Monday, September 30, 2019

Ethical Compensation

Employees expect companies to stick to certain standards that represent fairness (Compensation Dilemmas: An Exercise In Ethical Decision-Making 1995). Early efforts of economic views have studied compensation systems over the years. The all-encompassing view at the time was that the best possible compensation systems met the fair days wage for a fair days work criteria. The key for managers and others who design pay systems Is to ensure that pay accurately reflected the economic value added to the firm by a worker.This is where fairness is expressed only in economic terms. Since that time management scholars have developed a much richer understanding of what fairness means to employees and how views of fairness affect their attitudes and behaviors. Compensation systems also play Important social and representational roles in organizations and through these roles pay systems affect a variety of Important outcomes such as the nature of employee commitment and performance and work relat ionships.Given the essential role that compensation systems play in employment relationships, it is also very likely hat they play an important role in shaping whether people feel they are treated with respect, trust, and dignity and whether they believe the values and customs of the organization are worthy of their fullest commitment and highest efforts (Bloom, M. 2004). Could executive compensation be redefined by performance management? â€Å"When no performance measures are defined and documented for company executives, this places no accountability on the CEO to produce measurable results.On the other hand, if performance measures are defined, documented and accountability is laced on the CEO and is tied to compensation this could prove to be beneficial for all involved. While employees are paid based on established Job classification systems, Coo's however arbitrarily negotiate salaries where there Is no cap, but benefactor. The company is injured by way of a harmful image in the eyes of the industry. The consumers of the company's products or services are also hurt. The company may also experience retention problems and stockholders may suffer from financial loss.Also employees are left to deal with disappointment, bitterness and owe morale (Carter, C. 2009). Americans are fuming right now. Pummel by the bind of a painful recession and furious over oversized executive compensation packages at the very Wall Street firms widely blamed for the economic chaos, they gradually distrust key establishments and individual leaders. Americans are angered at the financial services region. They believe that these institutions have rigged the game so that top level executives are rewarded substantially even when they fail. Americans want action to restore fairness to the system and get pay back in line.The variety of experts and activists of political leaders and ordinary citizens, there is a belief that executive incentives have exaggerated short-term performance, supported unnecessary risk-taking, and failed to discipline poor performance. Many believe that incentive plans have tempted some Coos to put personal financial interests in front of good stewardship that provides the long-term interests of their organizations (Ethics Resource Center, 2010). In recent years it has become common for corporate board of directors to recruit a star chief executive officer with an executive severance cage.The severance agreement becomes part of a contractual commitment that is often unrelated to the circumstances of the executive's eventual firing. To complicate matters, severance is often structured as deferred compensation for an executive's earlier successes, before things would eventually fall apart. When a CEO is discredited they always argue that they were not overpaid at termination because the rise in share price they achieved for stockholders during their tenure with the company. Companies should not make severance commitments when hiring execut ives.This will come back to haunt them. This style could make it difficult for firms trying to hire top talent. A CEO with ethics would be embarrassed when receiving an abundant severance after their decisions caused severe anguish to the employees and shareholders (Kipling, K. 2008). Addressing specific errors in compensation plans is critical and identifying the best metrics for measuring performance is part of the answer. Maybe creating an ethical organization is a critical first step that sets the stage for effective compensation plans.Ethical performance should be one of the metrics for determining compel;sensation. Many of the problems credited to failed compensation plans are really about ethical slip ups. I'm not saying that executives intentionally engage in bad conduct. But it can mean that a lack of continuous focus on ethics can induce bad behavior. This behavior can turn into rationalizing decisions without truly centering on the allegations for the long-term well-being of the customers, its employees, shareholders and the company as a whole (Ethics Resource Center, 2010).Executive compensation is not illegal. However the actions of some Coo's and executives can be ethically questionable. From the viewpoint of economic effectiveness, restructuring or even downsizing may be required in order to arrive at specific business goals. Although, making the decision to eliminate Jobs while the CEO is overly compensated for providing inadequate performance is not only feeble make a incredible impact by educating board of directors on accountability in executive packages, compensation and incorporating strategic performance management initiativ

