Job Description Essay Example for Free

Job Description Essay In today’s job market there are a lot of demands from employers. The business environment is constantly changing. Your knowledge, skills and abilities have to be able to meet the demands of the job market. Showcasing yourself and the familiarity and the experience with the procedure detail of the job is very important The Job Analysis. Goes hand in hand with a job description. A job description identifies characteristics of the job to be performed in terms of the tasks, duties and responsibilities to be fulfilled. (Youssef, 2010). It is basically a â€Å"snapshot† of a job. The job description needs to communicate clearly and concisely the responsibilities and tasks. (Lindenberger,2011) There are a lot of people competing for the same job. Ultimately who gets hired depends on the most qualified applicant. I would use a job description to make sure I get the most qualified person for the job. The person job fit has to be right has to definitely be compatible. Your skill highlights and the ability to successfully perform the job is a key factor. I would use a competency-based analysis. The potential employee definitely has to be competent enough to perform the qualities and requirements needed to effectively carry out a job like mines. My job description was to me very detailed. It was somewhat intimidating at first but once I got hired, I understood why. I am currently working as Assistant payment worker for the State of Michigan. The tasks and responsibilities is what my job duty requires of me from day to day. Which was very much detailed. It is assisting clients with getting the help they may need and providing resources for them. I assist client’s help with Food, Shelter and medical resources. I often go above and beyond what my tasks and responsibilities that are required of me, because of my human character I often feel sorry to see what people have to go through in this world. Sometimes in the job description you will see what the responsibilities include but are not limited too. So I would want someone dedicated to what there job is, but also a team player and don’t mind going the extra mile. In the end it’s all about customer service. The tools and technology used are also a key factor. Most jobs often require training once hired. But you at least need the basic skills of using computer software. Educational requirements would also be very important on a job analysis. A degree is preferred most of the time when applying for any job in the business field. If not a degree it is important to me, to at lease have a certain amount of college credits. Which is what needed to obtain my job. In order to gain some valuable information about candidates, there are different selection methods that should be used. Selection methods can narrow down potential candidates. (Youseef,2010) The approach and selection method I would use is testing, I think is a good method to use, especially when there are so many applicants applying for the same position. Testing will help to eliminate clients that are not qualified for the job. Testing will reveal how much knowledge a person has with general competency and knowledge needed for the job. The scores will tell it all. The Interview method is also another good method I would consider. Almost any job you apply for, you will have to have an interview, weather its in person or over the telephone. I have to interview clients everyday at my current job, to see if the fit the qualifications of receiving assistance. Being able to look at a person, and have direct interaction is important. When questions are being asked it will sometimes portray how honest a person is. You can tell by the body language or sometimes how directly a person answers a question if they are being truthful or not. It will show confidence. However there are different types of interviews. The one I would use is a panel discussion interview, which is having several interviewers asking questions. That can sometimes make a person really nervous. I know I was, but again if you have the skills and knowledge to prove it, then it shouldn’t be a problem A job description is just what it says, it describes the job. As a competitive employee, make sure you fit that description the best you can.

Truth and Honesty Essay Example for Free

Truth and Honesty Essay Honesty is defined as the quality or fact of being honest, uprightness and fairness also as truthfulness in speech and action. This term is very important as it is the simple basis of how we carry out routine activities. While this sounds simple, its surprisingly difficult to practice. Being honest implies the presence of an active conscience and a knowledge of ethics at the minimum. Being honest in everyday life means listening to, and obeying, the voice of our conscience. For example, last Monday, I rode past a traffic light that had just switched from green to amber. I should have slowed down and stopped instead I speeded away. Now this may not sound like a big fuss to some of us but the fact remains that it could have been fatal though nothing happened on that day. The consequences could have been very deadly if a pedestrian had darted across the road or an impatient motorist could have speeded away just like me leading to hospitalization or death. This is a simple act of honesty which we tend to forget in our everyday life. Everybody interacts with one another and when honesty is neglected, problems tend to arise, controversies spark like a match. Honesty is the important factor that supports every source of information. Without honesty nobody can understand the simple truth. Each time we hear a person talking, it is assumed that honest words are coming out. Principally, I believe honesty is important because it provides accurate information, reflects good character, and builds lasting, trusting relationships. For instance, the Police Department should be very honest as the population depends entirely on them for security reasons and also for the welfare of the family. Patients go to doctors, undergo operation since they trust these people. Therefore honesty is the root that needs to be strong in every domain. If history were full of lies and false information then we would only be expected to misinterpret details all because someone decided not to be honest. In reality the simple act of telling the truth is so influential because it affects all others around us somewhere down the line. Honesty reflects good character because when people know that someone is honest they feel that they can fully trust that person. It is always comforting and reassuring when you can count on that person no matter the circumstances. One important quality that is absolutely necessary if we are to be honest is courage. This is not about physical courage but courage that comes from conviction, an essential mental quality. For, as Khalil Gibran writes, If indeed you must be candid, be candid beautifully. That is, if you must speak honestly about your friends, speak honestly about their good points. Use words to uplift, not to tear down. Also, be sure to avoid rumors, for they are acts of betrayal. For many people honesty is the most important quality in a relationship. Being honest, even in difficult times, gives everyone the true information from which decisions can then be taken. It treats all involved parties with respect. Clearly there may well be times when some information should be modified, as with young children perhaps. But in most cases people appreciate being told the truth, even when it is painful. It helps cherish the good memories. Trust is a huge part of the honesty stable. It is often difficult to recover trust once someone discovers that they have been deceived or lied. It can take a long time to build trust in a relationship, and it can be wiped out in a moment. Living an honest life and being true to ourselves help to maintain a clear conscience and a healthy life, free from a lot of stress and tension. That is the value and importance of being honest.

