Reaction: Sin Tax Law Essay

I am so glad of the very purpose of passing the sin tax law which is to protect the health and save the lives of the countrymen. This simply means that the government officials are concern about the good health of all Filipinos but this doesn’t mean that I am into this bill, for some reasons that the government or most of the senate themselves failed to look unto. Firstly, I would like to agree with Sen. Marcos who said that farmers stand to lose their livelihood because of the measure. This is very true, we all know of the fact that Philippines’ one trademark in the field of import and export of raw materials is the tobacco, there have been a lot of Filipino families who are dependent on their incomes from tobacco industries and wine manufactories. And here comes this bill passed without proposing alternatives that would help these people; it should be taken an account in the first place . It is even harder for the government to generate jobs for thousands of jobless Filipinos who have finished their degrees how much more these people. Is the government expecting them to easily shift to another source of income? What kind of income would that be? Smuggling? Second, given the proposed prices of alcohol and cigarettes, I see it as so illogical for the government to risk their time and effort on this issue , giving the people-friendly prices at the end of the day I suggest this is not supporting to their proposal, because for the people who have been addicted to cigarettes and alcohol, like the need of rice no matter how you increase the price since it is what they needed and wanted they’d rather take the risk to get a source of money just to buy those things. Sin tax is a form of an excise tax. It is a tax levied on some commodities but not all commodities unlike sales tax. This is how the government generates more revenues However, the opposition claims that this bill will backfire on its goals. Since the price of the price of the commodities will rise, the demand will decrease. Thus, there will be no revenues to generate which contrast one of the goals of the bill since industries such as tobacco will die. However, the p roducts under sin tax are vices. Some people are already addicted to them. Even if the price of these products will rise , people will still buy though some price conscious such as the poor sector and students will cut their consumption .Plus, even the demand for the sin products will decrease; the increased tax will make up for the loss demand. Thus, the industries will not die. The opposition also said that the rate of smuggling will worsen. Thats all i can say this law. REACTION: SIN TAX LAW Sumptuary taxes are ostensibly used for reducing transactions involving something that society considers undesirable, and is thus a kind of sumptuary law. Sin tax is used for taxes on activities that are considered socially undesirable. Common targets of sumptuary taxes are alcohol and tobacco, gambling, and vehicles emitting excessive pollutants. Sumptuary tax on sugar and soft drinks has also been suggested.[1] Some jurisdictions have also levied taxes on illegal drugs such as cocaine and marijuana.[citation needed] The revenue generated by sin taxes is sometimes used for special projects, but might also be used in the ordinary budget. American cities and countries have used them to pay for stadiums, while in Sweden the tax for gambling is used for helping people with gambling problems. Sin taxes have historically triggered rampant smuggling and black markets, especially when they create large price differences in neighboring jurisdictions.[citation needed] †¢ Critics of sin tax argue[who?] that it is a regressive tax in nature and discriminates against the lower classes, since taxation of a product such as alcohol or cigarettes does not account for ability to pay, therefore poor people pay a greater amount of their income as tax. Sin taxes are not normally value added in nature meaning that expensive, high-quality products more likely to be purchased by the wealthy will have the tax comprise a much smaller proportion of its final purchase price, thus ensuring that the lower classes pay a much greater proportion of their lower income in tax. Sin taxes fail to affect consumers’ behaviorS in the way that tax proponents suggest, for instance increasing smokers’ propensity to smoke high-tar, high-nicotine cigarettes when the per-pack price is raised and increasing the rate of people mixing their own drinks rather than buying pre-mix alcoholic spirits

Food and nutrition Essay

Food is any substance normally eaten or drunk by living things. The term food also includes liquid drinks. Food is the main source of energy and of nutrition for animals, and is usually of animal or plant origin. There are 4 (four) basic food energy sources: fats, proteins, carbohydrates and alcohol. Historical development Humans are omnivorous animals that can consume both plant and animal products. We changed from gatherers to hunter gatherers. After the experience of the Ice Age t is probable that humans wanted to create some feeling of security by controlling what plants were growing and which animals were available. This led to agriculture, which has continually improved and altered the way in which food is obtained. In order to understand how we can enjoy greater health and wellbeing, we need to understand something about food. There are four essential groups of food. For health and wellbeing we require food from all the groups. The purpose of this page is to stress that ALL four groups of food are essential to health and wellbeing. Even hough we may be encouraged to eat less fat, this page stresses that the body requires at least some food from each of the groups every day. Many foods contain more than one group of food, and milk contains all groups of food. Food is often classified as: 1. Carbohydrate, including Fibre 2. Protein 3. Fat 4. Vitamins and Minerals Carbohydrates are substances that contain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. They are used in the body to produce energy. They include sugars and starches. Carbohydrates are usually obtained from plant sources. They are broken down in the body to form glucose, and any that is not immediately required in stored in the liver nd muscles as glycogen. Plants use carbohydrates to build structures and store any excess as starch, whereas, animals use protein. to build structures and store any excess as fat. Plants make carbohydrates from sunlight, water, chlorophyll, and carbon dioxide. We obtain them from plants, for example: cereals starchy roots legumes (pulses) vegetables and Fruits sugars, preserves and syrups Carbohydrates are mainly used by the body to produce energy. Where there is a lack of energy, we might think of carbohydrates. The energy in the body is used for: External activities (behavior), such as work, sport, leisure – that is any movement of he body. Internal activities including breathing, pumping blood, digestion and the activities of the immune system. None-digestible carbohydrate (Fibre) Fibre, or roughage, refers to the non-digestible carbohydrates in vegetables and to a lesser extent in fruit. Fibre may actually be ‘fibrous’, as in celery, or may be a powder, or, when mixed with water in the intestines, a Jelly. Fibre provides: Bulk Lubrication, and Nutrition for friendly bacteria in the colon. When fibre is combined with water, it swells up and provides bulk to the digestive system. This makes it easier for food to pass through the intestines. Food also passes through the digestive system faster, so that waste products are retained for less time in the body. Some fibre has the effect of lubricating the contents of the intestines and, therefore, makes the food pass through easily and in a timely manner. The benefits here are the same as for bulk. In addition, friendly bacteria in the colon feed on fibre and they are therefore nourished by it. By helping these friendly bacteria, we enable them to help us to digest food. Also, by giving them support, they are more able to exclude other, less friendly bacteria, from our colons. Fibre is, therefore, ecessary for a healthy and efficient digestive system. Proteins Proteins are composed, like carbohydrates, of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, but with nitrogen. They may also contain sulphur and phosphorus. They are complex molecules composed of amino acids. Proteins are used by the body to: Enable growth, development and repair. Build structures such as muscles, tissues and organs, including the heart, lungs, digestive organs. Enzymes, such as those required for digestion. Hormones, such as those for the endocrine glands. Proteins, therefore, are needed not only for obvious body structures, such as muscles, ut also for the immune and digestive systems, etc. Complete proteins are obtained from meat, fish and dairy products including eggs. Proteins can also be obtained from certain combinations of foods, for example, cereals and beans. Fats and oils Fats are substances that are not soluble in water. They are composed of fatty acids and glycerol. Fats are also called lipids. Sources of fat include animal meat, fish, and vegetable oils. Fats are used by the body: In every cell structure. Especially to build nerves and brain. The brain is 40% fat. To insulate the body. To produce sex hormones and adrenal cortex hormone To produce cholesterol (essential for cell membranes and bile salts, for example). To absorb certain vitamins (A, D, E, and K). To store energy. Fats have got themselves a bad name in recent times, yet they are an essential food. That is, the body requires its intake of fat every day for health and, especially, well being. Like the other groups of food, when the body does not get the fat it needs, then illness results. Vitamins and Minerals Vitamins are substances that are required in the diet for health and wellbeing. They are often grouped as fat-soluble or water-soluble. Fat-soluble vitamins are vitamins A, D, E and K. Water-soluble vitamins include vitamins C and B. Minerals are non- organic substances that are required in the diet. While only small amounts of minerals are required in our diet, they are critical in building bones and teeth, regulating heartbeat and transporting oxygen from the lungs to the tissues. Vitamins and minerals occur in a variety of foods. That is, by eating a variety of foods, you can get the necessary vitamins and minerals you need for health. Deficiencies and excesses in any of these groups of foods produce illness and owered wellbeing. Western diets are especially deficient in the minerals calcium and iron and in the Omega 3 fatty acids. Calcium is obtained from, for example, milk and from eating canned salmon including the bones (salmon also contains Omega 3 fatty acids). Iron is often obtained from meat, especially liver. Lacto-vegeterians can get their calcium from milk, and vegans (who do not eat any animal products) can get their calcium from fortified soy milk. To obtain your calcium requirements from non- animal sources, you would have to eat a very large amount of vegetables or fruits.

A brief analysis of Robert frosts poem the Gift Outright

A brief analysis of Robert frost's poem the Gift Outright The Gift Outright: Analysis of Robert Frost’s Poem Robert Frost’s poem The Gift Outright renders its readers with many interpretive options as to what analogies he is hiding behind his words. I think in Frost’s The Gift Outright, he is trying to emphasize that triumph, surrender, and sacrifice are what led to the outright gift that is America. For years, what is now America was a colony under the reign of the British; American’s identities were not solely in themselves but partially based in the British traditions that had been heavily emphasized- because of this many struggled to become one with the land. Colonials slowly fought for independence in each of the states; Frost uses this to exemplify when the Americans began to triumph over England’s rule and make the land thine own: â€Å"†¦She was ours/ In Massachusetts, in Virginia, / But we were England’s† (3-5). The author uses these lines to show that they do have small victories towards the progression of their own nation/land. But they are still England’s and are failing to be apart of the change that will shape and solidify their nation state; they posses the land, but the land does not posses them- they took over the land without taking over the responsibilities she came with. Triumph can only come if there is once a trial, and at times humanity surrenders to the trials they face. The gift of land came at a personal expense, a sacrifice; because they would not receive without first giving: â€Å"Such as we were we gave ourselves outright†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬  Such as she was, such as she will bec ome.† (12,16). In these lines Frost is demonstrating that the imperfect citizens gave themselves to the imperfect land to build something much greater; the dedication of the people will help America to achieve its full potential by enhancing her with art and stories. Surrendering parts of themselves to the development of America is not the only sacrifice Frost exemplifies in his poem. The decolonization of America and the personalization of her land was the cause for the passing of many lives. The sacrifice and demise of many souls was subtly mentioned by Frost: â€Å"(The deed of the gift was many deeds of war)† (13). I think Frost is trying to prove that although the gift was outright, it was merely the opposite. The land was not entirely the peoples; it was fought for- a lot of conflict and oppression was ensued to create a free nation. Frost adopts the use of brackets; this allows for war to be mentioned indirectly but insists that the wages of war that resulted in victory, not be forgotten. Frost’s poem captivates the readers, making them feel the responsibilities and duties of the land that the Americans once felt as their own. Such allowed construal as the poem progressed and the meaning behind The Outright Gift became increasingly complex, and intimate. Frost depicted the American’s identity in an uncontemporary way through the triumph, surrender, and sacrifice that had been endured.