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Corporate Governance Essay

ABSTRACT This paper examines whether the remuneration of the Chief Executive Officer position in Hong Kong public firms is affected by board composition, given the influence of family control on the boards of many Hong Kong companies. It is hypothesized that I) in family-controlled boards, Chief Executive Officers receiver higher compensation and II) Chief Executive Officers in family-controlled boards serve as Chief Executive Officer positions longer. In family-controlled boards, corporate governance is of very high importance as the independent non-executive directors can exert less influence over the board, compared to non-family-controlled boards (â€Å"dispersed boards†). Keywords: Board composition, Remuneration, Corporate Governance. 1.INTRODUCTION The economic turmoil in Asia in 1997 has led to a wider recognition of the importance of corporate governance. In line with global trends towards higher standards of corporate governance, the duties and liabilities of the directors of the listed companies have therefore become more stringent. It follows that many corporate governance mechanisms designed to monitor board members may be less effective for family-owned and family-controlled firms. However, to attract outside investors, family-owned and family-controlled firms tend to encourage greater independence and monitoring from the board. For the purposes of the study, family-owned and family-controlled are used interchangeably. The reason is that actual family ownership is difficult to ascertain due to various shareholdings and special purpose vehicles that are used, and cannot be deduced from annual reports. Thus, in this study we classify family-control and family-ownership when the board is made of a majority of related family members as a â€Å"family-controlled board†. When it is not, we classify it as a â€Å"dispersed board†. In practice, there are instances where the family owns the majority of a company but comprise of a minority of the board, and it is possible that the family is able to exert influence via other avenues, however, this study will not be examining such. Family-owned firms are common throughout Asia. Studies show that, family-owned firms hold more than 20 percent of the equity of listed companies in Asia, and more than 60 percent of the listed companies have connections with family-owned groups (Bebchuk & Fried, 2006). Family-owned businesses represent the predominant form of listed companies in Hong Kong (Standard & Poor’s, 2002). Such family ownership structure implies the strong influence of dominant shareholders and provides limited voice for minority shareholders. Compared to the Anglo-American environment, where ownership blocks are less concentrated but institutional investors are more prevalent, in Hong Kong, there is less of a culture for non-executive directors or minority shareholder activists to challenge. Variations in ownership structure may lead to differences in the nature of agency conflicts, the roles of directors may vary in accordance to the ownership structure. For family-owned firms, Shleifer and Vishny (1997) argue that the primary agency conflict is between a family owner and non-family owners. Meanwhile, for widely held firms, Berle and Means (1932), and, Jensen and Meckling (1976) argue that the primary agency conflict is between executives and shareholders. As a consequence, tying remuneration to performance of executives may prove the most efficient way to mitigate this agency conflict. To date, a vast of literatures published in recent years show the growing recognition of influences of family-owned firms and executive remuneration on corporate governance. Many studies have tended to focus on the use of remuneration contracts to align interests of executives with owners in family-owned firms. The rise in executive remuneration in recent years has been the subject of public criticism, which further intensified corporate governance scandals. Therefore, the question whether a correlation exists between remuneration and family-control in board composition at Hong Kong-listed companies. 2.OBJECTIVES In 1994, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited introduced rules that require listed firms to disclose the remuneration of directors. Before 2004, there was no requirement to disclose the names and remuneration of directors (Cheng & Firth, 2005). The Disclosure of Financial Information rule under Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited’s Listing Rules was amended on 31 March 2004 to require full disclosure, on an individual and named basis, of directors’ fees and any other reimbursement or emolument payable to a director. In addition, Hong Kong Financial Reporting Standard 2 requires listed firms to disclose directors’ share-based remuneration. The Code on Corporate Governance Practices forms part of the Listing Rules and came into effect on 1 January 2005. According to the Code on Corporate Governance Practices, Hong Kong’s listed firms should be overseen by an effective board, which should assume responsibility for the leadership and control of the listed firm, and the members of which should be collectively responsible for promoting the success of the firm by directing and supervising its affairs. Directors should make decisions objectively in the best interests of the firm. In regards of remuneration policy for firms’ directors, the Code on Corporate Governance Practices requires the disclosure of information related to the firm’s directors’ remuneration policy and other remuneration-related matters. There should be a formal and transparent procedure for setting policy on executive directors’ remuneration. The Chief Executive Officer, a director in the board of company, will hence have his/her full remuneration disclosed. It is recommended that remuneration should be set at a level sufficient to attract and retain directors of the caliber required to run the company successfully, but companies should avoid paying more than is necessary. However, it is argued that many corporate governance mechanisms designed to monitor board members may be less effective for family-owned firms. However, to attract outside investors, family-owned firms tend to encourage greater independence and monitoring from the board. In Hong Kong, there are quite a number of listed companies have a high concentration of family ownership. It is common for the top executives of family-owned firms in Hong Kong to be family members. The rise of remuneration of family executives in family-owned firms has been the subject of public criticism. Recognizing this, the purpose of this research is to find out whether there is any relationship between family-board-control of firms and remuneration of Chief Executive Officers. To summarize, this study revolves around the following major objectives. †¢ To test whether there are significant differences in Chief Executive Officers’ remuneration for family-controlled and non-family-controlled firms (specifically firms with family-controlled boards and firms without family-controlled boards); †¢ To find out whether â€Å"Family Chief Executive Offices† (cases where the Chief Executive Officer are family members of the family-controlled boards) are awarded excessive compensation, compromising standards of corporate governance; †¢ To examine the tenure of Chief Executive Officers for family-controlled firms vs non-family-controlled firms, given that there may be differences in the board’s ongoing approval and demand of the results delivered by the Chief Executive Office; and †¢ To test whether there are significant differences in corporate governance structure of family-controlled and non-family-controlled firms. 3.LITERATURES REVIEW, HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT 3.1 Agency theory It is commonly acknowledged that ownership structure, the basis of corporate governance, is important to the overall performance of firms. While there are a large number of literatures discussing ownership structure, agency theory is frequently cited as a foundation. In modern corporations, the separation of ownership and control leads to agency conflicts that can be alleviated through various corporate governance mechanisms (Fama and Jensen, 1983). As one such mechanism, compensation schemes are designed to provide incentives that align the behavior of agents to act on behalf of principles (Jensen and Meckling, 1976). This relationship between executive compensation and firm performance has received considerable attention from the general public and academics. One of the issues in the field of management is the impact of family influence (Mishra et. al., 2001; McConaughy et. al., 1998) and corporate governance on the value of a firm (Khatri et al., 2001; Kwak, 2003; Black et al., 2003). There are various studies in diverse areas like accounting, economics, finance, law and management have been conducted to study such impact (Mishra et al., 2001; Kwak, 2003; Blacket al., 2003; Andersen and Reeb, 2003). These studies have resulted in interesting and useful observations. According to Alchian and Demsetz (1972), the principal agent problem comes from hidden action due to asymmetric information. The essence of a firm is that, it permits people to work as a team. It is the cooperation of a team that leads to a firm’s output. Thus, the agency problem inevitably arises in corporate governance. According to Jensen and Meckling (1976), agent problem arises from the conflict of interests between shareholders as the principals and the executives as the agents. Consequently, residual control rights fall into the hands of management instead of the residual cash flow claimants. As a result, the sum of monitoring expenditures be incurred by the principal, bonding expenditures incurred by the agent, and the value of the lost residual borne by the principal are included as the cost of agency. In general, when ownership of a firm becomes more dispersed, the agency problem will be deteriorated due to the inability of the relatively small shareholders to monitor the behavior of management. The monitoring of managers by shareholders is also weakened by free-rider problem. To mitigate the problem of agency, Ang (2000) and Denis and Sarin (1999) suggested the shareholding of management to be increased in order to make the executive a significant claimant. An inverse correlation exists between the dispersed ownership and firm performance (Berle and Means, 1932), because executives’ interests do not coincide with the interest of shareholders so that corporate resources are not used for the maximization of shareholders’ wealth. This view has been supported by many scholars. Shleifer and Vishny (1986), McConnell and Servaes (1990), and Zingales (1995) found a strong positive relationship between ownership concentration and corporate performance. In transitional economies, Xu and Wang (1999) and Chen (2001) found a positive relationship between actual firm performance and ownership concentration for a sample of listed Chinese companies. 3.2Ownership Structure It is common in Hong Kong, that ownership structure is characterized by single dominant owners (Chau & Leung, 2006). A report of the Corporate Governance Working Group of the Hong Kong Society of Accountants in 1995 indicated that a high concentration on family-controlled listed firms is highly entrepreneurial and opportunistic in their business strategies, however, the report also indicate that these firms with single dominant owners lack resources and corporate culture to maintain strong internal corporate control. The 2001 Review on Corporate Governance by the Hong Kong Standing Committee for Corporate Law Reform, as well as a report from Standard & Poor’s, indicated that family ownership structures present particular challenges. Theoretically, there is a major puzzle regarding the role of family in large firms (Bertrand & Schoar, 2006; Villalonga & Amit, 2006). In family-controlled firms, threatening factors may negatively influence the firms’ value (Demstez, 1983; Demstez and Lehn, 1985). Table 1 as below lists positive and negative factors affecting the relationship between family control and firm value. It shows that there is still difference of opinion among researchers on this topic of importance. 3.3â€Å"Family† Chief Executive Officers In this study, whether a person belonging to the family acts as a Chief Executive Officer is taken into account. We classify family-control and family-ownership when the board is made of a majority of related family members (â€Å"family-controlled board†). When it is not, we classify it as a â€Å"dispersed board†. Family Chief Executive Officers have substantial stockholdings of 5 percent or more (Daily & Dollinger, 1993), with such given bargaining power, can be expected to influence the size and structure of their remuneration packages to their own benefit. Thus, for the purposes of this study, Chief Executive Officers with stockholdings of less than 5 percent are not counted as â€Å"Family Chief Executive Officers†. There are differing opinions on whether such Family Chief Executive Officers have higher or lower remunerations at such family-controlled firms. Some believe that such Family Chief Executive Officers are receiving above-average compensation due to the family-controlled board, as well as their strong ability to influence remuneration committee. Oh the other hand, others take the opposite view and see that Family Chief Executive Officers should be receiving below-average compensation. There is several reasons for this expectation. First of all, both anecdotal (Applegate, 1994; Kets de Vries, 1993) and empirical (Allen & Pamian, 1982; Gomez-Mejia et al., 2001; Schulze et al., 2001) evidence suggest that incumbents with family ties to owners enjoy high employment security. As argued by Beehr (1997), the Family Chief Executive Officer inherently plays two overlapping and interdependent roles: a work role as steward of the company, and a non-work role as fulfillment of family obligations. In reciprocity for this role duality, the Family Chief Executive Officer is rewarded with a relatively assured job (Allen & Pamian, 1982; Kets de Vries, 1993; Gomez-Mejia et al., 2001). Moreover, some literatures suggested that evaluators are more likely to make positive performance attributions to employees when there are emotional ties between monitoring and those being judged (Cardy & Dobbins, 1993). It is expected that in family-controlled firms, board members in their role as monitors may be less inclined to attribute disappointing results to the Family Chief Executive Officer, giving the benefit of the doubt to the incumbent when interpreting ambiguous performance data. Agency theory suggests that there are inherent conflicts between shareholders and executives. Applying agency theory’s logic, the above scenario suggests that in family-controlled firms, risk adverse agents would trade higher job security for lower earnings if they are related to principals. Family Chief Executive Officers mitigate usual agency costs because of their aligned interests with the owners (Anderson & Reeb, 2003). The information asymmetry problem in agency relationships may also be reduced given the close ties between Family Chief Executive Officers and the owners. Since they hold high ownership stakes, Family Chief Executive Officers have sufficient incentives to place family welfare ahead of personal interests, thus may perform better than firms with non-family Chief Executive Officers. Barney (2001) suggested that appointing family members as Chief Executive Officers may be beneficial. Tradition, loyalty, and bonding relationships determine how resources are deployed in family firms. Family Chief Executive Officers build common interests and identities (Habbershon & Williams, 1999) and play a dual role by being both owners and executives (Chang, 2003; Yiu, Bruton, & Lu, 2005). Through social relationships with managers and employees, Family Chief Executive Officers may help to obtain intangible resources such as goal congruence, trust, and social interactions, providing valuable, unique, and hard-to-imitate competitive advantage (Chu, 2011; Liu et al., 2011; Luo & Chung, 2005). The Code on Corporate Governance Practices recommends remuneration committee to seek advice from the Chief Executive Officer on the matter of directors’ remuneration. Executives in firms controlled by a large shareholder receive more compensation for performance, than executives in firms lacking a controlling owner (Gomez-Mejia et al., 1987). Mehran (1995) examined the relationship between executive remuneration, ownership structure and firm performance. The results indicate that firms, which have more outside directors, have a higher percentage of executive remuneration in equity-based form. Moreover, the percentage of equity-based remuneration is inversely related to the outside directors’ equity ownership, i.e., the executive’s equity-based remuneration rose if the outside directors’ owned less of the company, and vice-versa. Next, Mehran (1995) turned to firm performance, and its relationship to executive remuneration and ownership structure. He used Tobin’s Q and return on assets as measures of firm performance. He found firm performance to be positively related to the percentage of executive remuneration that is equity-based. However, Mehran (1995) no relationship between firm performance and ownership structure. He concluded that the results support the notion that executive remuneration should be tied to firm performance. There is a vast amount of literature on turnover of the Chief Executive Officer position (Furtado and Karan, 1990; Kesner and Sebora, 1994; Finkelstein and Hambrick, 1996; Pitcher et al., 2000). However, according to Finkelstein and Hambrick (1996), the relationship between remuneration and turnover has not been subjected to rigorous empirical examination, even given the emphasis on retention as a justification for high remuneration of Chief Executive Officer. The following hypotheses are framed: Hypothesis 1: In family-controlled boards, Chief Executive Officers receive higher compensation. Hypothesis 2: Chief Executive Officers in family-controlled boards serve as Chief Executive Officer positions longer. 3.4Board Composition The role of the board is expected to represent shareholders, provide strategic guidance to and effective oversight of management, foster a culture of good governance, and promote a safe and healthy working environment within the company. In accordance to Hong Kong Stock Exchange Listing Rule 3.10, the board of directors is required to have at least three independent non-executive directors. The presence of â€Å"truly† independent non-executive directors in the corporate governance regime is seen as one way of mitigating agency problem associated with concentrated family ownership. In family-owned firms, given the influence of family control on the remuneration and performance relationships exists, where the majority of shares are in the hands of family members, under this circumstance, the executive and risk-bearer functions are merged and more of the wealth consequences of the executives’ decisions are internalized. In other words, there is less separation of ownership and control and thus lowering agency costs, which in turn leads to less cost for monitoring by outside directors. Therefore, firms closely controlled and managed by family members are expected to use lower proportion of outside directors compared with firms with disperse ownership. In widely held firms, with ownership dispersed among many investors, investors are often small and poorly informed to exercise even the control rights they actually have. Moreover, the free-rider problem faced by individual investors makes them uninterested in expending effort to learn about the firms they have financed, or even to participate in the governance (Shleifer and Vishny, 1997). As a result, the larger degree of separation of ownership and control in widely held firms leads to greater conflicts. The use of outside directors by widely held firms is expected to be more. 3.5Remuneration Committee In 1999, remuneration committees were uncommon in Hong Kong, with only few firms reporting their existence (Cheng & Firth, 2005). Since 2006, Hong Kong Stock Exchange proposes a rule to require issuers to set up a remuneration committee, with the committee chairman and a majority of the members being Independent Non-executive Directors. In family-owned firms, the positions of the Chief Executive Officer are usually held by family members, who can influence the level of remuneration paid to directors. The Code on Corporate Governance Practices recommends remuneration committee to seek advice from the Chief Executive Officer on the matter of directors’ remuneration. The Code on Corporate Governance Practices recommends that the majority of remuneration committee members be Independent Non-executive Directors. The presence of Independent Non-executive Directors on the remuneration committee is supposed to be used as monitoring mechanism that prevents excessive remuneration for executive directors (Basu et al., 2007), including that of the Chief Executive Officer. The role of independent non-executive directors and large institutional shareholders becomes crucial to curtailing the possible self-serving behavior of top managers (HKSA, 2001). Studies of firms in other countries show conflicting results on the relationship between remuneration and remuneration committee. Some findings show that remuneration committees tend to reduce remuneration, whereas others report the opposite (Conyon & Peck, 1998; Ezzamel & Watson, 1998). However, in practice it is highly likely that the Chief Executive Officer has some influence over the compensation decision (Murphy, 1999). An important question relating to the composition of remuneration committee concerns the ideal combination of outsiders and insiders. Insiders may face distorted incentives due to their lack of independence from the Family Chief Executive Officer (Bushman et al., 2004). 3.6 Components of Remuneration The basic components of remuneration of Chief Executive Officer are similar, however, the relative level and weights on the components differ (Abowd and Kaplan, 1999, and Bryan et al., 2006). Generally, remuneration of Chief Executive Officer can be divided into four basic parts: a base salary, an annual bonus which is tied to some accounting measure of company performance, stock options, and long-term incentive plans, such as restricted stock plans and multi-year accounting-based performance plans. †¢ Base salary: is the fixed part of remuneration of Chief Executive Officer, causing risk-averse executives to prefer an increase in base salary rather than an increase in bonuses. Most components of remuneration are specified relative to base salary. †¢ Bonus: in addition to the base salary, most companies offer their executives an annual bonus plan based on a single year’s performance. The purpose of such bonuses, as well as options, is to align the incentives of the Chief Executive Officer with that of the shareholders. †¢ Stock options: are contracts, which give the owner the right to buy shares at a pre-specified exercise price. Stock options reward stock price appreciation, not total shareholder return, which includes dividends. In this study, stock options are excluded, as full details of such information would not be retrievable from annual reports. †¢ Other forms of compensation: restricted stock to be received by executives, it is restricted in the sense that shares are forfeited under certain conditions, which usually have to do with the longevity of employment. Many companies also have long-term incentive plans in addition to the bonus plans, which are based on annual performance. Top executives routinely participate in supplemental executive retirement plans in addition to the company-wide retirement plans. Most executives have some sort of severance arrangement. Finally, executives often receive benefits in the form of free use of company cars, housing, etc. Based on the various conceptual and empirical evidences presented above, this study aims to understand whether the remuneration of a Family Chief Executive Officer is influenced by the board composition, i.e. whether it is family-controlled or not. This ties into the original Hypothesis 1, thus, the further hypotheses is framed as follows: Hypothesis 3: The higher the proportion of independent non-executive members on the board of directors at family-board-controlled firms, the lower the Chief Executive Officer remuneration.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Dornbusch Overshooting Hypothesis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Dornbusch Overshooting Hypothesis - Essay Example Indeed, this result is derived in a model of perfect capital mobility and sticky prices. The overshooting paper not only was a great piece of research, but also had important policy implications. In the context of flexible exchange rates, not only among major currencies, but also increasingly with emerging market currencies, the excessive volatility is usually mentioned as the main disadvantage of free floating. A policy sequel is that overshooting is often used to justify intervening in foreign exchange markets. This is also a strong reason why policymakers suffer from "fear of floating" (Calvo and Reinhart, 2002). From the empirical point of view, the evidence has been mixed and there are several dimensions in which the model performs poorly.1 Starting from the "exchange rate disconnect puzzle" from Meese and Rogoff (1983), which shows that no structural model can predict exchange rates, not even monetary ones, there have been many attempts to explain exchange rate fluctuations. Faust and Rogers (2003) and, more recently, Bjjournland (2006) propose new identification restrictions that reduce this delayed overshooting. Although the researcher does not intend to address empirically the overshooting hypothesis, it is useful to review analytically the robustness of overshooting and which type of conditions are required to generate a different behavior of exchange rates. The researcher plans to examine the conditions under which the exchange rate undershoots instead of overshoots as in the original model. This could help to reconcile the evidence with Dornbush's model (Rogoff, 2002). However, in the basic theoretical framework, the conditions to generate undershooting are rather contrived, namely, that the interest rate rises as a result of a monetary expansion. Therefore, under perfect capital mobility, with the consequent uncovered interest rate parity, overshooting should be a natural outcome. I also show that dropping perfect capital mobility as suggested by Frenkel and Rodriguez (1982) also requires special conditions. In such case it would be necessary for the current account deficit to narrow after a monetary expansion. Empirical Analysis: Exchange rate shooting during Financial Crises of 1990s This part of the papers documents main characteristics of the exchange rate movement in the countries that experienced currency crises in the 1990s. First, the researcher introduces the data set that we use and then analyze the exchange rate movements in these countries to examine the existence of any systematic regularity that derives the exchange rate overshooting. Data The sample includes currency crises in the 1990s. First, the researcher collects all episodes of speculative attacks in the 1990s based on Glick and Rose (1999). The researcher excludes unsuccessful speculative attacks where countries maintained stable exchange rates even under the pressure of speculative attacks. the researcher also excludes a few recent cases in which the exchange rate is still unstable and the complete exchange rate dynamics during currency crises are not revealed. This selection process reduces the available data set to 24 episodes, which consist of 10 cases in the 1992-3 European crisis, 4 cases in the 1994-5 Mexican crisis, and 10 cases in the 1997-8 Asian crisis and related others. List of countries is reported