Human Memory How reliable is Eyewitness Testimony

Human Memory How reliable is Eyewitness Testimony This essays attempts to reach a conclusion regarding eyewitness testimonies and the extent of its reliability. This was done by identifying factors in three different processes stages. The acquisition stage is the period where the witness experiences the event. The retention stage is the period between the time the event ends and the time the witness are asked for a recount or questioned about the event. The retrieval stage is the period where the witness is providing information from their recall. During the acquisition stage, research regarding exposure time, estimation of factors concerning the event (for example, time), violence of the event, weapon focus and witness stress was analysed. During the retention stage, research regarding post-event information, introduction of conflicting information and introduction of misleading information was analysed. During the retrieval stage, research regarding method of questioning, leading questions and a case study of an actual event was analysed. Experiments and case studies regarding these factors were then evaluated to weigh the impact that it had on eyewitness testimony. In conclusion, it was found that experiments regarding eyewitness testimony hold little evidence to support its reliability but there are also some findings that dispute this. Thus, it was concluded that it is reliable only to a small extent though it can be highly accurate under certain conditions. Applications of this conclusion includes jurors being more aware of the factors regarding eyewitness testimony and taking into account when deciding on a verdict especially if the main evidence is based solely on eyewitness recounts. Eyewitness testimony is usually a verbal account given by an individual who has experienced an event, typically of a crime. Eyewitness testimony relies heavily on the capability of the individuals to accurately recount the event. In a trial, the jury is most often persuaded due to the statement(s) of the witnesses. Also, in cases where little material evidence can be collected, eyewitnesses are the focus for reaching a verdict. It has been argued that because testimonies are largely based on fallible memory which can be influenced by a variety of factors, it should not be depended upon. The contention of this essay is to identify and evaluate the extent of accuracy of this claim by identifying and evaluating factors that affect memory and by reviewing experiments and case studies to reach a conclusion on this matter. Memory and thus eye-witness reliability has become an issue of importance due to the high percentage of errors in identifying and prosecuting accused individuals. Thus, the reliability of eyewitness testimonies and impact on trials should be reviewed. Memory is defined as a kind of repository in which facts (information) may be retained over some period of time (Loftus, 1979). According to the Atkinson and Shiffrin model of memory storage (1971), memory is made up of three different types of information stores, each with different duration, capacity and function. The first is Sensory Memory. This type of store lasts for the spilt second when individuals collect information from their sensory systems and preserves information in its original sensory form. The sense organs are limited in their ability to store information about the world in an unprocessed way for more than a second. Thus, information is filtered through or selected by attention for further memory processing into the next type of memory store. This process of experiencing and filtering information is called acquisition. The next memory store is Short-term memory allows individuals to retain information long enough to be used and lasts approximately between 15 to 30 s econds. Miller (1956, cited in Weiten, 2005) proposed that Short-term Memory had a capacity of about 7 chunks of information. If certain actions are carried out, the information will be transferred to the last type of memory store, Long-term Memory. Long-term Memory provides retention of information which can last between minutes to a lifetime and has a limitless capacity. The process of information deposited in the short-term and long-term memory store is called retention. Information is constantly being transferred between these stores. When witnesses are asked to give recount of what they witnessed, information is taken from the long-term memory store and this process is called retrieval. Events during these three processes may affect the quality of the eyewitness testimony. During the acquisition process information may not have been perceived in the first place, information may be forgotten or interfered during the retention process or information may be inaccessible during questioning or during the retrieval process. Analysis of Factors that may affect Eye-witness Testimony during the Acquisition Process During the acquisition process, there are a number of factors that can affect an eyewitness report of an event such as exposure time or stress. This can be divided into event factors and witness factors. This section of the essay will evaluate the effect of these factors on the reliability of eyewitness testimony. Exposure time to the event or object of focus is an event factor. Laughery et al (1971, cited in Loftus, 1979) tested subjects on their recall based on the exposure time to a picture, showed one at a time of different positions of a human face. Two Caucasian male target faces were used, one with fair-colored hair and complexion with glasses and another with a darker-colored hair and complexion without glasses. The independent variable is the time the subjects viewed the pictures, which ranged from ten seconds to thirty-two seconds. The subjects were them asked, approximately eight minutes after exposure to identify the target within a series of 150 slides of human faces. The dependant variable is the accuracy of the subjects recall. Fifty-eight percentof the subjects who viewed the pictures for thirty-two seconds correctly identified the target but only forty-seven percent of the subjects who viewed the pictures for ten seconds correctly identified the target. This suggests that the more time