Cause and Effect Essay Essay

About 70% of the couples who get married take the decision of getting divorce. Divorce is one of the most serious social problems in the modern world. It has become very common recently, and it affects all levels of society. In the past, divorce was quite rare. Today, however, a majority of marriages break up in the first few years. When involved in a divorce lack of communication, infidelity, and financial problems are the causes to provoke a couple to split apart and take their lives into different path. To begin with one significant cause that leads to a divorce is lack of communication. Many couples stop communicating with each other because each one is busy doing their own things in life whether it is work, hobbies, raising children, activities, among other things. A lot of couples have different job schedules not allowing them to see each other most of the day. When they finally get to see each other is at night and unfortunately they are both tired and they just go to sleep. Since the time that they live together is not enough, the couples find it hard to find time to communicate with each other due to having a busy life and for lack of energy. Also, many married people have poor communication because they do not know how to express their feelings to their partner. Marriage cannot be a successful relationship if either one does not discuss about his/her emotions or issues, and expects their partner to guess what the whole problem is about. Finally, most couples just do actions i nstead of using words. Married couples think that they do not need to express their love for each other verbally and that only providing for the house is sufficient to know that they care and love each other. Many people think that because they provide things from the home like food, pay bills, take care of the house, etc. they do not have any other problems and they live with happiness. Unfortunately, it just makes the couple weaker ending in a divorce. Its quite clear that the less communication that is used in a marriage, the more higher divorce rates. Furthermore, infidelity in a marriage can be devastating, and most of the time leads to divorce. Boredom in a relationship is not a good idea if couples want a successful marriage. Partners who do not challenge each other with enough excitement to keep the relationship interesting cheat. The desire for self-expansion can lead a husband or wife to be aware of opportunities outside of the marriage, opening the door to infidelity. Spouses do not communicate their desires for growth, and they feel the need to cheat. In addition, many couples can cheat using social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace etc. Social network is one of the most common causes of infidelity in married couples. Today, everyone can have a computer or phone that they can access to internet making it way easier to meet new people. Many couples have many jealously problems when they found out that their spouse has being talking or going out on dates with different women/men. Most married couples cannot forgive their spouse of infidelity, leading to an unfortunate divorce. Lastly, multiple sex partners before marriage can lead to infidelity. Many people when they get married think that they will change and stay with just one sex partner, but the truth is that they find it really hard to keep their promise. This can lead to a sense of loss, betrayal, unwelcome memories and other problems. These can affect a marriage later on. After a couple of months they feel satisfied with their spouse, but when the time keep passing they cannot be with just one person, and there is when infidelity takes place in a relationship. After infidelity most or all the trust is lost; not having any other option then the divorce in marriages. Finally, a cause of divorce are financial issues. Money or aspects related to it are of course a possible cause of disagreement between couples. For example, couples that live paycheck to paycheck deal with stress from the pressure of making enough money to survive and provide the family with necessities. If the bills get behind it could start an argument between the two and that on top of being behind with bills can be overwhelming causing more stress, which leads to an unhealthy relationship. For instance, many married couples go into debt. Many couples when they do not have money to pay something tend to use credit cards, but many people end abusing them. They say I will buy it now and I will pay it later. Unfortunately, bills do not stop from coming and when people less expect it they cannot get out of debt. This situation builds up stress between the couples not knowing how to get out of it, and just blaming each other without finding a solution. Finally, gender differences of how they see their financial problems can cause a divorce. For most males when it comes to money is to provide for their family. They like to carry this burden. For most females, their need is to make sure the family is provided for. Problems starts to show when the husband might work longer to provide, but the wife thinks his work is his top priority over family. The husband sees it just the opposite. For some husbands, just because they are working hard, it doesn’t mean they love their jobs more than their families. Obviously, too much work can cause the relationship to suffer. Economic problems can cause a disaster in a marriage, not having other option for the couples then the divorce. Clearly, divorce is a serious issue that can happen to anyone due to cheating, economic problems, and poor communication. Before taking the big step of marriage every couple has to think about all the things that imply being married. Couples should consider living in free union for a short time before getting married, by doing this, you can meet your partner well before making an important decision that can have a huge impact on every couple’s life. The cause of divorce are lamentable and all couples should try to consider them if they want to have a healthy and successful relationship and avoid falling during marriage.

