Laughing leads to learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Laughing leads to learning - Essay Example Stambor makes a strong case for humor by quoting Johns Hopkins professor Ron Berk as saying that the use of comedy in the classroom â€Å"helps relieve fear and reduce anxiety." He also quotes Berk as saying that humor can relieve both the physical and psychological stress that students may feel from the pressure of succeeding in the classroom. Stambor also says that there is â€Å"a growing body of research† that humor can result in â€Å"boosting participation and increasing students' motivation to focus on the material.† ! While comedy can be helpful, Stamor also makes the important point that there are ways of using humor which are not useful. He says that researcher Melissa Bekelja Wanzer of Canisius College believes that â€Å"instructors who use distracting or inappropriate humor can actually interfere with students' learning.† Stamor quotes another scholar, Jennings Bryant from Alabama University, who says that â€Å"humor can be overdone to the point t hat students are so busy awaiting the next gag that they miss the teacher's message.† Referemces How laughing leads to learning, By Stambor, Zac, Monitor Staff June 2006, Vol 37, No. 6. Print version: page 62

Political science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Political science - Essay Example In fact, he forgot why he was there and for how long, content to sip on the draught Lazuli poured him and smoke his thin long pipe for which he found more weed in the vegetation around than he could have used. He did not ask who she was and how she came to be in this remote deep, in fact he asked no questions at all, just listened to the murmur of Lazulis voice that held all the music of lapping waves, of sighing trees and the whistling wind, and never thought to interrupt. To talk would ruin this effortless tune, and he let it be. Lazuli had cattle, which Valar now took under his charge, and they flourished. But his eyes were only for her. He waited for a token of affection, a hushed word, a slanted look, but he got none from Lazuli. Mornings became evenings, evenings to nights, and nights became mornings again, and this went on for the space of many moons. Of an evening when Valar would want to chat by the fireside and charm Lazuli with one tale or another, he would soon be drowsy and find himself falling asleep. Lazuli would laughingly send him off to sleep, and the first rays of the Sun would gently prod his face to wakefulness the next morning. And so Valars heart kept its own counsel, longing to speak out, yet unable to do so. Months, years passed. Valar now had speckles of gray on his dark head, he could no longer run after the cattle as he used to. But the gold on Lazulis head had waned not a bit, and she continued to smile at him each morning with her young carnation lips and old turquoise eyes. Fording an unfamiliar stream one day in order to take the cattle to better pastures, Valar came across a still pool, shimmering in the sunlight, his clear reflection upon it. He had begun to feel his age, and he saw it now. The urge took him to accost Lazuli now, to confess his love for her this very moment, and learn of her will, before his age caught up. At a mad pace he ran, till he came to Lazulis cottage. He found her bending over a spindle, hard at

Private Tutoring The School Performance Of Senior Students Education Essay

Private Tutoring The School Performance Of Senior Students Education Essay Private tutoring has long been a major phenomenon in parts of Asia, including Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. In this study, we attempt to highlight the relationship between private tutoring and students school performance in Hong Kong. It seeks to account the variety of factors of changing students school performance. The study certainly considers the declining of the confidence of education in current education system as one of the key factors. Meanwhile, the study will examine possible theories to attribute to attend private tutoring and school performance. Finally, we will discuss the effect of attending private tutoring that cause the students poor school performance in their school. In the recent decade, the academia has published a boom of studies on private tutoring in different parts in the world. In the same time, the researches of Bray Mark (2005) reveal that private tutoring is growing elsewhere, especially in the Asian Societies. In countries of Japan, Taiwan and Korean, more than one third students regularly receive private tutoring; in Hong Kong the proportion is considerable higher. As Baker and LeTendre (2005: 55) state, the use of private after-school activities has become a world megatrend among families with children apart from the local education system. Simultaneously, as Baker and LeTendre(2005:61) state that one of the most certain functions of private tutoring is the enrichment strategy. It means that the demand of the private tutoring is associated to the competition for future educational opportunities and the existence of high-stake examinations (public examination). For example, there is a close connection between ones educational qualifications and labor market opportunities. However, private tutoring also provides negative effect to the students such as decreased their interest and participation in school classes. Private tutoring is attributed to a lack of interest of the students. They