Intelligence Requirements - Graded Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Intelligence Requirements - Graded - Essay Example However, the more indicators that link to PIR, the more branches will therefore exist between the PIRs and SIRs. This even will lead to PIR as something that is difficult to answer.3 However, even if there is a certain degree of difficulty in it, the presence of the indicators is an essential point that will lead to a justifiable outcome of providing answers for PIRs. Indicators should be predictive.4 If they are predictive, indicators are guaranteed to be of a high quality. Staffs should therefore evaluate if the chosen indicators are predictive enough which will qualify them to provide the opportunity to provide the remarkable answers for certain PIRs. Thus, prior to using their radars and other intelligence tools, the intelligence soldiers will have to engage into the identification of the appropriate indicators that will lead them to potential answers and as prior to the appropriate moves that they will have to take.5 The answer is evident from the fact that indicators must necessarily be predictive.6 The quality of a good indicator is that it is something measurable, and there is no relevant drawback to it.7 It must be something that is substantial or enough to provide evidences that will lead to the appropriate answer prior to doing the most crucial strategy as the next course of action. In other words, this argument simply illustrates the point that it will be impractical to rely on a substandard indicators, because in the end it will also result to substandard SIRs too. As a result, the PIRs will result a substandard answers. The accuracy and efficiency of the action plan will be compromised, leading to the failure operation and possible earning of substantial cost or damage along the way.8 It is therefore important to maintain a high level of practicality for any chosen indicators, because these are essential evidences to always lead to possible courses of

Doing Drastic Procedures to Create a Certain Appearance Essay

Doing Drastic Procedures to Create a Certain Appearance - Essay Example Today, one of the most prevalent changes is the so called â€Å"physical change.† This pertains to the appearance transformation of some people. Anyone who wants to experience this can either select the â€Å"natural way† or the â€Å"scientific way.† The natural method is one that is done with sweat and patience. An example would be, doing some forms of exercise such as jogging and biking to achieve the appearance that a person wants. This entails one to be patient since it would take considerable period of time to achieve the aimed appearance. On the other hand, the scientific way refers to the drastic procedure opted by some for faster results. There are many causes why some people prefer to pass through this kind of procedure. The nature of one’s job and birth defects are some of the widely acceptable justifiable reasons as against lack of self-confidence. First, undergoing the scientific way due to the nature of one’s job is a justifiable cause. The most apparent example is the job of actresses and actors or the artists in the entertainment industry. It is undeniable that physical appearance is their most valuable asset as an artist. It is the artist’s physical look that is always in the spot light. People see them in television, movies, newspapers and in the Internet. Physical appearance is a great factor as an entertainer. It is crucial to their job. Humans always prefer anything that is pleasing to their eyes. It is their first basis. First impression matters in the entertainment industry.

Conference week 5 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Conference week 5 - Assignment Example However, the type of organizational chart illustrated for Walt Disney is a chart based on a process, for instance, all the staff positions are responsible for the support of the Company’s workflow. The Functional Organizational Structure of the Walt Disney Company has some likable characteristics. For instance, it does not have too many management levels. This indicates that its organizational structure is effective. In addition, another likable characteristic is that the modeling of chart in such a way that all the staff positions have the responsibility of ensuring a smooth workflow. Certainly, the organizational chart adopted by Walt Disney Company depicts some form of creativity and is very effective. It is therefore, the best chart that suits the company. In the business world, one of the greatest arguments has been on whether projected financial statement analysis can be considered to be both a formulation of strategy and implementation tool of a strategy. Generally, financial statement analysis can be considered as a vital tool in implementation technique of a strategy. This is because it gives an organization the opportunity of examining the anticipated results of a variety of approaches and activities. This type of financial analysis can also be used in the prediction of a range of implementation decisions made. For instance, in the cases where an organization desires to ensure a 50% elevation of promotion expenditures purposely to ensure the support to the strategy of market development. Additionally, this it is also applicable in the case where an organization desires to ensure a 25% salary increase so that it can support its market-penetration strategy. Moreover, this analysis can also be beneficial to an organization that des ires to elevate the expenditures on research and development by 70% so as to

Law enforcement statistics analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Law enforcement statistics analysis - Essay Example On a closer examination, it came to my mind that in some years, projections exceeded the actual number of arrests while in some years, the reverse had happened. The projections centered around 12500 in 1987 but the actual number of arrests made was around 10500. That meant officials had expected more juvenile crimes in that particular year but surprisingly, the crime rate had come down as the failure of projections revealed. As against this, the 1981 curves showed that the actual arrests had considerably exceeded the projections. In 1992, the actual arrests and projections were almost equal. However, the 1994 curves of the graph showed that nearly 20000 juvenile arrests took place against the projection of some 17000 indicating that the officials had miserably failed in preparing the projections. I thought that this much variance between actual figures and projections would drastically weaken the police preparedness in controlling the juvenile crime and bring down the morale of the law enforcement department. Enforcement statistics and reports with such pitfalls would speak of the poor law and order management skills. It had clearly indicated to me that this police failure would also lead to the enhancement of crime rate in the state. ... I thought that this much variance between actual figures and projections would drastically weaken the police preparedness in controlling the juvenile crime and bring down the morale of the law enforcement department. Enforcement statistics and reports with such pitfalls would speak of the poor law and order management skills. It had clearly indicated to me that this police failure would also lead to the enhancement of crime rate in the state. I had made up my mind to set right the things. I thought the officials were not analytical in preparing the estimates. Then I had called for the complete details of juvenile crime records, area wise. A thorough examination of these files and records revealed that the statistics were prepared in terms of the total number of juvenile arrests, and not in terms of age groups. 3 When questioned, the officials explained that they had been preparing the statistics in the same manner for a long time. I ordered them to give up that practice and begin preparing the crime statistics in terms of age groups, smaller areas, bigger towns and gender wise. I instructed them to prepare special statistical reports for juvenile crimes separately for the capital city Raleigh and the largest city Charlotte. This bifurcation would certainly help in establishing the nature of crimes committed by the different age groups at different places. It would also help in analyzing the reasons and circumstances pushing the teenagers towards crime world. I reminded the officials of how two boys, aged around 7 and 8 were accused of killing a 11- year old girl in Chicago,

Between Constructivist Learning and Direct Instruction Essay

Between Constructivist Learning and Direct Instruction - Essay Example Direct instruction proponents dispute the latest trend in education strategies which encourages learners to construct their own learning via minimal guidance even without prior knowledge of underlying concepts, principles, and processes (Baumann, 1982). They say that this method goes against the human cognitive architecture, that is, learners can only churn out, via long term memory, what was previously inputted to them. Constructivist Learning Constructivist learning, in whatever form it may be, is rooted from the works of Piaget and Vygotsky (Gallagher & Reid, 2002; Kirschner, Sweller, & Clark, 2006; Hmelo-Silver, Duncan, & Chinn, 2007). Constructivists propose that learning occurs when knowledge is constructed by the learner through personal experiences, interaction with the environment, and scaffolding guidance of an adult or more experienced person. In response to Kirschner et al’s (2006) position that minimally guided instruction is less effective that direct instruction , Hmelo-Silver, et al (2007) pointed out that a number of constructivist strategies, specifically problem-based and inquiry learning, utilize more than just minimal guidance during scaffolding. They say that scaffolding takes place at a high rate in problem-based and inquiry learning, thus refuting Kirschner, et al’s position. Moreover, Hmelo-Silver (2007) produced a long list of studies and researches which attested to the effectiveness of problem-based and inquiry learning. Another notable point that constructivists try to emphasize is that positive effects of employing constructivist approaches may not be immediately observed from standardized tests (Hiebert, Stigler, & Jacobs, 2005; Hmelo-Silver, Duncan, & Chinn,... So much debate has been going on to pinpoint exactly which mode of instruction would produce the best results for a learner. While it may be disappointing to think that no one has found the secret formula to learning yet, the on-going debate is a welcome clash of ideas because it means that educators still have not rested on the age-old established â€Å"facts† about learning and are still very much in the quest for the improvement of the ease and effectiveness of the teaching and learning process. Maybe no one has found the secret formula yet because there may be no secret formula at all. Perhaps the only reliable â€Å"fact† about learning is that each learner is unique; what might work for one may not work for another. The best that we can hope for is that at the end of the day, teachers/educators/facilitators have done their best in trying to create an appropriate and effective learning environment for the child.

Describe three factors which may influence nutritional intake in Essay

Describe three factors which may influence nutritional intake in infants and explain how theses impact on diet-related disease in the UK - Essay Example Therefore, to meet evolving nutritional needs, an infant ought to obtain nutritionally safe and adequate complementary foods while breastfeeding for at least six month to two or more years. This paper describes three factors that can influence nutritional intake in infants and their impact on diet-related diseases in the United Kingdom. Infants require protein, carbohydrates, fat, protein, minerals, and vitamins. Breast milk and infant formulas contain enough amounts of needed nutrients for infants. However, breast milks have low iron and vitamin D (Meghea, 2013). The brain of an infant requires Omega-3 fatty acids to develop fully. The Institute of Medicine recommends consumption of 60 grams of carbohydrates, 31 grams of total fat, 500 milligrams of Omega-3s and 9.1 grams of protein each day of an infant up to six months old. According to IOM Infants between 7 and 12 months, old should consume at least 11 grams of protein, 95 grams of carbohydrates, 500 milligrams of omega-3s, and 30 grams of total fat each day (Ezzo and Bucknam, 2012). In the first six months since birth, an infant is fed breast milk or infant formulas. Infants ought to drink infant formula or breast drink every few hours or when they demand. An infant is ready to eat solid foods when about six months. The first solid food is iron-fortified infant rice or any recommended purees. Two tablespoons of rice cereals are offered an infant thrice or four times a day. Infant formulas and breast milks should also be fed to an infant. An infant between six and eight months is ready to start consuming strained vegetable and fruits. He/she is offered two to three tablespoons, four times a day. Whole-milk baby yoghurt should also be offered as it has high protein. Between 8 and 12 months, iron-rich strained meats are introduced in addition to earlier introduced food types. Eggs yolks, tofu, oat ring cereals, soft meat

