Comprehensive Review of the Star Math Online Assessment

Comprehensive Review of the Star Math Online Assessment STAR Math is an online assessment program developed by Renaissance Learning for students in grades one through 12. The program assesses 49 sets of math skills in 11 domains for grades one through eight and  44 sets of math skills in 21 domains for grades nine through 12 to determine a student’s overall math achievement. Areas Covered The first- through eighth-grade domains include counting and cardinality, ratios and proportional relationships, operations and algebraic thinking, the number system, geometry, measurement and data, expressions and equations, numbers and operations in base 10, fractions, statistics and probability, and functions. The 21 ninth- through 12th-grade domains are similar but much more intensive and rigorous. There are 558 total grade-specific skills that STAR Math tests. The program is designed to provide teachers with individual student data quickly and accurately. It typically takes a student 15 to 20 minutes to complete an assessment, and reports are available immediately. The test begins with three practice questions designed to ensure that the student knows how to use the system. The test itself consists of 34 math questions varying by grade level across those four domains.   Features If you have Accelerated Reader, Accelerated Math, or any of the other STAR assessments, you only have to complete the setup one time. Adding students and building classes is quick and easy. You can add a class of 20 students and have them ready to be assessed in about 15 minutes. STAR Math provides teachers with the appropriate library that each student should be enrolled in for the Accelerated Math program. Students who work in the Accelerated Math program should see significant growth in the STAR Math score. Using the Program The STAR Math assessment can be given on any computer or tablet. Students have two choices when answering the multiple-choice style questions. They can use their mouse and click on the correct choice, or they can use the A, B, C, D keys that correlate to the correct answer. Students are not locked into their answer until they click Next or push the Enter key. Each question is on a three-minute timer. When a student has 15 seconds remaining, a small clock will begin to flash at the top of the screen indicating that time is about to expire for that question.   The program includes a screening-and-progress monitor tool that allows teachers to set goals and monitor a student’s progress throughout the year. This feature allows teachers to decide quickly and accurately whether they need to change their approach with a particular student or continue doing what they are doing. STAR Math has an extensive assessment bank that allows students to be tested multiple times without seeing the same question. In addition, the program adapts to the students as they answer questions. If a student is performing well, the questions will increasingly become more difficult. If he is struggling, the questions will become easier. The program will eventually zero in on the student’s correct level. Reports STAR Math provides teachers with several reports designed to assist in targeting which students need intervention and areas where they need assistance, including a: A diagnostic report, which provides information such as the student’s grade equivalent, percentile rank, percentile range, normal curve equivalent, and recommended Accelerated Math library. It also provides tips to maximize that students math growth. In addition, it details where a student is specifically in meeting both enumeration and computational objectives.Growth report, which shows the improvement of a group of students over a specific period of time. This report can cover a few weeks or months to several years.Screening report, which provides teachers with a graph that details whether students are above or below their benchmark as they are assessed throughout the year.Summary report, which provides teachers with whole-group test results for a specific test date or range, which helps to compare multiple students at one time. Relevant Terminology The assessment includes several important terms to know: The scaled score is figured based on the difficulty of the questions as well of the number of questions that were correct. STAR Math uses a scale range of 0 to 1,400. This score can be used to compare students to each other as well as themselves over time. The percentile rank allows students to be compared to other students nationally who are in the same grade. For example, a student who scores in the 54th percentile ranked higher than 53 percent of students in her grade but lower than 45 percent. The grade equivalent represents how a student performs compared to other students nationally. For example, a fourth-grade student who scores a grade equivalent of 7.6 scores as well as a student who is in the seventh grade and sixth month. The normal curve equivalent is a norm-referenced score that is useful for making comparisons between two different standardized tests. Ranges for this scale are from 1 to 99. The recommended Accelerated Math library provides the teacher with the specific grade level that the student should be enrolled in for Accelerated Math. This is specific to the student based on her performance on the STAR Math assessment.

