Research Aim And Objectives Of Risk Management Essay

Table of Contents Abstract: 2 Research aim and objectives: 3 Introduction: 4 Definition of risk management: 6 The target of risk management: 6 Types of risks: 7 Related to project team : 7 Related to the owner of the project : 8 Ways and Strategies of risk management: 9 9 Risk identification: 10 Qualitative risk analysis: 11 Risk ranking: 11 Risk mitigation: 12 Risk monitoring and follow up: 12 Abstract: No construction project is free from risk; the purpose of project risk management is to obtain better project outcomes, in terms of schedule, cost and operations performance by reducing risks and capturing opportunities. Risk management is the process of analysis, identification and responding to the project risk. All this process is interacting with each other to create a good strategy of managing and controlling risk in the construction projects. This paper aims to identifying the types of risk that may happen in the construction site in Egypt, managing them and finding a solution for them. Research aim and objectives: This aim of this research is to identify the main risk factors associated with construction industry in Egypt in the last six years analysing and mitigating them, the study defining risk, defining the main risk management targets, defining the types and categories of risk management investigate the risk management processes and methodologies applied to the research and the survey questionnaire survey to identifyShow MoreRelatedRisk Management For Construction Projects1095 Words   |  5 PagesThe overall aim of this study report is to let everyone know what risk management is, realize the procedure of risk management in construction project and have a deeper study on the application of risk management during construction period, therefore, a better project output and better value for both clients and constructors. 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Treetop Forest Products Ltd Free Essays

string(55) " which involves effectively obtaining and using money\." Marketing: In business, firm marketing generates the revenues that the financial people manage and the production people use in creating goods and services. The challenge that faces marketing is to generate those revenues by satisfying customers’ wants at a profit and in a socially responsible manner. However, marketing is not limited to business organizations. We will write a custom essay sample on Treetop Forest Products Ltd or any similar topic only for you Order Now Whenever we try to persuade somebody to do something: donate to RED CROSS, not to litter the highways, save energy, vote for candidate, we are engaging in marketing; thus marketing has a broad societal meaning and it is applicable not only for profit making but also for not profit organizations. Many scholars define marketing as follows: 1. According to American Marketing Association, marketing is defined as the performance of business activities that direct the flow of goods and services from producers to consumers or users. . According to William J. Stanton, Marketing is a system of business activities designed to plan, price, promote and distribute want satisfying goods and services to present and potential customers. 3. According to Evans and Berman, Marketing is the anticipation, stimulation, facilitation, regulation and satisfaction of consumer and public’s demand for products, services, organizations, people, places, and ideas through the exchange process. 4. According to Philip Kotler, Marketing is a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others. Generally, the definition of marketing can be grouped in to two: classical (narrow) definition and modern (broad) definition. Classical Definition: In classical terms marketing can be defined as the performance of business activities that direct the flow of goods and services from producers to consumers. This definition is too narrow to describe marketing. It emphasizes the distribution aspect of marketing. Modern Definition: In broader terms marketing is defined as a system of business activities designed to plan, price, distribute and promote want satisfying products (goods and services) to present and potential customers. In marketing, there are combinations of activities, which start before the creation of a product and don’t end until customers are satisfied. Therefore, product planning, pricing, distribution and promotion are the main activities performed in marketing. Marketing includes anticipating demand, which requires a firm to do customer research on a regular bases so that it develops and introduces products that are desired by consumers, Management of demand which consists of stimulation, facilitation, and regulation of tasks; and satisfaction of demand which involves actual performance, safety, availability of options, after sale service and other factors. From the above discussions, we can conclude the following about marketing: a. Marketing is the business activity concerned with the flow of goods and services from producers to consumers. . Marketing generates and facilitates exchange c. The concept of marketing lies on needs, wants, and demands of customers. d. Marketing is greater than selling. e. Marketing is an integrated activity. f. Marketing is concerned with customer satisfaction. MARKETING FUNCTIONS The following are the basic marketing functions: 1. Environmental Analysis and Marketing Research: Involves monitoring and adapting to external factors that affect success or failures, such as the economy and competition; and collecting data to resolve specific marketing issues. 2. Consumer Analysis: Involves examining and evaluating customer characteristics, needs, and purchase processes and selecting the group of consumers at which to aim marketing efforts. 3. Product Planning: ( including goods, services and ideas) Involves developing and maintaining products, product assortments, product images, brands, and packaging, and optional features; and deleting faltering products. 4. Distribution Planning: Involves establishing relations with distribution-channel intermediaries, physical distribution, inventory management, warehousing, transportation, the allocation of goods and services, wholesaling and retailing 5. Promotion Planning: Involves communicating with customers, the general public and others through some form of advertising, publicity, personal selling, and/or sales promotion. 6. Price Planning: Involves determining price levels and ranges, price techniques, terms of purchase, price adjustments, and the use of price as an active or passive factor. 7. Broadening the organizations’ /individuals’ scope: Involves deciding on the emphasis to place, as well as the approach to take, on international marketing, service/ -non-profit marketing and societal issues. 8. Marketing Management: Involves planning, implementation, and controlling the marketing program (strategy) and individual marketing functions; and appraising the risks and benefits in decision making. According to W. J. Stanton and McKarthy, there are eight economic activities in marketing that are broadly classified into three: 1. Exchange: -Buying -Selling 2. Physical Distribution – Transportation – Storage 3. Facilitating /Auxiliary/ – Financing – Marketing research and information – Risk bearing – Product standardization 1) Exchange: It is the process by which parties provide something of value to one another to satisfy the needs of each. The seller provides a needed product Goods Services Seller Buyer Money Credit The buyer offers something in return a) Buying: It is acquisition and procurement of goods for eventual resale or for production of other goods or rendering of services. b) Selling: It is not only just to make sales but also to find buyers, stimulate them, and provide advice and service to buyers. It involves advertisement, personal selling, customer service, publicity, etc. 2) Physical Distribution: Refers to handling and movement of goods from production area to market center. It consists of a) Storage: It provides proper handling and storage of goods until they are demanded and sold. b) Transportation: It is the shipment and movement of goods from their manufacturing place to the market center /place of sale/. It enables to make goods reachable to the consumers. 3) Facilitating Function /Auxiliary Function: these are functions that facilitate and assist the proper performance of other functions of marketing. It encompasses a) Financing: To carry out business operations smoothly, it requires finance or money. Marketing as a major business activity, leads us to the need for money or finance. Without it, organizations are unable to schedule their operations. The activity of financing involves the proper handling and management of the inflow and outflow of money. Accordingly, finance is defined as the management function, which involves effectively obtaining and using money. You read "Treetop Forest Products Ltd" in category "Essay examples" Sources of finance include revenue from sale of company products and services, rental of business properties, from sale of stock, or from loan and credit agencies. b) Market Research and information: Managers of businesses do not make decisions on the basis of common sense or intuition. They require information. Therefore, to make marketing decisions and to design effective marketing policies, managers should get information regarding tests, preferences, attitudes and needs of customers; position of competitors, capacity of suppliers and creditors. For the success of business, market research is an important activity that involves gathering, analyzing, and interpretation of data collected regarding the needs of consumers. c) Risk Bearing: Business organizations when they are established, it is with the objective of getting profit, expansion, growth, etc. Nevertheless, they fail to achieve their objectives because of uncertainty of the future. Hence, the chance or the possibility of loss that business face is known as RISK. d) Product standardization and Grading: These are facilitating functions that are used to identify the quantity and quality of production. When goods are standardized and graded neither the buyer nor the seller is required to check each and every part of the product. It saves the time of both buyers sellers. Standardization enables customers to know that there is always definite or standard quality in a particular package; and grading indicates that a package labeled with grades A, B, or C are always uniform and the same everywhere and ever time. The field of marketing is a crucial one for several reasons: it stimulates demand; a large number of people are employed on marketing positions; it supports entire industries such as advertising and marketing research; all people are consumers in some situations; it is necessary to use scarce resources efficiently; it impacts on people’s beliefs and life styles; and it influences the quality of our lives. The scope of marketing is quite broad and diversified. To perform the marketing functions, marketing Performers are required and they are organizations or individuals that undertake one or more marketing functions. They include manufacturers, service providers, wholesalers, retailers, marketing specialists, and organizational and final consumers. Each performer has a different role. One party usually does not perform all the functions. This is due to costs, assortment requirements, specialized abilities, company size, established methods of distribution, and consumer interests. TASKS OF MARKETING MANAGEMENT Marketing managers in different organizations might face any of the following states of demand. The marketing task is to manage demand effectively. The various states of demand and the corresponding marketing management task according to P. Kotler are the following: 1. Negative demand: This is a state in which all or the major parts of the society, dislikes the product and may even pay a price to avoid it. Examples are vaccination, alcoholic employees, dental work, and seat belts. The corresponding marketing task is to analyze why the market dislikes the product and whether product redesign, lower price, or more positive promotion can change the consumer attitudes. This marketing task or activity is known as CONVERSIONAL marketing which tries to change people’s want rather than serve their wants. . No demand: This is a case where target customers may be uninterested in or indifferent to a particular product. For example, farmers may not know about a new farming method; college students may not be interested in taking foreign language courses. Marketing managers are concerned with finding ways to connect the product’s benefits with the user’s needs and interests. This marketing task is known as STIMU LATIONAL marketing; it tries to stimulate a want for an object in people who initially have no knowledge or interest in the product 3. Latent demand: Consumers have a want that is not satisfied by any existing product or service. This state of demand where many customers share a strong need for something that does not exist in the form of actual product is called LATENT demand. Examples include the need for harmless cigarettes, more fuel-efficient cars, etc. In this case, marketing managers respond by trying and developing effective goods and services that will satisfy the demand through analysis and measurement of the potential market. The marketing task is called DEVELOPMENTAL marketing and its task is to measure the size of the potential market and trying to develop a new product or service that would satisfy the demand. 