Friday, September 6, 2019
The Psychometrical Properties of the De-Sypher Personality Questionnaire Test Essay Example for Free
The Psychometrical Properties of the De-Sypher Personality Questionnaire Test Essay Introduction            Psychometrical Psychology is concerned with the measurement of human behavior through tests. Psychometrists design and administer intelligence, aptitude, and personality tests and analyze statistical data derived from these tests.            Personality is a person’s characteristics behavior pattern. Many people think of personality as being made up observable traits such as shyness, friendliness, and initiative. However, such traits are only the outward expression of various inner conditions and processes such as intelligence, attitudes, interests, and motives. Many psychologists include these inner elements in their definitions of personality.            Normal persons develop relatively consistent personalities that are distinguished by certain dominant traits. Persons belonging to the same cultural groupâ€â€such as family or nationâ€â€have many traits in common. But each person exhibits different traits under different circumstances, and each has unique traits as well as those he or she shares with others. It is also known that personalities develop throughout life, and may even undergo fundamental changes as a result of psychotherapy or other treatment (Moskowitz, 2005).  For these reasons, psychologists do not believe that personalities can be rigidly classified according to type. Background How Personality is formed            Personality is produced by the interaction of heredity and environment. Inborn qualities affect the individual’s response to the outside world, and the environment influences the way in which inborn capacities develop. However, the precise reasons why one person develops certain personality traits, while another develops other traits, are not known.            Studies of personality origins are limited by the difficulty of making controlled experiments on human behavior. Except for identical twins, no two persons have exactly the same biological inheritance, and even identical twins do not share exactly the same biological inheritance, and even identical twins do not share exactly the same environment. Parents and others respond to each twin differently, providing each with a unique emotional setting. Inherited Traits            Inherited traits such as structure, skin color, and type of hairâ€â€play a part in personality only if given a meaning by the environment. For example, an extremely tall boy may develop either shyness or self-confidence, according to whether he is teased because of his height or praised for using it to advantage in playing basketball.            The structure and function of the nervous and glandular systems are inherited qualities having a more direct effect upon personality. Intelligence, talents, and skills are largely dependent upon these systems. However, the effects of even these qualities can be modified by the environment (Dana, 1999). External Influences            External Influences include both physical environment (climate, geography) and social environment (other individuals, and human institutions). Social influences are considered to be a greater importance in personality formation. Most psychologists believe that basic personality traits are acquired in early childhood, and that the family is therefore of primary importance in forming an individual’s personality.            Wider cultural groups such as tribes and nations set up rules, values, and goals, and thus influence personality formation. Diversity within large groups is produced by subcultures such as social and economic classes and religious groups. III. Discussion Definition of personality            Psychologists have approached these tasks using a wide variety of research methods (Craik, 2005). Knowledge about people’s personalities can be obtained from their everyday conduct, as is the case in field studies. People also reveal themselves through the products of their imaginations, and this technique is used when personality tests known as projective tests are given to people. A straightforward approach to gathering personality data is to ask people to fill out self-report inventories about their characteristics. With this method, two risks are apparent: People may not be fully aware of what they are like; and if they are, they may wish to cover up some of the flaws they perceive. We gain information of a different sort about personality when we ask others for their impressions of specific people. This technique is known as the use of observer reports in research. Life histories, such as those biographies and autobiographies, and archival material, such as Van Gogh’s letters, provide a rich source of data on particular individuals for the study of personality. Clinical case histories, on which many of the major theories are based, fall into this category. The most carefully controlled information is maximized in laboratory studies; it is sometimes at the expense of naturalistic experiences.            No single source of information about personality is the ideal, correct source. All these methods are important for obtaining information about personality. Published research on personality, however, relies heavily on self-report inventories and laboratory studies with limited samples of people. Between 1990 and 2000, 85% of the research published in major journals used these two methods, and approximately two thirds of the research used undergraduate samples (Craik, 2005). However, there has been a trend in recent years toward greater use of biographical material, sometimes referred to as psychobiography, in the study of personality (Alexander, 2000). Assessment of personality            Most people have implicit views of what personality is, just as they have implicit definitions of intelligence. Many different theories of personality exist. Different theories of personality have been based on different assumptions about human nature; on studies with diverse populationsâ€â€clients seeking treatment, healthy, and happy adults, rats and pigeons; and on different focuses of analysis, such as emotions, behaviors, and cognitions.            