have kept in mind that they can pay for someone who helps them pass in the examinations and they dont need to pay attention in regularly school lessons. Private tutoring create new educational opportunities for many individual but also placed heavy burden on the states education system (Silova et al.,2006b). In HK, according to the Professor Mark Brays research, there are about 70% senior forms students attending private tutoring. The proportions are higher especially just before important examinations. Meanwhile, according to Census and Statistics Department in 2005, from primary to secondary schools, the total annual expenditure of the tuition fee has reached 3 billion HK dollars. Although there are no lack of researches studying the tutoring culture in HK, still most of them are mainly focus on studying what motivates students attending tutoring or the relationship between private tutoring and academic achievement. Whether the out of school tutoring would affect the in-school education, yet it is remains invisible in most researches or debates, let alone policy documents. 2. Objective With a specific focus on the phenomenon, the study examines private tutoring phenomenon in Hong Kong and analyses its consequences for the students school performance in the secondary school. We aim to generate pervious studies and develop another aspect of this topic, to have a more specific research towards this topic. Hence, more specifically, our objectives are: To further understand the contemporary situation of private tutoring To examine the main factors leading to the change of school performance; (such as students expectation of tutors, confidence in current education system to help students to gain qualification) To test possible theories linking the relationship between private tutoring and school performance To examine how attending cram schools can affect the performance on mainstream schooling 3. Significance Explicit significance: The mainstream education system is expected to achieve a wide range of goals. It includes the development of all-rounded students who have sport and musical talent as well as academic interests or personal development. However, the standardize curriculum emphasized by private tutoring contrasts with that in mainstream schools. Examination-oriented tutoring institutes cut off the notion of the mainstream education and infuse the focus of passing examination into students mind. We view this phenomenon as negatively distorting the development of mainstream curriculum. Private tutoring can distort the curriculum in the mainstream system, upsetting the sequence of learning planned by mainstream teachers and exacerbating diversity in classrooms. (Bray, 2007) Indeed, the over emphasize the importance of private tutoring becomes the barrier over the development of all-rounded students. In fact, the phenomenon may be an expression of the students over the current education system. The increasing in public demand of private tutoring reflects the existing fundamental problem of current education system, especially the examination institution. Hence, it is the time now for HKSAR government and educationists to review on the current education curriculum. Implicit significance: This research is mainly based on the Brays observation. In his previous study, he mentioned that students attending private tutoring potentially lead to the poor school performance (Bray, 2007). But in the study, he did not concretely point out the theories or concepts to explain the attribution among attending private tutoring and poor school performance. Hence, our research indicates two relative theories to explain the mutual relationship which is called achievement goal theory and cultural of dependence. The notion of two theories and the attribution among attending private tutoring and poor school performance will be described in detail of the latter part literature review. Therefore, our research broadens the existing context of the theoretical framework in the study of private tutoring. We hope to have implications for understanding the contemporary students expectation towards the tutoring and what is more important is that we hope our research can find something useful for the contemporary educational organizations to enable students to obtain an all-round development and acquire life-long learning skills. Literature Review As forming a deductive research, we are going to apply two theories to test our hypothesis, which are achievement goal theory (Ames, 1992) and culture of dependence (Yasmeen, 1992) . Achievement goal theory (Ames, 1992) Achievement goal theory is the label used in educational psychology to discuss research into motivation to learn. Goals of learning are thought to be a key factor influencing the level of a students intrinsic motivation. According to this theory, it integrates cognitive and affective components of goal-directed behaviors. Since achievement goal theory argues the purposes of achievement behavior, it mainly studies an the integrated pattern of beliefs, attributions, and affects that produces the intentions of behavior and that it is represented by different ways of approaching, engaging in, and responding to achievement-type activities (Ames, 1992: 261). Under achievement goal theory, Ames (1992) suggests performance goal which focuses on students ability and sense of self-worth. The ability is built up by doing better than others, by surpassing normative-based standards such as