Present and contrast Hobbes and Nietzsche's account on the Essay

Present and contrast Hobbes and Nietzsche's account on the punishment - Essay Example that the society employees in treating those who have violated the societal norms and laws; for Nietzsche, the members of the society feel pleasure by subjecting criminals to punishment. A critical look at the Hobbes’ and Nietzsche’s accounts of punishment shows that the main difference in their views of punishment lies in the fact that Hobbes analysed the meaning and the importance of punishment from the social contract point of view, while Nietzsche analysed the importance and the role of punishment in society from the historical point of view. According to Thomas Hobbes, punishment is a mean that the society uses to enforce the social contract. For Hobbes, once the members of the society enters into a social contract or covenant, the members of the society agree to forgo some of their civil liberties for the sake of social order; according to Hobbes, the members of a society enters into a social contract and forgoes some of their social liberties for the greater good of all the members of the society. This is because the civil liberties that the members of the public forgo are vested in a sovereign who uses the power that he has been given by the people to protect other individual civil liberties, and hence ensure peace and order in the society. For Hobbes, therefore, Punishment is a tool that the members of the society, through the sovereign, uses to deal with those who violate the demands of social contract, so as to ensure peace and order in the society. According Friedrich Nietzsche, on the other hand, the role of punishment in the society is to give pleasure to the members of the society through subjecting those who have violated societal norms and laws to punishment. In his analysis of the early procedures of punishment, Friedrich Nietzsche argued that, from the historical point of view, punishment was not meant to make the law breakers or the criminals experience pain and guilt, but it was meant to make those who were executing the punishment to

Advantages and Disadvantages of Vegetarians Essay Example for Free

Advantages and Disadvantages of Vegetarians Essay One advantage that cannot be disputed is that vegetarian’s conscience can be at peace in the sense that he does not cause the death of animals grown for meat and fat such as rabbits, poultry or pigs. This idea alone persuades many people, especially women to start embracing vegetarianism as their way of life. Another undisputable advantage of vegetarianism is that long-term vegetarians are rarely overweight thus people can make losing weight easier by becoming vegetarians. Of course, they will still need to compose their diet very carefully since many of the high-calorie (with low nutritional value) foods contain no meat at all. Actually, meat is not high on calories unless it is a fatty meat. Less clear and more arguable is the claim that vegetarianism is healthier and better for one’s longevity. All advocates of vegetarianism play this card and support their claims with many arguments. The basic idea is that our body can get everything it needs from plants or animal by-products such as eggs or milk. Of course, there are extreme groups who refuse to eat animal by-products, but I’ll stick with the less extreme idea. Anyway, this is true, at least as long as you eat fish – some people who consider themselves vegetarians eat fish, some don’t. Anyway, no one can say with absolute certainty (you can believe it, but cannot prove it indisputably) that avoiding all meat is beneficial for human body. However, it is certain that limiting certain types of meat is good for us. And vegetarians benefit from avoiding those kinds of meat (after all they do not eat any meat).

The 1960s :: American America History

The 1960s It may have been a decade of a myriad of effulgent paintings and intrepid space excursions, but for most people, resplendent canvases don't come near the cranium when someone mentions the 1960s. So just what do we associate the decade with? The most intriguing part of our prior erudition: hippies, flower power, peace, love, drugs, and Woodstock! All of the preceding are the very essence of the '60s in America; all of them had a distinct impact on the world. Presumably the most prominent aspect of the '60s was the evolution of the youthful generation into a powerful strong-minded group of people known as the hippies. Around the late '60s, there was a copious amount of young men and women who were just reaching their late teen years, re-evaluating their sentiment on important issues. But just what was a hippie? Hippies were mostly young people who were often characterized by long hair and flowing skirts. They had very confident convictions, particularly in regard to the Vietnam War. Because this new generation possessed a blatant loathing for the affect of Vietnam on the country, they rebelled against everything the war was about. This resulted in a shared conception of love, peace, and happiness. They held protests and anti-war love-ins promoting their ant-violence views, unity, and, also, drugs. Previously unmentioned, hippies were also druggies. Dr., Timothy Leary was a drug guru who was much loved for his preaching. He said things suc h as "Turn on, tune in, and drop out" and used new pronouns like "She" and "hir" to promote gender equality. He brought about a new philosophy that conceived that your state of consciousness is reflected in your environment. Leary had four exercises to a life of expanded intelligence: 1) Look at yourself in the mirror, change your manner of dress and your behavior so that you float like a god, not shuffle like a robot 2) Look around your home and throw out everything that is not "tuned in" to your highest vision 3) Make your body a temple and your home a shrine 4) You are a god, live like one! As prevalent as hippies were, it astounds many people to hear that there was a subdivision of the group. Yippies, as they were called, were much like other hippies, only more extreme. The yippies were New Left radicals with a no-holds barred approach contesting every custom of society.

Company Aytch: A Confederate Memoir of the Civil War

Writing Assignment : Company Aytch History 101/ Company Aytch is a book that depicts the idealistic memory of a young confederate of the Civil War named Sam Watkins. Some historians articulate towards Watkins having insufficiency of precise facts and sometimes alteration or exaggeration on certain issues. Watkins & Inge, Introduction) However, it is important to appreciate that Sam Watkins was a survivor that has revealed his recollection of the battles as he has experienced them, and although some may believe his memory has some deficiencies he has a real life testimony that cannot be too farfetched from the reality of the life of a soldier during the Civil War. Sam Watkins was born on the 26th day of June on his father’s farm in Columbia Tennessee where he worked during his youth.There is not much told about other work experiences other than Sam working as a clerk in a local store until he enlisted with Company H of the First Tennessee Infantry in the year of 1861. Sam was o nly 21 years old, a young confederate, and at this time many signs of war were uprising between the North and the South. (Watkins & Inge, Introduction). His entry is the beginning of the memoirs told by Sam Watkins, an ordinary soldier, not of any high rank, which indeed gives the reader another perspective of the reality of the battles faced during the Civil War.Furthermore, it broadens the view of the emotional triumph a frontline soldier and what they went through rather than focusing on the higher ranking officers. Watkins tells in great detail his experiences and writes of his historical remembrances years later, but he never hides the fact that he is writing solely on his memory and what he saw. In addition to him repeatedly reminding the reader that he writes of his recollections only, he also reminds the reader that what he writes is true.Furthermore, he encourages the reader to refer to history for other historical facts. Later in the report I will tell of an occurrence tha t gives the reader an idea of what Sam Watkins’ soul is all about and directs one to believe in his testimony of truths. Sam Watkins shares with people so many different experiences during the war that it is hard to write what may have affected him the most. He writes of many things that he has been through like starving, suffering through harsh weathers, the triumphs and losses of each attle; he watched death occur repeatedly, he tells how he could feel the angel of death upon them, he talks of good friends, and speaks of his true love back home, he tells about fears he has, and also the pride of serving. In all of his writings it is hard to believe he can recall so much in great detail and it is understandable for one to question exaggeration or the precise details. For example, Watkins quoted poems, songs, and some speeches.None of these were hard to believe because if his recollection was not exactly word for word it was probably pretty close to the point. This goes for h is details during the battles as well. All in all his character speaks of loyalty to his troops, to his people, to his love and to God regardless of the circumstance. It is apparent that Watkins is affected by the deaths of several friends and leaders in every battle. He makes sure to speak of the men that lost their lives in very high regards.He gives not only the great leaders honor, but he includes the ordinary soldiers with no rank, an extraordinary honor in his book. Also, in giving them the respect by reiterating that these men were good and died for their people and they are now in heaven, Watkins gives explicit detail of how the men were injured and to the extreme they suffered. In doing this he makes the reader value what each man went through and makes their honor that much greater despite the reasons for the Civil War.It appears that he tries to recollect at his best, the names of all he could, but explains that he does not write of the names he is unsure of, in order to keep correctness and credit to the places it was due, as he would not want to discredit any man. One particular incident that seemed to have struck Watkins with much emotion and must have had a huge impact on his soul was the hanging of two spies. Watkins explains he goes to the hanging to see to Yankee spies get hung; soon he realizes the spies were not Yankee men, but very young boys around the ages of 14 and 16.He states this â€Å"I was appalled; I was horrified; nay, more I was sick at heart† (Watkins, p. 74). This clearly makes him sick and reading about the two kids being hung, envisioning this incident is heart breaking. Could anyone imagine being there and watching this happen first hand and not having the means to do anything to stop it? This occasion that Watkins writes about depicts the impact that it had on him plus it shows the severity and harshness of the war.The incident that tells so much about the morality of Sam Watkins is the story of the hog. After Sam a nd a few other men from his infantry ate with a poor lady, the other men killed and stole her hog while Sam was inside talking with her. Sam appears to help with this incident during the escape back across the river, but he truly was not okay with this. This horrible theft weighed on Sam Watkins’ conscience. He could not even eat the hog as he felt guilty for what had happened.Sam then makes a special trip back to see the poor widowed woman so that he could repay her for what they had done. Although, the woman did not accept his offer at first, he insisted on making the situation right (Watkins & Inge, p. 108-110). This is the incident that really shows what kind of things impacted Sam Watkins. It was not only the life and death of the battles of the Civil War he cared and spoke about, but he had values and cared for others. This particular incident opened the readers view to see the honesty and sincerity of Sam Watkins’ soul.Finally the surrender of the Army of the So uth happened and Watkins was free of the physical Battles of War, free to be with his true love. Yet even the surrender saddens him to a degree and has an impact on him as he encompasses all of what took place during these four years of the Civil War from beginning to the end in which he eventually wrote about in the book that was read, Company Aytch (Watkins & Inge, p, 213-214). Reference Watkins, Sam R and Inge, Thomas M. (November 1, 1999) Company Aytch: Or a Side Show of the Big Show. Retrieved November 2012.