a witness has to view the target, the more accurate their recall will be. This research is significant as it is very scientific and precisely tested a specific variable that affects memory and recall. Although this is so, it was also conducted in an artificial environment and thus, has low ecological validity. The research may also contain cultural and gender bias as it only tested for Caucasian males as the target. Thus, its application to targets of different cultures or gender is questionable. Estimating factors such as time, speed or distance is often asked of eyewitnesses. This involves perceiving the event and accurately inferring information from it. Marshalls (1966, cited in Loftus, 1979) experiment tested subjects estimation of time. Four hundred and ninety-one subjects watched a forty-two second film and a week after they had given their written and oral reports of the event, they were questioned as to the duration of the event. On average, subjects gave an estimate of about ninety seconds. The results show that witnesses can inaccurately estimate certain factors of an event. Although the results are significant, the study was conducted in a controlled environment which gives it little ecological validity. To further assess the accuracy of this study, an additional study that can be considered is Buckhout et al. (1975, cited in Loftus, 1979)s study on the effects if eyewitness testimony in a real situation by staging an attack where a student attacked a professor in front of 141 witnesses. The attack lasted for thirty-four seconds but when interviewed later on, the average estimate of the duration of the event was eighty-one seconds, almost twice the actual time. This study supports Marshalls study which shows that there is a tendency for witnesses to overestimate the duration in an event. This is significant in most cases, especially for cases of self-defense where the time between the attack and the retaliation is very significant in the categorization of the action. Another event factor is the violence of the event. A research done by Clifford and Scott (1978, cited in Loftus, 1979) investigated the ability of eyewitnesses to perceive violent and non-violent events. Forty-eight subjects with equal number of men and women watched either one of two tapes. In the non-violent version, the characters were involved in a verbal exchange and weak restraining movements. In the violent version, one of the characters physically assaults another character. In an effort to be even, the start and end of the tapes were manipulated to be identical. It was found that regardless of gender, the level of recall is significantly lower for those who viewed the more violent tape. It is inferred that this is due to the greater amount of stress that is produced in response to the violent event. This shows that eyewitness testimony of a violent event should be considered with the possibility of a higher rate of inaccuracy. Though the results are significant due to the hi gh reliability of the scientific method used, it also lacks ecological validity as it was conducted in an artificial environment where witnesses do not actually experience the event. An event factor that is linked to the witness factor, stress, is weapon focus. Easterbrook (1959) found that under high stress, individuals tend to concentrate more on a few features of their environment and less attention to other features. Weapon focus is where a crime victim is faced with an assailant who is brandishing a weapon. This rises the stress level of the crime victim and thus, they will only concentrate on a few features, mainly the weapon and will have trouble recollecting other factors such as the assailants features. Loftus et al (1987) tested this with an experiment where thirty-six students were showed a series of slides which showed one of two scenarios at a fast food restaurant. Half the subjects saw a customer pointing a gun at the cashier while the other half, the control group saw a customer handing the cashier a check. A part of the experiment tested the memory of the students based on a series of seven questions on the customer. It was found that the level of accuracy of the weapon group was fifty-six percent while the level of accuracy for the control group was sixty-seven percent. As the results show that the accuracy level of the weapon group is lower than the control group, this is highly significant in showing that eye-witnesses acquisition process might be seriously hampered by the presence of a weapon. The results of the experiment are highly valid as it was conducted in a controlled environment which allowed a direct cause and effect outcome. While this is so, the participants did not experience the event and thus their response may be different to an actual witness which means that the experiment lacks ecological validity. During an event, stress is a witness factor that should be taken into account. This refers to the level of stress or fear that a witness experiences which may influence their perception during the acquisition process of the event. A simulated case study done by Berkun (1962, cited in Loftus, 1979) placed army recruits in a stressful situation. They were isolated with the exception of a telephone link. Then, they were told that they were in danger to induce anxiety and were required to repair a broken radio by following a series of complicated instructions. It was found that the high level of anxiety impaired performance of the subjects. As this case study was conducted during a period of different ethical standards than today, there are ethical implications to be considered. Nevertheless, the results of this case study significantly support the Yerkes-Dodson law (1908, cited in Green) which states that emotional arousal facilitates learning and performance up to a point after which t here is a decrement. This can be applied to eyewitnesses who experience stress. Their senses may be stimulated but after a point, their acquisition process will be negatively affected. Although this is so, this case study has only looked at male soldiers, thus when applied to the general population, it lacks ecological validity. Analysis of Factors that may affect Eye-witness Testimony during the Retention Process