4. Falling demand: Sooner or later, every organization faces falling demand for one or more of its products. For example, churches have seen their membership decline, and private colleges have seen fewer applications. The marketer must find the causes of market decline and re-stimulate demand by finding new markets, changing product features, or creating more effective communication and the marketing task is REMARKETING. . Irregular demand: It is a state in which the timing pattern of demand is marked by seasonal and volatile fluctuations causing problems of idle capacity and overworked. For example museums are under-visited during weekdays and overworked during weekends. The corresponding marketing task is SYNCHROMARKETING, i. e. , to find ways to alter the time pattern of demand through flexibl e pricing, promotion and other incentives so that it will better match the time pattern of supply. 6. Full demand: The organization has just the amount of demand it wants and can handle. It is a state where the current level and timing of demand is equal to the desired level and timing of demand. The marketing task is MAINTENANCE marketing and is designed to maintain the current level of demand against changing consumer preferences. The organization maintains quality, and continually measures satisfaction to make sure it is doing a good job. 7. Overfull demand: It is a state in which demand is higher than the company can or wants to handle. The marketing task is called DEMARKETING and its task is finding ways to reduce the demand temporarily, or permanently. De-marketing involves such actions as raising prices and reducing promotion and service. It does not aim to destroy demand, but only to reduce it. It calls for using normal marketing tools in reverse. 8. Unwhole-Some demand: Unwholesome products such as cigarettes, alcohol, and hard drugs will attract organized effort to destroy the demand or interest in particular product or service. The corresponding marketing task is known as COUNTERMARKETING it is a difficult task in that the aim is to get people who like something to give it up. Marketing manager cope with these tasks by arrying out marketing research, planning, implementation and control. The demand levels and corresponding marketing tasks are summarized as follows: State of demand| Marketing task| Formal Name| 1. | Negative demand| Disabuse demand| Conversional marketing| 2. | No demand| Create demand| Stimulation Marketing| 3. | Latent demand| Develop demand| Developmental marketing| 4. | Falling demand| Revitalized demand| R emarketing marketing| 5. | Irregular demand| Synchronize demand| Synchro-marketing| 6. | Full demand| Maintain| Maintenance marketing| 7. Overfull demand| Reduce demand| Demarketing marketing| 8. | Unwholesome demand| Destroy demand| Counter marketing| 2. 3. MARKETING MANAGEMENT CONCEPTS We have described marketing management, as the conscious effort to achieve desired exchange outcomes with target markets. Now we ask what philosophy should guide these marketing efforts? What weights should be given to the interests of the organization, the customers and society? Very often these interests conflict. Clearly, marketing activities should be carried out under a clear philosophy of efficient, effective, and responsible marketing. There are five competing concepts under which organizations conduct their marketing activity. 1. The production concept: This concept holds that consumers will favor those products that are widely available and low in cost. Management of production oriented organization concentrates on achieving high production efficiently and wide distribution coverage. Organizations that appreciate this concept assume that consumers like products that are widely available and accessible at low cost. The production concept is one of the oldest concepts guiding sellers. The assumption that consumers are primarily interested in product availability and low price holds in at least two types of situations. The first is where the demand for a product exceeds supply as in many Third World countries. Here consumers are more interested in obtaining the product than in its fine points. The suppliers will concentrate on finding ways to increase production. The second situation is where the product’s cost is high and has to be brought down through increased productivity to expand the market. Texas instruments provides a contemporary example of the production concept: Texas Instruments is the leading American exponent of the â€Å"get-out production, cut the price† philosophy. Ford put all of his talent into perfecting the mass production of automobile to be down their instruments all of its efforts in building production volume and improving technology in order to bring down costs. It uses its lower costs to cut process and expand the market size. It strives to achieve the dominant position in its markets. To Texas Instruments, marketing primarily means one thing bringing down the price to buyers; this orientation has also been a key strategy of many Japanese companies. 2. The product concept: Under this concept, marketing managers assume that consumers will prefer those products that offer (provide) the most quality, performance, with good features. Managers in this product-oriented organizations focus their energy on making quality products and improving them over time. These managers assume that buyers admire well-made products and can select, purchase and appreciate product quality. Products oriented companies often design their product with little or no customer input. These managers are caught up in a love affair with their product and fail to appreciate that the market may be less â€Å"turned on. † They trust that their engineers will know how to design or improve the product. Too often they will not even examine competitors products because â€Å"they were not invented here. † A General Motors executive said years ago† â€Å"How can the public know what kind of car they want until they see what is available? † GM’s designers would develop plant for a new car. Then manufacturing would make it. Then the finance department would price it. Finally, marketing and sales would try to sell it. GM failed to ask customers what they wanted and never brought in the marketing people at the beginning to help figure out what kind of car would sell. The product concept leads to â€Å"marketing myopia† a focus on the product greater than on the customer’s need. Railroad management thought that users wanted trains rather than transportation and overlooked the growing challenge of the airlines, buses, trucks, and automobiles. Churches and the post office all assume that they are offering the public the right product and wonder why their sales falter. These organizations too often are looking into a mirror when they should be looking out the window. 3. The Selling concept: Under this philosophy/concept/, marketing managers assume that consumers purchase products if the organization undertakes an aggressive selling and promotion effort. Therefore, firms emphasize and direct their effort on promotion and selling of their products. Most firms practice the selling concept when they introduce new products and when they have over capacity. The selling concept holds that consumers, if left alone, will ordinarily not buy enough of the organization’s products. The organization must therefore undertake an aggressive selling effort. The concept assumes that consumers typically show buying inertia or resistance and have to be coaxed into buying, and that the company has available a whole battery of effective selling and promotion tools to stimulate more buying. The selling concept is practiced most aggressively with â€Å"unsought goods,† those goods that buyers normally do not think of buying such as insurance, encyclopedias, and funeral plots. These industries have perfected various sales techniques to locate prospects and hard sell them on product benefits. Most firms practice the selling concept when they have over capacity. Their aim is to sell what they make rather than make what the market wants. In modern industrial economies, productive capacity has been built up to a point where most markets are buyer markets (i. e. , the buyers are dominant), and sellers have to scramble hard for customers. Prospects are bombarded with television commercials, newspaper ads, direct mail, and sales calls. At every turn, someone is trying to sell something. As a result, the public identifies marketing with hard selling and advertising. 4. The Marketing Concept: The marketing concept is different from the above three concepts. Managers under this concept assumes that the key to achieving organizational goals is based on the determination of the needs and wants of consumers and delivering or providing the desired satisfaction more efficiently, and effectively, than competitors. When we compare the marketing concept with the selling concept, the selling concept focuses on the needs of the seller; the marketing concept focuses on the needs of the buyer. Selling concept focuses on the needs of the seller; marketing on the needs of the buyer. Selling is preoccupied with the seller’s need to convert his product into cash. Marketing is preoccupied with the idea of satisfying the customers’ needs of the product and the whole cluster of things associated by creating and delivering the product. The marketing concept rests on four main pillars, namely target market, customer needs, coordinated marketing, and profitability. These are shown in figure below – The selling concept Starting pointFocusMeans Ends FactoryProductsSelling ; Profits throughpromotion sales volume The marketing concept Starting point focus meansEnds Target market Customer CoordinatedProfits through Needs marketingCustomer Satisfaction Here we examine how each pillar of the marketing concept contributes to more marketing that is effective. i. TARGET MARKET: No company can operate in every market and satisfy every need. Nor can it even do a good job within one broad market. Companies do best when define their target market (s) carefully and prepare a tailored marketing program. An auto manufacture can think of designing passenger cars, station wagons, sports carts, and luxury. But this thinking is less precise than defining a customer target group. One Japanese carmaker is designing a car for the career woman, and it will have many features that male-dominated cars don’t have. Another Japanese carmaker is designing a car for the â€Å" town man,† the young person who needs to get about town and park easily. In each, the company has clarified a target market, and this will greatly influence the car design. Societal Marketing Concept: It holds that the organization should determine the needs, wants, and interests of the target markets and deliver the desired satisfaction more effectively and efficiently than competitors in a way that maintains or improves the customer’s and the ociety’s well-being. The societal marketing concept calls upon marketers to balance three considerations in setting their marketing policies. Originally, companies based their marketing decisions largely on short-run company profit. Overtime, companies began to recognize the long-run importance of satisfying consumer wants, and introduced the marketing concept. Now they are beginning to think of society’s interests when making decisions. The societal marketing concept calls for balancing all three considerations-company profits, consumer wants, and society’s interests. How to cite Treetop Forest Products Ltd, Essay examples

