Refraction Essay Example for Free

Refraction Essay Refraction BY gupta979 Refraction refers to the bending of the transmitted light at the interface between two transparent materials. The angle of refraction depends on the angle of incidence and the relative speeds of the light in the two different media and can be found from the relationship [pic] From this equation we see that the direction in which the light is bent depends on whether it is going from a slower to a faster medium or vice versa. Index of refraction The index of refraction of a medium is defined as the ratio of the speed of light in vacuum to the speed of light in the medium. By definition, n = 1 in vacuum. In all materials n 1. The frequency of light does not change as it goes from one a medium of one index of refraction to another. This means that the wavelength changes with the speed. Thus, the wavelength is smaller in a medium than in vacuum. From the definition of the index of refraction, we can rewrite the relationship etween the incident and refracted angles as or This equation is known as Snells law of refraction. Example The index of refraction of a glass is n = 1. 6. A ray of light is incident upon the glass surface at an angle of 300. What is the angle of refraction into the glass? Solution: approximately n If the wavelength of the light in air is 520 nm (green), what is its wavelength in the glass? What is the frequency of the light? (2 slow fast incident reflected refracted

Oil and gas of kazakhstan

Oil and gas of kazakhstan The size of oil and gas reserves of the Republic of Kazakhstan alone make national oil company of the country called KazMunaiGaz (KMG), an outstanding addition to any study of national oil companies. The countrys proven oil reserves are estimated between 9 billion and 17.6 billion barrels, including both land and offshore fields, as a potential producer of considerable influence. (â€Å"An Energy Overview of the Republic of Kazakhstan,† US Department of Energy, available from: http://www.fe.doe.gov/international/Russia_and_Central_Asia/kazkover.html#Oil ). When major new projects in Kazakhstan reached full production (probably by 2015), is expected to produce at least 3 million barrels of oil per day, which would make the country larger producer of oil compare to Norway, and it would be just behind Mexico and Iran. Even today Kazakhstan is in the list of one of the leading countries by producing 1.29 million barrels per day (Energy Information Administration. â€Å"Kazakhstan .† Country Analysis Briefs, 2006. Available online at http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/Kazakhstan/Oil.html. ). And almost anyone interested in investing in Kazakhstan is forced to work, in one form or another, with National Oil Company KazMunaiGaz (NC KMG). NC KMG is also worthy of attention of those interested in the changing structure of the international petroleum industry. The company is largely a work in progress, one of the worlds youngest national oil companies, which could become a kind of model for other leading and evolving national oil and the gas companies, especially those of the former U.S.S.R., where is an important part of the worlds untapped oil and gas reserves are discovered. KMG has some common similarity with other National Oil Companies (NOC) created in post-Soviet states such as Russia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. However, the government of Kazakhstan has defined a much more aggressive development mission for NC KMG than Azerbaijans Government of SOCAR has for it. Unlike Russia, where there are two NOCs Rosneft and Gazprom, with competing interests, Kazakhstan has chosen to strengthen its holdings into one company. Yet, NC KMG has similarity with both Gazprom and Rosneft. The degree of vertical integration of Kazakhs KMG is similar to that of Gazprom. Rosneft for the time being lacking the same transportation and refining capacity of KMG or Gazprom, the actions of another equally important similarity with the Kazakh business: both are trying to introduce western management styles in order to create internationally investing confidence. Unlike Rosneft, whose main asset of oil producing is Yuganskneftegaz, which was bought at auction after the seizure of Yukos, ( Peter Fin, â€Å"Russian Oil Firm Buys Mysterious Bid Winner,† Washington Post, December, 23 2004, A01) practically all of NC KMG assets were obtained in a fairly straight forward way. They were either acquired through purchase or by the transfer of a state held license to the company. NC KMG is more likely to become a copy for other post-Soviet NOC than any another company, largely because of its development strategy is both more straight forward looking and better formulated than their counterparts. The declared intention of both Government of Kazakhstan and of KMG is that the company would become a large part of the public Corporation held, with the government ensuring the protection of its interests through the voting of its shares by a larger holding company as a Samruk which means â€Å" Golden Phoenix† if translates from Kazakh to English, which created in 2006. At the moment the relationship between KMG and the government of the Republic is getting quite close, which particularly mean the relationship between the family of President of Kazakhstan , Nursultan Nazarbayev, and the countrys oil industry. Those in key positions throughout the oil industry and government, including the different ministries and executive level positions directly associated with the oil industry, understand the challenge that the reform of the the industry presents. They realize that KMG should be transformed into an independent and transparent company in the remaining years of President Nazarbayev ‘s mandate, which ends in 2013-a company that no longer serves as an indirect instrument foreign policy or as a source of internal corruption. This report will explain that what is KMGs planning strategy, business plans and etc and how they are going to respond to the challenges which occurs in the company. Kazakhstan still confronts the task of creating constant investor confidence. The governments treatment of the international oil companies (IOCs) will partly put pressure to this confidence level. Success will also depend on the evolution of the NC KMG itself, thats mean the company should introduce a total transparency in all its upstream and downstream partner activities and whether it helps foster an atmosphere of competition in the service sectors that are associated with their main operations. The company will have to decide whether to remain a production company, or simply be a stakeholder in every major countrys mining projects, and the main transit partner and a key player in the downstream market of Kazakhstan. Whatever decision the company makes, it is may still have to reduce at least some of its assets, and try to be more focused on the acquisition of assets. Without this it would be difficult to maximize the value of the assets for NC KMG. They should turn the company to be more reliable partner for investors within the country. This requires the realization the process of political reform in Kazakhstan to provide a better expression of rights of investors and better legal protection to respond to situations in which investors believe their rights have been violated. Achieving these objectives will