Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation Essay

Abstract CBSE has introduced Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) in standard IX and X from 2009. CCE refers to system of school based evaluation of a student that covers all aspects of a student development. It emphasizes continuity in evaluation and assessment of broad based learning and behavioural outcomes on the other. Effectiveness of CCE depends on teachers positive attitudes towards it. Hence, this paper studies the attitude of social science teachers towards CCE at secondary level in relation to their gender, area and teaching experience. The study was descriptive in nature. An Attitude Scale towards CCE developed by Investigator, having forty items was administered to the respondents to determine the subjects’ attitude towards CCE. All the social science teachers, teaching at secondary level in West District of Sikkim constituted the population of the study. Fifty social science teacher comprising male and female, rural and urban and less than and above eight years o f experience were selected as a sample of the study. Two to four social science teachers were selected at random from the sampled institutions. Mean, Standard Deviation, t-test, Quartile Deviation were applied to measure and compare the attitude of social science teachers towards CCE. The analysis of the data revealed that the majority of the social science teachers possess positive attitude towards CCE. It was found that there was no significant difference in attitude towards CCE between the female and male social science teachers. Teacher working in rural secondary schools were found same attitude towards CCE as compared to the teachers working in urban schools. It uncovered the fact that the teachers having less than eight years of experience are equally committed and possess positive attitude towards CCE as compared to the teachers having more than  eight years of experience. The in- depth qualitative study should be conducted to investigate variable affecting attitude of social science teachers at secondary level. Key words: Attitude, social science teachers, continuous and comprehensive evaluation, secondary level. INTRODUCTION The main aim of education is to bring holistic development in the learner. Through education all individuals can achieve greatness and become responsible and productive citizens. Since time immemorial lots of efforts have been given to impart quality education to the younger generation considering them as nation assets but outcomes were always remain questionable. System gave more impetus for transmitting the information but less importance on understanding the need of learner. System emphasizes more on cognitive development of the learner, but for any student to fulfil his her potential, timely and proper assessment is even more imperative as only after this is done can proper guidance be given on how to move forward, improve, develop different facets of personality, polish rough edges, till the finished product emerges like crystals. Comprehensive, proper and timely assessment is lacking in today’s system which values and indeed glorifies learning by rote. Keeping in view of need of quality education, recently new initiative has been done in the field of evaluation, focussing to decrease the accumulated stress of board exams on the students and to introduce a more uniform and comprehensive pattern in education for the children all over the nation. Concept of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation is a process of determining the extent to which the objectives are achieved. It is not only concerned with the appraisal of achievement, but also with its improvement. As testing, evaluation is also concerned with identification of learning experiences and educative environment to produce changes in the learner’s behaviour. It involves information gathering, information processing, judgment forming, and decision-making. Effective implementation of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation is depending on teachers’ attitudes as they are the key person in the transmission and implementation of the system. Teacher is instrumental for better assessment of the students. He is required to have a higher degree of interest to accept the innovation in education because of changing circumstances. A good teacher is expected to be committed to his work and have the ability to take the initiative (Sparks, 1979). The teachers did not know anything about the preparation of the blue print; they were also ignorant about the objectives of unit wise teaching (Tewari 1975) shows their unfavourable attitude towards teaching and evaluation. As Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation is the new initiatives in education substantial majority of the teachers seemed to think that it promoted creativity, analytical ability, regularity and command over the subjects by students, teachers responded positively to the continuous evaluation system (.Rao and Bharathi, 1989). Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation enable teacher and students to make judgments about the work undertaken; to identify their knowledge, attitudes and skills, and to understand the changes that have occurred in these; and to increase their ability to assess their learning and performance. CCE not only helps in awarding grades and certificates but also helps teachers to diagnosis learning difficulty of the learner. Continuous evaluation would help the subject teachers to diagnose the deficiencies in their students so that they could adopt appropriate corrective measures at the appropriate time (Rao, 1982). CCE helps to teacher to ascertain the learning difficulties among the learner but it depends on their ability and attitude to use different types of tools and techniques. (Thangamani, 1989) found the teachers working in Madurai city higher secondary schools positive attitude towards oral examination as a diagnostic device. Continuity of assessment from the first day of school is the prime motive of CCE rather than sole depend on summative evaluation. Conventional evaluation system was emphasized on summative evaluation only. Traditional evaluation system facilitates more rote learning, classify of pupils based on division and marks rather than creativity, social and emotional development. Whereas, CCE (Pareek, P.L. 1986) scheme does not like examination; seek to classify  the pupils into classes or divisions but aims essentially at their all-round improvement or development. Assessment is done from time to time with the aim of discovering the extent of their progress, their strengths and weaknesses and then to take on that basis necessary steps to bring about the desired growth. This scheme promotes healthy student teacher parent relationship by giving them continuous and necessary feedback at frequent intervals to both teachers and parents. People’s attitudes towards new approach have an effect on implementation. It is also valid for new approach of evaluation system i.e., Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation. The quality of education is directly related to quality of evaluation. Teacher is expected to not only to master the subject and various methods of teaching but also to show that he is capable of selecting the various study materials according to the teaching goals and varied group of pupils. He also possesses the potentials to create a learning environment for the students (Vermont and Verschaffel, 2000. The success of a curriculum depends on its transactional strategies and the skills of teachers in reading to students (Pandey, 2000). They have to plan how to arrange remedial teaching for low and slow achievers to bring them on an equal footing with their peers. The teachers are required to use the educational technology to the maximum and continuous and comprehensive evaluation frequently. CCE implies not only a change in evaluation practices in the classroom but also a paradigm shift in the autonomy and responsibility of teachers. Teachers are supposed to update him/ her with the latest knowledge to cope up with the need of the time. Teachers’ lack of sense of responsibility and unfavourable attitude cannot bring any changes in evaluation system which was found (Rao Manjula, 1998; 2001; 2002) that Evaluation practices carried out in schools are still conventional in their nature and purposes. The personal and social qualities are totally ignored due to lack of awareness of what to be evaluated and how to evaluate. Assessment of wrong things or the same range of things too often is carried out. One doesnâ €™t get a fair and realistic picture of what students have actually mastered. (Smita, 2002) CCE demands that the teacher should change her strategies on the basis of the outcomes continuously and tailor them to the needs of individual children. The principal and the teachers should develop an action plan indicating the scheme of evaluation, identifying the task and role of  different activities and their time schedule, mode of implementation and feedback mechanism along with remediation strategies (Rajput and Kumar, 2003). Unfavourable attitude of teachers towards Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation can make the effect of scheme more badly than the conventional evaluation system. (Rao and Rao, 2008) the teachers were found to be recording mechanically by simply putting tick against each student to satisfy the supervising and inspecting authorities. Without the dedication and positive attitude towards the CCE the aim of the scheme can not be accomplished. NEED OF THE STUDY Continuous and comprehensive evaluation necessitates the use of multiple evaluation techniques and tools in addition to certain conventional ones. This is required because different specific areas of pupil growth need different types of evaluation through certain techniques. The teacher has to select the most appropriate technique for a situation and develop the necessary tools for the same, and decide upon the periodicity and timing of evaluation. As a social science teacher, he/she should have Knowledge and ability to construct assessment tools that are criterion based appropriate for assessing the competencies. Social science teacher at secondary level are dealing with the adolescence learner so they are expected to require knowledge, skills of evaluation, commitment, and assistance to provide remedial teaching. Teacher should have favourable attitude to use new innovation in evaluation system. This study therefore seeks to provide some insight into the attitude of social science teachers from some randomly selected secondary and senior secondary schools in West District of Sikkim towards Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation. The study was delimited to West District and only Government schools of Sikkim. Objectives The objectives of the study were: 1. To study the attitude of Secondary Social Science Teachers towards the CCE, 2. To study the difference between male and female Secondary Social Science teachers attitude towards CCE, 3. To study the difference between rural and urban Secondary Social Science teachers attitude towards CCE and 4. To study the difference in teachers attitude towards CCE between the teachers having more than and less than 8 years of teaching experience. Research Questions /Hypothesis The research question and hypotheses were: 1. Whether there is any attitudinal variation among the secondary social science school teachers towards CCE? 2. There exists no significant difference in attitudinal score between male and female teachers towards CCE. 3. There exists no significant difference in attitudinal between urban and rural social science teachers towards CCE 4. There exists no significant difference in attitudinal score between social science teachers having less than and above eight years of experience towards CCE. METHOD The present study was undertaken using the survey method. SAMPLE The investigator selected about 50 secondary social science teachers from the secondary and senior secondary schools of west district, Sikkim on random selection basis as the target group of the study. The distribution of the sample selected for the study were twenty seven female and twenty three male social science teachers of which only twelve were from urban schools and thirty eight were from rural school again from the same sample twenty three teachers were having less than eight years and twenty seven were having above eight years of teaching experience. TOOLS In the study of attitude, the investigator constructed the attitude scale for assessing the attitudes of social science teachers towards CCE at secondary level. There were forty statements in the scale having thirty three positive and seven negative statements. It was constructed in five point scale ranging from Strongly Agree, Agree, Undecided, Disagree and Strongly Disagree. Maximum weightage to each statement was five. So, the maximum score of the scale was 200 and minimum was 40. DATA COLLECTION Researcher personally contacted all the respondents and administered attitude scale to collect the data. Clear instructions were prepared for the respondents. They were requested to go through the general instructions first and then to respond. The respondents were asked to decide about their agreement with the statements and mark the relevant response honestly on the given space. Attitude scale and personal information sheet were distributed to subjects with the request to complete and return it as soon as possible. The measurement of attitudes of these groups and the comparisons therefore were undertaken to find out the differences in the attitude of different groups. The comparison were aimed at locating the differences in the attitude towards CCE affected by the variable a) gender, b) the area of residence rural and urban , and c) teaching experience- less than and more than eight years of teaching experience. STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURE OF ANALYSIS The investigator used Quartile Deviation to find out the total attitude score of the subjects and t test to make comparisons between the variable like male: female, urban: rural and below eight years: above eight years of teaching experience. Research Question-1 Whether there is any attitudinal variation among the secondary social science school teachers towards CCE? For the analysis of Research Question 1 Investigator categorized the score with quartile deviation. Categorizations are as follows: Score up to 145 = Marginal attitude, 145-159 = moderate attitude and above 159 = highly favourable attitude. Result found that 24% fall under marginal attitude, 52% moderate attitude and 24% highly favourable attitude. Hypothesis-2 There exists no significant difference in attitudinal score between male and female teachers towards CCE. To establish if teachers’ gender has influence  on their attitude towards CCE at secondary level the t-test statistics was utilized to test the hypothesis as shown Table II below. Table 1 show that the calculated t’value 0.62 is less than the critical value 2.01 at 0.05 level of significance. This indicates that the difference in the attitudes of Male and Female Teachers towards CCE is not significant hence Ho is accepted. It revealed that male and female social science teachers are having equally positive attitude towards continuous and comprehensive evaluation. There is no influence of sex on the attitude of social science teachers towards CCE. Hpothesis-3 There exists no significant difference in attitudinal score between urban and rural social science teachers towards CCE. Table 2 shows that the calculated t’value 0.77 is less than the critical value 2.01 at 0.05 alpha level of significance. This indicates that the difference in the attitudes of Urban and Rural Teachers towards CCE is not significant hence Ho is accepted. It revealed that social science teachers from urban schools are having same attitudes towards CCE as rural school social science teachers possess. Further, it can be said that on the basis of location of school attitudes of teachers can not be influence and make differences towards continuous and comprehensive evaluation. Hypothesis-4 There exists no significant difference in attitudinal score between social science teachers having less than and above eight years of experience towards CCE. Table 3: Shows that the calculated t’value 0.63 is less than the critical value 2.01 at 0.05 alpha level of significance. This indicates that the difference in the attitudes of social science teachers having less than and above eight years of teaching experience towards CCE is not significant hence Ho is accepted. It revealed that experience is not the factor to make attitudinal difference towards continuous and comprehensive evaluation but teacher’s enthusiasm, interest may make the difference. Further, it can be said that experienced teachers and fresh teachers are equally capable to make CCE successful and should be given equal responsibility to carry out the task. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS The result of the study revealed that the proportion of Social Science teachers who had scored above 159 out of 200 points was 24%, 145-159 was 52 % and 120-144 was 24%. . This indicates that 24% social science teacher’s attitude were highly favourable attitude, 52% teachers’ moderate positive and 24 % teachers’ marginal positive. Teachers’ attitudes have important implication for effective implementation of CCE in the school. In the area of CCE plenty of researches are not available in general and attitude of secondary social science teachers towards in CCE in particular. Few research like Rao and Bharati (1989) found positive attitude of teachers towards continuous evaluation system. It was observed that majority of teachers seemed to think that it promoted creativity, analytical ability, regularity  and command over the subjects by students. Similarly, in the study of Thangamani (1989) teachers showed positive attitude towards oral examination as a di agnostic device, this also comes under the purview of present CCE but it was not launched at that time. The effectiveness of CCE implementation depends on teachers’ positive attitude and awareness towards it. Rajput and Kumar (2003) also opined the need of orientation for teachers in the conceptual and practical aspects of scheme to give them clear understanding as to how to go about the CCE. Present study reveals that, teachers possess positive attitudes towards CCE. It was found by Rao and Rao (2008) that primary school teachers were not doing continuous assessment systematically, not identifying the learning difficulties and remedial instruction was not provided. It also revealed that teachers were recording against the each student’s performance and activities just to satisfy the supervising and inspecting authority. Such findings about the teachers were probably due to lack of awareness about CCE among the teachers as it was not implemented in all areas. Rao Manjula (2002) also found evaluation practices carried out in schools were still conventional in their nature and purposes in those schools were teachers are not trained in in-service programmes. In concluding, it would seem that positive attitude of social teachers towards Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation was probably due to proper in-service training. In some of the studies it was found that attitude was not positive due to lack of training, awareness and significance about CCE. Present study also found social science teachers’ attitude not influenced by gender, area and teaching experience, which probably due to large scale awareness programme in Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation and in-service training to all the teachers without any criteria of gender, experience and area of school. Further, in-depth qualitative study on teachers’ attitude towards CCE and its effect on effective implementation are essential to unveil the truth. References 1. Agrawal, M. (2000) Towards Quality school through Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation. Journal of Indian Education xxvi, 2, 1-12 August. 2. Bhattacharjee, A. & Sharma, N. (2010). Status of co-scholastic activities in the school programme of the elementary schools. Journal of all India association for educational research 22, 1, 61-65, June. 3. Government of India (1986): National Policy on Education, MHRD, Department of Education, New Delhi. 4. Green, L. W. & Kreuter, M. M. (1991). Health promotional planning: an educational and environmental approach, 2nd ed. Mountain view, Mayfield’s 5. Lord, D. (1998). ICT supported multimedia learning materials: Catering for individual learner differences. Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Conference, Belfast, United Kingdom. 6. Mandal, P.K. (2010) Towards Positing a Paradigm for Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation in Social Science. Journal of Indian Education XXXVI, 3, Nov. 7. Mangal, S. K. & Mangal, S. (2011). An emotionally intelligent teacher at the heart of successful CCE. Edutracks 10, 8, 6-8, April. 8. Mukherjee, R. (2007). Impact of continuous and comprehensive evaluation in improving school community symbiosis. Master thesis, Regional Institute of Education, Bhubaneswar, Orissa. 9. NCERT (2005): National Curriculum Framework for School Education, Published at the Publication Department, Secretary, NCERT, New Delhi. 10. NCERT (1988): National Curriculum for Elementary and Secondary Education – A Framework (Revised Version), Published at the Publication Department, Secretary, NCERT, New Delhi. 11. Rajput, S. et. al. (2003). Concept of continuous and comprehensive evaluation. Continuous and comprehensive evaluation (Teacher’s handbook for primary stage), NCERT, New Delhi. 12. Rao, K. S. (1989). Influence of continuous evaluation on learning in school. Indian educational review 22, 50. 13. Rao, R. S., & Bharathi, M. (1989). Evaluation of continuous evaluation system of examination system in Kendriya Vidyalaya. Fifth survey of educational research, 2, 1992. 14. Rao, Manjula et al. (1998): Impact of SOPT Training Programme on the Classroom Practices of Teachers – A Study in Southern States, RIE (NCERT), Mysore. 15. Rao Manjula P. (2001). Effectiveness of the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation Training Programme over the Evaluation Practices of Primary School Teachers. A DPEP Research Study in Tamil Nadu, RIE, Mysore. 16. Rao Manjula P. and S.P. Kulkarni (2002). Development and Implementation of a School Based Evaluation System at Primary Stage in Demonstration School, RIE, Mysore. 17. Rossi, P.H.; Lipsey, M.W., & Freeman, H.E. (2004). Evaluation: A systematic approach (7th Ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage. 18. Smita. (2002). Continuous and comprehensive evaluation, shift in learner evaluation; A synthesis of case studies. Technical support group. District primary education programme, Educational consultant India limited, New Delhi. 19. Ved Prakash, et al. (2000): Grading in Schools, Published at the Publication Division by the Secretary, NCERT, New Delhi.

