen with a uniform policy spends less then $200.00 a year. There are fewer clothes to purchase, therefore less money to spend.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Uniforms provide students with school uniqueness. Students will stand out in field trips and other school activities feeling a sense of belonging. A bond will then form and unite more students together.

Mainstreaming: Special Education and Regular Classroom Essay

Mainstreaming is an important issue and realism that has a direct impact on all parties involved, including educators, students and parents. Mainstreaming is a matter that has become very controversial and therefore it requires important awareness and understanding from all peoples involved. One essential way of gaining this understanding and awareness is by reviewing what mainstreaming really is, as well as the positive and negative aspects that may arise from it. Defining the Issue: Mainstreaming. Mainstreaming, now more commonly referred to as inclusion, is thought of as the integration of exceptional students into regular educational settings, in which emphasis is placed on participation rather than placement (Perry, Winne & Woolfolk, 2000 p. 136). A classroom that is mainstreamed, is one which includes many different types of learners; in other words, mainstreaming is a classroom that accommodates students with disabilities and those without, as well as those students who are thought of as being gifted with an IQ score of above average. Disabled children in a mainstreamed classroom may vary greatly in the types of disability they might have. For example, children may have one or more of the following disabilities: physical, behavioral, mental or learning disability. It is evident then, that a classroom that is mainstreamed will indeed present a number of challenges for the teacher, since he or she must accommodate to so many different needs of the students. The main purpose of mainstreaming is to â€Å"equally support and promote a typical classroom experience for all students† (Lyness, 2001, p.3). However, this does not exclude the usage of outside support services such as teachers’ assistance or resource rooms. Therefore, the basic idea of mainstreaming is for students to receive assistance, while also benefiting from a regular classroom atmosphere. Positive Viewpoints of Mainstreaming There are a number of interesting points that support the idea of mainstreaming. For example, in a mainstreamed classroom all special education students must have an Individual Education Program (IEP). An IEP is an â€Å"annually revised program detailing present achievement level, goals and strategies, drawn up by teachers, parents, specialist and if possible the student† (Perry, Winne, & Woolfolk, 2000, p. 138). The use of the IEP is geared to meet the needs of the special education student. This is an issue that should be further educated and explained to the parties involved, most importantly the parents, since most of them feel that their child may not be receiving the support that they need in order to perform adequately in a regular classroom. As mentioned previously, students in a mainstreamed classroom receive support services such as teachers’ aids and access to resource rooms. Resource rooms are generally equipped with materials that are designed to meet the needs of the special educational student. A student may spent as much time as they need in the resource room with a special education teacher in order to receive the extra help they need. Another point that supports the idea of manstreaming is the fact that it seems to be beneficial for all students, both disabled and non-disabled. For example, placing special education students in a regular classroom reduces the risk of the student as being labeled or stigmatized. This point stands out clearly in the statement by Perry, Winne & Woolfolk (2000) that Segregation away from the mainstream in special classes robs disabled students of the opportunity to learn to participate fully in society, robs non-disables students of the opportunity to develop understanding and acceptance of the disabled, and increases the likelihood that the individual will be stigmatized (p. 139). Also, a classroom that includes and involves different types of learners is one that will be more accepting of the differences present amongst the students. According to studies by Lyness (2001), research has shown that students without disabilities who are in a mainstreamed classroom accept and value the differences in their classmates, have enhanced self esteem, and a genuine capacity for friendship. It is important for students to respect the differences of their peers, which is what a mainstreamed classroom helps to accomplish. Negative Viewpoints of Mainstreaming Along with the good points of mainstreaming come a number of interesting points that do not support the idea of mainstreaming. For example, in a mainstreamed classroom a child may not feel a sense of belonging from other children. This may been displayed in the form of teasing or ridicule, in which the special education students self esteem is greatly affected. Feelings of inadequacy to keep up with non-disabled students may also arise amongst special education students. Perry, Winne & Woolfolk (2000), state that â€Å"disabled students can be just as socially isolated in a regular class as they would in a special education class, across the hall across the country† (p. 139). Another pessimistic viewpoint of mainstreaming is the great demand that is places on the teachers. With so few teachers available and the large amount of students in need of assistance, it is impossible for teachers to focus special attention on individual students with special educational needs. This creates a problem for both the teacher, whose job becomes absolutely over whelming and stressful, as well as the special education student who lacks the vital support and attention that he or she may need. Mainstreaming may also place pressure on special education students. For example, a special education student may feel that he or she may have to perform at the same level as his or her fellow classmates even though the disability they possess prevents them from doing so. Fracine McNamara states how â€Å"mainstreaming is very difficult for special needs children ?and it is hard enough for a regular education child to keep up with the curriculum and the world, it is even harder for a children with road blocks† (Pantazis, 2000, p. 11). My Opinion As this paper demonstrates, I also agree that there are positive and negative aspects that are associated with mainstreaming. I do agree that children should have individual programs that support their needs, as they would receive in a special education program; if these needs can be met within a regular classroom, all the better. I also believe that by placing special education students in a regular classroom, this can increase their motivation to perform well in school. Often, when children are placed in special education classrooms, they do not perform to the best of their ability because they are stigmatized into thinking they can not do better. I also believe another advantage of mainstreaming is the fact that special needs children may begin to model the positive behaviors of regular students  such as completion of homework, improved social skills and age appropriate behaviors. This is especially important for children with behavior problems, since they often may need a positive role model in order to perform to the best of their ability. I also believe that in some cases exceptional students are very good in non-academic areas such as sports, drawing and mainstreaming allows these students to share their skills with regular students. This, in turn, is beneficial for both parties. However, I also believe that in some cases mainstreaming is not the best option for all special needs children. Some children’s needs go far beyond what a regular classroom can offer. Self-contained programs are necessary for these types of children, programs that teach children skills that will be useful to the in the real world, and also prepare them for community living. These life skills may include personal hygiene, money managing, basic household chores and safety. Also, severely handicapped children need to be in contact with other students who share a common affliction. This is not likely to happen in a mainstreamed classroom since regular students outnumber special education students. By taking a closer look at the definition of mainstreaming as well as the positive and negative aspects associated with it, one can perhaps acquire better understanding and awareness of the issue. As this paper has demonstrated, there are both positive and negative viewpoints of mainstreaming, which in turn, cause large amounts of controversy. However, the most important issue, which must not be forgotten, is it is vital to help all students obtain the best education possible. References Lyness, D. (2001). http://www. kidsheath. org Pantazis, S. (2000). http://www. epinions. com Perry, N. , Winne, P. , Woolfolk, A. (2000). Educational Psychology. Scarborough: Allyn and Bacon Canada.