Understanding Either … Or and Neither … Nor

Understanding Either †¦ Or and Neither †¦ Nor Understanding â€Å"Either Or† and â€Å"Neither Nor† Understanding â€Å"Either Or† and â€Å"Neither Nor† By Ali Hale If you’re presenting two alternatives, you’ll often use an â€Å"either or† or a â€Å"neither nor† construction. Here’s how those work: You can choose either cereal or toast for your breakfast. My friend’s car is neither green nor brown. Either is used in the affirmative sense, when you’re presenting possibilities that are both true or valid. Neither is used in the negative sense, when you’re presenting things that aren’t true or valid. So far, so straightforward – but you might have some questions about using â€Å"either or† and â€Å"neither nor† correctly. What About â€Å"Neither Or†? You may well have come across sentences like these: I’m neither angry or upset. This isn’t grammatically correct. The sentence should be rewritten as I’m neither angry nor upset. However, using â€Å"neither nor† can sound unduly formal or even a little archaic. If you want to avoid that, consider rewriting the sentence (e.g. â€Å"I’m not angry and I’m not upset.†) Can You Use â€Å"Either Or † and â€Å"Neither Nor† With More That Two Items? You might wonder whether sentences like these are permissible: She will have to choose either Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. There is neither bread, milk, nor jam. Grammarians differ on this point, but there’s a long history of both â€Å"either or† and â€Å"neither nor† being used for three or more items. If you’re writing for a particularly formal publication, though, you might want to stick to just two items when you’re using â€Å"either or† or â€Å"neither nor†. Some Additional Rules for â€Å"Either Or†Ã‚   and â€Å"Neither Nor† It can be tricky to figure out verb agreement when you’re using these constructions. Here’s what you need to know: Use a Singular Verb if Both Elements Are Singular If the alternatives presented are both singular, then use a singular verb, like this: Either James or Mary has hidden the sweets. Neither the van nor the car is fast enough. Use a Plural Verb if One (or Both) Elements Are Plural If one or both of the alternatives are plural, use a plural verb: Either the boys or the girls have hidden the sweets. Neither the van nor the cars are fast enough. Omit â€Å"Either† But Not â€Å"Neither† It often makes sense to have a sentence without the word â€Å"either†, such as: James or Mary has hidden the sweets. The boys or the girls have hidden the sweets. However, you can’t omit â€Å"neither† from a sentence – the â€Å"nor† can’t stand on its own. Here are some quick rules of thumb to remember about â€Å"either or† and â€Å"neither nor†: The word either should never be paired with The word neither should never be paired with You can only use nor in a sentence if there’s a neither (Some people say that â€Å"not nor† is also a valid construction, but it’s safer to stick with â€Å"neither†). Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:12 Signs and Symbols You Should KnowTime Words: Era, Epoch, and EonWhen to use "an"

A report about being consultant for B&Q (Marketing) Essay

A report about being consultant for B&Q (Marketing) - Essay Example The challenges of bringing certified timber to the market are dual. Firstly, companies along the supply chain need to get certified. Secondly, forest certification systems must work to expand the total area of certified forests.1 The various threats to woods and forests range from inappropriate activities such as extreme public recreation to more menacing threats from pollution, drainage, acid rain, climate change, disease, invasive plants and the activities of certain animals. A significant proportion of income from woods is from timber sales. Timber is a global commodity and prices for most products are established on world markets; world timber prices however are currently at an all-time downturn. Woods present great benefits to society, and when economists evaluate some of the non-market benefits (such as landscape value etc), it becomes clear that the wider public gets more advantage from woodland management than does the owner who offers those benefits. Following is a list of a few organizations operating worldwide in the forestry sector in order to provide the general public and all other interested parties with key information on timber and other forest related issues. 1. The International Wood Collectors Society is a non-profit Society committed to delivering information on collecting wood, correctly identifying and naming wood specimens, and using wood in creative crafts. 2 2. ProFor is a multi-donor partnership formed to practice a shared goal of enhancing forests contribution to poverty reduction, sustainable development and protection of environmental services. ProFor supports analytic work, and knowledge management and dissemination of forest issues related to livelihoods, governance, finance and cross-sectoral cooperation.3 3. L Association Technique International des Bois Tropicaux (ATIBT)Â  is an NGO which brings together tropical wood producers and

Gene Autry Museum Visit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Gene Autry Museum Visit - Essay Example time passed by, the center has increasingly expanded its performance to involve some emphases on other Westerners like Asians, Mexicans, African Americans, and Native Americans (Lemanczyk 2007, 50). At present, the center’s primary emphasis is on the union or meeting points of cultural practices in the American West. The Autry National Center is a museum of American West’s history, with collections and displays of relics and art works from the historical age of White imperialism in the 19th century, and it is also regarded a museum of symbols, myths, and images of the West, with quite a few masterpieces by Western artists, and a broad array of Western goods, mementos, costumes, etc. The center houses a research department which routinely conducts special expositions and events, and makes publications. Undoubtedly, the center is the leading museum of the American motion picture. . Â   In spite of the alienation I felt when I entered the center and being welcomed by the full-size imitation of Gene Autry, the center is, without a doubt, dedicated to the American West, particularly to cowboys and Native Americans. The center, apparently, has witnessed the honing of its vision and the expansion of its performance as it has struggled to become a site where the legends of the American West would occupy an important part in American history. Nevertheless, as I have observed, in spite of the committed hard work of Autry there was a very obvious dilemma. Several of the center’s visitors erroneously thought that Indians basically died out. The solution to this dilemma was easy, that is, to allow living Indians express and exhibit their own cultural history. One of the most remarkable and memorable exhibits I have seen in the center is the ‘reservation’, and although not all American Indians have went through this historical period, it is a site of legendary importance in the perception of American Indians. Several Natives who grew up in cities have an idealized