Emotions/ Moods and the Group Essay

In assessing my own role within the organization, I have come to conclusion that there were several basic questions to be answered. First, I wanted to clearly understand what factors motivated me at workplace. Second, I wanted to determine my managerial skills and to understand whether I needed job enrichment. Third, I had to know whether I was capable of following ethical standards at work, and how I managed my stress. All these questions were answered by me through the set of specially designed self-assessments. Motivation and job enrichment are the two categories which have for long been interrelated. In her article, Payne (2007) defined job enrichment as â€Å"increasing an employee’s responsibility and control over his or her work† (p. 235). As a result, job enrichment is one of the major pathways towards increasing employee motivation. Despite the fact that I was traditionally satisfied with my job, the first self-assessment test has revealed my low job motivating potential. With the score of 32 (against 128 in average) I could hardly hope to increase this motivation in the nearest future. Simultaneously, I have come to conclusion, and this conclusion was absolutely natural in terms of the previous result, that job enrichment is what I needed working in this organization. Probably, this was the reasons of my being unable to identify my role in this organization: motivated employees better realize what they do, and what they can do for their company (Payne 2007, p. 237). In this search of the â€Å"organizational self† understanding what type of organization I preferred could shed the light onto my organizational skills and roles; yet, the self-assessment test has not led me to any relevant conclusions. The results have shown that I did not have any clear preferences as for the type of organization in which I would like to work. Consequentially, I have come to understanding the two basic things: first, as far as I did not display any organizational preferences, I could find myself and realize myself in any company; second, the problem of motivation did not lie in the type of organization, but in the attitudes of management, and the conditions in which I had to work. A study conducted by Chiaburn and Marinova (2006) has researched the connection between fairness and employee role enlargement within an organization. The authors have come to conclusion that fairness-related components can play significant role in enhancing the employee role (Chiaburn & Marinova 2006, p. 176); but is it possible for an employee to drive his own motivation and to manage these aspects? The results of several other self-assessments have led me to the realization of the following facts: my political skills in organization are better than average, which presupposes that in my daily performance I follow fundamental ethical principles; I am committed to my organization, and display extremely high motivation to manage. Simultaneously, I am capable of managing turbulent changes, have low probability of stress-related stress changes (35-50%), and is far from experiencing burnout (my score is 2. 43 with 7 being the maximal result for this assessment scale). Self-assessment tests have helped me to realize what I mean for the organization, what limitations I face on my way towards better career, and what problems I have in my professional development. I realize that I can manage people but my current responsibilities do not leave enough space for me to act. I do not have professional opportunity to display my abilities, and thus I do not possess clear perspectives for my career growth. Although my organizational profile cannot be called perfect, and I have to be prepared to certain risks (stresses and burnouts), my profile in general is connected with significant career potential. As long as I have no possibility to realize it in the current organization, I could think of changing my employment. Bearing in mind that I do not display any clear preferences as for the type of organization, I expect that I would be able to easily adjust to any new organizational environment. Conclusion My profile has clearly determined my role in the organization and the problems of my career development. What I currently realize is that I have to look for other opportunities to realize my potential. What I now have is the clear understanding of my positive sides and constraints, which I have to face in my professional career within any organization I choose.