Eye-witnesses are being tested on their retention of information from their Long-term Memory. Because retained information and thus, memory is being transferred between memory stores, it is possible that it can be influenced, enhanced or even distorted during or in between transfers. This section of the essay will focus on the numerous researches that have been carried out to investigate the accuracy of this or the extent of the influence that may occur. After an event occurs, sometimes witnesses discuss what they saw with each other and the information that is exchanged can result in an enhancement of memory in the form of modification or addition. An experiment was conducted by Loftus (1975) on one hundred and fifty participants. They were showed a film of a car crash where a car failed to stop at a stop sign and turned right to enter traffic, causing a five-car collision. After the film which lasted for less than a minute, participants were asked a series of ten questions. Half of the participants were asked about the stop sign in the first question while the other half were asked about the right turn. All other questions were the same. The independent variable here is the first question and the dependant variable is the last question which asked participants if they remembered seeing a stop sign. Loftus found that there was a higher percentage of participants who recalled seeing a stop sign if the first question related to a stop sign than the control group, fifty-three percent and thirty-five percent respectively. This shows that by mentioning an object, there is a higher chance of it being recalled. The results are highly significant as it was calculated using precise results with a specific variable tested. It can be argued that the experiment lacks ecological validity as it was conducted in an artificial environment but this allowed a specific variable to be tested which would have been impossible with a case study. As demonstrated by this experiment, eye-witnesses memory may be influenced by post-event information that they receive and thus, the more information that the witness is exposed to after the event, the higher the chance that their memory might be compromised. A modification to the previous variable is the question as to what happens when a witness learns new information which is different from what they experienced. Loftus (1975) conducted an experiment where forty participants were shown a three-minute video which involved a group of eight demonstrators noisily interrupting a lecture. The participants then had to answer a series of twenty questions. All the questions for the participants were identical except for one. Half of the participants were asked, Was the leader of the twelve demonstrators who entered the classroom a male? and the other half were asked, Was the leader of the four demonstrators who entered the classroom a male? All questions had to be answered with a yes or no. A week later, participants had to answer another set of questions. The critical question was How many demonstrators did you see enter the classroom? It was found that participants who previously answered the question with the word twelve reported an average of 8.9 demonstrators while the other half reported an average of 6.4 demonstrators. It can be argued that this experiment lacks ecological validity as it was conducted in an artificial environment and that participants only viewed the event and did not actually witness it. The results may not be fully applicable to the general population. Although this is so, the controlled environment showed a direct cause and effect of a specific variable. The results of this experiment can be applied to eye-witness testimony where witnesses may be mislead in their testimony as their memory might be compromised by the introduction of conflicting information. Similar to the experiment above is an experiment conducted by Loftus and Zanni (1975, cited in Hill, 1998) which was a modification of the original Loftus and Palmer research. The aim of the experiment was to investigate the effect of adding post event information on memory. Participants were shown a film of a car accident after which they had to answer a series of questions. Half of the participants were required to answer, Did you see the broken headlight which implied that there was a broken headlight while the other half were asked, Did you see a broken headlight which only required participants to recall if it was there. It was found that half of the participants, who were asked using the word the, incorrectly reported seeing a broken headlight. As most of the other variables were controlled in the experiment, and only a specific variable was changed, the results signify that memory can be modified by post event information. It can be argued that the participants did not experie nce the incident and thus the experiment lacks ecological validity when applied to actual witnesses but as a specific variable was examined, it can be concluded that the cause and effect was to a large extent connected. This experiment shows that eyewitnesses may be influenced by post event information which may negatively affect their account. McCloskey and Zaragaza (1985) also conducted experiments concerning the effect of misleading post event information on participants. After watching a series of slides depicting an event, participants received a narrative of the event. Participants in the mislead condition will receive a narration with receive the narrative with misleading information about a detail of the event, a hammer was referred to as a screwdriver instead while the control group werent provided details of the specific event. Participants then had to answer a series of questions about the event. The critical question concerning the tool had the original item as an option (hammer) and a new item (wrench). It was found that accuracy for the control group was seventy-five percent and seventy-two percent for the mislead condition group. The fact that there was little difference between the two groups points to the idea that misleading post event information does not distort memory of an event. This experiment suppor ts the validity of eyewitness testimony and due to the controlled setting; the results are highly