Compare and contrast two views of how social order Essay

â€Å"Whoever controls the media controls the mind† (Jim Morrison 1943-1971).excellent quote i had forgotten that one To establish a view on how social order is produced, in this essay the main focus will be on two researcher’s arguments both on social disorder specifically in regard to the influence of the mass media. Sociologist Stanley Cohen (1973) suggests that the media depiction of antisocial behaviour helps to construct what he labels ‘folk devils’. Whilst social scientists Stuart Hall et al (1978) argued that the mediation of disorderly behaviour led to the belief that society was in a ‘crisis’. By using my own examples and illustrations I will compare and contrast these two theories and furthermore for differentiation include a more present-day theory on social disorder through Huesmann et al 2003. Thereby through an examination of mediation (media spin) on disorderly behaviour attempt to define how one part of social order is produced in public spaces. Good clear introduction Sociologist Stanley Cohen’s theory on ‘folk devils’ which he first observed during the 1960’s media portrayal of Mods and Rockers (Making Social lives ,p378) gives an interesting oblique view on how social order is maintained, as according to is theory certain members of the public are classified as outsiders and treat like scapegoats. describe the theory a little bit here The evidence for this can be found as far back as ancient Greece Aristotle’s ‘unruly youths’ (Brake, 1980, p.1) Along with â€Å"fears of skilled pickpockets progressing to become burglars in the sixteenth century† (Shore, 2000, p. 21) and as near to our times is the example of Gypsy travellers who are and have been given the dubious pleasure of being one of the â€Å"carriers† of social evil and disorder of our days. Good use of examples This Sun headline (March 2005) on the right is just one of the many stereotypical images of gy psies, blown out of all proportion by mass media mediation and an example of that which is coined by Cohen as generating moral panic that is irrational and creates a situation â€Å"where people are both terrified and outraged† (Cohen, Making Social lives,p378). This use of inflammatory rhetoric with regards to gypsies is still being currently employed today as a Sun reporter reports he â€Å"found a community  brimming with fear and anger – and villagers hell-bent on getting rid of them (Sun May 2011). These headlines from the mass media (public space) with regard to gypsies whom historically have many times been the focal point of European society’s ills and represented as’ folk devils’ very good The media campaigns of hostility against these ‘folk devils’ have not only produced moral panic â€Å"a pattern of behaviour, group of people or a condition becomes defined as a threat to society, its values and its interests† (Making Social lives, p371). This on-going mass media campaign against gypsies resulted in change the nation’s politics and laws to re-address social order. Such, as under sections 77-80 of the 1994 Act, [local authorities may direct persons who are unlawfully residin g in vehicles on land in their own area to leave.] This an attempt to renew social order with regards to gypsies and thus allaying public fear.very good The media also played a significant role in sociologists Stuart Hall’s and co-authors (Policing the Crisis (1978) theory. Hall believed that the issue of crime was instrumental in controlling society and that the media constructions â€Å"contributed to a widespread belief that there was a crisis in society† (Making (Social lives, p378). As an illustration of some of the biased press coverage of street crime is a picture portrayed by this Sun image (Dec 2010) Hall surmises that this is how the media wishes to portray these issues to the public, as a rise in crime and disorder which can and should be treat by the government with greater policing measures and laws, which Hall terms the beginning of a â€Å"Law and Order Society† (Social lives, p378). He goes on to infer that media spin is used to distort and divert public attention from the clear problems of social injustice and inequality and that this aids government on social order policies. Evidence for this Law and Order society can be found with the introduction of the SUS (Stop and Search) powers that were used at their height when 1000 youths were stopped and searched in 5 days in what the police called â€Å"Operation Swamp†(bbc. Home, 25th Nov. 1981).well researched This resulted in the escalation of confrontation between the community and the police due to the locals perceiving an inequality and persecution of young blacks and this sparked off the Brixton race riots (1981). The outcome culminated in the renewal of social order with the abolition of the SUS law (1981). However they returned in another form due to 9/11 and 7/7 attacks to combat terrorism in 2007. To  compare and contrast Cohen and Halls views on mass media mediation and how the social order is m aintained through public spaces it will be shown by examining that they have differences and similarities. Where both Cohen and Hall agree with regard to their theories on the issue of mediation (public spaces) is that they both believe that the focus of the mass media places spin on how social and criminal deviants (muggers) are portrayed. Also they both rely on labels to support their social disorder theories i.e. folk devil and muggers and furthermore characterising them as stereotypes. Moreover they continue to agree that the media exaggerates and amplifies and create’ scapegoats’ whose behaviours good example of compare and contrast are demonised with resulting effect on social order of creating ‘moral panic’ on the one hand and a sense of ‘crisis in society’ on the other. Where they greatly disagree is on the root causes of moral panics and social crisis in that Cohen with very little supporting evidence, believed cultural anxiety was to blame (Making Social Lives, Table 1, p383,). Whilst Hall thought that the blame led elsewhere with his inference to social inequality and racism and that the media served the state in diverting attention away from these genuine social problems (ibid).good In contrast to both Cohen and Hall’s views on the mediation of ‘social disorder’ and the foundation of their theories on moral panic and society in crisis there is a view that has an alternative reason as to why and how the media can play a significant role in shaping social order in public spaces. This alternative view comes from the analysis of a longitudinal study (Making Social Lives, p381) by Huesmann et al on media effects, and in particularly how Huesmann and his team found a correlation between 557 children and the watching of violence on TV and a subsequent increase in propensity for aggressive behaviour in 398 of these same studied people. Therefore Huesmann et al. (2003) reached the conclusion on disorderly behaviour that there is a direct effect of media portrayal of violence. From this you can argue that in Huesmann’s view, media and mediation through public space in this case TV. can have a major negative role in the shaping of social order in society, by desensitising and normalising disorderly behaviour. Although there is no real causation evidence for these claims in Huesmann’s study and that the conclusion drawn on the media impact of television violence a chimera of other social factors very good expand on this a little. Thereby through  the examination of Cohen/Halls theories on mediation (media spin) on disorderly behaviour the following can be gleaned with regard to how one part of social order is produced in public spaces. Established norms of behaviour are created and exist in society supported by mass media and this sometimes leads to an increase in social pressure which is built up with a resulting increase in policing and law legislation (SUS laws). These societal norms are reinforced by media scapegoating of social and criminal deviants, Cohen’s ‘folk devils’ and Halls ‘muggers’. Although there are others (Huesmann et al) who believe that the shaping of social order in society is more directly influenced by TV violence alone. The methodology utilised in this essay was to shed light on the making of social order in public spaces through looking at two main theories on disorderly behaviour. And it has highlighted in my view that quite possibly genuine social problems and solutions are obscured by mediation resulting in legislation that deals with only the symptoms not the causes â€Å"The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power, because they control the minds of the masses† (Malcolm X (1925-1965). Bibliography Cohen, S. (1973) Folk Devils and Moral Panics, London, Paladin. Hall, S., Critcher, C., Jefferson, T., Clarke, J. and Roberts, B. (1978) Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State, and Law and Order, London and Basingstoke, Macmillan. Huesmann, R., Moise-Titus, J., Pdolski, C-L. And Eron, L. (2003) ‘Longitudinal relations between children’s exposure to TV violence and their aggressive and violent behaviour in young adulthood: 1977–1992’, Developmental Psychology, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 201–23. Google Image, News.bbc.co.uk, accessed 24th /26th May 2011 Google Image, Enemiesofreason.co.uk accessed 25th May 2011 Jim Morrison (1943 – July 3, 1971) brainyquote.com accessed 20th may 2011 Malcolm X (1925-1965) thinkexist.com accessed 20th may 2011 Shore, H. (2000) ‘The idea of juvenile crime in 19th-century England’, History Today, vol. 50, no.6,pp. 21–7;

Man vs. Nature essays

Man vs. Nature essays With the very existence of a mankind on the face of this planet came the inherent struggle with the forces of the existing world around. They are the everyday struggles brought about by the natural surroundings that we have grown accustomed to. We live with these every day and have learned to overcome them on a somewhat regular basis without a trace of any thought that would remain with us over time. They are a part of our life that goes unnoticed, except when nature really challenges us, or tests us. In a time of crisis or danger when nature has us backed against the wall fighting for survival and the survival of others is when we must face the challenge. We must fight on with whatever circumstance is presented, no matter how small the problem may seem. Many times the battle will be won, and man will over come the challenge presented, and other times nature will get the better of even the best of us, showing its commanding power. Some of the best testaments to this never endi ng power struggle are the stories of men and women who know of the power of nature, or have experienced the power of nature first hand. Many American authors have written of this theme and its relevance in American society. They include works written by Robert Frost, Eudora Welty, and Stephen Crane. These authors present stories that dig deep into the power struggle between man and nature, often digging deep into the minds of the individual who is caught in the moment, fighting to survive, thinking thoughts that can only be thought in a time of extreme struggle and desperation. They either leave you with a sense of triumph, or a sense of tragedy and loss. They mirror the constant struggle between man and the forces of nature. The short story To Build a Fire by Robert Frost is as good of an example as any of the extreme power of nature and the unforgiving cruelty it often displays to us. The main character in the story has to travel a ...

roger and me essays

roger and me essays Roger The struggle between GM and the workers they laid off in Flint, Michigan is quite evident. The higher ups in GM management, as in Roger Smith, president of General Motors, decided that GM was going to greatly downsize their workforce in order to save some money. Smith moved his factories to Mexico where he could pay the workers a much lower wage than he could in the United States. Some thirty thousand workers were laid off and eleven factories were shut down all together. In cities like Flint, Michigan where the whole community was based around the factory everyone suffered. Parts of Flint became ghost towns and families struggled to provide food and clothes for their children, the city was steadily falling apart and nothing could be done to bring back what was once a strong economy. As a result of the General Motors closing, thirty thousand people in Flint were forced into poverty. The city became infested with rats and the crime rate soared. In Roger and Me, a documentary by Michael Moore, he followed around Sheriffs Deputy Fred Ross, a former GM worker, who has the job of pounding on doors and enforcing eviction notices on families of Flint. He depicts how the closing of the GM factory cause so much suffering, just because some rich capitalists wanted to save some money. This shows how the closing of the factories directly effected the people of Flint. On the other hand while the poor got poorer, the rich kept their wealth and were shockingly insensitive to what was happening in their own backyard. Since the closing did not effect the wealthy, because they didnt work there, they were not worried about how they would put diner on the table every night. In Roger and Me, it showed how the rich thought nothing was wrong with Flint and that the public was overacting to the loss of thirty thousand plus jobs. This just shows the ignorance of some people in our society ...