examination. More importantly, students want to achieve their goal with little effort. Therefore, students believe learning is an only way to achieve a desired goal and attention is directed toward achieving normatively defined success (Ames, 1992). Base on this theory, we can understand that why students taking tutoring is so popular in following literature review. Senior secondary students attend to mass private tutoring The demand of receiving tutoring is high in senior students (form 4 to form 7) (Lee, 1996). It is because they are presumably sitting two open examinations, which are Hong Kong Advance Level Examination and Hong Kong Certification of Examination. The main reasons for Hong Kong students having tuition are that they are not satisfied with their academic performance. Also, some of the students say they that do not understand what their teachers teach in class (Lee, 1996: 8). Furthermore, there were 8% of respondents admitted preparing for the public examinations is a reason to have tuition (Lee, 1996: 8). In short, as mainstream schools cannot help students to improve their results to take in public examinations, senior students take in tutoring. Students gain from tutoring for taking in public examination The majority of students believe that the quality of tuition class is better than schools (Nanayakkara and Ranaweer, 1994). The reason is that students believe tutoring is a short cut to prepare for public examinations. Kwok (2009) mentions that in Hong Kong, tutors usually deliver exam skills and tips, so tutees do not expend full effort in learning individual subject and feel potential loss if they do not receive tutoring. Also, they, usually represent an authoritative teaching image because of their dress code. In other to meet tutees individual need, tutors introduce CDs and lots of supplementary resources to their tutees. Furthermore, in students view, idol tutors are regarded as famous teachers because they can inspire tutees to study efficiently (Kwok, 2009). For example, idol tutors persuade their tutees to select certain areas for revision. Some past public examination questions were covered in idol tutors lecture notes. All these cause students to rely on tutors rather than school teachers (Kwok, 2009). Culture of dependence (Yasmeen,1992) Yasmeen (1992) argues that lots of students tend to rely on tutoring because of its exam tips. However, classroom attention tends to reduce creation discipline problems for school teachers. In short, students regard only receiving supplementary tutoring is more important than learning with tutoring and mainstream school. Base on the culture of dependence, there is related information that is found from literature. Dependency on school teaching for examination Most students believe the result of public examinations is vital. Kwak (2004) points out that since university admission is determined by public examinations, but not students school records, students seek to prepare efficiently to take the examinations. In mainstream education, however, schooling not only focuses on examination achievement but also all-rounded education (Bray, 2007). In contrast, the content of tutorial classes is close to the major public examinations (Bray and Kwok, 2003). Hence, students tend to undermine the publics trust in school instruction (Kwak, 2004: 4). School performance Bray (2007) argues that tutoring will cause negative impacts on school performance. As some students rely on private tutoring too much, they may be less interested in mainstream education. Also, Students believe that private tutoring can inform student how to pass their examinations; they do not need to attend school classes except when they are required to do so by school regulations (Hussein, 1987). In Japan, some students are absent in school before examination. They just study at homes and attend in tutoring classes (Sawada and Kobayashi, 1986). Since topics have been covered in tutoring classes; students do not pay attention in mainstream education and have less confidence in teachers teaching (Nanayakkara and Ranaweer, 1994). There are also other factors affecting students performance in school like social network. Friendship in school is one of the factors to determinate students performance (Yang Tang, 2003). Since friends have same background like school environment (Fehr, 1996), students are more likely to access resources that may be good for coping with academic stresses (Ibarra, 1995). So, friendship network can let students confirm their academic performance (Baldwin, Bedell, Johnson, 1997). More importantly, a student who is central in a friendship network has a grater chance of helping others and being helped: thus, he is likely to perform better in the school (Yang Tang, 2003: 96). Furthermore, advice network in school can help students perform well in school. Advice network means that individuals share information and guidance for the completion of work (Sparrowe, Liden, Kraimer, 2001). When a student finishes his task, he can increase his work by obtaining help from available advice network. It reflects an individual is capable of accumulation knowledge and experience about task-related problem. If a student is central in his advice network, he is likely to perform actively in the school (Yang Tang, 2003). Conceptual Framework After reviewing the literatures, we form the following conceptual framework. Hypothesis These are our hypotheses of the study as follow: If students