Traditional Cultures Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Traditional Cultures Report - Essay Example Forces contributing to cultural change Modernization has been examined as a force that causes cultural change in the social structure as a culture. It is through modernization that societies have experience urbanization, industrialization and social change that transform the lives of people in the different societies. Modernization tends to be a positive force that impacts the social structure in that it is because of it that societies have moved from barbarism to civilization. However, it is also evident that modernization may have a negative impact on the social structure in terms of the destruction it causes to the traditions of the different societies. This is thought to be, as a result of, the incorporation of some aspects of westernization. It is as a result of, this that social structures have been destroyed since the indigenous cultures have been replaced by some western cultures (Sijuwade, 126). Research reveals that globalization is one of the forces that have contributed t o the changes experienced in the social structure. This can be illustrated from changes in the social structures of the different African communities. Globalization tends to have both positive and negative impacts on the social structure. It has resulted to changes in the social structure from changes in the lifestyles, thoughts and technology. ... ion is thought to have a positive impact on the social structure in that it enhanced evolution of the cultural processes of some societies through the exposure of people to different ways of thinking. It is because of some global trends that societies get to know more about each other, therefore, improving the social structure of communities as a cultural aspect (Sijuwade, 126). Reasons why the change seems inevitable The changes that have been experienced in the social structure seem to be inevitable. This is because of the increased processes of modernization and globalization. The changes in the social structures of the different societies seem to be for the best. This is because when human communities from different societies share information through global networks of information the cultural understanding is normally enhanced, therefore, resulting to an improvement in the lives of individuals within the different societies. An example of this is evident in the African society. It is evident that many changes associated with the development have taken place in the African society as a result of globalization. Despite the negative views concerning the impacts of modernization and globalization of the social structure. People should embrace the changes that have been experienced in the social structure because of the advancements they bring to the society (Sijuwade, 127). Globalization has also had an impact on the social structure of communities through the establishment of online communities. Some of the factors that have been lost include the destruction of social structures through the establishment of new identities. However, it has enhanced the acquisition of new ideas, therefore, resulting to the development of social structures (Sijuwade, 127). An

Ethics in Financial Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Ethics in Financial Management - Essay Example In the article discussed in this paper we see how a person in power takes advantage of his position for personal gain. Henry M. Paulson was the Treasury secretary during the Bush Administration. He was also a major shareholder of Goldman Sachs. Mr. Paulson wanted to make it seem as if his ethical standards were implacable. He sold all his shares of Goldman Sachs and vowed not to get involved in any issues associated with the investment banking sector since he had many friends and colleagues in the industry. Getting involved in issues associated with the investment banking sector would constitute a conflict of interest ethical violation. A conflict of interest occurs when a person has a conflict between his private interest and the individual public obligations (Answers, 2009). The Treasury secretary was in the middle of the entire bailout package scandal. When the government allocated $85 million dollar of the bailout money to the American International Group (AIG), Mr. Paulson’s former employer, Goldman Sachs, received millions of dollars in debt collection from AIG as a consequence of the b ailout package deal. Even though Henry Paulson claims he did nothing wrong and that his actions were not unethical in any way because he was simply doing his job as secretary of treasury, many Wall Street experts believed Goldman Sachs received preferential treatment during the entire process. During the AIG bailout package took place Mr. Paulson spoke the CEO of Goldman Sachs over two dozen times (Morgenson & Van Natta, 2009). The amount of phone calls exceeds by a lot the conversations the governmental official had with any other Wall Street executive. Mr. Paulson claimed he received an ethics waiver. To me this waiver seems like a cheap excuse because the treasury secretary’s actions were clearly an ethical violation since his former employer was receiving preferential

Comparison matrix Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Comparison matrix - Essay Example This type of learning transcends to a more interconnected view of the universe [where] knowledge is seen as an abstract whole to be accessed through inquiry of themes, issues, experiences, and problems (Mathison and Freeman, 1997). This approach to social studies learning also encourages discussion, critical thinking, creativity and decision making which is applicable in a real world setting. Its drawback is its cost because implementation of integrative learning may require an overhaul of the curriculum being used in the current K-12 system. According to the study of (Petrides et al., 2011) while textbooks provide a cost saving method to facilitate learning, textbook learning still requires more opportunities for more engagement and interaction such as â€Å"in-class discussions led by students, supported by web-based interactive technologies† (41). Compared to integrative learning, textbook learning is very limited as the interpretation of the universe is limited only to the viewpoint of the author and does not provide the opportunity for application, comparison and discussion of the text. c) Commercially purchased social studies learning – commercially purchased social studies learning such as technology assisted teaching medium (DVD tutorials, online learning) became more versatile today than they were first introduced, it still cannot facilitate critical reflection and decision making due to the limitation of the medium (Rose and Fernlund, 1997). Unlike the integrative method of social studies learning where a student can infer to various discipline in synthesizing his or her interpretation of the universe, commercially purchased social studies learning are only limited to the pre-set curriculum of the program purchased. Online learning may provide interaction but the coverage of discussion is not as comprehensive compared to integrative mode of learning. Commercially purchased social studies learning can also be costly

Animation Question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Animation Question - Essay Example It is an improvement from 5 drawings because it includes a number of activities. It implies that the character could be having substantial weight (Ratner, 295). It allows the audience to see the character undertake preparations for jumping. At seven drawings, the character is held in the midair. The action creates suspense in the animation, which is a significant aspect of literature. The scenario is an improvement from 15 drawings. It allows the audience to view additional activities. It allows the audience to substantiate the weight of the audience. First, movement of the coyote can be easily noticed as walking or running (Ratner, 295). It then lowers itself down swiftly in order to prepare to jump. It then exposes itself in the air to jump. The coyote successfully suspends itself in the air to create an effect to viewers. The timing also allows the audience to study the relative speeds of the coyote and

Theater Preserving Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Theater Preserving Culture - Essay Example Theater supplies learners with skills that are creative, easily influenced and that easily fit changes and developments that enable them to express themselves, critically examine the world around them and actively engage in the different aspects of human existence (UNESCO p. 5) as audiences compare observations to real life situations. The concepts presented through the theater in a way, when placed side by side with the culture that is currently observed, can result to the creation of new morals and laws that can establish improvements in the practices of certain groups of people. The presentation of cultures on the stage offers enlightening information about peoples, explain what they do, why they do this or that, and in effect, making people aware of the existence of such and such culture. As the world now learns to embrace diversity, there is also a sense coming that cultural differences should be accepted as well. In fact, different cultures seem to spice up the lives of other cultures as they are presented, because in some ways, cultures are observed to be related with each other. This then leads to an even more interesting study of the origin of nations, tribes, clans and families which points to the centuries-old mystery of the origin of man. As cultures are expressed through the theater, people not only learn about them but through the artistic view of the audiences, some relevant improvements may come from them. The artistic abilities of viewers can be activated or improved through the replay of cultures in the stage.

Supply Network Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Supply Network - Essay Example Supply chain network can be described as a customer-oriented operation management. The following diagram is an illustration of the supply chain network process. However beneficial the supply chain designs are to a company’s growth, there are a few flaws to these designs. For example, there is the issue of variation in minimum cost objectives. Still on the case of Sun Orchard, supply chain design objectives will be more beneficial only in the distribution of physical goods (Sun Orchard, 2012). Thereby, Sun Orchard should apply supply chain designs that mainly focus on proximity rather than the costs involved. Consequently, the application of the supply chain designs is not a guarantee that they will bring diversity and applicability to the business. Supply Chain Example: for Sun Orchard juice production. Sun Orchard is a juice producing company in the United States. The company specializes in the production and distribution of all kinds of juices with a global presence in Ameri ca, Australia, Asia and Africa. A simple process of the supply chain network process in Sun Orchard shows the links between the farm, the production plant to the distribution outlets and how materials and information is shared between these links. Supply Chain: Sun Orchard farm Juicing plant National Regional Shops, Distribution Distribution Supermarkets Centers Centers Vending machines The above supply chain is a simple illustration of the way information and material flows from the sun orchard farm, right through the process of production to the customers. Company change Nestle has successfully managed to apply supply chain management strategies for more business... This paper stresses that the current developments in IT have helped Target Australia in the development of its supply chain network process. Information Technology brings a smooth flow throughout the supply network. A supply chain design with system integration is able to provide an integrated transaction processing platform for the company, enhancing its overall performance and improving consistency in information relay and in improving efficiency in transaction processes. For example, the use of Electronic Data Interchange has helped Target Australia in relaying information thus reducing the costs of sending documents. According to Mike Johnston of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative center, North Carolina University, an EDI helps in time management, create efficiency in the management of warehouse, create accuracy in transactions, and reduce clerical/administrative costs. This report makes a conclusion that The process starts from purchasing, production and then distribution to consumers. Flow of information is a link to the whole chain of supply from supplier and manufacturer to the customer. When the flow of information is unconstrained; the company will increase accuracy of operation by saving costs of production and fostering competitiveness of companies. Product flow profits through this supply chain from materials in raw state to manufacturing and lastly the finished goods which are sold to customers. The SCM deals with purchase manufacture and lastly, transport.