strengthen NC KMGs position in the international oil industry and will help to set competitive advantage over other similar oil companies. ( Available at Baker institute: http://www.bakerinstitute.org/search?SearchableText=noc_kaz_Olcott.pdf ) The Importance Of Planning And Its Process. When planning is done well, it creates a solid platform for the management of other functions which is the organizing the allocating and organizing of resources to perform the tasks; leading-guiding the efforts of human resources to ensure a high level of performance tasks; and control surveillance on the achievements and taking necessary corrective action. The centrality of management planning is important to understand. In todays demanding organization and persuading career environment is essential to stay one step ahead of the competition. This means always striving to be better at what you are doing and be action oriented. The planning Process. In the planning process, objectives identify the specific results or desired outcomes that one intends to achieve. The plan is a statement of action steps to be taken in order to accomplish the objectives. Five steps in the planning process are: 1. Define your objectives: Identify desired outcomes or results in very specific ways. Know where you want to go; be specific enough that you will know you have arrived when you get there, or know how far off the mark you are at various points along the way. 2. Determine where you stand vis-a-vis objectives: Evaluate current accomplishments relative to the desired results. Know where you stand in reaching objectives; know what strengths work in your favour and what weaknesses may hold you back. 3. Develop premises regarding future conditions: Anticipate future events; Generates alternative â€Å"scenarios† for what may happen; identify for each scenario things that may help or hinder progress toward your objectives. 4. Analyze and choose among action alternatives: List and carefully evaluate possible actions. Choose the alternative(s) most likely to accomplish your objectives; describe step-by-step what must be done to follow the chosen course of action. 5. Implement the plan and evaluate results: Take action and carefully measure your progress towards objectives. Do what the plan requires, evaluate results, take corrective action, and revise plans as needed. KazMunaiGazs Origins, Assets And Reserves One thing is certain, the active use of fossil fuels in the country is key to any development strategy. President of the country has taken two use of oil and gas to boost the economy development in two ways, both through the development of a National Fund, which is investing states revenues from oil and gas and other key resources, into a fund that is loosely modeled on national oil fund in Norway. This fund, established in 2001, is currently estimated at 14.1 billion U.S. dollars, and designed to provide long term support for the budget of the Republic of Kazakhstan and compensate irregular income caused by fluctuations in the world oil and gas market The other half of the equation is the conception of a strong national oil and gas company. It is to have a dominant position in the hydrocarbon sector in the country. Because of this, finally , the Joint-Stock Company KazMunaiGaz National Company was founded under Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 811 from February 20, 2002. The opening of the industry of Kazakhstan after independence in 1991 brought many foreign investors who helped buy the industry. These investors signed Production Service Associations (PSA) with NC KMGs predecessor Kazakhoil, but the companies which produces things EMG (EmbaMunaigaz) and UMG (UzenMunaigaz), the main assets of KazMunaiGaz Exploration and Production (KMG E and P), weret transferred to Kazakhoil until 1997. On 16th March, 2004 the company was renamed Joint Stock Company KazMunai Gaz National Company. The company was founded with the goal of comprehensive development oil industry of the Republic to ensure a rational and efficient operation hydrocarbons, which in turn would contribute to social and economic development of Kazakhstan and its successful integration into the world of economy and oil industry. (KazMunaigaz (KMG), â€Å"Company History and Mission,† KazMunaiGaz website, http://www.kmg.kz/main.php?page=inc/postedmid=4showm=3type=men. ) One of the main plans of Government of creation of NC KMG was that creation would help to achieve a variety of strategic objectives including improved financial and economic aspects of the company, moreover , additional to its hydrocarbon reserves and increasing production. The intention was to do so through reducing of costs and increasing cash flow, by increasing the efficiency of capital investment, to increase reserves through the exploration of new blocks for exploration and expansion of existing ones, the maximize their shares in existing companies. They were also to enhance the economic revenues to the Country through large oil and gas projects in which they had a partners, and also through the development of transportation opportunities available to Kazakhstan, and by helping the development of petrochemical companies in Kazakhstan. They were also charged with increasing the number the proportion of domestically produced goods, works and services which is supporting the count rys largest oil and gas projects. Additionally to this they assisted to increase the number of Kazakhstani officials directly involved in these projects. JSC NC KazMunaiGaz is among three largest oil producers in Kazakhstan and has a minority in almost all major projects of oil and gas in the country which controls involvement in most projects initiated since 2000. The company employsover thirty-four thousand employees and reported revenue of $ 4.8 billion dollars in 2005 from its business activities. KMG has got control over twenty-five companies. ( KazMunaiGaz, â€Å"Structure of Assets,† KazMunaiGaz Website, http://www.kmg.kz/index.cfm?tid=22 ) Conclusion The future shape of KMG is obviously unclear, not only for oil analysts industry, but for those working in KMG and the government of Kazakhstan as well. The company still should decide whether to remain a holding company, and even if they do still want to keep the role of operating ones in some projects . They will still have to decide how quickly and how completely sell its stakes in Kazakhstans various oil and gas projects. For the foreseeable future I think it will be difficult to compete with potential foreign investors, because of companys poor technological base and luck of abilities in financial competitiveness of their operations. According to the financial liquidity of the company, there probably will be an argument about reducing their holdings in certain projects. This will provide funds for foreign investments and and downstream, which could provide KMG with long term access to energy assets for the time when domestic production in Kazakhstan begins to decline. The Kazakhstani people seem to believe that moving away from production and draft management will slow capacity building among the Kazakh population and slow the development of auxiliary industries related to fossil fuel development. But the creation National Fund of Kazakhstan is intended in part to support the development of sectors of the economy which is not depend on resource extraction.