participation in tutoring is high, then students would have more gain from tutoring. According to achievement goal theory (Ames, 1992), one of the reasons motivate students taking tutoring is that they seek to success in examination with playing little effort. Therefore, we believe that students can receive lots of useful materials and information from tutors like examination tips supplementary exercise when participating in tutorial lesson for a long time. Higher students gain from tutoring, less dependency on school teaching for examination. According to culture of dependence, students will more rely on tuition than school for their study. So, we want to test whether the tuition for students are important and studying in mainstream schools can fulfill students satisfactions of taking examination efficiency. The less dependency on school teaching, the more difficulty concentration on study in school. The less dependency on school teaching, the less interest in school. The less dependency on school teaching, the lower attendance in school. After reviewing the literature, usually there are negative impacts on school performances that are mentioned after students receive tutoring. These hypotheses try to link up the former variables in our conceptual framework and studies whether there is a relationship between the three variables and the poor school performance. Conceptualization In this part, there are some definitions of the key concept that help us to clarify the nature and direction of the study. 1.) Definition of Private Tutoring According to the Mark Brays book which called the shadow education system: private tutoring and its implication for planners, the definition of private tutoring can be divided into four dimension. Firstly, it is the dimension of privateness. Private tutoring primarily concerned with tutoring provided for profit-making purposes by the private enterprises and individuals. It is not concerned with the supplementary help at public expense, such as provide head-start programmes for slow learners and the unpaid work, such as voluntarily help others with homework and tasks. Secondly, it is the dimension of the subjects which private schools provide. Private tutoring mainly focuses on the academic subjects, such as English, Cantonese or Mathematics rather than some extra-curricular subjects, such as musical or artistic skills. On the one hand, teaching academic subjects help students relieve the heavy academic load of formal classroom and solve the pressure of facing public examination. On the other hand, those non-academic subjects are merely for personal interest and indirectly related to the formal education system. Thirdly, the form of the private tutoring deserves special attention. The form of private tutoring may be provided in different ways. Some tutoring is provided one-to-one in the home of either the tutor or their client. Other tutoring is provided by correspondence in the mail or over the internet. But in our research, we mainly concentrate in the area of mass private tutoring, such as the tutoring provided by Modern Education and Kings Glory Education in Hong Kong. The form of mass private tutoring is there no more than 45 tutees in each tutoring class and the tutoring run both regular class (live) and video class. Meanwhile, the tutoring classes mainly focus on public examinations with intensive notes, revision exercises and on-line follow up services (Kwok, 2009). Finally, it is related to the education level of the target students. Private tutoring exists at the post-secondary and even pre-primary levels. In the majority societies including Hong Kong, private tutoring is most evident at the senior secondary level rather than the junior secondary and upper primary levels. Hence, the senior students in the secondary school can be reflected the phenomenon of private tutoring. At the meanwhile, senior secondary students more tend to perceive private tutoring as the gateway to success in public examination. Our research is mainly focused on senior secondary school students which mean form 4 to form 7 students. 2.) Gain from tutoring According to the study of Yiu (1996), he mentioned that the reasons why students attend the private and what their gain in the tutoring class. First of all, since the EMI schools used English to teach the subjects, students may be benefited from hearing the content again in Chinese. Private tutoring used Chinese as the medium of instruction certain increases students understanding of the topic and enhances their interest in learning. Secondly, tutors provide some extra notes and exam skills for the students which school teachers do not provide. Thirdly, tutors could help consolidate the content which school teacher teach in the class. Therefore, students have a deep understanding of school curricular. Finally, the extra teaching materials of the tutors provide extra-curricula knowledge to the students which they can not learn in class room. 3.) School teaching for examination To conceptualize the school teaching for examination, we will defend it is the materials that provide to students for preparation of examination. So, exercise, text book, skills for taking examination, quiz and mock examination which are provided by school will be considered school teaching to help students prepare for examination. It is because these materials can let students conform their knowledge and practice more in order to prepare them efficiency in taking examination. 