Hydrolic Fracking Research Paper Essay Example for Free

Hydrolic Fracking Research Paper Essay Hydraulic fracturing is a process used in nine out of 10 natural gas wells in the United States, where millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals are pumped underground to break apart the rock and release the gas. Scientists are worried that the chemicals used in fracturing may pose a threat either underground or when waste fluids are handled and sometimes spilled on the surface. The natural gas industry defends hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, as safe and efficient. Thomas J. Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, a pro-industry non-profit organization, claims fracking has been â€Å"a widely deployed as safe extraction technique,† dating back to 1949. What he doesn’t say is that until recently energy companies had used low-pressure methods to extract natural gas from fields closer to the surface than the current high-pressure technology that extracts more gas, but uses significantly more water, chemicals, and elements. The industry claims well drilling in the Marcellus Shale will bring several hundred thousand jobs, and has minimal health and environmental risk. President Barack Obama in his January 2012 State of the Union, said he believes the development of natural gas as an energy source to replace fossil fuels could generate 600,000 jobs. However, research studies by many economists and others debunk the idea of significant job creation. Barry Russell, president of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, says â€Å"no evidence directly connects injection of fracking fluid into shale with aquifer contamination.† Fracking â€Å"has never been found to contaminate a water well,† says Christine Cronkright, communications director for the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Research studies and numerous incidents of water contamination prove otherwise. In late 2010, equipment failure may have led to toxic levels of chemicals in the well water of at least a dozen families in Co noquenessing Township in Bradford County. Township officials and Rex Energy, although acknowledging that two of the drilling wells had problems with the casings, claimed there were pollutants in the drinking water before Rex moved into the area. John Fair disagrees. â€Å"Everybody had good water a year ago,† Fair told environmental writer and activist Iris Marie Bloom in February 2012. Bloom says residents told her the color of water changed to red, orange, and gray after Rex began drilling. Among the chemicals detected in the well water, in addition to methane gas, were ammonia, arsenic, chloromethane, iron, manganese, t-butyl alcohol, and toluene. While not acknowledging that its actions could have caused the pollution, Rex did provide fresh water to the residents, but then stopped doing so on Feb. 29, 2012, after the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said the well water was safe. The residents absolutely disagreed and staged protests against Rex; environmental activists and other residents trucked in portable water jugs to help the affected families. The Marcellus Outreach Butler blog (MOB) declared that residents’ â€Å"lives have been severely disrupted and their health has been severely impacted. To just ‘close the book’ on investigations into their troubles when so many indicators point to the accountability of the gas industry for the disruption of their lives is unbelievable . In April 2011, near Towanda, Pa., seven families were evacuated after about 10,000 gallons of wastewater contaminated an agricultural field and a stream that flows into the Susquehanna River, the result of an equipment failure, according to the Bradford County Emergency Management Agency.The following month, DEP fined Chesapeake Energy $900,000, the largest amount in the state’s history, for allowing methane gas to pollute the drinking water of 16 families in Bradford County during the previous year. The DEP noted there may have been toxic methane emissions from as many as six wells in five towns. The DEP also fined Chesapeake $188,000 for a fire at a well in Washington County that injured three workers. In January 2012, an equipment failure at a drill site in Susquehanna County led to a spill of several thousand gallons of fluid for almost a half-hour, causing potential pollution, according to the DEP. In its citation to Carizzo Oil and Gas, the DEP strongly recommended that the company cease drilling at all 67 wells â€Å"until the cause of this problem and a solution are identified.† In December 2011, the federal Environmental Protection Agency concluded that fracking operations could be responsible for groundwater pollution.â€Å"Today’s methods make gas drilling a filthy business. You know it’s bad when nearby residents can light the water coming out of their tap on fire,† says Larry Schweiger, president of the National Wildlife Federation. Whatâ €™s causing the fire is the methane from the drilling operations. A ProPublica investigation in 2009 revealed methane contamination was widespread in drinking water in areas around fracking operations in Colorado, Texas, Wyoming, and Pennsylvania. The presence of methane in drinking water in Dimock, Pa., had become the focal point for Josh Fox’s investigative documentary, Gasland, which received an Academy Award nomination in 2011 for Outstanding Documentary; Fox also received an Emmy for non-fiction directing. Fox’s interest in fracking intensified when a natural gas company offered $100,000 for mineral rights on property his family owned in Milanville, in the extreme northeast part of Pennsylvania, about 60 miles east of Dimock. Research by a team of scientists from Duke University revealed â€Å"methane contamination of shallow drinking water systems that is associated with shale-gas extraction.† The data and conclusions, published in the May 2011 issue of the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, note d that not only did most drinking wells near drilling sites have methane, but those closest to the drilling wells, about a half-mile, had an average of 17 times the methane of those of other wells. â€Å"Some of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing—or liberated by it—are carcinogens,† Dr. Sandra Steingraber told members of the Environmental Conservation and Health committee of the New York State Assembly. Dr. Steingraber, a biologist and distinguished scholar in residence at Ithaca College, pointed out that some of the chemicals â€Å"are neurological poisons with suspected links to learning deficits in children,† while others â€Å"are asthma triggers. Some, especially the radioactive ones, are known to bioaccumulate in milk. Others are reproductive toxicants that can contribute to pregnancy loss.† An investigation by New York Times reporter Ian Urbina, based upon thousands of unreported EPA documents and a confidential study by the natural gas industry, concluded, â€Å"Radioactivity in drilling waste cannot be fully diluted in rivers and other waterways.† Urbina learned that wastewater from fracking operations was about 100 tim es more toxic than federal drinking water standards; 15 wells had readings about 1,000 times higher than standards. Research by Dr. Ronald Bishop, a biochemist at SUNY/Oneonta, suggests that fracking to extract methane gas â€Å"is highly likely to degrade air, surface water and ground-water quality, to harm humans, and to negatively impact aquatic and forest ecosystems.† He notes that â€Å"potential exposure effects for humans will include poisoning of susceptible tissues, endocrine disruption syndromes, and elevated risk for certain cancers.† Every well, says Dr. Bishop, â€Å"will generate a sediment discharge of approximately eight tons per year into local waterways, further threatening federally endangered mollusks and other aquatic organisms.† In addition to the environmental pollution by the fracking process, Dr. Bishop believes â€Å"intensive use of diesel-fuel equipment will degrade air quality [that could affect] humans, livestock, and crops.† Equally important are questions about the impact of as many as 200 diesel-fueled trucks each day bringing water to t he site and then removing the waste water. In addition to the normal diesel emissions of trucks, there are also problems of leaks of the contaminated water. â€Å"We need to know how diesel fuel got into our water supply,† says Diane Siegmund, a clinical psychologist from Towanda, Pa. â€Å"It wasn’t there before the companies drilled wells; it’s here now,† she says. Siegmund is also concerned about contaminated dust and mud. â€Å"There is no oversight on these,† she says, â€Å"but those trucks are muddy when they leave the well sites, and dust may have impact miles from the well sites.† Research â€Å"strongly implicates exposure to gas drilling operations in serious health effects on humans, companion animals, livestock, horses, and wildlife,† according to Dr. Michelle Bamberger, a veterinarian, and Dr. Robert E. Oswald, a biochemist and professor of molecular medicine at Cornell University. Their study, published in New Solutions, an academic journal in environmental health, documents evidence of milk contamination, breeding problems, and cow mortality in areas near fracking operation s as higher than in areas where no fracking occurred. Drs. Bamberger and Oswald noted that some of the symptoms present in humans from what may be polluted water from fracking operations include rashes, headaches, dizziness, vomiting, and severe irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat. For animals, the symptoms often led to reproductive problems and death. Significant impact upon wildlife is also noted in a 900-page Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) conducted by New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation. According to the EIS, â€Å"In addition to loss of habitat, other potential direct impacts on wildlife from drilling in the Marcellus Shale include increased mortality . . . altered microclimates, and increased traffic, noise, lighting, and well flares.† The impact, according to the report, â€Å"may include a loss of genetic diversity, species isolation, population declines . . . increased predation, and an increase of invasive species.† The report concludes that because of fracking, there is â€Å"little to no place in the study areas where wildlife would not be impacted, [leading to] serious cascading ecological consequences.† The impact of course affects the quality of milk and meat production as animals drink and graze near areas that have been taken over by the natural gas industry. The response by the industry and its political allies to the scientific studies of the health and environmental effects of fracking â€Å"has approached the issue in a manner similar to the tobacco industry that for many years rejected the link between smoking and cancer,† say Drs. Bamberger and Oswald. Not only do they call for â€Å"full disclosure and testing of air, water, soil, animals, and humans,† but point out that with lax oversight, â€Å"the gas drilling boom . . . will remain an uncontrolled health experiment on an enormous scale.† Bibliography of Works Cited: http://www.marcellusoutreachbutler.org/ http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/03/19/the-perils-of-fracking/ www.coalitiontoprotectnewyork.org http://psehealthyenergy.net/data/Bamberger_Oswald_NS22_in_press.pdf http://www.scribd.com/doc/97449702/100-Fracking-Victims http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/us/04natgas.html?pagewanted=all http://steingraber.com/ http://frack.mixplex.com/content/scientific-study-links-flammable-drinking-water-fracking http://www.hydraulicfracturing.com/Pages/information.aspx http://www.epa.gov/hydraulicfracture/ http://geology.com/articles/hydraulic-fracturing/