Motor Speech Disorders

Question: Discuss about theMotor Speech Disorders. Answer: Introduction The 48-year-old Putonghua speaking male had suffered a stroke almost two months ago which has resulted him into developing speech impairment. In order to provide treatment to the patient, a session plan has been drawn providing the treatment goals. The rationale of the goals has been discussed and the implementation approach. An evaluation method has also been suggested to find the effectiveness of the treatments. Diagnosis The client has been diagnosed with moderate spastic dysarthria. The condition was diagnosed at a phonatory, resonatory, prosodic and articulatory level. The client had symptoms of connected speech, hypernasality, imprecise articulation, reduced rate, short phrases, monopitch as well as monoloudness. The client has also been diagnosed with non-speech characteristics too, namely, pseudobulbar effect, spasticity of fingers at resting condition, reduced range and rate of finger movement. The damage to the pyramidal tract has led to the patient in developing spastic dysarthria (Clark et al., 2014). Dysarthria has been defined as a disorder involving speech, which results due to the CNS (Central Nervous System) or PNS (Peripheral Nervous System) from having received damage. The patient had reported to suffer a stroke 2 months ago and possibly might have damaged his CNS or PNS during then. Setting of Goals (Session Plan) As a part of the session plan for the first 30 minutes of the treatment session, the patient should be subjected to three treatment methods, which would help him to deal with his speech impairment issue. The three treatment goals that have been chosen to treat the patient are (Wu, Tan Wan, 2012): Phonetic Treatment Modification of Prosody Speech Therapy These goals has been designed to increase the efficiency of the patient in facilitating normal communication. Rationale for Treatment Phonetic Treatment has been suggested as one of the treatment goals because it will help the patient in having a normal communication with the help of verbal, visual as well as tactile cues, which is necessary for increasing functional speech (Lousada et al., 2013). Since the patient was diagnosed with spastic dysarthria at prosodic and phonetary level, the treatment meted at this level is important. Modification of Prosody has been suggested as one of the treatment goals because spastic dysarthria does not respond to behavioral treatment (Falk, Chan Shein, 2012). Therefore, augmentative communication based treatment will be used which would help in the induction of hypoadduction. Speech therapy has been suggested as one of the treatment goals as the patient has been diagnosed with hypernasality. He will require the therapy to increase the lateral pharyngeal wall based movement (Beijer et al., 2014). Treatment Methods Phonetic treatment method of treatment will be implemented on the patient where he will be taught to moderate the pitch of his speech to make it intelligible. Techniques such as contextual based utilization can be used where recognition methods of common words in relation to a connected speech will be taught. Therapies such as, distinctive feature based therapy and metaphon therapy can be applied to develop in the patient the elemental phonemes so that he may adapt to the idea of the property of sound. Prosody modification method of treatment will be implemented on the patient where he will be asked to practice head rolls and throat based breathing in order to reduce the stress on the supralaryngeal tension. The patient will also be taught to reduce stress on the vocal cord so that the fold adduction has been reduced. Contrastive as well as lexical based stress exercises will be taught to the patient in order to practice various intonations. Speech therapy method of treatment will be implemented on the patient where he will be taught techniques such as yawn technique, auditory feedback, visual feedback, manipulation of the tongue blade so that he can speak normally (Sakai Momosaki, 2016). He will be taught to use glottal stops and pharyngeal plosives, which will help him in pronouncing several words without any difficulty. Visual as well as tactile feedback will be used to teach the patient to use his words efficiently to form a sentence. Treatment Outcome Measurements In order to evaluate the treatment goals, the following steps can be adhered to. The patient will be subjected to speech based intelligibility tasks to determine how well the patient is being able to pronounce the words properly in order to evaluate the speech therapy. The patient will be made to repeat sentences to determine the pitch and clarity of the speech. The patient will be made to sustain the vowels in order to determine the phonation treatment. Conclusion The above-mentioned treatment goal will be helpful in treating the patient from his speech disorder. It is necessary for the patient to continue attending the sessions as long as it takes to facilitate normal communication. The patient must make an utmost effort to participate actively in the sessions to make swifter progress. References: Beijer, L. J., Rietveld, A. C. M., Ruiter, M. B., Geurts, A. C. H. (2014). Preparing an E-learning-based Speech Therapy (EST) efficacy study: Identifying suitable outcome measures to detect within-subject changes of speech intelligibility in dysarthric speakers.Clinical linguistics phonetics,28(12), 927-950. Clark, H. M., Duffy, J. R., Whitwell, J. L., Ahlskog, J. E., Sorenson, E. J., Josephs, K. A. (2014). Clinical and imaging characterization of progressive spastic dysarthria.European journal of neurology,21(3), 368-376. Falk, T. H., Chan, W. Y., Shein, F. (2012). Characterization of atypical vocal source excitation, temporal dynamics and prosody for objective measurement of dysarthric word intelligibility.Speech Communication,54(5), 622-631. Lousada, M., Jesus, L. M., Capelas, S., Margaa, C., Simes, D., Valente, A., ... Joffe, V. L. (2013). Phonological and articulation treatment approaches in Portuguese children with speech and language impairments: a randomized controlled intervention study.International Journal of Language Communication Disorders,48(2), 172-187. Sakai, K., Momosaki, R. (2016). Real-world Effectiveness of Speech Therapy Time on Cognitive Recovery in Older Patients with Acute Stroke.Progress in Rehabilitation Medicine,1, 20160004. Wu, H. K., Tan, F., Wan, S. Y. (2012). The curative effect of early intervention of electro-acupuncture combined with functional electric stimulation on the treatment of spastic dysarthria in acute cerebral infarction patients.Chinese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine,27(12), 1116-1119. Pintrest, 2016. Retrieved on 17th November, 2016. https://www.pinterest.com/amonk1/slp-data-charting/ Google docs, 2016. Retrieved on 17th November, 2016. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzxZN2dBj1s-b21CLUU5QkduSkU/edit

Mysteries Essays - Ghosts, Black Shuck, Humphrey Bogart, Free Essays

Mysteries There are many mysteries that question the mind, but none that can compare to the intrigue in the supernatural. Ghosts, goblins, poltergeists, Death Omens, curses, unexplainable phenomena, and hauntings; mysteries of the paranormal could go on and on. There are centuries of ghost stories and tales that have been passed down from generation to generation. From the Bermuda Triangle mysteries, phantoms of the ocean, ships, and glowing ghosts of little boys, to the curse of James' Deans' car, The Little Bastard and the Amityville Horror. A little background history of this bone-chilling horror may help one decide whether or not to believe in the existence of the beyond. Everywhere on earth and all through history, people have believed that there is more to the world than meets the eye. Behind the outward material appearance of things there is sensed something inward, immaterial, and probably invisible.(Cavendish 1) Apparitions of things have been seen all over the world. The definition of apparition, as given by Richard Cavendish, is the supernormal manifestation of people, animals, objects, and spirits. (Cavendish 25) In the ancient folklore of England and Europe, glowing ghosts of little boys who have been murdered by their mothers appear. This particular apparition portends ill luck and a violent death. The name radiant boys could have possibly originated in German folklore with the word kindermorderinn. However, there are numerous radiant boy stories in the Cumberland area of England. These boys seem to resemble a flame ; slightly orange with a glow about them. These ghosts have never been proved to have caused any ha! rm, they simply appear and disappear as mysteriously as they came. There has only been one claim that these radiant boys have attempted to cause harm or scare people. One account of the radiant boy apparition was in Knebworth, England when Edward Bulwer-Lytton stated that he had seen a strange glowing boy with long golden hair sitting in front of the fire. This boy then drew his finger and slid it across his throat three times. Later, however this story was proved to be false and just another attention-getting scheme by Edward Bulwer-Lytton.(Guiley 274) Another mind-boggling series of apparitions was the Legend of the Faceless Gray Man of Pawley's Island. The story has it that this faceless man appears just before hurricanes strike at Pawley's Island off the coast of South Carolina. In fact, this particular apparition has been credited with saving thousands of lives. Residents of the island believe him to be the ghost Percival Pawley who was the first to settle and name the island. Whatever the case may be, inhabitants of the island claim that this faceless phantom appeared just before the hurricanes of 1822, 1893, 1916, 1954, and 1955. (Guiley 115) A more recent ghost, and a female at that, was Resurrection Mary. Resurrection Mary is one of Chicago's most famous ghosts. This beautiful blonde, blue-eyed girl dressed in white has been reported in the Chicago environs since 1934, the year of her alleged death. Mary takes her name from Resurrection Cemetery where she is supposed to be buried. Her full name is unknown and her existence is unproved. According to legend Mary was killed one night in an automobile accident in 1934 after an evening of dancing at the Willowbrook Ballroom, formerly known as the O'Henry Ballroom. Her ghost was said to have begun making appearances in 1934. She would hitchhike, and request a ride to the O'Henry where she would dance the night away. After a fairytale evening of dancing, she would then request a ride home. She would give the driver vague instructions past Resurrection cemetery where she would mysteriously disappear. All of Mary's dance partners throughout the evening said tha! t she was quiet, aloof and with icy cold skin. The only evidence or proof of Resurrection Mary is old cemetery records of a Polish girl near Mary's age buried in that same cemetery. (Guiley 280) On different note, another type of supernatural mystery is the childhood fear of Bogart , or otherwise known as the Bogey Man. Believe it or not, there is actually belief of the bogey man in English folklore. The Bogart is abogey or type of hobgoblin that has habits like that of a poltergeist. Although at times the Bogart can be helpful and sociable with some people, but is most often mischievous, annoying and frightening. The Bogart is not a visible nuisance, but plays tricks on people, like pulling off their bedclothes. The Bogart hauntings are also accompanied by terrible noises or laughter. The Bogart is also known to be nasty and mean; these habits include scratching, punching and pinching, and even in some cases snatching people up and

Acid-Base Titration Calculation

Acid-Base Titration Calculation An acid-base titration is a neutralization reaction performed in the lab to determine an unknown concentration of acid or base. The moles of acid will equal the moles of the base at the equivalence point. So if you know one value, you automatically know the other. Heres how to perform the calculation to find your unknown: Acid-Base Titration Problem If youre titrating hydrochloric acid with sodium hydroxide, the equation is: HCl NaOH → NaCl H2O You can see from the equation there is a 1:1 molar ratio between HCl and NaOH. If you know that titrating 50.00 ml of an HCl solution requires 25.00 ml of 1.00 M NaOH, you can calculate the concentration of hydrochloric acid, HCl. Based on the molar ratio between HCl and NaOH, you know that at the equivalence point: moles HCl moles NaOH Acid-Base Titration Solution Molarity (M) is moles per liter of solution, so you can rewrite the equation to account for molarity and volume: MHCl x volumeHCl MNaOH x volumeNaOH Rearrange the equation to isolate the unknown value. In this case, you are looking for the concentration of hydrochloric acid (its molarity): MHCl MNaOH x volumeNaOH / volumeHCl Now, simply plug in the known values to solve for the unknown: MHCl 25.00 ml x 1.00 M / 50.00 ml MHCl 0.50 M HCl