Milk Vending Machine Essay Example for Free

Milk Vending Machine Essay In March 2006, four friends and alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras connected from different parts of the globe and started talking. Ajit Narayanan worked as a storage engineer with American Megatrends Inc. In California, Aswin Chandrasekaran was an analyst managing product strategy for Capital One Financial Services Inc. in Washington DC. Adib Ibrahim was doing technology consulting at KPMG in Dubai. And Preetham Shivanna was a software engineer with Infosys Technologies, in Mysore, India. They started talking about their desire â€Å"to build a product-based company that would solve some real problems of India. † By mid 2007, the four were all in Chennai, and had set up shop as Invention Labs. They began by providing services in building electronic systems and designing embedded systems for other companies. They have since made their first foray into building a product ‘Milk Tree,’ a vending machine for milk sachets. The Producer Cooperatives and Supply Chain In India, the supply chain for milk from the dairy farm to the customer has five or six links. First, small dairy farmers, typically owners of one or two cows, deliver milk to the local collection point often located at the village itself. From here it is transported to a Bulk Milk Cooling centre, which is the first point of refrigeration. Next the milk is transported to a processing plant. Processing plants are usually located on the outskirts of towns and cities. A large metro like Chennai has two, catering to the northern and southern neighbourhoods respectively. It is also here at the processing plant that the milk is treated for homogenisation, plus other value addition, like skimming, pasteurisation and so on.. From the processing plant the milk is transported to warehouses in different localities inside the city from where it is supplied to the milk dealers of the city. The final link in this chain is made of the ‘milk boys’ who pick up the milk from the dealer, fill their trolleys full of milk sachets and deliver them on foot, to the customer’s doorstep. Dairy farmers in India are part of cooperative societies supported by the government. At the village level, the dairy farmers form part of a Village Cooperative Society. At the district level, they form a District Producer’s Union. Although the Board of this district level body is composed of farmers, they hire professional managers to run it (this is what differentiates it from the village level organisations). Finally, at the state level, they form a Federation, which is managed by Civil Service government officials. For the district of Ernakulam in the state of Kerala, the numbers are illustrative. There are three District Level Producers Unions and one state-level Federation in the state. The total population impacted by dairy farming in this state is 2400 Village Co-operatives, and about 150,000 families. What Are the Problems? There are several problems associated with this procurement and supply model. The only points in the chain where refrigeration are used are at the Bulk Milk Cooling Centres and the processing plant. This lack of a proper cold chain is the single biggest problem and causes spoilage to the tune of 1% to 3% annually to the cooperatives, directly impacting farmer incomes. To put this in context, annual milk production in India in 2007-08 was approximately 100 million tonnes; losses therefore, amounted to about 1 to 3 million tonnes. The flimsy nature of plastic sachets often results in leakage and further loss of milk by the time it reaches the customer. Under the current supply system, the customer pays an additional Rs. 0.80-1.50 as delivery cost. Also, since the milk boys have limited carrying capacity, the customer places an order at the beginning of the month, for how many sachets should be delivered every morning. He or she does not have the option of purchasing an extra sachet or two, in cases of sudden need. The cooperatives also lose out to private players who offer better margins to milk dealers at the cities. These dealers then tend to push private brands, thus further eroding profits for the cooperatives. The Solution: an Innovative Milk Vending Machine To solve these problems, the four friends at Invention Labs have built an innovative machine that vends milk sachets. This was after they conducted an extensive study of vending machine designs and their suitability to local conditions. Existing machines all operated on a coiled spring mechanism, which proved to be unsuitable for the amorphous nature and flimsiness of plastic milk sachets. Invention Labs’ vending machine uses a unique mechanism to dispense one milk sachet at a time, in a clean and predictable manner. The machine has a two-dimensional grid of columns which hold a total of 120 milk sachets (each sachet contains 500 ml). Using their experience in developing embedded systems, they have built a special encoder, which enables the individual control of all the columns, using just two actuators. As a result of this innovative design, the team has been successful in building a specialised milk vending machine that is at least half the sale price of existing vending machines in the market. Further, as Preetham mentioned, â€Å"all components are over-designed at the moment†, since they are in first stages of product launch. With further selection of appropriate material, design work, and mass production, the team is certain that they can bring down the cost further. Invention Labs has got its first order for seven vending machines from a dairy cooperative based in the state of Kerala. The business model that they plan to implement with soft funding from the Lemelson Recognition Mentoring Programme (L-RAMP) is to install such machines in apartment complexes and housing colonies. The cooperative will be provided the option of either purchasing these machines or paying rent to Invention Labs. The cooperative will be responsible for loading the machines every day with milk. All purchases by apartment dwellers will be smart card-based and cashless. Invention Labs will be responsible for installation, servicing, and maintenance. How do Different Players Benefit? Customers will have milk available at their doorstep 24 hours a day. They would no longer need to pay extra money for delivery and would be able to purchase as much or as little milk as they need. Since the milk will be stored at 6-8 degrees centigrade, these machines can ensure better hygiene than the previous supply model. The Cooperatives, by directly placing their product at the customer’s doorstep, can fight competition from private dairies, and especially target the evening market, which is currently being taken over by private players. The maintenance of milk at the optimal temperature means they will suffer reduced losses. The potential benefit for the small dairy farmer at the village level is increased earnings, due to reduction in milk loss caused by spoilage. Cooperatives share profits with farmers through dividends. Typically, the farmer gets approximately 41% of the profits, through such dividends trickling down from the federation to district, to village level. Obviously, this figure (in terms of real income to the individual) will vary a lot from one farmer to the next depending on the number of cows, yield, input costs etc. Thus, increased profits for the cooperative – remember losses run to the tune of several million tonnes each year – will eventually flow back to the primary producer. Future Challenges The fact that the demand for a specialised milk vending machine actually came from the Kerala milk cooperative is an indicator of the stark need for such vending technology. The primary question to be answered is if the economics of the milk vending model will work out and make it viable for the consumer and the cooperative investing in it. Invention Labs is already looking at innovative ideas like selling advertising space on the machines, and having FM radio channels on it, to increase sources of revenue. They might also offer other value added products like yoghurt and flavoured milk. The business model has an inherent risk in that the company will install the machines on a rental basis, thus facing default risks and unforeseen operational costs. The smart card and recharging systems have to be built and trialled. Apartment dwellers have to adopt the new system of purchasing milk from vending machines, and while they have patented the design, there is always the danger of others copying it. These and more questions will be answered over the next few months as the machines are installed and start vending milk packets. But, with such bright and committed minds working on the problem, one cannot but feel sanguine that a technological solution to India’s milk supply challenges is close at hand.