The Effect of the Internet on Music Essay Example for Free

The Effect of the Internet on Music Essay There has been much ink spilled over the supposed death of the music industry. While this worry may be a bit premature, the most pressing economic issue facing the music industry today is the slow but steady push toward a complete restructuring of itself. Downloadable music, in the form of mp3s, has revolutionized the way we think about and consume music. With the increased prominence of independent labels, file-sharing websites, and innovative artists who are creating their own methods for releasing albums, the traditional record business is becoming increasingly irrelevant. In economic terms, this has so far meant declining record sales among the major labels, a recent spate of firings, and the loss of big artists, who are moving either to concert promoters like LiveNation, independent labels, or their own recording studios. Over the past year, artists from Radiohead to Coldplay to Trent Reznor have released songs and entire albums for free over the internet. They have almost universally been a success, although some less well-known artists, as well as various industry insiders, have argued against this being a workable model. Michael Laskow, CEO of an independent AR company, TAXI, argued that Radiohead allowing consumers to pay what they choose for a digital album is not indicative of the future of the music industry: While the band, its fans and artists alike are celebrating what looks like a success for Radioheads bold move in releasing their new album using the ‘pay what youd like’ model, I think everybody has overlooked one very important aspect of this, and it doesnt bode well for the future of the music industry. Radiohead has been bankrolled by their former label for the last 15 years. Theyve built a fan base in the millions with their label, and now theyre able to cash in on that fan base with none of the income or profit going to the label this time around. The question is: how will new artists be able to use this model in the future if they havent built a fan base in the millions in the years leading up to the release of their album under the pay what youd like model (Lipsman)? The worry that new artists won’t be able to give their music away for free (disregarding the 40% or so of people who voluntarily paid from one to twenty dollars for the album), is a valid one. However, Laskow seems to view major labels as the only answer to new artists looking for an audience and a way to make a living with their music. On the contrary, the rising prominence of independent labels over the past several years has proven that it doesn’t take millions of dollars to create an album and promote it. Labels like Kill Rock Stars, Bloodshot Records, and Rounder Records have all seen their profits rise over the past few years, at the same time that major labels have seen their sales dip or stagnate. Cameron Strang, founder of New West Records, points out the economic advantages in not having the huge overhead of major labels. Thats the difference between us and them. Artists on our label who sell 200,000 copies make a very good living (Margolis). Artists like Aimee Mann and Michelle Shocked are releasing albums on their own. (Dare I even mention Ani Difranco? ) Clearly, independent labels as well as individual artists are capable of doing the work that major record labels have been doing for years. With the advent of webcasting and podcasting, along with XM and Sirius radio networks, traditional radio doesn’t have the same hold on the music buying public’s imagination that it once did. Increasingly, new artists are discovered by getting their songs played on television shows like The Hills and Grey’s Anatomy. The music industry is attempting to do to webcasting what it did to Napster, which is to essentially strangle it through lawsuits in the hopes of being able to squeeze money out of the webcasters. Instead of viewing web-based radio as a unique promotional opportunity, the mainstream music industry only sees profits being taken out of its pocket. At the same time, artists, like the ones discussed above, are realizing which way the wind is blowing. Digital Music News publisher Paul Resnikoff notes that: A growing number of superstars are or soon will be grazing in post-major pastures. And for them, the bigger basket touring, merchandising, publishing, relevance, and even album sales remains more important than a paid download, protected or otherwise (Resnikoff). These additional streams of revenue are often the more lucrative for musicians than album sales. It only makes sense that artists would look at digital music, including webcasting and file-sharing, as ways to gain fans that will purchase concert tickets and merchandise. File-sharing continues almost unabated, although the popularity of iTunes despite much of its music being DRM-protected has provided a model for money-making in the digital era. Despite iTunes and growing copyright protection on albums and songs, paid downloads account for, at most, five percent of all music downloads. Even ringtones, which are currently a substantial slice of the digital revenue pie, aren’t turning a profit. Labels are considering raising prices, but it is unknown whether customers will pay for them, or that a single line of revenue will pull record labels through financially. Warner Music Group and EMI have had massive layoffs over the past year in an effort to restructure and shore up the companies financially. Minimum Advertised Pricing, or MAP, is the setting of minimum prices by manufacturers for retailers. In the case of the music industry, the major labels colluded in the mid-1990’s to require discount retailers to advertise higher prices or give up joint marketing funding, which could mean giving up millions of dollars (Menn 152). The history of MAP, at least in the music industry, appeared to end on September 30, 2002, when the five major labels settled a lawsuit brought by 30 states in an effort to end the practice (Menn 152). In 2000, the Federal Trade Commission investigated price-fixing by major labels and the majors signed a consent decree getting rid of minimum-advertised pricing policies (Christman, Pricing). The FTC has estimated the cost to consumers in the years when MAP was practiced to be at half a billion dollars (Menn 152). For nearly the past 100 years, since the passage of the Sherman Act, mandatory pricing restraints were deemed to violate antitrust laws. It wasn’t until the summer of 2007, when the Supreme Court overturned the law against setting mandatory minimum pricing in a case brought by an accessories manufacturer, that the practice was made legal (Christman, Why Labels). This has potentially enormous ramifications for the music industry and music fans alike; it remains to be seen whether those ramifications will be for the benefit of music fans or to their detriment. The music industry has argued that requiring discounters to sell CDs at the same price as specialty stores will lead to greater selection and a halt to the bleeding that independent record stores have experienced (Christman, Why Labels). At the same time, music fans have bemoaned the high price of CDs for years, and raising prices unilaterally could drive down music sales even further. The major label system, which requires millions of dollars in overhead to promote certain artists, is at least partly to blame for the rising prices. At Salon. com Scott Rosenberg argues that: Even more than the artists, the victims of this system are music fans who end up paying exorbitant prices for CDs to fund bloated recording-company marketing budgets. That money gets spent manufacturing a handful of superstars, leaving serious music lovers to fend for themselves in ferreting out unusual new music that the business considers too niche-y to be worth promoting (para. 6). In this view, the pricing system set by the majors is inherently unfair to both fans and the majority of artists who aren’t â€Å"superstars†. Rather than setting minimum pricing restraints for discount stores, major labels could lower wholesale prices to ensure that independent record stores could stay in business. This would largely be to the labels’ benefit; over the last five years, their reliance on big-name stars to sell huge amounts of records has been a losing proposition. Titles from unknown artists and back catalogs are often nowhere to be seen at discount stores. The personal service and deep selection at independent stores creates an opportunity to sell these types of titles. The $9. 99 price point set by discount stores and iTunes has surely contributed to declining album sales, but the burden of maintaining that price point has been shouldered almost entirely by independent music retailers, while the major labels continue to raise list prices (Christman, Why Labels). Majors are contributing to declining sales while preserving their own profit margins. Mike Dreese, quoted in Billboard, also points a finger at discount stores that lure customers in with low CD prices: Wal-Mart, Target and Best Buy have succeeded in almost destroying the specialty-music account base and are now setting the rules for the industry. If minimum pricing were implemented, it would keep the discounters from finishing the job. Those discounters, which have limited selection, have such dominance that labels now spend more money on supporting low retail prices and much less advertising the availability of the product (Christman, Why Labels). The tide of public opinion seems to be turning toward the use of minimum pricing restraints. When price-fixing in the music industry was first being investigated, still-new stores like Best Buy maintained a relatively deep catalog of music, knowing that it was competing directly with independent music stores. Now that discounters have succeeded in putting many small stores out of business, their catalog consists largely of the Billboard Top 100. What seemed revolutionary in 2000 – music priced at a reasonable amount over cost – has had unforeseen consequences. The prominence of discount stores in the music industry has contributed to the lack of choice and variety so unappealing to music fans. Wal-mart has surpassed Apple to become the number one music retailer in this country. The driving down of CD price points to $9. 99 has been salutary for customers, but may have longer-lasting effects by eliminating space for new artists and broad selection. Furthermore, even the $9. 99 price point has been artificially constructed by discounters hoping to entice customers and labels hoping to propel all-important first week sales (Deutsch). Noting the possible risks of this new low price point in Billboard, Ed Christman points out that â€Å"After all, at $9.99 the U. S. music industry currently has the lowest CD pricing at retail since the format was introduced here in 1983. † It is unclear whether imposing minimum advertised pricing at this point would even make a difference in terms of independent music stores. Many have already closed, and those that have stayed open have diversified or moved to a location free of big box discounters. The music industry may impose mandatory minimum pricing again, but low CD price points and the decreasing number of brick and mortar music stores will likely continue unabated. The internet has changed the distribution of music in ways we are only just beginning to imagine. The old models – for promotion, distribution, and sales – aren’t working in the age of the mp3. Clearly, continuing to hold on to past business models and attempting to fit new trends and technology into it has not worked out well for the major labels. A fear of competition and new technology accounts for the manner in which the industry attempted to deal with Napster. Afraid of lost profits, music industry executives from the top five record labels chose to batten down the hatches and lock away any possibility of negotiation with Napster. According to Joseph Menn, the author of All the Rave: the Rise and Fall of Shawn Manning’s Napster, this is partially due to a generational divide within the individual labels. Top-level executives are often â€Å"old-school leaders who turn purple with rage at the very idea of an MP3† (Menn 153), while younger up-and-comers saw the possibilities of this new technology. With the advent of webcasting and podcasting, along with XM and Sirius radio networks, traditional radio doesn’t have the same hold on the music buying public’s imagination that it once did. Increasingly, new artists are discovered by getting their songs played on television shows like The Hills and Grey’s Anatomy. The music industry is attempting to do to webcasting what it did to Napster, which is to essentially strangle it through lawsuits in the hopes of being able to squeeze money out of the webcasters. Instead of viewing web-based radio as a unique promotional opportunity, the mainstream music industry only sees profits being taken out of its pocket. At the same time artists are realizing which way the wind is blowing. Touring, merchandising, and publishing remain large chunks of income for both individual artists and music labels. The traditional record industry has become increasingly outdated and unable to keep pace with the digitized, connected world of the 21st century. Music downloading is hugely popular around the world, but particularly in places as diverse as Ghana and Brazil, where poverty is widespread and cheap mp3s have spread like wildfire. Maintaining the expensive overhead of a bloated recording industry through high price points for CDs means that music is only available to a certain class of consumer. Peer-to-peer file sharing has made music more widely available, and helped raise the profile of independent and unsigned bands. Clearly these benefits have to be taken into account while also denouncing outright piracy as clearly illegal. It is up to the music industry to come up with easy to use, innovative ways to incorporate the changes mp3s have made to their business, with successful ventures like iTunes leading the way. The specter of music piracy and lost profits have led the music industry into a premature grave, when they should be welcoming the opportunity to promote music in new ways and to new communities. WORKS CITED Christman, Ed. â€Å"Pricing Perils for Record Labels. † Billboard 26 May 2007. Lexis-Nexis. 15 May 2008 http://www. lexisnexis. com. Christman, Ed. â€Å"Why Labels Should Set Minimum Price Restraints. † Billboard 1 September 2007. Lexis-Nexis. 15 May 2008 http://www. lexisnexis. com. Deutsch, Claudia. â€Å"Suit Settled Over Pricing of Music CDs at Three Music Chains. † New York Times: NYtimes. com. 1 October 2002. 11 May 2008 http://query. nytimes. com/gst/ fullpage. html? res=9C05E5D91238F932A35753C1A9649C8B63.