4.) Definition of School Performance According to the definition of Indicator and Professional Developing Department (2007), the school performance can be divided into four main dimensions as following: attitudes and emotions (Personal) academic results (Academic) participations in groups (Social) performance in co-curricular activities (Social) At the meanwhile, the concrete meaning of poor school performance is the students who have: (i) difficulty concentrating on study (ii) decreased academic achievement levels (iii) decreased interest in school (iv) increased absences (v) not participate in class or co-curricular activities actively (vi) not willing to participate in groups But in our research, we do not measure academic results as an indicator of ones school performance. Its because the measurement of academic results need to take a long period time to collect the examination results from the students. Currently, students will get their results in Jane to July, and hence we do not have adequate time to finish our research before April. Measurement We choose the 4 level of measurement to form operation and assigns numerical values to the variables. Here are some examples in each variable: Students attending Tutoring NominalÆ’Â   classified into 2 or more categories E.g. Attending private tutoring 1) yes 2) no Gain from the tutoring IntervalÆ’Â   rank objects such that the magnitude of the difference between two objects can be determined E.g. Satisfactory towards the exam tips provided from tutorial Totally satisfied, 2. Satisfied, 3. Dissatisfied, 4. Totally dissatisfied) Besides of the 4 level of measurement, some scales are used to measure subjective feelings of respondents. Dependence on School Teaching for Examination We adopt the Semantic Differential Scale, which is constructed by Osgood in 1950s. It is interested in attitude toward an object but not in each respondents evaluation. E.g. Overall the lessons I am taking in school are Interesting __ __ __ __ __ Boring Useful __ __ __ __ __ Useless Easy __ __ __ __ __ Difficult Poor school performance We adopt the Likert scale, which is constructed by Rensis Likert in 1930s. Subjects are asked to indicate their degree of agreement or disagreement with a series of statements which are favorable or unfavorable to the construct. E.g. Student Attitudes towards Main Schooling Strongly strongly agree agree disagree disagree Q.1 Tutors is superior than teacher ____ ____ ____ ____ Q.2 absent at school servial times is OK since I can catch up the lesson by attending tutorials ____ ____ ____ ____ Research Design Purpose of Research The research is an explanatory and descriptive research. Explanatory: In the research, we will explain the conceptual framework we construct, as the conceptual framework constructed by our group, we will explain how we construct this conceptual framework. Descriptive: In the research, we will describe the statistical data we will get in the survey by questionnaire, in order to generate a finding of the survey. Nature of Study Deductive Approach: Our research will be conducted in deductive approach. After reviewing the literatures, we find two theories, which are Achievement goal theory and Culture of dependency, to prove that how students attending tutoring classes will affect their school performance. We will base on these two theories to conduct our research about the relationship between those two variables in Hong Kong, which are students attending tutoring classes and students school performance. Quantitative: In our research, we have quantitative research method to test the hypotheses in the research. Since we have concerned the difficulties of analysing qualitative data, we choose quantitative research method to conduct the research. We will use survey to obtain the information about how students school performance be affected after the students (respondents) have attended to tutoring classes. And for the survey, we will make use of questionnaire to conduct the quantitative research. Since we want to have statistical information to explain how students attending tutoring classes will affect their school performance. Sampling Sample size: The research will seek 150 respondents in the research from form 4 to form 7 secondary school students who have attended tutoring classes in Hong Kong. Non-probability Sampling: We will select non-probability sampling in the survey, as we do not have the name list of all form 4 to form 7 secondary school students in Hong Kong, we cannot select the probability sampling in the survey. Also, non-probability sampling is less costly and time-consuming, which are important advantages for us to select non-probability, as we do not have much time and budget to conduct the research. Purposeful Sampling: Our group considers that the school performances of the secondary school students from form 4 to form 7 are more influenced by the tutoring classes. Since they have to prepare for the public examination, such as HKCEE and HKALE, they may rely on the tutoring classes which focus on the techniques of examination, and this is just what the students need to prepare for the public examination. Convenience Sampling: The research targeted respondents are the form 4 to form 7 secondary school students who have attended tutoring classes. Therefore, our group will precede the survey in Park Lane Plaza in Tuen Mun, the reason for this is we consider that arcade has many tutoring schools inside, such as Beacon