The Media Influence on Public Perceptions of Crime

The Media Influence on Public Perceptions of Crime Introduction The publics knowledge of crime is primarily derived from its depiction in the media. The media affects the publics opinion of crime and punishment, and its perception of the police. If the media is responsible for the headlines, the conclusion is that it influences the publics attitude regarding crime incidents. (Muraskin and Domash 2007). Crime stories are covered extensively by the print-based media seemingly because they help to sell newspapers. Stories are often sensationalised with the intent to make attention-grabbing headlines that do not always represent the true facts; but do these articles play a part in needlessly fuelling the publics fear of crime? This dissertation will attempt to answer this question by conducting primary research in the suburban village of Stannington in Sheffield. Aims/Objectives/Hypothesis The objective of this research is to analyse the relationship between crime and the media, more specifically fear of crime levels and print-based media articles. Due to the geographic location in which the research will be conducted, two specific crime types have been chosen; personal crimes such as burglary and theft and community-based crimes such as vandalism and anti-social behaviour. These crime types were chosen as a result of the suburban area in which the study will be conducted. These crimes are those which are more likely to be of a concern to the respondents of the study and are therefore more suitable for this particular piece of research if I wish to collect an accurate data set. More serious crimes like rape, murder and assault are less likely to occur on a private, middle class housing estate and thus these crime types would probably not be a major concern to residents living in the area. Prior to conducting any research; the hypothesis chosen which predicts the outcom e of the research is that respondents who are female and who read print-based media more frequently will have an increased fear of crime in comparison to males who dont read print-based media articles. Literature Review Fear of crime Garofalo (1981:840) defined fear of crime as an emotional reaction characterized by a sense of danger and anxiety produced by the threat of physical harm elicited by perceived cues in the environment that relate to some aspect of crime. The definition of fear of crime can vary depending on the individual and their own personal experiences of crime; and this is in fact similar to how people have differing levels of fear. An individuals level of fear could be influenced by several factors. Personal experience of crime is one of many factors which can significantly increase the level of fear which a person has, with the fear of repeat victimisation a key issue in this. Balkin (1979) and Hough (1985) argue that a commonly accepted belief is that people who have been victimised, particularly in their neighbourhood, or who know others who have been similarly victimised, will tend to be more afraid. Similarly, a report published by the Beth Johnson foundation in 2006 looked at the fear of c rime in people over the age of 50. It found that several respondents who had been mugged and/or burgled had a particularly high level of fear of crime as a result of their previous experiences. This publication shows many interesting opinions of the elderly, however it does not take into account the opinions of a larger demographic of people with varying ages. As a result it allows an opportunity to conduct research on a broader scale to investigate fear of crime from people of all ages. Jewkes (2010:155) acknowledges that victims of crime will probably become more fearful about the likelihood of future victimization as a result of their experiences, however many more individuals will experience fear as a result of indirect contact with crime. Fear of crime has become a major social problem and although some of this fear can be accounted for by the actual amount of criminal activity, particularly in the neighbourhood (Kinsey et al.1986). People may come to be fearful of criminal victimisation because they perceive their immediate environment to be threatening, thus noisy neighbours, teenagers hanging around street corners and flats with broken windows may all signify to some individuals that their neighbourhood is threatening (Baumer 1985; Hunter and Baumer 1982), however much of it is caused by other subjective/perceptual and social structural factors. A substantial amount of research has already identified several factors which appear to make a contribution to fear. Box, Hale and Andrews (1988: 341) classify these under the following headings: vulnerability, environmental clues and conditions, personal knowledge of crime and victimisation, confidence in the police and criminal justice systems, perceptions of personal ris k, and seriousness of various offences. The research for this piece of work will be carried out by households in close proximity to each other; consequently the environmental conditions should be very similar for each respondent. However other factors, in particular vulnerably; personal knowledge of crime; and confidence in the police and criminal justice system should be different for every respondent. As a result, the findings of the research should be particularly diverse. In terms of fear of crime, the British Crime Survey offers an in depth insight into the British publics perception of crime, in comparison to actual crime statistics. The BCS is a face-to-face victimisation survey in which people inhabiting households in England and Wales are asked about their experiences of crime in the 12 months prior to interview. The 2009/10 BCS shows that a large proportion of people (sixty six per cent) believe crime has risen across the country as a whole in the last few years. There has been a large majority of respondents who think crime has risen at a national level since the questions were first included in 1996. Statistics provided by the Home Office (2010) show an actual decrease in a large number of crimes between 2002 and 2010. The total of sexual offences, robbery, burglary, fraud, drug offences, and the total of all