What Is Meteorology And Its Uses Environmental Sciences Essay

What Is Meteorology And Its Uses Environmental Sciences Essay Every day, thousands and thousands of people tune into weather forecast on television, radio, even news papers for news about the weather and if any changes are going to take place in the upcoming days, like floods or droughts or temperature change. Meteorology is the study of all the changes in the atmosphere, whether they were changes in temperature, air pressure, moisture, or wind direction in the troposphere. The air around the earth is called the atmosphere, it is divided into layers. Weather happens in the troposphere, the bottom layer, directly above the ground. Mount Everest, the highest point on the Earth, reaches about half way up the troposphere. Meteorology is useful for weather processes and forecasting. What is meteorology? Meteorology is the science of the atmosphere. It comes from the Greek word meteoron, which means something that happens high in the sky. Weather was important to the ancient Greeks because it affected the farmers who raised their crops and their seamen who sailed the oceans. The ancient Greeks observed and tried to understand how the clouds, wind, and rain were connected to one another. Weather Weather is an endless cycle of events. The four things that cause weather are the Sun, the atmosphere, water vapor and the wind. They all work together, spreading the Suns heat all over the world and making clouds. And the changes that occur over a longer period of time are known as climate. Weather has always been a significant concern to humans, and our inability to control it has led us to try to measure it, compare it, and predict it for the past hundreds of years. Weather contributes greatly with the study of meteorology, the five major weather elements are: -Temperature -Wind -Humidity -Pressure -Rainfall The Sun The sun is the main source of energy for the earth. The light and heat given out by the sun make it possible for plants and animals to live on earth. Without the sun, oceans would freeze and life could not be supported on earth. The sun is the key to the earths weather. It moves the air all over the world causing winds which carry weather changes. Air temperature is measured by a thermometer. http://images.google.com/url?source=imgresct=tbnq=http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112188/sun_and_earth.gifusg=AFQjCNH7-leVbgPcZpt29YvgoD3Yoo8NqQ http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112188/sun_and_earth.gif Air Pressure Although air is light, there is so much of it that air can exert huge pressure on earth. Air pressure or atmospheric pressure is caused by the weight of all the air pressing down in all directions at the ground. Air pressure changes when the temperature changes, it varies from place to place and from time to time as the Suns heat varies. Areas of high pressure are formed where air is sinking down, so its pushing harder towards the earth. But when air rises it leaves behind an area of lower pressure, because upward moving air is not pushing down so hard on the surface this creates low pressure. Air pressure is measured in millibars ,mb, on a barometer. Barometers help us forecast weather because changes in air pressure are linked to changes in the weather. Air Moisture There are various forms of moisture. Moisture is present in the air either in the form of gas, liquid, or solid. Atmospheric moisture plays a significant role in weather when it changes from one state to the other. Warm air can hold more water than cold air can. A hygrometer can be used to measure humidity, which is the amount of water in the air. A hygrometer consists of a wet bulb and a dry bulb thermometer. One end of the wet bulb thermometer is covered with muslin, which is wet. When the air is dry, more water will evaporate and the wet bulb thermometer will show a low reading. Air Masses Air masses are huge masses of air which are warm, cold, moist, or dry depending on the land or sea they pass by. Air masses move all over the Earths surface, they help spread the Suns heat around the world. Air masses are classified according to the area or the source they came from. There are two types of air masses. Air masses that form over oceans and seas called maritime. We have Tropical maritime, which develops over warm seas, and Polar maritime, forms over the seas near the poles. Air masses that form overland are called continental; there is Tropical continental, air mass that develops over hot or dry land, and Polar continental, air mass that develops over land near the poles. Boundaries between air masses are called fronts. The weather can be very unsettled near the fronts; some cold fronts cause lines of violent storms. There are three types of fronts, warm, cold, and occluded. Wind Wind is moving air. It blows because some air masses become warmer than others, basically wind moves because of the difference in air pressure around the world. In warm air, the tiny particles of air spread out. A mass of warm air is lighter than a mass of cold air, because warm air is so light it rises. As warm air rises, cold air flows in to take place. Climate and weather are determined by the wind. Wind is also affected by the Coriolis Effect. The earth spins on its axis, in the northern hemisphere winds are swung to the right. And in the southern hemisphere winds are swung to the left, this is called the Coriolis Effect. A windsock is used to measure the wind speed and direction. A weather vane can also be used to determine the winds direction. Severe/Extreme weather conditions Violent storms can be very dangerous, but as we discover more about the weather it becomes easier to forecast violent storms to avoid disasters. Some severe weather conditions are thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, and avalanches. Some extreme weather conditions such as floods and droughts may also affect the weather in some areas. Thunderstorms occasionally happen when the air is humid and warm. Clouds form in the sky and blustery winds start to blow, thunderstorms usually include lightning followed by thunder. Lightning and thunder happen at the same time, but you see thunder first because light travels faster than sound. Tornadoes are long funnels of violently spiraling winds. They form on land when there is warm, moist air near the ground and cold, dry air above it. The Coriolis Effect helps the tornado spin faster, as well as jet streams when they pass over the top of the storm. Weather forecast Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a future time and a given location. The most straightforward way to predict the weather is to simply look out the window. However, for a more accurate weather forecast you need observational tools like radars, satellites and specially designed computers that will give you a clearer picture to the weather conditions. Some weather symbols that are used in television forecast and maps: http://images.google.com/url?source=imgresct=tbnq=http://s3.amazonaws.com/momentville/20889/photos/917979/917979_medium.jpgusg=AFQjCNHD4U47mTTE3a_bIXFBUrhjDKaQ http://s3.amazonaws.com/momentville/20889/photos/917979/917979_medium.jpg Weather gods Good harvests depends on good weather, early farmers who lived about 7,000 years ago thought gods ruled the weather. People today still pray for fine weather and good harvest. The Rainbow God, the Kabi people of Australia worship a god called Dhakhan who is half snake and half fish. He appears as a rainbow in the sky when he moves from one hole to the next. The Dragon Breath, the Chinese believed that dragons formed clouds with their breath and brought rain. The rain fell when the dragons walked over the clouds and storms raged when they fought. Dancing in the Rain, the Hopi Indians of North America perform special rain dances, and pray to the gods through these dances to send them rain. History The father or founder of meteorology is considered to be Aristotle. His book Meteorologica written around 340 B.C was the first study of the atmosphere. Some of Aristotles ideas were accurate, like ideas about rain and hailstorms, others were not. Like many thinkers of his time, he believed that reason and logic could lead to the truth and he didnt think it was necessary to observe the details of the natural world to understand it; thats why he got some of his ideas proven wrong in later years. As years went by, many centuries later natural philosophers realized that logic and speculation arguments alone couldnt produce real understandings of the natural world. For them to understand things in the world around them, it was necessary for them to measure, record, and analyze. But at that time, the only things that could be measured were wind direction and rainfall. And it continued like that for years to come. Later around A.D 1600 the thermometer was invented, following that the barometer, which measures atmospheric pressure, came a few years later. Devices and gadgets for measuring wind speed, humidity, and other important qualities of the atmosphere continued to develop over the next two- hundred years. Scientists used all of these newly-created instruments to record the long term trends of the weather which are known as climate. However, they still didnt understand the day to day or daily behavior of weather phenomenon like tornadoes, hurricanes, and thunderstorms. Years continued to pass, by the mid- 1800s, meteorologists began to realize clouds, wind, and rain at a particular place are produced by large weather systems that grow and change as they move. However this information was not very useful as long as weather information couldnt travel fast enough. The telegraph was later invented, allowing weather reports to be sent out instantly. Then they started to realize some of the weather patterns across the face of the earth. In the early 1900s, a group of Norwegian meteorologists began to study weather systems by applying basic laws of physics to the behavior of the atmosphere. There discovery or approach based on movements of huge warm and cold air masses and where they meet is the foundation of modern weather forecasting. In the 1940s, World War II brought great advances in the study of meteorology. Military land, sea, and air campaigns were highly dependent on weather over vast regions making its way from the North Pole to the South Pacifi c. Meteorology departments in universities grew rapidly as the military services sent cadets to be trained as weather officers. The military also supported scientific research on the weather and climate. During this period, technological developments such as the radar proved to be useful and valuable meteorological observing systems for both the military and studies dealing with meteorology. Meteorologists continued to develop many more new tools and techniques, since World War II, for observing and studying the atmosphere. They developed numerical model sets of equations that represent atmospheric processes and run them on supercomputers to analyze and predict the behavior of the atmosphere on every scale from the formation of raindrops to the circulation of the atmosphere over earth. Meteorologists today use satellites to observe hurricanes; they probe the violent cores of thunderstorms with radar and high performance aircrafts and many moreà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Instruments and equipment used in meteorology (alphabetically ordered) -Anemometer, a device used for measuring wind speed -Barograph, an aneroid barometer that records the barometric pressure over time and produces either a foil or paper chart called a barogram. http://www.weatherinstruments.us/barograph-636.jpghttp://images.google.com/url?source=imgresct=tbnq=http://www.weatherinstruments.us/barograph-636.jpgusg=AFQjCNG0OGeiHhvp9o1n1AGw0Yh1cSeAvg -Barometer, an instrument used to measure atmospheric pressure using either water, mercury, or air -Ceiling balloon, used to measure the height of the base of clouds during daylight. -Ceiling projector, a device that is used to measure the height of the base of clouds. -Ceilometer, a device that uses a laser or other light source to measure the height of the base of clouds. -Dark adaptor goggles, clear red tinted plastic goggles used either for adapting the eyes to dark for night observation or to help identify clouds during bright sunshine or glare from snow. -Disdrometer, an instrument used to measure the drop size, distribution, and velocity of falling hydrometeors. -Field mill, an instrument used to measure the strength of electric fields I the atmosphere near thunderstorm clouds. -Hygrometer, an instrument used to measure humidity. -Ice Accretion Indicator, an L shaped piece of aluminum used to indicate the formation of ice, frost, or the presence of freezing rain. -LIDAR, (Light Detection And Ranging) used in atmospheric physics that measures the properties of scattered light to find information about a distant target. -Lightning detector, a device that detects lightning produced by thunderstorms. -Nephelometer, an instrument used to measure suspended particulates in a liquid or gas, they are used to provide information on atmospheric visibility. -Pyranometer, used to measure broadband solar irradiance. -Radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation -Radiosonde, an instrument used to measure various atmospheric parameters and transmits them into fixed receivers. -Rain gauge, an instrument that gathers and measures the amount of liquid precipitation over a set period of time. -Snow gauge, an instrument that gathers and measures the amount of solid precipitation over a set period of time. -SODAR, (Sonic Detection And Ranging)an instrument that measures the scattering of sound waves by atmospheric turbulence. -Solarimeter, a pyranometer used to measure combined direct and diffuse solar radiation. -Sounding rocket, an instrument designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments -Stevenson screen, it shields instruments from precipitation and direct heat radiation while still allowing air to circulate freely. Sunshine recorders, devices used to indicate the amount of sunshine at a given location.http://images.google.com/url?source=imgresct=tbnq=http://www.dreamstime.com/thermograph-hand-print-thumb7926563.jpgusg=AFQjCNGEaKUm4OVQx7d9cDtva90zoyGqOw -Thermograph, measures and records both temperature and humidityhttp://images.google.com/url?source=imgresct=tbnq=http://www.johnsherman.com/rh/thermograph.jpgusg=AFQjCNFZFUlyus7Uo5HE81MdF53cRidY1g http://www.johnsherman.com/rh/thermograph.jpg http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumb_359/1233070515hwQfRX.jpg -Thermometer, a device that measures temperature -Weather balloon, a high altitude balloon that carries instruments and uses a radiosonde to send back information on atmospheric pressure, temperature, and humidity Weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, estimate its type and forecast its future position and intensity. Weather vane, a movable device attached to an elevated object that shows the direction of the wind Windsock, a textile tube used to determine wind direction and wind speed -Wind profiler, an equipment that uses SODAR or radar to detect wind direction and speed at different elevations. Conclusion More than 2,000 years ago, Greek philosophers looked at the sky and tried to understand what was happening there. Today, the ancient science of meteorology has grown and matured. It is at the cutting edge of research, seeking answers to basic questions about the world around us. Meteorologists today use satellites to observe hurricanes; they probe the violent cores of thunderstorms with radar and high performance aircrafts. They are working to further more develop applications that are crucially important to our lives and the lives of our children and the many more generations of grandchildren yet to come.