Adult Learner Assessment

Adult Learner Assessment Theresa Ann Hayden, M. A. , Ed. S. Classroom Assessment in Education Dr. Kelli Ligeikis Capella University June 15, 2011 Adult Learner Assessment Classroom assessment is critical to the measurement of student achievement. As stated in Angelo and Cross, (1993): Classroom assessment helps individual college teachers obtain useful feedback on what, how much, and how well their students are learning†¦ [the purpose] is to produce the highest possible quality of student learning†¦to help student learn more effectively and efficiently than they could on their own (p. ). Student learning is the overall goal of education; the student may be a child, an adult, an informal learner, or a formal learner; regardless of which type of learner he or she is, the goal is to learn new concepts, topics, and subjects. The mastery of that subject matter is the charge of both the teacher and the student. In identifying three concepts pertinent to classroom assessments for adult learners, â€Å"assessment procedures can be used for measuring entry performance (placement assessment), monitoring learning progress (formative and diagnostic assessment), or measuring end-of-instruction achievement (summative assessment)† (Gronlund and Waugh, 2009, p. 14). This translates to the classroom as pre-test, or preview (to writing skills, for example); on-the-spot identification of â€Å"opportunities for improvement,† feedback and post-testing, whether it’s verbal, written, or another assessment. Classroom assessment is typically, one of the last steps performed in the education of adult learners. However, assessment of a student’s abilities before, during, and after teaching can also be performed. First, the teacher plans and prepares instructional objectives which are in line with the learning institution, state, and local objectives. These objectives must also be: Guided by what the students are expected to learn†¦ [while] the instructional objectives are also in harmony with the assessment produced†¦ [these] should also be stated in terms of the student performance to be demonstrated†¦ [and] those observable skills such as speaking, or a product such as a written paper†¦and typically a rubric, scale, or a checklist of some type is used (Gronlund and Waugh, 2009, pp. 43 – 44). Teacher Effectiveness According to â€Å"Effective Classroom Instruction† (2004): Effective classroom instruction refers to the application of the ‘teacher effectiveness’ variables, that is, those variables that have been demonstrated to bear the strongest relation to student achievement. These variables include time on task, content coverage, pacing, scope and sequence, questioning, feedback, and praise. Systematic application of these elements has been demonstrated to increase academic achievement. Behavioral outcomes are the initial objectives in place before any of the instruction takes place. In addition, the characteristics of classroom assessment include that it is â€Å"learner-centered, teacher-directed, mutually beneficial, formative, context-specific, ongoing, and rooted in good-teaching practice† (Angelo and Cross, 1993, pp. 4 – 6). In layperson’s language, the typical activities of a teacher and where they fit into the characteristics of student-achievement learning include: Teachers will use various techniques and tools to facilitate the learning of the students which is learner-centered. The teacher will impart knowledge and the student will obtain knowledge is teacher directed. The opportunity for both teachers and adult students to meet in an environment conducive to learning with a common goal of ‘knowledge’; the teacher to impart knowledge and the student to obtain knowledge is mutually beneficial. Using internal and external feedback to modify lessons is formative and ongoing. The assessment on the part of the teacher comes from goal-setting at the beginning of the quarter, semester, etc. ith regard to the quantity and quality of concept and skill knowledge required for the students to learn is context-specific. Teachers will use various techniques and tools (altering these to the ‘microculture’ of the classroom) to facilitate the learning of the students is rooted in good-teaching practice (Angelo and Cross, 1993, pp. 4 – 6). While it may seem obvious, teacher effectiveness is tantamount to meeting and exceeding planning, execut ing, and analyzing for improvement instructional objectives, assessment instruments, and measuring performance objectives. When the adult student finds that all of this is relevant to his or her personal and academic objectives, and there are instructional objectives which are interconnected to the personal and academic goals of the student, then there is student achievement and teacher effectiveness. This is illustrated where a diagnosis of sorts occurs by the teacher—this may be a pre-assessment; then the teaching begins; then the teacher may assess the situation by obtaining results from the assessment tool; and whatever adjustments or modifications are needed are determined and then put into place; and they the teacher assesses the learning again. See Appendix, p. 1). This is the visual flow of a teacher’s â€Å"work-in-progress† of diagnosing, teaching, and assessing results, and then modifying teaching, and then teaching, assessing, and modifying, and so on. Type and Purpose of the Assessment The type of assessment to be used is a multiple-choice question, true-false question, and short-essay exam. The purpose of the exam will be to determine whether the students have mastered the concepts of ethical theories; this will aid them in making quick decisions in a work environment or in an ethical dilemma. Context and Learning Situation The class being taught is Ethics which has several different ethical theories available through the textbook Ethics: Theory and Practice textbook. The applications of the different ethical theories and their tenets are applied to different relevant scenarios. The students will participate in class discussion and give their opinions freely in an open-environment. The goal here is to keep the students’ interest in the subject of ethics, as a whole, by using different circumstances, where the student might have to make split-second ethical decisions in the work environment. This shows the adult learner applicability and immediate relevance. Student Demographics The student demographics include the educational program of Criminal Justice with the adult students and are the following: 1. Ranging in age from 18 to 50 years and beyond. 2. The gender of the group is 55% male and 45% female 3. Currently pursuing an undergraduate degree; an Associate’s of Science degree in Criminal Justice. 4. The academic attainment before entering college of all students includes either a G. E. D. certificate or a high school diploma. 5. Some students have completed prior college coursework; some have other associate’s degrees. . The adult students in this assessment are European-American, Hispanic-American, Asian-American, African-American, and Mixed Ethnicities. 7. The students come from Lower Class, Working Class, and Lower Class backgrounds. Hypothetical Learner Subject Taught The subject being taught in this scenario is Ethics, and the students are expected to develop sound ethical reasoning and judgment through the study of practical applications of ethical theories. Topics studied include ethics as it relates to criminal justice, health care and nursing, society, and the environment. Emphasis is on practical applications of ethical principles and analytic methods. In particular, the students are exposed to different scenarios involving reason and judgment in the context of the degree-seeking program. Learner Outcomes The adult learners are expected to learn the following at the completion of the Ethics class: 1. Apply the Consequentialist (Teleological) ethical theories to different scenarios presented as if a proponent of consequentialism. 2. Apply the Nonconsequentialist (Deontological) ethical theories to different scenarios presented as if a proponent of nonconsequentialism. . Discuss the origins of Virtue Ethics, and explain which cultures might be more predisposed to use this type of ethics due to its origin. 4. Solve ethical problems using Absolutism and Relativism 5. Describe and explain the difference between Determinism and Free Will 6. Perform critical thinking in ethical dilemmas using both Reward and Punishment. Adult Learner Assessment Instruments A ny type of assessment should always be congruent with the instructional objectives, as well as the content taught to those instructional objectives (Gronlund and Waugh, 2009). To assess students properly, the students must be made aware of the instructional objectives, first, at the beginning of the term, while covering the material in the syllabus, and then throughout the term, at the opening of each class meeting. This way, the students are kept â€Å"on track† as to what is expected of them to learn, and the daily instructional objectives are in alignment with the overall learning objectives. College and university policies should come into play regardless of the type of assessment (Gronlund and Waugh, 2009), but the assessment instrument can be tailored depending on the type of material which is being measured. There are different types of skills which can be evaluated in any one college subject. The assessment used in this scenario is at the conclusion of this course will be cumulative, and will assess all of the concepts using criterion-referenced assessment, which asks the question, â€Å"Did the student learn the concepts? † and then also using norm-referenced assessment, which checks for, â€Å"How did the student fair when compared to other students’ performance? † The Adult Learning Scenario The assessment used to ascertain the adult learners ranging in ages from eighteen to fifty plus, with dominant demographics of 75% Hispanic, and 15% European, and 10% African American, will be a Final Project, culminating the quarter’s learning in an Ethics course in an associate’s degree program in Criminal Justice. In addition, of the 75% Hispanic students, at least half of them are working as English as a second language learners. This course runs twelve weeks and will cover ten main ethical theories and each of their sub-theories. The Special Needs Student Overall, the adult learner has many challenges in â€Å"going back to school,† the ESL student has even more challenges. The foundation for education and the mindset of all students is aptly stated as: Many students today assume that it is the teacher's job to educate them, tell them what they need to know or give them the answers. Moreover, because they have been taught to be passive learners, they think that their job is to listen without resistance and to try to learn as best as they can, and, in some cases, verbatim what they are taught. Many students, in fact, accept everything they read as factual information (Baitlinger, 2005, p. 1). Adult Learners in the Southwest region of the United States, whose first language is typically Spanish, and English is their second language, are in good company. Often times, classrooms of adult learners are filled with several different students of many ethnicities and cultures. This is one of the beauties of living in the Southwest; there are typically Spanish speaking people who are the majority of bilingual speakers in cities such as Vista, which is a suburb of San Diego, California, where the Ethics class is located. In this particular classroom of thirty-two, about 24 (75% of the class) will speak Spanish fluently; some will speak English fluently, but there is also a large population who have been in the United States for only a few years, and there are challenges as an adult when it is tempting to stay in the native language with friends, but whose assignments and assessments are all either spoken, written, or lectured in English. These following are some of the challenges that both teacher and student face when the student is English as a Second Language (ESL) learner. As far as the educating of these adult learners whose English language is still in the practice stage, there are many students who are very open and willing to learn the new culture, the new language, and the new academia. However, there are challenges that face many who are not so approachable due to emotional issues such as embarrassment, shame, or resistance, which can even turn into stubbornness. The Teaching Strategies The administrator will use the following teaching strategies throughout the course: 1. Lecture 2. Board work 3. Demonstration 4. Classroom exercises 5. Class discussion 6. Textbook exercises 7. Practice quiz questions 8. Case studies and reading assignments 9. Guest speakers 10. Group and pair work 11. Verbal presentations 12. Pencil and paper examinations In addition, all students will be required to demonstrate proper use and application of the computer and the different software required, and the materials located in the Learning Resource Center throughout the course. The Teaching Strategies for Special Needs Students The teaching strategies for the special needs students which are comprised of 75% of this class’ population will include not only accommodation for the ESL student in the teaching stage, but also in the assessment stage. This will be accommodations for the assessment will be covered later in the paper. Many lessons may need to be repeated; the teacher may need to work tenaciously side-by-side at the desk with the ESL student until he/she understands the material; the teacher may exercise unlimited patience; and also need to use metaphors or analogies in order to find other avenues of reaching the student. Professors can be challenged to their limit when grading an ESL adult student’s written paper. Many times, there are words which are used which are not words at all in forming sentences. For example, a student who has only heard the word â€Å"limelight† in observing his non-ESL counterparts, may mistake it for the word â€Å"live light. † This type of error can perplex a professor who is unsure of what the student is trying to convey. It isn’t serious, but the point is, in order to build an assessment, the teacher must first teach, and the student must first have lots of practice and drill with reinforcement by the teacher. Another challenge for ESL adult learners is learning how to conjugate verbs; many bilingual and multilingual adults have experienced this. For example, if an adult learner, who spoke English first, and he or she were attempting to learn Spanish, the result is the same with conjugation of verbs. If a child grows up with correction by his mother or father when he says, â€Å"I ‘goed’ to the store,† with the parent saying, â€Å"No, Honey, you say, ‘I went to the store,† then this child has at least twenty years of practice. This is another challenge when grading any type college papers; many ESL adult learners will use substantially incorrect verb tenses. In addition to these challenges, most ESL learners do not have the immense vocabulary in English that many lifelong English speakers do; of course, this is the same for the inverse relationship and any other languages where the learner speaks a different first language and is learning another language. The estimated recognition vocabularies of fluent readers range from 10,000 to 100,000 words (Johnson and Steele, 1996 cite Nagy and Herman, 1987, p. 48); English or Composition teachers understand that reading, writing, and speaking are all related. In fact, students build a vocabulary by doing all of the above. Because reading is fundamental to all education and it follows that being able to write and speak the language; ESL students know this because their challenges â€Å"snowball into one another. † The Course Outcomes The course outcomes whic h align directly with the instructional objectives in each unit are what the student is expected to perform to upon completion of the course. The students should be able to: 1. nvestigate the importance of sound ethical judgment and reasoning for responsible living; 2. analyze significant case studies using key ethical concepts; 3. debate significant ethical issues using respectful, clear, and incisive argumentation; 4. explain, defend, and assess personal ethical perspectives on issues of significance in their own lives; 5. discuss application of course knowledge in professional settings in the criminal justice arena. The Course Outline The course outcomes will be achieved by the following outline of topics: 1. Unit One: Introduction to Ethics and Morality . Unit Two: Consequentialist and Non-Consequentialist Theories of Morality 3. Unit Three: Virtue Ethics, Absolutism, and Relativism 4. Unit Four: Freedom, Determinism, Rewards, and Punishments 5. Unit Five: Setting Up a Moral Sys tem 6. Unit Six: Ethical Applications: Dishonesty 7. Unit Seven: Ethical Applications: Personal Relationships, Business, and the Media 8. Unit Eight: Ethical Applications: Abortion and Bioethics 9. Unit Nine: Ethical Applications: Life and Death 10. Unit Ten: Ethical Applications: Environmental Ethics and Course Reflection The Assessment Instrument The actual student assessment handout (See Appendix, p. 2) that is developed by the educator is a Final Project, which is written in a research paper format; this paper should incorporate each of the ten main ethical theories, as well as each sub-theory which belongs under the main ethical theory presented. The theories, along with their sub-theories, are covered, as well as the students must show that they can apply each theory to a real-life criminal justice situation, albeit hypothetical, but realistic to a situation they might find themselves in as a law enforcement officer. Directions for the Students The student must use and reference the text book, Ethics: Theory and Practice, 10th edition, by Thiroux and Krasemann. The expected deliverables must be in American Psychological Association (APA) formatted paper; it must be between ten to twelve pages in length; it must have a cover page; a references page; there must be no less than twenty resources used, with at least three print books (including the textbook), and at least two peer-reviewed journal articles; and lastly, there must be fifteen in-text citations. In addition, the paper must be in Arial, 12 point font, double-spaced, and written in third-person perspective; there must be a thesis statement at the beginning of the paper, and to categorize the topics, there must be bold and centered sub-headings. The Page minimum and Resource minimum are non-negotiable; if the project does not meet these particular criteria, then the paper will not be graded. This project is worth 30% of the student’s overall course grade. The content must include each of the ethical theories, including the sub-theory; and each should be first outlined with a definition of the theory or sub-theory, and at least three examples of how this theory can be applied. Following the definition and basic application of the theory, the student will produce an ethical dilemma in a complex scenario which might occur in the life of a law enforcement officer, where each of the theories are applied as though the student is taking on the role of the decision-maker exercising ethical judgment as a Consequentialist, Determinist, etc. Essentially, the students are putting themselves in the place of each type of ethical theorist. The student must perform this decision-making for each theory and sub-theory; these theories are shown in the following paragraph. The Ethical Theories The theories with their sub-theories are as follows as cited in Thiroux and Krasemann, (2008): 1. Consequentialism (Teleological) a. Psychological Egoism b. Ethical Egoism c. Utilitarianism d. Care Ethics 2. Nonconsequentialism (Deontological) a. Act Nonconsequentialism b. Rule Nonconsequentialism 3. Virtue Ethics a. Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics b. Confucius’ Ethics . Absolutism 5. Relativism 6. Freedom and Free Will 7. Fatalism 8. Determinism a. Hard Determinism b. Soft Determinism 9. Reward 10. Punishment Directions for Special Needs Students The special needs student who is an English as a second language learner will have the same expectations for tangible deliverables as any other student. However, there will be some a ccommodations made. The ESL student will more time to complete the final project paper due to a slower reading-comprehension speed; these students are bright, they just have a special need, and if more time is necessary, then that is also possible. For example, if it is warranted, the special needs student will be given the final project specifications â€Å"cut sheet† up to two class periods sooner than the other students. This is so that the teacher has time to explain verbally each of the instructions in a more step-by-step fashion. If a teacher has a student who is truly struggling, then it is possible for that student to be assigned additional practice assignments so that he or she can practice the concepts. Another accommodation might be to assign daily dictionary readings by the student (along with their own language dictionary), so that the student’s vocabulary increases, and he or she practices reading. This also works with children’s books; assign the student stories to read out loud to the teacher after class; this will enable the student to practice his or her â€Å"American accent† and will help acculturate the student to the English-speaking, reading, writing environment. Prior to the final project assignment, the teacher can take the ESL student aside to check for understanding of the directions. The teacher can also read the final project specifications to the student with an English-Spanish interpreter so that any challenging words are truly understood. In addition, the teacher can show samples of quality papers to the ESL students so that they understand the format and comprehensiveness of the assignment given them. Lastly, the ESL adult student still needs lots of encouragement. While a teacher insists on keeping this fair amongst all students in the class, it doesn’t hurt to encourage these ESL students in the hall, in private, and in front of his or her peers. Direction for Assessment Administrator Since the assessment will be administered by the educator, the direction that she will follow includes: 1) checking for each component required of the students as outlined in the directions to the students, 2) verifying the adherence to the APA format standards using The Official Pocket Style Guide From the American Psychological Association 6th ed. Concise Rules of APA Style, in every aspect of the paper 3) confirming that the students used all of the ethical theories and sub-theories as outlined in the directions to students, by comparing to those in the textbook, Ethics: Theory and Practice, by Thiroux and Krasemann, 2009, to those that the student outlined in the paper, 4) Making certain that the definitions and applications for each theory is, in fac t, correct, and 5) attesting that the scenario produced and the ethical decisions made are aligned with those made by each of the ethical theories and sub-theories. Assessment Items Linked to Learning Objectives The assessment items linked to the learning objectives are in table-format and illustrate each assessment item in the final project assigned and its link to the learning objectives or course outcomes outlined above. (See Appendix, p. 3 – 4) Assessment Consistent with Learning Environment The assessment chosen, the final project which is written as a comprehensive paper by the student is aligned with the course outcomes, as well as the course outline of units covered. In addition, the adult learners’ environment, whether it be in a face-to-face classroom or an online course is conducive to a comprehensive written paper, as this is the medium for showing definition, application, and creativity in producing scenarios, in which the concepts learned can be used in immediate, relevant, and real-world situations. This is directly in line with Angelo and Cross (1993) states, â€Å"Creative thinking is the ability to interweave the familiar with the new in unexpected and stimulating ways† (p. 81). It is also consistent with Knowles’ assumptions of adult learners where: An adult accumulates a growing reservoir of experience which is a rich resource for learning†¦the readiness of an adult to learn is closely related to the developmental tasks of his or her special role†¦adults need to know why they need to learn something (Knowles, 1984; 1980; 1968, as cited in Merriam, Caffarella, and Baumgartner, 2007). In fact, a final project in the form of a written paper is the best format to use the adult learners’ life while utilizing a performance instrument that is closely related to his or her special role. Above all, adults will find that the instrument is relevant to something they need to learn for their upcoming professions in criminal justice. Interpretation of Results Interpretation of a course assessment is the last step after administering a classroom assessment technique; it is the step that the teacher is most interested in after providing the instruction; adequate opportunities for practice and drill of concepts; planning and implementing procedures which are equitable to all; formulating the criteria for constant observation and timely and detailed one-to-one student coaching; and the analysis of each student’s improvement or the necessity for review; and then the assessment tool is administered (Gronlund and Waugh, 2009). Only then can the interpretation of the assessment be articulated. â€Å"In the interpretation step, the teacher seeks answers to the ‘why’ questions of the students’ [incorrect] responses† (Angelo and Cross, 1993, p. 54). Because interpretation is the â€Å"goal† of all teaching by teachers, and the learning by students, then it is crucial that the foundation of the teaching, the tasks and tools used, and the learning objectives are all synchronized with the assessment tool, and the interpretation of the results should align with the learning objectives. As outlined in Gronlund and Waugh (2009), assessment is an integral part of the teaching-learning-assessment process. Assessment Development and Use For the Ethics class presented, the assessment tool used is a research paper which offers the culmination of the entire course. This type of assessment is a criterion-referenced instrument due to the nature of the course subject, and â€Å"criterion-referenced interpretation is especially important for instructional uses of assessment results† (Gronlund and Waugh, p. 27). This assessment will suggest results which correlates to each individual student’s learning of the ethical concepts; the application of said concepts to invented scenarios; the application to realistic criminal justice events; the proper use of the American Psychological Association (APA) format; and the students’ research, organization, paragraph construction, and mechanics skills in using written communication. This final paper is a hybrid between the supply-response [assessments] which are higher in realism†¦ [and] can measure the ability to originate, integrate, and express ideas†¦ and] the summative assessment†¦ [which] checks the extent to which the students have achieved the intended outcomes of the course instruction†¦ [and] performance assessments using extended response which includes a high degree of realism (Gronlund and Waugh, 2009, pp. 9 – 10; 27). The supply-response speaks to the format of the final paper which is written using research, but the students must also integrate their own ideas. The summative portion is the overall assimilation of ideas and concepts to the made-up scenarios, and lastly, the performance assessment illustrates the knowledge and skills necessary to perform on-the-job in a criminal justice capacity. The assessment will gauge not only the students’ understanding of the concepts presented, but will also measure the ability of the student to develop everyday scenarios, and ultimately, devise realistic events in which the different concepts can be applied. This may ensure ethical stability on the part of student-then-officer while enhancing his or her decision-making ability when faced with ethical dilemmas where the law and ethics may overlap, run parallel, or do neither in some cases. In addition, the student would be assessed on his or her written communications skills which include formatting the paper in its entirety in the APA format. The other skills which would come into play include research, organization, paragraph construction, and the overall mechanics of the paper. The quality of the content and the application of the concepts and principles would be weighted more heavily at 75% of the total assessment, with the APA format, paragraph construction, and mechanics would be weighted less at 25%. Assessment Interpretation and Grading According to Gronlund and Waugh (2009), â€Å"criterion-referenced interpretation is facilitated by assessment tasks that provide a detailed description of student performance†¦in performance-assessment this means performance tasks that make clear what the student can and cannot do† (p. 5). Since the students have been given the final project subject, the directions for completing the final project in paper-form, the expectations for deliverables, the grading rubric, and the assignments and tasks throughout the course have been tailored to learn the concepts and application necessary, then there should be no issues with what the criterion are for performing in a superb manner. Although a grading rubric is considered an assessment tool used to grade using subjectivity, it can have a set of criteria and specific metrics which link it to students’ learning objectives, which in this case, measure the student’s performance using a final project in research paper format. Because assessment is an ongoing process with a student in a degree-seeking program, the rubric is aimed at accurate and fair assessment for all students, by fostering understanding, and indicating the way to proceed with subsequent learning, re-learning, and teaching and re-teaching. This is the integration of performance and feedback which occurs prior to each assessment, and during the course of the class term, so that by the time the student is nearing the end of the quarter term, he or she should be able to articulate the items presented in the rubric using the final project directions adhering to the expectations for deliverables. According to Flash (2009), when students are apprised of grading criteria from the start, they can be more involved in the process of working toward success. According to Mansilla, Duraisingh, Wolfe, and Haynes, 2009: Rubrics are generally thought to promote more consistent grading and to develop self-evaluation skills in students as they monitor their performance relative to the rubric. However, rubrics are not without their critics who are concerned that rubrics can never truly capture the complexity of written work. If rubrics are to be useful, they must capture all the actual objectives of an assignment (p. ). In this case, the rubric (See Appendix, p. 5 – 6) is given to the students at the third week of the quarter term; the directions are explained in detail with opportunity for questions answered, with the actual objectives outlined in the rubric along with final project specifications. As mentioned previously, this rubric, along with the final project specifications, is given to the student at the third week of the quarter. Conclusion In summarizing adult learner assessment, first, it is recognized that the adult learner is motivated differently than other learners. Therefore, the teacher who teaches adult learners must be aware of not only the learner’s diversity and culture, but also his or her motivators. Then, the teacher must identify the initial abilities of his or her class; align the course objectives along with the teaching activities; verify that the teaching is aligned with the assessment instruments; then, analyze the results. After completion of this â€Å"cycle,† the educator can them adjust or modify the teacher, or the re-teaching, in this case; and then the â€Å"cycle† starts all over again. In summarizing assessment procedures, an assessment, in and of itself, is the procedure which measures the entire student learning during a course, and the teacher’s teaching, facilitating, observing, and coaching, it is the interpretation of those performance results which are invaluable. As long as the educator plans for assessment during the planning of the learning, then it probable that the assessment will gauge student learning, and will meet the instructional objectives (Gronlund and Waugh, 2009). In this case, the final project is one of the best assessment tools when measuring students’ cumulative learning, this is as long as several mini-assessments are given throughout the quarter, and adjustments are made to teaching, if the students do not understand the material. In addition, an verall assessment is done on the student’s writing skills, as well as his or her attention to the proper writing format. However, it is possible that the â€Å"assessment often generates more questions than it answers,† (Angelo and Cross, 1993, p. 54) and it is incumbent upon the educator to answer these questions of â€Å"why†¦the students respond the way they [do]† (p. 54), during all of the previous assessments administered throughout the quarte r term, so that there are few to none, by the time the final project is due. Lastly, in reflecting how the process of interpreting assessments will impact teaching, it is important to note that in teaching, â€Å"the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,† meaning, in this case, that without analyzing the end product of learning; then it is difficult to choose an assessment tool and the types of results that can occur; which makes it nearly impossible to understand how to assess students after teaching has occurred; it will be fruitless to set initial learning objectives; if it is not understood what it is the educators would like to teach the students; and to diagnose when they build the student pre-assessments. Each section is bound to the other in seamless alignment, with the opportunity for improvement at each juncture; it is in this way that goals and classroom assessment drive everything in education, and in learning, in general. In teaching, there can be no greater impact than to learn that each of these components is critical to the goal of facilitating the obtainment of knowledge, and it is a bright insight to teachers of all philosophies, experiences, and tenure. References American Psychological Association. (2010). The official pocket style guide from the American Psychological Association: Concise rules of APA style (6th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Angelo, T. A. , ; Cross, K. P. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teachers (2nd ed. ). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Baitlinger, K. (2005). Engaging adult learners in writing/ESL Classroom. College Quarterly, 8(1),1. Create Rubrics for your Project-Based Learning Activities. (2000 – 2008). Rubistar. Retrieved from http://rubistar. 4teachers. org/index. php? screen=NewRubric;module=Rubistar Effective Classroom Instruction. (2004). Encyclopedia of applied psychology. Retrieved from http://www. redoreference. com. library. capella. edu/entry/estappliedpsyc/effective_classroom_instruction Flash, P. (2009). Grading writing: Recommended grading strategies. Retrieved from http://writing. umn. edu/tww/responding_grading/grading_writing. html Gronlund, N. E. , ; Waugh, C. K. (2009). Assessment of student achievement (9th ed. ) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Johnson, D. , ; Steele, V. (1996, February). So many words, so little time: Helping college ESL learners. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. 39, 5; ProQuest Education Journals. . 348. Mansilla, V. , Duraisingh, E. , Wolfe, C. R. , ; Haynes, C. (2009). Targeted assessment rubric: An empirically grounded rubric for interdisciplinary writing. Journal of Higher Education. 80(3), 334-353. Merri am, S. , Caffarella, R. , ; Baumgartner, L. (2007). Learning in adulthood: A comprehensive guide (3rd ed. ). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Thiroux, J. P. , ; Krasemann, K. W. (2008). Ethics: Theory and practice (10th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. ————————————————- Top of FormBottom of Form| Adult Learner Assessment Running head: ADULT LEARNER ASSESSMENT Adult Learner Assessment Enter Student Name Here Capella University August 26, 2012 ED7712 Classroom Assessment in Education All students are familiar with assessments. They have been assessed on various levels all through primary and secondary school, and if they attended school afterward they've experienced assessments in postsecondary school as well. Why do we do assessments? Assessments are necessary – they not only tell the instructor how well the students are doing but they also tell the instructor how well they are teaching. But there is much more to assessments than that.Assessments can be â€Å"an excellent instructional method to provide understanding of what adults are learning, how they are thinking, what their progress is, and which learning problems to address† (Wlodkowski, 2008). This paper will demonstrate this. The purpose of this research paper is to demonstrate an assessment of the adult learning of students who are enrolled in IS100 – Introduction to Databases, a course at Two Rivers Community College. This course covers topics that include basic concepts of relational database systems, database architectures, data storage, and data mining.This course utilizes problem-based learning. Problem-based learning is an education strategy that uses problem-solving for optimal learning and is particularly useful in environments such as information technology. The benefits are twofold: students not only acquire knowledge but they also develop problem-solving skills necessary for real world application (Williams, Iglesias & Barak, 2008). Therefore the best type of assessment for this course will include a problem-based learning assessment.The learners are students who have been allowed to enroll in this course for one of three reasons: (1) it is a required course for the Information Systems major, (2) it is a being taken as an elective for another major, or (3) they are undecided on which majo r they want to pursue and want to learn more about this aspect of information systems career path. The majority of the students who attend this course are predominately post-adolescent white males who range in ages from 18 to 23 years old and are in their first year at the community college.These students typically complete their associates degree here prior to continuing their education to obtain a bachelor's degree in either Computer Science, Information Systems Management, or Industrial Technology. However, in recent years there have been an increasing number of adult learners who are of mixed nationalities, range between 28 to 35 years old, and are returning to the community college environment due to job loss or a change in career path. These individuals have chosen the community college environment because of the short duration of time to complete a degree as compared to the traditional four year university.Three Learning Outcomes The overall learning objective of this course is for students to demonstrate a fundamental understanding of database systems. To ensure this, students will be assessed on the following three learning outcomes throughout the course: 1. Unit 1: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the theory, history, and evolution of the relational database. 2. Unit 2: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the fundamentals of good relational database design. 3. Unit 3: Students will demonstrate basic knowledge of data mining and storage.Adult Learner Assessment The assessment described here will be on assessing students learning after the first unit is covered. The first unit of instruction is designated for an overall view of databases. Topics include relational database theory, the history and evolution of databases, types of database models, database query languages, and an overview of databases in use today. It is imperative that students have a good understanding of this information before moving on the next unit, therefore an assessment of this understanding needs to be evaluated.The two most widely used types of test items are selection-type items and supply-type items. The use of selection-type items will gauge how well the students can recognize or recall facts whereas the supply-type items will measure the more complex learning outcomes (Waugh & Gronlund, 2013). Items from both of these will be used to design the assessment to get a true measurement of students learning after unit 1. The assessment is listed in Appendix A. Accommodating Learners With Special NeedsIn accordance to the Americans with Disability Act and the policies of Two Rivers Community College, learners with special needs will have reasonable accommodations given during assessment taking. Reasonable and appropriate support services that may be needed for this course could include, but are not limited to: interpreters, questions and answer choices read out loud to the student, and extra testing time. Accommodations will be evalua ted on a case-by-case basis and every means will be done to ensure the student has a fair chance to take the assessment.The instructor will also seek guidance from The Alliance for Access to Computing Careers (aka AccessComputing). This organization partners with postsecondary institutions to increase participation of people with disabilities to computing fields. This organization can provides optimal strategies for instructors to accommodate a student with special needs. Specific to assessment taking, they recommend:  ·Alternative, quiet testing locations and distraction free rooms.  ·Alternative formats of the assessments, if needed.  ·Extended test-taking time. Reading or scribe services. All of these recommendations are already available at the school. Directions for the Assessment Administrator and the Adult Learner The way in which an assessment is administered to students is especially important for good assessment outcomes. Assessment administrators play a key role in this occurring. The main role of an assessment administrator for this course includes 1) to give clear instructions to the students and 2) to prevent cheating. The following directions will be provided to the assessment administrator.The instructions for the students will be written on the test itself:  ·Administrator: Prior to the class starting, ensure equal distance is between each student seat. Ensure there are no pieces of paper laying in or around the desks. When all the students have arrived, separate each student with a desk between them, if possible. Tell the students why they are there and the purpose of the test. Explain how the test is laid out (10 multiple choice questions, 10 true-false questions, and 3 short answer questions) and how much time they have to complete it (50 minutes).Breaks will not be given unless extenuating circumstances would dictate otherwise. Once the student has completed the test, they are to bring the test to you and place the test face down o n the desk. The student will gather their things and quietly leave the room. Interpretation of the Results of the Assessment Assessments provide the instructor with a relative ranking of students and a description of the learning tasks a student can and cannot perform (Waugh & Gronlund, 2013). These two items have more to do with the interpretation of the assessment results. Criterion-referenced vs.Norm-referenced The first item is centered around an interpretation method called norm-referenced assessment whereas the second one is centered around criterion-referenced assessment. The basic difference between the two is what the results are compared to. When an instructor is using norm-referenced assessment interpretation, they are comparing each student's performances with the other students in the class whereas when an instructor is using criterion-referenced interpretation, they are comparing each student's performance with a predefined set of criteria (Waugh & Gronlund, 2013).Each type of interpretation serves a specific purpose. If an instructor wants to use the interpretation of assessments for instructional decision-making, they would use the criterion-referenced approach whereas if they wanted to measure the psychometric different between students, they would use the norm-referenced approach. For the purpose of this paper, the criterion-referenced approach will be used to interpret the results of the assessments in this course. This will ensure the students have a clear guide to their learning objectives competency.Grading For the students, assessment is about grades. Grades tell the student to what extent they are meeting the instructional objectives. However grading is just as important to the instructor. There are three guiding principles that instructors use to determine their grading system for a course: 1. choose the best reference (standard) for the basis of grading, 2. choose the best way to combine the various assessment results, 3. choose the m ost effective and fair grading system (Waugh & Grunlund, 2013).Similar to the assessment interpretation types noted above, when choosing the best grading standard, instructors have a choice between grading the student's performance against predetermined standard (absolute grading) or against their fellow peer's performance (relative grading). The most common way is to use the absolute grading approach by assigning letter grades based on a 100 point system. This will be the approach used in this course. In choosing the most effective and fair grading system, there are a number of things an instructor can do to enlist the confidence of their students.First and foremost, the instructor should be upfront from the beginning with the students about their expectations of them, explain how the students will be graded, and explain the grading rubrics for the course. Lastly, the instructor should be sure to not grade based upon subjective components such as learning ability, the amount of imp rovement a student has achieved, or lack of or improved effort. In determine the best way to combine the various assessments, each graded item must be assessed. For this course, the students will have grades for four unit tests and one problem-based course paper.Each unit assessment will count for 15% of their grade and the course paper will count for 40% of their grade. No weighted scores will be used. The best way to grade the student's course paper was to develop a scoring rubric. For the problem-based course paper, students are given a completed database to study. Utilizing the Classroom Assessment Technique called Problem Recognition Tasks (Angelo & Cross, 1993), they students are to 1. determine if it meets the definition of a relational database, 2. elect and explain one relational database theory about their database (i. e. the relational model, dependency, normalization), 3. determine what database programming language was used to create it, 4. discuss database design model , and 5. explain one technique they'd use to extract data from it. The scoring rubric and letter grades for the course paper is below. Criteria|2 points|1 point|0 points| Determine if the database meets the definition of a relational database and provides supporting research to explain their reasoning for the decision. Correctly determines if the database meets the definition of a relational database and provides supporting research to explain their reasoning the decision. |Correctly determines if the database meets the definition of a relational database and but doesn’t provide supporting research to explain their reasoning the decision. |Doesn't correctly determines if the database meets the definition of a relational database. | Thoroughly explains one relational database theory about their database. |Fully explains one relational database theory about their database. Somewhat explains one relational database theory about their database. |Doesn't explain one relational dat abase theory about their database. | Correctly identifies the programming language use to create the database and thoroughly explains the programming language with supporting documentation. |Correctly identifies the programming language used to create the database and thoroughly explains the programming language with supporting documentation. |Correctly identifies the programming language used to create the database and but doesn't thoroughly explain the programming language with supporting documentation. Doesn't correctly identify the programming language used to create the database. | Correctly identifies the database design model used to create the database and thoroughly explains the model with supporting documentation. |Correctly identifies the database design model used to create the database and thoroughly explains the model with supporting documentation. |Correctly identifies the database design model used to create the database but doesn't thoroughly explain the model with supporting documentation. |Doesn't correctly identify the database design model used to create the database. Thoroughly explains what technique they'd use to extract data out of it. |Thoroughly explains what technique they'd use to extract data out of it. |Somewhat explains what technique they'd use to extract data out of it. |Doesn't explain a technique they'd use to extract data out of it. | Course Paper Letter Grades| 9-10 pts = A|7-8 pts = B|5-6 pts = C|3-4 pts = D|0-2 pts = F| A series of steps were taken to arrive at the scoring rubric. First, the intended learning outcomes were evaluated and used to construct the items needed to be graded on.Second, the focus of the assessment was determined by determining where the emphasis should be placed. It was determined that it should be focused on a process of examining a database for certain attributes. Third, it had to be determined if this would take the form of a paper-and-pen test or a practical exam. It was determined it would b e best to be a paper-and-pen test due to the time constraints of such a task. Forth, the performance situation was determine to be a identification test because the students need to be able to do this in a real world setting.Lastly, the method of observation chosen is the scoring rubric because they will provide the instructor with an objective scoring guideline, and they will give the students a clear guideline of what is expected of their final paper. (Waugh & Gronlund, 2013). In conclusion, the goal of this paper was to demonstrate assessment in an information technology course at a community college. The overall goal of instructing is to provide the highest possible quality of learning. Assessments, in forms of varying degrees, can be utilized to ensure this is happening.Specifically, the problem solving assessment described here will be a driving force in directing students' efforts toward critical thinking and real world applications. Appendix A IS100 – Introduction to Databases Unit 1 Assessment Name: ______________________________________ Date: ____________________ Assessment Instructions: This test is being given to assess your understanding of the theory, history, and evolution of the relational database. The Assessment Administrator will monitor your progress during the est to ensure students are completing their own work and not sharing their responses with others. Multiple Choice Directions: For each of the following multiple-choice questions, please select the best answer for each question and circle the letter to the left of the answer you have chosen as the most appropriate response. | | Question 1: Which of the following databases was an early implementation of the relational model developed by E. F. Codd ? A. IDMS B. DB2 C. dBase-II D. R:base Question 2: An online commercial site such as Amazon. om is an example of a(n): A. single-user database B. multiuser database C. e-commerce database D. data mining database Question 3: Which of th e following was the first to implement true relational algebra in a database? A. IDMS B. dBase-II C. Oracle D. R:base Question 4: The acronym SQL stands for: A. Structured Query Language B. Sequential Query Language C. Structured Question Language D. Sequential Question Language Question 5: The following are functions of a relational database except: A. creating and processing forms B. creating databases C. rocessing data D. administrating databases Question 6: Which of the following databases implemented the CODASYL DBTG model? A. IDMS B. dBase-II C. DB2 D. R:base Question 7: All the following are database models except: A. Spreadsheet Model B. Relational Model C. Hierarchical Model D. Object-Oriented Model | | Question 8: Today's banking systems use this type of database: A. Analytic database B. Operational database C. Network database D. Hierarchical database Question 9: The term Relational Database Management System (RDMS) was coined during the: A. 1950sB. 1960s C. 1970s D. 1980 s Question 10: All of the following are popular database query languages except: A. SQL B. OQL C. XML D. MySQL True-False Directions: For each of the following true-false questions, indicate a True response by circling the T next to the question and a False response by circling the F next to the question being answered. Question 1: A database is called â€Å"self describing† because it contains a description of itself. T F Question 2: One of the reasons why OODBMS is no longer used for today's businesses is because OOP is obsolete. T FQuestion 3: In an enterprise database system, users interact with database applications, which directly access the database data. T F Question 4: Microsoft Access is a database management system. T F Question 5: Prior to 1970, all data was stored in separate files, which were mostly stored on reels of magnetic tape. T F Question 6: SQL is an internationally recognized standard language that is understood by all database management system product s worldwide. T F Question 7: Databases that contain historical and summarized information are usually called data warehouses. T FQuestion 8: As legacy file-based systems and applications become candidates for reengineering, the trend is overwhelmingly in favor of replacing file-based systems and applications with database systems and applications. T F Question 9: A central focus of database theory is on understanding the complexity and power of query languages and their connection to logic. T F Question 10: The Object Oriented database model is best described by organizing data into a tree-like structure, implying a single upward link in each record to describe the nesting, and a sort field to keep the records in a particular order in each same-level list.T F Short Answer Directions: For each question, hand write your answer below each question. If additional paper is needed, please ask the Assessment Administrator. 1. Briefly explain three of the twelve rules of E. F. Cobb's relati onal database theory. 2. Briefly explain the three views (schema) of a DBMS. 3. List two advantages and two disadvantages of using a DBMS. References AccessComputing. The Alliance for Access to Computing Careers. Retrieved September 9, 2012 from http://www. washington. edu/accesscomputing. Angelo, T. A. , & Cross, K. P. (1993).Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers (2nd ed. ). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Waugh, C. K. , & Gronlund, N. E. (2013). Assessment of student achievement (10th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Williams, P. J. , Iglesias, J. & Barak, M. (2008). Problem based learning: Application to technology education in three countries. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 18( 4), 319 – 335. Wlodkowski, R. J. (2008). Enhancing adult motivation to learn: A comprehensive guide for teaching all adults (3rd ed. ). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Soap Lab