recorded crime have decreased every year for the past 8 years. These figures would suggest that the publics fear of crime is unjust base d on the number of crimes which have fallen throughout Britain in recent years. It would appear that the publics perception of these high crime levels is influenced by more than just official statistics released by the Home Office, the most obvious contributor to this fear of crime being the media. Fear of crime and the media It is often argued that the media exaggerate the extent of crime in Britain. This includes newspapers, news and entertainment on television and radio, as well as crime fiction (Greer,2005). These exaggerations of crime stories which are in the public eye daily can have a substantial impact upon the publics perception of crime, but more significantly their fear of it. As previously mentioned, personal experiences of crime can often result in victims becoming increasingly fearful of being victimised; while accounts of crime from family, friends and neighbours may also have this effect. However as previous research has discovered; the most influential source to fuel fear of crime is usually the media. As Jewkes (2010) states numerous writers have examined the proposition that the media present crime stories (both factual and fictional) in ways which selectively distort and manipulate public perceptions, creating a false picture of crime which promotes stereotyping, bias, prejudice and g ross oversimplification of the facts. Their conclusion is that it is not just official statistics that misrepresent the picture of crime, but that the media are also guilty of manipulation and fuelling public fears. Roberts and Doob (1986) and Surette (1998) reaffirm this view of crime and the media in their analysis of how influential the media can be. The publics perception of victims, criminals, deviants, and law enforcement officials is largely determined by their portrayal in the mass media. Research indicates that the majority of public knowledge about crime and justice is derived from the media. Western society is fascinated with crime and justice. From films, books, newspapers, magazines, television broadcasts, to everyday conversations, we are constantly engaging in crime talk. In this sense; the mass media play an important role in the construction of criminality and the criminal justice system. Research conducted by Ditton and Duffy (1983) came to a similar conclusion to Jewkes in regards to coverage of crime stories in the media after their analysis of three Scottish newspapers. An analysis of the crime content of the newspapers (in terms of the numbers and page areas of crime reports) was completed and found that six per cent of the news involved crime, with forty five per cent of this being violent or sexual crime. This figure was then compared with actual police statistics which showed just two per cent of crime in the locality to be of a violent and/or sexual nature (Williams and Dickinson 1993:35). As a result of their findings, Ditton and Duffy came to the conclusion that this research exemplifies the level of sensationalism and exaggeration of crime stories which appear throughout print-based media. Consequently, they called for further research to be conducted to determine whether the misrepresentations of crime in newspapers influence the general perceptions of re aders. Despite a large percentage of violent or sexual crimes covered in the newspapers, it is arguable as to weather a percentage of just six out of the total of all articles in them is substantial enough to conclude that print-based media exaggerate and sensationalise as Ditton and Duffy suggested. This research took significant steps to examine the content of crime stories in print-based media and be regarded as a successful study, however it was conducted almost thirty years ago which means in terms of quantity and coverage of crime stories in modern Britain, it is somewhat outdated. In addition; the research fails to determine any links between media coverage and fear of crime, so with this in mind, the study which will be conducted for this piece of work primarily aims to investigate if there is any sort of correlation between print-based media and fear of crime in an attempt to come to a conclusion which Ditton and Duffy were unable to achieve. When the discussion takes place surrounding how influential the media can be on crime levels and fear of crime; the theory of moral panics often surfaces. This model made famous by Stanley Cohen in the 1970s with the publication of Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The creation of Mods and Rockers refers to public and political reactions to minority or marginalized individuals and groups who appear to be some kind of threat to consensual values and interests. (Jewkes 2010:74) By labelling certain groups as deviant; missing out key facts and extensively covering crime stories; the creation of moral panics by the British press has becoming arguably one of the more damaging aspects of crime coverage, causing unnecessary for fear and apprehension amongst the public. These fears when compared to actual crime statistics do appear to be uncalled for, but figures from the British Crime Survey suggest that they are still present in the minds of newspaper readings. The British Crime Survey has been conducted by the Home Office since its introduction in 1982 and from 2001 it has run continuously each year. The survey of around forty thousand adults is conducted to gain an insight into public attitudes to crime as well as other criminal justice issues, with the findings often used to assist the Government in their policy formations (Home Office 2010). The 2003 edition of the BCS was the first to ask respondents directly about their newspaper reading habits. The results showed that attitudes to crime are very much influenced by newspaper reports. Forty three per cent of tabloid readers believed that crime has increased a lot with seventeen per cent also claiming to be very worried by the threat of physical attacks (Guardian 2003). These findings are based on a very large scale with the respondents geographically located across most parts of Britain. They offer an accurate representation of the