One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest †The Movie :: Movie Film comparison compare contrast

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest – The Movie   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The movie, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, tells the story of McMurphy, a convict, who is sent to a mental institution because he believes he is insane.   In actuality McMurphy, is sane when he comes to the mental ward, he only wants to get out of the work that jail time entails.   It is believed that his stay in the mental ward is what drives the man insane.   While in the mental ward, he interacts with the patients of his ward and ends up changing their worlds completely.   When two different societies are combined, they undoubtedly will change one another.   This is the case when McMurphy coming from the "real" world, a society where a person can do what he pleases, is associated with the mental ward patients, whose lives are completely controlled by their nurses and their routines.   McMurphy and the patients have a significant effect on each other.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The mental ward and the world that McMurphy comes from are completely different.   The mental ward is completely based on rules.   The patients' lives are based on the routine that their nurse, Nurse Ratched, has established for them.   Nurse Ratched believes that the rules she sets for the patients are in their best interest or getting better.   The nurses have entire control over the patients.   They are locked into their beds every night, get up at the same time, they eat at the same time, and they watch tv at the same time every day.   The patients follow Nurse Ratched's rule without ever questioning them.   Basically, they have no minds of their own.   McMurphy comes from a society almost opposite of the mental ward.   He has lived his whole life doing what he wants.   He has never had a nurse hovering over him telling him what he has to do at all time.   Being in prison shows that McMurphy has a hard time living by the rules.   So living by strict rules of the mental ward is going to be even harder for him.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Living in the mental ward is very hard for McMurphy at first.   The patients and McMurphy cannot understand one another so socializing with them is hard for him.   When he begins to interact with them, he has a profound effect on the patients of the mental ward.

The Rise of Civilization and Writing :: World History

The Rise of Civilization and Writing The phenomenon of writing has been invented independently five separate times in the history of man. While History textbooks almost exclusively talk about the writing of Mesopotamia and Egypt, writing has also been developed in the Indus Valley, China, and Mesoamerica. This strange phenomenon has led many historians and anthropologist to conclude that writing is necessary for a complex society to exist. Nevertheless, there was a society located in the Andean Mountain in present day Peru in which writing was never invented yet it is still consider complex or, in other words, a civilization. This civilization, instead, used a method of record keeping that functioned in place of writing. This suggests that although there is a strong correlation between the development of a civilization and writing, it does not necessarily mean that writing is one of the causative factors in its rise. However, a record keeping system is crucial to a society's evolution towards complexity. One civilization that developed writing was the Sumerians in Mesopotamia which is located in present day Iraq. The Sumerians impressed wet clay with the end of a reed leaving a wedge-shaped form. This kind of writing on clay is called cuneiform, from the Latin "cuneus", meaning "wedge." Cuneiform owes its origins to the need arising from public economy and administration. With the rise in production of the country, accumulated surplus were sent to the cities. This necessitated a method of keeping account of all the goods coming into the cities as well as of manufactured goods leaving for the country. However before the first tablet was written, the Sumerians used an uncomplicated but inefficient system of recording transactions. It involved enclosing clay tokens signifying certain commodities and their quantities in a round clay object called a bulla. Seals of the individuals involved in the transaction were placed on the outside to validate the even. However to check the honesty of the deliverer, the bulla had to be destroyed to reconcile the goods with the tokens inside thereby destroying the record of the transaction as well. So to preserve the record, they impressed the tokens on the outside of the bulla before sealing them in. As time passed the bulla became the tablet and the impressions of tokens became symbolized by wedge-shaped marks. Eventually these marks came to denote distinct words and syllables of their spoken language. The purposes for writing also evolved.

Dramatic Devices in An Inspector Calls :: J.B. Priestly

An inspector calls Dramatic Devices An Inspector Calls is a play written by J.B Priestly in 1945 however it is set in 1912. An Inspector calls is a thriller set in England. This was a very difficult time for several reasons. In 1912 it was a time where people were just greedy and selfish. Priestly wrote this play because he was concerned that the world that he and others was living in was a place of disgust and that people could do better. To tender all these wounds in the world Priestly wrote this to show that there is enough time to repair these problems and be as bright as possible for the future. The play makes us question ourselves and what sort of a character we would prefer to be. In 1912 it was a time of inequality. In fact there was a really big gap between the rich and poor, in the time if you were really rich, you were stated as really lucky, but for the poor it was a really different story. They had low wages and had difficulty on surviving on the money they were given. One of the most important themes in An Inspector Calls responsibility for other people’s welfare, and that wealthy people have obligations to look after those less fortunate than themselves. J. B. Priestley uses the inspector to express his views to people. One more of Priestley’s reasons for writing this play was to show how people were behaving at the time. He wrote this play to reflect what people were really like and what they thought. The Birling family are rich and they look down on the lower-class as less than human make no difference to society. Mr. Birling believes he just needs to look after for himself, but Priestley doesn’t agree with this. All of the characters that are sitting down to dinner are responsible for the death of one girl Eva Smith, but not all of them think about their responsibilities, Birling feels that everyone has to look after themselves. Priestley partly shows what he is trying to say by showing Mr. Birling a proud man to be in so much error about so many things, such as the unsinkable Titanic ship and the two world wars not going to happen the audience would know that he is wrong. This is a device which Priestley uses called dramatic irony which is essential to the play because it’s based on the world wars and the titanic sinking.

Olympic Sport Essay

Any athlete in training will always emphasize the importance of hard work during training and keeping a balanced nutritional diet in an effort to reach his maximum peak during competition. For an Olympic athlete in training, his diet will always spell the difference between winning or losing his sport. The reality of training for an Olympic sport such as swimming is that the speed of the swimmer does not depend on the food intake of the swimmer. What makes him skim through the water much faster is his physical training and physique. Proper diet and nutrition is what will give the body the energy to complete training sessions and become more efficient while performing the trained tasks. This is why a diet analysis is highly important when training a swimmer. The diet analysis is composed of two parts according to the usaswimming. org website: Diet analysis is comprised of two parts, needs and intake. Optimal nutrition is a matter of balance (nutrients-in versus nutrients-out). In other words, a swimmer’s intake of nutrients must match his/her output of nutrients during rest and exercise. In terms of energy (aka calories), if the needs are greater than the intake, the net result is weight loss. Conversely, if the needs are less than the intake, the net result is weight gain. Therefore, an athlete must always be focused on healthy eating and conscious of having to substitute lower fat foods for whole fat foods as well as reducing any snacks that will not contribute to keeping his energy level high. The athlete will best be served by loading up on whole grains, cereals, and legumes with at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables in a day. His protein intake should be limited to lean meats, fish, and poultry. A typical diet for swimmer would be composed of the basic food groups but on a varying scale. For instance, Carbohydrates are used as the fuel of the body and therefore a swimmer should consume about 55-60% of his daily calories from grain and cereal products. Protein in the meantime builds the swimmers muscle tissues and other chemicals needed for body function. So protein intake would be recommended at about 15-20 % calories. Fat in the meantime is the transporter of the body. Swimmers will consume only 30% of fat calories while limiting the intake will result in a desirable fat consumption range for the athlete.