Reducing Space Exploration Will Not End Poverty :: Space Exploration Essays

Space exploration has advanced a lot through the last years. Specially in the Cold War, where the United States and the Soviet Union competed between them and invested a lot in this field. Since then, U.S.A. kept on with this project of sending ships into outer space and exploring through the endless universe looking hopefully that something would appear. Millions are spend in these projects, but are they really worth it? Millions of people are living in poverty, starving to death, and this imperialist countries couldn’t care less for them, and are spending huge amounts of their budget on sending some space ships to vague across the universe. As if this could make a difference. They only feel superior by being the only ones who once stuck a flag on the useless little moon we have near us. These countries should reconsider this. By doing this they make us think that there are no problems, so why not? - Lets expand to other planet. But, this imperialist mind they have is what makes them take these decisions. They only want to be the best and if the rest is worst, even better. Maybe their country is fine, low rates of unemployment, people are happy and proud of being part of this developed power of the first world, but meanwhile, while they send space ships to Jupiter, there are other countries who can’t even have access to Internet, and there are millions of people who can’t take home a piece of bread to feed their starving family. Do you think this is fair? Well, I don’t. I think that the capitalist world in which we live in has made the line between the rich and the poor wider, and it will continue to be like this as long the system remains the same. As the rich become richer, the poor become poorer. And I’m not only talking about this case in particular, it happens all the time. Wealthy people have the resources to multiply their money, but poor people have to manage with picking up cartons from the streets because they don’t have any education or resources to obtain their food through other way. And the N.A.S.A built the new and ultra modern space ship which costed US$ 93,124,235 millions of billions of dollars and burned in the air causing the death of all he triplets who god only knows what they were doing there.