populations fear of crime and how this is influenced b y newspapers articles, however due to its large scale, a more appropriate approach to use in order to get a localised view on crime would be a study of households in one particular part of a city. This method then allows the researcher to investigate if the immediate area in which the respondent resides is influential in their levels of fear. Several other pieces of research have been carried out to understand fear of crime in both the elderly and in women respectively. A recent Age Concern reported entitled The Fear Factor: Older people and Fear of Street crime reported that forty seven per cent of those over 75 years of age and thirty seven per cent of those over fifty no longer take part in social and community activities after dark because of fear of street crime (Help the Aged 2006). Similarly an article in the Independent (2005) entitled Women and Crime: Fear in Suburbia goes into depth about the fear which single women have about being attacked in their own homes. In this article many women interviewed agreed that the media has a role to play in increasing womens fears despite official Home Office statistics suggesting total recorded crime is down by six per cent year-on-year (Independent 2005). Both pieces of research gain insight into two separate groups of society with valid and reliable data collection, however they fail to make comparisons of fear of crime levels with other groups of people. By conducting research from both men and women of varying ages, this allows for more in depth analysis, where comparisons and correlations can be made between all respondents to determine if age and/or sex are an influential factor in fear of crime levels. There has been extensive criticism of the empirical and theoretical validity of the claims that media images cultivate a misleading view of the world of crime (Howitt 1998; Ditton et al. 2004); and according to several critics, there is still not enough sufficient evidence to suggest that exposure to the media as well as other variables such as class, gender, race, place of residence and actual experience of crime can and do effect an individuals fear of becoming a victim of crime (Reiner 2006). Despite these criticisms; the research carried out for this piece of work will attempt to gather enough evidence to show that the media along with other variables does in fact influence fear of crime. Methodology The data collection method which will be used for this research is a cross-sectional questionnaire consisting of both qualitative and quantitative questions. The questionnaire will be given to twenty four randomly selected respondents living on a housing estate in the semi-rural village of Stannington, in Sheffield. At the last census (2001), the population for Stannington village was listed as 16,600 (www.stannington.org.uk). This number is far too large as it would require a significant amount of questionnaires to be produced which is unrealistic given the resources and time-frame available; therefore a combination of both cluster and systematic sampling will be used to select certain roads and houses within a small geographical location. Kalsbeek (1998) defines cluster sampling as: sampling in which sampling units (that is, households) at some point in the selection process are collections, or clusters, of population elements. For the primary sample group; eight roads on the housi ng estate will be selected as part of the cluster sampling process, then house numbers two; five and eight are to be chosen systematically. This approach eliminates any potential bias, allowing the validity of the research to be increased. Similarly; for the secondary sample group, four roads will be selected with house numbers one and ten chosen to receive the questionnaire if not all twenty four primary respondents decide to complete the questionnaire. In order to be courteous when addressing the respondents, the electoral register will be accessed at the Sheffield Town Hall to gather the names of those chosen to participate in the study. Doing this should allow for the respondents to be contacted formally whilst making it more manageable to record which households responded and those who declined. When the collection of data from the primary sample group commences, personal introductions will be made informing the randomly selected respondents what the research study is for and how they have been chosen. If the respondents then decide to take part in the study they will be given the questionnaire along with a cover sheet, outlining the instructions on how to complete the questionnaire and a brief letter explaining the purpose of the study. If the there is no one in at the chosen addresses; the questionnaire will be posted to the respondents and will be collected a week from that date. The decision to utilise a cross-sectional questionnaire was made because this method allows data to be collected relatively quickly and at a single point in time. These characteristic of data collection are very much suited for this type of research study due to the time and transport limitations which apply. A questionnaire is preferable over other designs such as a longitudinal survey or case study as it lends itself well to quantifiable data, allowing for variations to be established which may appear throughout the different variables. According to Bryman (2008:45) cross sectional studies are very effective in terms of replicability because the researcher can spell out procedures for selecting respondents, designing measures of concepts; administrating research instruments and analysing data. When the questionnaires have been collected from all respondents and the required amount of data has been gathered; it will then be analysed using the data analysis software SPSS. This software allows complex data to be interpreted very easily through the use of bivariate and multivariate crosstabulations as well as frequency tables. This data can then be used to create graphs which allow for patterns of correlation to be identified. SPSS was elected due to its capability to eliminate any issues regarding inter-coder reliability. It also lends itself well to quantitative closed-ended question data (which I intend to collect) because this form of data requires very little coding and can therefore be inputted into the programme with ease. Data Analysis Following the collection of twenty four questionnaire responses; the data was inputted into the SPSS software and the variable values were coded. After compiling frequency tables and crosstabulations it appears that the research has identified some interesting findings, which do not necessarily agree with the original hypothesis stated at the beginning of the study. Table 1 (below) shows how participants responded to the question Do newspapers influence your fear of crime? It appears that only 37.5% of people felt that their fear of being a victim of crime was influenced by newspapers. 