Nightmare in the city

It was a cold dark night in metropolis, a large city just outside of New York, USA. The year is 2199 and the dawning of a new centuary is apon us with great delight to most of the million citizens or so that live here. But in the ranks we were more worried about the mass killings that strangely occur this time every hundred years. I am an underground detective that investigates for the police â€Å"The names Brody, Detective Brody,† I said to the new Detective sergeant of the NYPD. â€Å"It's good to meet ya, Kid,† the new sergeant growled at me through the thick black smoke of his cigar. My first impressions of the character were one of trust and one of dress sense, which in both cases he had none of. I left the police station at about 10.30pm and took a back alleyway back to my apartment on 7th and 4th street when I noticed that every street lamp went out the moment I walked past, it went out â€Å"funny,† I say to myself aloud and carry on walking by the lights which still went out every time I walked past them. I had only experienced this once before in my lifetime but I was as usual under the influence of my favourite tipple at the time, Thankfully today I was sober. Then suddenly I heard a cry, a loud screeching noise a few hundred metres away dead ahead of me, I knew this alleyway well I used it every day. There was no way anyone could be attacked down this alleyway, but then again the excitement of the next few hours as the clock strikes twelve made me very apprehensive, so I ran down the alleyway to find out what had happened. I ran for about two minutes then I tripped over a large object on the floor I looked around and I found a woman on the floor unconscious and bleeding heavily so I instantly called an ambulance to help come and pick her up. Buy the time they arrived she was dead. No one knew who was there on site could understand her cause of death, No impact wounds on the head or body which could have caused the blood, No gunshot on her body, nothing. This got me even more worried. I got home about two hours later, the shock of seeing someone in that condition made me sick. Who or what as the case could be did this to such an innocent person. When I got into my bedroom I fell onto my bed and slept, as I was not in the party mood after this little fiasco. I woke up several times in the night as the partying kept me awake for hours at a time then before I knew it my alarm woke me up at about 7.30am before I got dressed I wrote a list of what I could do to help the poor ladies family. I finished my list had a wash and got changed I then sat down for breakfast I sat watching the holoscreen to see if the killings of last night had been better or worse than last time. The reporter informed me that the killings were ten times as bad as last time and that you should avoid going out at all costs. Unfortunately my time had come to leave the warm comfort of my home and headed downtown to my office on 12th and 9th. I left my apartment with caution, as you don't quite know what is going to happen at this time of year. As I left the tatty main door to the block I saw all of the wonderful displays that all of the children had made for the city up in flames. They looked like old torn clothes rather than wonderful display of affection to the community. It looked like a scene from an old space movie where only the star was left after they destroyed the planet. The city even had the red glow of the fires that were here and their, as the fire robots tried to extinguish them