Can My Indie Book Be Discovered

Can My Indie Book Be Discovered You have an indie book out there, but youd love to call yourself a traditionally-published author. What does it take for an agent or press to WANT to sign your book.or sign with you? Remember, theres the book, and then theres you. Some authors bring attention to themselves. Some books take off and garner attention all THE BOOK A CATCH 22 Whether or not the agent/publisher wants your indie book is often decided agent/publisher has to determine if it has saturated the market or not. It may have already peaked and reached the readers its targeted for, and the agent/publisher may see theres nothing left in it for them. On the flip side, it may not have done well, which is interpreted as the book isnt made well, isnt written well, or isnt about a good topic. So why would they want it? Theres a small sweet spot in there to make an indie book palatable to the traditional market. There has to be enough spark left in it for the agent to capitalize upon. THE AUTHOR ANOTHER CATCH 22 If your book does well, often the agent/publisher may take a deeper look at the author. How does he market himself? What impact did the author have in the success of the book? What kind of website/blog? How Google-able is he? That type of author can pitch a second book and have great odds of being accepted. But the question is . . . why would he if hes successful as an indie author where the royalties are SO much greater? We have actually reached the point in publishing that you can make as much or more as an indie author as you can as a traditional author. Youll still have to market yourself hard VERY hard. You get no relief traditionally in that department. Your books will be more readily available in libraries and bookstores (though IngramSpark is closing that gap), but in reality, you can often get your books placed in bookstores But if that credibility factor still keeps you awake at night, and you just want that traditional accolade checked off your bucket list, pitch traditional to start with. Be very, very patient at the time it takes to work that system. Or if you arent that patient, work hard as an indie author, knowing that you can pitch subsequent books  later to the traditional world, and your success will often depend  upon the success of your first book youre selling on your own.   Chip MacGregor of MacGregor Literary Agency talks about what it takes for an agent to pick up your indie book. Its honest and very informative. Regardless of the road you take, realize that the professional credibility you seek is completely in your hands. Study the successful in the business, indie or traditional or hybrid of the two, and see what you can do to find success in your world. macgregorliterary.com/blog/ask-agent-transition-self-published-traditionally-published/

Assessment of environmental process Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Assessment of environmental process - Essay Example For instance, suffocation and drowning of toddlers can be directly linked to parental irresponsibility. Parental and child safety frameworks should be developed to prevent these causes of injury. In an argument by Marino & Fine (2013) parental teaching is required to develop safer home environments. For instance, to avoid suffocation, cribs for toddlers should be well ventilated. Moreover, drowning cases should be avoided since a child below the age of three should not be allowed in pools. Pools in homesteads should be well covered to avoid drowning cases. Marino & Fine (2013) assert that the relationship between a healthy child and safety interventions is based on good parenting. Consequently, safety interventions should also be provided to children. Children should be educated on how to read and understand safety signs. This may include requirements to avoid restricted places such as

Abortion in United States Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Abortion in United States - Essay Example Conservatives tend to view the fetus as a human life.Undeniably, abortion is an old societal issue. The legality of abortion, however, is a different story. Abortion in any form was not legal in the United Kingdom in the 1800s (Josephine, 19). The Infant Life Preservation Act of 1929 was passed in May of that year, intending to protect children's rights to life. It did have one small provision, though. It allowed a doctor to decide if the pregnant woman's health were in danger. If it were, then the abortion could be performed (Herring, 161). Thus, it can well be stated that abortion can only be permissible under the parameters of medical ground and logically enough all other causes of abortion should be systematically banned and considered illegal. One important reason why women tend to be more sexually conservative than males is the possibility of pregnancy. Pregnancy and child rearing require enormous resources; therefore, females do not want to risk unwanted pregnancies. This tran slates into a general reluctance to engage in casual sexual relationships because of the fear of abortion. This fear is important because abortion is an act of inhuman indulgence and at the same time it is immoral and a sacrilege in the eyes of religion.

Hershey Chocolate Essay Example for Free

Hershey Chocolate Essay When many people around the world think about chocolate they think about the most popular producer of sweets, Hershey’s Chocolate. The company began in early 1894 by a persistent man named Milton Hershey (Hinkle). Milton Hershey was born in Derry Church, PA on September 13, 1857. As a child Hershey and his parents, Henry Hershey and Fannie Hershey, relocated many time. Hershey went to seven schools within eight years and by the fourth grade he was taken out to work with a printer as an apprentice. In 1872 Hershey left the printers shop to work in a confectioners shop near Lancaster, PA. Not long after Hershey discovered an interest in candy making and selling. Four years later he opened a candy shop, but unfortunately competition got the better of his shop and closed in 1882. Hershey then moved to Denver, Colorado to work for a manufacturer of caramel. There he learned that good fresh milk can make candy taste better and sell better. Finally in 1894, Milton Hershey started the Hershey’s Chocolate Company (Hinkle). Hershey’s Chocolate first sold â€Å"caramels with chocolate coatings, along with breakfast cocoa, sweet chocolate, baking chocolate, and novelty chocolate candies† (Hinkle). In 1900 Hershey’s start manufacturing the first original Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bars, started construction on a factory in his home town of Derry Church, Pennsylvania, and because of the dairy farms producing milk rapidly, Hershey did the same (Hinkle). Selling his chocolate for 5 cents a bar, Hershey became wealthy very quick (Lancto). Hershey’s also released there Chocolate kisses, Almond chocolate, and Mr. Good bars (Hinkle). Milton Hershey believed that the money he had made with his chocolate should be used to help others instead of keeping it to himself (Lancto). Hershey started making the town of Derry Church, where his factory was located, more exciting and enjoyable (Lancto). He gave low cost housing for his workers, built fire stations, schools, churches, gold courses, and even a zoo (Lancto)! In 1910, Hershey created a school and establishment for less fortunate, orphaned boys. The school was taught the youth important stills for life and for success. Milton’s reason is so children wouldn’t have the life style he had, always moving and not having a proper education. The school property eventually grew big with every student that attended, including girls, from 500 acres to 2,500 acres by 1976 (Lancto). By the year 1937, the U. S. government had an idea of a chocolate bar that could with stand temperatures of 120 degrees and packed with energy for American troop who were out in the field and so Hershey’s decided to make it happen (Lancto). Rations D bars were then mass produced and sent to over 100,000 troops a day (Lancto). â€Å"For four years, Hersheys Ration D bars were produced around the clock, seven days a week, for a total of one billion rations† (Lancto). Milton Hershey died while sleeping on October 13, 1945, shortly after retiring (Adams). Today, Hershey’s Chocolate Company is still manufacturing chocolate sweets making billions of dollars a year, selling Hershey’s milk chocolate bars, MM’s, Reese’s Peanut butter cups, Hershey kisses, and many verities of products created over the years, using different commercials for each product, like the talking MM’s or how Charlie Armstrong dominoed his Reese’s so he would catch and eat one in the end. Hershey’s Chocolate is everyone’s favorite chocolate, so don’t expect it to disappear so quickly. Work Cited Hinkle, Samuel, Hershey, 1964; Shippen, Katherine B. , and Paul A. W. Wallace, Biography of Milton S. Hershey, 1959; Snavely, Joseph, An Intimate Story of Milton S. Hershey,1957. Lancto, Craig. Milton Hershey: Americas chocolatier. World I. 01 May. 2003: 269. eLibrary. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. Adams, Susan. Sugar Daddy. Forbes Magazine. 09 Jan. 2006: 141. eLibrary. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.

Threads Of Life :: essays research papers

Thread of Life   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This book covers the patterns of evolution and how each species and time era had an effect on Earth’s history. It covers the world from the beginning to the present times telling us all that has happened in between.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The book begins by introducing us to geology and how it is used in telling time and finding fossils. The Grand Canyon is a good place to begin because it is the worlds greatest geological gash. Sediment was deposited here layer upon layer and eventually the layers were cut through by the Colorado River. The time covered by the layers of rock in the Grand Canyon represent about two billion years of earths history.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The next chapter introduces to us how life began. Many scientists believe that life began as soon as the earth cooled sufficiently after just forming. It is believed that the first life on earth emerged some four billion years ago. The author goes on to say that the beginning of life can be organized into five stages: first, the earth forms from materials in our solar system; second, chemicals such as sugars, phosphates, and amino acids are formed; third, these building blocks link together to form nucleic acids, proteins, carbohydrates, and fats; fourth, these turn into proto-organisms; and last, these organisms gain the ability to replicate. This explains how life begins.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Soon the organisms of the water begin to evolve legs and lungs and start to venture out of the water onto the land. This brings about the era of the dinosaurs. Dinosaurs ruled the earth for about 185 million years and then their populations began to decline. About 65 million years ago there is evidence that an asteroid struck the earth and caused the extinction of many species of marine plankton. The last of the dying dinosaur population may have died out before this.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After the dinosaurs died off, then came the reign of the mammals. Mammals were more equipped for survival because of more intelligence and the development of a lower jaw comprised of one bone. Upper and lower molars helped mammals survive better. Mammals would also stay with there young and nurture them until they were able to fend for themselves. Mammals were able to survive a very long time and are still evolving in present times.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the present, there is evidence that our human ancestors walked erect some 3.75 million years ago.

Developing and applying theories in a pluralistic society – The Person Centred Method