The Best AP World History Study Guide 6 Key Tips

The Best AP World History Study Guide 6 Key Tips SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you taking AP World History this year? Or considering taking it at some point in high school? Then you need to read this AP World History study guide.Instead of cramming every single name, date, and place into your head, learn how to study for the AP World History exam so that you can learn the major ideas and feel ready for test day. We'll also go over some key strategies you can use to help you prepare effectively. TheAP World History test is challenging- just 8.5% of test takers got a 5 in 2017. But if you study correctlythroughout the year, you could be one of the few students who aces this test. Below are six tips to follow in order to be well prepared for the AP World History exam. Read through each one, apply them to your testprep, and you'll bewell on your way to maximizing your AP score! Why You Should Study for the AP World History Test Is it really that important to study for the AP World History test? The quick answer to this question is absolutely. But why? Let's start by taking a look at the kinds of scores students usually get on the exam. The following chart shows what percentage of test takers received each possible AP score (1-5) on the AP World History test in 2017: AP Score Percentage of Test Takers Who Received Score 5 8.5% 4 19.9% 3 26.7% 2 29.6% 1 15.4% Source: The College Board As you can see, roughly 55% of test takers scored a 2 or 3, a little less than 30% scored a 4 or 5,and just 15% scored a 1. Sincemost test takers scored a 3 or lower on this test, it's safe to say that a lot of AP World History students are not scoring as highly as they could be on this test. While a 3 is not a bad AP score by any means, some colleges such as Stanfordrequire at least a 4in order to get credit for the exam. If the schools you're applying to want a 4 or higher, putting in ample study time for the test is a definite must. In addition, if you're applying to highly selective schools, a 5 on the AP World History test (or any AP test, really) could act as a tipping point in your favor during the admissions process. Finally, getting a low score on this test- i.e., a 1 or 2- might make colleges doubt your test-taking abilities or question your potential to succeed at their school. You don't want this to happen! Want to get better grades and test scores? We can help. PrepScholar Tutors is the world's best tutoring service. We combine world-class expert tutors with our proprietary teaching techniques. Our students have gotten A's on thousands of classes, perfect 5's on AP tests, and ludicrously high SAT Subject Test scores. Whether you need help with science, math, English, social science, or more, we've got you covered. Get better grades today with PrepScholar Tutors. What's on the AP World History Exam? Before we give you our six expert study tips for AP World History, let's briefly go over the structure and content of the test. The AP World History exam consists oftwo sections: Section I and Section II.Each section, then, also consists of two parts: Part A and Part B.Here is what you'll encounter on each part of each section: Section/Part Total Time Question Type # of Questions Scoring Section I, Part A 55 mins Multiple choice 55 Worth 40% total score Section I, Part B 40 mins Short answer 3 Worth 20% total score Section II, Part A 60 mins Document based 1 Worth 25% total score Section II, Part B 40 mins Long essay 1 Worth 15% total score Source: The College Board And here is an overview of the types of tasks you'll be asked to perform: Analyze historical texts as well as historians' opinions and interpretations of history Assess historical documents and make an argument to support your assessment Write an essay concerning an issue in world history Now that you understand exactly how the AP World History test is set up, let's take a look at our six expert study tips for it. We don't keep our best secrets to ourselves. How to Study for AP World History: 6 Key Tips Below are our top tips to help you get a top score on the AP World History test. Tip 1: Don't Try to Memorize Everything If you start your AP World History class with the expectation of memorizing the entirety of human history, think again. Although AP World History tests a wide span of time, you aren’t expected to learn every tiny detail along the way. Rather, this class focuses on teaching major patterns, key cultural and political developments, and significant technological developments throughout history. AP World History is organized into the following six time periods: Technological and Environmental Transformations (to c. 600 BCE) Organization and Reorganization of Human Societies (c. 600 BCE to c. 600 CE) Regional and Interregional Interactions (c. 600 CE to c. 1450) Global Interactions (c. 1450 to c. 1750) Industrialization and Global Integration (c. 1750 to c. 1900) Accelerating Global Change and Realignments (c. 1900 to the present) Within each period, you should know the major world powers and forces driving economic development, politics, and social change (including technology). However,you don’t have to have every detailmemorized in order to do well on the test. Instead, focus on understanding big patterns and developments, and be able to explain them with a few key examples. For instance, you don’t necessarily need to know that in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue; you also don't need to know the details of his voyages or the particulars of his brutality. However,you should be able to explain why the European colonization of the Americas happened, as well as the economic effects it had on Europe, Africa, and the Americas, and how colonization affected the lives of people on all three continents. Knowing a few concrete examples is essential to succeeding on the short-answer section. The short-answer questions which will typically present you with some information (e.g., a chart, primary source, etc.) and thenask you to provide several specific examples or reasons for a broader theme or historical movement that relates to the information provided. You'll have flexibility in what specific examples you choose, just so long as they are relevant. The short-answer section is four questions long and worth 20% of your total test score (so each question is worth 5%). You'll have 50 minutes within section 1 to complete it. Concrete examplescan also bolster your essays and improve your ability to break down multiple-choice questions on the topic.However, focus first on understanding the big picture before you try to memorize the nitty-gritty details. If you’re coming from AP US History, this advice might seem odd. But unlike US History, which is more fine-grained, the AP World History exam writers do not expect you to know everything, as they test a much larger topic. AP US History is essentially a test of 400 years of history in one location, so it’s fair to expect students to know many proper names and dates. But for World History,that same level of detail isn’t expected; this test takes place over thousands of years all around the world. Instead, you should focus on understanding the general patterns ofimportant topics through history. This won't only save you time but will also keep you sane as your textbook hurls literally hundreds of names, places, and dates at you throughout the year. Speaking of your textbook ... Tip 2: Keep Up With Your Reading! When it comes to AP World History, you can't sleep through the class all year, skim a prep book in April, and then expect to get a perfect 5 on the test. You're learning all of human history, after all! Trying to cram for this test late in the game is both stressful and inefficient because of the sheer volume of material you have to cover. And all that reading would hurt your eyes. Instead, keep up with your reading and do well in your World History class to ensure you're building a strong foundation of knowledge throughout the year. This way, when it hits spring, you can focus on preparing for the exam itself and the topics it’s likely to test, as opposed to frantically trying to learn all of human history in just two months. If your teacher isn’t already requiring you to do something like this, be sure to keep notes of your readings throughout the school year. This could be in the form of outlines, summaries, or anything else that's useful to you. Taking notes will help you process the readings and remember them better. Your notes will also be an invaluable study tool in the spring. Finally, check the website of whatever textbook your class uses. Many textbook websites have extra features, such as pre-made chapter outlines and summaries. These can be excellent study resources for you throughout the year. Tip 3: Read a Prep Book (or Two) in the Spring Even if you keep up with AP World History throughout the year, you’re probably going to be a bit hazy on topics you learned in September when you start studying for the test in March or April. This is why we recommend getting a prep book, which will provide a much broaderoverview of world history, focusing especially on topics tested on the exam. If you’ve been learning well throughout the school year, reading a prep bookwill trigger your background knowledge and help you review. Think of your prep book as your second, much quicker pass through world history. And in case you’re wondering- no, the prep book alone will not fill you in on the necessary depth of knowledge for the entire test. You can't replace reading your textbook throughout the year with reading a prep book in the spring. The AP World History multiple-choice section especially can ask some pretty specific questions, and you'd definitely have blind spots if all you did is read a prep book and not an actual textbook. Furthermore, you wouldn't be able to explain examples in your essay in as much detail if you've only read a few paragraphs about major historical events. Tip 4: Get Ready to Move at 1 M.P.Q. (Minute per Question) To prepare for the AP World History exam, knowing the material is just half the battle. You also need to know how to use your time effectively,especially on the multiple-choice section. The multiple-choice section (Section 1, part A) asks 55 questions in 55 minutes,and is worth 40% of your total score. This gives you just one minuteper question, so you'll have to move fast. And to be ready for this quickpace, practice is key. Taking the AP World History exam without practicing first would be like jumping into a NASCARrace without a driver's license. To practice pacing yourself, it’s crucial that you get a prep book containing practice tests. Even if you've read your textbook diligently, taken notes, and reviewed the material, it's really important to practice actual multiple-choice sections so you can get used to the timing of the test. Althoughthere are a few two-part questions on AP World History,most are stand-alone questions. As a result,you can move from question to question fairly quickly, and even skip and return to tough questions (as long as you keep an eye on the time!). There might be some images, maps, charts, and passages to work through as well, so some questions will likely take longer than others. Your teacher should be giving you multiple-choice quizzes or teststhroughout the year to help you prepare for the test. If your teacher isn't doing this, it will, unfortunately, be up to you to find multiple-choice practice questionsfrom prep books and online resources. See our complete list of AP World History practice tests here. You need to create your own multiple-choice strategy as you study, such as using the process of elimination, being ready to read and analyze pictures and charts, and being constantly aware of your time. I recommend wearing a watch when you practice so you can keep an eye on how long you spend on each question. In short, make sure you practice AP World History multiple-choice questions so that when you sit down to take the exam, you'll feel confident and ready to move fast. Want to get better grades and test scores? We can help. PrepScholar Tutors is the world's best tutoring service. We combine world-class expert tutors with our proprietary teaching techniques. Our students have gotten A's on thousands of classes, perfect 5's on AP tests, and ludicrously high SAT Subject Test scores. Whether you need help with science, math, English, social science, or more, we've got you covered. Get better grades today with PrepScholar Tutors. Tip 5: Practice Speed-Writing for the Free-Response Section The AP World History exam has two essay questions that, together, account for 40% of your total score. You'll get 55 minutes for the Document-Based Question (DBQ), including a 10-minute reading period. The DBQ is worth 25% of your exam grade. You'll then get 35 minutes for the Long Essay, which is worth 15% of your score. For each essay, you need to be able to brainstorm quickly and write an essay that answers the prompt, is well organized, and has a cogent thesis. A thesis is a one-sentence summary of your main argument. For the sake of AP essays, it's best to put your thesis at the end of the introductory paragraph so the grader can find it quickly. When organizing your essay, have each paragraph explain one part of the argument, with a topic sentence (basically, a mini thesis) at the beginning of each paragraph that explains exactly what you're going to say. For the DBQ, you'll need to bring all or most the provided documents into your argument in addition to your background knowledge of the period being tested. For example, in a DBQ about the effects of Spanish Influenza during World War I, you needed to demonstrate your knowledge of WWI as well as your ability to use the documents effectively in your argument. See our complete guide to writing a DBQ here. For the Long Essay, it’s up to you to provide specific historical examples and show your broad understanding of historical trends. (Again, this is why doing your reading is so important, since you'll have to provide and explain your own historical examples!) Throughout the year, your teacher should be having you do writing assignments, including in-class essays, to teach you how to write good essays quickly. Since you'll be writing youressays by hand for the test, you should ideally be writing your practice essays by hand as well. If you struggle with writing by hand fast, you can build up your writing fluency (your ability to quickly translate thoughts to words) by writing additional practice essayson your own. If you need to work on writing fluency, it's best to practice with easier writing topics.First, find a journal prompt to write about (this website has hundreds). Next, set a timer. Between 10 and 15 minutes is best. Finally, write as much (and as fast) as you can about the prompt, without making any big mistakes in spelling or grammar. When time's up, count how many words you wrote. If you do this a few times a week, you'll build up your writing speed, and your word counts will continue to grow. Once you've built up this skill, it will be much easier to tackle the AP World History free response section. You can also practice on your own using old AP World History free-response questions.However, note that the test was revised for 2016-17, so old questions will have old instructions. In fact, there actuallyused to be three essays on the AP World History test- in addition to the DBQ, there was a "Change Over Time" essay and a "Comparison" essay. Now, there's just one long essay. Be sure to compare older questions with the most up-to-date examples from the most current AP Course and Exam Description. Tip 6: Take Practice Exams and Set a Target Score In the spring, aim totake at least one full practice exam- ideally in late March or early April- once you’ve learned most of the World History material. By a full practice exam, we mean the entire AP World History test. Time yourself and take it in one sitting, with a 15-minute break between the multiple-choice/short-answer section and the essays. Why should you do this? It will give you a chance to experience what it’s like to take a full AP World History exam before you sit for the real thing. This helps you build stamina and perfect your timing. All the practice in the world won't help you if you run out of steam on your last essay question and can barely think. Also, set a target score for each section: multiple choice and free response.Good news: you don’t need to be aiming for 100% on the multiple-choice section and a 9/9 on every essay in order to secure a 5 (the highest possible score). Far from it, actually! The truth is that a high multiple-choice score (50/55) with average short-answer and free-response scores (say, 8/12 on short answer, 5/7 on the DBQ, and 4/6 on the long essay) can get you a score of 5. Likewise, an average multiple-choice score (35/55) with high short-answer and free-response scores (say, 11/12 on short answer, 6/7 on the DBQ, and 5/6 on the long essay) can also net you a 5. Setrealistic score targets based on your personal strengths.For example, a really good writing student might go the average multiple choice/strong essay route, while a strong test taker might go the other way around. You could also be somewhere in-between. In addition, don't be intimidated if your target score is a lot higher than your current scores. The whole point of practicing is to eventually meet your target! Once you have a target score, practice, practice, practice! Use old exams, the practice exams in (high-quality) prep books, and thefree-response questions linked above. You can even ask your teacher for old AP World History tests and essay questions. The more you practice before the test, the more likely you are to meet- or exceed!- your score goal. Bottom Line: How to Prep for the AP World History Test Although AP World History is a challenging test, if you follow the advice in this AP World History study guide and preparecorrectlythroughout the year, you can definitely pass, or even be one of the few students who gets a 5! Just make sure to keep up with your reading, use a prep book in the spring, and practice a lot for the multiple-choice and the free-response sections. With clear target scores for each section and plenty of practice under your belt, you'll have the strongest chance of getting a 5 on test day! What’s Next? How many AP classes should you take in total? Find out here. How hard is AP World History compared with other AP tests? We’ve rounded up a list of the hardest and easiest AP tests, as well as the average scores for every exam. For more tips on doing well in all of your classes, from AP to IB to honors, read this expert guide to getting a perfect 4.0, written by PrepScholar founder Allen Cheng. Even if you're not going for perfection, you'll learn all the skills you need to work hard, work smart, and get better grades. Also studying for the SAT/ACT? In a hurry? Learn how to cram for the ACT or SAT. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