Caso Scott and Sons Company Essay Example for Free

Caso Scott and Sons Company Essay O. M. Scott and Sons Company is a business in the lawn care and garden product industry. Currently, the company is reviewing the results of 1961 and preparing plans for the 1962 selling season. Sales were increasing and so is net income except for the year 1960 to 1961. he company is facing a good economy as evidenced by the increase in sales. Industry is investing in research and development of products. Competitors are slowly entering the market. O. M. Scott and Sons Company is a business in the lawn care and garden product industry. Currently, the company is reviewing the results of 1961 and preparing plans for the 1962 selling season. Sales were increasing and so is net income except for the year 1960 to 1961. Presently, the company is using a combination of traditional seasonal dating plan and trust receipt plan to encourage and enable as many dealers as possible to be well stocked in advance of seasonal sales peaks. Also, this combination was used to retain security interest in merchandise shipped. Documents the organizational changes that took place at O. M. Scott Sons Co. in response to their leveraged buyout. Provides the opportunity for students to discuss the effects of high leverage on management decision making, and the differences between operating as a small subsidiary of a large conglomerate and as a free-standing company. Focuses on the role of the LBO sponsor in the management of the company, the role of restrictive debt covenants, and the effect of changes in the compensation system at the company. See more at: http://www. iesep. com/es/o-m-scott-sons-co-leveraged-buyout-13961. html#sthash. U5XhTQSy. dpuf Presently, the company is using a combination of traditional seasonal dating plan and trust receipt plan to encourage and enable as many dealers as possible to be well stocked in advance of seasonal sales peaks. Also, this combination was used to retain security interest in merchandise shipped. Documents the organizational changes that took place at O. M. Scott Sons Co. in response to their leveraged buyout. Provides the opportunity for students to discuss the effects of high leverage on management decision making, and the differences between operating as a small subsidiary of a large conglomerate and as a free-standing company. Focuses on the role of the LBO sponsor in the management of the company, the role of restrictive debt covenants, and the effect of changes in the compensation system at the company. See more at: http://www. iesep. com/es/o-m-scott-sons-co-leveraged-buyout-13961. html#sthash. U5XhTQSy. dpuf he company is facing a good economy as evidenced by the increase in sales. Industry is investing in research and development of products. Competitors are slowly entering the market. O. M. Scott and Sons Company is a business in the lawn care and garden product industry. Currently, the company is reviewing the results of 1961 and preparing plans for the 1962 selling season. Sales were increasing and so is net income except for the year 1960 to 1961. Presently, the company is using a combination of traditional seasonal dating plan and trust receipt plan to encourage and enable as many dealers as possible to be well stocked in advance of seasonal sales peaks. Also, this combination was used to retain security interest in merchandise shipped. Documents the organizational changes that took place at O. M. Scott Sons Co. in response to their leveraged buyout. Provides the opportunity for students to discuss the effects of high leverage on management decision making, and the differences between operating as a small subsidiary of a large conglomerate and as a free-standing company. Focuses on the role of the LBO sponsor in the management of the company, the role of restrictive debt covenants, and the effect of changes in the compensation system at the company. See more at: http://www. iesep. com/es/o-m-scott-sons-co-leveraged-buyout-13961. html#sthash. U5XhTQSy. dpuf he company is facing a good economy as evidenced by the increase in sales. Industry is investing in research and development of products. Competitors are slowly entering the market. O. M. Scott and Sons Company is a business in the lawn care and garden product industry. Currently, the company is reviewing the results of 1961 and preparing plans for the 1962 selling season. Sales were increasing and so is net income except for the year 1960 to 1961. Presently, the company is using a combination of traditional seasonal dating plan and trust receipt plan to encourage and enable as many dealers as possible to be well stocked in advance of seasonal sales peaks. Also, this combination was used to retain security interest in merchandise shipped. Documents the organizational changes that took place at O. M. Scott Sons Co. in response to their leveraged buyout. Provides the opportunity for students to discuss the effects of high leverage on management decision making, and the differences between operating as a small subsidiary of a large conglomerate and as a free-standing company. Focuses on the role of the LBO sponsor in the management of the company, the role of restrictive debt covenants, and the effect of changes in the compensation system at the company. See more at: http://www. iesep. com/es/o-m-scott-sons-co-leveraged-buyout-13961. html#sthash. U5XhTQSy. dpuf