Advertising Analysis Essay

Rolex advertise their watches through social media, internet, radio and television. Firstly, Rolex has many quotes to advertise their watches. For example, ‘If you were speaking here tomorrow, you should wear a Rolex’ and ‘Rolex live for greatness’ and ‘the value of time’. Besides that, Rolex also advertise their product by finding worldwide champion of tennis superstar Federer Roger and Ana Ivanovic. Tennis superstar Ana Ivanovic as the gorgeous face of the new Rolex ladies watches advertisement. The next time you watch a video on YouTube you might find yourself viewing a Rolex advertisement before the content you meant to see. Advertisement on YouTube are nothing new but Rolex’s participation as a client of YouTube is less than to be expected from the mega-luxury brand. Rolex is often pegged as one of the most valuable luxury brand names in the world. While Rolex does have a very large advertising budget, they are notoriously picky about where they choose to advertise. Many have claimed them to be quite fanatical about the placement of their advertisement. Working with YouTube is (relatively speaking) a big deal because it removes Rolex’s ability to control specific advertisement placement – a need luxury advertisers typically covet. It does however allow for Rolex to reach a huge pool of viewers among a range of demographics and signals a major shift in the way conservative advertisers view the way they can reach customers on the internet. See more:  The 3 Types of Satire Essay Furthermore, Rolex had their own blogspot.com and magazine for advertising to let their consumer know more updates about their latest watches collection. Magazine advertisement library by model like datejust, day-date, Daytona, GMT Master, SEA-DWELLER and others. Magazine advertisement by topic like Racing, tennis, golf, concorde, fashion and many more. In addition, Rolex also provide their own video library for customer to view it such as Rolex Ladies Achievement, Rolex Sport and Culture and etc. That are few messages and symbol that comes into the consumers mind when they think of Rolex. One of it is it have a luxurious design. As an example, Rolex is made of mechanism, parachrom hairspring, ceramic bezel and 904L steel and it is also design with white gold, steel and diamond set in it. Since Rolex is Swiss made, the value of the watch will increase year by year and this will make the watch very valuable. There are few messages and symbol that comes into the consumers mind. Rolex have multiple design of watches. Each of the watches have its own specialty. One of it is the Rolex Submariner. It can be water deeper than 300 meters. With rotating outer ring to facilitate the calculation of time. The next design is Rolex GMT Master. It not only to display two time zones simultaneously the time clock can be independently moved to another time zone, without moving the minute hand and second hand. This is the reason why consumers want to obtain the product by viewing these advertisement from Rolex. Besides that, the messages that comes into consumers minds is Rolex can also bring a fashionable image to the consumer through advertisement. As an example, a poster with a person wearing casual outfit but wearing a Rolex watches, this shows that by just wearing a Rolex watch, it already can make the consumer feel fashionable. Lastly, the messages and symbols that comes into consumers minds is Rolex logo. The Rolex logo is designed like a crown. The logo of Rolex began with a gold/white crown to illustrate â€Å"exquisite† or†excellence† and the green colour of the words. Rolex was to represent money, prosperity and achievement. Along with the crown image and bold green letters, the use of a modified Garamond typeface has made it one of the most famous logos of all time. There are rumors abound about the Rolex logo two of which are not found anywhere on the Rolex website – that the crown logo represented â€Å"five fingers† or the crown was meant to portray five branches topped in pearls. Whenever consumers sees a crown, it will automatically let consumers think of Rolex, that makes it easy for consumer to remember it. The theory concept of Rolex are Trait theory. Trait theory is primarily quantitative or empirical as compare to Freudian and Neo-Freudian that are qualitative. Rolex focus on measurement of personality in terms of traits. Consumer that purchasing a Rolex watches feel that they are style of fashion and Rolex get a consumer satisfaction worldwide. Rolex is different from other brand of watches because it have many feature and advantages. So Rolex is suitable using trait theory concept. Trait is any distinguishing, relatively enduring way in which one individual differs from other. The project image of Rolex are public praise, customer praises and public interest in general about the Rolex watches. Rolex get a consumer satisfaction worldwide within 8.78 below average score out of 10.00. Since Rolex offers an impressive and luxurious range of watches, many wealthy consumer had a good image of purchasing Rolex watches as collection and wear it. Lastly, Rolex in consumer mind space are considered as swiss made watches, luxury product, fashion and it can last long. Consumer can use Rolex as long as using other brand watches and it is made of waterproof materials, which saves it from rain or water if by any watch it falls to it. Besides that, Rolex is swiss made watches so that every year the price will increase so that some wealthy consumer will purchase it for self wear and do watches collection.

Macy’s Inc Case Essay

Analyze the publicly-traded firm Macy’s Inc.; you are to complete a financial analysis. Complete the following steps for this portion of the project: 1. Obtain financial information for your firm for at least a 5 (2008-2012) year time period. This information should include: income statements, balance sheets, cash-flow statements. 2. Provide a brief history of the firm: You will need to do background reading about the firm in order to gain insight into its performance and behavior. Focus this section on the â€Å"who, when, where and what† questions about your firm’s history. 3. Complete financial measures of the firm for a multi-year time period (e.g. 5 years). This should include all measures concerning the income statement, balance sheet, and cash-flow statements. 4. Analysis of the financial performance of the firm. Once all financial measures have been determined, an analysis of this information is crucial to understanding how well the firm is performing and its current state of operations. There will be two components to this analysis: a. End-Point Analysis: Using the end-point methodology described in the document in the Reference Module of the Content Section of the course, compare the firm’s current financial performance to its financial performance in the beginning time frame. Describe, discuss, and analyze the changes you observe. b. Industry Comparison: Obtain current industry data on the various financial measures you have determined for the firm. Compare the performance of the firm to the industry and describe/discuss your results. 5. Summarize your findings. Based on the financial analysis you have just completed, summarize your findings and draw conclusions about the changes in the financial performance/structure of the firm over time and about the current strengths of its operations.