50% stated that they werent influenced which is reasonably more than those that answered yes to the question; however it is not significantly high enough to suggest a majority because there were 3 respondents (12.5%) who were undecided. (Table 1) Do newspapers influence your fear of crime? Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid Yes 9 37.5 37.5 37.5 No 12 50.0 50.0 87.5 Dont know 3 12.5 12.5 100.0 Total 24 100.0 100.0 When the variable of gender is factored into the same question, it appears that men are more influenced by print-based media than women. A crosstabulation of the two variables shows that 6 males in comparison to just 3 females stated that their fear was influenced by newspapers. This figure at first appears to be a surprise when compared to the Independent (2005) article (referred to earlier); which stated that the media has a role to play in increasing fear of crime levels amongst women. However when a crosstabulation was formed which analysed the gender and how often do you read national newspapers? variables; it appears that the male respondents in the study read newspapers more regularly than the females. Table 2 (below) shows that half (6) of all male respondents read a national newspaper once a week in comparison to only 2 female respondents. It also illustrates that all of the male respondents read a newspaper at least once a month in comparison to 5 females who stated that th ey never read a newspaper. (Table 2) How often do you read national newspapers? * Are you male or female? Crosstabulation Are you male or female? Total Male Female How often do you read national newspapers? Every day 2 3 5 Several times a week 2 1 3 Once a week 6 2 8 Once a fortnight 2 0 2 Once a month 0 1 1 Never 0 5 5 Total 12 12 24 With this in mind; the statistics appear to suggest that those who are subject to newspaper articles more frequently appear to be influenced by them more in terms of fear of crime. Lichtenstein et al (1978: 575) state Fear sells. Past research by Ditton and Duffy (1983) amongst others, primarily focused upon newspaper content analysis. Some evidence was found to suggest that certain crime types; in particular violent or sexual crimes appeared continuously throughout newspapers articles. This research along with several other studies has collectively suggested that sensationalism of crime stories does occur in order to sell more copies. The questionnaire given to respondents asked them Do you think newspapers sensationalise crime stories? The pie chart above shows the overwhelming majority (91.7%) of participants felt that sensationalism does occur in British newspapers. This figure is particularly high considering that 5 out of the 24 respondents stated that they didnt read newspapers. In this case the assumption could be made that those who dont read newspapers would not be fully aware of the extent to which sensationalism appears to occur. However this statis tic confirms that this is irrelevant. In a similar manner, many newspapers (and the media in general) have been accused of creating moral panics. These accusations have especially

Life of Pakistani Villagers :: Essays Papers

Life of Pakistani Villagers The Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a Muslim state, won its freedom from India in 1947. Sixty percent of its population lives in villages. Farmers or herders have jobs in nearby cities or towns. Traditional customs have a strong influence on the life in rural areas of Pakistan, e.g. men have more social freedom than women do. Women avoid contact with men outside their family, and they cover their faces with a veil in the presence of strangers. In the villages, family houses cluster tightly together along narrow alleys, sharing a tank or shallow pond for washing clothes and for watering vegetables and livestock. House walls are mostly built of mud, and they rise to meet thatched roofs. A typical home may have a few pieces of simple furniture with straw mats covering the bare earth floor. A few stone or brick houses shelter the wealthy landlords and merchants. Most of the villagers live in same-styled, mud houses and cooperate with each other in daily life. Pakistani villagers dress themselves very simply as compared to city people. The most common dress for both men and women is a 'Shalwar Kamiz,' which consists of loose trousers worn under a long overblouse. Women wear a 'Doppta' and strictly observe 'purdah' by hiding their faces and private parts of their bodies. Families within the houses are seldom composed of mother, father, and young children. The extended family is more customary in Pakistan. Sons bring their wives to their family home and rear their children there. The eldest father uses the joint earnings of the family members for their support. Farm families work in the fields, raise crops, and tend them. When the crops are ready, they harvest and sell them. During this entire period, women also help in the fields by seeding, watering, and tending the crops alongside the male members of the family. In the extended family, the eldest father supervises the outdoor work while the mother looks after the indoor work. The children help their parents run the house. Villagers normally eat very simple meals consisting of a vegetable curry, a gruel of parched grams or lentils eaten with a bread called 'Chapati' or 'Roti.' The women cook the food which they serve on trays set on the floor. Women eat separately after the male members of the family have taken their meal.