Pros and Cons of Using a Plus-Minus Grading System

Student and Faculty Views of Plus-Minus Grading Systems Working Paper Series—07-11 | December 2007 Jim Morgan (928) 523-7385 James. [email  protected] edu Gary Tallman Robert Williams All professors at: Northern Arizona University The W. A. Franke College of Business PO Box 15066 Flagstaff, AZ 86011. 5066 Student and Faculty Views of Plus-Minus Grading Systems Introduction Many colleges and universities have adopted or are considering adopting a grading system that provides a larger number of marking choices than the A through F whole-letter system. This usually takes the form of a plus-minus (+/-) grading system in one version or another.While a variety of reasons have been put forth for the move to +/- grades, a key motivation is the belief that a +/- grading system can either reverse the progression of grade inflation or counter its effects by establishing more grade choices so that performance can be more effectively differentiated. This paper first reviews studies of th e prevalence in American colleges and universities of +/- grading systems and, perhaps more importantly, the prevalence of schools not using +/- systems who could potentially benefit from a shift to use of this form of grading system.Because of limitations found in available data, a targeted analysis of grading systems of a selected set of universities has been conducted. The results of this secondary research are briefly reported in the second section below. Results of the first two sections indicate that there remains a substantial set of schools that do not currently utilize +/- grading and might be considering a shift to this form of grading system. Next the paper reviews literature dealing with faculty and student perceptions of +/- grading systems and the effects of these systems on the level and distribution of grades and on student effort.Substantial differences in the perceptions of the two groups are found. The major focus of this paper is the analysis of how faculty and s tudent perceptions of the benefits of a +/- grading system differ and what the motivations for these differences might be. The technique used to explore these questions is a survey of both faculty and student reactions to a hypothesized change to a +/- grading system at a mid-size public university in the Southwest. The results indicate that the faculty is much more supportive of a change than are students.Insights as to why each group views the effects of the hypothesized change differently are explored in the paper with possible explanations for the differences found in expectancy theory, a popular theory of human motivation that suggests students and faculty will each react to the change in a way that is likely to produce positive benefits for them, and in resistance to change theory which seeks to identify the factors causing resistance among groups affected by a change. Our study shows that each group perceives the effects of the change differently and that some students and fa culty members have very strong commitments to their views.Examination of the Extent of Use of +/- Grades A study by the American Association of College Registrar and Admissions Offices reported that 36% of institutions (both 2 and 4 year) in 1992 used pluses or minuses in grading whereas 56% of such institutions did so in 2002 [Brumfield, 2005]. Thirty-two institutions moved to a +/- system over the ten year period. Private schools were much more likely to use a +/- system than public schools. This continues the trend noted in the prior ten year period when a 12% increase in institutions using a +/system was noted [Riley, Checca, Singer, & Worthington, 1994].In order to further evaluate the use of +/- and other extended category grading systems, on-line catalogs of a representative sample of one fourth of all AACSB accredited business schools were reviewed to determine each school’s undergraduate grading policy. A total of 99 schools were surveyed, 71 of them public and 28 pr ivate. Table 1 shows the distribution of grading systems used. Three basic grading systems were identified: systems using pluses-minuses, systems using a single intermediate grade and traditional whole-letter grading systems of A, B, C, D, and either E or F.Note that about one third of the schools continue to use whole-letter only grading systems. Among public schools, 30 of 71 (42. 5 percent) use only whole-letter grading. Plus-minus grading systems are clearly the most prevalent type of grading system among this group of schools. To clarify the notation used below, the A+ to C+ system would use the grades A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C , D, F, while an A+ to D- system would use A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, D-, F and so on. The plus or minus typically raises (lowers) the grade by . or . 33 grade points. As the table indicates, many schools 1 do not allow pluses and minuses across their full range of grades. The grade of A+ creates the possibility of a GPA greater than 4. 0 and, probably for this reason; only 9 of the 60 schools with a +/- system include an A+. Four of the 9 schools using the A+ resolve the GPA problem by recording the A+ as a 4. 0 when calculating GPAs, so that the A+ becomes just a notation on individual course grades. Schools also differ with respect to the bottom of the +/- range.Most frequently, pluses and minuses are used all the way down through the D-, however, due to issues relating to transfer grades and determining the grade required for satisfying prerequisites, a number of schools terminate the use of pluses and minuses with the D+ (they do not use a D-) and others stop at the C+ or even C- level. TABLE 1 Distribution of University Grading Systems Number of Schools Using 60 1 8 4 3 16 27 1 7 4 3 32 32 Plus and Minus Grades A+ thru C+ * A+ thru DA- thru C+ A- thru CA- thru D+ A- thru DB+ thru DSingle Intermediate Grade AB, BC & CD AB and BC Whole-letter Only A thru F The A+ grade is counted as a 4. 0 for 4 of the schools us ing an A+ Systems using a single intermediate grade are far less prevalent than the +/- systems. The single intermediate grade is typically listed either as the concatenation of the two grades it lies between, such as AB for the grade between an A and a B, or as a plus without a corresponding minus. In these systems the grade points awarded for the intermediate grade are half way between the two related whole-letter grades (a 3. 5 for an AB or a B+). Why the Movement to +/- Grading?The proportion of institutions using +/- grading systems increased by 12 percent from 1982 to 1992 [Riley, Checca, Singer, & Worthington, 1994] with the trend continuing. There are three reasons typically cited as motivation for universities to change to a +/- grading system. They are concerns over grade inflation, ability to differentiate between students and ability to motivate students to aspire to learn more. A substantial body of literature details the existence of grade inflation in American college s and universities.One study [Levine, 1994] surveyed 4,900 college graduates from 1969 to 1993 and found that the number of A’s awarded had quadrupled and the number of C’s had dropped by two thirds. +/grading shows some promise in reducing grade inflation. In a recent article the author cites evidence of other studies plus his own analysis of the experience of Berry College to conclude that the implementation of a +/- system halts and in some cases produces a minor reversal in grade inflation [Bressette, 2002]. This effect is not equal over all majors.Majors that traditionally have low GPA’s are affected less by a change to a +/- system than majors in a high GPA major [Bressette, 2002]). 2 Proponents of a +/- system also believe it better differentiates students and that it is fairer or more precise. Researchers have found that grades are more reliable indicators of student performance as the width of a grade interval is narrowed [Singleton & Smith, 1978]. The existence of grade inflation in combination with the traditional A-F grading system effectively reduces the grades available and widens the range of student performance represented by each grade.The introduction of +/- grades increases the grades available and narrows the interval for each grade. In majors where grading is more holistic however, faculty believe the additional grade choices create less precision in student evaluations [Quann, 1987]. It is also argued that students are motivated to work harder under a +/- system. Anecdotal evidence in the form of student quotes indicates that they must continue to work through the entire semester to earn a grade under the more refined +/- system.The chance of earning a higher grade may be a motivator (plus) but the risk of earning a lower grade (minus) might be an even stronger motivator according to one study [Cullen et al. , 1975]. Evidence to the contrary is present in a study of economics classes at a mid-size Midwestern universit y that concluded students who chose +/- grading were not significantly more motivated than students who did not [McClure & Spector, 2005]. Student and Faculty Attitudes Toward +/- Grading As noted above, the momentum is toward adoption of a +/- grading system.However, fully one third of all schools currently use a whole-letter grading system. As these schools contemplate a change to their grading system it will be important for them to recognize the differing perceptions of benefits and costs that major stakeholders have. The major focus of this paper is the analysis of how faculty and student perceptions of the benefits of a +/- grading system differ. A recent study of business school faculty and students identified a substantial gap between the expectations and perceptions of the two groups with respect to grading and academic rigor [McKendall et al. , 2006].In addition, articles and editorials in student newspapers of universities considering adopting +/- grades suggest that this type of change in grading policies is always controversial. Such changes are typically proposed by the faculty and often opposed by students [Brown Daily Herald, 2006]. Students have noted that the use of a +/- system that does not include an A+ grade tends to lower the GPAs of the best students since they potentially have many current A grades that could become A minuses, but relatively few B and lower grades that could be raised by the plus grade [Storelli-Castro, 2006; Daily Athenaeum, 2006].Perhaps the clearest evidence of how students view +/- grading versus traditional grading occurs when students have a choice in a particular class. Humboldt State University made the +/- system optional. Student choices were tracked in six introduction to programming classes. Students overwhelmingly chose the traditional grading system over the +/- system, although students who chose the +/- system earned more pluses than minuses [Dixon, 2004]. Students from another university were quoted as arguing that the +/- system would increase the intrinsic value of an ‘A’ and help in identifying the very best students [Bressette, 2002].A survey of faculty documenting their actual use of a voluntary +/- grading system conducted at Ball State University provides evidence of variation in faculty support for such a grading system [Malone, Nelson & Nelson, 2000]. The survey asked graduate faculty how extensively they used the +/- system. Seventy-six percent indicated it was used considerably with assistant professors and those at the university for 1-4 years indicating the heaviest usage. Full professors use it less as did those with over 15 years service.The colleges that used it most were Architecture, Communication Sciences and the Humanities. The colleges that used it the least were Business, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Psychology. Business used the +/- system far less than any other unit in the University. No explanation was proffered for the differences b y college. The differing perceptions of faculty by disciplines were noted in another study that concluded â€Å"Faculty believed that the meaning of a grade varies more across disciplines than across institutions† [Ekstrom & Villegas, 1994]. While the studies noted above point to a variety of student and faculty attitudes toward +/grading, for the most part these studies have not examined the conceptual bases for student and faculty attitudes. There are at least two theoretical perspectives that may be useful in explaining these attitudes. The first is resistance to change theory and the second is expectancy theory. Resistance to change theory is quite intuitive and simply states that affected parties tend to resist change to their environment, work or otherwise.Literature describing reasons for resistance to change is well established and many of the major elements cited today were identified many years ago. A 1966 American Management Association keynote presentation identif ied a number of factors that cause people to resent and resist change [Burns 1966]. While this presentation dealt with the work environment, many of the factors identified also apply to the type of change dealt with here. Here in paraphrased form, is a partial list of the factors identified: 1.The change was poorly communicated and the parties involved do not understand the purpose of the change. 2. The parties involved lacked any involvement in planning the change. 3. The belief that the cost of the change is too high versus the potential benefits to be received from the change. 4. The pervasive belief that the current way of doing things is perfectly adequate. 5. The fear that the new system will fail. 6. The failure to consider the habit patterns of those affected by the change and the impact of the change on those habit patterns.In a more recent study, Goltz and Hietapelto [2002] found that employees (or students in our most likely case) resist change when it decreases their pow er or degree of control over stimuli affecting them. A second theoretical explanation of why evolution to a +/- grading system would be resisted can be found in expectancy theory. Expectancy theory, first conceptualized by Vroom [1964] and relying on the work of earlier scholars such as Tolman [1932], Rotter [1954], and Atkinson [1956], represents a cognitive approach to explaining human behavior.The models picture human beings as active, thinking, learning and predicting creatures. People learn to perform certain behaviors (or at least increase the chance of performing the behavior) that they expect would lead to positive outcomes. Consequently, humans are not just products of their environment but they are active in attempting to understand the environment in terms of threats and opportunities. For example, students may perceive a change to +/- grading as a threat. Some of the studies cited above suggest that +/- systems not including an A+ grade do tend to reduce the grades of th e best students.More generally, students may believe that +/- grades serve to reinforce the importance of grades, that lower overall GPA’s will result from the change and that higher levels of incremental study time will be necessary to prosper under a +/- system. The expectations of lower GPA’s, also carries with it graduate school acceptance concerns as well. Finally, the issue of +/- grading is much more personal to students as they rightly understand that the effect of the change applies directly to them. Faculty, on the other hand, do not take the change nearly as personally.Faculty may perceive greater flexibility and greater justice in grading with a +/- system and they might also expect that the +/system would be more motivational to students which would cause them to have a favorable attitude toward a +/- grading system. Survey Methodology This section describes a survey of student and faculty opinions about the introduction of a +/grading system at a mid-size d university in the Southwest. The university currently uses a whole-letter grading system with only the grades A, B, C, D, and F.The variant of +/- grading system being considered is one that adds grades of A-, B+, B-, and C+ to the set of potential grades with + grades being recorded at . 3 points higher than the base grade (e. g. 3. 3 for a B+) and – grades being recorded at . 3 points less than the base grade. 4 Respondents were asked whether they Favored, Opposed or Didn’t Know About or Care About a change to the grading system that would utilize the +/- grading scheme described above. Those who either Favored or Opposed were then asked to rate the strength of their opinions as either: care only slightly, care somewhat strongly or care very strongly.The results of these two questions were combined to produce a 7 point scale with values ranging from Very Strongly Support to Very Strongly Oppose (see Table 2). Respondents were also asked to describe the reasons for their support or opposition. Results of this open ended question were recorded and categorized with up to two reasons being recorded for each respondent. In addition respondents were asked to provide additional information that might be related to their views of the proposed system. Students were asked to indicate their class standing, their GPA, and the college of their major.Faculty members were asked to indicate their college and their length of service at the university. The survey of students opinions was collected by a group of Marketing students who randomly solicited responses from students entering and leaving commonly used buildings across the campus. The survey of faculty was collected on-line through an e-mail solicitation. Examination of the demographic distribution of responses suggests that the respondents are broadly representative of the students and faculty respectively.The 1433 student responses represent just over 10 percent of the count of student on the surveye d campus, while the 433 faculty responses represents over 50 percent of the eligible pool of faculty members. Hypothesized Relationships Based upon the literature reviewed in the previous sections, the following hypotheses about faculty and student attitudes toward the introduction of +/- grades are proposed. H1 – Faculty are more supportive of a +/- system than students. There is some evidence that a move to a +/- grading system may reduce the progression of grade inflation or perhaps reverse it.Therefore, faculty who are concerned about the effects of grade inflation would be expected to be supportive of a +/- grading system. Based upon expectancy theory. Both students and faculty may have resistance to change reasons for opposing the new system, but these reasons are likely to be stronger for students. Students may view any change in the grading system imposed by faculty as a potential threat to their GPA. Students also are likely to feel less involved in the change and ha ve less understanding of the purpose for the change.Thus, students would be expected to resist the change to a +/- grading system. H2 – Freshmen will be more supportive of +/- grades than upperclassmen. Class standing can also be expected to affect student responses to a change in grading system. Upperclassmen have more experience with the current grading system. They may feel that they have learned how to work within that system effectively to optimize their grades. Resistance to change tends to increase, as individuals have more experience with and more of a stake in an existing system.Thus, we hypothesize that freshmen will be more favorable toward +/- grades than upperclassmen. H3 – As a student’s GPA increases, support for +/- grades decreases. Since most +/- grading systems, including the one described to our respondents, do not include an A+ grade, expectancy theory suggests that students with very high GPAs have a rational reason to believe that +/- grad es are more likely to lower than raise their GPAs. For example, consider a student who has earned As in 80 percent of her/his courses and Bs in the other 20 percent leading to a 3. 