The affect of brain stress on ponzo illusion Essay Example

The affect of brain stress on ponzo illusion Essay Example The affect of brain stress on ponzo illusion Paper The affect of brain stress on ponzo illusion Paper The purpose of the present study was to determine the affect of brain stress on ponzo illusion. In addition the study examined the affect of presence or absence of converging lines background on judgments of lines length. The study sought to test Ponzos (1882-1960) hypothesis, referring to it as a misjudgment in a length of two lines. This experiment was tested among three students under two conditions, participants under stress and under no stress, each condition had three attempts and each attempt had ten trials. In stress condition, participants accomplished the following experiment after they came back from college. Participants adjusted the length of a line to match the length of another line in same page. Five trials were with the presence of converging lines background and the other five were with absence of converging lines. In the no stress condition, participants accomplished the experiment between 0700 0800 Oclock in the morning after breakfast. The study aim was to explore the correlation between stress conditions and the Ponzo illusion. The error range of length judgment in stress condition found to be higher than the no stress condition. Also the error was higher when converging lines were present. It was concluded that stress and present of converging lines have inverse affect of judgment of lines length. Introduction The Ponzo Illusion is a visual illusion that produces misjudgment in the length of two lines; most people dont get the length right when asked to set two lines to the same length because of Ponzo illusion. The illusion is named after Mario Ponzo (1882-1960) who first demonstrated it in 1913 (Vurdlak, 2008). The reason of such illusion happens when looking at lines in different length with converging lines background and how the brain analyze them; for example, if there were two boxes and they were the same size, one of them was 5 cm in front of you, the other is 5 meters in front of you, you will see that the nearby box is bigger than the far one. The same thing happens with lines in a paper where the brain thinks that one line is fare but the other is near you, so the line that is far should look smaller, but if they are the same size your brain will think the far line is bigger (Brislin, 1974). This illusion can also be observed in the moon, when the moon is on top of you it seems smaller than when it is close to the horizon, the truth is that the moon didnt change in size but the brain thinks that it should look smaller when it is far so if it does not it must have grown in size. There has been a lot of research in this field. Researchers suggested that there are two forms of Ponzo Illusions; circular ponzo Illusions and the Line Ponzo illusions (Robinson, 1972). Most studies to date have explored the line Ponzo illusion, although, studying the relationship between the line and circular forms of the illusion may offer additional signs to identify the possible determinants of the illusion (Yamagami, 2007). Different theories have been suggested to explain the Ponzo Illusion. Many studies have produced data supporting either theory. For example integration field theory (IFT), suggested by Pressey and Smith Martin (1990), is based on assumption that some parts of the stimulus are more likely to be processed than others. In accordance with this, the most relevant features to be processed are the ones confined within the four end points of the two segments to be compared (Roncato et al., 1997). Although most of the previous researches in this field are very well constructed, they are lacking the brain stability and hormones in the form of stress. This research is very important because it will explore the affect of life stress on the Ponzo Illusion. Stress in this research refers to lack of concentration and focus because of exhaustion and brain loads of life activities. The dependant variable is the difference in length between the adjustable line and the standard line. The independent variable is the status of the participants vision. There are number of confounding variables that have be considered in this research like, age difference between participants, eating habits, personal life, and area where participants are living in. All these variables will affect the stress and concentration in some forms. The aim of this study is to find if there is correlation between mental stress and Ponzo Illusion. The hypothesis of this study is that the mental stress will have a negative impact on concentration and therefore judgments of sizes will be affected. Also the presence of converging lines background complicates the issue and makes it even harder to judge the lines length. It was expected that when brain is stressed that the adjusted lines will be longer. It was also expected that when brain is stressed and converging lines are present, the adjusted lines will be even longer. Method Participants Three first year introductory psychology male students at PMU participated in the experiment as a course requirement. All participants had normal or corrected to normal vision. Materials Internet web site (http://psychexps.olemiss.edu/index.html) contains illusion experiment as follow. There are two parts of the experiment. First, two lines with different sizes are laid on converging track like (figure 1). Second, two lines are laid without the converging lines (figure 2). The participants are able to adjust the length of the lower lines by using the blue control arrow below the two lines