For this assignment I will be considering Carl Roger's person centred method and it's application to lesbian women in a pluralist society, I will be drawing upon the theoretical frame work previously used in my presentation. Carl Rogers (1902-1987) was the founder of the person centred method his theories are associated with the Humanistic psychology it is also associated with Maslow(1908-1970) and phenomenological approach. Phenomenology is a philosophical assessment of the individual it was developed by Husserl (1975), the focus is on the subjective experience. The method involved requires the professional to suspend their assumption and interpretation of the client's world, thereby allowing the client to interpret and explore their own experiences and thoughts. It is important to consider the context in which psychological theories conceptualised and developed. Humanistic psychology developed in the industrial age and in the 50's and 60's it therefore places great importance on the individual as a person striving for independence, self actualisation and their maximum potential. Dryden et al (1989) have also given an outline of the origins of the humanistic theory, that these were in the affluent era of the 50's and 60's in California, terms such as self actualisation, can be just a ‘slogan' that is applied without any real meaning, when contrasted between the prosperous, optimistic society of California, it can have a different meaning for those people that are in poverty are unemployed or homeless. The concept of self actualisation which is considered necessary by psychologists such as Rogers can be explored in relation to lesbian women and how society conceptualises them. Homosexuality has been viewed by psychotherapists and psychiatrists as a mental illness, and was considered as such until 1974 when the American Psychiatric Association declassified it, however there was considerable opposition to this from psychotherapists, psychoanalysts, and ‘medical model' psychiatrists ( Mcleod J, 1998), in-fact psychotherapy was used to try to ‘cure' homosexuality. Although the work of Rogers' has encouraged progress and has been associated with movement away from the previous medical model of mental illness, one the draw backs of Rogerian person centred therapy out lined by Ivey et al (1997) is that it is a ‘highly verbal' technique, which is over-concerned with the deeper meaning of life rather than tackling problems and finding solutions. Therefore it may not be suited to all clients especially those with mental health problems etc. Roger's therapy known as ‘person centred' and non-directive aimed to change the balance of power towards that of the client, and to treat the individual as a ‘client' rather than a patient. However this point can be debated as to whether the balance of power is actually shifted and the control is with the recipient, rather than the provider of the therapy. Criticism of therapies, such as Rogerian, psychodynamic and cognitive behavioural according to Ivey et al (1997) is that they place responsibility for the problem with the client rather than considering structural, political and environmental issues that are relevant to the clients experience. The person centred method in relation to lesbian women needs to be applied in a way that is sensitive to them, therefore if the counsellor is male he will need to be aware that he does not impose his own assumptions and interpretation onto the client, firstly about his ideas about women's roles within society and as nurturers, wives and mothers, secondly stereotypical perceptions about lesbianism. Feminists criticise models of the helping relationship which have their origins in the white middle class male ideology, they relate this to the way a patriarchal society oppresses women into submissive roles, Banks (1999) also questions whether male therapists can validate a female clients experiences in a male dominated society. Hetro-sexual women can also oppress lesbians through negative assumptions and homophobia that can lead to imposing our own values and assumptions about lesbian relationships, McLeod (1998) gives a good example where a female therapist tried to actively encourage her lesbian client to date men. The person centred approach places particular emphasis on the use of the core conditions, genuiness, unconditional positive regard and empathy, and its view of human nature is positive and optimistic in comparison to Freudian psychology. The core conditions out lined by Rogers plays an essential part in building a therapeutic relationship, between the therapist and the client. From my professional experience when working as education social worker relating to a teenage pregnancy, the girl was fifteen years old and Asian. I was surprised when she said that she thought she was a lesbian, however working with the young person and applying Rogers core conditions, of genuiness, empathy and unconditional positive regard, enabled me to realize that people need to discover their sexuality and who the real person is; society can place pressure on young people to conform to the norms of a white, heterosexual society and thereby place conditions of worth on them. Unconditional positive regard which is accepting the clients experiences without judgment is essential in building a therapeutic relationship, however if the counsellor has absorbed negative, homophobic assumptions about homosexuality, from the society that he/she lives in then these may consciously or unconsciously be transferred on to the client. Humanistic psychotherapist Don Clark (1987) has expressed that therapeutic neutrality is impossible to maintain, since we have taken on board society's negative stereotypes of homosexuality, he has stated that â€Å"it is presumptuous to assume that counsellors who have been taught about valuable concepts such as unconditional positive regard are able to apply them with gay-lesbian clients if they are not aware of their own heterosexual or homophobia biases† (Davies and Neal,1996) A lesbian women may for example find it difficult to come to terms with her own sexuality, because of negative stereotypes and stigma associated with it, â€Å"Lesbian women are raised to view themselves as a half person without a man, they may see marriage as a door to personal growth, adult hood, freedom, and motherhood†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. ( Davies and Neal,1996) the counsellor may therefore need to enable the lesbian woman to restore her self esteem and her concept of being a woman, the traditional female roles, as mother and wife may not be stereotypes that she aspires to. The impact of Homophobia on the self concept of a lesbian woman will create conditions of worth, therefore lesbians may feel they are not worthy individuals if they are not heterosexual, do not have children, have a male partner and behave as society expects women to do. Bradshaw (1998) has defined the concept of ‘Toxic shame' in relation to internalised homophobia within the self-concept. This notion cannot be fully understood without the use of a more eclectic approach to counselling because it states that the self concept can become, fragile and a false self concept can develop, through denial, this may be conscious or unconscious but it will be due to the fear of discovery. Toxic shame can lead to the development of defences which can lead to alcohol, substance abuse, suicide attempts, distancing oneself from others, underachievement or over-achievement etc. Being functional or dysfunctional human being is particularly relevant to how lesbian women's identity and self concept develops, becoming functional human being requires being able to use ones own organismic valuing process, which maximises the potential to grow and become the true self. The dysfunctional human being lives to meet the values of others to acquire love and respect. Coming out as a lesbian therefore is fraught with anxiety and even danger of rejection by family, friends and community. The primary question is will they be valued by society if they come out as Lesbian? The organismic need to come out and be accepted as a lesbian should be facilitated by the therapist to enable the client to accept their real identity; however the client should be ready to do this in her own time. Therefore acceptance from the therapist or social worker or other professional is an essential first step. However therapists as well as other professionals such as social workers can easily oppress lesbian women, an example from my practice experience when working with the Education Welfare service in a case where the child was not attending school regularly, during the home visit the client revealed that her relationship with her husband had broken down and that she had started a lesbian relationship, this immediately led me to make the assumption that the child's non-attendance may be related to this new relationship. On reflection I noticed how easy it was to jump to a conclusion relating to same sex relationships and would I have made the same assumption if the relationship was with a partner of the opposite sex? Drawing from my own experience I notice how easily professionals from helping organisations can make assumptions that can lead to discrimination and oppression, when working in a refuge for vulnerable women that had been the victims of domestic violence, a Black woman with four children came to the centre it was assumed automatically by the member of staff taking down her history that the abusive partner was male. The woman found that she had to explain that she was in a lesbian relationship, and the abusive partner was another woman. This is a good example where social assumptions and stereotypes where women are perceived to be submissive, passive individuals that are the victims of domestic violence rather than the perpetrators of it. It also shows that assumptions are made by professionals regarding relationships that a partner automatically means someone of the opposite sex. The person centred method when applied to lesbians need to take into account the experience of the individual as a woman and also as lesbian her experience needs to be valued and respected, this method if used effectively according to Rogers, can build up the self -worth and self acceptance. However Davies and Neal (1996) state that few British training courses in counselling or psychotherapy cover working with lesbian, gay and bi-sexual people. They propose a model of gay affirmative therapy; this should be incorporated into other theoretical methods such as humanistic and psychodynamic etc. â€Å"Gay affirmative therapy is not an independent system of psychotherapy. Rather it represents a special range of psychological knowledge which challenges the traditional views†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Davies and Neal (1996) Gay affirmative therapy is an eclectic model that incorporates both theories. 2 important factors pointed out by Davies and Neal is firstly whether the counsellor is competent to counsel the homosexual individual, and secondly that it is important for the counsellor to examine their own ‘ideas about values, moral and lifestyles when working with clients who are culturally different'. This is the important factor of genuiness or congruence that Rogers has defined, Kus (1990), states that a therapist should be open and honest about personal prejudices that they hold about homosexuality, and refer clients on, however congruence can be much more difficult in practice, if the therapist or the client with holds information from each other in the relationship. Empathy is also an important core condition that was noted by Rogers with in the person centred approach, it is a deep understanding of the clients personal perspective of their problems, however it can be argued whether a heterosexual person can fully understand what it feels like to be a lesbian, similarly can a white person fully understand what it feels like to be black? This question exposes the difficulty of cross-cultural counselling, especially if the counsellor or therapist is unaware of the their own prejudice for e.g. non-verbal behaviour, body language or are ignorant about the issues for lesbian women. However it is important for professionals such as therapists not to assume that all lesbians need counselling for coming to terms with their sexuality, counselling may be required for a wide range of other issues as with hetero sexual women. R.J, Kus (1990) states that one of the most frequent criticism concerning helping professionals is that they get ‘fixated' upon the homosexual life style and lose sight of the issues the help is being sought for, this means that the therapist assumes that the life style is the problem, despite the client stating other issues that help is sought for. The Humanistic perspective has contributed to social work practice by providing valuable criteria working in anti-oppressive and anti-discriminatory way with service users, the most useful contribution is the person centred approach, which facilitates building of genuine helping relationship and listening to the service user. It also acknowledges that the client is expert on his/her particular problems. The person centred method has many positive aspects that can be used by social workers and other helping professionals, and aspects of this model can be incorporated with other theories to provide an eclectic model that can be used effectively by them. For example the humanistic person centred method is a valuable tool to build warm, respecting and trusting relationship with clients such as lesbian women, it will facilitate understanding their present situation, and how they view them selves within society and explore their organismic needs. Aspects of the psychodynamic approach may be useful in the enabling the client to explore their unconscious feelings and motives, whilst multicultural perspectives, acknowledge the cultural background and identity of the individual. I think that for anti-discriminatory social work practice that can empower the individual an eclectic model may be the most useful approach in a helping relationship.