college, Kingsglory Education, Modern Education and Everlearning Eduaction. Therefore, we can capture the accurate samples that can match our targeted respondents, in order to enhance the validity of the research. Ethical Concern Our group has concerned the ethical concern may induce during the research, as we do not want to harm the respondents after participating in the research. And we have concluded the possible ethical concern in three kinds. Students may feel bad about participating in the survey. Students may worry if they have answered poor performance at school in the questionnaire will result in a negative effect to themselves and even their schools. Therefore, in the questionnaire, we will not ask students personal information, and also, we will ensure the information they provide must keep confidential. Students may worry about the survey that obstructing them from attending tutoring classes promptly. Also, students may think that the survey is time-wasting for them if they think the research will take for a long time. To deal with this problem, we will conduct the survey after those tutoring classes have finished, then, students may be free to participate in the research. Also, we will tell them the exactly time the survey will take, which is just about 8 10 minutes, and then the students may be pleased to participate in the survey, as the survey is not very long. The students may have doubt about the research and even us. As they may worry if their information answered will be misused. To deal with, we will inform the respondents who we are and show them our students identity card. Also, we will tell them what the purpose of the research is and how their information will be used in the research. More importantly, we will tell respondents that the information will keep confidential. Data Collection Methods Through this research, we want to find out the relationship between senior students in mainstream schools to attend tutoring class and poor school performance. To know the situation in Hong Kong, we will design a questionnaire and use quantitative interview. It is because data become more convenient to collect and more accurate that avoids subjective perception (Division of Sociology of Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998). We know that there are three main methods to conduct the research with questionnaire in quantitative interview. They are face to face mode, telephone mode and postal mode. Although face to face mode is slow and the cost is high, we still applied it because of the call back rate and high veracity. In the questionaire, we try to narrow down and choose suitable interviewees. Then, we will ask them how often do they attend to tutoring class. Also, we can find what they can gain from tutoring class, dependency on school teaching for examination and school performance after they have attended the tutoring class. We hope through the quantitative interview using questionaire in face to face mode to find out the information that proves our hypothesis between senior students in mainstream schools to attend tutoring class and poor school performance. Data Analysis After we have conducted the interview, we will use bivariate analysis to prove the relationship between different items. Bivariate analysis means the analysis of two variables in the mean time, for the purpose to determine the empirical relationship between them (Babbie, 2004). Firstly, we have to prove diffetrent items of relationship to form our conceptual framework. We have to prove that if students attending more in tutoring class with spending more, they will expect more from the tutoring classes. Then, if students can gain more in tutoring class, they will depend lower on school teaching meterials for examination. And then, if students depend lower on school teaching meterials, they will gain poor school performance. Secondly, after we can prove four independentrelationships, we can try to link up them with running SPSS to find out do they connect altogether. Lastly, if they can be connected, that means our conceptual framework is correct. But, if they cannot be connected, we will find out the reasons and factors that make the relationship unconnected. Budget Schedule

International Kidnapping as a Business Essay -- essays research papers

Summary: 5 pages. 7 sources. APA format. International kidnappings are on the rise and have become one of the fastest growing ‘industries’ in the world. This paper looks at kidnapping as a thriving business. International Kidnapping as a Business Introduction The kidnapping and ransom of individuals for profit has dramatically increased in the past decade throughout the world. While the majority of victims are wealthy businessmen, more recently, the average tourist has become a target for kidnappers looking for monetary and material gain. In recent years, kidnappers have also become more organized and are demanding more money for the safe return of hostages. Why has international kidnapping been on the increase? The simple answer is because it has become an extremely profitable form of business transaction for the kidnappers. This paper analyzes and scrutinizes international kidnapping as a thriving business. The Business of Kidnapping Kidnappings around the world have typically had one of two major goals: publicity for a local political cause or as a form of ‘fund-raising’ for the kidnappers. Recently, kidnappings for political reasons have been on the decrease, whereas