2full page reflection paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

2full page reflection paper - Essay Example long to Western countries, among others); the manner of selecting art works; and whose points of views should be emphasized as focal points for conveying the meaning of these works of art; to name a few. On the other hand, Heartney’s article argued that the works of art selected for the exhibit seemed to exemplify the skills and talents of non-Western artists as bordering between traditional local and Western culture. This has also be the subject of discussion in the interview by Buchloh with Martin (Buchloh). Upon absorbing the main thrusts of the authors’ contentions, one was able to appreciate viewing the varied works of arts which were included in the exhibit. The diversity within which these art works were chosen reflect the objective of the proponents in showcasing talents of artists from all over the world. It was therefore commendable that through publishing these articles, art enthusiasts who did not have the resources to attend the exhibit at that time, and even in contemporary times, could marvel at diverse art forms in the artists’ personal interpretation of cultural underpinnings. One could affirm that the selection for the exhibit was indeed representative of different cultures from a global sphere. Much the same assertion noted by Heartney was the revelation that â€Å"the most interesting works in the show were produced by non-Western artists conversant with the subtleties of Western art and culture and interested in the interplay between these traditions and their own† (94). One strongly believes that contemporary artists, even from non-Western countries, or those identified to be cultural margins, could have been influenced by Western culture. Specifically, due to the evolving technological and communication applications, at the time that the exhibit was organized, archaic practices, as opposed to ‘primitive’ became a crucial criteria for inclusion. Therefore, emphasizing that viewers would expect diversity and unconventional art forms

The Study of International Relationships Term Paper

The Study of International Relationships - Term Paper Example Waltz discusses, in answer to some questions about the value of theory, how the use of theory in framing international relations is one of the biggest struggles that students face. He uses the study of economics as a parallel example of how theory is both useful and confusing, in that it requires social scientists to separate the subject from its context. Some say this separation dismisses the relationship of other factors to the subject, yet Waltz insists that it is necessary to use this fantasy separation in order to interpret and classify what is being studied—whether it is economics or politics. He says that international relations really is a struggle with the facts, and that it is hard to create theories because the field is full of complexities. Complexities, however, do not rule out the use of theories, says Waltz. On the contrary, they invite the use of theories to explain this complexity. The necessity of theories is supported by Rosenau and Durfee, who describe it a s something that must be done, but tentatively. They also talk about the use of the question â€Å"what is this an instance of?† This question, they say, helps us go up the rungs of a ladder to classify politics into some larger theory, and thus leads us to some sort of understanding, however temporary it may be. Buzan also discusses some of the challenging facing international relations, and cites one of the greatest of them as the need to connect the field with both history and sociology. Without history, says Buzan, one is stuck in a box of thinking of states as the only actors—a Westphalian idea. Buzan also explains something similar for sociology, which is important because it suggest the idea of an international society that goes beyond a simple group of states. When discussing realism, Buzan cites its flexibility—it allows for change and focuses on the human condition. However, as realism focuses on states, we realize how other theories can collide with i t. International relations, says Buzan, is full of paradigms that we develop as a way of explaining and understanding how the system works at different times. These paradigms include Realism, idealism, Marxism, and even the English school to which Buzan is attracted. Overall, Buzan sees realism as a good starting point for theorizing and observing the system. The English school itself is described more in detail by Linklater. He describes how the English school focuses on international politics as defined by a community of sovereign states with no greater level of authority, and find it amazing that this community exists in an anarchical condition. While in any state level society a lack of government would lead to total chaos, the English school is focused on the fact that this chaos is absent in the international, anarchical system. However, says Linklater, this should not be seen as a form of realism, but rather as a middle ground between realism and idealism. The major founder o f the English school, however, is Grotius. In his discussions he illustrates this school as one that takes a middle way. It recognizes international anarchy, but also gives credit to the play of power in rational, realist thinking. He mentions war often, but also moves toward the idea of an international society that emerges from the international anarchical system, dividing his thoughts from strict realism but definitely refusing to

Argument-Deliberative (4 pages) DIRECTLY addressing a specific Essay

Argument-Deliberative (4 pages) DIRECTLY addressing a specific audience who holds a proposition with which you Disagree) - Essay Example Perhaps, a rebellion against this standardized will open the door to the reshaping of our schools and the implementation of much more sophisticated and effective accountability measures.† (Marshak, David, 2003). He further adds that we need to reinvent education by teaching students how to be creative, which requires long term relationship between students and teachers. So the present system of changing teachers every 50 minutes should be stopped and teachers be appointed for one to two year to develop personal relationship with students. Students should also have common learning goals and individuals learning goals. Moreover, he believes that in future curriculum should include synthesis, problem solving, creativity, and analysis promote inventive thinking. Though some of his ideas seem to be good, it may not be practical one. In order to understand the hollowness in his arguments against standardized testing system, one should know how it functions. A test which is conducted in a standard manner is called a standardized test. This testing system gauges candidates against one another and a standard is fixed to assess progress in a school, aptitude to attend institutions of higher education and to put candidates in programs suited to their aptitude. These tests are designed in a special way that rules for conducting, questions, interpretations, and scoring pattern are reliable and conducted and scored in a prearranged, standard manner. United States enacted elementary and secondary education act, 1965 which made it mandatory standardized testing in public schools. In 2001, United States passed US Public Law 107- 110, which is also called ‘No Child Left Behind Act of 2001’, which binds public school funding to standardized testing. It consists of true- false and multiple-choice questions. Generally, it is a computer adaptive test. Some standardized testing have essay

Human Resource Development in UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Human Resource Development in UK - Essay Example It is necessary for the professional stage to have skilled people with the required talent. It can be made possible to obtain such skill by buying them from outside the organization; that is, recruitment. However, it is also possible to achieve this by training and developing the present employees. Human Resource Development (HRD) is a planned approach that is used in order to invest in human capital. The reason that HRD is important is that one of the most essential factors for the development of a successful industry in the UK happens to the investment is skills. It draws on other human resource processes, for example resourcing and performance evaluation, so that the real and probable talent can be recognized. HRD presents a structure for self-development, training courses and career progression so that an organization's future skill requirements can be met with. In order to respond to restriction against the job market, there should be human capital development in the form of education and skills training. It is possible that some skills are scarce even when there is high employment. Newswire Today reports that in 2007 a report was issued by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) entitled "UK Skills: Making the Grade". This report was based on a survey of over 300 employers. According to this report, 55% of the employers who were evaluated are finding it more difficult to employ skilled workers now as compared to five years ago. In order to deal with this problem, in the same year the UK Government announced a major expansion in skills investment for England of over 11 billion for each of the next three years. Total spending on learning and skills is likely to increase to 12.3 billion a year by 2010/11. This compares with the 6.5 billion spent in 2001/02 (Department for Innovation, Universities & Skills, n.d.). A lot of disparity is present education and training levels of different countries. For example, in Germany they consider technology and production as high status activities. For them to succeed in such areas they have to have a high level of technical training. Thus, German businesses feel greater importance to technical advantage than, say, those in the UK. In the UK not only technology is important but other areas as well, even the ones unconnected to the engineering and technical side. One example can be the Film Industry. It is only recently that the Film Industry has been credited but nonetheless, it is fact that the UK has tried to make it successful. For this, the Film Industry Training Board has been set up. The aim of the board is to improve skills development in the UK film industry. This is only the first industrial training board that has been set up in around 20 years. Industry Training Boards are constitutional organizations that were set up

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 8

Marketing - Essay Example Additionally, employees have the opportunity to take early retirement, meaning that they can take one day off during the week in exchange of promise to work for one day a week after their retirement. The employees are granted an opportunity to appraise and rate their bosses twice yearly and bosses who consistently exhibit poor performance are squeezed out. SEMCO have policies that ensure openness of the financial statements that enable low level employees such as secretaries, receptionists and factory workers understand the financial performance of the company. The salaries of employees are available to the public unless the concerned employee is willing to maintain his or privacy. SEMCO has allowed all employees to set their own individual production quotas, thus motivating employees to voluntarily work overtime. The company has implemented a profit sharing policy that includes all workers even the factory workers and senior managers are not entitled to large bonuses. The company ha s implemented six types of rewards that include commissions on the gross margin, stipends, bonuses, profit sharing and royalty on sale of profit. A classical organisation with a traditional approach to industrial relationships is Interserve plc of the United Kingdom. ... Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT) is the only trade union that caters for only the needs of construction workers in the UK. Its membership spreads across Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England. Construction industry in the UK has continued to exploit the workers through low wages, dubious employment agencies and poor working conditions (Dunlop, 1993 p. 50). Industrial relations can be defined as the institutions and processes that establish and foster rules and regulations in the workplace. Industrial relations dates back to the industrial revolution era that was characterized by low wages, limited markets and capitalist thoughts of business owners (Batstone, 1988 p. 10). According to human resource management perspective, industrial relations involve employment contracts, government agencies, and conflicts that arise due to interactions in the workplace. According to Bean (2004), industrial relations refer to the nature of relationships among employ er, employees, the trade unions, and management p. 47). Industrial relations established democracy in the organisation and improves the morale of employees. Industrial relations will also foster enactment of sound labour laws, ensure fair employment practices and ensure efficient use of human capital in the organisation (Harcourt and Wood, 2006 p. 100). Industrial related conflicts result from diverse social economic, political and psychological factors. There are different approaches to industrial relations in an organisation. One of the approaches is the psychological approach that asserts that perceptions of workers, management and trade unions contribute to job related conflicts in the organisation (Salamon, 2000 p. 41). For instance, the beliefs and