Assessment of personality characteristics therefore depends heavily upon which type of personality theory is selected as the focus of study. Psychoanalytic theorists, for example, who subscribe to notions of the power they believe that major elements of personality are hidden even from the individual under study, only indirect methods of assessment are appropriate. Behaviorists, on the other hand, are likely to approach personality directly by observing characteristics behaviors. Psychoanalytic theorists are more likely to look for traits; behaviorists are more likely to look for situational measures for personality. The assessment of personality is, therefore, a complicated business. Indeed, the enterprise of assessing personality is big business. There are now hundreds of tests designed to measure aspects of human personality (Piotrowski, 2004). Self-Report Inventories            The most frequent used instruments for assessing personality are self-report inventories, which require individuals to answer a series of questions about themselves. One assumption underlying self-report inventories is that people know themselves better than anyone else knows them, and that they are therefore in the best position to provide personality information. Self-report inventories often contain a very large number of items that can be grouped into various categories of personal functioning (Janis, 1999). The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory            The most widely used self-report inventory is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, or MMPI, which we briefly described earlier. The MMPI consists of more than 500 statements the individuals must respond to as being either â€Å"true†or â€Å"false†with respect to themselves, or indicate that they â€Å"cannot say.†The items cover a very large territory, ranging from family and marital issues to psychosomatic symptoms and political attitudes. Three sample items are:                        At times I fell like swearing.                        I like to flirt.                        I believe I am being plotted against.            The MMPI yields scores on the 10 subscales and 3 response-tendency subscales. The MMPI is described as an empirical scale, which means that the items actually differentiate among groups of people. The MMPI differentiates between those who have been diagnosed as abnormal and those who have not. The procedure for establishing an empirical scale is fairly straightforward. A group of clinical patients is selected to take the test. Their pattern of answers to the questions is compared to that of a group of normal individuals who also take the test. Items that differentiate between the two groups then form the basis for that subscale. With the MMPI, for example, paranoid patients are much more likely than normal people to answer true to the item â€Å"I believe I am being plotted against.†There is often some logic to the grouping of items, as in the preceding example; however, as long as they differentiate between the grouped empirically, items can be included on the subscale whether or not demonstrate any theoretical relevance (MacDonald, 2004).            The MMPI has proved to be an enormously popular test that has gone beyond its original purpose of differentiating between individuals. Today it is frequently used as a test of personality functioning for normal populations. The subscales consist of items grouped under misleading or even obsolete labels, however. Because of the purposes of the test have shifted, and because technical problems with the test and its standardization have arisen, the MMPI has undergone revision. Items have been updated and reworded to eliminate sexist language. The original item pool has been supplemented with about 150 new items, and the entire test is being standardized in two forms, one for adolescents and one for adults (Anastasi, 2000). New items on the adult form address areas of psychopathology that were not covered in the original, and the adolescent form covers specific problems of adolescence. Other Self-Report Inventories            A host of other self-report inventories assess characteristics that are related to personality. These include personality inventories for use with normal individuals, such as the California Psychological Inventory; sex-role inventories, such as the Bem Sex-Role Inventory; values scales, such as the Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study of Values; and even scales designed to assess the need for thrill seeking, such as Zuckerman’s Sensation Seeking Scale. All self-report inventories are similar in that individuals fill out the scales about themselves. They also share a common problem in that many of the characteristics can be faked (Korchin, 2001). It is usually obvious which answer is most socially desirable, so that an individual who is motivated to do so can choose only the desirable answers, in order to look good.            In some cases an individual might even want to pick the answers likely to make him or her look bad, as in the case of a person charged with a crime who wanted to be judged insane. Some self-report inventories, most notably the MMPI, contain a â€Å"lie scale,†several items that almost everyone who is telling the truth would answer as false. (Potential lie-scale items might be â€Å"I never tell a lie†or â€Å"I have never been angry with a close relative.†) A person who answers a large proportion of these items as true is assumed to be lying on the other parts of the test as well. The MMPI â€Å"correction score†is composed of a set of items that indicate attempts by the test taker to fake a good score (Morgan, 1999). Conclusion            Self-report inventories are easily administered and provide a quick assessment of some aspects of personality. Their very ease of use has led to a problem of overuse. Some employers, for example, require personality tests such as the MMPI before an employee can be hired. The test was never designed as a screening device for employment and should not be used for such purposes. The availability of computer-based scoring and interpretation of the MMPI increases the risks for such abuse, because interpretation is complex and should be done only by trained clinicians. Reference: Alexander, I. (2000). Personality, psychological assessment, and psychobiography. Journal of Personality, 56, 265-294. Anastasi, A. (2000). Psychological testing (10th edition). Evolving concepts of test validation. Annual Review of Psychology, 37, 1-15. Craik, K. (2005). Personality research methods: An historical perspective. Journal of Personality, 54, 18-51. Dana, R.H. (1999). The Rorschach. In O.K. Buros (Ed.). The eighth mental measurement yearbook (pp. 1040-1042). Highland Park, NJ: Gryphon press. Janis, I.L. (1999). Personality: Dynamics, development, and assessment. New York: Harcourt, Brace World. Korchin, S.J. (2001). The future of clinical assessment. American Psychologist, 36, 1147-1158. MacDonald, K. (2004). Bridging the gap: Parent-child play interaction and peer interactive competence. Child Development, 55, 1265-1277. Morgan, A.H. (1999). A method of investigating fantasies: The Thematic Apperception Test. Archives Neurological Psychiatry, 34, 289-306. Moskowitz, D. (2005). Comparison of self-reports, reports by knowledgeable informants, and behavioral observation data. Journal of Personality, 54, 294-317. Piotrowski, C. (2004). Pscyhodiagnostic testing in APA-approved clinical psychology programs. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 15, 450-456.