Learning in an Inclusive Classroom Community

This paper explores the benefits of the inclusive classroom over the concerns that this kind of learning is hindering academic growth. In The Other Side of Inclusion, Associate Professor Wade A. Carpenter presents a view of inclusion being ineffective because it overwhelms classroom teachers and causes mediocre instruction. Meanwhile, Professor Mara Sapon-Shevin believes that, if specific strategies are used, inclusion can help build a learning community that benefits all. We live in a diverse country; therefore understanding strategies to build a workable inclusive classroom is the goal.Going to school in the late 70’s to 80’s, students with special needs were placed on the other side of campus in separate buildings. This created a shroud of fear due to superstition and ignorance surrounding these students. Even though Sapon-Shevin states, â€Å"the primary justification for inclusion has traditionally resided in the belief that disabled children have a right to and c an benefit from inclusion in a regular educational environment,† I believe that the ‘regular’ classroom has the right to benefit from having a diverse learning experience as part of their education.â€Å"Research carried out by the Carnegie Institute of Technology shows that 85 percent of financial success is due to skills in ‘human engineering,’ personality, and ability to communicate, negotiate, and lead. Shockingly, only 15 percent is due to technical knowledge. † (Jensen, 2012) Knowing that success is driven by communication and the ability to understand, accept, and motivate people, having a diverse classroom is the best teacher. We as educators must first learn strategies to enable us to act as effective catalysis to initiate and sustain a diverse learning community.The first strategy addresses the teacher’s beliefs about inclusion and diversity. Sapon-Shevin (2008) explains that â€Å"in truly inclusive classrooms, teachers ackno wledge the myriad ways in which students differ from one another (class, gender, ethnicity, family background, sexual orientation, language, abilities, size, religion, and so on); value this diversity; and design and implement productive, sensitive responses. † Sapon-Shevin encourages the inclusive teacher to redefine educational tools to include more learners that fit that specific category.â€Å"For example, access can mean, Is there a ramp? But it can also mean, Will letters home to parents be written in a language they can understand? † (Sapon-Shevin 2008) Differentiated instruction includes tools that will help meet the instructional needs of different learning challenges. Having books on tape, lessons that are multi-sensory, and planning curriculum that meets the needs of different learner types is just better instruction for all students, not just ones with difficulty in a specific area.Teachers need training in positive behavior management for classrooms that pr ovide support for â€Å"community building, classroom meetings, cooperative games, and a culture of appreciation and celebration of all students† as well helping them coop with students who suffer with emotional problems. (Sapon-Shevin, 2008) Out of the many strategies Professor Sapon-Shevin provides, training teachers in facilitating discussions and handling bullying are the most needed.Students have the ability to build strong healthy learning communities if they are allowed to discuss and process the issues as they arise. Educators need to help tear down the walls that separate the many ways we differ by addressing the ways in open conversations instead of awkward silence and taboo topics. Three ways I agree with how Sapon-Shevin suggests we tackle these discussions are: teachers familiarizing themselves with the terminology, providing opportunities for class discussions of diversity, and address bullying in open discussions before it becomes an issue in the class or schoo l.First, educators need to familiarize themselves with the proper terminology to model appropriate language and to educate students to the proper terms to respectfully address people and topics. Secondly, since teachers spend the most amount of daily time with students they have the opportunity and responsibility to take the time to open up the class in honest respectful discussions to address diversity.Such discussions help educate students as they process new and diverse peoples while learning how to become effective communicators. Lastly, as educators we are bound by law to protect the rights and environment of the students under our care, which means addressing any and all teasing, bullying, or inappropriate language in our classrooms or on our campuses. The best offense is a good defense, so training the student body to be respectful in word and deed prevents the community disease of prejudice of any kind.If there should be any teasing or bullying the educator must address the subject and students involved and deal with the issue justly with the aim of atonement, restoration and healing. Using these strategies along with extensive teacher training in common core standards, we can help our students become successful adults that will be able to choose any field because they will have learned the key concepts they need, and the most important lesson of human engineering in a diverse world.

Naughts and Crosses Essays

Naughts and Crosses Essays Naughts and Crosses Essay Naughts and Crosses Essay Tic Tac Toe Tic-Tac-Toe is a game in which you’re faced with a simple objective. It’s a game which has limited advancements and once it becomes familiar, the game is likely to end in a draw. No winner or loser! In a similar way, this novel is an illustration of the tic-tac-toe board as a society, in which your perceptions about people are dominated by prejudice and discrimination. At a glance, this novel may seem like a narration which cannot be correlated with an adolescent’s life but it impacts the reader’s perceptions on the prejudice which our society masks.Adolescence is a time when a person’s morals and opinions are formed and this novel can influence upon your judgements dramatically. Therefore it’s beyond question whether this book is suitable for year 10 students and the ReadPlus website. The relevance of this novel can also be justified through the valid themes and issues portrayed. Blackman has also conveyed a range of audacious personalities through the deep values and attitudes they embrace. The daring characterisation, the intense settings and the suspenseful turn of events captivates audience interest throughout the novel.Thus I believe that this novel is a suitable read for all adolescents. In today’s society, themes and issues showcased through various forms of media have an immense impact upon teenagers; however this novel has managed to influence teenagers in a positive way. To begin with, the novel focuses on a range of sensitive topics such as power and prejudice in a minimalistic yet powerful way. This is clearly illustrated when Sephy says, Like, you’re in one place and I’m in another, with a huge, great wall between us. (P. 26) This dialogue by Sephy highlights the racial wall which segregates their society.In addition, alternate history has also been used to enhance audience interest. This novel has reversed the race-relations which occurred in history. Therefore, Noughts and Crosses can be separated from all other fictions which relate to prejudice and racism. Furthermore, Blackman has also managed to incorporate issues which are relevant to adolescents. These include teenage pregnancy and alcohol addiction. At present, these themes and issues are of significance to the intended audience; therefore I believe that this novel is an inspiring read for all adolescents.Audience engagement is ensured through the wide array of values and attitudes portrayed throughout the novel. The novel displays the racist and superior values of the Crosses through the poor treatment of the noughts. Their elite attitudes were illustrated during Callum’s first day of school. Together all the Crosses recited, No blankers in our school! (P. 54)This quotation highlights the racial hierarchy present in their society which is comparable to the white-dominant history we held.In contrast, the noughts display the values of freedom and equality. This is illustrated through the formation of the rebellion group which is fighting for justice. Lastly, the two protagonists show individuality and conformity through their actions, values and attitudes. For instance, Callum values equality and freedom he pursues this through his involvement in the rebellion group whereas Sephy is going against her society’s beliefs and practices through her association with someone of an inferior class.The values and attitudes portrayed in this novel are relatable to the teenage audience as social factors such as peer pressure and popularity usually influence our decisions. Hence, this novel is showcasing positive morals appropriate for year 10 students. The effective display of characterisation, setting and events will demand audience attention. The author’s descriptions are brief and the author tends to be direct rather than elaborative. The following narration is an example, They were real good friends, no barriers, and no boundaries. (P. ) This quote illustrates her brief and simple language usage. Nonetheless, her direct approach doesn’t compromise detail, especially when it comes to the setting. The entire plot is reliant upon the setting. The dystopian society which the author has created is totalitarian. This is showcased in the novel through the dictatorship style of government the society abides by. In a nutshell, the story describes the friendship between the two protagonists. The events in the novel aspire to represent a deep relationship which is challenged by the racial divisions within the society.Consequently, this novel is relevant to the intended audience. On reflection, it’s undeniable that the book, Noughts and Crosses is a suitable read for all year 10 students. The novel will modify any stereotypical views which you may have held on racism as it reverses the two variables around. We all believe that justice and peace are the key to a society but are we still locked out within the brick walls of discrimination and prejudice or is that just letting our past define the present?

How to become a production worker

How to become a production worker As a consumer society, we own- and keep acquiring- more and more stuff. Much of that stuff is made all around the world, but many products are still produced here in the United States. Although the industry has obviously evolved since the twentieth  century manufacturing boom, production workers still have a place in the American job ecosystem. And if you’re interested in seeking out one of these manufacturing jobs for yourself, we have the info to help you make that decision. What does a production worker do?Production workers are very hands-on employees in a factory, working with machinery to fabricate or refine materials that are used to create and package products. Some examples are food production and packaging facilities, pharmaceutical production facilities, or plants that manufacture parts of a larger product. Production workers are needed to create everything, from tiny medical instruments to cars or airplane engine parts.A production worker’s tasks may inclu de:Operating machinery on a production lineProcessing raw materialsAssembling and finishing a productRefining and cleaning a product (like sanding, washing, or applying protective cover)Packing boxes or pallets for shippingProduction workers typically work full- or part-time shifts in a factory, plant, or manufacturing facility. These shifts may include days, nights, weekends, and overtime. This is also a very physical job, meaning that production workers may need to sit or stand for the duration of those shifts, depending on the task. There may also be protective gear involved (aprons, safety glasses, gloves, head coverings) as well, particularly if one is working with machinery.What skills do production workers need?Before you pursue a career in the field, make sure you work on building up the following skills- you’ll need to talk about them in an interview and use them from day one.Attention to detail: Carelessness and mistakes can have direct consequences for a product, c reating defects or slowing down production. Production workers should be able to spot and resolve problems on the fly.Working as part of a team: Production workers are always part of a larger team, with a shared goal of creating something for the company’s bottom line. If a person is unable to follow directions or understand how his or her piece of the process fits with others’, then the job might not be a good fit.What background do you need to become a production worker?There is no specific training program or degree for production workers, but most companies require the minimum of a high school degree (or equivalent). These jobs typically have on-the-job training to teach workers specific processes, equipment, or tasks directly associated with the job itself.How much do production workers make?According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual salary for production workers is $32,380, or $15.57 per hour. This can change depending on the skill level necessary to perform the job or the complexity of the work.What’s the outlook for production workers?Although the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a slight overall decline for these kinds of positions as manufacturing faces some economic uncertainty in the U.S., there are hubs that are seeing a resurgence in these kinds of jobs, particularly in Midwest and Western states like Wyoming, Indiana, South Dakota, Texas, and Michigan.

The United States's Balance of Payments Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The United States's Balance of Payments - Essay Example A transaction is generally referred to as the exchange of an asset for another or an asset for many other assets. International transactions are listed in the balance of payments on a double entry basis as in business accounting. This principle enables each transaction to yield two offsetting entries with values equal so that the debit and credit entries balance each other. Transactions are valued according to the market prices and are recorded in occurrence of a change of ownership. Changes of ownership on goods, services, and unilateral transfers make up the current account, transactions in financial assets and liabilities constituting the capital account. According to International Monetary Fund in its strife for international comparability, balance of payment refers to â€Å" a statistical statement for a given period showing (1) transactions in goods, services, and income between an economy and the rest of the world, (2) changes of ownership and other changes in that economy’s monetary gold, special drawing rights, (SDR’s), and claims on and liabilities to the rest of the world, and (3) unrequited transfers and counterpart entries that are needed to balance, in the accounting sense, any entries for the foregoing transactions and changes which are not mutually offsetting.† In United States, balance of payments is prepared by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and the U.S. Department of commerce on quarterly basis. In this view, an economy is considered to be composed of economic entities with a closer degree of association to given territory than with the other. In U.S. balance of payments, the economy is made of over 50 states. Balance of payments according to the principle of double-entry of business accounting provides for every increase in an asset to be offset by decreases in other assets or increases in liabilities. As such, an increase in an