The Impact of Small Business in our National Economy Term Paper

The Impact of Small Business in our National Economy - Term Paper Example national economy. Impact of Small Business on the American Economy United States probably has the largest small business sector in advanced western economies. Small businesses play several auxiliary roles in the U.S. economy; these roles vary depending on stage of evolution and overall economic state. In 1990s, small business held nearly half of total private sector employment and production (Gaddy, 2002, p.182).When it comes to defining what constitute a small business, there is no standard consensus because it varies from country to country. According to U.S. Census Bureau, in United States, nearly 80% of small businesses have less than twenty employees (2004). Earlier than 1970, the term small business was rarely used in media or business news. It became popular after the publication of David Birch’s work. His work’s summary in a one liner that made small business famous was, â€Å"two third of all the new jobs created were produced by firms with twenty or fewer emp loyees† (As cited in Dunkelberg, 1995). Small businesses serve as backbone of the U.S. economy. Approximately 25 million small businesses provide jobs for half of private employees in America. For more than a decade, small firms proved to be an economic steamroller for the U.S. national economy. ... Today, more than 250,000 small firms export; it is thrice the number of companies exporting a decade ago. Several small businesses work for exporters indirectly, such as, local suppliers and subcontractors working for larger firms. Every one from three export sales dollar is invested back into small business. However, the numbers should multiply rapidly in order to cope with the challenges posed by globalization and trade imbalances (Manzullo, n.d.). Job Opportunities Small businesses contribute enormously for the U.S. economy and society. Most evident of them all is new job opportunities created by small businesses every year. According to an estimate, on average, three of every four jobs are offered by small companies having less than 500 employees. Considerable share of these jobs are created by small companies having four to fewer employees. Small firms support and contribute to numerous industries, such as, restaurants, service businesses, amusement and recreation, wholesale tra de, engineering, management services, and construction trade contractors (as cite in Boone & David, 2010, p.194). Boone and David (2010) further state: Small businesses form the core the U.S. economy. Businesses with fewer than 500 employees generate more than half nation’s gross domestic product. Small firms represent 99.7 percent of all the employer firms and pay more than 45 percent of the total U.S. private payroll. Over half of firms are home-based, while 2 percent are franchises. In addition, small businesses employ almost half of the nation’s private nonfarm workforce. (p.194) New Industry Creation Small business sector provides an outlet to entrepreneurial innovation and ideas which generate completely new industries. News businesses and industries fuel local

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 8

Marketing - Essay Example Additionally, employees have the opportunity to take early retirement, meaning that they can take one day off during the week in exchange of promise to work for one day a week after their retirement. The employees are granted an opportunity to appraise and rate their bosses twice yearly and bosses who consistently exhibit poor performance are squeezed out. SEMCO have policies that ensure openness of the financial statements that enable low level employees such as secretaries, receptionists and factory workers understand the financial performance of the company. The salaries of employees are available to the public unless the concerned employee is willing to maintain his or privacy. SEMCO has allowed all employees to set their own individual production quotas, thus motivating employees to voluntarily work overtime. The company has implemented a profit sharing policy that includes all workers even the factory workers and senior managers are not entitled to large bonuses. The company ha s implemented six types of rewards that include commissions on the gross margin, stipends, bonuses, profit sharing and royalty on sale of profit. A classical organisation with a traditional approach to industrial relationships is Interserve plc of the United Kingdom. ... Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT) is the only trade union that caters for only the needs of construction workers in the UK. Its membership spreads across Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England. Construction industry in the UK has continued to exploit the workers through low wages, dubious employment agencies and poor working conditions (Dunlop, 1993 p. 50). Industrial relations can be defined as the institutions and processes that establish and foster rules and regulations in the workplace. Industrial relations dates back to the industrial revolution era that was characterized by low wages, limited markets and capitalist thoughts of business owners (Batstone, 1988 p. 10). According to human resource management perspective, industrial relations involve employment contracts, government agencies, and conflicts that arise due to interactions in the workplace. According to Bean (2004), industrial relations refer to the nature of relationships among employ er, employees, the trade unions, and management p. 47). Industrial relations established democracy in the organisation and improves the morale of employees. Industrial relations will also foster enactment of sound labour laws, ensure fair employment practices and ensure efficient use of human capital in the organisation (Harcourt and Wood, 2006 p. 100). Industrial related conflicts result from diverse social economic, political and psychological factors. There are different approaches to industrial relations in an organisation. One of the approaches is the psychological approach that asserts that perceptions of workers, management and trade unions contribute to job related conflicts in the organisation (Salamon, 2000 p. 41). For instance, the beliefs and

Doppelganger Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 4

Doppelganger - Essay Example The Nolans use nonlinear narrative approach to capture the themes in the screenplay in a whole new fashion that not only entertains, but captures new aesthetics of a 21st century film. This paper analyses how different styles such as mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing and sound design affect the overall outcome of the themes and aesthetics in â€Å"The Prestige.† Robert Angier and Alfred Borden cut the image of two would-be illusionists working in harmony in Victorian London, but upon the unintended elimination of Angier’s wife, the two characters turn against each other; Bordwell (2013) noted that â€Å"with Julia’s death, the men become enemies.† Hell-bent on proving that the other is weaker and incapable, both parties discover a new center or focus in the elegant Olivia Wenscombe. By virtue of Wenscome, each of the two sinks deeper into mystery in an attempt to demonstrate that they he is the more powerful magician. â€Å"The Prestige† takes an atmospheric turn that seamlessly integrates magic’s natural mystery and secrecies with well-connected scenes that constantly ensure the audiences follow the story to the end while chasing unending solutions to the mysteries. Although, the storyline jumps from one time period to another in an effort to underscore the seriousness of the rivalry between the magicians, director Christopher Nolan clearly delineates the scenes to avoid any confusion among the audience. The carefully designed mise-en-scenes style featuring the two characters on the foreground at night in the outdoor scene, with lines of bulbs planted to the background, for example, not only creates an intriguing social life of the two characters at the beginning of the film, but also evokes a particular dreamlike value that is both attractive and mysterious (Bordwell, 2013). Neither of the two protagonists is predominantly likeable especially in the dark clothes they adorn and their shadowy movements. Both men have somehow

Commercial Law Flow Charts and Notes Essay Example for Free

Commercial Law Flow Charts and Notes Essay You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour- Who, then, in law, is my neighbour? The answer seems to be persons who are so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being so affected when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions that are called in question Donoghue v Stevenson Neighbour Principle: You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour- Who, then, in law, is my neighbour? The answer seems to be persons who are so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being so affected when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions that are called in question Donoghue v Stevenson Reasonable Person Test individual action or failure to act as a reasonably prudent person would under similar circumstances, resulting in harm to another Blyth v Birmingham Waterworks Co (1856) Papatonakis v Australian Telecommunications Commission (1985) That it is appropriate for the negligent person’s liability to extend to the harm so caused This was stated in Section 5D of the Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) and is consistent with the case of Adeels Palace Pty Ltd v Moubarak Other Tests: for a causal link to exist these elements must be satisfied: iii. Negligence was a necessary condition for the occurrence of the harm iv. That it is appropriate for the negligent person’s liability to extend to the harm so caused This was stated in Section 5D of the Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) and is consistent with the case of Adeels Palace.