Egypt Essays

Egypt Essays Egypt Essay Egypt Essay Egypt and Mesopotamia Because of different geographic locations, different exposure to outside invasion and prior beliefs, two of the great civilization differed in many ways. Egypt emphasized strong a strong central authority while Mesopotamian politics shifted more frequently over a substructure of regional city-states. Mesopotamian art focused on less monumental structures, while embracing a pronounced literary element that Egypt art lacked. These cultural differences can be explained by geography: Mesopotamians lacked access to the great stones that the Egyptians could import for their monuments. The differences also owed something to politics, for Egyptians ability to organize masses of laborers followed its government structures and strong bureaucracy. The differences owed something, finally, to different beliefs, for the Mesopotamians lacked the Egyptian concern for preparations for the afterlife, which so motivated the great tombs and pyramids. Costumes and staging are one similarity; both films depicting splendour and extravagance. In the 1934 film huge pillars ¦distinctly shaped table legs..project an ambience of oriental splendour. Ibid Title 7 Chapter 2. ?   The 1963 production took extravagance to a whole new level ¦.nowhere is this opulence more evident than Cleopatraâ„ ¢s entry to Rome. Ibid,Title 7 Chapter 3. Romance was present in both films. In 1934, more significantly where the story represented Cleopatraâ„ ¢s destructive infatuation with..two great loves..and less as a queen and stateswoman. Ibid Title 7 Chapter 2. Furthermore, the 1934 production demonstrated Colberreâ„ ¢s ?   girly ditziness with a storyline reduced to a battle of the sexes It would appear ?   in this production that dealing with the mighty Rome is just a bit of lighthearted fun. Ibid, Title 7 Chapter 2 Romance is still a cornerstone of this (1963) production . Ibid, Title 7 Chapter 3. However,the ?   impression created a portrait of a shrewd stateswoman, Cleopatra is widely read..in natural sciences ¦speaks seven languages proficiently. Cleopatra probed the weaknesses of her opponents and whose opulent nature overwhelms resistance. Ibid,Title 7 Chapter 3. This was a film where the message was not just of romance. Current issues were reflected in both films. ?   In 30â„ ¢s the role in society of women changed: with voting, equal opportunities and pay. With divorce and pre-marital sex increasing, the Catholic Church took steps in policing the morals of the day â€Å" and Hollywood also had 1. No comments Join Now For Free