How effective were attempts to protect soldiers in the war Essay

How effective were attempts to protect soldiers in the war - Essay Example This protection strategy was dependent on sniper protection who remained vigil above ground at a strategic vantage point where they would fire an enemy who approached the trenches. The safety of the soldiers in the trenches is thus dependent on the sniper. As a protective strategy this was quite ineffective as at sometimes the enemies got unnoticed hence attacking and killing the officers in trenches. The soldiers taking cover in trenches as a protective strategy for the soldiers was not successful as it resulted in loss of lives of the soldiers ( Grayzel 76). For the prisoner at war, they were kept in deplorable conditions that made them quite uncomfortable. The vivid explanation of the conditions in which they were kept with lack of enough food and general supplies highlight the lack of effectiveness in the protection strategies of soldiers during the World War I period. The letters reveal how they were kept in the barracks where they were quite crowded and no space for sleeping comfortable. Because of such like deplorable conditions, it resulted in deaths of prisoners of war in the process. Despite the fact that they were prisoners of war, as human right they ought to have been protected and treated in a human way. This however was not the case as they were left for dead and survival like pigs. Many human rights activists were of the opinion that such like treatment of prisoners of war was not an effective war strategy to protect the soldiers. The food was also rationed in one of the letters the soldier describes the condition as â€Å"the prisoners will have only 12 ounces of bread a day† ( Grayzel 77). This shows the great extent to which they were denied the basic human right of survival. Despite the harsh weather conditions the soldiers were not well taken care off as regards warm clothing in the winter. The sanitary conditions in barracks were also wanting. To a great extent the treatment and protection

N a response no longer than one page single-spaced, describe any Essay

N a response no longer than one page single-spaced, describe any obstacle(s) that you had to overcome to reach your senior year - Essay Example Since we were used to a very lavish lifestyle full of luxury, we faced difficulties because we had to cut our spending on everything from the electricity bills to eating out and shopping designer clothes. This was a huge change for all of us especially for me and this made me very much frustrated. When I entered high school, we did not have enough money to pay for my school but I was adamant that I wanted to continue my studies in the same school. Luckily, I came across an ad in the newspaper which was looking for a writer. I immediately applied for the job and got a call after a few days after which I was employed and I started working from home using my laptop. In this way, I was also able to earn money for my school fees and I also didn’t have to quit my studies.1 Work Cited Montez, Michele., & Vogler, Christopher. The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. 3rd Edn. Michael Wiese Productions, 2007.