Steganography, Cryptography And Watermarking

Steganography, Cryptography And Watermarking Steganography has been derived from Greek word Stego which means Covered and Graphia which means writing. Steganography is an ancient technique of covert communication. The earliest form of Steganography has been reported by the Chinese. The secret message was written in very fine silk or paper, and then it was rolled into a ball and covered with wax. The messenger would either swallow the ball or hide it in his nether parts. Herodotus has mentioned in one of his seminal works of history, Histories during the 400B.C about the tradition of secret writing. In his writings he has mentioned about the conflicts between Greece and Persia. A king named Histiaeus encouraged the Aristagoras of Miletus to revolt against the Persian king. He used to tonsure the head of his most trusted servants and tattooed the scalps with secret message and waited for the hair to grow. The servant used to travel between the borders without carrying anything contentious freely. At the reception end his head wou ld be tonsured again and the message will be conveyed. Similarly during the World War II, the Germans invented the use of microdots. Image containing great details were scaled down to the size of microdots. The German usage of secret sharing is regarded as the recent evolution of Steganography. Another example of Steganography is during the Vietman War were the captured US armed force showed hand gestures during a photo sessions to convey some military secrets. The field of Steganography is limitless and any kind of cover media can be used for carrying secret messages. Cover medias can be text, images (grey, binary, color), audio, video etc. An example is illustrated as follows. Siva and Adam dined happily. The following message is not simply a plain text but it carries a secret message within it. By extracting every second letter from each word we derive a secret message as follows. India Other methods of non technical Steganography is using lime and other citrus liquids to write secret data. The message will be imperceptible to the eye. When it is shown over a flame the writings will become perceptible. Steganography is method of information hiding. Steganography can be considered as an art as well as science for secret communication. The best way to explain the purpose of using Steganography is the Prisoner Problem. Now let us consider two prisoners Alice and Bob, and Wendy to be the warden. Now if Alice and Bob want to devise a plan for escaping then they got to communicate with each other. If Wendy is a passive warden then he wont interfere in there communication but if he is an active warden then he will interfere and extract the secret message sent. Hence Alice and Bob got to communicate in such a way that Wendy is not able to decipher there plan. This can be done by the technique of Steganography. Steganography is been used in order to enable secret communication. It is also being used by terrorist for covert communication which is potential for endangering our national as well as world security. Despite the ill effect there are positive sides of Steganography. For example a photographer can store the aperture size, future references etc while taking a picture. Steganography has a wide application in medical imaging were the details of the patients are embedded within the medical image. Similarly Steganography can be used for different friendly applications. It is also used for copy right protection using it along with Watermarking. The use of Steganography also has an important role in strengthening national security. Steganography is defined as secret hiding. It can also be regarded as secret sharing since messages can be shared secretly without being hacked or corrupted. COMPARISON BETWEEN CRYPTOGRAPHY, STEGANOGRAPHY AND WATERMARKING The other forms of data hiding are cryptography and watermarking. Cryptography is a technique in which the secret message is encrypted and sent in an unintelligent format. The basic difference between Steganography and cryptography is that Cryptography scrambles the data whereas Steganography just hides the data. Cryptography scrambles the secret data in such a way that it appears to be gibberish to any unintended user. The secret data to be communicated is a mixture of permutation and substitution and hence any unintended user cant receive the message. Steganography is different from Cryptography. Steganography rather hides the data whereas Cryptography encrypts the data. Steganography provides much more security when compared to cryptography because there is no chance of any unintended user to know that a message is being sent whereas in Cryptography there will always be a suspicion that a message is being sent. Hence these are more prone to be hacked or suppressed. Watermarking is generally used for authentication and copyrights protection. Watermarking can be used for creating a image in order that it is recognizable. It can also be used to mark a digital file so that it is intended to be visible (visible watermarking) or visible to its creator (invisible marking). The main purpose of watermarking is to prevent the illegal copying or claim of ownership of digital media. CHARACTERISTICS OF STEGANOGRAPHY, CRYPTOGRAPHY AND WATERMARKING The common characteristic between Steganography, Cryptography and Watermarking is that they transmit the secret information in such a way that only the receiver is able to decrypt the data. These techniques had been prevalent during the ancient times have been transported to the digital world. It has become nearly impossible to extract or detect the secret messages. In digital domain Steganography and watermarking have a tie and it is majorly used in digital images. These have other uses as well. Both cannot exist by themselves and hence they require cover objects. Steganography requires a cover media to carry the secret information and watermarking requires a carrier object which it is intended to protect. These similarities create a link within them and hence some modifications can lead the transportation from one technique to another. Due the similarities present between these it is difficult to distinguish between the both but actually there is a remarkable difference between the m. Cryptography encrypts data in two methods secure or unbreakable (e.g. One-time pad) systems and breakable (e.g. RSA) systems. Through both the systems communication carried out is known to all. But it is time consuming and often fruitless to crack a code. The robustness of the code lies upon the difficulties faced while reversing the code in different permutations and combinations. Due to its robustness it is used for security purposes. For example Cryptography is used for online shopping, banking etc. The credit card number, expiration etc and other crucial informations are encrypted and sent so that an unintended user cant access the details. Steganography offers high carrier capacity keeping embedded message invisible and maintaining the fidelity of the cover media. The efficiency of the Steganographic method is that one shouldnt know that a media file has been altered in order for embedding. If the malicious user knows if there is some alteration the Steganographic method is defeated and less efficient. The embedded message is very fragile and hence if any modification is done to the stego image th e whole secret message is corrupted. The effectiveness lies on the ability to fool an unintended user. The layers of communication can be more than one layer. A secret message can be embedded with a digital image which in turn can be embedded within another digital media or video clippings. Watermarking is required in order for authentication and copyright protection of digital files. The embedded watermarking is required in an object to make it impossible to remove completely. If the embedded watermarking is removed, then the marked object is either distorted or destroyed making it useless for anyone. This is the reason why watermarking is more robust when compared to the other image processing techniques, such as compression, cropping, rotation etc. hence even if a tiny bit of information is extracted by modification and tempering the rightful owner can still claim ownership. If the owners name is embedded in the digital image and the particular image then the original information is tampered and destroyed. Unlike Steganography, it is acceptable for everyone one to see the watermark embedded in it including the invisible ones. COMBINED EFFORTS OF STEGANOGRAPHY, CRYPTOGRAPHY AND WATERMARKING Cryptography is used as a paisano of the other two data hiding techniques. Data is encrypted in both the techniques in order to increase the randomness of the Steganography to avoid the statistics-based attacks and to protect the hidden data in watermarking. Commonly it is a practice to first encrypt the data and then use any one of the embedded techniques. The importance of watermarking can be stated as follows. Suppose Rs 100 bill is introduced in December 2009 then watermarking is required in order to prevent illegal copies. If the bill is shown in light a small image will appear within the large image. The watermarking is actually a part of the large paper and is visible on both sides. Hence it becomes difficult to produce a paper with such features. In addition to these features some tiny writings which are invisible to the human eyes are present in the paper. A banker having the necessary equipments (magnifying glass) can tell the difference between the original bill and the fake bill. Steganography makes its play here. The tiny printing done on the bill represents Steganography. It is implemented in order to achieve high security. The tiny printing done in the paper cannot be copied since any commercial printer is incapable to print such a fine and thin print leading to black spots. These are the reasons why Steganography is used for high security. Cryptography is actually implemented in the bill. A serial number is been printed in the bill which may contain information about the location and date of bill is printed or any other confidential information. The unique serial number for each bill can be used for tracking purposes. Using Steganography, Cryptography and Watermarking it becomes impossible to reproduce Rs100 bill. It must be kept in mind that all three are different and have different functionality. REQUIREMENTS OF STEGANOGRAPHY Any digital media can be used as a cover media. The cover media can be a text, image (color, gray), audio or video etc. Cover media is required in order to hide and carry the information. Usually digital images are required in order to hide secret messages. The secret message is hidden within the digital image. After the message is embedded within the cover media An innocuous image consisting of scenery, people and other objects are the nominees for cover media. The availability of natural images is not a problem due to the affordable price of digital cameras nowadays. Natural images are the best candidates for cover image since they have higher resolution providing flexibility and other necessary need. Images are selected because the cover media is selected depending upon how the human visual system works. The gray image consists of pixels with intensity value from 0 to 255. The human eye cannot differentiate between a pixel intensity of 244 and 245. It will appear both the pixel intensities to be same. Also natural image s contains lots of noise and hence there is lots of pixel value intensity difference especially in the edges. This variation in the pixel intensity is known as randomness and can be exploited to embed the data without providing any suspicion to human eye. The human visual system wont be able to distinguish between the image before modulation and the image after modulation. The secret data is embedded within the cover image. The resulting image is called a stego-image. The stego-image will appear to be the same as the original image. The human eye cannot usually distinguish between the stego-image and the original image except there is a significant change between the images. In that case the Steganographic method employed is ineffective. Hence there are certain Stego-system criteria which we have to follow while doing a Stegagraphic implementation. They are stated as follows. The major criteria of Steganography that the cover media shouldnt be significantly altered or modified. The embedded data should be directly encoded in the cover and not in the header or wrapper. The embedded data should be immune to modifications of the cover. That is if the cover media under goes any change then data embedded within it should be unaltered. During transmission there are chances of noise to occur and hence distortion due to noise cannot be eliminated. Due to this issue error coding algorithms should be included where ever it is required. It is advisable to avoid the suspicious portions while embedding the message in the cover. This because after embedding in these regions they become open to suspicion. For example by embedding in smooth portions of the image, the resultant image becomes distorted and open to suspicion. Hence such portions are often avoided and portions where there is variation in the pixel intensity are preferred. The embedding efficiency must be improved. Efficiency of the embedding capacity depends upon the number of pixels in the image used for embedding purposes. The stego-image should be robust to steganalysis. Steganalysis is a method of identifying the difference between the original image and stego-image. Using steganalysis one can derive the information about the secret message. The stego-image should reassemble the original image and there should be any suspicion. The cover image should have high carrier capacity. That is the embedding capacity should be large. The amount of information present in the image should be resistant to distortion and should be comparable to the number of pixels present in the image. The three basic requirements of Steganography are robustness, capacity and imperceptibility. All these requirements should be satisfied for having an effective Steganographic method.

COP 3530, Discrete Data Structures and Algorithms, Summer 1999, Homework 3 :: UFL Florida Computer Programming Homework

Class Notes: Data Structures and Algorithms Summer-C Semester 1999 - M WRF 2nd Period CSE/E119, Section 7344 Homework #3 -- Due Thu 10 June 1999 : 09.30am This is the key for Homework #3. Answers are in blue typeface. * Question 1. Given an 8-element sequence S = (3, -10, 4, -3, 8, 6, 5, 1), diagram the merge-sort tree (architecture) for the divide, sort, and conquer phases of the merge-sort algorithm, as we did in class. Label each level (e.g., L1, L2, etc.), as you will need this information in Question 2. Do not write code for merge-sort. Answer: Level 1 (3, -10, 4, -3, 8, 6, 5, 1) / Level 2 (3, -10, 4, -3) ( 8, 6, 5, 1) / / Level 3 (3, -10) (4, -3) (8, 6) (5, 1) X X X X

Applying Stanislavski’s Principles to a Role in Volpone Essay -- Konst

Applying Stanislavski’s Principles to a Role in Volpone As founder of the first acting system, co-founder of the Moscow Art Theatre, and an eminent practitioner of the naturalist school of thought, Konstantin Stanislavski challenged traditional notions of the dramatic process, establishing himself as one of the most pioneering thinkers of his time in modern theatre. His process of character development, the Stanislavski Method, was the catalyst for method acting- one of the most influential acting systems on the modern stage and screen. Such renowned schools of acting and directing as the Group Theatre and The Actors Studio are a legacy of Stanislavski's pioneering vision. Stanislavski developed this unique system of training to change the way that people saw their characters. The actors would research the situation created by the script, break down the text according to their character's motivations and recall their own experiences, therefore causing actions and reactions according to these motivations. The actor would ideally make his motivations for acting identical to those of the character in the script. He could then replay these emotions and experiences in the role of the character in order to achieve a more genuine performance. This was Stanislavski’s main aim to create a more genuine performance. ACTION â€Å"In every physical action, unless it is purely mechanical, there is concealed some inner action, some feelings. This is how the two levels of life in a part (dramatic role) are created, the inner and the outer. They are intertwined. A common purpose brings them together and reinforces the unbreakable bond.† - ‘Creating a role’ In Volpone, it would be most likely to happen in the market place. The busy market place would be played by a group of people that would need to show a complicity of lives that intermingle with other characters just as if they were a real community. This would be hard to show, as they are not a real community. Good methods of getting these groups of characters to resemble villagers would be to give them little scenarios to act out in which all the characters intermingle and have lines to say to each other. This would help them realise each other’s inner character and feeling and therefore are then able to react in the way their character would to that situation. Then use what they ... ...must find out all he can about the character and the situation. This helps to create an overall realistic reaction to that particular situation. To be able to use ‘Magic if’ the actor must know a lot about his character and his or her personality. Stanislavski teaches the actor to become the character by asking questions that are answered by action based on emotional response. For example, the actor that plays Volpone in the rape scene must ask before he plays the scene, ‘What if I am Volpone and I am just about to rape Celia and Benario jumps out from the cupboard? What will I do?’ Another good question from Celia’s point of view: "What if I'm Celia and I am being raped by an old dirty man and I have no one to help me would I give in or stand my ground? "Magic if" questions contain motivation and awareness of "the now." The questions are cast in the first person, in the present tense, and therefore they pull you into the character's major concerns. Very importantly, the questions suggest not one but two attitudes: The character toward her or him, and toward other characters. These types of questions help the actor figure out the action to take in response.