Friday, September 27, 2019

Managing Creativity & Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Managing Creativity & Change - Essay Example Creativeness is the major pillar that will lead to change since if the managers and the whole fraternity of the firm are creative then the organization will have a lot of changes thus achieving their goals while at the same time attaining a competitive edge. The hierarchal management changed because of three reasons; global economy, working environment and improved technology. Tips to manage change and creativeness Change and creativeness in an organization leads to new innovation and thus the goal has been achieved. The first option to manage change and creativeness in the firm is first agreeing the business case with the members who are actively involved. Secondly is to understand the number of stakeholder in the new programme. This means that one has to explain how the programme will work and what it entails. Thirdly is encouragement to those who are affected by change making sure that they are fully involved in the decision making process. For change to be accepted in the firm ma nagers must explain the importance that will have to outweigh the disadvantages of the old system. Fourthly is to make sure that all the staffs and the management have the required skills (Clark, 1980). Fifth is to make sure that change must be implemented into phases to make it effective so as to achieve the goals. The next tip is behavioral changes to the staffs this means that the implementers must be quick to respond to the feedback and listen so that they can be aware of successfulness of the change to the individuals. This means that acceptance areas must be known and the rejection and weaker areas addressed accordingly. The next tip is to make sure that technology has worked for the first time, this stage delays and frustration are... Change and creativeness in an organization lead to new innovation and thus the goal has been achieved. The first option to manage change and creativeness in the firm is first agreeing on the business case with the members who are actively involved. Secondly is to understand the number of stakeholder in the new program. This means that one has to explain how the program will work and what it entails. Thirdly is the encouragement to those who are affected by change making sure that they are fully involved in the decision-making process. For change to be accepted by the firm managers must explain the importance that will have to outweigh the disadvantages of the old system. Fourthly is to make sure that all the staffs and the management have the required skills (Clark, 1980). Fifth is to make sure that change must be implemented in phases to make it effective so as to achieve the goals. The next tip is behavioral changes to the staffs this means that the implementers must be quick to re spond to the feedback and listen so that they can be aware of successfulness of the change to the individuals. This means that acceptance areas must be known and the rejection and weaker areas addressed accordingly. The next tip is to make sure that technology has worked for the first time, this stage delays and frustration are normal to the firm but the most important thing is to make sure that user testing has taken place. And lastly is to make sure that no other change should be carried before the first is successfully accepted in the firm.

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Research Guide Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Research Guide - Essay Example It also aims to publish original and definitive research papers, in which the emphasis is placed on new engineering construction and design developments. The Institution of Civil Engineers’ website https://www.ice.org.uk/ provides student career advice, conference lists, and useful source references for civil engineering aspects. Another relevant website is http://www.icivilengineer.com/, which provides numerous links to hand-picked websites containing information on civil and structural engineering and technology. A third website is http://www.cif.org/, which is managed by the Construction Innovation Forum that seeks to recognize construction industry innovations that improve cost effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of structures and constructions. Finally, the American Society of Civil Engineers runs the http://www.asce.org/ website that has a membership of almost 150,000 in more than 140 countries. This website provides access to journals, magazines, papers, and books related to civil and structural engineering. Lignos, D. G., Hikino, T., Matsuoka, Y., & Nakashima, M. (2012). Collapse assessment of steel moment frames based on E-Defense full-scale shake table collapse tests. Journal of Structural Engineering, 139(1), 120-132 Lignos et al (2012) set out to investigate the critical parameters that influence steel frame structure numerical modeling for reliable simulations of structure collapse. The authors base their collapse evaluations on experimental data from a four-story steel moment frame full-scale shaking table collapse test, as well as a parallel blind numerical analysis contest. They find that prediction of sideways collapse mechanism for regular plan view buildings using 3D and 2D analyses has no clear advantage. They specifically note that a combination of local buckling delays in first story columns and increased bending strength is effective in enhancing