that allows participants to adjust the size of the lower line to match the size of the upper line. There were 10 trials in this experiment, five trials with present of the converging lines and the other five without. Procedures All participants followed standardized instructions for each of the following conditions. Before the participants start the experiment they had to do one practice test, in that test each one of the participants had to move a blue arrow to adjust the length of a black line, if the arrow was moved to the right the line gets longer, if moved to the left the line gets shorter. Then they were asked to do the experiment three times in two different conditions. All participants had practice go before the real experiment start. The first condition is that the experiment must be done without stress (early morning). All participants must log on into the web before going to college and follow the experiment steps. All ten trials have to be completed without taking any break in between. After the first attempt wait for ten minutes and relax. Accomplish a second attempt using the same procedures in the first attempt. Participants must wait for ten minutes and relax before the third attempt by using the same procedures. The second condition must be done under stress (after a stressed day in college). In this condition participants must accomplish the experiment under a form of stress. Three attempts must be accomplished by each participant right after coming back from long stressed day in college. Accomplish the first attempt continuously without any breaks between trials. After the first attempt take a ten minutes break and then accomplish the second attempt. Take a ten minutes break and then accomplish the last attempt. The results of this experiment support the hypothesiss that with the brain stressed, the error magnitude is much higher as shown in (Table 1). Participant error in the first trial was very high p1=60 and as participant relaxed the error dropped to a lower level P1=29.20. In reference to (Table 2) the first trial for the first participant error was very low from the start P1=14 and the error continued to drop. Generally all participants showed very high error at start; however, the error rate deceased as the brain was relaxing. The result of the first and third participants showed a considerable amount of drop followed by a slight increase. This minor offset could be a momentarily loss of concentration or distraction. The results of the experiment when participants are not under stress are a lot better. It showed much lower error values for all participants. In reference to (Table 2), the error values continued to decrease for first and third participants. The second participant was slightly different because of possible noise in the house. There was a big increase in the error value in the second trial, however, a vast drop in the third trial. This is caused by the different in age between participants. Participant number one is approximately twenty years older than the other participants. The overall result summary showed higher error margin when lines are placed on converging lines. It also showed that the mean is also very high when the converging lines are present (mean = 23.086) and the standard deviation was (StDev = 16.308). When converging lines were absent, the data were much lower (mean = 7.267) and the standard deviation was (StDev = 5.955) as shown in (figure 3) Figure 3 Discussion The results support the hypothesis that stress affects judgment of line lengths and caused the adjusted lines to be longer. Also the present of converging lines affects judgment of lines length and caused the lines to be longer. This finding is consistent with Piagets theory (1969; cited in Wagner, 1977) that proposes the law of relative centrations. Centration is the trend to focus on one side of a situation and overlook others. The second hypothesis that length of horizontal lines judgment was affected when the converging lines background was present. This finding was consistent with Yamagamis theory (1976, 1978; cited in Yamagami, 2007) that the former distortion is attributed to the framing distortion specified as a contour interaction between a horizontal line and two vertical lines as shown in (table 3). The absence of converging lines caused the error to be lesser as shown in (table 4) One problem with the present experiment was the sample size was very small. In future studies, a larger sample size from different age group and different sex could be used to ensure that age is directly related to the misjudgment of lines length and also to explore the Ponzo illusion affect on female. In interpreting the present results it could be argued stress affects lines length judgment especially when converging background is present. Age is also a factor to the increasing of judgment error, with age increase the rate increases, however, the rate of change is not yet defined. Participant one has higher error rate, this is possibly because of age of the participant. Participants two and three are same age, however, participant two lives in a noisier area and this possibly one of the reasons of concentration loss and caused a higher error rate than participant three. The present study examined the effect of stress on Ponzo illusion on male students. Future study needs to examine other forms of stress and its effects on Ponzo illusion on female students.future research also needs to use larger sample and larger age scale in order to find the error rate compare to age. It would be of value in applied situations to control the confounding variables like food, exercise, and living environment to obtain accurate results.