Thursday, September 5, 2019
The Involvement Of Government In Community Sports Tourism Essay
The Involvement Of Government In Community Sports Tourism Essay Introduction: In this modern society, the development of sports has become one of the most significance aim for nations, especially for developing the professional sports and promoting participation of the mass sport. Governments establish the policies for promoting the development of sports in communities is good for the people health benefits and economic development. Therefore, the intervention of government into the community sports plays a critical role for the success of community sports. Background: Until late 1950s or early 1960s, numbers of countries have the purpose of government intervention in sport is to specific problems such as poor standards of health in urban areas (Houlihan, 1997). Nowadays, the purposes of the government intervention in sports have broadened, which is not just for providing people physical or psychological need, but also for the business purpose. Governments establish the public sport facilities in communities and urban in order to give more opportunities to participate in sports and develop the atmosphere of sports, in addition, the image of communities or urban will be improved apparently like small city Wimbledon as famous as tennis holding , and the international winter competitions in Innsbruck. In terms of economy, it can provide a lot of profits for nation, such as big events Olympic Games and World Cup, in addition to them, community sports can be a potential way to stimulate the development of economy as well, particular in the sport subcult ure, attract more people who come from foreign countries. Arguments for the reasons of government involvement: Having a famous community sport events, which enhance other industries development and such as tourism, hospitality, etc. In addition, the volunteer works play a critical role in the community sports competition, because they can help the operation of organization sports successfully. The development of elite sports can be connected to the community sports because it can cultivate ergastic talents from the community sport , which is good for the development of elite sports. Although communities sports have a promising prospect through the ways of government involvement, the negative aspects should not be ignored such as market fail, negative externalities and Tragedy of the Commons. In the social problems, the rates of crime might be increased. Hence, all of the negative aspects in the development of community sports that the governments have to overcome it. Benefits effects: Social benefits from community sports: People can get benefits from Participating in the community sports, which are the physical activity improving and health care reduction. In Australia, according to the data shows that people doing sports in communities can get health costs reduce $1.49 billion per year; and productivity gains by making the workforce healthier through increased physical activity could be as much as 1% of GDP (or $12 billion) per year. (Frontier Economics report, 2010). It can be seen that doing sports in communities that it is not only can get physical health, but also increasing the GDP. On the other hand, people can socialize with others during the competitions of community sports, in the meanwhile, the voluntary works can be enhanced by the opportunities of sports competition in the communities, which can develop the elite sports significantly. In Australia, government inputs the volunteers as value as almost $4 billion (Frontier Economics report, 2010). This is a worthwhile intervention by the Aus tralian government, because they can enhance the development of the elite sports and also reduce government spending. Therefore, governments play an important role to encourage people to engage in community sports, and increase the volunteer works. Positive externalities With the involvement of governments in community sport events, community sports have been strengthen, the holding of sport events can get benefits for host community, because the community sport is not just for the purposes of recreation and physical health, it has become common tool for local and regional economic development (Brien, 2007). There are several industries could be enhanced such as sport tourism industry, restaurants, hotels, nightspots and transportation facilities (Peter Tarlow, 2010). Sport tourism is most important industry, in Australia sport tourism might represent about 5% of the overall tourism market, equating to tourism expenditure of about $3 billion per annum (Commonwealth of Australia, 2000). government control the community sports development as the sport subculture is very important, because people to participate in the community sports is more likely to know the subculture of sports, and it is more attractive for foreigners. In Australia, sport occupies a central place within culture and identity, based on a long history of achievement across a wide range of sports (Commonwealth of Australia, 2000). Moreover, establish more infrastructures in community will enhance the development of tourism, because it is very important to retain tourists. In Australia, the Prime Minister, the Hon Kevin Rudd MP announced that 220 million funding for the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program (RLCIP) would be made available to build and modernize community facilities, including town halls, libraries, community centres, sports grounds and environmental infrastructure (Australian government, 2010). . Government involves in the community sport events and infrastructures have more changelings for the governments, because it decides other industries whether it develops rapidly or not. Sport policy in the community sports The development of community sports is not only for improving the regional the levels of regional and nation, also there is more meaningful that the relationship between countries can be improved due to the exchange between culture and sports. For example, in the early 1970s, in order to have a good thawing between East and West, USA sent a table-tennis to China, which is the first step to traditional diplomatic relations (Houlihan, 1991). Table-tennis can be a national identity of China, USA used the way of exchange between sport and culture in order to have sport culture exchange and promote the friendship between these two countries. Therefore, government strength the national identity started from the community sports, because they have basic level, and in order to have advancement for the development of nation identity. In Australian, the most representative sports are rugby, cricket and surfing, etc. government has support these sports increasingly in the communities. In Austra lian community sport policy also focus on children participation, which develops the grass roots sport, and encouraging all students to get healthy and physically active, which means it helps students combat obesity and preventable diseases later in life through the Australian Sport Commissions Active After-school Communities (Australia Sport Commission, 2010). Negative effects Negative externalities Government involve in community sports level has achieved a lot of positive outcomes. However, the negative outcomes in the community sport that governments have to overcome its. Having a good community sport will attract a large numbers of people to participate in, but it leads to environmental pollution raised. The governments have to solve this problem, because it can lose interesting among the spectators and participants. In addition, the hooligans and vandalism in community sport facilities are serious problems which result in public property loss, according to the Coffs Harbor City Council report that they started to strengthen measures to reduce vandalism in community sport facilities, and almost spent to the city more than $100,000 each year (Coffs Harbour City Council report, 2004). Hence, governments play an important role to reduce the vandalisms and hooligans. Naturally, increasing numbers of participants will attend because of the safety guarantee. With the development of community sports, increasing numbers of people participate in community sport because there are a lot of public sport facilities and services exist. As a result, the fitness industry will be threatened potentially, because fitness industry is beyond the budget for people who can get low incomes especially for the students, so have a good community sport facilities will give them more opportunities to do sports, even though the fitness industry has more professional guidance and facilities. Therefore, the government intervention in fitness industry is necessarily, and cultivates more talents for encouraging the development of fitness industry. In Canada, Fitness increased concern among physical educators and health lifestyle and the government supported $5million per annum to cultivate these kinds of talent (Houlihan, 1997). Tragedy of the Commons With the development of society, the use of land has become competitive because more and more companies and factories tend to use larger space to develop themselves, and also the land-ownership play an essential role for industry of real estate. It can be seen that increasing numbers of buildings have built for the business companies or government sectors. Therefore, establish more sport venues and sport infrastructures in public are not very easy, because the land area is limited. If establish in the country areas, it will lead to restrict the development of agriculture. Therefore, the development of community sports will be limited, because there is no much more space to do sports for people. Especially in China, the populations were increased rapidly during the last years, so the people who live in the city, the sport facilities in public is not enough due to the increasing of populations, naturally, the sport fields is not enough as well. Hence, the governments have to interventi on in space of community sport areas, which means give rights to broaden the space in sport areas, and more chances for people engaging in sports. Conclusion: Anyway, the governments involved in community sports for couple of reasons which include social benefits, positive and negative externalities, community sport promotion and Tragedy of the Commons for the community sports. So no matter what reasons are, that the governments intervene to the community sports for three main purposes which are people physical healthy, the development of nation economy and the elite sports. Specifically, the governments involvement is for encouraging and assisting the development of community sports. First of all, People doing community sport is not only reducing the health costs, but also having more opportunities to socialize. Secondly, to develop the volunteer works and community level sports are very important for the elite sports, because community sports is being a basic level, and there are many people who are cultivatable and promising for the elite sports. Volunteer works can be a construction of underpin for the elite sport levels. In terms of children health, governments encourage them to participate in community sports in order to reduce the diseases and obesity for them. In addition, Sport policy is good for promoting the nationals relationship such as sport and culture exchange between USA and China. Moreover, enhancing the development other industries take advantage of the opportunities of holding of the community sport events, like tourism and hospitalit y, etc. However, there are a lot of negative aspects in the community sports such as hooligans and vandalisms, environment pollution and Tragedy of the Commons, all of the negative aspects that governments have to cope with it as quickly as possible.