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Air pollution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Air pollution - Essay Example From this research it is clear that air pollution has become a major environmental health problem affecting both developed and developing countries throughout the world. The consequence has been that air pollution is causing human health problems as well as damage to vegetation, crops, wildlife, materials, buildings and even the climate. In the U.S., the largest sources of air pollution, in order of importance, are: 1) transportation, mainly automobiles and trucks; 2) electric power plants that bum coal or oil; and 3) industry, for which the major sources include steel mills, metal smelters, oil refineries, and paper mills. The most common air pollution problem resulting from these emission sources is ground-level ozone (O3), According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), non-attainment of EPA requirements for O3 is the most common air pollution problem facing large cities in the U.S. It is estimated that, 160 million people in the U.S. lived in areas that are in non-attainment of healthful O3 levels (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD]. In the past, efforts to reduce air pollution have consisted primarily of "command and control" programs that involve enforcement of government regulations designed to reduce toxic emissions. Such programs have proven highly effective in reducing industrial, point source pollution and causing auto manufacturers to produce cleaner burning automobiles.... The stratospheric level of the earth's atmosphere lies directly above the troposphere, which extends from sea level to approximately 8-9 miles above the earth's surface. It is in the troposphere that nearly all forms of life on earth reside. Within the stratosphere lies a highly concentrated level of ozone, commonly referred to as the ozone layer. The highest concentrations of O3 within the stratosphere occur between 11-15 miles above the earth's surface. This stratospheric ozone layer is essential to the maintenance of life on earth, protecting the earth's inhabitants from the sun's harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation (Buchholz 1). Thus, free of human interference, the stratospheric ozone layer is continually maintaining a dynamic equilibrium between ozone production and ozone destruction that maintains the earth's protective ozone layer. While O3 also occurs naturally in very small amounts at ground level in the troposphere, in urban areas throughout the U.S., tropospheric O3 levels are rising to unhealthful levels (Buchholz 1). In affected urban areas, O3 air pollution reaches its highest level between the months of May and September when temperatures are high and sunlight abundant. O3 forms at ground level when volatile organic compounds (VOC's) combine with nitrogen dioxides (NOx) in the presence of heat and light (Buchholz 1). NOx is formed via the burning of fossil fuels at high temperatures, and is the primary precursor to O3, NOx and VOC's, are emitted into the air by motor vehicles, electrical power plants and other industrial plants. Because the O3 molecule is highly reactive, it acts as a powerful oxidant. Consequently, ground-level ozone negatively affects human

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativity Cultural differences and Essay

Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativity Cultural differences and UniversalsSubcultures and countercultures - Essay Example By analyzing the major concerns of cultural interpretation through linguistics and the essential motivations for the British efforts, the colonial effort in India is shown to represent a universal impulse of the state that continues to exist in the contemporary world. The history of the British in India dates back to the efforts of the English East India Trading Company to establish British economic interests in India in 1612. India operated merely as an economic trade-port until the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Considered a pivotal point in the colonization of South Asia, the battle occurred during the Seven Years War and pitted the English East India Trading Company against their French counterpart. The British victory resulted in the emergence of government authority in India and included an abundance of wealth from the Bengal Empire that flowed into Britain. The infusion of wealth helped British colonial efforts that expanded throughout the area for the next 200 years and established the British as the predominant colonial power of the 19th century. Chamberlain (1974) makes the point that -- although theorists make direct causal connections between the British and their impulses in India -- it's absurd to assume that over the 200 years of colon ial expansion the British motivations remained static. Over the 200 year period the British passed from Tudor rule to Victorian, and as such British motivations need to be understood in relation to an ever-changing Empire. ECONOMICS The exact terms of the relationship between the British and the Indians seemed to remain highly ambivalent throughout the period of British occupation. One strand of thought on British control of India was that the Indian people were so uncivilized that if the British ceased occupation than the Indian economy would fall into shambles due to lawlessness; whereas, a strong contingent of Indians believed that British ethnocentrism was such that they merely used India as an economic means for British gain, resulting in a highly distorted economy that oppressed the Indian population. Conversely, it's argued that the British economy was equally distorted by relying too heavily on Indian production. During their occupation of India, the British used a sense of cultural superiority to consistently avoid laws that would positively benefit Indian society. Speaking on the effects of this British ethnocentrism, Henry Verelst, former governor of Bengal, wrote: It appeared that an exemption from duties had thrown the whole trade of the country into the hands of the English. This, however, was the least evil. The country government was destroyed by the violence of their agents; and individual tyranny succeeded to national arrangement. In the general confusion, all, who were disposed to plunder, assumed the authority of our name, usurped the sears of justice, carried on what they called a trade, by violence and oppression. (Chamberlain, p. 20, 1974) While Indians seemed to favor the laws and structure the British government offered, they believed that the British presence in India operated as a means of exploiting their culture for profit. While a large amount of Colonial literature attempted to paint the British efforts as liberating, it's notable that from the onset British interests in India were directly related and expanded on economic means. A similar comparison can be made to Western efforts to bring a 'civilizing impulse' to Afghanistan and

Monday, September 23, 2019

Findings and Analysis Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Findings and Analysis - Dissertation Example Fig. 4.1 Key Themes The findings and analysis shall also include basic information on employees of B&M and their views on how they think management of B&M can improve on recruitment and selection process in the future and how management can retain workers who come into the company. 4.2 PRESENTATION AND DESCRIPTION OF RESULTS/FINDINGS Background Information on the Company and Workers B&M is a non profit organisation that offers free advice on issues relating to housing, money, debt, and welfare benefits services to the members of community. The company is located in London. It has been operating for more than forty (40) years and has been supported by the government such as The Home Office, City Council, and Community Initiative; Local Housing Association and Charity donations. The company recruits both paid and unpaid workers from the community and it has been run by voluntary committee of Management. The size of the organisation is very small consisting of operation manager, money a dvisor, debt advisor, administrator and volunteers to deliver the service. The sample for the interview was made up of five out of six workers of the company who were all females. ... On the role of workers in the company, all two (2) student-workers are trainee case workers. One (1) fulltime worker is a case worker, one (1) is a senior case worker and the other one (1) is the operations manager of the company. All participants acknowledged that their roles were very important in the running of the company. Among the five workers interviewed, the two student-workers have worked in the company for three and four months respectively. All the three full time workers have worked in B&M for three years. It was however revealed that the operations manager has over twenty years of experience working in similar work set up. Recruitment and Selection Methods and Processes used by B&M Recruitment as the recruitment is the process of identifying and hiring best-qualified candidate (from within or outside of an organization) for a job vacancy, in a most timely and cost effective manner (www.businessdictionary.com). When a company recruits from among its existing workers, we s ay they are practicing internal recruitment. On the other hand, when the company involves people who are outside its staff base in the recruitment, it is said to be undertaking external method of recruitment. Because of the staff size of B&M, the organisation uses external recruitment and selection method exclusively to get applicants to apply for vacancies. The mode of advertisement for vacancies, according to participants was mainly through the use of local community newspaper and university career employability. Reasons given by fulltime workers on why the organisation uses of community newspaper was that the organisation did not have enough funds to run expensive and wide range advertisement. It was also

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Outline the Roman Empires attitude to Christianity Essay Example for Free

Outline the Roman Empires attitude to Christianity Essay Q: Outline the Roman Empires attitude to Christianity until the end of the first century. The Christian church from its outset has faced many challenges as a result of external influences; one of the most important of these influences was the persecution of the Christian people by the Roman Empire. From the year 64AD onwards the church was persecuted by the Roman authorities in an intermittent and sporadic manner, not on account of their beliefs, but was a result of chance and circumstance. Christianity was born out of Judaism and appeared as an entity after the death of Christ. Of course Jews of the time felt threatened by the emergence of Christianity as a faith, and so the earliest persecutions of Christians occurred at the hands of Jewish Sadducees, who branded Christians blasphemous. Indeed it is clear that the Jews played a part in persecution of Christians as late on as AD156 in the persecution of Polycarp. The persecution of Christians in the first century by Jews however were minimal in comparison to the much more widespread and systematic persecutions by the Roman authorities from the year AD64 onwards. Before this date Christians were accepted as a national sect of Judaism, and therefore they enjoyed the status of religio licita- a lawful or tolerated faith. The Roman Empire even protected many Christians against Jewish attack in the early years. This all changed however in the year 64AD, during the reign of the emperor Nero. See more: 5 paragraph essay format 64AD was by general concurrence of early Christians, the beginning of imperial repression of Christianity. This fact was supported by early Christian writers such as Tertullian, Eusebius and Sulpicus Severus. This date coincides with the fire of Rome, a devastating blaze which destroyed almost half of the city. The pagan writer Tacitus reports to us in 115 of the fact that Despite Neros efforts the accusation that the fire was ordered could not be quashed. The mounting suspicion had a disastrous effect on Neros popularity (which had been very high before then), so Nero set about searching for a scapegoat. Christians were perfect candidates for a number of reasons; they were a relatively new group that were small in number and there was already an air of suspicion surrounding allegations of anti social behaviour. However the actual circumstances may have been more complex than will never be understood by ourselves, as banks points out: The reasons behind the persecution of Christians included religious, political and social factors which were so inter-related and inter-dependant that it would be historically misleading to separate them out as isolated issues. There are however some other opposing views on the exact circumstances of the fire of Rome. Critics such as Frend have argued that it is possible that Nero originally put blame on the Jewish community, who in turn blamed Christianity. Yet other critics have also suggested that the fire may well have been started by Christian extremists, anxious to fulfil apocalyptic prophecies. The first persecuted Christians were charged with arson and as Tacitus tells us, immense in number, this charge apparently changed to a charge of hatred for the human race. This in itself indicates the immense suspicion of the Roman population towards Christianity and the ability of Roman authorities to exploit this. Wand indicates to us the state of Roman perceptions of Christianity after Neros reign: By the end of the reign of Nero the state had settled down to an attitude of suspicion towards the church. The persecutions themselves were reported to be gruesome and perverse in nature by Tacitus among others. They were deliberately devised to create amusement for the public as well as humiliate the incumbent. Accounts included victims being covered with the hides of dogs and beasts and set upon by dogs, being crucified and being used as streetlights to illuminate the darkness. Even Tacitus the most ardent of anti Christian writers, could not help but feel pity for them. There is much dispute over the impact that Neros persecution had on the Christian church. Some feel that it represents the beginning of Christianitys status as an illegal religion, and that it set the precedent for a further 2 centuries of imperial persecution. What is certain is that the church lost many of its influential early leaders during Neros reign, including St Peter and St Paul as reported by Eusebius. Some commentators believe that without the writings of early evangelists, the Christian faith may have disappeared altogether. After Neros removal from office there was a period of considerable civil unrest within the Roman Empire, and therefore Christians were not seen as an important priority. It was not until the reign of Domitian that persecution of Christians began in earnest. This time though the persecutions were different in nature in that he did not search out the Christian community as a group but sought out individuals by stealth. Domitian is described by Bernard as: A jealous man who went in fear of his life. He kept power (like Stalin in Russia) by a series of sudden blows against those who he felt were plotting against him. There is evidence to suggest during the end of his reign Domitian began to fervently persecute the Christian community as a whole. Showing the mans deep paranoia and distorted frame of mind. The ancient writer Suetonius writes of the Gladiator Glabrio who was executed by Domitian on Christian charges, although the real reason was the Emperors apparent jealousy of his abilities, underlining the unstable nature of Domitians personality. It is widely regarded by many critics such as Banks that a possible source of conflict between Domitian and the Christian church was his enthusiasm for the imperial cult, and therefore he persecuted them because of their refusal to accord him divine honours. However it still remains in dispute whether Domitian persecuted Christians at all. The early church writer Dio Cassius, wrote from Bythinia, a strong Christian province and yet he never mentions any of Domitians victims as Christians. Furthermore, Pliny, a lawyer working in Rome at the time of Domitians reign tells Trajan many years later that he had never been involved in a Christian trial. This indicates at least that Domitians persecution was not exactly widespread or for reaching, if it existed at all. There is little doubt of the immense impact the early persecutions had on the growth of the Christian church. While some argue that it has helped the church in its growth, others claim that it has actually hindered the churches growth. Tertullian observes the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. I believe that because of the limited nature of early persecutions they did not seriously slow down the expansion of Christianity. What is certain though is that the persecutions at the hands of Nero and Domitian set a precedent for future Christian persecution.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