Problems American Society facing In Today World Essay

Introduction: In today society there are many reason we can point out and say, this is the problem that society is like it is today, but the truth is we needs facts, not opinion. There are statistic on why families were like they were in 1960 and what changes have come about in today time. There will be changes in families till the day we die, changes comes about every second of everyone life. Identify Important or significant changes in families since 1960? What factors are responsible for this change? Male dominance has played a major role as of domestic around the world. We have in many cultures reversal gender roles in regards to household chores. Household chores were a job just for the woman not the man, but In today society we have, men now staying home, either because they are laid off or have not been successful in finding employment, they are taking care of the kids, doing the cooking, household chores. More women are financially independent now, because some men feel more superior then women, and having a wife who is the bread winner gives some men an inferior complex. With all these emotion up in the air, soon comes abuse (for some), agreement to file for divorce, come into play. Today statistic states that divorce in United States is the highest industrial in the nation. Divorces sometimes cause children to react to that divorce thinking that it is their fault, so they go out do drugs to take the pain way, some really goes into a psychotic breakdown, you have some that just become trouble kids or when they get older learn from what they seen their parents do and go through the same things because of what they had seen when they were young. On the balance, are families becoming weaker or simply different in society? What evidence can you cite? Today’s numbers have shown us that our families have become weaker, in our American society. There are a couple of ways one  could make a proposal on how to strengthening the family, one could start by going into a marriage with love and true understanding, through thick and thin. Also try to be on the same page as to when you are prepared to have a child and make sure that you are financially ready, Now men and women needs to learn how to belong to each other, so that they can not only beget but also raise the next generation together. If families were to make sacrifices to preserve family well-being, then their children would go on to establish harmonious families of their own. Lastly, they say a family that prays together will stay together. Conclusion: If parents don’t step up and raise their children together as a family, this new generation will be a disaster waiting to happen. Let’s stick to the vows that one takes when people goes down the aisles to be reunited Reference: Ken Fuchsman†The Family Romance Transformed American Domestic Arrangements, since 1960, Clio’s Psyche: Understanding the â€Å"why of culture, current events, history and society.Vol.17, no.4 March 2011 www.wnd.com/2010/12/243621 www.gwu.edu/~ccps/pop_rel.html

Corruption in the Indian Judiciary

Judiciary is in some way at a higher pedestal amongst these three organs because it is the only mechanism to keep the executive and legislature within their jurisdictions by confining them not to abuse or misuse their powers. It controls, corrects or quashes the executive, however high it is, and even sets aside acts of the legislature if it acts contra-constitutionally. Judiciary is the guardian and final interpreter of the Constitution.It is a place of utmost trust as it is last resort for the people. It is not negated that corruption is non-existent in certain judicial systems rather it would be fair to say that in some countries corruption is nominal, infrequent and the result of individual, unethical behaviour. It is also evident from the words of the former Chief Justice of India S. P. Bharucha, when he grieved over the rampant corruption in the higher judiciary and brought to notice that around 20 percent judges of the higher judiciary are corrupt. Now the question remains; ca n the judicial accountability be trusted upon any more?Does the judiciary hold the same value, as it had earlier? Is the judiciary abusing its freedom? Can judges be permitted to do anything in the guise of ‘independence’? These are the questions which still remained unanswered. Judicial Corruption Corruption is the misuse of entrusted power for personal gain. In the context of judicial corruption, it relates to acts or omissions that constitute the use (or it is better to say ‘misuse’) of public authority for the private benefit of court personnel, and results in the improper and unfair delivery of judicial decisions.In corrupt judiciaries, citizens are not afforded their democratic right of equal access to the courts, nor do the courts treat them equally. The merits of the case and applicable law are not paramount in corrupt judiciaries, but rather the status of the parties and the benefit judges and court personnel derive from their decisions. In corrupt judiciaries, rich and well-connected citizens triumph over ordinary citizens, and governmental entities and business enterprises prevail over citizens. No civilised society can command the people’s confidence if the judicature’s verdict is privately purchased at a competitive price.Corruption and Indian judiciary A judicial scandal has always been regarded as far more deplorable than a scandal involving either the executive or a member of the legislature. The slightest hint of irregularity or impropriety in the court is a cause for great anxiety and alarm. In last one decade, there are a number of instances where a judge is found to be involved in corrupt practices. This demands a close look in these scandals because if judiciary itself gets corrupted who will judge others. Before taking these scandals we should know the current legal position on corruption as applicable on judges laid down in Veeraswami case.Veeraswami Case This case is important in many ways. This w as the first case where corruption charges were alleged against a judge of higher judiciary. This case dealt with many issues viz. whether judge of a high court or Supreme Court is a ‘public servant’ or not; who is the sanctioning authority for prosecuting a judge of a high court or Supreme Court under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947; whether Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 (hereinafter referred as Act) is applicable on judges or not etc. Before taking these issues in detail, let us know background of the case.The appellant had committed offence under section 5(2) read with clauses (b), (d) and (e) of section 5 (1) of the Act. On perusal of the charge sheet the special judge issued process for appearance of the appellant. The appellant thereupon filed a petition under section 482 of Cr. P. C. before the Madras High Court for quashing the prosecution. The Full Bench of the high court by a majority view has dismissed his case. However, in the view that the const itutional question involved in the case the high court granted certificate for appeal to the Supreme Court.A five judge Bench of the Supreme Court heard the matter and four judgments were delivered. Shetty J. authored the leading judgment, with Venkatachaliah J. , signing with him. B. C. Ray J. wrote a separate but concurring judgment. L. M. Sharma agreed to dismiss the appeal but differ on some issues. Verma J. dissented. RECENT EPISODES In the last one decade, a number of instances unveiled by media and other active organizations where judges were involved in corrupt practices, which show that how corruption has crippled Indian judiciary. Some of them are discussed hereafter;Justice Soumitra Sen’s Issue In an unprecedented move by the CJI, wrote a letter to the prime minister, recommending that the proceedings contemplated by article 217(1) read with article 124(4) of the Constitution be initiated for removal of Justice Soumitra Sen, Judge, Calcutta High Court. 25 This reco mmendation was made on the basis of suggestions made by an In-House Committee, in a report submitted to the CJI that Justice Sen be removed from the office. The Committee has in its report accused Justice Sen of breach of trust and misappropriation of Reciever’s funds for personal gain.The in-house committee found that Soumitra Sen did not have honest intention, since he mixed the money received as Receiver and his personal money and converted the Receiver’s money to his own use. The motion for his removal is not yet initiated. It is expected that the history will not be repeated. If it is repeated it would be a dishonor upon the Indian judiciary and its accountability. Cash-for-Judge Scam CJI Balakrishnan is the first Chief Justice of India who has granted permission to an investigating agency to register of a criminal case against judges of Punjab & Haryana High Court.This is for the first time that power conferred by Veeraswami case is exercised by any CJI. He allow ed the CBI to interrogate two judges of the Punjab & Haryana High Court, Nirmaljit Kaur and Nirmal Yadav, in connection with the cash for- judge scam. A law officer sent Rs. 15 lakh to Justice Nirmaljit Kaur’s official residence and later claimed that it was meant for Justice Nirmal Yadav and had been delivered to Justice Kaur by mistake. Apart from these episodes there are few more instances where judiciary got shammed.Like, Justice Jagdish Bhalla, Chief Justice Himanchal Pradesh High Court was also traced in dealing with such mal-practices when he got a plot on nominal price by a land mafia, who was one of the parties to a case before him. In all above stated instances the judges, being a public servant, were alleged to be involved in corrupt practices even though the recourse of the Act was not taken. There is no justification as to why judiciary did not take recourse of the Act and went for process of removal under article 124, which is next to impossible. *** RTI solutio n has not been edited in keeping with the view of other legal essays.

Intel Corporation: 1968-1997 Essay

Question: Apply the tetra threat framework in analyzing Intel’s strategy to sustain competitive advantage in microprocessors Threat of Imitation: * Intel used economies of scale to counter imitation. Project Crush helped it to gain IBM’s contract for the 8088 microprocessor. * By entering into a long term relationship with Microsoft, which was its complementor. * R&D also resulted in Intel coming up with upgrades and new generation of chips at a rapid rate. * Intel like many other microprocessors didn’t believe in patents and copyrights as the life cycle of the microprocessor was very low and the patents would become obsolete In the late 1980s Intel moved towards IPR protection for its technology and products. * Relationships with suppliers were also strong as its procurement strategy was best in breed technology. It also allowed dual-sourcing of critical pieces of production equipment. * Intel always overcame threats of retaliation by producing the next generation microprocessor of equivalent or better quality. This also comes true when it has entered the RISC market also. * Decision not to license the 386 to any manufacturer other than IBM helped Intel to position itself as the leading horizontal niche player in the computer chip segment. Threat of Substitution: * When companies and technologies evolved with CISC technology, Intel after little of straddling decide to stick over RISC technology and not respond to its competitors. * Intel has produced x386 processor before Microsoft came out with MS Dos 5.0 version, thus Intel always leapfrogged before the competitors could and making it difficult for the competitors to achieve similar high degrees of compatibility features. * Intel defended itself through Project Checkmate to win contracts. * The ‘Intel inside’ campaign, created a brand for the previously unknown and ambiguous interior of a PC. This created a first mover advantage for Intel as they were the first to brand it. Branding thus proved a recombining technique as everything was getting branded in the consumer market. * It also competed rigorously with Motorola in RISC keeping its CISC microprocessors. * It has also made itself compatible for better usage for Internet also thus building its competitive advantage continuously. * Intel also lessened its substitution problem by reducing the licensing companies to produce its chips and thus its revenue increased from 30% to 75%. Threat of hold-up: * Intel outsourced its 8086 chip manufacturing to 12 other companies in order to meet the high demands * Intel during its x386 launch had a major problem as IBM disagreed to buy the new microprocessors. Intel entered into a relationship with Compaq launched it in Deskpro 386 which became a huge hit. This built mutually dependence. The introduction of x386 transformed the industry which became more horizontal in nature which was more cost effective. * Intel also forward integrated and developed its own products through its systems business. It had been in the business of designing, manufacturing and selling electronic subsystems and even complete system products. * Also Intel tried to maintain a trust and build a relationship with all complementors and suppliers. * Intel increased its bargaining power by developing complementary products e.g. Microsoft OS is only compatible with Intel processors.