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Scenario Of Smoking And Cigarettes Health And Social Care Essay
Scenario Of Smoking And Cigarettes Health And Social Care Essay According to Mackay and Eriksen (2002), since early 20th century, when cigarette was first manufactured, there has been a steady increase in the number of cigarette consumers throughout the whole world. Although there are ups and downs in the graph of cigarette consumption level in certain countries, the number of people who smoke around the world continues to rise and more cigarettes are being consumed every day. As the human race populations keep on expanding and become larger, so will the number of smokers in the world. It is expected that at least 2 billion people will live in this planet smoking cigarette by year 2030. The number of people who smokes will continue to increase, even as the prevalence rates drop. Female smokers are growing in numbers, particularly in developing countries, which will fill the gap of decrease in the prevalence rates among male smokers Goddard (2008), in another study found out that from 1974 until 1982, the popularity of smoking in Great Britain had fallen significantly, from 45% to 35%. This decrease however, began to slow down, where for every two years only approximately one percentage of the rate fell down until 1994 to 27%. The general decrease in smoking popularity mentioned above was caused by decline of both light smokers and heavy smokers. Here, light smokers are identified as people who smoke less than 20 cigarettes per day whereas heavy smokers are people who smoke more than 20 cigarettes per day. There has been a decrease on the number of adult smokers who consume average 20 or more cigarettes per day from 1974 to 2006 with the percentage of 26% and 8% respectively. Over the same period, the female smokers also showed a decline in number from 13% to 5%. Meanwhile, in Mexico, a decrease in smoking trends occurred at the offset of 20th century especially on exposure of smoking, daily smoking consumption as well as smoking frequency among the society, especially among men. In addition, smoking popularity and smoking frequency has shown a significant decline particularly among adult smokers in both genders compared to the younger smokers. Nonetheless, men are facing a worse smoking situation compared to women in both mentioned areas. However, during year 2002, it was found out that daily female smokers smoked more cigarettes than men (Franco-Marina, 2007). Surprisingly, in worldwide, nearly one billion men, consists about 35% in developed countries and another 50% in developing countries, are smokers. The rate of male smoking across the world had reached its peak but is slowly declining. Nevertheless, there declining rate is very slow compared to the current effects it has on human. Although more and more researches had been conducted to reveal the negative impacts of smoking, currently the decrease has been slow. In overall, the ones who give up the smoking habit come from those who are educated and so smoking becomes more popular among poorer and less educated man. (Mackay and Eriksen, 2002). Concern over health issues related to tobacco usage is not a new issue. According to Shafey (2003), not only that health concern is increasing, presently the dominance of smoking also began shifting to low-income and middle-income countries especially in many Asian countries (as cited in Parkinson et al., 2009). This is true especially when tobacco usage among human has become a global outbreak. Cigarettes are manufactured with the amount of five and a half trillion for every one year. This is enough to feed everyone on earth about approximately 1,000 cigarettes for each one of them. The largest tobacco consumers identified are Asia, Australia and the Far East with consumption of 2,715 billion cigarettes, before the Americas with 745 billion cigarettes, Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Economies with 631 billion cigarretes and Western Europe with 606 billion cigarettes (Mackay and Eriksen, 2002). Situation in Malaysia however, is slightly different. According to National Health Morbidity Survey (1986 and 1996), the prevalence of smoking among Malaysian adults has increased from 39% to 49% (as cited in Shahidan et al., 2002). National Health and Morbidity Survey (1996) also states the occurrence of tobacco consumption is roughly 24.8% and among all men, 49.2% of them are smokers, whereas for women only 3.5% of them are smoke (as cited in Parkinson et al., 2009). Meanwhile according to statistic in PROSTAR (2007), in 2000 there are 3.6 million smokers in Malaysia and by 2025, it is speculated that the total will increase to 4.6 million (as cited in Kim et al., 2009). Even though currently no clear evidence exists, some survey had identified that smoking among teenagers is increasing nowadays. (Parkinson et al., 2009). However, according to Thambypillai (1985); Shamsuddin Haris (2000); Naing et al. (2004) and Ahmad et al. (1997), there are no significant changes of trends for t eenage smoking. Several surveys done in different regions found out that smoking habit among male teenagers was between 17% to 36% meanwhile for female it was between 1% to 5% (as cited in Lim et al., 2006). 2.1 Reasons for Smoking According to Baker et al. (2002), smokers give almost the same justifications or rationales for smoking. Apparently, majority of them regard smoking activity as a form of relaxation and a way to cope with stress. It is also an addictive habit which presents smokers with good feelings and lessens the bad feelings through the effects of nicotine. In a way smokers consider cigarette as a helpful tool to them although they are aware of its negative effects. This is consistent with the research done by KaÃ…Å ¸ikà §i et al. (2008) in which they stated that smoking is one way for smokers to have pleasure while at the same time relaxing themselves or easing their stress. Moreover, British American Tobacco Malaysia (2010) reported that an important aspect experienced by smokers comes from the pharmacological effect of nicotine a mild stimulant effect not unlike that of caffeine, and a mild relaxing effect. Baker et al. (2002) also stated that serious cigarette smokers are addicted to to bacco, which lead them to smoke heavily whereas light smokers smoke more for social purpose. On the other hand, according to Jarvis (2004), during early adolescent is a period where people like to experiment with smoking due to psychosocial reason. For people who just started smoking, a cigarette is a symbolic way of saying that they are no longer their mothers child and a way of showing that they are mature. Children who have tendency to smoke usually come from environment that promotes smoking culture. Such environment includes situation where family members and peers are smokers or where smoking is considered common in school and in society. They also have tendency to smoke due to their own internal or external conditions such having low self esteem, overweight, psychologically impaired, or having poor achievement at school. Moreover, it is believed that there is a distinguishable pattern among smokers from different gender group. Parkinson et al. (2009), conform to this idea in which the findings of his study revealed that males tend to believe that smoking makes people look more attractive compared to women and see smoking as a mark of being modern. Furthermore, both genders also similarly tend to believe that by smoking they can control their body weight. This finding however contradicts with Western studies by Cavallo (2006), where the data showed that male teenagers do not worry about their weight as much as female teenagers and so are less likely smoke in order to control weight than females (as cited in Parkinson et al., 2009). 