The main cause of the Wall Street Essay Example for Free

The main cause of the Wall Street Essay I do not agree wholly with that statement. The panic selling of shares was the immediate cause to the Wall Street crash. However, if there had not have been the panic selling of shares then there would not have been such a dramatic slump but a smaller one. America was doing well in the end of the 1920s; the boom had made half the population happy. However, now that all the people who could afford it had brought electrical goods, cars etc there was no one else left to buy the surplus products. This is called overproduction, this means that there are too many products and the market is saturated, this usually starts off a slump. The companies were then starting to do not as well, this meant a fall in the share prices. The people in the know at the time had sold their shares and then all the other people who had invested in them panicked to sell their own shares causing the Wall Street crash. In the 1920s the wealth had not been evenly split, blacks, immigrants and farmers were not doing as well, this meant that half the population could not afford to buy the new products being mass-produced causing overproduction to happen quicker, if the wealth had been evenly spread then I do still think that there would have been a crash, however, it would have been a few years later. To increase the boom in the 1920s America put taxes on products coming in from abroad to make it a stronger economic country. The countries in Europe then retaliated and put a tax on all American goods. This meant that there were a lot of extra products not being sold; this was a part of overproduction. In the stock market a lot of speculators were playing with borrowed money from the bank because they felt that they were confident enough to win it back. Speculators were people who knew nothing about stocks but saw that a company was making profit in shares so they would invest in them if they were confident enough. This meant that companys products were worth a lot more in stock than they were in real life. This meant that at the time of the crash there was a hell of a long way to go down causing many people to go bankrupt. Because of overproduction many experts in the know decided to sell their shares, other people who owned shares in the same company then started to panic and quickly tried to sell there shares causing the prices of the company to plummet. The panic selling of shares technically was the Wall Street crash. I do not think that the panic selling of shares was the main cause for the Wall Street crash; I think that it was overproduction. Overproduction was always going to happen, it could have been postponed a few years if the wealth in America had been spread evenly or if Europe hadnt put a tax on all American goods. Even if this had been the case overproduction would have happened sooner or later. Overproduction caused some people to sell their shares that then lead to everyone panicking to sell their shares causing the Wall Street crash. If speculators had not have put in so much money there would not have been such a big slump but there would have been one. The panic selling of the shares was the last thing to happen and probably the most influential thing to happen before the crash. However, the thing that started the crash off was overproduction.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Determination of Stomatal Index