The Allele Frequency Research on the Use of Right Essay Example

The Allele Frequency Research on the Use of Right Essay Example The Allele Frequency Research on the Use of Right Essay The Allele Frequency Research on the Use of Right Essay An allele is a any of several forms of a gene, usually arising wrought mutation, that are responsible for hereditary variation. Our experiment was formed to study the allele frequency in a single trait caused by a single gene. We conducted a survey to review the phenotype population of people at Southwest CAT. The research was organized to find the allele and genotype frequency of people who use their right hand versus their left hand. The data showed that the dominant allele was more frequent than the recessive, and the genotype frequencies amongst the three were not equal. After studying the chi-squared tests, we have decided to reject he null hypothesis because there was a significant difference across the three genotypes. Introduction Alleles are stated by most dictionaries as one of two or more alternative forms of a gene that arise by mutation and are found at the same place on a chromosome. They are what makes you look and act like yourself and how your traits are formed. Your alleles are passed down to you by your parents, which in turn, were passed down from their parents, so on and so on. Common allele traits are blood type, eye color, hair color, hairline and skin color. There are dominant and recessive traits. The dominant trait is the trait that you inherit, while the recessive trait is the trait that is not inherited. For example, if you have blue eyes, and your father has blue eyes, you inherit his dominant blue eye trait. We decided to study handedness for this experiment due to the fact that its usually clear to observe. Our research team had to walk to different classrooms and politely ask if a subject was right or left-handed. Right-handedness is a dominant trait while left-handedness is recessive. These traits were represented with the letter H (capital H being dominant, lowercase h being successive) and were collected at SWAT from all four grade levels. In our hypothesis, we decided that there will be no significant difference in the allele frequency, because, due to natural selection, the dominant allele will naturally be more frequent. Method For this experiment, our hypothesis is that there would be many more right-handed people than left-handed people, and that there will be no significant difference found between the observed and expected allele frequencies of handedness. Our N population consisted of the students who attend Southwest Career and Technical Academy, which is 1,400 people. We walked around the campus and surveyed about 13% of the total population. Our sample population (n) came down to 186 students. We had about an equal number of students from each grade level. There were 46 freshmen and Juniors and then 47 sophomores and seniors. Our grand total was 186 students. For our procedure, two group members traveled to different classes and observed each student in the class if they are right or left-handed. If we couldnt determine handedness, we politely asked and continued collecting data. We used a chart that let us clearly see all of the data surveyed, and recorded the handedness of he subject, as well as the gender and grade level. A couple of us knew upperclassmen, so we sent out those people to go survey, since they would be more comfortable with the procedure. Of course, we asked permission to take a quick survey before recording any data. We thanked every class for their cooperation and then quickly moved onto the next group of people.