valid though it lacks ecological validity. Analysis of Factors that may affect Eye-witness Testimony during the Retrieval Process Most evidence from eyewitnesses are a result of their accounts of the event. This involves the retrieval process of information from their long term memory store. This section of the essay aims to analyse and evaluate research conducted in relation to the techniques of retrieving information from eyewitnesses such as question wording or method of questioning. This is to evaluate the extent of influence of such techniques on the reliability of eyewitness accounts and in relation, memory. The method of questioning during the retrieval process plays an important role in the accuracy of eye-witness testimony as investigated by Lipton (1977, cited in Wells, 1978). Lipton conducted an experiment where participants watched a film of a murder in a courtroom setting. He found that unstructured testimony which allowed free recall resulted in ninety-one percent accuracy. This is a significant value as compared to other types of questioning such as open ended questions with eighty-three percent accuracy, leading questions with seventy-two percent accuracy and multiple choice questions with fifty-six percent accuracy. These results show that the type of questioning that the witness is subjected to affects the accuracy of their recount. When applied to trial testimonies, jurors should take into account the type of questioning to predict or get an idea of the level of accuracy of the testimony. Though conclusive to a certain extent, the experiment lacks ecological validity as the participants did not actually experience the event, merely perceive it but as it is a controlled environment, the reliability of the cause and effect factors is high. Loftus and Palmer (1974 cited in Hill, 1998) carried out an experiment to investigate the effect of leading questions on the accuracy of participants in recalling a car crash. Fourty-five participants were separated into seven groups and each group watched a video of traffic accidents. The videos lasted from five to thirty seconds. After watching the video, participants had to give an account of what they had just seen. The independent variable is the question About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?. The word hit is replaced with the words smashed, contacted, bumped and collided for different groups. The participants answer as to the estimate of the cars speed is the dependant variable. Loftus and Palmer found that the mean estimate of speed for more aggressive words such as smashed is higher than less aggressive words such as contacted. The results are highly significant, p Contending the results of this experiment is Yuille and Cutshalls (1986) case study of a real life event. 13 participants were interviewed using Loftus and Palmers (1974 cited in Hill, 1998) technique in their recall four to five months after witnessing an attempted robbery in daylight where one individual was killed and another, seriously wounded. It was found that there was a very high level of similarity between the accounts given by the witnesses, the accounts did not alter in response to leading questions and that the witnesses were able to recall the event in detail. Additionally, accounts of those who were more distressed had a higher accuracy level. These results are different to Loftus and Palmer (1974 cited in Hill, 1998). The eye witnesses did not alter their accounts greatly in response to leading questions. As this is a case study, it holds high ecological validity unlike laboratory experiments. Although this may be true, Yuille and Cutshalls case study was of an event t hat was relatively traumatic event and was viewed in ideal conditions. Most incidents do not mirror this setting. Also, it was an investigation of only one case study. Hence, the application of these findings is debatable when applied to general eye witness testimonies. Conclusion This essay evaluated the extent of accuracy of the claim that eyewitness testimony should not be depended upon. This was done by focusing on the different factors that can affect human memory, and in relation, eyewitness testimony as it is fundamentally based on memory. Experiments and case studies related to factors in three different memory stages were identified and evaluated. Research concerning the acquisition process such as exposure time, estimation of factors concerning the event, for example, time, violence of the event, weapon focus and witness stress level during the event was analysed. Results point to a correlation of high levels of inaccuracy when more traumatic factors are included in the event. This is also reflected in research concerning the retention process and the retrieval process although there is some evidence that supports the reliability of eyewitness testimony. Overall analysis criticised the low ecological validity of controlled experiments but also supported the high level of validity that comes with it as it essentially provides a cause and effect relationship between specific variables tested. Case studies were found to be very specific with regards to certain factors, which leads to a debate about their general application. Since experiments are only replications of real-life events, it cant be fully taken as the actual process . This may have some influence on the results obtained as it can be argued that the participants are not really experiencing the event, thus essential factors like, atmosphere, or even interest in the event may be compromised. In this manner, results of case studies hold a higher level of reliability. As indicated by the numerous researches on different factors during the process of collecting, processing and retrieving information from memory, eye witness testimony is reliable only to a small extent. Under such fallibility, it can be questioned if eyewitness testimony should be relied on at all. Though eyewitness testimony has been proved accurate in a number of researches, the amount of investigations concluding on the fact that it is highly imperfect far outweighs it. Though a large number of researches do not support the reliability of eyewitness testimony, there is also evidence to support it like Yuille and Cutshalls (1986) case