kidnapping for profit has seen a dramatic increase. A prime example of this trend is in Colombia. According to writer David Williams, Colombia is considered to be the kidnapping capital of the world, with rival guerrilla and paramilitary groups consistently abducting civilians –- including businessmen, tourists and aid workers (2001, para.1). The ransom money obtained from these activities is used primarily to finance a 37-year civil war in Colombia (Williams, 2001, para.1). The U.S. State Department estimates that more than 3,000 people are kidnapped in Colombia each year (Williams, 2001, para.2). Most kidnap victims are Colombians who are either wealthy or who can at least come up with a few thousand dollars. And, according to Williams, although the kidnappings are most often performed by political dissidents, the motivation for the kidnappings is usually money, not politics (para.11). Mike Ackerman, founder of The Ackerman Group, a Miami, Florida-based firm that consults companies in kidnap and ransom cases, said "They are political groups that do the kidnapping, but they're out for money. The political groups have to support themselves and one of the ways that they support th... ...insurance policies, one can surmise that kidnappings for profit will continue to increase throughout the world and continue to grow as a ‘business’. Bibliography Auerbach, A. H., (1998). Ransom – The Untold Story of International Kidnapping. New York: Henry Holt and Company. Clancy, C. (2001). Kidnapping businesspeople has become big business. Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal. Retrieved May 22, 2003, from http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2001/09/24/smallb2.html Expatriation Trend, The. (1997-2003). Cyberhaven.com. Retrieved May 22, 2003, from http://www.cyberhaven.com/offshorelibrary/expatriation.html Fielding Worldwide, Inc. (1998). Kidnap, Rescue and Extortion Insurance. Retrieved May 22, 2003, from http://www.comebackalive.com/df/kidnapp/kdnapins.htm Hargrove, T. R., (2001). Long March to Freedom. New York: Random House, Inc. Wall, T. (February 26, 1997). The Kidnap Business. Salon.com. Retrieved May 22, 2003, from http://www.salon.com/feb97/news/news2970226.html Williams, D. (May 7, 2001). Kidnapping is Big Business in Colombia. CNN.com/World. Retrieved May 22, 2003, from: http://www-cgi.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/americas /05/07/colombia.kidnapping/

Legal Compliance in the Distribution of Software Applications

Software piracy is a rising problem not only in the United States, but around the world. In 1993 worldwide software piracy cost 12. 5 billion dollars to the software industry, with a loss of 2. 2 billion dollars in the United States alone. Estimates show that over 40 percent of U. S. software company revenues are generated overseas, yet nearly 85 percent of the software industry's piracy losses occurred outside of the United States borders. The Software Publishers Association indicated that approximately 35 percent of the business software in the United States were obtained illegally, which 30 percent of the piracy occurs in corporate settings. In a corporate setting or business, every computer must have its own set of original software and the appropriate number of manuals. It is illegal for a corporation or business to purchase a single set of original software and than load that software onto more than one computer, or lend, copy or distribute software for any reason without the prior written consent of the software manufacturer. Many software managers are concerned with the legal compliance, along with asset management and costs at their organizations. Many firms involve their legal departments and human resources in regards to software distribution and licensing. In 1974, Congress created the Natural Commission on New Technological Uses (CONTU) to investigate whether the evolving computer technology field outpaced the existing copyright laws and also to determine the extent of copyright protection for computer programs. CONTU concluded that while copyright protection should extend beyond the literal source code of a computer program, evolving case law should determine the extent of protection. The commission also felt that copyright was the best alternative among existing intellectual property protective mechanisms, and CONTU rejected trade secret and patents as viable protective mechanisms. The CONTU report resulted in the 1980 Computer Software Act, and the report acts as informal legislative history to aid the courts in interpreting the Act. In 1980 The Copyright Act was amended to explicitly include computer programs. Title 17 to the United States Code states that it is illegal to make or to distribute copies of copyrighted material without authorization, except for the users right to make a single backup copy for archival purposes. Any written material (including computer programs) fixed in a tangible form is considered copyrighted without any additional action on the part of the author. Therefore, it is not necessary that a copy of the software program be deposited with the Copyright Office in Washington, D. C. for the program to be protected as copyrighted. With that in mind then a copyright is a property right only. In order to prevent anyone from selling your software programs, you must ask a federal court to stop that person by an injunction and to give you damages for the injury they have done to you by selling the program.