Definition of Aggregate Demand

Definition of Aggregate Demand Definition: Aggregate demand is the sum of all demand in an economy. This can be computed by adding the expenditure on consumer goods and services, investment, and net exports (total exports minus total imports). Terms related to Aggregate Demand: DemandSpeculative DemandAggregate Supply About.Com Resources on Aggregate Demand: Aggregate Demand Aggregate Supply Practice QuestionCost-Push Inflation vs. Demand-Pull InflationSupply Shocks, Demand Shocks and the AD/AS Model Writing a Term Paper? Here are a few starting points for research on Aggregate Demand: Books on Aggregate Demand: Aggregate Demand and MacRoeconomic Imbalances in Thailand: Simulations With the Siam 1 ModelThe Federal Reserves response to aggregate demand and aggregate supply shocksAggregate Demand, Productivity, and Disguised Unemployment in the Chinese Industrial Sector Journal Articles on Aggregate Demand: The Dynamic Effects of Aggregate Demand and Supply DisturbancesCredit, Money, and Aggregate DemandAggregate Demand Management in Search Equilibrium

Leading, Managing and Developing People Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Leading, Managing and Developing People - Essay Example In ensuring that leaders achieve motivation of employees, some of them use some theories that help them to understand and choose the best way to treat their employees so that they can perform well. Through moderation of the working environment, leaders achieve active participation and engagement of employees, and this improves their chances of being productive and improving the performance of the organisation in which they work. There are various ways that help leaders motivate employees until they become actively engaged in performance of duties they have in organisation and can willingly contribute to the business (Lengnick-Hall, 2011, p. 245-247). In many circumstances, organisations experiences some changes which require employees to adapt so that they remain relevant in the production system and that the organisation in which they are working may continue to be productive and profitable. This means that leaders in organisations need to have their employees equipped with relevant information that will keep them focused on accomplishment of their goals in the company. The theories of improving engagement in an organisation require influence in the behaviour, improvement of the capacity, the collective environment of working and improvement of relationships among various individuals (Lengnick-Hall, Beck). In order to attain motivation of employees and cause them to be engaged in the operation of the company in which they work, the leaders should seek to understand the behaviour patterns of the employees (Collinson, 2005, p. 1421). This is because the way employees are influenced by the environment of the company operations, in the same way; it affects the company’s operations in the course of business. This means that to achieve actively engaged employees leaders will need to establish an environment that will ensure freedom of expression of ideas and feelings of the company. Influencing the behaviour systems of the employees, leaders should focus on i mplementing strategies that will conform to the behaviour systems and contribute to the success of the company in different situations. This implies that all employees will have their own perspectives represented in the course of doing business, and they will have the freedom they need to present ideas to the leaders as well engaging actively in creative activities in the company (Collinson, 2005, p. 1421-1422). The understanding of the personalities of the employees will help leaders to choose the right method to motivate them so that they can engage themselves in the company business. For instance, understanding the way employees could respond to various issue in the society could help the leaders to implement their plans of motivation. According to McGregor theory X and Y (Green, Wu, Whitten and Medlin, 2006, p. 577), there are two perspectives of looking at the employees in an organisation i.e. as inherently lazy and needing a form of pressure to perform their duties, or as a se lf motivated and needing little or no pressure so that they can perform. Using McGregor’s theory X and Y would help leaders to treat employees in ways that they are conscious of things they ought to do and those that they could not work for them. This ensures that leaders will be able to choose the right way of motivating the employees through punishment or by giving rewards that

Urban Crime in Early Modern London Research Paper

Urban Crime in Early Modern London - Research Paper Example She regularly stole various kinds of goods, broke into houses to steal them, and often lied to escape conviction and punishment. She was extremely poor, which is perhaps one of the most prominent reasons for her crimes. She used the alias "Trolly Lolly" in an attempt to hide her previous convictions. She was described as a 30 year old woman, who came to London when she was fairly young, married a butcher and earned an honest living selling meat and other eatables on the streets of London. However during the year 1713, she turned to stealing, since she lived in extreme poverty, and was often mistreated by her husband. Thus in order to secure a safe livelihood for herself and her children, she took to stealing, robbery and burglary and committed various felonies during her lifetime. However, she was convicted for the crimes committed and on account of lack of proper evidence in her favour, was held guilty and charged with felony. She was hanged on 21st September 1715. Analysis of crimes: London, during the eighteenth century characterized a vibrant society which was abuzz with the introduction of world trade, the development of manufacturing industry, and a simultaneous rise in crime. During the year 1715, London underwent mixed feelings with regard to the socio-political status, characterized by enthusiasm and cheerfulness on account of crowning of the new King George I, on one hand and extreme economic unrest followed by the South Sea Bubble. Furthermore, there was a steady rise in the population, which further increased the rates of poverty and unemployment resulting in widespread destitution. The period marked the beginning of the "gin craze" in London, and was highly plagued with increased infant mortality rates, poor hygiene, cramped and inadequate living conditions, and constant migrations (Old Bailey Online, 2011). Thus, on account of this background, the types of criminal activity largely witnessed during the year 1715 (and most of the ea rly eighteenth century) included theft, burglary, embezzlement, and prostitution to a certain extent. The incidences of murder were far and few in between, but a significant proportion of the criminal activities were aimed at amassing wealth. Most of the thefts and petty crimes such as pick-pocketing, involved women as well since they were mainly responsible for taking care of their children. The following table shows the various categories of crimes committed during the chosen period. This analysis is based on a careful study of the documents posted under â€Å"City of London sessions† on the London Lives project website. Table 1: Analysis of crime during the year 1715 Case# Date Description of the criminal Type of crime Other details 1 5th Aug, Male Theft Stole a horse 2 17th Dec Female Theft Stole a box with valuables worth more than hundred pounds 3 Jan, 1715 Female Pick-pocketing Mary Sound – a notorious pick-pocketer stole money at London bridge 4 20th Jan Male & Female Theft Stole stuff from an acquaintance and believed to have pawned the same at a higher price 5 Jan, 1715 Male Theft Stole sacks of mault, from someone’s house and sold them for a price 6 Jan, 1715 Female – Elizabeth Young, a single woman Theft Stole several times from several people and regularly sold it for a price 7 13th Feb Female Theft Francis Pitchell – a house maid, stole several bed sheets and pawned them for a price 8 16th Jan Male Forgery Fraudulently changed the