Modelling of β-turns using Hidden Markov Model

Modelling of ÃŽ ²-turns using Hidden Markov Model Modelling of ÃŽ ²-turns using Hidden Markov Model Nivedita Rao Ms. Sunila Godara Abstract— One of the major tasks in predicting the secondary structure of a protein is to find the ÃŽ ²-turns. Functional and structural traits of a globular protein can be better understood by the turns as they play an important role in it. ÃŽ ²-turns play an important part in protein folding. ÃŽ ²-turns constitute on an average of 25% of the residues in all protein chains and are the most usual form of non-repetitive structures. It is already known that helices and ÃŽ ²-sheets are among the most important keys in stabilizing the structures in proteins. In this paper we have used hidden Markov model (HMM) in order to predict the ÃŽ ²-turns in proteins based on amino acid composition and compared it with other existing methods. Keywords- ÃŽ ²-turns, amino acid composition, hidden Markov model, residue. I. Introduction Bioinformatics has become a vital part of many areas of biology. In molecular biology, bioinformatics techniques such as signal processing or image processing allow mining of useful results from large volumes of raw data. In the field ofgeneticsandgenomics, it helps in sequencing and explaining genomes and their perceivedmutations. It plays an important part in the analysis of protein expression, gene expression and their regulation. It also helps in literal mining of biological prose and the growth of biological and gene ontologies for organizing and querying biological data. Bioinformatics tools aid in the contrast of genetic and genomic data and more commonly in the understanding of evolutionary facets of molecule based biology. At a more confederated level, bioinformatics helps in analyzing and categorizing the biological trails and networks that are an significant part of systems biology. In structural biology, bioinformatics helps in the understanding, simulation and modelling of RNA, DNA and protein structures as well as molecular bindings. The advancements in genome has increased radically over the recent years, thus resulting in the explosive growth of biological data widening the gap between the number of protein sequences stored in the databases and the experimental annotation of their functions. There are many types of tight turns. These turns may subject to the number of atoms form the turn [1]. Among them is ÃŽ ²-turn, which is one of the important components of protein structure as it plays an important part in molecular structure and protein folding. A ÃŽ ²-turn invokes four consecutive residues where the polypeptide chain bends back on itself for about 180 degrees [2]. Basically these chain reversals are the ones which provide a protein its globularity rather than linearity. Even ÃŽ ²-turns can be further classified into different types. According to Venkatachalam [3], ÃŽ ²-turns can be of 10 types based on phi, psi angles and also some other. Richardson[4] suggested only 6 distinct types(I,I,II,II,VIa and VIb) on the basis of phi, psi ranges, along with a new category IV. Presently, classification by Richardson is most widely used. Turns can be considered as an important part in globular proteins in respect to its structural and functional view. Without the component of turns, a polypeptide chain cannot fold itself into a compressed structure. Also, turns normally occur on the visible surface of proteins and therefore it possibly represents antigenic locations or involves molecular recognition. Thus, due to the above reasons, the prediction of ß-turns in proteins becomes an important element of secondary structure prediction. II. RELATED WORK A lot of work has been done for the prediction of ÃŽ ²-turns. To determine chain reversal regions of a globular protein, Chou at al. [5] used conformational parameters. Chou at al. [6] has given a residue-coupled model in order to predict the ÃŽ ²-turns in proteins. Chou at al. [7] used sequence of tetra peptide. Chou [8] again predicted tight turns and their types in protein using amino acid residues. Guruprasad K at al. [9] predicted ÃŽ ²-turn and ÃŽ ³-turn in proteins using a new set of amino acid and hydrogen bond. Hutchinson at al. [10] created a program called PROMOTIF to identify and analyse structural motifs in proteins. Shepherd at al. [11] used neural networks to predict the location and type of ÃŽ ²-turns. Wilmot at al. [12] analysed and predicted different types of ÃŽ ²-turn in proteins using phi, psi angles and central residues. Wilmot at al. [13] proposed a new nomenclature GORBTURN 1.0 for predicting ÃŽ ²-turns and their distortions. This study has used hidden Markov model to predict the ÃŽ ²-turns in the protein. HMM has been widely used as biological tools. (a) (b) Figure 1.1 (a) defines Type-I ß-turns and (b) defines Type-II ß-turns. The hydrogen bond is denoted by dashed lines. [14] III. Materials and methods A. Dataset The dataset used in the experiment is a non-redundant dataset which was previously described by Guruprasad and Rajkumar [9]. This dataset contains around 426 non-homologous protein chains. All protein chains do not have more than 25% sequence similarity. It is basically to ensure that there is very little correlation in the training set. In this dataset, each protein chain contains at least one beta turn and has X-ray crystallography with resolution 2 or more. The dataset shows there are mainly ten classes and other classes are made using the combination of these ten classes. Table 1 Datasets Description [14] B. Hidden markov model In our work, we have used the probabilistic feature of HMM for ÃŽ ²-turns prediction. A model is presumed that ruminate the protein sequence being generated with a stochastic process that alternates amid two hidden states: â€Å"turns† and â€Å"non-turns†. The HMM is trained using 20 protein sequences. The probability transition matrix is 2Ãâ€"2 for two states: turns and non-turns. The probability emission matrix is considered as 2Ãâ€"20 as there are 2 states and 20 amino acids. We prepared our probability transition matrix and probability emission matrix according to the knowledge that we have for dataset that is the probability of ÃŽ ²-non-turns is more than ÃŽ ²-turns in a protein sequence and by considering probabilities of each residue as the parameter taken from Chou [7] for calculating the emission and transition matrix. There are more than ten classes and this HMM model parameter is estimated in2 super states and the training was performed. Let P be a protein sequence of length n, which can also be expressed as Where ri is the amino acid residue at sequence position i. The sequence is considered to be generated from r1 to rn in hidden Markov model. The model is trained using Baum-Welch algorithm [15]. Baum-Welch algorithm is a standard method for finding the maximum likelihood estimation of HMMs, in which posterior probabilities were performed by using both forward and backward algorithms. These algorithms were used to compile the state transition probability and emission probability matrices. The initial probabilities are calculated, taking into account a correlation between residues in different position. The most probable path is calculated using Viterbi algorithm [16] as it automatically segments the protein into its component regions. The probability of residue in the protein sequence used to generate the emission matrix given by Where, m is the total number that of residue in the protein sequence and n is the total number of residues in the protein sequence. C. Accuracy measures Once the prediction of ÃŽ ²-turns is performed using the hidden Markov model, the problem arises of finding an appropriate measure for the quality of the prediction. Four different scalar measures are used to assess the models performance [17]. These measures can be derived four different quantities: TP (true positive), p, is the number of correctly classified ÃŽ ²-turn residues. TN (true negative), n, is the number of correctly classified non-ÃŽ ²-turn residues. FP (false positive), m, is the number of non-ÃŽ ²-turn residues incorrectly classified as ÃŽ ²-turn residues. FN( false negative), o, is the number of ÃŽ ²-turn residues incorrectly classified as non-ÃŽ ²-turn residues. The predictive performance of the HMM model can be expressed by the following parameters: Qtotal gives the percentage of correctly classified residues. MCC (Matthews Correlation Coefficient) [18] is a measure that counts for both over and under- predictions. Qpredicted , is the percentage of ÃŽ ²-turn predictions that are correct. Qobserved is the percentage of observed ÃŽ ²-turns that are correctly predicted. IV. results and discussions A. Results This model is used to predict the ÃŽ ²-turns and is based on hidden Markov model. There are basically two classes: turns and non-turns. It is used to predict one protein sequence at a time. It has been observed that it performs better than some existing prediction methods. B. Comparison with other methods In order to examine of this method, it has been compared with other existing methods as shown in table 2. For now, the comparison is done on a single protein sequence. The comparison is for protein sequence with PDB code 1ah7. Figure 2 shows comparison of Qtotal using different algorithms. Figure 3 shows comparison of Qpredicted using different algorithms. Figure 4 shows comparison of Qobserved using different algorithms. Figure 5 shows comparison of MCC using different algorithms. The HMM based method shows better results than some of the already existing algorithms of the prediction. Figure 2. comparison of Qtotal with different algorithms Figure 4. comparison of Qobserved with different algorithms Figure 3. comparison of QPredicted with different algorithms Figure 5. comparison of MCC with different algorithms Table 2 Comparison with other methods V. conclusion In this paper, we presented a way in which HMM can be used to predict ÃŽ ²-turns in a protein chain. Our method is used to predict turns and non-turns of single protein sequence at a time. The results thus obtained are better than some of the other existing methods. The performance of the ÃŽ ²-turns can further be improved by considering other techniques such as using predicted secondary structures and dihedral angles from multiple predictors or by using feature selection technique [19] or by considering combination of many features together. We can also combine different machine learning techniques together to improve the performance of the prediction. References Chou, Kuo-Chen. Prediction of tight turns and their types in proteins.Analytical biochemistry286.1 (2000): 1-16. Chou, P.Y. and Fasman, G.D. (1974) Conformational parameters for amino acids in helical, beta-sheet and random coil regions calculated from proteins.Biochemistry, 13, 211-222. Venkatachalam, C. M. Stereochemical criteria for polypeptides and proteins. V. Conformation of a system of three linked peptide units.Biopolymers6.10 (1968): 1425-1436. Richardson, Jane S. The anatomy and taxonomy of protein structure. Advances in protein chemistry34 (1981): 167-339. Chou, P. Y., and G. D. Fasman. Prediction of beta-turns.Biophysical journal 26.3 (1979): 367-383. Chou, K.C. â€Å"Prediction of beta-turns† Journal of Peptide Research(1997): 120-144. Chou, Kou-Chen, and James R. Blinn. Classification and prediction of ÃŽ ²-turn types.Journal of protein chemistry16.6 (1997): 575-595. Chou, Kuo-Chen. Prediction of tight turns and their types in proteins.Analytical biochemistry286.1 (2000): 1-16. Guruprasad, Kunchur, and Sasidharan Rajkumar. Beta-and gamma-turns in proteins revisited: a new set of amino acid turn-type dependent positional preferences and potentials.Journal of biosciences25.2 (2000): 143. Hutchinson, E. Gail, and Janet M. Thornton. PROMOTIF—a program to identify and analyze structural motifs in proteins.Protein Science5.2 (1996): 212-220. Shepherd, Adrian J., Denise Gorse, and Janet M. Thornton. Prediction of the location and type of ÃŽ ²-turns in proteins using neural networks.Protein Science8.5 (1999): 1045-1055. Wilmot, C. M., and J. M. Thornton. Analysis and prediction of the different types of ÃŽ ²-turn in proteins.Journal of molecular biology203.1 (1988): 221-232. Wilmot, C. M., and J. M. Thornton. ÃŽ ²-Turns and their distortions: a proposed new nomenclature.Protein engineering3.6 (1990): 479-493. Available from :http://imtech.res.in/raghava/betatpred/intro.html Welch, Lloyd R. Hidden Markov models and the Baum-Welch algorithm.IEEE Information Theory Society Newsletter53.4 (2003): 10-13. Lou, Hui-Ling. Implementing the Viterbi algorithm.Signal Processing Magazine, IEEE12.5 (1995): 42-52. Fuchs, Patrick FJ, and Alain JP Alix. High accuracy prediction of ÃŽ ²Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ turns and their types using propensities and multiple alignments.Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics59.4 (2005): 828-839. Matthews, Brian W. Comparison of the predicted and observed secondary structure of T4 phage lysozyme.Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA)-Protein Structure405.2 (1975): 442-451. Saeys, Yvan, Ià ±aki Inza, and Pedro Larraà ±aga. A review of feature selection techniques in bioinformatics.bioinformatics23.19 (2007): 2507-2517.

Wars Of The Roses :: essays research papers

In the late 1400’s the House of York fought the House of Lancaster for the English crown. Because Lancaster’s heraldic badge was a red rose and the Yorks was a white rose, the long conflict became known as Wars of the Roses. The real lives of the main participants of the Wars of the Roses will be displayed in this paper. In Shakespeare’s Richard III the participants in the Wars of the Roses were not suitably displayed. The participants in Shakespeare’s Richard III were Henry Tudor, Clarence, Edward V, Richard III; Queen Margaret will have their lives displayed in this paper. In the Shakespeare play Richard III was depicted as a malformed mean, ill looking, tyrant. But this was not the case. Richard III was a nice and handsome man. Shakespeare only did this so that Queen Elizabeth would be pleased with what she saw when she went to watch the play. Because Queen Elizabeth was a Lancaster, Shakespeare wanted her family to look noble. Richard III couldn’t have been deformed as Shakespeare said that he was, because in real life Richard III was a knight that fought in battles. He couldn’t have been deformed if he were a knight because he would have to fight with his sword and shield. www.yahoo.com search stated that in the play Clarence was a good guy who loved everybody, but in real life Clarence was jailed and executed for committing treason. www.altavista.com search engine said that in the play, Shakespeare said that Richard had Clarence killed so that he could have an uncontested line to the throne. Shakespeare also said that Richard killed young Edward V and his brother so that he could be next in line for the crown. But that is not true for Richard really didn’t do it. There is a lot of speculation about rather Richard did it or not. There is more evidence supporting Richard. Some scholars believe that Richard didn’t trust the Southern English so he sent young Edward V and his brother up north to be guarded by one of Richard’s consultants by the name of Sheriff Hutton. www.richardIII.com stated that Shakespeare also said that Richard married Lady Anne but later killed her. In real life Clarence, disguised as a guardian, hid her in a London bakery. Richard later found her and brought her to a church sanctuary so that they could have a legal marriage, in which they later did. Shakespeare also said that Richard was always plotting ways that he could become king such as killing his brother Clarence and killing young

Revolutionizing an Industry’s Supply Chain Model

Revolutionizing an Industry’s Supply Chain Model for Competitive Advantage Crocs is one of leading manufacturer and the fastest growing company in the footwear industry. While it sold its first shoe in 2003, it has reported revenue of $143 million in the second quarter of 2007. This phenomenal double digit compounding growth rate is because of its policies over its product and supply chain; eventually leading to competitive advantages over its competitors.The case opens up with a brief discussion of how Crocs came into existence at the very first place. Skipping ahead to the crucial part, the founders of Crocs (whom then were not founders yet) discovered the foam clog shoes that one of them was wearing to be very comfortable, odorless and not slippery. They thought it was likeable and marketable; thus, they decided to start the shoe company only using the foam clog. Unexpectedly it was a huge hit and words of mouth expended the customer base.With the uncontrollable increase in demand, the founders had to hire a professional to manage their company. This professional is Ronald Synder, a college friend of theirs, who was already an executive in an electronic company. With his help, Crocs has grown astoundingly over the next few years as I have discussed previously. With arrival of Ronald Synder, one of the first things he did was purchase foam creation plant in order to have control over the production.He then launched the company products worldwide and increased efforts on marketing in a very early stage. These successive attempts have significantly increased the sales revenue eventually. However, these were not his best moves that led to double digit compounding growth over the next few years. With the increase in growing demand, Ronald Synder not only acquired other plants at different locations but also agreed to increase risk with its contracted manufacturers. Such is in the case of their contracted manufacturer in China.His approach of meeting demand is different from a traditional approach in that he is determined to response even before there is an actual change in the market. Thus, when he is able to pick up signs of growing demand for a specific product, he will the product into assembly even before orders are received. That way, products always meet demand in a timely manner. This flexibility in supply chain has revolutionized the whole industry and the way things are done. In addition, this flexibility in supply chain has also given Crocs a major competitive advantage over its competitors.