The goal of this laboratory project was to test which ingredient (fat oil) makes for the best soap using the properties of fats/ oils. Another goal was to test the soap, detergents, and their waste water to decide which is the most effect eve and environmentally friendly. The group was also to determine what was causing t he scum after washing and figure out a solution to stop it. Experimental Design To achieve the above goals, four different types of soaps and two detergents were made with certain ingredients and the desirable properties were taken onto account.The waste water of each soap and detergent was titrated to determine en how the waste water would affect the environment. To make four different types o pop, we used ;o oils, vegetable oil and olive oil, and two fats, shortening an d lard. 10 ml of the oils and log of the fat were obtained in a mill beaker. 15 ml of 6 M sodium hydroxide and about 1 ml of glycerol were added to each ingredient drop by drop then mixed thoroughl y with a glass rod. The solution was then heated with a heating plate to boiling until it became pasty.After the pas tee cooled, 50 ml of saturated sodium chloride solution and ice was mixed into t he solution. The soap was then filtered using suction filtration and washed with t ml portions of cold water. Each filtrate was saved separately. Two methods ere used for making detergents. The first method required 4 ml of laurel alcohol t o be placed in a mill beaker. While stirring, 2 ml of concentrated sulfuric acid w added to the beaker. While to mixture sat for 10 minutes another mill BEA Kerr was filled with ice, log of sodium chloride, and water until the total volume w as 75 ml.Then, in a ml beaker, 5 ml of 6 M sodium hydroxide and 10 ml of watt were mixed. Four to five drops of phenolphthalein to the sodium hydroxide solution. After the 10 minutes, the sodium hydroxide solution was added to t he sulfuric caudally alcohol mixture until the pink color produced by the honorableness faded. The solution was poured into the saltwater bath an stirred until the clumps were broken up. The second detergent was made AC Roding to method II. 5 ml of laurel alcohol was carefully added to 5 ml of concentrate sulfuric acid.In another beaker, 3 drops Of phenolphthalein was added to 10 ml of 6 M Noah. Then, the acidic solution of laurel alcohol was added to the Noah solution with constant stirring until the pink color faded. Both detergents were e filtered using vacuum filtration and saved for the following weeks tests. The following week, solubility, cleaning, and lathering tests were performed o determine which soap and detergent cleaned the best. The wastewater WA s also analyzed from the processes of making the soaps and detergents.In addition, the contaminants and the environmental impact of the wastewater were identified deed. After these tests were conducted, the group had to decide which soap or detergent would be best for the environmental group to use. To test the solubility of each soap and detergent, appeased clumps of each were added to ml of water, acetone, an ethyl acetate. To test the cleaning abilities of each soap and detergent, a wet paper towel was used with samples of each soap and detergent to clean a dirty spot he lab counter. Cleaning abilities were measured by the amount of residue a ND dirt left behind.Lathering of the soap and detergents were tested by adding Pease zed clumps of each to water and determining how many bubbles were produced. The more bubbles that were produced, the better the lathering was. To test the contaminants and environmental impact of the wastewater we used titration. Sing 5 ml filtrate of our vacuumed filtering and 45 ml of H2O the group first tested t pH of each filtrate. If a pH over 7 was found the group slowly added HCI and t drops were counted by a sensor and the initial and final volumes were also re order from the burette. If a pH under 7 was found, then Noah was added to the filter ate.The mos t environmentally friendly wastewater was determined based on the volume of iterant added. A lower volume of iterant was more desirable because it me ant that the wastewater could be more easily neutralized. The final week, the best soap's and detergent's solubility was tested in different types of water. Well water, pond water, and tap water are the waters that were used. Then, the pond water and well water were tested for contaminant s. If the water contained calcium ions, DEED was added to the water to get rid of them he water was acidic, the base Noah was added to neutralize the water.