Dual Executive :: essays research papers

Dual Executive/President   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The idea of an elective head of state for the American chief executive, in its conception, was virtually without precedent. The idea of an American dual presidency, split between domestic and foreign arenas is itself without precedent. A dual presidency would suit America well due to the pressures of the office of President of the United States. As Commander-in-Chief, the President bears incredible pressures and responsibilities. The President not only has power in the United States, but also tremendous influence throughout the world. It is not arrogant to change the presidency in order to manage America's vast interests all over the globe. The US is certainly not isolationistic anymore, so creating an office for a foreign affairs executive is simply realistic. Thus, the President is not only torn between domestic and foreign responsibilities, but s/he must find time to campaign. A dual presidency with a domestic and foreign leader could divide these campaigning duties. In addition, a dual presidency is better adapted to handle simultaneous crises. A dual presidency is a modern day answer to the realities of the American presidency.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Essentially, the idea of a dual executive is rooted in the concept of a plural executive. Back in the time of the writing of the Constitution, some anti-federalists wanted a weak executive. This weak executive was called a plural executive or an executive council. (Storing 49) The purpose of such a plural executive was not only to weaken the executive, but also to prevent a monarchy from ruling. In fact, an anti-federalist named Randolph opposed an executive-of-one so much that he believed it to be the â€Å"foetus (fetus) of the monarchy.†(Storing 93) Yet today the threat of monarchy is laughable.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The proposed dual executive has no intentions of weakening that branch. Rather, a dual executive makes the branch more efficient, focused, and in touch. `Plural' is not a fitting term for the dual executive. This is because a plural executive implies several office holders, or a committee. The more people, the more chaos and disunity occurs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the 70th chapter of The Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton made a case for an executive with a great deal of unity. If power was concentrated in a single chief magistrate, then the branch would be more cohesive. Hamilton relied on the failures of plural executive in the history of Rome and Greece to make a case against executive councils.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some may argue that by dividing the executive office, it saps the energy and vigor required of the job. Inversely, it can be argued that the President has so much to do that his energy is weakened by simply being spread too thin.

Importance of Marketing of a Bank

Executive Summary Bank as the financial services business is prospect full historical sequence. Banks are straight agents to make opportunities for expansion in a country and also make available huge scale of employment opportunities. Banks must compensation publics’ currency when they require, also it makes or not. So, the compensation package of a bank should be analyzed carefully. Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited has its victorious the past, wonderful present, potential prospect and under giving out projects and behavior.Established as the first private sector bank completely owned by Bangladeshi entrepreneurs, Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited has been prosperous as the biggest private sector Bank with the way of time after opposite many pressure and damage. The members of the board of directors are innovative entrepreneur and foremost industrialist of the country. To stay overcome with time and in agreement with national and international financial behavior and for representatio n all current services.Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited as a financial organization, computerized all its branches with computer networks in agreement with the aggressive commercial insist of time. Moreover, bearing in mind its forth-coming future, the communications of the Bank has been rearranged. The belief of all category businessmen, entrepreneurs and general community is a great deal additional to Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited.Keeping the target in mind, Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited has taken arrangements to open 15 new branches and 5 SME centers by the year 2010. In this report, I have tried my best to identify â€Å"Determine the Level of Satisfaction of Customers at Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited, Mohakhali Branch†. And lastly, find out the proper solution and for the customer’s dissatisfaction regarding the service has been provided.

Video Games and Violent Children

Video Games and Violent Children Brittany Hern 02/02/2011 Critical Thinking and Composition Home video games, an industry worth $11 billion domestically that is now 30 years old, continues to be thrown into legal and moral debates regarding what age is deemed appropriate to participate. Video games, especially those deemed to be violent or rated â€Å"mature,† are at the center of the controversy. There are two sides to this debate. Video game companies and their supporters lead one side arguing that video games have no affect on children, and maintain that video games deemed â€Å"mature† are meant for those ages.The other side of this debate consists of psychologists and parents who argue video games are responsible for what they feel is a growing epidemic of increasingly violent and desensitized children. Video game companies continue to assert that the ratings issued by The Entertaining Software Rating Board (ESRB) are to be followed and any results stemming from ga mes being purchased against those ratings fall back on parents. There are five rating categories: Everyone, Everyone 10+, Teen, Mature, Adults Only. The ESRB rates every video game that is to be sold in the United States.Companies like Rockstar Games, which produces some of the most controversial video games, continue to maintain that their video games are produced for adults and are not marketed towards children. Rockstar developer Lazlow Jones was quoted in 2010 as saying â€Å"Our games are not designed for young people. If you’re a parent and buy one of our games for your child you’re a terrible parent†¦ † This quote came after the backlash