Determination of Stomatal Index The Plant material of Viscum capitellatum Smith. parasitism on Dendrophthoe falcata which is itself parasitic on M. indica was collected from Amba Ghat, Kolhapur, Western Ghat region of Maharashtra from India in November 2009. The collection are lies [Latitude 16o 58 0.59N and Longitude 73 ° 48 36.61E at altitude 1100m]. The plant specimen (Voucher no. 550) was authenticated by Dr. Vinay Raole, Reader, Department of Botany, M.S. University, Baroda, India. Pharmacognostical Study Macroscopical Study[68] It includes the shape, size, colour, texture, surface and odour of the drug in crude or powered form and often sufficient to enable to identify the whole drugs. Microscopical Study Histochemistry It gives the idea about the colour reaction of specific chemical reagent towards plant tissues [68]. Microscopical images are given in Figure no. 2. Quantitative Microscopy [66-69] Transverse sections of scale and stems were obtained by means of a microtome and stained with different staining reagents as per standard procedures [66, 70-71]. All observations were performed using Motic Digital Photomicroscope. Histological study of leaves and stem were performed by reported method [69]. Leaves were boiled in a 5% aqueous solution of NaOH for 5 min while stems were boiled with 10% aqueous solution of NaOH for 10 min. After cooling and washing with water, pieces were treated with a 25% aqueous solution of chromic acid for 30 min at room temperature. Washed pieces of both leaf and stem were pressed in between two slides and slides coves. Determination of Stomatal Number The average number of stomata per square millimeter of epidermis is termed the stomatal number. Determination of Stomatal Index The percentage proportional to the ultimate divisions of the epidermis of a leaf, which has been converted into stomata, is termed the stomatal index. SI = S ÃÆ'- 100 E + S Where SI = Stomatal index, S = number of stomata per unit area and E = number of ordinary epidermal cells in the same unit area. Procedure [68] Pieces of leaf between margin or midrib was cleared and mounted, and the lower surface examined by means of a microscope with a 4mm objective and an eyepiece containing a 5mm square micrometer disc. Counts were made of the numbers of the epidermal cells and of stomata within a square grid, a cell being counted if at least half of its area lies within the grid. The stomata index was determined for both leaf surfaces. Results pertaining to quantitative microscopical study are given in table no. 8. Analytical Study Ash Value 1.1 Total ash Total ash gives the idea about the residue obtained after ignition. It consist of physiological ash obtain by ignition of plant tissues and non physiological ash obtain by ignition of extraneous matter adhering to the surface of Plant. 2 gm of accurately weighed air dried powdered drug was taken in silica crucible. This silica crucible with drug material was kept in muffle furnace and ignited at temperature 4500C. The material was heated till the white coloured ash and constant weight is obtained. The procedure was performed in triplicate. Result is given in table No. 9. The total ash was calculated by subtracting the weight of crucible with ash of drug after ignition from weight of crucible with drug powder before ignition. Percentage of total ash was calculated with reference to air-dried drug. Acid insoluble ash Acid insoluble ash gives the idea about the presence of inorganic material such as calcium oxalate present in plant material. The ash obtained in the total ash method was boiled with 25 ml of 2N hydrochloric acid for 5 min. Insoluble matter was collected on ash less filter paper (Whatman paper) and washed with hot water. The material retained on filter paper and along with filter paper, was further ignited and weighed. Percentage of acid insoluble ash was calculated with reference to air dried material. Result is given in table No. 9. Water soluble ash The ash obtained from total ash was boiled with 25 ml water for 5 min. All insoluble matter was collected on ash less filter paper, washed with hot water and ignited for 15 min at the temperature not exceeding 4500C. The percentage of water soluble ash was calculated by subtracting weight of insoluble matter from weight of total ash. The difference between weights represents water soluble ash. Percentage of water soluble ash was calculated with reference to air dried drug. Result is given in table No. 9. Extractive Value Extraction by cold maceration It is the process of extraction of crude drugs with solvents with several daily shakings or stirring at room temperature.1 kg of powdered plant was extracted with 5 lit of methanol by cold maceration method. The extract was concentrated on rotary vacuum evaporator (Roteva Equitron, Mumbai) and further dried in vacuum dryer [73]. Successive extraction by using Soxhlet apparatus Weighed accurately 200gm of dried, powered crude drug and kept in a filter paper cover which was already placed in thimble. Then the solvent was slowly poured onto it. The solvent from thimble goes to lower round bottom flask via siphon tube due to the siphoning or syphon cycle. Such 2-3 cycles of solvent were performed and then drug powder was kept for 12 hours with solvent for imbibitions. After 12 hours imbibitions, solvent from flask heated to form vapors. Due to heat the solvent from RBF gets converted into its vapors, and then these vapors pass via side tube into the condenser where it gets condensed. This solvent dripped again on to drug material, which was placed in thimble. This process was continued till thimble gets filled with solvent and when level of solvent reaches to syphon tube, pulling of whole solvent into the flask is taken place. All this events repeated several times and drug material gets extracted continuously with fresh solvent. This process was performed for 3 days and when syphon solution showed negative test for phytoconstituents, extraction was completed. Then the heating was stopped and the mixture was collected and cooled. Then this mixture was filtered and concentrated by using rotary flash vacuum evaporator. The extract was dried in vacuum dryer and was stored in freeze. Then this marc obtained after pet ether extraction and subjected again to extraction by following solvents (Table 10) [73]. Moisture content by Loss on Drying 2 g of air powdered drug was placed in a silica crucible. Before that, crucible was cleaned and dried and weight of empty crucible was taken. The powder was spread in a thin uniform layer. The crucible was then placed in the oven at 1050C. The powder was dried for 4 h and cooled in a desiccator to room temperature and weight of the cooled crucible plus powder was noted. Result is given in table no. 9. Analysis of inorganic constituents (Elemental analysis) Ash of drug material was prepared and adds 50% v/v HCl or 50% v/v HNO3 to ash. Keep it for 1 hour. Filtered and with the filtrate performed the test as per method reported [74]. The results of analysis of inorganic constituents are given in (Table 11). Test for calcium a) Add dil. NH4OH and saturated ammonium oxalate solution to filtrate. White ppt of calcium oxalate forms which is soluble in HCl. Calcium present. b) Add ammonium carbonate to filtrate. White ppt which is insoluble in NH4Cl. Calcium present. Tests for iron a) Add 2% potassium ferricyanide to filtrate. Dark blue coloration. Iron present. b) To filtrate, add 5% ammonium thiocyanate. Blood red color. Iron present. c) To filtrate, add dil. HCl and sol. of KMnO4. Pink color. Iron present. Tests for magnesium a) To filtrate add NaOH. White ppt. Magnesium present. b) To filtrate add (NH4)2CO3. White ppt, redissolve in NH4Cl. Magnesium present. Tests for potassium a) Add sodium cobalt nitrite to filtrate. Yellow ppt. Potassium present. b) Flame test. Violet color to flame. Potassium present. Tests for sodium a) Add uranyl zinc acetate to filtrate, shake well. Yellow crystalline ppt. Sodium present. Tests for carbonate a) Add HgCl2 to filtrate. Brownish red ppt. Carbonate present. b) Add dil. Acid to the filtrate. Effervescence of CO2 Carbonate present. c) Add MgSO4 to filtrate. White ppt. Carbonate present. Tests for Sulphate a) Add BaCl2 to filtrate. White crystalline ppt Sulphate present. b) Add filtrate to lead acetate sol. White ppt. Sulphate present. Tests for phosphate a) Add HNO3 and ammonium molybdate to filtrate, heat 10 min. cool. b) Add silver ammonium- nitrate to filtrate Yellow crystalline ppt. Light yellow ppt Phosphate present. Phosphate present. Tests for chloride a) Add AgNO3 to filtrate. b) To filtrate, add manganese dioxide and H2SO4 White curd ppt, soluble in dil. NH3. Odour of chlorine Chloride present. Chloride present. Tests for nitrate a) Add water to filtrate, add H2SO4 from side of test tube. b) Add H2SO4 and copper to filtrate, warm Brown color at junction of two liquid Liberation of red fumes Nitrate present. Nitrate present. Determination of Type of Starch Grains The shape of starch grains present was determined according to the reported method [68]. Size of starch grains were measured with the help of calibrated Photomicroscope using Motic software. Starch grains were identified by staining with Iodine solution. The Motic digital Photomicroscope was calibrated with images obtained with various magnifications (10x, 40x and 100x) by using standard slide in 1.3 software. The images obtained in triplicate and average figures calculated from 20 readings in each parameter (Table no. 12). Crude Fiber Content Pre-weighed dried powder material was extracted with Petroleum ether (b.p. 40- 600C) using soxhlet apparatus for 8 h. The marc obtained after extraction was utilized for determination of Crude Fiber Content. Crude fiber was investigated by acid-base digestion with H2SO4 (1.25%) and of NaOH (1.25%) solution. The marc after extraction was taken into a 500ml beaker and 200ml of boiling H2SO4 added. The content was boiled for 30 minutes, cooled, filtered and the residue washed three times with 50ml of boiling water. The washed residue was further boiled in 200ml of NaOH for 30 minutes. The digest was filtered to obtain residue. This was washed three times with 50ml of boiling water and lastly with 25ml of ethanol. The washed residue was dried in an oven at 1250C to constant weight and cooled in dessicator. The residue was scraped into a pre-weighed porcelain crucible, weighed, ashed at 5500C for 2 hours, cooled in a dessicator and weighed. Crude fiber content was expressed as percentage loss in weight on ignition. Result is given in table No. 13. Phyto-chemical Analysis Extracts Petroleum ether, benzene, chloroform, acetone and methanol extract obtained by successive extraction method and aqueous extract by maceration method [68, 95]. Qualitative analysis All the extracts were subjected to proximate chemical analysis and its result is given in table no. 14. Tests for Acidic compounds: a) To the test solution add sodium bi-carbonate b) Test solution treated with warm water and filter. Test the filtrate with litmus paper. Tests for Alkaloids: a) Dragendorffs Test: Test solution treated with Dragendorffs reagent (potassium bismuth iodide) b) Mayers Test: Test solution treated with Mayers reagent (Potassium mercuric iodide). c) Wagners Test: Test solution treated with Wagners reagent (Iodine in potassium iodide). d) Hagers Test: To the test solution add gives with Hagers reagent (Saturated picric acid solution). e) Tannic acid test: Test solution treated with Tannic acid solution. f) Picrolonic acid test: Test solution treated with Picrolonic acid. Test for amino acids: a) Millions Test: Test solution treated with Millions reagent and heated on a water bath. b) Ninhydrin Test: Test solution boiled with Ninhydrin reagent. Test for Carbohydrates: a) Molischs Test: To the test solution add with few drops of Molischs reagent (Alcoholicà ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ¡-naphthol) and 2ml of conc. sulphuric acid is added slowly from the sides of the test tube. b) Barfords Test: Test solution heated with Barfords reagent on water bath. c) Selivanoffs test (Test for Ketones): To the test solution add crystals of resorcinol and equal volumes of concentrated hydrochloric acid and heat on a water bath. d) Test for pentose: To the test solution add equal volumes of hydrochloric acid containing small amount of Phloroglucinol and heat. e) Osazone formation test: Heat the test solution with the solution of phenyl hydrazine hydrochloride, sodium acetate, and acetic acid. Test for Flavonoids: a) Shinoda Test: Test solution treated with fragments of magnesium ribbon and conc. Hydrochloric acid. b) Alkaline Reagent Test: Test solution treated with sodium hydroxide solution c) Zinc-Hydrochloride test: Treat test solution with zinc dust and few drops of HCL Test for glycosides: General test: Extract 200 mg of drug with 5 ml of dilute sulphuric acid by warming on a water bath, filter it, and neutralize the acid extract with 5 % solution of sodium hydroxide. Add 0.1 ml of Fehlings solution A and B until it becomes alkaline (test with pH paper) and heat on water bath for 2 minutes. Test B: Repeat Test A procedure by using 5 ml of water instead of dilute sulphuric acid. Note the quantity of red precipitate formed. Chemical tests for specific glycosides: Tests for Anthraquinone glycosides: a) Borntragers test: Boil the test material with 1ml of sulphuric acid for 5minutes. Filter while hot. Cool the filtrate; shake with equal volume of dichloromethane or chloroform. Separate the lower layer of dichloromethane or chloroform; shake it with half of its volume of dilute ammonia. b) Modified Borntragers test: Boil 200 mg of test material with 2ml of sulphuric acid. Treat with 2 ml of 5 % aqueous ferric chloride solution (freshly prepared) for 5 minutes, shake it with equal volume of chloroform and continue the test as above. c) Test for hydroxy anthraquinones: treat the sample with potassium hydroxide solution. Tests for cardiac glycosides: a) Keddes test: Extract the drug with chloroform, evaporate to dryness. Add one drop of 90 % alcohol and 2 drops of 2 % sodium hydroxide solution. b) Keller-Killiani Test: (Test for deoxy sugars) Extract the drug with chloroform and evaporate it to dryness. Add 0.4 ml of glacial acetic acid containing ferric chloride, add carefully 0.5 ml of conc. sulphuric acid by the side of test tube. c) Raymonds number: treat the test solution with hot methanolic alkali. d) Baljets Test: The test solution treated with sodium picrate or picric acid. e) Legals Test: Test solution treated with pyridine [made alkaline by adding sodium nitroprusside solution]. f) Tests for coumarins glycosides: Place small amount of sample in test tube and covered it with a filter paper, moistened with dilute sodium hydroxide solution. Placed the covered test tube on water bath for several minutes. Remove the paper and expose it to ultraviolet (UV) light. Cynogentic glycosides: Place 200 mg of drug in conical flask and moisten with few drops of water.