Torsion Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Torsion - Lab Report Example Fenner and other (1984) indicated that the modulus of rigidity is given by the ratio of stress to shear strain often represented mathematically as ?/?. As widely cited, modulus of rigidity is essential in measuring the material’s shear stiffness and it is known to be analogous to Young’s modulus for any elastic behaviour in compression or tension (Benham, Crawford & Armstrong, 1996). Given that a ductile material component useful in providing shear, an individual need to note that the maximum shear stress is safety, which is less than the materials yield shear stress (?y). However, a brittle material the criterion of failure is based upon its tensile stress (Gere &Timoshenko, 1984). Research indicate that the theory of torsion often give the torque in form of rotation as (1) The equation 1 above is often derived from Hooke’s law and it is also valid for the shear stresses though somewhat lower than shearing proportional limit (Case, Chilver & Ross, 1993). In a so lid circular section, it has been outlined mathematically that the polar second moment of the area of cross section is given by equation (2) (Ryder, 1969) (2) This implies that from (1), it can be shown that the maximum shear stress, that occurs at r = d/2, is provided by equation (3) (3) This experiment deals with determining yield shear stress along with the modulus of rigidity for the specimen of brass and mild steel of a circular cross section. Apparatus In this experimental set up, there were various sets of apparatus used. Among them were the torsion machine, a torsion bar, a gearbox, a torque meter, two protractors, a counter, and a hand-wheel. This way, a torsion machine was used for carrying out a test involving a specimen that was accommodated within the socket at each end. The 60:1 reduction gearbox served the purpose of manually applying the angular displacement at the left- hand side. The torsion bar was essential in this experiment given that it was used for measuring the torque when at right-side with a torque meter being used for reading digital data. The two protractors listed above were vital in this experiment since they were used for purposes of measuring the rotation of the specimen. They were placed at the gearbox, in which case, one was placed at the input hand wheel along side a 6 degrees scale, while the second gearbox was placed at the specimen shaft at 360 degrees scale. The counter, on the other hand, was used in providing the number of revolutions each of which might be zeroed. Last but not least, the hand-wheel placed at the torque meter assembly was used in returning the right-hand of the given specimen back to the original position. Procedure It is worth enlisting that this lab exercise involved 2 experiments: experiment 1 and experiment 2. This implies that there were specific procedures for specific experimental set up. In experiment 1, which involved determining the modulus of rigidity G for brass and mild steel, the procedur e for the experiment involved the following steps. 1. The diameter of the each of the cylindrical portion of the specimen was measured. 2. Using the level, the torque meter hand-wheel was adjusted in ensuring that the torsion bar, as well as the deflection bar is maintained close to and as parallel as possible. 3. The dial gauge was then set to zero through rotating the outer bezel. 4. The specimen was then accommodated in the right hand hexagonal

Case brief Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Brief - Case Study Example t can be said that there is more demand for books hence, in this regard the company plans to launch MIRA program which had the same focus, of promoting these simple story lines. It is indicated by research that customers are more inclined towards reading these romantic novels. As far as reasons for likeness of these romantic series is concerned, it can be said the novels offers the readers a sense of romantic fantasy which makes these books popular among young adolescence specially women. The case study of Harlequin shows that the company has stabilized growth in publishing romance series. However, the company should take the initiative of launching MIRA program with emphasis on women’s single title romance novels. The main reason of using this program would be that the company would be able to achieve a competitive advantage of creating a brand image which could help generate incoming sales in the long run. This brand image would be based on a business model that has the components of capitalist stance. This capitalist stance can be defined as having an advantage over the weaker market, making Harlequin a recognized brand. It is seen that the fiction market is fragmented so Harlequin has the potential of becoming the world largest publisher of these single title fiction series. Moreover, the name, â€Å"Harlequin† would suggest to the people as a dominant brand that establishes brand loyalty by being standardized in printing, marketing their books and using effective distribution channels. It can be said that this would make the company an opportunist and they can successfully take the title of being brand that promotes single title series of romance and limit access of other companies. The books provided by this company would cater to all the audience, making the readers hooked on these books so that there is no other brand that could compete with the company. It has been estimated that there is only around 50% of the books having the same title of single

Importance of Internal and Strategic Communication to the Business Essay

Importance of Internal and Strategic Communication to the Business World - Essay Example Strategic communication entails the concerns necessary for an organization to be successful and generate their competitive advantage. Therefore, the long-term objectives need to be defined in a managerial perspective, which is linked to the survival of an organization. There are theories such as Entrepreneurial Organization Theories of the firm, which tends to combine both endogenous together with exogenous outlook to generate organizational competitive advantage. At the same time, the theories provide essential insights into communication roles in the organization management and also enhancement of communication constituting components. On the other hand, the Entrepreneurial Paradigm tries to identify strategic communication components to support the achievement of organizational objectives. The strategic contribution in relation to communication in an organization plays four major roles, which are aligning, visioning, constituting and energizing activities. The alignment dimension of strategic communication takes into consideration environmental scanning, boundary spanning, bridging and engaging ones. Corporate communication tends to hold a privilege in terms of observation and interpretation of the context, which any organization operates. Entrepreneurship requires social interaction to generate support and shape development of new ideas. Such an approach entails the building of bridges in an organization and  is considered necessary among stakeholders to activate and facilitate both involvement and participation. Internal strategic communication embraces engaging with stakeholders to develop solid relations and lasting partnership.

The Sarbanes-Act of 2002 and its Effects on Businesses Essay

The Sarbanes-Act of 2002 and its Effects on Businesses - Essay Example The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was created in order to raise investor confidence in the market. The SOX regulation applies only to publicly traded companies. The act increased the accountability and transparency of the financial information that public companies release. The implementation of SOX was able to reform accounting practices by improving accountability, internal controls, auditor independence, and executive responsibility. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act attended a variety of accounting issues that were of great concern for the investor community. One of the first issues that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act attended was auditor independence. In the Enron scandal, the firm was able to get away with the con due to the fact that its auditor, Author Anderson, was an accomplice in the fraud. In order to deal with a potential situation of conflict of interest between the public firm and the auditors SOX created the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). All companies that perform audi ts on public companies must be registered with the PCAOB (Pcaobox). Auditor independence was achieved by SOX because since its inception accounting firms that perform audits cannot have other accounting contracts with the audited firm. Public firms are mandated to include an independent’s auditors report within the annual report of the company. Another measure that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act created was mandatory rotations of auditing firms. Companies auditing a public company can only realize the job for four years, at that time a new auditor must take over the role. A great measure that the Sarbanes-Oxley mandated was the requirement of public companies to create internal control measures.

Competitive Advantage. The strengths and weaknesses of The Cheesecake Essay

Competitive Advantage. The strengths and weaknesses of The Cheesecake Factory - Essay Example The company has developed a brand for itself owing to various recognitions that it has received for delivering quality services to the customers ([1] The Cheesecake Factory, 2013). With the changing nature of business environment, competition has become quite fierce among the companies. As there lay numerous companies that deal with similar products in the business markets, customers have utmost number of choices for themselves to make. This vital aspect eventually forces the companies to enhance their competitiveness and gain a unique reputation for themselves. 1. Explain the Restaurant's Strengths and Weaknesses, and Justify Your Explanation Strengths of the Cheesecake Factory The Cheesecake Factory has several strengths that differentiate itself from other companies in terms of maintaining long-term sustainable operation over the years. Among the major strengths of the company, its recognition as a quality product or service provider is the prime one. It has been noted that the company has received several noteworthy awards for conducting effective business practices and the quality products or services that it delivered to the customers. A few of the awards received by the company include ‘2012 Nation’s Restaurant News Menu Masters Award for â€Å"Healthful Innovations’, ‘2010 Zagat Survey - Best Desserts and Best Salads’ and ‘2007 Zagat Survey "Most Popular Restaurant, Southern California & San Francisco"’ among others.... News Menu Masters Award for â€Å"Healthful Innovations’, ‘2010 Zagat Survey - Best Desserts and Best Salads’ and ‘2007 Zagat Survey "Most Popular Restaurant, Southern California & San Francisco"’ among others. All these awards signify the extent of satisfaction that it provided to the customers through deliverance of quality product or services. This aspect might work better towards enhancing the brand image of the company in the coming years. The other strength of the company which differentiates itself from others is its specialization in dessert product line. This aspect may enable the company to change or develop its food line in accordance with the changing needs and taste preferences of the customers. Additionally, this diversified approach of presenting itself might further influence the customers to visit the stores of the company frequently and try something new every time. Apart from this, the other strength of the company can be viewed is its personal website which is quite easy to use and interactive wherein customers are able to find maximum information about the products or services that they require ([2] The Cheesecake Factory, 2013). Weaknesses Certain unfavorable aspects associated with the company impose unfavorable impact upon its overall business along with operational performance by a certain degree. In this context, one of the major weaknesses of the company can be apparently observed is the ideals, mission and vision that are quite reluctant to change in accordance with the changing nature of the business market. Since every market has its own need and nature, strategies of the company should need to be developed accordingly. Moreover, another weakness of the company is its lack of advertising. The company will need to remain much aware