2.2 Review of Related Studies The smoking rate for university students is rising gradually in Turkey as well as the world (KaÃ…Å ¸ikà §i et al., 2008). A research by Cooper et al. (2004) said that there is an increase for the rate of smoking in Turkey in which 64% of the increase is among the men and 23% of it is women. Abolfutuoh et al. (1998) states 40% of the students in Education Council are heavy smokers and only 23% of the Medicine Council students smoke. Meanwhile, Kader and Alsadi (2008) found that most of the students are light smokers (50.6%). They also said that students in the medical school tend to smoke less than their friends in other faculties. Surprisingly, a study by Kypri and Baxter (2004) said that the smoking pattern is higher among Maori women than men, in which the women tend to smoke daily. Sharker (2005) in his study about knowledge, attitude and practice on smoking among students and staff in Universiti Putra Malaysia states that 13.7% from respondents who smoke comes from students while 9.9% was comes from the staff. He also found that Indians and Malays were among the highest percentage due to ethnic groups which comprises of 12.7% and 11.6% respectively; meanwhile Hindus and Muslim were among the highest percentage due to religious group which equal to 13% and 11.9% respectively. According to Azlan (2006) in his study on smoking among secondary school students in Kuantan, the smoking percentage was 43%; with 63.5% comes from males and 17.5% comes female. This study is quite similar to the study done by Rapeah et al. (2008) whereby almost half of the respondents in her study on factors influencing smoking behaviours among male adolescents in Kuantan were smokers (45.8%) and Malays were contribute up to 53.1%. A cross-sectional study of 16-year old secondary school students in Kota Tinggi district reported that 29.7% from the respondents were found to be smoking and the highest percentage of male smokers comes from FELDA (Federal Land Development Authority) areas which comprises of more than 50% (Lim et al., 2006). Meanwhile, the study done by Shahidan et al. (2002) on smoking habits among secondary school students in Kedah reported that the average age for smoking and non-smoking groups were 16 years old the research has reveal that the age of onset smoking among respondents began as early as 13 years old. According to KaÃ…Å ¸ikà §i et al. (2008), 40.2% of the final grade students at the AtatÃ…Â ©rk University smoked. 56.5% from that said that they smoke to release tense while 24.6% smoke for pleasure. Abolfutuoh et al. (1998) states that curiosity was the main reason for initiation of smoking among students in medical students at the University College of Medicine and students of the College of Education. There are findings found in a research by Kader and Alsadi (2008) that say the students smoke because it helps them to concentrate as well as calm them down. They also said that students smoke because they also want to cope with stress and social anxieties. Kypri and Baxter (2004) also stated that students smoke because it helps them to relax. According to Shahidan et al. (2002), matured, attractive and classy are among the reasons students start smoking with percentage of 70.0%, 62.2% and 54.0% respectively. Meanwhile, Sharker (2005) found that the main reason for the onset of smoking among students and staff in Universiti Putra Malaysia was just for fun and it was comprises of 54.2%. In addition, Azlan (2006) revealed that the main reason for students to smoke is because of the influences of friends. Rapeah et al. (2008) states that wanted to try received the highest frequency among reasons for smoking with percentage of 68.9% and peer influence follows behind with percentage of 56.1%. Nonetheless, nearly 70% of the respondents disagrees that trendy is the reason for initiating smoking. There are also findings found in a research by Khairani et al. (2007) that say curiosity and peer pressure are the most common reasons for starting smoking with percentage of 69.3% and 51% respectively. On the other hand, the most frequent reason for continuing smoking reported was stress with percentage of 70% followed by addiction with percentage of 49%. KaÃ…Å ¸ikà §i et al. (2008) stated that one of the factors that encourage the students to smoke is the parents of the students. Most of the students who smoke have fathers and brothers who smoke as well. Friends are also one of the factors that lead to smoking habit among the students. These findings are quite similar with the study by Shahidan et al. (2002) which conducted in Kedah. Their research stated that family members and peers who smoke have great influence to students to start smoking. There is twice higher risk for students who come from smoking family to smoke than those who are not. In addition, there are nearly six times higher risks of smoking for student who have peers who are smokers than those who do not have peers who smoke. Same goes to the study by Khairani et al. (2007), which found out significant connection between smoking among family members and teenager smoking. Sharker (2005) reported that the popularity of smoking was linked with race, family, age, religious, economic status as well as peers smoking habits. These findings are consistent with the study done by Azlan (2006) on the prevalence of smoking among secondary school students and its associated factors in the district of Kuantan. Meanwhile, according to Lim et al. (2006), smoking is associated with factors such as having low academic achievement as well as having a lot of close friends and siblings who smoke. Another finding also discovers that respondents who smoke are linked with factors which are attitude towards smoking, type of class stream and having smoking friends (Rapeah et al., 2008). In addition, among the main factors for students to start smoking are showing off, curiosity and pressure from peers (Abolfutuoh et al., 1998).