( Flask should be completely dry because hydrogen cyanide produced will dissolve in the water rather than come off as gas to react with paper) moisten a piece of picric acid paper with 5% aqueous sodium carbonate solution and suspended in neck of flask. Warm gently at about 37oC. Observe the change in color. Saponin glycosides: Froth test: Place 2 ml solution of drug in water in a test tube, shake well. Tests for steroids and triterpenoids: a) Liebermann Burchard Test: Treat the extract with few drops of acetic anhydride, boil and cool, add conc. sulphuric acid from the sides of test tube. b) Salkowski test: Treat the extract with few drops of conc. sulphuric acid. c) Sulfur powder test: Add small amount of sulfur powder to the test solution. d) Tests for inulin: To the test solution add the solution of à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ¡-naphthol and sulphuric acid. e) Tests for Lignin: Treat the sample with hydrochloric acid and Phloroglucinol. Tests for Mucilage: Treat the sample with thionine solution. After 15 min wash with alcohol Tests for tannins: a) Ferric-Chloride Test: Treat test solution with few drops of ferric chloride solution. b) Gelatin test: To the test solution add 1 % gelatin solution containing 10 % sodium chloride. Tests for proteins: a) Heat test: Heat the test solution in boiling water bath. b) Biuret Test: Test solution treated with Biuret reagent (40% sodium hydroxide and dilute copper sulfate solution). c) Xanthoproteic test: To the test solution, add 1 ml of conc. nitric acid and boil yellow precipitate is formed. After cooling it, add 40 % sodium hydroxide solution. d) Test for starch: To the test solution, add weak aqueous iodine solution. Blue color indicates presence of starch, which disappears on heating and reappears on cooling. Effervescence produces Litmus paper turns blue Gives reddish brown colored precipitate Gives cream colored precipitate Gives reddish brown colored precipitate Gives yellow colored precipitate Gives buff colored precipitate Gives yellow colored precipitate White colored precipitate Gives violet color Purple to violet ring appears at the junction of two liquids If red cupric oxide is formed Rose color is produced Red color produced. Yellow crystals formed. Observe under microscope. Shows pink scarlet, crimson red or occasionally green to blue color after few minutes. Shows increase in the intensity of yellow color on addition of few drops of dilute acid. Shows red color after few minutes. Red Precipitate formed compared with precipitate of test A A rose pink to red color is produced in ammonical layer. A rose pink to red color is produced in ammonical layer. Red color produced Purple color is produced. Acetic acid layer shows blue colour. Violet colour produced Gives yellow to orange color Gives blood red color Paper shows green fluorescence. Reddish purple color Stable froth (foam) formed Brown ring is formed at the junction of two layers, If upper layer turns green If upper layer turns deep red Red color at lower layer Yellow color at lower layer It sinks at the bottom Brownish red color formed Pink color formed Mucilage turns violet red. Gives dark blue color Green color appears Precipitate formed Proteins gets coagulated Gives violet color Orange color formed Blue color, which disappears on heating and reappears on cooling Acidic compounds present Acidic compounds present Alkaloids present Alkaloids present Alkaloids present Alkaloids present Alkaloids present Alkaloids present Amino acids present Amino acids present Carbohydrates present Monosaccharides are present. Carbohydrates present Carbohydrates present Carbohydrates present Flavonoids present Flavonoids present Flavonoids present If the precipitate in Test A is greater than in Test B then glycoside may be present. Anthraquinone glycosides present Anthraquinone glycosides present Hydroxy anthraquinones present Cardiac glycosides present Cardiac glycosides present Cardiac glycosides present Cardiac glycosides present Cardiac glycosides present Coumarins glycosides present Cynogentic glycosides present Saponin glycosides Present Steroids present Triterpenoids present Steroids present Triterpenoids present Steroids present Inulin Present Lignin Present Mucilage present Hydrolysable tannins Condensed tannins Tannins present Proteins present Proteins present Proteins present Starch present Floroscence Analysis of various extracts Petroleum ether, Benzene, Chloroform, Acetone, Methanol and Aqueous extracts were screened for fluorescence characteristic. The observation pertaining to their colour in day light and under ultra-violet light were noticed and represented in table. Many substances for example quinine in solution in dilute sulphuric acid when suitably illuminated emit light of a different wavelength or colour from that which falls on them. This emitted light (fluorescence) ceases when the exciting light is removed [68].Results given in Table No. 15. HPLC Analysis of sample drug The chromatographic pattern of plant was obtained as per report with some modifications for which the HPLC conditions are as follows. Extract: The methanol extract diluted with HPLC grade methanol and filtered through whatman filter paper and used for analysis Instrument: Shimadzu LC-20AT with UV/visible detector Stationary Phase: Bonda- pack C-18 column with 250ÃÆ'-4mm Mobile Phase: Methanol (80): Water (20) Detection wave length: 350 nm Flow Rate: 2 ml/min. HPLC Chromatogram is given in Fig. 3 and its retention time is given in Table no. 16 HPTLC Analysis of sample drug The chromatographic pattern of plant was obtained as per report with some modifications for which the HPTLC conditions are as follows. Extract: Methanolic Extract Instrument: HPTLC (Camag, Switzerland) Stationary Phase: pre-coated silica gel plates Mobile Phase: Ethyl acetate: Formic acid: Glacial acetic acid: water (100:05:10:20) Spraying Reagent: Natural Product Reagent (NP reagent) Detection: 365 nm. HPTLC Chromatogram is given in Fig. 4 and its retention time is given in Table no. 17. Isolation and characterization of chemical principle Compound I The methanol extract was dissolved in water and partitioned with ethyl acetate and n- butanol. The ethyl acetate fraction was subjected to column chromatography for isolation of compounds. Column chromatography: The separation of extract constituents was done by column chromatography. The clean and dried glass column was used. The silica gel for column chromatography (#60-120) was activated at 1100c.The column was filled with silica gel and mobile phase without formation of any air bubbles. The silica gel was then allowed to stabilize in the column. Mixture of two or three compounds was isolated from the ethyl acetate fraction of methanol extract of the plant with following experimental conditions [73]. Height of column: 20 cm Diameter of column: 3.5 cm. Stationary phase: Silica gel (#60-120). Mobile phase: Benzene† Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Chloroform † Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Ethyl acetate† Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Methanol with variant Proportions Elution: Gradient elution. Fraction quantity: 25 ml Preparative TLC: 20 X 20 glass plates were coated with the thick layer of silica gel or any other adsorbent material. The plates were then activated at 1100c.The sample-containing mixture of two or more compounds were applied in the form of thin band on the plate. The plate was then developed. The different bands separated on the plate were scratched and recovered with methanol. Purity of dried sample was checked by TLC method. One single compound was isolated with the help of preparative chromatography from fractions 54- 58. The compound is given for spectral analysis. FTIR spectra, Mass spectra and 1HNMR are given in fig. no. 5, 6 and 7 respectively. The spectral data of FTIR and 1HNMR are given in Table no. 18 and 19 respectively. The assumed structure of the compound (Quercetin) is given in Fig. No. 8. Compound II Petroleum ether extract obtained is processed for separation of the unsaponifiable and saponifiable matter. Extract is allowed to saponify using alcoholic KOH with reflux and then it is extracted with solvent ether for separation of unsaponifiable matter. The aqueous phase is acidified with concentrated H2SO4 and then again extracted with the solvent ether for separation of the saponifiable matter [73]. Fractionation of unsaponifiable matter Experimental: Height of column: 25 cm Diameter of column: 3.5 cm. Stationary phase: Silica gel for column chromatography (#60-120). Mobile phase: Benzene† Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Ethyl acetate Elution: Gradient elution. Fraction quantity: 30 ml Fractions No. 24-27 were subjected for thin layer chromatography with following experimental conditions. Stationary phase: Silica gel H Mobile phase: Ethyl acetate: Benzene (1: 9) Detection: Vanilin-sulphuric acid reagent Identification: Whitish Purple colour Fraction was concentrated and single band was applied. After plate development; developed band was scraped (Rf. 0.62). After separation of single compound from the silica, it is dried. This sample was further given for spectroscopic analysis. FTIR spectra, Mass spectra and 1HNMR are given in fig. no. 9, 10 and 11 respectively. The spectral data of FTIR and 1HNMR are given in Table no. 20 and 21 respectively. The assumed structure of the compound (Quercetin) is given in Fig. No. 12. Biochemical Estimations a) Estimation of Total carbohydrate content The estimation of carbohydrate was done using the method acid base digestion. Principle: In hot acidic media glucose is converted to hydroxy methyl furfural by dehydration. This forms a green colour product with phenol. Procedure: 100mg of the aqueous extract was taken and it was hydrolyzed by keeping it on water bath for 3 hours with 5 ml of HCl (2.5N) and cooled at room temperature. Neutralized it with sodium carbonate and volume was made up to 100 ml and from this centrifuge 10 ml of the solution. Then 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1ml of working standard was pipetted out into a series of test tube and in separate test tubes 0.1 and 0.2 ml of sample solution was pipetted out and the volume was make up to 1ml with water. The blank was prepared with 1 ml distilled water. Then 1ml phenol solution and 5ml of sulphuric acid (96%) was added to each test tube and shaken well. After 10 min the test tube was placed in water bath at 25-30à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ °C for 20 min. The absorbance was read at 490 nm. And the amount of total carbohydrate present was calculated in the sample using standard graph. Result pertaining to Total carbohydrate content is given in Table no. 22 and Calibration curve of standard glucose dilutions are gi ven in Fig. No. 13. Estimation of Bitterness value The bitterness value of plant material was compared with diluted solution of Quinine hydrochloride. Preparation of Solutions Preparation of Quinine hydrochloride solution The stock solution of 100 µg/ml was prepared from which a series of dilutions 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56 and 58  µg/ml were prepared. Preparation of Sample Preparation Form the stack solution of 1000  µg/ml, 100, 200, 300 and 400 µg/ml dilutions were prepared. Method Tasted all the dilutions of sample and Quinine sulphate by taking the solution in mouth and swirled it for 30 secs in mouth mainly near to the tongue. After tasting each dilution the mouth wash rinsed thoroughly with drinking water and taken the interval of 10 mins. Until the bitter sensation of previous dilution was no more remain. Then compared the dilution of sample which produced the same bitterness equivalent to the dilution of Quinine sulphate. Then bitterness value was calculated according to following formula. Bitterness value in units per gram = 2000 ÃÆ'- A B ÃÆ'- C Where A= quantity of Quinine sulphate (mg) having higher bitterness B= the concentration of stock solution (mg/ml) C= Volume of sample in ml having higher bitterness Result pertaining to estimation of bitterness value is given in Table no. 22 Total Phenolic content The total phenolic content of methanol extract of V. capitellatum Smith. (VCM) was estimated using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent. In this method, the blue colour formed due to the polyphenol was measured at 760 nm using UV spectrophotometer. Chemicals Folin- Ciocalteu reagent (Merck Co.) Gallic acid (Sigma Ltd., USA) Sodium carbonate (SISCO Research Laboratory Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, India) Reagent preparation Folin-Ciocalteu (phenol) reagent The reagent was prepared by diluting 1ml with 5ml of distilled water. Sodium carbonate 15% solution was prepared in distilled water. Gallic acid solution The stock solution was prepared by dissolving 1mg gallic acid in 10ml of water from which different concentrations (20-100 µg/ml) were prepared. Sample preparation Sample solution was prepared by dissolving 10 mg of the extract in 100 ml of methanol to give (100  µg/ml) solution. Procedure 0.1ml of extract was mixed with the 0.2ml of Folin-Ciocalteu reagent, 2 ml water and 1 ml of sodium carbonate solution, and absorbance was measured at 760 nm after 10 min incubation at 50 0C. The total phenolic was expressed as  µg gallic acid equivalent. Result pertaining to Total phenolic content is given in Table no. 22 and Calibration curve of standard gallic acid dilutions are given in Fig. No. 14. Total Flavonoid Content Total flavonoid content of VCM was determined using method reported [79].