AAN case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

AAN case study - Essay Example Many efforts have been put in place to protect personal and private data from infringement and theft for intellectual purposes or simply destruction by people considered enemies of the state. As such, many governments all over the world are in pursuit of reliable data monitoring, investigation and other intelligence driven motives electronics that will guarantee such an achievement (Barkan, et al., 2008, pp.392-429). Many countries, especially those in the Asian continent have appreciated the need for information security and they are now facing a very steep learning curve as they have embarked on evaluation and assessment of the new technologies in use and those in the market in order to establish their viabilities, vulnerabilities threats of security and their strength in ensuring that security threats are minimized or eliminated (Faisal, et al., 2007, pp.667-699). Various strategies have been put forward to help tackle security problems in India and the government has seen the nee d to indulge international firms that could be contracted to provide these monitoring and investigation electronic devices. AAN Limited is a company that deals in small electrical products that do have minimal intellectual property value compared with other companies that design the same. The company has sought markets within the Asian region in the past three years. Following this marketing campaign, AAN needs to bid for a contract that is highly ambitious able to impact the organization in a massive scale. This contract is owned by the Indian government where the contractor will have to design a variety of cutting edge electronic products that would be made use of in the secret services of India. The use of these products will be put to use in the monitoring and investigating those people who are a threat to the national security of India. The contract will be worth 144 million sterling pounds in the first two years and an additional sum of 134 million for the next three years aft er the first phase bringing the total contract to a value of 278 million sterling pounds per year. This report aims to address various issues related to security as far as the audit done on AAN case study is concerned. 2.0 Information Security and devices 2.1 Highly Secretive Organizations Highly secretive organization means being a firm that does not expose its dealings to the public. In this case, what happens within the organization is little known to people who are not selected to know. Such organizations deal with top secret or confidential information most especially that relating to the state security and other government machineries. Highly secretive organizations have been known to exist in the minds of many without necessarily having a name or label to identify them a factor which makes it even hard for non-involved party to discuss or even know anything about them in real life and what they do. Most of these secretive organizations are related to the states in which they operate and in their operations, they use high technology devices to track information, monitor movement of people and goods, and make various investigations with the aim of establishing more information that could be used for security purposes (Challa & Pradhan, 2007, pp.87-96). They also use cryptographic modules which do conform to high set standards that form what might be called approved security standards entailing cryptographic algorithms, key management techniques by use of cryptography, and techniques of authentication with the objective of protecting the government’s sensitive information or their own from the public and people considered threats to security (Garg & Verma,

Strategic Planning Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Strategic Planning - Dissertation Example Introduction Strategic planning within organizations is one of the most essential aspects of both sustainability and growth. Without the ability to meet the needs of strategic planning, there is the inability to move forward with specific needs and to reach the full potential of the organization. While strategic planning is required for the development of a company, the implementation and the end goals are often not met. The problems which arise are based on the various aspects of the organization and how it associates with the needs of each of the goals. Leadership capacities, communication tools, participation and the ability to reach smaller and larger goals through various initiatives are some of the several areas in which strategic planning is not implemented in the correct manner. This is followed with complexities which arise from the organizational culture and the expectations which are associated with meeting change or resistance to the workforce that is a part of the organi zation (Rothwell, 2010). ... The research will also examine specific areas in which strategic planning can alter, specifically with associations such as getting more employees available for participation, building milestones and metrics to incorporate the strategic plans with and altering the approaches toward the vision so it becomes tangible within the company. By investigating how these can be used, there is the ability to create and develop more alternatives with the required strategic plans and how these can alter into a form of action. Problem Statement While strategic plans are developed within corporations, they are often not implemented and end goals are not met. Literature Review (ADD 10 PAGES TO THIS LIT REVIEW SECTIONOFTHE PAPER) The approach which is taken toward strategic planning and implementation is one which is based on the understanding of taking action within a corporation. Without the correct strategies, there is the inability to provide higher amounts of sustainability and growth within a c ompany. However, there are often problems and difficulties with creating the required changes. This literature review will examine the various aspects of strategic planning and implementation as well as how it alters according to the difficulties which are in the organizational culture. The review will examine the various dimensions that are associated with strategic planning. It will further define the obstacles that do not allow the plans to be implemented at various levels within an organization. There will also be reference to theories which are created to alter the strategic planning so it becomes one that is associated with constructive

International Human Resource Management Essay Example for Free

International Human Resource Management Essay Discuss and analysis the impact of Chinese culture and traditions upon adopted human resource management and strategic human resource management in multinational companies. ?Analysis the external factors that shape human resource activities will be social, economic, political and legal. 1. 2 Introduce the international human resource management The 80% of the world’s industrial output are produced by the 1000 largest companies in the world. That point out that the world is becoming more international. In all of the international companies international human resource management is a key to get success. The international human resource management (IHRM) is the way in which international organizations manage their human resource across different national contexts. These international organizations’ human resource manger must address on the culture and external factors. For example the HR manger must find out the way can make HRM is conducted in other countries—the laws, culture, labour market and so on. China is developing very rapid, owing to the rapid growth of internationalization of Chinese, more and more multinational enterprises (MNEs) have put interest in IHRM. Chapter 2 the impact of national culture As we all know, different countries have different cultures. Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from another. (Hofstede, 1991) In all of the international organizations or multinational enterprises (MNEs) and many small medium-size enterprises (SMEs) are inevitable that the cultural difference has impact on business. For example, when a company having meeting, the word ‘table’ in American English it means to put something on the agenda. But in British English it means to put something off the agenda. This example indicated how the culture affects the business. Chinese culture has much different from the west countries. For example the language, architecture, relationship to environment and so on. 2. 1 What is culture? [1] Hodgetts and Luthans (1994) argue that culture is: acquired knowledge that people use to interpret experience and to generate social behavior. This knowledge form values, creates attitudes and influences behaviour. They further suggest that culture can be characterized using the following terms. ?Learned. Culture is acquired by us all as we grow and as we experience, it is acquired through the process of socialization. ?Shared. Culture is a group phenomenon and the group varies. For example, it may be members of a nation, an organization or a sex. ?Transgenerational. It is passed down from one generation to the next. ?Patterned and structured. ?Adaptive. It changes over time and in response to many stimulate. 1 Mike Leat, Human Resource Management Issues of the European Union, 1998, P4 From Hodgetts and Luthans said we know that culture can be characterized using the following figure: Figure 1 Module of Organizational culture 2. 2 National culture The most influential pieces of research in relation to national culture are the work of Hofstede. There are four cultural dimensions that were defined in Hifstede’s research: ? Power distance ?Uncertainty avoidance ?Individualism v collectivism ?Masculinity v femininity The writer will use Higsted’s research to analysis Chinese culture and enable a clearer view in how the cultures affect the IHRM in China. Power distance I think the power distance is the most important influence in cultural. The power distance is the distance between a manager and employee. In another word the power distance is how much employee can consent or dissent with bosses or managers. A high power distance indicates that the employee is likely to expect and accept inequality in this power distribution. Like in China the power distance is a high power distance culture. In China the managers or boss always have more privileges to make the decision and superiors. The managers’ decisions always close supervision positively evaluated by employee.

Western society Essay Example for Free

Western society Essay Marie Chiu is a Chinese national who is now residing in the United States and is studying at a Californian State as a Middle School Student. She has moved to US because of the urge of her parents for her to take her studies and later on work in the said country. She is currently living with her parents in California as she takes her studies in a state university. Memory and Learning Humans as individually different as they are, have different terms of learning that actually helps them in becoming the persons that they are at present and further towards the future. The ability of humans to remember the impact of the past experiences that they once had and the persistence that they have towards understanding the situations that they dealt with before makes them a lot stronger in facing the changes as well as the challenges that they need to understand for the sake of establishing their future. Memory and Learning- THE Interview As an Asian, it was not that easy for her to adjust to the western lifestyle. Although she has her parents right beside her, it could not be denied that the effort she places on actually being able to adjust with the American lifestyle has brought her stress during her first months of staying in the country. Today however, she has already been able to cope up with the said adjustments after being able to stay in the US for at least a year now. As a cognitive learner, she says that her being able to understand and immediately adapt to the culture of a foreign land. She primarily used her experiences as well as the moral learning she particularly gained from her ancestors in China to be able to face the challenges that she needed to face the new life offered to her in the United States. As a student, she is able to remember as much information as she could retain in her mind. Most of the time, she notes this particular ability in connection with her wanting of becoming a fast learner as she actually feels the pressure and the need of being one especially that she is living in a new society. She points out further that this attitude towards learning particularly sprung out from her wanting to adjust faster to the American society. As part of the learning process, she prefers learning necessary informations on the western culture as well as with her studies [formal education] in people-filled areas. She noted that this procedure has actually helped her see how the things she reads from the book is seen accurately applied with the people’s dealings as she sees them. She further explains that this is the process by which she integrates reading and observing at the same time. IT is through this that she is able to see the accuracy of what she learns from the books. Personality Development Society is generally composed of individuals who have multi-diverse personality and characteristics as influenced by many social factors including philosophy and culture. In this aspect, many social factors influenced and affect the development of the individual resulting to its uniqueness from the general field. Each person has his or her own personality based mainly on his or her philosophy, culture, lifestyle and others. One of the most influential sociological factor in the modern society is the perspective of interactionism. In this sociological perspective, individuals in the society have the philosophy wherein they can eliminate or negate the effects particularly the negative side of social labeling. This promotes the personal view that individuals can breakthrough the sociological definition of their existence levied upon them by the society as a whole. In addition, the sociological perspective of interactionism points out the individuals can resist against the influence of sociological status quo in the development of the personality of each individual. Thus, this sociological perspective ideally promotes the concept of individual rights for their own free will. Personality Development- The Interview As a non-native American, her personality has been mainly influenced by her traditional origins and the influences that she primarily received from transferring in the country. Moreover, she was able the fact that she was able to adapt to the American lifestyle already, she is then considered reformed as a person. In terms of culture and social awareness, Anna Marie Chiu is now more open to accepting the different dimensions of cultural changes especially if she knows that those changes would do her well as an individual. During her examination at school, she remembers taking the Myers Briggs Test [which is an examination aimed to scale the personality of an individual based upon the measurements of attitude that the questionnaires are based from]. As she took the said examination, she was able to understand why she is the way she is. She considers the examination results highly accurate and considerably acceptable on her part. The understanding particularly placed on her being culturally different from the society that she is presently living in actually convinced her that the examination results actually showed her how she could be able to adjust to the Western society through utilizing her strengths as an individual and at the same time regulating her weaknesses.