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
An Analysis of Blakes The School Boy Essay -- Blake The School Boy
An Analysis of Blake's The School Boy     'The School Boy' is a typical example of Blake's Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience in it's themes and imagery. Like many of the other poems in this work it deals with childhood and the subjugation of it's spirit and uses imagery from the natural world. While first published in 1789 as one of the Songs of Innocence there are strong reasons why Blake moved it to the Experience1 section of the 1794 edition. If we compare it to other poems in the collection it sits better with others in Experience than those in Innocence. On first reading 'The School Boy' is the voice of a young boy complaining of being shut inside at his schoolwork instead of playing outside in the sun. When we look at the poem further we can see that the poet is returning to the theme of childhood subjugated and its natural joy destroyed that can be seen in other poems in the collection such as 'The Chimney Sweeper' in Experience with its comparison of the child who was 'happy on the heath' to now "Crying ''weep! 'weep!' in notes of woe!" . The poem begins in Stanza I with the poet giving us a pastoral image of the innocence of nature reminiscent of that in 'The Introduction' from Innocence, some critics have pointed out the similarity of 'The distant huntsman winds his horn' in this poem with 'Piping down the valleys wild' in 'The Introduction' of Innocence2 . The poem gives us an image of rising with the company of many natural joys, not just the huntsman but 'birds sing on every tree' and 'the sky-lark sings with me.' It is in Stanza II that we see the oppression of the natural by authority typical of Experience and continued through the rest of the poem. This stanza compares the pastoral imagery... ...glewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1966. Hyland, Dominic, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. Harlow: Longman York Press, 1982. Notes To avoid confusion between the 1789 edition Songs of Innocence and the Songs of Innocence section of the 1794 combined edition I have shortened the section names to Innocence and Experience throughout and refer to the 1789 edition as Songs of Innocence and the 1794 edition Songs Of Innocence and Of Experience as the 1794 edition where it is necessary to draw a distinction. One example is found in D. Hyland, William Blake Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience (Harlow: Longman York Press, 1982), p. 48 William Blake, Songs Of Innocence and Of Experience, (London: Rupert Hart Davis, 1967) plate 53 . D. Hyland, William Blake Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience (Harlow: Longman York Press, 1982), p. 48  Â
Analysis of I dont kiss strangers :: essays research papers
The analysis of I Don’t Kiss Strangers In the short story, I Don’t Kiss Strangers there is a man versus man conflict regarding a couple who may never see each other again. In the beginning of the story there is little indication of foreshadowing of what will happen in the end. Therefore the reader is completely unaware of the outcome of the story. Written in the first person, the story takes place at a loud party with many intoxicated adults. A boyfriend has been drafted into the army and the love struck couple faces the chance of him not coming back.      The author of the story, Shirley Jackson sets the mood with a sense of disbelief and shock as the story progresses and gets more in depth. The story gives clues of foreshadowing when someone tells him he cannot just go up to a girl and blatantly say â€Å"come on outside into the air, we gotta say goodbye somehow.†That statement kind of gives the reader clues that he wants to go somewhere else and spend his last night with her. Throughout the story, the protagonist tries to persuade his girlfriend to go to a different place other than a party to say Good-bye. However, she acts stubbornly and refuses to leave the party in fear that the liquor would be too far away. Using the liquor as a comfort zone so she does not have to face reality. In my opinion, she is trying to make it easier on her self by trying to avoid the fact that he is leaving and all she will have is memories. She talks about how long of a time it will be by saying that she want even know how the next guy will sound to her or that the next time she runs out of cigarettes she want have him to go get them. In my opinion, she says he will be different because over the year both of them will mature and the war will change him. The antagonist feels sorry for her self and goes on to say that if he does come back that neither he nor she will ever be the same again.      The climax occurs when the couple is located in the bathroom discussing their dilemma. This is where the hints of foreshadowing in the beginning of the story start to really stand out. She really puts things blatant about not wanting to go somewhere else to talk.
Monday, September 2, 2019
International Business Essay
What is e-Bay’s core competency? How does it relate to its chosen strategy? e-Bay’s competencies lie in its software, which allows people to trade with little supervision. It also has competencies in dispute resolution, an automated item listing service, an online financial service and a communications platform. The integration of these allow e-Bay to have a more efficient and effective trading tool used and policed by the buyers and sellers in the site. What are the implications to the challenges identified in the case regarding e-Bay’s strategy today and the future? The challenge on translation software has the least amount of impact considering that even the users of the site are content with â€Å"pretty good.†An improvement in this area though, would make the service more reliable. Government regulation challenges are perhaps one of the most difficult. With new laws constantly passed in countries, some laws that touch on trade could prove a hindrance to e-Bay’s expansion and could restrict their operations. Unless the world becomes more open to the flow of goods, then e-Bay would constantly face problems. The digital divide is a less serious problem. With technology catching up to many countries and becoming more available and cheaper, it is only a matter of time before the internet becomes available to poor communities. Cultural attributes is one of the most problematic. Since beliefs take so much time to shape and that reactions are unpredictable, it is important for e-Bay to be able to make their strategies localized and adapt it to the current system. Finally, international expansion is an unpredictable challenge, but could prove successful if their users continue to support and trust the company for their trading needs. Which candidate should the committee nominate for the assignment? Why? The first choice would be Brett Harrison because of his experience in running line activities and supervisory staff and being rated as an excellent worker. More importantly, he has knowledge about the country which is one of the most important things in running the operations of the company there. If he doesn’t agree because of familial considerations, then, Ravi Desai should take his place, not only because of his knowledge of the country but also because he has experience in handling large operations. Should all the candidates receive the same compensation package? If not, which factors influence each package? The candidates should all receive the same principle in their compensation package: a common basic salary and a bonus dependent on their performance and contributions to the company.