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Why is the Novel Called To Kill a Mockingbird? Essay -- To Kill a Mocki

Why is the Novel called To Kill a Mockingbird. In order for us to understand the reason why the novel is called "To Kill a Mockingbird", we need to take into account what the title actually means. The mockingbird is a type of finch, and it gets its name from its ability to make sounds that mimic other animals. This bird is not a predator and all it does is to make music. In the book the references made to the mockingbird are ones of great significance. The first time we come across this in the novel is when Atticus Finch says to his son Jem Finch, "Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." The children, Jem and his sister Scout do not, at first, understand the importance of this advice. They decide to ask their neighbour, and also good friend, Miss. Maudie about it. She starts off with "Your father's right," and this is not the only time in the novel when she is in agreement with Atticus' views. She is almost a mother figure to the children along with Calpurnia, who is their cook, and she reinforces Atticus' philosophy. In this instance what she tells the children about mockingbirds, reinforces Atticus' views. She says: "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." At this point the writer is conveying to us that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird, the reason being that it does not do anything but make music. Mockingbirds are portrayed as the epitome of innocence. The killing of an innocent is always seen as a horrendous crime in any age and any time. As we re... ...ole point that the novel is trying convey is about tolerance and understanding. It is due to a lack of these things that we get prejudice and discrimination of any kind occurs, whether it is racial or because of gender. If people were tolerant of other people then these problems would not even arise. Atticus is right when he tells scout that to truly understand a person you need to walk in their shoes. By doing this you will understand the person and so will be able to tolerate the person without fearing them because they are different to yourself. Atticus is not the only person in this novel who is able to think ahead. We know that people like Miss Maudie and Heck Tate, the sheriff, are also able to think beyond racial lines. We have come a long way from then, in establishing equality, and yet we still have a long way to go in achieving the perfect world.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Red Badge of Courage Essay: Battle for Adulthood :: Red Badge Courage Essays

A Battle for Adulthood in Red Badge of Courage    Throughout the novel, The Red Badge of Courage, written by Stephen Crane, a theme is portrayed within a battle that takes place during the Civil War. It is that each person must find the courage to win his or her won battle for maturity or adulthood. A soldier, who is also the main character, Henry Fleming, exemplifies this theme.    Henry Fleming begins as an immature soldier who enlists in the army without knowing a reason why. Henry has a romantic view of the war, and expects it to be glorious: â€Å"They [battles] might not be distinctly Homeric, but there seemed to be much glory in them. He [Henry] had read of marches, sieges, conflicts, and he had longed to see it all.† Henry obviously lacks maturity because he was very determined to enlist in the army, but tries to blame the government for being at war.    Henry starts to realize that there are no heroes and that there are no individuals: â€Å"He had grown to regard himself merely as a part of a vast blue demonstration.† Therefore he is beginning to fight the battle within himself into adulthood. Henry looses some of his selfishness and gains concern for others, another stepping stone: â€Å"He felt the subtle battle brotherhood more potent even than the cause for which he was fighting.† Henry deserts a dying soldier and runs from a battle, but recognizes that running away was wrong. It isn’t a mature action, but he is mature to realize the magnitude of running.    With the knowledge of his past mistakes, Henry goes into battle without thinking about the past and fights heroically. After a general makes a derogatory remark about Henry and his comrades, it reveals Henry’s change of attitude. He accepts the comment without rebellion and fights with courage. Because of the success of fighting bravely, Henry has the self-esteem to deal with his mistakes as an adult. As a mature person he can learn from his mistakes.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Defining Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

In order to move forward clinically or in research to address the problem of emotional and behavior disorders one must first have a solid definitive grasp on the nature of the problem and what it ultimately is, definitionally. Unfortunately, there’s no universally accepted definition for emotional and behavioral disorders. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) defines the disorder as followers: â€Å"a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree, which adversely affects educational performance: An inability to learn which cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors. An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers. Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances. A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression. A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems† (Council for exceptional, 2011). The federal definition also includes those children who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, but excludes children who are socially maladjusted unless they are seriously emotionally disturbed (Ibid). Gargiulo points out that although research continue to argue over a concrete definition of emotional and behavioral disorders, there are some common denominator/factors in the various definitions. He indicates four key factors that an individual must exhibit that will contribute to diagnosis of emotional and behavioral disorder. 1. There must be a high frequency (or rate) at which the behavior occurs. 2. The high intensity of the behavior. 3. The length or duration of the behavior. And 4. The age appropriateness of the behavior (Gargiulo, 2006). The terms emotional and behavioral disorders, mental disorders, emotional disturbance, behavioral disorders, and mental illness are all umbrella terms that are often used interchangeably in the field and in the literature. Beneath these terms, there is a wide range of specific conditions all different from one another in their characteristics and in their treatment (National dissemination center, 2010). Some examples of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders are, adjustment disorder, anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, selective mutism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, anorexia nervosa disorder, bipolar/manic depressive disorder, major depressive disorder, and anxiety disorder.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Mixed Schools Essay

Education is the most powerful weapon which people can use to change the world. Mixed school, also known as co-educational schools is seen to be beneficial for both sexes. Therefore academic performance in a mixed school is likely to be seen good as compared to a single sex school. This is due more social and academical interaction between the two sexes, and also students starts to get more self-esteem. However, it is important to recognize that a mixed school is not the answer to all academic purposes due to social interaction because it also presents some important disadvantages as well as the usual advantages. These essay theories the arguments against and for mixed school. Firstly, peer pressure is a common disadvantage found in a mixed school. Although interacting and socializing with peers is good, but into some extent it can be bad because some students can be easily lead to breaking rules. Therefore academic performances can suddenly decrease as students’ starts to con centrate on unnecessary things such as truancy. These shows lack of judgment and discipline thoughts and actions effects decision that a student have, thus peer pressure will contradict the set of behavior that is worth living. In many schools ,there are students indulging and involving themselves in peer pressure and their actions often reveals lack of moral and discipline in them (Toru, 2001). For instance, students start to play truant and follows friends to do unnecessary staff such as smoking or playing with other students etc. In these case students have to be monitored well by teachers in order to prevent students from playing truancy during school hours. Therefore students should be cautious, on how they interpret and socialize with their peers or otherwise they will be influenced and motivated by their peers that allow distractions into their academic curriculum. Additionally, the second point is Gender Violence .In mixed school students are more concerned with relationship than academic purposes. Some students, especially the senior students have in mind that it is necessary to have a relationship .This students will be concerned with how they look to make them attractive to others promoting their desires to the opposite sex. Having relationships is said to be an influential factor towards students’ academic work and relationship is present in all schools and teachers cannot do much about it for such an issue is not their concerned business. If we look precisely in the world that is constantly  changing ,students adapt to different learning environment that determine their capabilities of becoming a successful learner diminish at appoint when they starts to have relationships .With relationships students get to experiences sexual longings that turns negative at the end. For instance, statistics in schools in Canada show that we are two Canadian women will experiences at least one incident of physical or sexual violence in lifetime .Obviously the signs are there to in dicate a fragmented society, but students should drown in a sea of negativity and mobilize against sexual violence (Ann, 2012). Education is the key and it must be a vital part of awareness campaigns in mixed schools, our many neighborhoods and public meeting places for religious and cultural and recreational activities. Furthermore, the third point is that mixed school does not combat segregation. Mixing primary schools can only be successful if neighborhoods are mixed as well and only primary school is mixed and secondary are not. Mixing is hard to achieve because freedom is threatened by enforcing mixing schools. Mixing schools makes teachers work more complex, because politicians are afraid that too much attention is being paid to mixing and not enough to good education. Solving the problem of segregation is not the primary responsibility of education and society cannot be shaped, and class differences will therefore always exist (Gopal, 2013). Politicians think that mixing is unnecessary, a mixed school demands a lot from teachers: specific skills, affinities, time and energy and in addition to being an educator, teachers need to fulfill childrearing and social worker tasks. However, this essay has considered disadvantages (against) mixed school and will now consider the advantages (for).Mixed schools improves students’ academic performances through social interaction skills during school hours with opposite sex. Therefore mixing increases students’ opportunities to develop. Equally, the advantages of mixed school are that mixing increases student’s opportunities to develop. Weaker students can benefit from the support of stronger student’s and stronger students can learn more by explaining lesson materials to weaker students. Students will diverse backgrounds get the same opportunities for good education. Beside it increases opportunities for disadvantage students, while retaining these for advantage students. It can reduce the social and cultural gap between students where they contact with societies diversities at an early age. They  learn to get along with people of varied cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. Another point is that parents want the best for their child to grow up in an environment that has the least amount of segregation possible. Parents feel that sending their children to a mixed school will help them learn how to cope with diversity. It also has advantage for parents, where they do not have to flee to a non-mixed school just for their children to cope with diversity. Parents from diverse background come in contact with one another that somehow promote cultural wellbeing for various cultural purposes. Mixing is a way of fighting segregation that promotes the acceptance of diversity in society. It also contributes to the emancipation of cultural minorities and disadvantaged groups. Finally, letting boys and girls go to mixed schools makes both genders mingle with each other and impose a positive influence on interpersonal relationship when being in front of the other. For instance, a female student in a mixed school would not have a feeling of shy or embarrassment, but instead have confidence when having a conversation with a male student. The experiences that students in a mixed school have is that, when the two opposite sexes are studying together in the same school, it will certainly be an advantage for them, when they start working since both of the sexes have many opportunities to work together in modern society. Thus, boys and girls would benefit from attending mixed schools because they can practice their social interaction skills. In conclusion, there are disadvantages and advantages of mixed school where by the disadvantages are peer pressure, Gender violence and combat segregation. The advantages of mixed school are that mixing increases students’ opportunities to develop; secondly parents want the best for their children and lastly students gaining more confidence .However, according to the advantages, mixed schools increase the progressing of students’ academic work by the social interaction between the two sexes. In addition, this helps students to gain more confidence in them. So as attending a mixed school students tend to get high self-esteem. As to finish off it is true that mixed school increase academic purposes.