of the release of another Rockstar Games title that was attacked for being too violent for children.Parents and psychologists agree the ratings are a first step in the right direction, but insist these titles should be pulled from shelves because the continuance of accessibility by children across America. Although t he ratings are in place, children in most states are able to buy video games rated â€Å"Mature. † In those states where identification is necessary, parents argue that homes often filled with adult gamers expose children in the same household to inappropriate video games. They contend that an epidemic of violence and desensitized children are the product of violent video games and not enough supervision.Numerous video game companies have turned to national crime statistics to prove their opposition wrong. Video games have been blamed for several high profile cases. One of the most infamous cases linking violence and video games is the massacre of 13 people at Columbine High School. Jerald Block, a researcher and psychiatrist in Portland, concluded that the two teenage shooters, both avid gamers, went on their shooting rampage after their parents took their weapon-based video game away.Linking video games to high profile violence around the country has not been uncommon. The Virginia Tech shooting was wrongly attributed to video games by several news stations and TV personalities around the country before it was concluded that the shooter did not play video games. Video game companies continue to point to crime statistics to disprove these links. Gaming gained mass appeal in the mid 1990’s and since then sales domestically have quadrupled. From 1995 to 2008, when the industry took strides, juvenile violent crimes fell 49. 3%.With these statistics in hand, video game supporters maintain that violent video games are not to be blamed for any acts of violence committed by underage gamers. The Federal government has played its own role in the debate on relating violence in video games to violent tendencies in children. In 1996 the US Marine Corps licensed a version of the then popular game Doom in order to train soldiers. Psychologists argue that if violent video games play no role in training children to become violent, why would the US Marineâ€℠¢s use a violent video game to train adults.Those against violent video games propose the question: If these adults are trainable via video games then why wouldn’t children, who are far more persuadable, take the things in the games as instructions or guidelines. In 2002, the US Army released a first-person shooter America’s Army in order to recruit soldiers and prepare those recruits for what the battlefield is like. Those against violent video games see this as a direct link between violent video games being a teacher and influencing rather than just being used as a form of entertainment.Furthermore, America’s Army, has been pointed out to look very similar to other first-person shooting games. There have been numerous studies conducted and while the results often are different, video game companies insist there is no formal research that shows any type of link that violent video games cause aggression. A study conducted in 2007 and published in the â€Å"Jou rnal of Adolescent Health,† consisted of 1254 participants, which were pre-teens in demographically diverse schools. The results showed that playing a â€Å"Mature† rated video game was a positive way to manage anger in half of the participants.While the study does say this could be an unhealthy way to manage emotions depending on the child, the participants correlated positivity with the â€Å"Mature† rated video game. Other studies have either been inconclusive and those ruling that violence is linked to violent video games have been dismissed by video game companies and supporters as being blind to other factors. The studies, they explain, do not divulge other contributing factors like a predisposition to aggressiveness, exposure to violence, and family dynamics; all factors that could contribute to violence.Those who oppose violent video games point out a 2000 FBI report entitled â€Å"The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective,† which documen ts likely characteristics of a school shooter. In their research, the FBI concluded that a fascination with violence-filled entertainment is a risk factor associated with a possible school shooter. The report lists â€Å"the student spends inordinate amounts of time playing video games with violent themes, and seems more interested in the violent images than in the game itself. Another study conducted was based on short-term effects of violent video games. The 2009 study conducted by members of the Department of Psychology from both Iowa and Kansas State University, had 91 participants and not only surveyed those participants, but monitored the heart rate to see if there was any deviation. The study added to existing literature that shows violent video games in fact increase aggressive behavior, aggressive feelings, aggressive thoughts, and arousal from baseline to post video game play.Whichever side of the argument you may land on, the opposition is fierce. The debate of whether v iolent video games produce violent children will rage on, both sides undoubtedly not losing any momentum with their opinions. Video game companies will continue to protect their multibillion dollar investment while parents and psychologists will continue putting pressure on lawmakers and the media to dive further into the numerous studies conducted on the possible link. References Barlett, C. , Branch, O. , Rodeheffer, C. nd Harris, R. (2009), How long do the short-term violent video game effects last? Aggressive Behavior, 35:  225–236. Whitworth, D (2010, May 01). Red Dead Redemption hoping for emotional response. BBC. Retrieved 02/01/2011, from http://www. bbc. co. uk/newsbeat/10136311 Nizza, M (2007, July 05). Tying Columbine to Video Games. The New York Times. Retrieved 02/02/2011, from http://thelede. blogs. nytimes. com/2007/07/05/tieing-columbine-to-video-games/ O’Toole, M (2000) The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective. p. 0. Retrieved 02/01/2011, from http://www. fbi. gov/stats-services/publications/school-shooter Olson, C et al. (2007). Factors Correlated with Violent Video Game Use by Adolescent Boys and Girls. Journal of Adolescent Health. Retrieved January 29, 2011, from http://www. jahonline. org/article/S1054-139X(07)00027-4/abstract. Croteau, S. (2010, November 26). Virtual Violence – Video game developers say blame misplaced. Telegram. Retrieved 01/31/2011 from http://www. telegram. com/article/20101126/NEWS/11260474/0/eworcester