study. This suggests that although eyewitness testimony can be unreliable, under certain conditions, it is highly accurate. Implications for application of the analysis in this essay could include jurors being more wary of eyewitness testimony and the conditions relating to it when deciding upon a verdict. Further research could include more case studies to increase the ecological validity of the theories produced by experiments analysed in this essay. References Atkinson, R. C. Shriffin, R. M. (1971), The Control Processes of Short-term Memory, Stanford, California, Stanford University Easterbrook J. A. (1959), The Effect of Emotion on Cue Utilisation and the Organisation of Behaviour, Psychological Review, Vol 66(3), 183-201 Green, C. D, (n.d.) Classics in the History of Psychology Yerkes and Dodson (1908), Toronto, Ontario, York University, Retrieved from psychclassics.yorka.ca: http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Yerkes/Law/ Hill, G. (1998), Oxford Revision Guides, AS A Level Psychology, New York, Oxford University Press Loftus, E. F; Loftus, G. R; Messo, J. (1987), Some facts about Weapon Focus, Law and Human Behaviour, Vol 11(1), 55-62 Loftus, E. F. (1975), Leading Questions and the Eyewitness Repost, Cognitive Psychology, Vol 7, 550-572, University of Washington Loftus E. F. (1979), Eyewitness Testimony, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England, USA, Harvard University Press Yullie J. C. Cutshall J. L. (1986), A case study of eyewitness memory of a crime, Journal of Applied Psychology, Volume 71(2), May 1986, 291-301 Weiten, W. (2005), Psychology: Themes and Variations, The United States of America, Thomson Learning Inc. Wells, G. L. (1978), Applied Eyewitness-Testimony Research: System Variables and Estimator Variables, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Volume 36, No. 12, 1547-1557, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

The Avian Flu Virus in Chicken :: virus illness china Essays

The Avian Flu Virus in Chicken There are only ten more days until we celebrate our biggest holiday of the year, Chinese New Year. It is the year of the monkey, the monkey in our culture is supposed to be very lively and mischievous and full of energy. It has been three months since I had chicken, I have been eating fish and vegetables, but I really miss eating chicken meat. In our village where there are 20 families, 14 families are in the business of selling poultry to support their income, many of them also sold eggs to supplement their income. Our village has a population of 125, yet ten of the villagers have been diagnosed as having the avian flu virus, more commonly known as the H5N1 virus and of them, three had already died because of this virus. Everyone in our village is on edge as we are afraid of whether we will be the next one infected with the virus or not. Today I am going to the market to buy flowers, red meat, fruits and red envelopes to help my parents to get our house ready for the New Year. The mood in the market is the same as normal, there are more businesses than usual because everyone is busied trying to prepare for the New Year. If a visitor came to our village for a visit, the visitor would not notice any difference in our village life. However, underneath that normal exterior, something is very wrong in our village. Normally, the market is the busiest as people flocked to buy chicken and eggs so that they can cook for the New Year. The place where usually I have to shout and push my way so that I could buy a chicken from that place is now emptied. I could even hear my own echo when I shouted which disturbed me very much, I never thought that I could hear my own voice. As I walked back from the market, I stop by my neighbor and friend's house, Ngoc, to say hello to her. Her little brother, Tuan, was one of the victims of the avian flu, but unfortunately, he did not make it. I came inside her house and went to her back yard where she is holding a chicken that her father had just killed, while on the floor, there are more than 150 dead birds laying on the ground. The Avian Flu Virus in Chicken :: virus illness china Essays The Avian Flu Virus in Chicken There are only ten more days until we celebrate our biggest holiday of the year, Chinese New Year. It is the year of the monkey, the monkey in our culture is supposed to be very lively and mischievous and full of energy. It has been three months since I had chicken, I have been eating fish and vegetables, but I really miss eating chicken meat. In our village where there are 20 families, 14 families are in the business of selling poultry to support their income, many of them also sold eggs to supplement their income. Our village has a population of 125, yet ten of the villagers have been diagnosed as having the avian flu virus, more commonly known as the H5N1 virus and of them, three had already died because of this virus. Everyone in our village is on edge as we are afraid of whether we will be the next one infected with the virus or not. Today I am going to the market to buy flowers, red meat, fruits and red envelopes to help my parents to get our house ready for the New Year. The mood in the market is the same as normal, there are more businesses than usual because everyone is busied trying to prepare for the New Year. If a visitor came to our village for a visit, the visitor would not notice any difference in our village life. However, underneath that normal exterior, something is very wrong in our village. Normally, the market is the busiest as people flocked to buy chicken and eggs so that they can cook for the New Year. The place where usually I have to shout and push my way so that I could buy a chicken from that place is now emptied. I could even hear my own echo when I shouted which disturbed me very much, I never thought that I could hear my own voice. As I walked back from the market, I stop by my neighbor and friend's house, Ngoc, to say hello to her. Her little brother, Tuan, was one of the victims of the avian flu, but unfortunately, he did not make it. I came inside her house and went to her back yard where she is holding a chicken that her father had just killed, while on the floor, there are more than 150 dead birds laying on the ground.