8 GPA.For that student, the new grading scheme could only lower and not raise 80 percent of her grades while, for the remaining 20 percent, the grade could be either higher (a B+) or lower (a B-). On the other hand, since the system proposed in this survey does not include a C-, a student who has earned 80 percent Cs and 20 percent Bs under the whole-letter system has 80 percent of his/her grades that could only be increased by 5 the +/- grading system. Therefore, we hypothesize that students with higher GPAs will be less favorable toward the use of +/- grades than student with lower GPAs.H4 – As the average grade issued in a student’s college increases, support for +/grades decreases. The average grade in the college where a student is majoring can also be expected to affect responses to +/ - grading. Students in colleges where a very high proportion of As are currently given would have reason to fear that +/- grades would lower average GPAs issued in their unit. In a college with a 3. 2 average grade we might expect that 40 percent or more of the grades issued are As and that 40 percent of grades could not increase, but could only be lowered by the introduction of a typical +/grading system.By comparison, a college with a 2. 7 average grade would be expected to be issuing much fewer As, so that use of +/- grades could potentially either raise or lower nearly all of that unit’s grades. In addition, at least one empirical study [Bresette, 2002] found this type of effect as discussed above. For this reason, we hypothesize that students, in keeping with the predictions of expectancy theory, will be less favorable toward +/- grades the higher the average grade issued by their college. H5 -Faculty support for +/- grades will become less favorable as tenure at the sch ool increases.Faculty views of +/- grades might be expected to vary with the length of time that a faculty member has taught under the current grading system. As a faculty member’s experience with using the existing grading system increases, they, like students, may become comfortable with that system and therefore may be more resistant to change. In addition this type of effect was found in one of the empirical studies cited above [Malone, Nelson, & Nelson, 2000]. H6 – Faulty support for +/- grades will be more favorable as average grades issued in their college increase.The grading culture of the college in which a faculty member teaches may also impact their views of +/- grades. Faculty in colleges with high average grades might logically feel a greater need for additional grading options to better reflect student performance, whereas faculty in colleges with lower average grades might feel that the current system provides adequate assessment of student performance. On the other hand, since faculty are responsible for issuing grades, differences in current grading practices across colleges tend to reflect the grading preferences of the faculty in those colleges.Faculty in colleges with high average grades may be less likely to feel that grade inflation is an important issue. Thus, faculty support for +/- grades may be either stronger or weaker in colleges with high average grades. We believe the desire for additional grading options will be the stronger of the two effects. Survey Results In analyzing the survey results, we will first look to see whether student and faculty opinions about the use of +/- grades differ. Table 2 below shows summary data about student and faculty opinions. There is a strong divergence between student and faculty opinions about the proposed use of +/- grades.Over half of faculty respondents support +/- grades at least somewhat strongly while only 15 percent of students share this level of support. Almost half of the student respondents oppose +/- grades at least somewhat strongly, and many of the remaining students are relatively indifferent to, rather than supportive of, +/- grades. A Chi-squared test of the null hypothesis that the distribution of faculty opinions and student opinions do not differ has been conducted and the null hypothesis is rejected at the . 0001 level, indicating that there is a significant difference between the opinions of the two groups thus supporting hypothesis one. TABLE 2: Distribution of Opinions of Students and Faculty About Use of +/- Grades Students Count Percentage 64 4. 4% 148 10. 3% 145 10. 1% 289 20. 0% 129 8. 9% 332 23. 0% 336 23. 3% 1443 100. 0% 0. 0001 Faculty Count Percentage 126 27. 0% 123 26. 4% 48 10. 3% 26 5. 6% 18 3. 9% 57 12. 2% 68 14. 6% 466 100. 0% Support Very Strongly Support Somewhat Strongly Support Slightly Don’t Know / Care Oppose Slightly Oppose Somewhat Strongly Oppose Very Strongly Chi-Square test p-value The next set of tables provides an analysis of the degree to which student opinions about +/grades vary across different categories of students.First we look at the effect of class standing, that is, do views differ between freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Table 3 presents these results. The Chisquare test indicates that the distributions are significantly different and inspection of the table shows very clearly that sophomores and juniors tend to be most strongly opposed to use of +/- grades. Freshmen and seniors do not support use of +/- grades, but are less strong in their opposition and more likely to be indifferent or care only slightly about the grading alternatives.Sophomores and juniors may feel comfortable with the current grading system and be more reluctant to change, while freshmen have less familiarity with the existing system and seniors feel that they would not be personally affected by any change providing support for hypothesis two. TABLE 3: Student's Class Standing vs Student' s Opinion of Use of +/- Grades Freshman 5. 4% 11. 6% 13. 2% 22. 1% 7. 8% 19. 8% 20. 2% (258) 0. 0045 Sophomore 3. 2% 10. 3% 10. 6% 20. 1% 7. 1% 28. 0% 20. 6% (339) Junior 5. 3% 8. 2% 7. 4% 15. 6% 10. 3% 22. 5% 30. 7% (417) Senior 4. 1% 11. 5% 9. % 22. 1% 9. 9% 21. 9% 20. 7% (416) Support Very Strongly Support Somewhat Strongly Support Slightly Don't Know / Care Oppose Slightly Oppose Somewhat Strongly Oppose Very Strongly Students in Category Chi-Square test p-value Table 4 summarizes the distribution of opinions among students in different grade point average categories. Since, the +/- grading system does not include an A+, students with very high GPAs might rationally assume that they personally have more to lose (through A-s and perhaps B-s) than they have to gain (through B+s), and thus oppose the change.The results of Table 4 support this idea, the Chi-square test indicates that students with differing GPAs do differ in their views of +/- grades and students with higher GPAs ar e systematically more inclined to oppose using +/- grades thus supporting hypothesis three. Student respondents were asked to indicate the college of their major. Since the classification of colleges differs substantially across universities this information is not directly comparable to other 7 universities. However, it would be of interest to know whether the grading rigor of a student’s college affects student opinions about +/- grading.Students in colleges which currently give many high grades may feel that they have more to lose from the use of +/- grades than students in other colleges. The university in question has six colleges. Two of them have issued grades which, on average, were below a 2. 8 over the last 3 academic years, two issued grades which were on average between 2. 8 and 3. 1 over that period, and two issued grades which were on average above a 3. 1 for that period. TABLE 4: Student's GPA vs Student's Opinion of Use of +/- Grades 2. 00 or Less 8. 7% 8. 7% 13. 0% 39. 1% 0. 0% 13. 0% 17. % 100. 0% (23) 0. 0001 3. 50 or More 3. 5% 9. 8% 9. 5% 15. 0% 8. 1% 26. 6% 27. 5% 100. 0% (346) Support Very Strongly Support Somewhat Strongly Support Slightly Don’t Know / Care Oppose Slightly Oppose Somewhat Strongly Oppose Very Strongly Students in Category Chi-Square test p-value 2. 00-2. 49 5. 8% 9. 1% 9. 1% 33. 9% 10. 7% 16. 5% 14. 9% 100. 0% (121) 2. 50-2. 99 4. 3% 10. 6% 11. 1% 24. 7% 10. 6% 20. 1% 18. 5% 100. 0% (368) 3. 00-3. 49 4. 7% 10. 7% 9. 4% 15. 6% 8. 4% 24. 8% 26. 4% 100. 0% (572) Table 5 shows the distribution of student opinions across these categories.The Chi-square test for equal distribution does indicate that there is a significant difference in the distribution of responses. Opposition to +/- grades is strongest and support for them weakest among students in colleges issuing the highest average grades thus supporting hypothesis four. This result should be interpreted somewhat cautiously however, because of the natural co rrelation of average grade with the student’s own GPA examined in Table 4. That is, in general, students in colleges issuing high grades are more likely to have high GPAs.Next we examine how faculty opinions about +/- grades vary across different faculty categories. First the length of service at the university is examined. Much like the situation described for students, it might be hypothesized that faculty who have been at the institution for a long period of time will be less likely to support a change in a grading system that they are used to and comfortable in using. TABLE 5: Average GPA Issued in Student’s College vs Student’s Opinion of the Use of +/- Grades Average GPA Issued in Student’s College ;lt; 2. 2. 8-3. 1 ;gt;3. 1 6. 0% 3. 8% 2. 6% 11. 6% 10. 5% 8. 5% 9. 6% 11. 7% 7. 6% 19. 8% 22. 0% 16. 3% 9. 1% 10. 5% 5. 8% 24. 9% 19. 8% 27. 1% 19. 1% 21. 7% 32. 1% (450) 3. 1 21. 0% 28. 6% 31. 5% 35. 3% 21. 4% 23. 8% 11. 8% 11. 4% 8. 8% 2. 5% 5. 7% 7. 2 % 3. 4% 4. 3% 3. 9% 16. 8% 12. 1% 9. 9% 9. 2% 16. 4% 14. 9% (119) 0. 1329 (140) (181) Support Very Strongly Support Somewhat Strongly Support Slightly Don't Know / Care Oppose Slightly Oppose Somewhat Strongly Oppose Very Strongly Faculty in Category Chi-Square test p-valueThe reasons given by students and faculty members for supporting or opposing use of +/- grades are summarized in Tables 8 through 11. These tables were assembled by categorizing open-ended responses. In the case of respondents opposing +/- grades, there were a number of somewhat distinct 9 responses that were still logically related in an overall category. In those instances the overall number of occurrences in the general category is presented, but the distribution of responses within the subcategories is also presented.Table 8 summarizes reasons given by students supporting the use of +/- grades. The predominant reason given was that the system would provide grades that are more accurate and provide a more refin ed measure of performance. The second most prevalent reason – that +/- grades provide a more appropriate reward for the effort is somewhat related. Other rather frequent reasons given were the feeling that +/grades will raise GPAs and the belief that they will increase incentives for students to work hard in classes.In contrast to the 35 students who felt that +/- grades would raise GPAs, Table 9 indicates that 10 times as many students (352) believe that +/- grades will have a negative impact on grades. It seems clear that fear of lower grades was the most important factor in the overall negative view of students toward the +/- grading system. Just over 100 students indicated that they oppose +/- grades simply because they prefer the current system and either see no reason to change or do not like the new system.Students also criticized the new system as being overly complicated, increasing stress and placing too much focus on grades, requiring more work of them to receive t he same grades, and having a potential negative impact on employment, scholarships, and/or getting into graduate school. TABLE 8: Students' Reasons for Supporting +/- Grades Number of Comments Grades are More Accurate/Refined Provide More Appropriate Reward for the Effort Will Raise GPA's Increased Incentives to Work Harder Will increase the Reputation of the School Other Schools Use Them 145 43 35 21 7 5Reasons for faculty support for +/- grades are summarized in Table 10. The two most prevalent reasons cited closely parallel the top two reasons for support provided by students. First, that grades will be more accurate and refined under a +/- system (identical to the students’ top response) and second that they are fairer or better for the students (similar to the students’ response of – provides more appropriate reward for effort). Other prominent reasons for support included the belief that +/- grades will help combat grade inflation, and that they will impro ve student motivation. 0 TABLE 9: Students' Reasons for Opposing +/- Grades Number of Comments In SubIn Category Category 352 164 145 32 11 104 54 50 38 34 21 16 15 9 8 5 Negative Impact on Grades An â€Å"A† is an â€Å"A† (is difficult enough) It will lower my GPA Achieving 4. 0 is More Difficult Heard from ASU / Lower Grades Prefer Current System Like current System / no reason to change Don't like the change System is more Complicated Too much pressure / stress Will require more study time for the same grades Puts too much focus on grades Negative Impact on Scholarships/Employment/Grad.School Doesn't motivate me more Like high School/Grade School Changes School's Atmosphere TABLE 10: Faculty Reasons for Supporting +/- Grades Number of Comments Grades are More Accurate/Refined Grades are Fairer/Better for Students Will Combat Grade Inflation Will Improve Student Motivation Better / Easier for Faculty (Feel better about grades given) Will Improve Student Feedback 173 50 26 23 12 10 Reasons for opposition to +/- grades among faculty were varied (see Table 11). Most commonly cited is the idea that the change poses more costs than the benefits it provides.The next most frequent concern was the belief that grade challenges and arguments over grades would be increased since more students would be near a boundary between grades. Somewhat related to this are concerns that grades will be more difficult (physically and emotionally) for faculty to construct and compute and that the particular grade given will be arbitrary. Interestingly almost as many faculty believed that +/- grades would have no impact on or would increase grade inflation (17) as believed that +/- grades would reduce grade inflation (26). Finally, 10 faculty members expressed concern that +/- grades would overemphasize grades. 11TABLE 11: Faculty Members' Reasons for Opposing +/- Grades Number of Comments In SubIn Category Category 39 14 9 9 7 24 21 17 17 10 7 10 6 4 3 2 Cost versus Be nefit Current System is OK (no need for change) No Benefit to Change No Benefit to Students High cost to change with Little Benefit Will Increase Grade Challenges/Arguments Grading Will be More Difficult for faculty Grades are More Arbitrary Grade Inflation Impact Will Encourage Grade Inflation Won't Reduce Grade Inflation Overemphasis on Grades Emphasizes Grades versus Learning Adds to Student Anxiety over Grades Not used by Employers / recruiters May Hurt Student Grad School chancesConclusions This study examined the extent of use of +/- grades in AACSB accredited business schools by collecting data from 99 such schools. Sixty percent of the schools use some variant of a +/- grading system, 32 percent use only whole-letter grading and the remainder use a single intermediate grade. A survey of faculty and student opinions about a move to +/- grading at a mid-sized university in the Southwest provides a number of interesting insights. There is a strong divergence between student and faculty opinions.Over half of faculty respondents support +/- grades at least somewhat strongly as compared to only 15 percent of students. Nearly half of student respondents oppose the change at least somewhat strongly. Students and faculty supporting the +/- grading system cited very similar reasons for their support – the belief that grades will be more accurate and refined and the belief that grades will be fairer or better for students. Some students also indicated the change would provide incentive to work harder. Some faculty felt it would combat grade inflation and improve student motivation.Students who oppose the change believe there will be a negative impact on GPA’s (352 students believe this versus 35 who believe grades would improve). The next most prevalent student comment was that they prefer the current system and see no need for a change. Faculty who opposed the change commented most frequently that there is little benefit from the change and next th at it will increase grade challenges or make grading more difficult for faculty. Opposition to the change was strongest and support for +/- grades was weakest among students in colleges issuing the highest average grades.In addition, sophomores and juniors and students with higher GPAs tend to be most strongly opposed. This suggests that student opposition to a +/- grading system could be reduced by implementing it in a phased manner (starting with the freshman class) and by finding a way to incorporate a grade of A+. In addition, resistance to change theory suggests that it is important that the reasons why the use of +/- grades might be in the best interest of students be effectively communicated throughout the process and that students groups should be involved early in any proposal to institute +/- grades.