Lifestyle and Sustainability Essay

Lifestyle and Sustainability are two different concepts combined together to describe how people should live nowadays. With the matters like the advancement of modern technology, environmental degradation, and pollution, we now consider the best ways to live our lives without jeopardizing our environment and the future generations. Now, we’re concerned not only about living in comfort and ease, but also about the sustainability of the world we live in, of our environment and our resources. Lifestyle is defined as a way of life, the manner by which a person lives. It involves various behaviors and practices regarding one’s social relations, consumption, entertainment, and fashion. These behaviors and practices are composed of various habits, conventional modes of action, and reasoned actions. Simply put, lifestyle is one’s style of living: it is very personal and depends on the person who lives it. In relation to lifestyle, we come across the concept of sustainability, which literally means to sustain or the ability to maintain certain processes or state. Nowadays, sustainability is often connected to how we human beings live. Concerns about the environment, pollution, and shortage of resources have driven us to apply sustainability in every aspect of our lives (Sustainability Reporting Program, 2004). We think of sustainable ways to build our homes, use our natural resources, dress up, and grow our food. Somehow, we have connected sustainability with how we live, and it is now considered as a lifestyle. One important aspect of a sustainable lifestyle is food consumption, and in relation to that, we come across the concern of sustainable means of growing our foods. An important issue is brought up when we talk about sustainable means of growing food, and that is the use of pesticides. We are all familiar about pesticides, because it is the conventional means of eradicating the pests in our homes, properties, plants and crops. However, the use of certain pesticides is deemed as un-sustainable because of the health risks they carry with them (EurActiv, 2008). It can also affect other organisms in the environment aside from the pests that they kill. To better understand pesticides, we need to know more about them, including the history, benefits, types, and other aspects as well. Pesticides have been used several thousand years ago, being utilized by humans to protect their crops and plants from pests (Medline Plus, 2009). One of the first known pesticides used was sulfur dusting in Sumeria. In later centuries, mad used toxic chemicals like arsenic, mercury and lead to kill pests. Natural pesticides were also used, like nicotine sulfate extracts from tobacco leaves, pyrethrum from chrysanthemums, and rotenone from the roots of tropical vegetables. These pesticides benefited man in several ways. The first, and possibly the most common reason for pesticide use are for the protection of crops. Pesticides contain potent chemical ingredients which kill or deter insects and other pests that consume and destroy man’s crops. Another application of pesticides is disease control, regulating or controlling the organisms which are considered harmful to health. A good example is the use of pesticides to kill mosquitoes which are known carriers of deadly diseases like dengue fever, west Nile virus, and malaria. Insecticides are also used in killing parasites like fleas and ticks in bigger animals like horses and cattle. It is also used to kill termites that can cause structural damage to our homes and dwellings. Overall, pesticides are used in variety of ways, all for the benefit of humans. We can classify pesticides into two major types, chemical or synthetically prepared pesticide, and biological or biochemical pesticide. We are more familiar with chemical pesticides because they’re the conventional pesticides. These are made from various chemical components, like the ones mentioned earlier. This type of pesticide is easier to produce because of the abundance of their chemical components, and is more potent and is more effective when it comes to killing the pests. The downside of this type however, is that it has harmful implications to the environment and to human health. The other type of pesticide is the biological or biochemical pesticide. This type is produced from plant extracts which can deter or kill insects. The biological pesticides use the natural enemies of certain plant pests. Other insects and spiders are used because they prey on these pests, regulating their population naturally. References: EurActiv. (2008). Pesticides: Tough negotiations ahead as MEPs back bans Retrieved April 14, 2009, from http://www. euractiv. com/en/sustainability/pesticides-tough-negotiations-ahead-meps-back-bans/article-176936 Medline Plus. (2009). Pesticides Retrieved April 4, 2009, from http://www. nlm. nih. gov/medlineplus/pesticides. html Sustainability Reporting Program. (2004). Pollutants, Sustainability, Health, and Environment. Retrieved April 14, 2009, from http://www. sustreport. org/issues/health_env_pollut. html