Sunday, September 1, 2019
How does Elizabeth Bennet contradict the typical image of an 18th century woman? Essay
The 18th century women of Jane Austen’s pages and of her times lived a gentle, sheltered and delicate life. The rules of conduct especially in relation to women were defined and strict. All women were expected to be courteous, decent, fragile, polite, refined, modest and respectable, have â€Å"good breeding†, impeccable manners and perfect social etiquette. Women were limited to very few activities- mainly drawing, singing and dancing. They had to be accomplished in every sense of the word. An accomplished â€Å"woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing and the modern languages to deserve the word: and besides all this she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be half deserved.†Such were the requirements that society asked of every woman if she wanted to hold a place of her own in the marriage rat race. Elizabeth Bennet, the twenty-year-old heroine of the novel ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and the second oldest of the Bennet sisters, has all these qualities in her. However she is superior to all the other women that are presented to us in the novel. She is ‘accomplished’ and beautiful but unlike other women, she does not show-off at every opportunity. She is not a hypocrite or a snob like Caroline Bingley, or â€Å"ignorant, idle and vain†like her youngest sister Lydia or tactless and insensitive like her own mother, who is the butt of her husband’s sarcasm. Elizabeth is the fast favourite of her father and has inherited his wit, intelligence and independence. Through Elizabeth, Jane Austen mocks the snobbery, hypocrisy and materialism of many people like Caroline Bingley, Lady Catherine, Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Collins. Elizabeth is fully aware of the shortcomings of her mother and her younger sisters. She is ashamed at her mother’s embarrassing lack of refinement and discretion, which are demonstrated firstly at the Netherfield ball when she makes a premature public announcement that Jane Bennet is to marry Mr. Charles Bingley, and secondly, by her disdainful treatment of Mr. Darcy, her social superior. Mrs. Bennet’s lack of good breeding, intelligence and sense of humour is very evident. â€Å"The solace†of her life was â€Å"visiting and news†. She loved a good gossip, which is rather typical of a woman- 18th century or otherwise. Gossiping was a major pastime for women and we can see how fast information gets around town. Mrs. Philips, the sister of Mrs. Bennet, provides her with the gossip around Meryton. It was Mrs. Philips who informed Mrs. Bennet about Mr. Bingley buying Netherfield, the talk around Meryton about Lydia’s scandal and Mr. Bingley’s return to Netherfield. However not all women indulged in gossip. We do not see Jane or Elizabeth interfering with other people’s business. â€Å"If it was to be a secret, say not another word on the subject. You may depend on my seeking no further.†Their attitude differs from their mother. Then again, it was a ‘necessity’ for Mrs. Bennet to keep tabs on everything going around because any information might help in race to get her five daughters married off. We can see the importance of marriage in the 18th century clearly through Mrs. Bennet and Mrs. Lucas. Their main occupation is arranging for their daughters to be married to rich husbands. This desire governs Mrs. Bennet’s life. â€Å"The business of her life was to get her daughters married.†The immoral behaviour of her youngest daughter Lydia is of no importance to her once the wedding had been announced. Instead Mrs. Bennet’s immediate concern is the wedding clothes which Lydia may buy after she is married. However Mrs. Bennet’s desire to get her daughters married off as soon as possible are based on economic facts since they would not inherit any money after their father’s death. Wealth was the main criteria for a ‘successful’ and ‘secure’ marriage and that was what Mrs. Bennet, like all other mothers, looked for in prospective grooms. Love and happiness did not matter much or in fact, at all. As Elizabeth’s best friend Charlotte Lucas put it â€Å"Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.†This was a very common attitude in the 18th century. Charlotte accepts the proposal of Mr. Collins, a pompous and foolish man even though she knows that the two of them are incompatible. However she is a practical and sensible person and she is aware of her poor financial state and of her age, at twenty-seven she was considered to be an â€Å"old maid†, and thus was prepared to marry solely for the sake of money. This shows us that very few options were open to a woman in Charlotte’s position. She could either become a governess or a companion to a lady or just remain at home, reducing her younger sisters chances of being married. Jane Austen uses the theme of â€Å"Love and Marriage†to show us how the whole of a woman’s life revolved around marriage. From the time she is born, she is trained and tutored to be a â€Å"perfect wife†. She is thought how to sit, stand, walk, talk, eat, drink, dance, sing, draw, and sew in the hope of securing a good, wealthy husband. Elizabeth Bennet is perfect in her manners, her expressions and her â€Å"civility†. But I find her very different from the conventional 18th century woman because of her ideals on love and marriage. She has all the necessary ‘qualifications’ of an eligible spinster but chooses not to marry for the sake of it. Elizabeth remarks, â€Å"One has got all the goodness, the other all the appearance of it†, referring to Wickham and Darcy. Here the difference between appearance and reality is highlighted. The ease with which even sharp people like Elizabeth could be deceived by appearance was a real danger in Jane Austen’s society, with all its emphasis on manners and breeding, and with its strict code of public behaviour. People like Wickham who could â€Å"perform†well in public were judged on that rather than on their true characters. Elizabeth’s pride and her prejudice blind her to Wickham’s faults and lead her to accept his slanderous portrayal of Darcy.. â€Å"She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me;†is what Darcy said of Elizabeth at their first meeting. This hurt combined with the knowledge of Darcy’s hand in separating Jane and Bingley leaves Elizabeth with a strong dislike for Darcy. Therefore when Darcy proposes to her she is thunderstruck and dismisses him to be â€Å"the last man in the world I could be prevailed upon to marry†. I think Elizabeth’s rejection of Darcy’s proposal a very brave thing to do because it would have been considered sacrilege, keeping in mind the importance given to money in the 18th century. She impresses both Darcy and the readers with her wit and liveliness. Darcy, while maintaining that Elizabeth’s manners are â€Å"not those of the fashionable world†, is nevertheless attracted to her spirit and an independence of mind. However by the end of the novel Elizabeth accepts that not all â€Å"first impressions†can be taken at face value. We can see the themes of â€Å"Appearance versus Reality†and â€Å"Self-realization†being brought out. Elizabeth’s independence of spirit is show by her decision to walk to Netherfield in order to visit her sister. It is looked upon as a monstrous thing that Elizabeth Bennet should walk three miles on a country road, and Miss Bingley criticizes her exclaiming â€Å"to walk three miles, or whatever it is, above her ankles in dirt, and alone, quite alone! It seems to me to show an abominable sort of conceited independence, a most country-town indifference to decorum. She looked almost wild!