Correlations Of Gratitude And Forgiveness Psychology Essay

Correlations Of Gratitude And Forgiveness Psychology Essay Gratitude has only been focused within the field of psychology in the past decade although historically it had been discussed at length in theology, religion and philosophy (Emmons McCullough, 2003). Looking back a little into the past, great philosophers such as Aristotle, Epicurus and La Rochefoucauld were convinced that manifestations of gratitude were due to human beings self interest and messy emotional ties that make people unnecessarily beholden to their benefactors (Harpham, 2000; Roberts, 2000 as cited in McCullough, Emmons, Tsang, 2002). However when this topic was reintroduced into the field of scientific studies, researchers are convince that gratitude has associations with more positive outcomes than the negatives (Naito, Wangwan Tani, 2005; Wood, Joseph, Linley, 2007; Froh, Yurkewicz Kashdan, 2009). According to McCullough, Emmons, Tsang (2002), gratitude like other affects could exist as an affective trait, an emotion or feeling which they called gratitude disposition. It is individuals universal predisposition to distinguish and act in response with gratifying feeling to the actions of those whom provides positive experiences and outcomes. Other scholars working on dispositional gratitude believes that it is interrelate to a more optimistic and enthusiastic attitude toward life (Wood, Jospeh Maltby, 2008; Froh, Yurkewicz Kashdan, 2009). There are four facets (otherwise known as elements) that influence ones gratitude disposition known as intensity, frequency, span and density which co-occurs. The first facet of gratitude disposition is intensity that can be measure by level of thankfulness one feels upon the occurrence of positive event. An individual whom is dispositionally grateful will experience greater intensity of gratefulness as compared to a person whom is less disposed out of the same positive event. Frequency, the second facet can be defined as the number of times an individual feels grateful within an allocated period. Dispositionally grateful individual in general will report experiencing more grateful events a day as compared to their counterparts. Their gratitude might be cause by even the smallest favor or act of courtesy (McCullough, Emmons Tsang, 2002). Gratitude span (the third facet) is, at a given timeframe, the number of life circumstances a person feels grateful for. A dispositionally grateful individual will definitely have more appreciation aspects such as feeling grateful about their families, jobs, friends and even simply living life itself. The last facet of gratitude disposition is density which is reflected by the number of persons an individual feels grateful for a single positive outcome. If a dispositionally grateful person is ask who they appreciate for obtaining good exam results, the list may include many significant others such as parents, teachers, friends, neighbours, siblings (McCullough, Emmons Tsang, 2002). Forgiveness Forgiveness is an action likely to draw two or more individuals, namely the offender and victim closer together as forgiving is universally recognize as a kindly act. No doubt that mounting researches on forgiveness had been carried out yet scholars are more readily to agree upon what forgiveness is not (McCullough, Pargament Thoresen, 2000). Many of them are convinced that forgiveness should be separated from justifying, pardoning, condoning and reconciliation (Rye, Loiacono, Folck, Olszewski, Heim Madia, 2001; Worthingon, Witvliet, Pietrini Miller, 2007; Fincham, 2010). Even until present the precise definition of forgiveness and how to measure it remains an open discussion among psychologists. Rye, Loiacono, Folck, Olszewski, Heim Madia (2001) had compartmentalized forgiveness into two factors called the Absence of Negativity (AN) and the Presence of Positivity (PP). Absence of negativity is measured by negative opinions, affections and action tendencies (disparaging thinking, anger and desire to avoid or retaliate against the offender) one holds towards individual that wronged them. On the other hand, presence of positivity is the extent whereby individuals have love and compassion towards their offenders as well as carrying out favorable action tendencies toward them (Rye et al., 2001). Despite years of research on this character strength psychologists are still unable to come to an agreement whether one or both factors are necessary in the measure of ones forgiveness. Some forgiveness scholars are convinced that absence of negative affect is largely sufficient to define the forgiveness process (Fincham, 2010); others insisted that it is not adequate as they trust experiencing positive affects toward ones transgressor is a critical point in completely forgiving someone (Edwards et al., 2002; Kearns Fincham, 2005). Romig and Veenstra (1998) pointed out that individuals ability to resolve developmental tasks from Eriksons Psychosocial Developmental stages requires both Absence of Negativity (AN) and the Presence of Positivity (PP) in their forgiveness (as cited in Scherbarth, 2007). Worthington (2005) had another interesting explanation mentioning that individuals forgiveness towards strangers is just reducing negative responses but eliminating unforgiveness will be replaced with the positive affects if offender is someone involving family members, colleagues and friends. He suggested that presence of positive affects is only applicable in situations where victim knows the transgressors (Worthington, 2005). In one way or another, measuring forgiveness through these two factors (AN PP) has gained its popularity among psychologists researching this strength. Gender differences in Gratitude and Forgiveness Gender differences are an interesting part in the studies of affective traits including gratitude and forgiveness. Researchers back in the 1990s had begun this research with a broader aspect known as values orientation. Beutel and Marini (1995) advocate that women tend to show apparent gratitude towards interpersonal relationships while men are likely to values competition and materialism. Eisenberg Fabes (1998) showed evidence in their write up titled Prosocial Development that women are more empathic than men, suggesting them to be more people oriented as compared to counterparts. Although both genders display gratitude in daily life, women are believed to be more expressive when it comes to emotions like gratefulness. This also influences them to report experiencing indebtedness more intensely and frequently (Simon Nath, 2004; Gordon, Musher-Eizenman, Holub Dalrymp, 2004; Naito, Wangwan Tani, 2005). A research conducted by Kashdan, Mishra, Breen Froh (2009) had some interesting findings about this topic. They found that women evaluated gratitude to be more interesting and exciting as compared to men, whom reported greater burden and obligation with lesser gratitude upon receiving a gift or favor from others. Besides that, men also mentioned that positive affects will be lesser if their benefactors were of same gender. According to Adetunji Adesida (2008), men may interpret expressions of gratitude as a sign of vulnerability and weakness, which is believe to threaten their masculinity and social reputation. Furthermore, women with higher gratitude are more likely to experience sovereign and fulfilling their belonging needs but men on the other hand may feel vice versa should they portray greater gratitude (Kashdan, Mishra, Breen Froh, 2009). Moving on to forgiveness, Miller, Worthington Mcdaniel (2008) conducted a meta-analytical review on gender differences and forgiveness for 70 researches relating to this theme. The result obtained supported that females are more forgiving as compared to males. The highly possible explanation is that females are prone to be less vengeful as compared to males (Brown, 2004; McCullough, Bellah, Kilpatrick Johnson, 2001). Men are commonly encouraged taking justice into their own hands but women are likely to be taught relationship harmony (Miller, Worthington Mcdaniel, 2008). This practice is common among the Western population whom profoundly observe masculinity and feminine theory in their daily life. However in contrary, Kmiec (2009) had different findings to offer. He found that there were no gender differences in terms of general forgiveness but men were more likely to forgive in recalling a specific incident. He justified when both genders are equal in overall forgiveness, men are less detailed in recalling a particular incident that lead to unforgiveness. Females on the other hand may recall thoughts which they had difficulty in forgiving the offender, even though this does not reflect their ordinary model of forgiving (Kmiec, 2009). Fehr, Gelfand Nag (2010) also duplicated similar result supporting that gender does not differ in terms of forgiveness after analyzing 76 studies containing 11730 participants (r Correlations of Gratitude and Forgiveness Gratitude and forgiveness in modern years had been scientifically proven to have associations that enhance better living among individuals and community at large. Sufficient researches had convinced scholars that both gratitude (Froh, Yurkewicz Kashdan, 2009) and forgiveness (Lawler-Row Piferi, 2006; Ysseldyk, Matheson Anisman, 2007) do correlates in predicting individual subjective well being. Both character strengths are further identified as the sources of interpersonal and intrapersonal strengths that foster a healthy physical and psychological environment. Experimental data confirms that gratitude and forgiveness are positively correlated with optimistic, life satisfactions (Sastre, Vinsonneau, Neto, Girard Mullet, 2003), physical health (Levenson, Aldwin Yancura, 2006; Worthingon, Witvliet, Pietrini Miller, 2007) and environmental mastery (Wood, Joseph Linley, 2007; Hill Allemand, 2010). In contrary, grateful and forgiving individuals are negatively correlated with pessimistic affect such as stress, anxiety and depression (Berry, Worthington, OConnor, Parrott Wade, 2005; Eaton, Struthers, Santelli, 2006; Wood, Maltby, Gillet, Linley Joseph, 2008; Tse Yip, 2009; Gavian, 2011). A recent research done by Froh, Fan, Emmons, Bono, Huebner Watkins (2011) supported that individuals that regularly experience gratitude in life are more likely to enjoy better well being and longer life satisfaction because they are more capable in adjusting to their positive social environment. This idea was built on previous research by McCullough, Kilpatrick, Emmons Larson (2001) highlighting that gratitude emotion essentially serve as a (1) moral barometer, motivating individuals to be sensitive towards the help they receive daily, (2) moral reinforce function that inspire grateful individual to behave prosocially towards others and (3) moral reinforcer function which cultivates benefactors future moral behaviors. Besides that, Allemand, Hill, Ghaemmaghami Martin (2012) had also extended previous findings by using future time perspective as a moderating factor in examining adults forgiveness and subjective well being. They found out that individuals whom believe of having limited future time portray stronger positive association between forgiveness and well being. However the moderating effect does not apply for negative affect and pessimism. The discrepancy obtained indicates that positive affect and negative affect (Lucas, Diener Suh, 1996) as well as optimism and pessimism (Herzberg et al., 2006) are not direct opposite characteristics as suggested in preceding studies. Other than focusing solely on non clinical samples, years worth of experiments also manage to induce both psychologists and medical practitioners to consider that suitable gratitude (Ng Wong, 2013; Joseph Wood, 2010; Wood Tarrier, 2010; Chan, 2008) and forgiveness (Witvliet, Ludwing Laan, 2001; Worthington Scherer, 2004; Carson et. al., 2005; Friedman Toussaint, 2006) interventions will be beneficial towards physically and psychologically ill clients. By adopting gratitude and forgiveness as strength based interventions in helping clinical settings clients to cope with their sicknesses had been verified to be as effective as existing problem focused interventions. For instance Toussaint et. al. (2010) managed to establish that fibromyalgia and chronic fatigues patients showed signs of improvements after learning the art of forgiving during their treatment periods. This is because fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue symptoms are aggravated by patients frustration, anger, stress and fear (Raymond Brown, 2000). Forgiveness is found to be a coping mechanism that will alleviate the exacerbating role of negative emotional reactions hence offering a cure towards these sicknesses (Toussaint et. al., 2010). This favorable outcome was earlier acknowledged by Carson, Keefe, Lynch, Carson, Goli, Fras Trop (2005) mentioning that focusing on positive affects in life instead of thinking about failures in treating illness may be beneficial towards chronic fatigue patients because the sickness is partially convoluted by anger, antipathy and stress as stated above. An excellent supporting reason why gratitude and forgiveness are subjective well being booster and effective clinical interventions is because individuals with these character strengths are also equipped with positive emotional attributions such empathy, self compassion and acceptance (Breen, Kashdan, Lenser Finchman, 2010). Several studies advocate gratitude (McCullough Hoyt, 2002) and forgiveness (Brown, 2003; Paleari, Regalia Fincham, 2005) to positively correlates with both cognitive (scenario attributions) and affective (feeling the victims emotion) aspects of empathy. Grateful and forgiving individuals are prone to understand others better by analyzing situations from others point of views which circuitously improve their social supports and interpersonal relationship. Besides empathy, self compassion also reflects an individuals warmth and perspective taking towards self and others. According to Werner, Jazaieri, Goldin, Ziv, Heimberg Gross (2012), self compassion can be defined as the talent to hold a kind and non-judgmental perspective of oneself and be conscious of the similarities between self and others. According to Fehr, Gelfand Nag (2010), self compassion within the context of forgiveness is seen to enhance victims perceptive of why their offenders might have affronted them. This will indirectly reduce their urge for vengeance and anger hence improves the likelihood of forgiveness to occur. The ultimate outcome of these individuals would be healthier physical and better recovery from sickness due to the reduction in unnecessary stress and anger. Lastly, acceptance which is known as individuals willingness in opening up to experiences, thoughts, feelings, physical sensations as well as life events also proved to show indirect relations with gratitude and forgiveness (Breen, Kashdan, Lenser Finchman, 2010). Acceptance provides individuals a platform to respond accordingly to situational demands by fully experiencing every occurring event. By having high level of acceptance individual will be sensitive towards the good deed others had done for them that indirectly elevate their gratitude level. On the other hand, forgiveness and acceptance are related in the direction of embracing negative events while responding with objectivity and litheness. Both of these character strengths will then foster good resiliency for individuals to cope with difficult, unsuspected downturn in life. In short, gratitude and forgiveness may oblige discrete attributions (McCullough, Emmons Tsang, 2002) but share a common conceptually linked as positively valence, portraying empathic characters that is associated with both psychological and physical health. It is strongly believed that literatures presented here are both promising and convincing for current research to focus in exploring the correlations between gratitude and forgiveness within same Asian sample group. References 2.4: Wong, W. S., Ng, M. Y. (2013). The differential effects of gratitude and sleep on psychological distress in patients with chronic pain. Journal of Health Psychology, 18(2), 263-271. DOI: 10.1177/1359105312439733 Ysseldyk, R., Matheson, K., Anisman, H. (2007). Rumination: Bridging a gap between forgiveness, vengefulness and psychological health. Personality and Individual Di ¬Ã¢â€š ¬erences, 42, 1573-1584. DOI:10.1016/j.paid.2006.10.032 Lawler-Row, K. A., Piferi, R. L. (2006). The forgiving personality: Describing a life well lived? Personality and Individual Di ¬Ã¢â€š ¬erences, 41, 1009-1020. DOI:10.1016/j.paid.2006.04.007 Sastre, M. T. M., Vinsonneau, G., Neto, F., Girard, M., Mullet, E. (2003). Forgivingness and satisfaction with life. Journal of Happiness Studies, 4, 323-335. Retrieved from http://www.unice.fr/lasmic/PDF/girard-article-4.pdf Levenson, M. R., Aldwin, C. M., Yancura, L. (2006). Positive emotional change: Mediating effects of forgiveness and spirituality. Journal of Science and Healing, 2(6), 498-508. DOI:10.1016/j.explore.2006.08.002 Hill, P., Allemand, M. (2010). Forgivingness and adult patterns of individual differences in environmental mastery and personal growth. Journal of Research in Personality, 44, 245-250. DOI:10.1016/j.jrp.2010.01.006 Berry, J. W., Worthington, E. L., Jr., OConnor, L. E., Parrott, L., III, Wade, N. G. (2005). Forgivingness, vengeful rumination, and affective traits. Journal of Personality, 73(1), 183-226. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2004.00308.x Eaton, J., Structhers, C. W., Santelli, A. G. (2006). Dispositional and state forgiveness: The role of self-esteem, need for structure, and narcissism. Personality and Individual Di ¬Ã¢â€š ¬erences, 41, 371-380. DOI:10.1016/j.paid.2006.02.005 Tse, W. S., Yip, T. H. J. (2009). Relationship among dispositional forgiveness of others, interpersonal adjustment and psychological well-being: Implication for interpersonal theory of depression. Personality and Individual Differences, 46, 365-368. DOI:10.1016/j.paid.2008.11.001 Wood, A. M., Maltby, J., Gillett, R., Linley, P. A., Joseph, S. (2008). The role of gratitude in the development of social support, stress and depression: Two longitudinal studies. Journal of Research in Personality, 42, 854-871. DOI:10.1016/j.jrp.2007.11.003 Froh, J. J., Fan, J., Emmons, R. A., Bono, G., Huebner, E. S., Watkins, P. (2011). Measuring gratitude in youth: Assessing the psychometric properties of adult gratitude scales in children and adolescents. Psychological Assessment. Advance online publication. DOI: 10.1037/a0021590 McCullough, M. E., Kilpatrick, S. D., Emmons, R. A., Larson, D. B. (2001). Is gratitude a moral affect? Psychological Bulletin, 127(2), 249-266. DOI: 10.1037//0033-2909.127.2.249 Lucas, R. E., Diener, E., Suh, E. (1996). Discriminant validity of well-being measures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71(3), 616-628. Retrieved from http://nreilly.asp.radford.edu/psy650/discriminant%20validity%20of%20well%20being%20measures.pdf Herzberg, P. Y., Glaesmer, H., Hoyer, J. (2006). Separating optimism and pessimism: A robust psychometric analysis of the Revised Life-Orientation Test (LOT-R). Psychological Assessment, 18, 433-438. DOI: 10.1037/1040-3590.18.4.433 Chan, D. W. (2008). Gratitude interventions: Beyond stress debriefing and survivor therapy in the aftermath of the Sichuan earthquake. Educational Research Journal, 23(2), 163-178. Retrieved from http://hkier.fed.cuhk.edu.hk/journal/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/erj_v23n2_163-178.pdf Joseph, S., Wood, A. (2010). Assessment of positive functioning in clinical psychology: Theoretical and practical issues. Clinical Psychology Review, 30, 830-838. DOI:10.1016/j.cpr.2010.01.002 Wood, A. M., Tarrier, N. (2010). Positive clinical psychology: A new vision and strategy for integrated research and practice. Clinical Psychology Review, 30, 819-829. DOI:10.1016/j.cpr.2010.06.003 Witvliet, C. O., Ludwig, T. E., Laan, K. L. V. (2001). Granting forgiveness or harboring grudges: Implications for emotion, physiology and health. Psychological Science, 12(2), 117-123. Retrieved from http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/images/uploads/VanOyenWitvliet-GrantingForgiveness.pdf Worthington, E. L., Scherer, M. (2004). Forgiveness is an emotion-focused coping strategy that can reduce health risks and promote health resilience: Theory, review and hypotheses. Psychology and Health, 19(3), 385-405. DOI: 10.1080/0887044042000196674 Toussaint, L., Overvold-Ronningen, M., Vincent, A., Luedtke, C., Whipple, M., Schriever, T., Luskin, F. (2010). Implications of forgiveness enhancement in patients with Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy, 16(3), 123-139. DOI: 10.1080/08854726.2010.492713 Friedman, P. H., Toussaint, L. (2006). Changes in forgiveness, gratitude, stress and well being during psychotherapy: An integrative, evidence-based approach. Wholistic Healing Publication, 6(2), 1-21. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/1007794/Changes_in_forgiveness_gratitude_stress_and_well-being_during_psychotherapy_An_integrative_evidence-based_approach McCullough, M. E., Hoyt, W. T. (2002). Transgression-related motivational dispositions: Personality substrates of forgiveness and their links to the Big Five. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28(11), 1556-1573. DOI: 10.1177/014616702237583 Brown, R. P. (2003). Measuring individual differences in the tendency to forgive: Construct validity and links with depression. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29(6), 759-771. DOI: 10.1177/0146167203029006008 Paleari, F. G., Regalia, C., Fincham, F. (2005). Marital quality, forgiveness, empathy and rumination: A longitudinal analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31(3), 368-378. DOI: 10.1177/0146167204271597 Werner, K. H., Jazaieri, H., Goldin, P. R., Ziv, M., Heimberg, R. G., Gross, J. J. (2012). Self compassion and social anxiety disorder. Anxiety, Stress and Coping, 25(5), 543-558. DOI:10.1080/10615806.2011.608842 Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K., Wilson, K. G. (1999). Acceptance and commitment therapy: An experimental approach to behavior change. New York: Guilford Press. Retrieved from http://irhealthpsychology.com/files/site1/pages/Free_Books/acceptance_and_commitment_therapy.pdf Raymond, M. C., Brown, J. B. (2000). Experience of Fibromyalgia. Qualitative Study. Canadian Family Physician, 46, 1100-1106. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2144885/pdf/canfamphys00027-0114.pdf Carson, J. W., Keefe, F. J., Lynch, T. R., Carson, K. M., Goli, V., Fras, A. M., Trop, S. R. (2005). Loving-kindness meditation for chronic low back pain. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 23(3), 287-304. DOI: 10.1177/0898010105277651 ______________________________________________________________________________ References 2.3: Beutel, A. M., Marini, M. M. (1995). Gender and values. American Sociological Review, 60(3), 436-448. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2096423 Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A. (1998). Prosocial development. In W. Damon (Series Ed.) N. Eisenberg (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology (5th ed.). Social, emotional, and personality development (Vol. 3, pp. 701-778). New York: Wiley. Simon, R. W., Nath, L. E. (2004). Gender and emotion in the United States: Do men and women differ in self reports of feelings or expressive behavior? American Journal of Sociology, 109, 1137-1176. Retrieved from http://www.fsu.edu/~soc/people/simon/simon_gender.pdf Gordon, A. K., Musher-Eizenman, D. R., Holub, S. C., Dalrymp, J. (2004). What are children thankful for? An archival analysis of gratitude before and after the attacks of September 11. Applied Developmental Psychology, 25, 541-553. DOI:10.1016/j.appdev.2004.08.004 Kashdan, T. B., Mishra, A., Breen, W. E., Froh, J. J. (2009). Gender differences in gratitude: Examining appraisals, narratives, the willingness to express emotions and changes in psychological needs. Journal of Personality, 77(3), 1-40. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2009.00562.x Adetunji, B., Adesida, A. A. (2008). Reconstructing masculinity and power in Africa through open distance learning for sustainable development: A critical analysis of Wole Soyinkas climate of fear. In C. I. Ofulue (General Ed.), T. T. Gefu., F. Gbenoba., F. K. Olakulehin., G. Olufemi (ed.), Proceedings of the 2nd ACDE conference and general assembly, (pp. 276-289). Victoria Island, Lagos. Brown, R. P. (2004). Vengeance is mine: Narcissism, vengeance, and the tendency to forgive. Journal of Research in Personality, 38, 576-584. DOI:10.1016/j.jrp.2003.10.003 McCullough,M.E., Bellah, G. C., Kilpatrick, S. D.,Johnson, J. L. (2001). Vengefulness: Relationships with forgiveness, rumination, well-being, and the Big Five. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 601-610. Retrieved from http://www.psy.miami.edu/faculty/mmccullough/Papers/McCullough.pdf Miller, A. J., Worthington, E. L., Mcdaniel, M. A. (2008). Gender and forgiveness: A meta-analytic review and research agenda. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 27(8), 843-876. Retrieved from http://www.people.vcu.edu/~mamcdani/Publications/Miller,%20Worthington%20%20McDaniel%20(2008).pdf Fehr, R., Gelfand, J., Nag, M. (2010). The road to forgiveness: A meta-analytic synthesis of its situational and dispositional correlates. Psychological Bulletin, 136(5), 894-914. DOI: 10.1037/a0019993 References 2.2: McCullough, M. E., Pargament, K. I., Thoresen, C. E. (2000). The psychology of forgiveness: History, conceptual issues, and overview. In M.E. McCullough, K. I. Pargament, C. E. Thoresen (Eds.) Forgiveness: Theory, research and practice (pp. 1-14). New York: Guilford Press. Worthington, E. L., Witvliet, C. V. O., Pietrini, P., Miller, A. J. (2007). Forgiveness, health and well being: A review of evidence for emotional versus decisional forgiveness, dispositional forgivingness and reduced unforgiveness. Journals of Behavioral Medicine, 30, 291-302. DOI: 10.1007/s10865-007-9105-8 Fincham, F. D. (2010). Forgiveness: Integral to a science of close relationships? In M. Mikulincer P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Prosocial motives, emotions and behavior: The better angels of our nature (pp. 347-365). Washington, DC, US. Worthington, E. L. Jr. (2005). More questions about forgiveness: Research agenda for 2005-2015. In E. L. Worthington Jr. (Ed.), Handbook of forgiveness (pp. 557-575). New York: Brunner-Routledge. Kearns, J.N., Fincham, F.D. (2005). Victim and perpetrator accounts of interpersonal transgressions: Self-serving or relationship-serving biases? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 321-333. DOI: 10.1177/0146167204271594 Scherbarth, A. J. (2007). Psychological abuse and health: What role does forgiveness play? (Master dissertation). University of North Texas. (Unpublished Thesis). Retrieved from http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc3918/m2/1/high_res_d/thesis.pdf