Millennium Development Goals Essay

Abstract: Woman is a term usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent. However, the term woman is also used to identify a female human, regardless of age. This paper examines the place of vocational education as a means of women empowerment in Nigeria. How much a nation develops has a lot to do with the quality of human resources and educational attainment of its citizens. The impact of vocational education programme as a positive instrument for the empowerment of women in South-East, Nigeria was discussed. It was predicated on the assumption that vocational education acquisition is closely related to economic empowerment of women. This programme as well as the curriculum could be designed to take care of the needs of the learners in order to acquire skills necessary for employment, self-reliance and economic development. The acquisition of these vocational skills will greatly help to empower and transform women into self-reliant persons and make her economically viable. This economic empowerment will greatly help to ameliorate the incidence of prostitution,  kidnapping, and other social vices that are prevalent among women in South-East, Nigeria. Hence, it is recommended among other things, that government, private organizations and NGOs should adequately support the funding of vocational education programme. Keywords: vocational education, economic empowerment, social vices. INTRODUCTION Women play a central role in the socio-economic development of any society. In fact societal sustainable development is possible only if women are actively involved. Women must therefore be both participants and beneficiaries of development programmes. The United Nations Development Programme UNDP (1997) observes that women worldwide constitute half of population, perform two thirds of the hours worked, are registered as only performing one third of these hours, receive only 10% of the world’s income and have 1% of the world’s property registered in their name. This is injustice at its peak, and no sustainable development will take place in such situation of inequality. The Nigerian woman has not pressed hard to derive the full benefit of her economic activism and activities. Going by the 2006 census, almost 50% of the  total population of the country of over 170 million is women. The Federal Office of Statistics, (2006) reports that 70% of this population (about 59,500,000 women) reside and work in the rural areas. In the last few decades, a consciousness has been awaken globally that unless something is done to empower women as an interest group, global development will remain a mirage. Vocational Education has been recognized as â€Å"an instrument for promoting environmentally sound sustainable development† (FRN, 2004:30) as well as â€Å"a  method of alleviating poverty. † It is the basis for the full promotion and improvement of the status of women. Vocational Education empowers women by improving their living standards. It is the starting point for women’s advancement in different fields of human endeavor and a basic tool that should be given to women in order to fulfill their roles as full members of the society. Education of which vocational is an aspect, constitutes the single most important institutional boost to women empowerment. Vocational Education  especially is an excellent tool for bringing about individual and national development. However, a cursory look at the pattern of women’s involvement in vocational education in Nigeria reveals abysmal low levels. In spite of all the laudable goals and objectives of vocational education, Nigerian women still suffer a lot of constraints and inhibitions which militate against their personal and national development. Vocational Education focuses on the learner who is made to imbibe or acquire knowledge, skills, values and even attitudes that enable him to solve his and societal problems. Educated persons who acquire knowledge and skill can easily manipulate goods and services to create wealth for themselves and the society and thus create employment opportunities for others thereby reducing poverty. In absence of this, what is obtainable is a whole lot of women who lack skills, knowledge and appropriate value- orientation to survive in a knowledge-driven economy. They turn out to be societal misfits – prostitutes, armed-robbers, kidnapers, cause crises and upheaval in the society. This paper examines the importance of vocational  education as a means of empowering women in Nigeria. It investigates socio economic and political factors impeding this noble field. It presents a case for improved women’s economic status through greater participation in vocational education to fight hunger, poverty and unemployment through wage or self employment in the face of insecure and corrupt society we find ourselves. VOCATIONAL EDUCATIONAL IN NIGERIA FRN (2004:29) described vocational education as †those aspects of the educational process involving, in addition to general education, the study of  technologies and related science and the acquisition of practical skills, attitudes, understanding and knowledge relating to occupations in various sectors of economy and social life. † Fakes (2005) defined vocational education as that type of education that has specific relation with working life. According to Ogbuanya (2006), it is practical oriented and spans across areas like agriculture and related trades, building and wood work trades, commercial and related studies, electrical, textile and related trades as well as hospitality trades. Going by the above definition, vocational and technical education are interwoven as both are geared toward development of skills needed in the world of work, it is based in manual and practical activities which prepares one for gainful employment in recognized institutions and fields. Vocational education has passed through a series of trends ranging from pre- colonial era to date. Fafunwa (1991) noted that formal (western) education started in Nigeria in 1842, however, prior to this time, traditional and Islamic education have been holding sway in Nigeria. Traditional education has some  features of vocational education like smiting, building, craft to mention but a few. Even with the commencement of Christian missionary activities in formal western education in Nigeria, emphasis was not placed on vocational education in the formal education sector. Pure literacy as against vocational skill acquisition was the goal of education then. However, by 1863, it occurred to the missionaries that the plough and spade should go together. Hence this principle made some missionary schools to include elements of manual work like farming and bricklaying in their extra-curricular activities. Worthy of mention is that the attempts made by some of the missionary organizations towards industrial and agricultural education failed in most cases. Today, as pressure mounts in long unemployment queues, youth restiveness, high cost of living and insecurity in the nation, there is growing need to embrace vocational education as a tool for women empowerment for real national development Goals and Objectives of Vocational Education and Training The Federal Republic of Nigeria, (2004) highlighted what the goals of vocational education should be to include: ?Provision of trained manpower in the applied sciences, technology and business particularly at craft, advanced craft and technical levels. ?Provision of technical knowledge and vocational skills necessary for agricultural, commercial and economic development. ?Giving training and imparting skills to individuals who shall be self- reliant economically. It is believed that trainees on completion of vocational education course will have employable skills, set up their own business and employ others or pursue further education in advance technical programmes or other  institutions of higher learning. Vocational education plays a vital role in improving the overall wellbeing of the people by empowering individuals through skill acquisition. UNESCO (2006) affirmed that since education is the key to any effective national development, vocational education is the master key that can alleviate poverty and improve the quality of life for all thereby achieving sustainable development through empowerment of women and youths alike. CHALLENGES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION The importance of vocational education in both personal and national  development cannot be over-emphasized. Such type of education is paramount towards the grooming of the citizens that would not only be innovative and productive but having acquired general education could patriotically contribute towards the development of their respective societies. In contrast, in spite of the gain that could be sourced from vocational education, Nigeria is yet to attain the level of impressive satisfaction as far as formal vocational education is concerned. This situation could be attributed to the following factors: Inadequate personnel in vocational colleges: Vocational education in the formal education sector had not been yielding the expected dividends as a result of the paucity of teachers of the vocational courses recognized by the National Policy on Education. This has brought about a situation whereby the personnel readily available are made to take extra work loads which in effect is not beneficial for the development of vocational education. This practice had raped the official teacher-student ratio of 1:20 as provided by the Federal Republic of Nigerian in its National Policy on Education. Poor delivery and  reception of the expected skills has been a resultant effect. Another problem that had been undermining the development of interest towards the study of vocational education courses by individuals is the issue of lack of industries or job opportunities where the skills thus acquired could be meaningfully utilized (Mohammed 2009). It is obvious that most of the industries in Nigeria are winding up. In view of this, studying a course that will make an individual wallow in unemployment is not in the best interest of the individual. For this reason, individuals do opt for other courses where they have brighter job opportunities. This in fact would bring about the reduction in number of people who would be enthusiastic towards furthering their education along the line of vocational education. In addition, the proximity of the secondary schools to any university that is offering vocational education courses could be a factor towards the development of the zeal for studying vocational education courses. Lack of adequate materials: Vocational education is about the development of motor skills. This cannot be achieved where materials are not adequate. In the case of Nigeria, most of the secondary schools or technical and vocational  colleges do not have the workshops, laboratories and the materials cum equipment that would facilitate the teaching and learning of vocational education courses (Mbakwem and Anyanwu, 2013). This had led to the teaching of theoretical aspects of the courses thus making the learner deficient in the actual use or practice of principles delivered to them. As a result, the products of formal vocational education schools have failed to meet with the demands of employers of labour as they lack cognate vocational training. Sector-specific corruption and the crisis of funding manifested in grossly inadequate budgetary allocations as well as generally collapsed standards in virtually all levels of Education manifested in symptoms of mass failure, cheating, fraudulent and criminal tendencies in schools. These and other numerous obstacles do exist but this work had confined its discussion within the scope of the above stated. WOMEN EMPOWERMENT Empowerment is a call to action and it involves a process of fundamental change in quality of life of any material being. It is the ability to effect change  and make meaningful choices. Empowerment is investing legally or formally with power, authorizing, licensing, enabling, permitting, giving people more control over their own lives. Sako (1999) defines empowerment as the process of strengthening the existing capacities and capabilities of disadvantaged groups in society so as to enable them perform better towards improving themselves, their families and the society as a whole. It involves the provision of enabling environment for their productive and intellectual abilities to be realized. Wiki defines empowerment as not giving people power but letting  out the power in them. It opines that most women across the globe rely on the informal work sector for an income. If they are empowered to do more and be more, the possibility for economic growth becomes apparent. Ighodalo (1990) views women empowerment as a process of enabling women to develop the capacity to actualize their potentials. Ighodalo further adds that women should be looked at as individuals that possess some hidden potentials for greatness and so should be encouraged to develop such to the fullest. The process of empowerment must necessarily also include the  expansion of women’s access to educational opportunities, facilities for skills acquisition and positions of authority. Empowering the woman is empowering all of humanity. This is because the woman is the pivot of the family. United Nations was apt to capture this in this year’s international day for violence against women titled â€Å"From Peace in the home to Peace in the World†, it is believed that empowered women can do more to contribute to peace in the world. Empowerment is a drive towards realization of the innate potentials found in an individual. Thus, the potentials found in the woman can  be enhanced if empowered. Women empowerment involves issues like (a) How women