†This sneering remark of Caroline Bingley shows us the typical 18th century woman mentality. Elizabeth’s behaviour is considered to be â€Å"unorthodox†and very â€Å"unladylike†since she walked, unescorted all the way from Meryton to Netherfield just to see her sick sister. This shows us that Elizabeth places her sister before any social rules of etiquette. Elizabeth’s affectionate nature is demonstrated by her close relationship with her elder sister Jane, whose sensitive and compassionate nature she admires. It has been suggested that Elizabeth and Jane’s relationship mirrors the close relationship the author had with her own sister Cassandra. However Jane is different from Elizabeth in her gentle nature, which is so pleasant and amiable that it is almost a failing due to her unquestioning acceptance of others. Elizabeth is more outspoken and prides herself to be a good judge of character. Her perception does not allow her to be taken in by the superficial and two- faced Caroline Bingley and Mrs. Hurst who are proud and rich and make their superior social rank known. They are introduced as â€Å"fine women with a decided air of fashion.†To belong to a family whose fortune was made in trade was to belong to an inferior class. It is ironic to see Miss Bingley and her sister criticizing Jane for having an uncle with trade connections, when their own fortune was gained through trade. In the 18th century society, Miss Bingley and her sister are called ‘ladies’ as they fulfill all the requirements: they have money, beauty and are accomplished. But as Elizabeth notes, with irony, that they were: â€Å"in every respect entitled to think well of themselves†¦Ã¢â‚¬ their subsequent behaviour, particularly with regard to the Bennets is far from ‘ladylike’. Jane Austen here reveals the theme of â€Å"Appearance versus Reality†again and also shows us, through Miss Bingley behaviour, that ‘manners’ are a better indication of ‘breeding’ than birth into an upper-class family. The character of Lady Catherine de Bourgh proves this point again. She is an overbearing, self-important, and controlling aristocrat who has a narrow-minded, unpleasant and selfish manner. She feels that her rank as a ‘Lady’ gives her a right to meddle in other people’s affairs. Everyone is in awe of her except for Elizabeth, since she attaches little importance to rank for its own sake. Elizabeth stands up to her and senses that she must be the first person to ever have done so. This shows us that Elizabeth is not afraid to stand up for herself especially when Lady Catherine attempts to persuade her not to marry Darcy. Elizabeth’s defiance shocks Lady Catherine who makes her reasons for objecting to their marriage very clear. She says â€Å"honour, decorum, prudence, nay, interest, forbid it†- all reasons which Darcy had declared that he had overcome when he proposed to Elizabeth at Hunsford. Elizabeth’s choice of love reflects her desire to find a husband who matches her in terms of character and taste. Elizabeth’s relationship with Darcy is beyond what any other couples share in the novel â€Å"Pride and Prejudice†. The bond between Elizabeth and Darcy is â€Å"rationally founded†, based on â€Å"excellent understanding†and â€Å"general similarity of feeling and taste.†Elizabeth likes Darcy for the fact that he has no airs about him and he is honest, frank and very similar to her in character. Darcy in return is impressed by Elizabeth physical and mental energy and by her sharp wit and her ability to laugh at misfortune and her optimism. Jane Austen uses Elizabeth as her mouthpiece when she says, â€Å"I hope I never ridicule what is wise or good. Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can.†Elizabeth is like Jane Austen in that she is shown to be interested in the human character. Unlike other women of her times, Elizabeth has a good sense of humour and possesses the ability to laugh at herself. Austen’s sense of humour and intelligence allow her to show the reader the â€Å"follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies,†of her characters. The way Austen presents Lydia and Mrs. Bennet are a good example of this. She does this without being unfair, as she laughs not at them but at what they do. Her use of irony and satire are more serious; she uses them to show meaning without telling the reader directly and to make fun of things, especially those with social importance and meaning. The tone of â€Å"Pride and Prejudice†is li ght, satirical and vivid. We can still, despite the vast differences between her 18th century society and our own 21st century society, recognize ourselves in the way her characters think and behave. We all know people as cleverly manipulative and outwardly affectionate as Miss Bingley; as self-involved as Lady Catherine de Bourgh; and as charming but as lacking in principles as Wickham. We conceal ourselves with arrogance like Darcy; assume we understand more than we do like Elizabeth and revel in gossip Like Mrs. Bennet. And the very fact that Jane Austen’s characters are so relatable to makes the novel all the more readable. Her writing also appealed to me because of its simplicity. I do not mean to say that her work is easy to understand, but that she uses ‘simple’ English. I found the character of Elizabeth to be very intricately designed for she has timeless appeal. She is by no means perfect but is by far the closest to perfection among all the other women in the novel. Elizabeth is vivacious, teasing, sensitive, perceptive and filled with sparkling beauty and wit. Her dialogues are full of intelligence and precisely crafted often to convey subtle meanings. Elizabeth is Jane Austen’s best, most loved and certainly most popular creation. â€Å"I must confess I think her as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print†, wrote Austen of Elizabeth; few readers have ever disagreed. Elizabeth Bennet contradicts the image of the typical 18th century woman who is born and brought up only with marriage in mind. She has a mind of her own and quite a sharp one at that. She captures and captivates not only Darcy but the readers as well. She has all the qualities in her that were desired in a ‘perfect’ wife. But besides these she has a certain ‘something’ in her that no other woman has. She is a woman far beyond her time and would not seem out of place in today’s world, two centuries later. I think Jane Austen has really created a marvelous masterpiece, which will always survive the changing demands of literature.
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