Social Construction of Female Gangs

Social Construction of Female Gangs Introduction In the UK, there has been very little research on female gang problem which has led to the vast amount of research from the USA being applied to the UK situation. Female gangs have been in existence throughout history although very little has been said about its members beyond their role as sexual objects. Hallsworth and Young (2008):176) following a home office report in 2008 state that the gang was for the first time explicitly linked to the problem of urban violence and rising weapon use in the UK (2008:176) and according to Campbell (1990) girls have been a part of gangs since the earliest accounts from New York in the early 1800s (1990:166). Female gang activity has been on the increase in the latter half of the twentieth century and as such, these activities have increasingly become violent. In this essay, I will elaborate on the meaning of gangs and female gangs using various definitions given by key authors. My main interest in this paper will be to discuss the historical bac kground of female gangs and the key debates surrounding these gangs in relation to the literature written by authors of different calibers and also the myths as portrayed by the society. I will also be interested in discussing the media construction of female gangs giving examples which will lead me to explore the disconnection between what the media says about female gangs and what the reality is. The term gang according to Schneider and Tilley (2004) does not have a single definition even though it is used universally by researchers, police, social workers, media and the general public (2004: xviii). The US National Criminal Justice Reference Service have defined the term gang as a group of three or more people who have a common name or sign and have an aim of engaging in criminal activity. In the UK context, experts have found it difficult to reach a consensus on whether or not gangs exist and how they can be defined (Aldridge and Medina, 2008; Alexander, 2008; Broadhurst et al., 2009; Hallsworth and Silverstone, 2009; Her Majestys Inspectorate of Prisons, 2010; Pickles, 2009; Pitts, 2008). Websters Dictionary (1961) gives us another definition stating that a gang is a band or group of persons who involve themselves in criminal or socially unacceptable behavior (1961:74). Female gang is simply a girl group or individuals who are involved in criminal activities and share the same names, symbols and signs as their identity. Female gangs do not have a visible leader and according to research that they tend to be fairly informal and they do not often have a visible leader. Campbell for example in the Huffs book on Gangs in America (1990) observes that in Los Angeles some gangs have veterinas or godmothers but she goes on to say that typically the members insist there is no leader and that decisions are made democratically. Campbells observation suggests that some girls clearly have more clout than others, but that this usually is not formalized as a leadership role. (1990: 178). In this review, I will discuss about female gangs drawing upon American research but with more emphasis on the rising phenomenon of female gangs in Britain. In order to accomplish my aim for this literature review, I will use primary sources, some secondary sources and other policy documents or government publications to enable me make conclusions and recommendations, identifying gaps in knowledge which may inspire other researchers into ideas for further research and also enable me to give my general opinion of how I feel about the social construction of female gangs by the media much of which I tend to disagree with. Literature Review Historical Background Many researchers and journalists have for a long time assumed that girls and women did not take part in criminal behaviors and therefore the issue of female gang has often been ignored. Campbells (1990) review on girl gangs states that, girls were defined solely in terms of their relations to male gang members (1990:166). Men have always been the point of concentration in investigating gang crimes and until recently, female gang members were seen as sex objects or tomboys. Literature has shown that researchers describe female gangs as weapon carriers for the male counterparts in addition, Moore and Hagedorn (2001) argue that even when describing female gang members as tomboys, researchers emphasized that the females motivations were focused on males (2001: 2). Looking at the UK context of female gangs, literature on girls and gangs has not been well developed because researchers in Britain have not seen the need to concentrate on female gangs (Campbell and Muncer, 1989; Sanders, 2002 ). According to Downes (1966); Parker (1974) and Scott (1956), the UK tried to apply American gang theories to address the problem of street gangs but these attempts failed over time leading to lack of data on gangs. This explains why there is no sound evidence as in the case of USA, for the proliferation of violent street gangs (Hallsworth and Young, 2008: 177). Female Involvement is not a new occurrence universally. In fact, there has been a lot of concern on the rise of female involvement in gang business over the years. Early studies found that there was a 50 percent increase in serious crimes by teenage gins between 1968 and 1974, compared to a 10 percent increase for boys and arrests of girls under 18 for violent crimes rose 393 percent between 1960 and 1978, compared to 82 percent for boys (CASA Website) . Miller (2001) compared youth gang involvement in 1950, and found out that youth gangs of the 1980s and 1990s are more numerous, more prevalent, and more violent than in the 1950s, probably more than at any time in the countrys history (2001: 263). In the early 1980s, Anne Campbell (1981) became interested and had concerns about female offenders which led her to conduct an investigation about the occurrences of violence amongst girls in Britain. Campbell, (1984) also did an investigation on female gangs in America and this led to her conclusions that the problem of female gangs was socially constructed. She criticized Britain for only concentrating on male gangs and ignoring female gangs and illustrated that in New York, women were very unlikely to organize in to gangs in big numbers because the female groups were only known to follow male groups (Campbell, 1995). Recent studies on girls and violence also shows that there has been an increase in violent and aggressive behaviour by girls and this has been catalyzed by media attention. Earlier on, people knew very little about girls violence because there was a belief that violence was solely committed by men. The study findings show very little evidence suggesting that girls are physically violent. Membership Academic research on gang membership in the UK is very sparse as mentioned earlier on and there is little evidence showing that young women have existential experience in committing violence. It has been difficult to ascertain the numbers of female gangs although there is a significant existence of the members. On the other hand, in the US, feminist researchers have tried to provide a more nuanced portrayal of the complex gender experiences of girls in gangs (Miller, 2001: 16). They have demonstrated that girls involvement in female gangs meets their gender expectations and experience heightened risks for physical and sexual victimization and also ascertains that gang membership provides them with a sense of belonging, giving them confidence and refuge from their abusive families (Campbell, 1990; Joe and Chesney-Lind, 1995; Joe Laidler and Hunt, 2001; Miller, 2001, 2008; Moore, 1991; Nurge, 2003). Many gangs appear to be more highly structured than delinquent groups but that does not disqualify the fact that they may still be seen as loosely organized. Several factors such as age, neighborhoods and so on are considered as the basis of gaining entry to these gangs or becoming a member. The gang sizes range from a member group of four or five and can go beyond a thousand. There have been different classification of gang groups such as the leaders, associates of the regulars then there are the peripheral members and finally the recruits. Most studies have shown that the reasons why females join gangs are because of friendship influence, it is seen as a form of solidarity and self affirmation. Research has indicated that those kids who grow up in dysfunctional families and whose parents are in prison may find it appropriate to join gang groups. Many youth gang formation is as a result of the present deteriorating economic conditions which are characterized by poor housing, lack of school structures and facilities and lack of laws that regulate violation of youth gangs. Being in a female gang may be a refuge from physical and sexual abuse at home. Young et al.s (2007) was involved in a research which directly involved girls and young women who had association with female gang and this gave him a different picture of their involvement. UK studies of female gangs have indicated that girls and young women are just portrayed as girlfriends to their male gang members but Young et als involvement in interviewing some of the females indicated that their groups were mainly composed of peers whose main reason for being together was plain friendship and denied that their groups were gangs. However in the US, Miller (2001) states that young womens group formation was through friendships from school, their house neighborhoods and not through any initiation rites to join these groups. Evidence uncovered by Young et al. (2007) stated that all the female groups interviewed referred to each other as their mates. Seven young women belonged to all-female groups and although they would periodically hang about with the local young men, this was not because these relationships with males were considered to be important or necessary. Indeed, from their testimonies it was evident that these women did not consider the males around them as friends or even friendly, nor did this group enter into intimate relationships with the young men they associated with. These young women determined when they associated with the males in their social circle and were not significantly influenced by the actions of males or male-dominated groups (Young et al., 2007: 143). A study conducted by Pitts in 2007 considers female membership in gangs as Reluctant Gangsters: Youth Gangs in Waltham Forest (Pitts, 2007). According to Pitts (2007), young women in gangs are often sexually exploited, sometimes in exchange for drugs and the relationships (they have with male members) tend to be abusive; one of dominance and submission and also some senior gang members pass their girlfriends around to lower ranking members and sometimes to the whole group at the same time (2007: 39). Pitts (2007) study states that the reason why young women, or girlfriends, are attracted to the gangs is mainly because they believe they can be glamorous or become celebrities within the group. It is unclear how members of female gangs are able to maintain long term roles and specific position given that the core members decide on the primary roles of the gang groups. Some members join the groups for a short period and others may move on to other gang groups after a certain period of ti me but in all these groups, the core members still remain in charge of the criminal activities. Statistics The most widely used data on female gangs has been from the nationwide surveys of law enforcement agencies. Miller (1975) stated that a survey conducted in the mid-1970s indicated that 10 percent of all gang members were estimated to be female and according to Spergel (1995), a national survey found that in 1992 only 3.7 percent of all gang members were female. This was due to the fact that 32 percent of the surveyed jurisdictions did not, as a matter of policy, identify females as gang members (Curry and Decker, 1998: 98). Four years later in 1996 there was an estimate that 11 percent and then 1998, 8 percent of all gangs were female (Moore and Terrett, 1998; National Youth Gang Center, 2000). It is noted that it is in small cities and rural areas where female gangs are more likely to be found and their ethnicities vary by regions (National Youth Gang Center, 2000). In 2003 the Channel 4 documentary Dispatches emphasized that the gang problem was increasingly spreading in the UK and as many as 30,000 gangs were functional and 57 percent included female members (Thompson, 2003). The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS, 2005) released the most recent figures with findings that there were 174 street gangs in London. In 2006 the MPS figures showed that there was a 66.6 per cent increase in gang membership raising the number of UK gangs to 50,000 of which 2500 of the total number were young women (MPS, 2006). The United States gang numbers according to recent police estimates indicate that there are 27,000 gangs with approximately 788,000 members (National Youth Gang Survey, 2007). According to these reports, there was a 25% increase in the reported numbers of gang and gang problems since the year 2001 where there was a low report on gang problems (National Gang Center, 2009). Curry, Fox, Ball, Stone (1992) and National Gang Center (2009) reported that in 2007 there were gang problems in large cities, 86% more than what was reported in 1983 which was at 50% when the gang problem was just beginning to grow. Media construction of female gangs Media representations on gangs and more specifically female gangs have played a very big role in informing the social reality by a social constructionist perspective. In the past two decades, gang crime activities have dominated the crime news and the quality of life among rural and urban dwellers has been eroded also, violent young females have been presented as a new and growing social problem(Batchelor, 2009:408). According to Batchelor (2009) girls have been perceived to be the same as boys especially in fighting to defend themselves (2009:400). Batchelor continues to argue that young women who involve themselves in male gangs have been used as carriers of weapons and drugs and in some cases the girls have been exploited sexually. News in the media has claimed that young women have acted as the heads of anti-social youth groups who commit crimes like rape, murder and violent robbery (Young, 2009). Many newspapers produce stories with an aim of attracting peoples attention and informing them on what they think the public want to read about thus making a lot of sales on the papers. The medias main interest had been to enhance its economic aspect by manipulating the public way of thinking about crime and its social context (Potter and Kappeler 1998). The main contribution of the media has been according to Best (1993:119), a contextual constructionism of gangs where the media makes certain choices of what to cover in the news which contributes to the social construction of the reality. Crime narratives and representations are, and have always been, a prominent part of the content of all mass media( Reiner, 2007:305), with sources such as newspapers and television documentaries playing a central role in creating public perceptions of crime and therefore influencing their perceptions about the extent of crime and the risk of suffering it (Treadwell, 2006:77). Media reports especially in the UK have not been backed up by concrete evidence on the wider female gang problems. The Centre for Social Justice (2009) states that media coverage has, at times, been suggestive of an epidemic in gang-related youth violence (2009:19). In the UK, television headlines and documentaries relating to gang violence and the coming up of girl gangs has been dominant and that has not been different in the case of USA where it has been reported that gang groups are armed, dangerous and prepared to kill (Hallsworth and Young, 2008:176). Despite the fact that gangs and gang activity has been seen as a social problem to society and despite the regular convictions from the news that has shaped such problems, a comprehensive and systematic analysis of newspaper coverage of gangs and societys war on gangs has not been undertaken. There have been extraordinary cases of female violence reported. For example the reported case of a frenzied attack of eight strangers which was enacted by Chelsea OMahoney, who was the only female member of Sergeant Crew, in conjunction with her male friends (Laville, 2005). This case signifies that there are existing modern girl gang members who offend the law. The press gave an impression that made the public perceive the girl involved as aggressive and one capable of extreme behaviour, a trouble maker who causes havoc in and out of her group and catalyses others to be involved in aggressive behaviour (Thompson ,2003). In the next section, I will analyze the literature review and the medias perception towards female gangs. I will explore the information given in order to see if there is a disconnect between what the media says and what the reality is about female gangs. This will aid me in making proper conclusion about the media construction of female gangs. Analysis It has been argued that reports on female gangs offending the law is very low compared to male offenders and noted that female violence is a relatively rare occurrence according to crime statistics. Various authors like Campbell (1995) have stated that Britain for many years had not developed any research on female gangs whereas in New York, female groups were only seen as followers of their male counterparts and could not possibly form gang groups to organize crimes. On the other hand, the press has had much to write on the papers and commentate in news about girl gangsters especially in the last ten years. According to Tara (2009) there have been news reports contending that young women are traditionally engaged in violent crimes. Reports have in excess claimed that many anti-social youth groups are now headed by young women and they commit crime such us rape, murder and robbery. Honigsbaum (2006) states that young women in the UK are cited to be amongst the most violent and aggres sive in the world. It is clear that there have been a few empirical studies on female gang membership especially in the UK although the media coverage of violent offences committed by young women has created a certain perception towards the girl gangsters. This construction of female gangs has also been through the statistical evidence that has been provided by officials from the law enforcement department. Comparing the literature on female gangs and what the media has had to say about this topic, it is evident that there have been gaps in research on female participation in gangs in the UK which is the same case as the American gang literature where else, the media has been successful in socially constructing the girl gangs even though its evidence is very scant. Over the years, most researchers have concentrated on investigating the male gangs, studying the criminal behaviour of men and ignoring the female counterparts. According to Pitts (2007), the female gangs have not been recognized or in some cases, research has been conducted in reference to the experience of men. In reality, female gangs have been in existence for decades but it has been difficult to come up with the true picture of the problem. In the case of UK, there have been claims that currently young women are more likely to engage in street gangs and these women are more likely to engage in serious violent crime. This information is not substantial because the media seems to exaggerate this kind of violent crime thus shaping the public perceptions of gangs. There is a problem of statistic as well. It has been noted that female gangs exist in larger cities but there is no evidence to suggest that female crime is a national problem, therefore the true problem cannot be identified. Unrealistic public attitudes towards girls gangs have been the order of the day because there has been misrepresentation of girls lives and this according to Batchelor (2001) has created a misdirected public policy. The media has been fond of relying on simple statistics and typical gang cases that have no evidence and this has complicated the discussions of complex socio-specific contexts of violence in girls lives (Batchelor, 2001). Young womens genuine problems continue to be marginalized and ignored as the media continues to give wrong information to the public thus making the girls become a problem. Batchelor (2005); Coy (2008) suggest that it is important that any steps taken to address problems of gang involvement by young women should be from the reality and should be able to acknowledge the yo ung women are active agents and victims. As I have discussed above ,most of the violence that is experienced by girls and young women, as both perpetrators and victims, takes place within either the family or their friendship group. This means that social work and probation practitioners need to give careful attention to the familial and peer contexts of young womens offending, putting in mind that both groups can be concurrently harmful and protective. (Batchelor, 2005) argues that if we are to working towards effecting change in young women offenders lives, we need to maximize on their involvement and participation in various positive activities. These activities should enable them relate well with their families and friends and also the social work teams in order to have positive relations. There is need for accessible and affordable leisure activities which can be effective in occupying the girls and young womens minds and address some specific needs like bullying and victimization. It could be argued that research in to the phenomena of the girl gang especially in the UK is barely adequate thus making it difficult to make quantifying conclusion of the girl gang problem. Much of this essay clearly states that crime statistics show that compared to male offending female violence is a relatively rare occurrence (Young, 2009:224), and any rise in female violence may not always be gang related. I will conclude this essay by indicating that a lot of information represented by the media is just assumptions with no evidence to back it and researchers can do more towards looking more into the problem. Conclusion There seems to be no concrete theory as to why girls of women get involved in violent crimes but there have been various factors that have been cited to have played a major role in influencing them to join gang activities. Parental negligence, poverty, teenage pregnancies, lack of education, ill health, early involvement in sexual activities and peer group influence are some of the factors that drive these girls and women into gangs. Researchers, the law enforcement system, school, community based programmes and families have ignored the fact that female gangs exist and have confined young female to victimization and this has resulted to the rise of female violence. This essay has considered the background information of female gangs, the definition of gang and female gang, the key debates surrounding these gangs in relation to literature written, also the media construction of female gangs and the myths as portrayed by the society. It is argued that many researchers have ignored females as gangs and the notion seems to be that female gangs and their members are pale imitations of male gangs (Spergel, 1995: 90). Due to lack of research, facts that have been written and reproduced in books about female gangs are based on journalists and probation officers reports and also the statements given by the male gang members. Looking at the past and current research on female gangs, it is clear that they do exist in the UK and the USA although the statistics given are socially constructed due to the fact that the gang related cases are underreported. Reliable statistics may show that the problem of female gangs is not as large as the media portrays it to be and with the media catalyzing the problem, it may have negative consequences such as labeling to girls and young women. Media reports fuelling a moral panic can also have an impact on how the community and the government responds to female gangs thus failing to tackle the needs of these female groups. I will conclude by saying that it would be important for researchers to further explore the problem of female gangs because I completely agree that they exist and need attention otherwise the problem will get out of hand if ignored. The media should stop exaggerating facts on female gangs and concentrate on finding out the true picture of these gangs.