The Multivariate of family Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Multivariate of family - Essay Example Though some things are natural for people, Santorum restricts any variations, which may occur as the society develops, and expands its norms and traditions to adjust to the changing nature of human relations. Human beings develop certain connections and ties that help them function effectively with regard to their daily duties and responsibilities. I would say that society is built on the rules and norms, as well as freedoms and liberties. In this case, rules serve to restrict freedoms to the extent that prevents violence, reduces risk of anarchy, and regulates different types of relations, including those between family members, colleagues, officials, or laws enforcement units. â€Å"When liberals think about society, they see only â€Å"individuals† – not men and women and children† (Santorum 129). The fact that individuals act in a specific way, which does not differ greatly from what the society considers normal, it goes as something natural regardless of the gender, age, or social position. When individuals within the social framework need some retreat from the natural laws and it does not contradict the social norm greatly, it may serve on the same basis as eve rything that have been established for effective functioning of society. When individuals go to work and receive wages, this is treated as normal, whereas any deviation from this norm results in strikes and demonstrations of social protest. The same happens when people enjoy certain rights and freedoms on a daily basis, not wanting to refuse from those freedoms for the sake of natural vision. According to Santorum, the society that has other formula for the family than the one that is based on a heterosexual relations of a man and a woman, should be treated as â€Å"a false vision, because nature is nature, and the freedom to choose against the natural law is not really freedom at

Computer technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Computer technology - Essay Example Computer systems consist of both software and hardware. The hardware components are tangible components of the system: main memory, CPU, peripherals such as monitor, video display etc (Gookin 2006). Software part is the set of instructions that define what the actions of the computer hardware (Alagar and Peryasammy 2011). Typically a computer requires both the system software Minimum user requirements Fred, Barry and Jane need a Single PC for their gaming needs. Frankly, there are no many options for a PC with the minimum requirements they desire that can go for the price in their budget estimate of 350. For a gaming PC no existing integrated graphics acceleration cards can handle the processing requirements of the game. In this case a graphics processor that is dedicated will still be required. OS: Windows Vista or Windows 7 Processor: Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or Althon X2 2.7 GHz RAM: 2GB Graphic card: DirectX 10 or 11 compatible Nvidia or AMD ATI card, ATI Radeon 3870 or higher, Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT or higher. Graphics card memory: 512 MB Sound card: DirectX compatible sound card Hard drive: 15 GB for disc version or 10 GB for digital version Fig. 1 Complete desktop computer The retailer has the option of making a choice between several brands, manufacturers of computers; Dell, Hewlett Packard and IBM. In my assessment I would recommend a machine that is high performing with the functionality that can well fit the gaming requirements. Since the budget constraints the selections, the best option is to go for the components that are most important in supporting gaming requirements. The computer features most essential for a gaming machine are; processor, graphics card, internal memory and hard disk capacity. Compromising on other desired features such as sound will not harm the game and the advantage will be the cost cuts. Justification Quad-Core Processor Though lesser processors such as dual-core are cheaper and within the budget, the ability of a quad core to s upport a larger number of tasks at the same time is a must for serious gaming. This is a good processor will help the computers to run effectively. The processor is the brain of the computer and controls most of the work done by the PC. For gaming requirements, multimedia multitasking, for example video recording while browsing will give a more pleasant experience. Processors are generally defined by their speed - in megahertz (MHz) or in gigahertz (GHz) - and it relates to the number of operations they can perform per second. The higher the value, the faster the PC will perform and the more expensive it generally is. I will recommend the Quad-Core AMD Opteronâ„ ¢ Processor with Direct Connect Architecture are designed to deliver industry leading power efficiency, optimal virtualization, outstanding performance, and low TCO - all within a consistent footprint and thermal envelopes. Fig. 2 Central processing unit AMD Phenomâ„ ¢ X4 Quad-Core Processors is a true quad-core perfor mance for the way gaming multi-task today, and for the next-generation applications that will be needed in the near future. Stable commercial AMD Phenomâ„ ¢ X4 quad-core processors offer industry-leading platform stability and longevity, investment protection, and the exceptional performance you expect from AMD. In addition, the processor comes with unique features for energy efficiency ‘AMD’ (2011). Random Access Memory (RAM) The computers will need about 4 gigabytes of memory so that they can run