English Language Advertisement Essay

Plan: 1. Advertising is one of the most prominent and powerful uses of language. 2. The Features of Advertising. 3. Is advertising language normal language? Does advertising language sometimes break the rules of normal language? 4. References. 1. Advertising is one of the most prominent and powerful uses of language. Advertising is one of the most prominent, powerful, and ubiquitous contemporary uses of language. Its seductive and controversial quality has attracted consistent and intense attention across a range of academic disciplines including linguistics, media studies, politics, semiotics, and sociology. The reasons for this academic interest are far from superficial. The study of advertising brings together many of the key social and political issues of our time: the new capitalism; globalization; overconsumption and the environment; cultural and individual identities; and the communications revolution. It provides insight into the ideologies and values of contemporary societies. Advertising’s creative use of language makes it a particularly rich site for language and discourse analysis. Operating in all media and exploiting the interaction between word, sound, and image, it provides a key location for studies of multimodal communication. Simultaneously poetic and commercial, it raises questions about the nature of creativity and art. Ever since the intensification of advertising in the 1950s, leading scholars have analyzed its use of language. This new four-volume Routledge Major Work brings together for the first time the most seminal and controversial works, allowing users to obtain a wide and inclusive view of this rewarding topic. It will be welcomed by scholars and other researchers in the field as an invaluable ‘mini library’ on the language of advertising. 2. The Features of Advertising Advertising Language is characterized by the following features. In any given advertisement these features may appear or be largely absent, such is the great variety of advertising copy found on promo products such as promotional tote bags and T-shirts. However these features may be said to be typical of advertising in general. Even advertisements which do not use the traditional features to attract inform and persuade may be described as being incontrast to the traditional features. Some modern advertisements appear to be almost dissuading consumers from their product – but this is a technique used as a determined way of not conforming to tradition. See Benetton, Marmite. Hyperbole – exaggeration, often by use of adjectives and adverbs. Frequent use of adjectives and adverbs. A limited range of evaluative adjectives includes new, clean, white, real, fresh, right, natural, big, great, slim, soft, wholesome, improved†¦ Neologisms may have novelty impact, e.g. Beanz, Meanz Heinz, Cookability, Schweppervescence, Tangoed, Wonderfuel†¦ Long noun phrases, frequent use of pre and post modifiers for descriptions. Short sentences for impact on the reader. This impact is especially clear at the beginning of a text, often using bold or large type for the â€Å"Headline† or â€Å"slogan† to capture the attention of the reader. Ambiguity is common. This may make a phrase memorable and re-readable. Ambiguity may be syntactic (the grammatical structure) or semantic (puns for example). Weasel words are often used. These are words which suggest a meaning without actually being specific. One type is the open comparative: â€Å"Brown’s Boots Are Better† (posing the question â€Å"better than what?†); another type is the bogus superlative: â€Å"Brown’s Boots are Best† (posing the question â€Å"rated alongside what?†) Euphemisms :†Clean Round the Bend† for a toilet cleaner avoids comment on â€Å"unpleasant† things. The classic exampe is â€Å"B.O† for â€Å"body odour† (in itself a euphemism for â€Å"smelly person†). Avoidance of negatives (advertising normally emphasises the positive side of a product – though see Marmite, Tango, Benetton, for whom it seems that all publicity is good). Simple and Colloquial language: â€Å"It ain’t half good† to appeal to ordinary people, though it is in fact often complex and deliberately ambiguous. Familiar language: use of second person pronouns to address an audience and suggest a friendly attitude. Present tense is used most commonly, though nostalgia is summoned by the simple past Simple vocabulary is most common, my mate Marmite, with the exception of technical vocabulary to emphasise the scientific aspects of a product (computers medicines and cars but also hair and cleaning products) which often comes as a complex noun phrase, the new four wheel servo-assisted disc brakes. Repetition of the brand name and the slogan, both of which are usually memorable by virtue of alliteration (the best four by four by far); rhyme (the cleanest clean it’s ever been); rhythm (drinka pinta milka day); syntactic parallelism (stay dry, stay happy); association (fresh as a mountain stream). Humour. This can be verbal or visual, but aims to show the product positively. Verbal Puns wonderfuel and graphic positions are common. Glamorisation is probably the most common technique of all. â€Å"Old† houses become charming, characterful, olde, worlde or unique. â€Å"Small† houses become compact, bijou, snug or manageable. Houses on a busy road become convenient for transport. A cafà © with a pavement table becomes a trattoria, moving up market aspires to be a restaurant, too cramped it becomes a bistro. Not enough room to serve it becomes a fast food servery. If the menu is English food it is likely to be traditional, home-baked or home made; if the menu is French the cake will be gateau, the potted meat patà ©, bits of toast in your soup will be croutons. The decor will be probably chic, possibly Provenà §al. Finally, potency. Vance Packard (1960) memorably said: â€Å"The cosmetic manufacturers are not selling lanolin, they are selling hope †¦ we no longer buy oranges, and we buy vitality. We do not just buy an auto, we buy prestige.† 3. Is advertising language normal language? Does advertising language sometimes break the rules of normal language? These questions relate to the place of advertising language in the context of the readers’ general knowledge of language (we will presume that the language is English). In order to answer them, we must have some conception of what is meant by â€Å"normal language†. The English language has evolved to have many different kinds of functionality, each of which correspond to different situations and styles of use. From an analytic point of view, it seems to make most sense to understand â€Å"normal language† to include the variety of styles of English that mature speakers and readers control. This will form the backdrop of everyday language in its many functions, against which we can view advertising language. If one looks around in literature on advertising, or searches on the WWW, it is not uncommon to find claims to the effect that advertising breaks the rules of normal language and language use. However, from the perspective of a professional linguist, few of these claims really seem to be supportable. Now, with the exception of linguists, few people have any reason to pay close attention to the way that language is actually used in its speech community, for a wide range of communicative functions. Like many aspects of human being and human behavior, our unconscious knowledge of language is much greater than our conscious knowledge of it, so the facts about language that are immediately accessible to the average person only cover part of what the language is and how it is used. Collect some text from advertisements that you have found. Can you find any examples of words, phrases or constructions that are truly different from the various varieties that you encounter on a regular basis? These varieties may include informal spoken language between close friends to technical and scientific descriptions (more likely to be written), and everything in between. Doubtless, not all of the text you find will be standard English, but is any of it not English at all? In doing this exercise, it may be that you will learn more about what creative possibilities your language allows, rather than how much advertising goes beyond the boundaries of that language. In a recent short article in the journal Nature, Pullum and Scholz (2001) point out that, at every level, language has a level of creativity that allows it to be ever-expanding, ever-changing. Even the idea that there is a stock of words which constitute the English language cannot be upheld, because it is always possible to invent new words, and new names in particular. Thus, â€Å"Here is my new invention; I call it â€Å"X† † is a strategy in everyday English which advertisers can take advantage of, when the y state â€Å"Introducing the all-new â€Å"Y† â€Å". In an interesting coincidence which illustrates the point very clearly, the Dreamweaver ® program which we have used to construct this website has the command â€Å"Indent† to indent a paragraph, and we used it to format the quote below from McQuarrie and Micks. In the command menu, the command after this one is â€Å"Outdent†, which makes a paragraph wider. Neither of us had seen this word before, yet we understood its meaning, and certainly did not reject it as â€Å"non-English†. This is not to say that any random new word can be generated for the author’s purposes in any context. The â€Å"Outdent† example above is presented in a very clear context, which makes apprehending its usage and meaning quite clear. We generally find that novel words presented in an advertisement have the same supporting context; they may be new, but they are not â€Å"out of the blue†. The work of McQuarrie and Mick (1996) is highly relevant in this context. They place advertising language in the context of the study of rhetoric, and observe: â€Å"A rhetorical figure has traditionally been defined as an artful deviation (Corbett 1990). More formally, a rhetorical figure occurs when an expression deviates from expectation, the expression is not rejected as nonsensical or faulty, the deviation occurs at the level of form rather than content, and the deviation conforms to a template that is invariant across a variety of content and contexts. This definition supplies the standard against which deviation is to be measured (i.e., expectations), sets a limit on the amount and kind of deviation (i.e., short of a mistake), locates the deviation at the level of the formal structure of a text, and imposes a grouping requirement (i.e., there are a limited number of templates, each with distinct characteristics).† The unusual aspects of language that we sometimes find in advertising can be fruitfully considered to be examples of â€Å"artful deviations†. 36.3 VW ad (Rolling Stone, May 23, 2002): Heck, it’s been re-everything-ed. This new verb is coined on the basis of a very robust feature of English, which allows nouns to be used as verbs (see Clark and Clark (1979)). In this case, the new verb is also prefixed and suffixed. Out of the blue, â€Å"to re-everything† would be hard to interpret, but in the context provided by the advertisement, its meaning is clear. In the summer of 2002 the pop group No Doubt had a hit song called â€Å"Hella Good†; some of the lyrics are shown here: Hella Good (G. Stefani/ T. Dumont/ P. Williams/ C. Hugo/ T. Kanal) You got me feeling hella good So let’s just keep on dancing You hold me like you should So I’m gonna keep on dancing (Keep on dancing) â€Å"Hella good† is not advertising language, and it is not standard English, but it is certainly â€Å"pop music English†, and it is the kind of phrase that anyone could produce in conversation. In 48 Cointreau (InStyle, August 2002) we find an example of a blend, â€Å"Be Cointreauversial†.