Piracy :: essays research papers

Piracy Recently, The Toronto Star published an article entitled "RCMP seizes BBS, piracy charges pending." The RCMP have possessed all computer components belonging to the "90 North" bulletin board system in Montreal, Quebec. The board is accused of allowing people the opportunity to download (get) commercial and beta (or commercial) software versions. I feel that the RCMP should not charge people that are linked to computer piracy, because the pirated software offers valuable opportunity to programmers and users. Also, revenue lost to the large software companies is such a small amount that the effect won't be greatly felt by them and so it is not worth the policing effort required to track down the pirates. When pirates distribute the illegal software, one could say that they are helping, than hurting the software companies. By distributing the software world wide, it creates great advertisement for the software companies and their products. Although the software company is losing profits from that particular version, it could generate future sales with other versions. Also, when the pirates distribute the software this could be a great source of test data for the software companies. This is an effective way to catch any unfounded bugs in the software program. From debugging to hacking, hackers can benefit the most. They can study and learn from the advancements with in the programming. So what does all this activity tell us? This tells us the people are willing to go to great lengths to get software at a lower cost, or possibly in exchange for other software and that they are succeeding in their efforts. Although more than 50% of their software income is from other companies which do not pirate, this poses a problem for the software industries. By fining a single bulletin board out of the thousands in North America, there would be little accomplished. Not to mention the fact the it is extremely difficult to prove and convict people under the Copyright Act. In today's society, revenue from software is such a small income source for corporations such as WordPerfect Corp. These companies make their money mainly from individuals purchasing extra manuals, reference material, supplementary hardware, and calling product support. Software companies are conscious of the pirate world and the changes they have made. Some companies actually want you to take the software by using the SHAREWARE concept. In SHAREWARE one gets a chance to use demo programs and then pay for the full purchase if he feels it is worthwhile. It is a bit like test driving a car, before one buys. In most cases, users are happy and end up

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare Essay -- classic story, literar

Based on the classic Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Roman, Julie, and Friends displays a new theme on becoming friends with children of all genders, even if it is not expected or allowed by their friends. There were many changes made to create a story that resembled Romeo and Juliet but also changed the meaning to a more positive and age appropriate moral. For example some of the original characters are resembled in the remediation, while others were completely new for the purpose of the new plot. The classic play was changed to a children’s book to provide a positive message to children by using pictures and designs that would suit a child’s liking. The design of the book was happy and cheerful, with basic pictures that resemble the words but are similar to the other pictures in the book. The book also uses ethos, logos, and pathos to sell the moral of the story. Ethos is mainly used by the creditability of Shakespeare. While pathos is the ability for the rea der to connect with the characters personalities and stories. Logos is used by providing the child realize that friends can be any gender or personalities, but if given the chance a friend can be found in anyone. The target audience is for children around the reading level of 3, with the purpose being the idea that children can become friends with children of any gender. The target audience for this remediation is children around the ages of 5-8 at a reading level of 3. The purpose of this remediation is the idea that a classic story can be changed to suit the views of a child. This story tells about how children should not judge other children based on their gender, but on their personalities and similarities. The book mainly uses stereotypical versions of boys and... ... ethos from taking a classic, well-known play and changing some details while still keeping the overall credit of the play. While using also using pathos as the main element to convince the child reading the book that any relationship can be formed if given the chance, while also using logos by providing the child with the facts that each of the child found a similarity between them and became friends. The design showed accurate visual images of the words while the cover displayed a happy ending. All the changes were used to display the differences in others and how friendships can be made if there is no judgment but acceptance of differences and looked at the personality. Overall the changes were made to appeal to a child instead of an older audience like Romeo and Juliet. Works Cited Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. New York: Penguin Books, 1998. Print.