perceive themselves and are perceived by intimate and distant others in society. (b) How women treat themselves and are treated by others. (c) Ability to make key decisions on matters relating to themselves and their children. (d) The kind of opinion they have in other aspects of decision making in the family. It must be noted here that all these are virtually impossible without proper and adequate training especially at the higher level which includes vocational education. BENEFITS OF WOMEN EMPOWERMENT. Women empowerment could be likened to leveling the playing ground for women, and this would offer huge potentials to everyone. For example, UNICEF information sheet (2007) states that educating girls and women help develop self confidence, protection from sexual exploitation, improved health care, better child education and poverty reduction for generations to come. Women empowerment is a global topic. The United Nations included gender and women empowerment in its development goals as it is an important tool for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In Nigeria, a good  number of women are now found in many prestigious occupations such as law, medicine, architecture, the armed forces and so on and they are really living up to expectations. At the same time, an equally large number, especially those living in the rural areas are engaged in menial jobs to earn a living. Most jobs performed by women, according to Egunjobi (2005) have no economic values . Explaining further, Egunjobi states that all the work and activities which do not require financial reward are the responsibilities of women. This would explain the global call for women empowerment. There are high prospects in women empowerment. First the potentials of women will increase, resulting in building a virile nation, producing better women, better home makers, better future leaders and a better society. The contributions of females in top management positions revealed that females are up to the task. Women in leadership positions, especially in developing countries, have the responsibility and the potential to influence their society through leadership, particularly when they are enabled. Enabled women are empowered to aspire, attain and perform well in leadership positions while still carrying out the home front roles. Women are enabled when they are educated, exposed and economically emancipated. Throughout the ages and in all countries, women in leadership positions have impacted positively on the society. The history of mankind is replete with such women. The last century saw the emergence of great women leaders in various spheres of human endeavours, notable among who are Mother Theresa of Calcutta, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia and Winnie Mandela, who relentlessly battled the apartheid regime in South Africa  in spite of the fact that her husband was incarcerated at the time. Here in Nigeria such women include Queen Amina of Zaria, Idia of Benin, Moremi of Ile-Ife, late Professor (Mrs) Dora Akunyili, the former Director, National Agency for Food Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and former Honorable Minister of Information and Communication, her Re-branding initiative is still fresh in our minds, the coordinator of Nigerian economy and Minister of Finance, Dr (Mrs)Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Prof Mrs Grace Alele. Williams the First Female Vice Chancellor in Nigeria, the Late Professor (Mrs) Jadesola Akande and even the keynote speaker of this conference, Prof. G. G. Agulanna, among others. Women from time immemorial have exhibited unparalleled ability in policy development and implementation. Education of which vocational education is an aspect remains a veritable weapon for women empowerment in all facets of life and a source of strength for national development. With vocational education, women will have greater self- fulfillment and would be able to contribute meaningfully to the social and  economic development of their societies. Again for economic reasons women no longer stay at home. The present economic recession has turned things round. Both male and female now cooperatively maintain the home even though the man is still regarded as the head of the family especially in the Nigerian Culture. In such instance, women with vocational skills will be able to earn additional salaries and support the husband and the standard of their living will be high and they can easily survive hard times. This will make for reductions in social vices like prostitution, theft and other corrupt acts perpetrated against and by women. In a situation where there is need for empowerment, vocational skills acquisition programmes is a sure means for women learners to gain basic education and or a vocational skill. The National Open University Centre for lifelong learning vocational skills acquisition programmes are designed to enhance the skills and knowledge of students, women included, for immediate employment whether in the private or public sector or be self employed. As at June, 2013, enrolment figures stand at 1066, 381 of this figure are females. These run their programmes in study centres in  the cities with the exception of Awa-Ijebu, Ogori and Gulak. Women of all ages deserve to be integrated into the mainstream of a national economy through training. (Olakulehin and Ojo 2006) CHALLENGES TO WOMEN EMPOWERMENT The importance of vocational education in both personal and national development cannot be over-emphasized. Such type of education is paramount towards the grooming of the citizens that would not only be innovative and productive but having acquired general education could patriotically contribute towards the development of their respective societies. In contrast, in spite of the gain that could be sourced from vocational education, Nigeria is yet to attain the level of impressive satisfaction as far as formal vocational education is concerned. This situation could be attributed to Illiteracy, according to Olakulehin & Ojo (2006), remains at the centre of women empowerment problems in Nigeria and that there is a palpable deluge of problems besetting the Nigerian women, all of them arise from illiteracy. Also, socio-cultural restraints such as limited parental resources, early marriages, pregnancy, childbearing, sexual harassment etc. negatively impact on women empowerment. In many societies, the education of women especially at the tertiary level is considered unimportant since they believe girls do not normally pay back in full measure the money invested in them. Again, religious practices of keeping women in purdah and the Shariah system (mostly in the northern part of Nigeria) hinder women from participation in education especially at the higher levels. In addition special protective measures aimed at protecting women and enhancing their effective participation has turned round to work against them. For example International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions ban women from night work, underground work and stipulate maximum weight to be carried by women. It also provides for maternity protection and welfare facilities at the work place. Some employers have capitalized on this to discriminate against women and spend less on training them. Added to the foregoing some have suggested that women are their own worst enemies. Some women married to wealthy men sometimes have lukewarm attitudes to education. Some women are lazy, lack proper education and are not making positive efforts to improve themselves. All these pose formidable challenge to the empowerment of women. MEASURES TO BE ADOPTED TOWARD EFFECTIVE WOMEN EMPOWERMENT The hub of development of any country lies on how productive and creative its population are, for a country like ours, where women constitutes a reasonable percentage, the government, parents and men in general have obligations to ensure that women are empowered to discharge their obligations to the society and to better their life. In the light of the issues discussed above, the following recommendations are proffered. ?Funding of vocational education should be taken seriously by the federal, State and Local governments. This they can achieve through increase in the budgetary allocation to educational sector which will reflect in the vocational education sub-sector. ?Vocational education should be inculcated into the school’s curriculum to promote human empowerment and development through vocational skill acquisition. It is a means of reducing unemployment since it is skilled oriented and employment motivated. All school programmes should be geared toward providing vocational skills. ?Government and other stake holders in education should embark on awareness programmes through workshops and seminars to educate girls, women, parents and general society on the benefits of vocational education for women. ?The private partnership and Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) should be encouraged to participate in vocational education through funding or contributions in kind. This involvement should be seen by firms as a long term investment, and as an aspect of their corporate social responsibility to the nation. ? To empower women, federal government should provide enabling  environment and all the necessary equipment and materials for the teaching and learning of vocational skills needed for economic enhancement in Nigeria. ?The women should shun joblessness and criminality through the cultivation of vocational spirit and acquisition of relevant skills that will launch them into greatness and economic independence. Conclusion Vocational Education has been viewed in this paper as a panacea to the endemic problem of poverty, hunger, Prostitution and other corrupt  tendencies, paving way for women empowerment. When women are trained, they explore opportunities in their immediate environment instead of chasing shadows and uncertainties in the urban centres. The development of Vocational Education will go a long way in creating employment, give women the opportunity to develop their enterprising skills, empowering them to be job creators and not job seekers and by providing them with the necessary skills and knowledge to raise their output; income and wealth thereby ameliorate the incidence of prostitution, kidnapping, and other social vices  that are prevalent among women in South-East, Nigeria. Vocational Education would also contribute to improve the image and highlight the role of women in society. REFERENCES Egunjobi, L. (2005). Women Empowerment: Perspectives and Prospects. Ado-Ekiti Fountain Newspapers and Publishing Co. Ltd. Empowerment Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/empowerment. retrieved 17/10/2014 Fafunwa, A. B (1991), History of Education in Nigeria: New edition, Ibadan: NPS Educational Publishers Limited. Fakes, B. B. (2005). Technical Education: An Overview of the Learning Process. Capacity,  building workshop for lecturers in Polytechnics and Monotechnics in Nigeria for higher competency and productivity. Education Trust Fund. Federal Office of Statistics (2006), Annual Abstract of Statistics (2006 edition) Abuja Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004). National Policy on Education: 4th edition. Yaba-Lagos: NERDC Press. Igbodalo, F (1990), Contributions of Women to National Development. Paper presented at the NAUW on Contribution of women to National Development. ILO (2004) International labour organization’s information sheet on the â€Å"convention on workers with family responsibilities. No. 156, 1981 – (July 2004). Mbakwem, J. N and Anyanwu, O. G. (2014) Assessing Qualitative Teaching and Learning Environment at Upper Basic Education in Imo State, Nigeria in T. A. Bolarin and G. C. Unachukwu (Eds) Education for All: Progress and Challenges. Proceedings of the 28th annual congress of The Nigeria Academy of Education (pp 225-232). Lagos: Toptune Educational Publishers. Mohammed, I. A. (2009), â€Å"Problems and Prospects of Vocational Education in Sokoto State. † Text Paper Presented at the Annual Conference of Federal College of Educaton. Gusau. Ogbuanaya, T. C. (2006). Vocational Education Training and Challenges of Human Resource Development. Nigerian Empowering the Youth through Technical and Vocational Education: A Panacea for Sustainable National Development. Journal of Professional Teachers 1(2) 207-214. Olakulehin, F. K. & Ojo, O. D. (2006). â€Å"Distance Education as a Women Empowerment Strategy in Africa. Turkish Online Journal of Distance education, 7, 1, 1. Sako . R. ed (1999) Women Empowerment and Advancement Manual , Kaduna: League for Democratic Women (Leads) UNDP (1997) Human Development Report 1995 , New York: Oxford University Press UNESCO (2006). Revitalizing Technical Vocational Education in Nigeria. Retrieved November 2, 2014 from. http://www. afrreorjo. org/pub UNICEF Information Sheet (2007) Nigeria Country Office. View as multi-pages TOPICS IN THIS DOCUMENT Vocational education, Higher education, Millennium Development Goals, Further education, Vocational school, Apprenticeship, Alternative education, Nigeria RELATED DOCUMENTS Women Empowerment †¦ Women’s Empowerment Source: www. undp. org UNDP promotes equality between women and men through ‘gender mainstreaming. ‘ The organization’s corporate strategy on gender is designed to integrate the promotion of women’s empowerment and equality fully in the organization’s core business. This strategy calls for gender mainstreaming to become everyone’s job – not the responsibility of a small number of specialists. It rests on three pillars:†¦ 4121 Words | 21 Pages READ FULL DOCUMENT Women Empowerment †¦ Empowerment of any section of a society is a myth until they are conferred equality before law. 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