Compare and contrast 2 treatments of crime. (TEP’s and AMP’s Token economy program and anger management program. Essay

Token economy programmes are a form of behaviour modification based on the principles of operant conditioning. They are used in prisons to encourage the reduction of anti-social behaviour and criminal behaviour; they involve awarding tokens to offenders if a desired behaviour is performed. The tokens may then be exchanged for various rewards. The aim is for the desired behaviour to be repeated. As a treatment it involves setting out a range of desirable behaviours and reinforcing the offender whenever the behaviour is displayed. This behaviour would focus upon non-aggressive, these behaviours are expected that the behaviour will become learned and automatic. Positive reinforces come in the shape of tokens—a secondary reinforcement, which can be exchanged for primary reinforcement. Negative reinforcement comes with the threat of removal of tokens and prisoners change their behaviour to avoid this consequence. A token economy system uses operant conditioning to gradually changing behaviour through primary and secondary renforcements. Anger management is another treatment aimed to prevent crime. It is used in prisons, and participants may participate voluntarily or as part of their sentence. This is used identify triggers which may cause there aggression. By preventing aggression, the likelihood of crimes being committed is reduced. The treatment usually takes place in group settings and occurs about twice a week. A trained person runs the group. They are usually asked what factors make them feel angry and thus trigger aggression. Once this trigger has been identified, strategies can be taught which to condole and reduce the anger they experiences. An anger management programme will be based around 3 key stages; cognitive preparation (analysing past aggression and discovering patterns, and the offender also looks at the consequences of aggression), skills acquisition (where they are taught techniques that help them to manage their response to triggers in a more productive way.) and application practice (the offender to test their skills in a range of situations). Token economy works because the behaviour of the offender is being constantly monitored and recorded in order to award the tokens, and then becomes habit. However it is limited to institutions like a prison for this token economy to work because they will not get such awards in the ‘real world’ but it is the plan that due to what is shown by operant conditioning these desired  behaviours may/can become a habit and thus behaviour is repeated. Anger management can also have a similar problem, it may be easier to control your anger and follow the program while in the group but in the ‘real world’ it may be harder to follow or perform the behaviours that are learnt from the program. Even though this may happen for anger management there is still very effective, the offenders take part voluntarily. This increases the programme’s effectiveness, as offenders who take part voluntarily are usually more committed to the programme’s success. This is in contrast to other treatments, such as token economy, which are often enforced over an entire prison system meaning that it may not be successful in all cases. But not all anger management is voluntary some people have to take part as part of their sentence. This provides an ulterior motive and although the offender may appear to have made progress, this could be false and the issue of anger is not actually being addressed (demand characteristics). This means that anger management like token economy may not be effective for everyone. Another problem you may find in anger management is by doing the course they may be singled out (especially in prisons) and by singling out prisoners to show they are doing this program may cause prisoners not to take it seriously or may not consider taking it voluntary, or may take it for other motives e.g. some times taking the course can help your bid to get erlyer or longer parole periods. Token economy on the other hand dose not single out specific prisoners as all prisoners have to take part in the programme, no single prisoner can have an ulterior motive for participating. However anger management is supported by Ireland (2000). They compared 50 young offenders on an anger management programme with 37 on the waiting list for anger management. Before and after treatment scores were taken on level of aggression shown (as reported by prison officers and by the prisoners themselves through self-report). 92% of the treatment group showed some drop in aggression with 48% showing major decreases. 8% showed deterioration. This evidence shows strong support of anger management programmes as a way to control aggression in prison. Hobbs and Holt (1976) measured the effect of token economy on a sample of young delinquents across 3 institutions  (with one other institution being used as a comparison[control group]). Tokens were awarded to those in the experimental groups whenever target behaviour was displayed. These were swapped for primary reinforces. There was a significant (28%) increase in the target behaviours in the experimental groups compared to the controls. This shows that the token economy was an effective and cost effective (less than $8 per month per boy) way to control the behaviour of criminals whilst in prison. By comparing the results it would seem that anger management may be more effective as a way to treat crime but the numbers of people who participated was far less so Hobbs and Holt may have less success rate due to the larger groups meaning that the result may be more valid due to it being easer to apply to the prison population.