Psychology in the Modern World Essay Example

Psychology in the Modern World Essay Critical Thinking using Psychological Science The Learning Alliance for Higher Education, an educational consulting firm based at the University of Pennsylvania, was hired by City College in 2011 to investigate and make recommendations for improving undergraduate retention and graduation at the College. Even though most City College students receive financial assistance, have decent high school grades, and live at home with their parents – factors that should contribute to good graduation rates – in fact, currently only 7% of students admitted to the College graduate from it in four years. Only 36% graduate in six years. Indeed, roughly half of the students admitted drop out completely within two years. Students who transfer to City College from another school, either inside or outside the CUNY system (e. g. , a CUNY community college), disappear even faster: Half leave the College, and half of those leave by their first year at the College. We will write a custom essay sample on Psychology in the Modern World specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Psychology in the Modern World specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Psychology in the Modern World specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The goal of Fun Paper #1 is to use your critical thinking skills to evaluate the consultant’s report and consider hypotheses for explaining and improving the low City College graduation rate. We want you to write a paper that considers the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence and arguments, provides interpretations, and reaches your own conclusions using psychological science. Begin by reading the report, which is included at the bottom of this assignment. First, title your paper â€Å"A Critical Examination of Retention and Dropout at City College†. Next: FOLLOW EACH OF THE FOLLOWING FIVE INSTRUCTIONS EXACTLY (The following is a detailed outline on how you should write this paper): Your paper should consist of five paragraphs corresponding to the 5 questions below. DO NOT write an outlined paper: It needs to be in essay format. Within each paragraph, please be clear on which letter you are answering by placing a bold letter in front of the sentences. If you are answering â€Å"1a† place a letter â€Å"a† before the sentence/s. (Here’s an example: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate a summary of a report conducted by City College to make recommendations for student admission to the College. I found several strengths in this report. 1 a. One of the most convincing statements by the report’s author was†¦) 1. Begin the first paragraph of the paper with these sentences: â€Å"The purpose of this paper is to evaluate a report conducted by The Learning Alliance to investigate student retention at City College. I found several findings from this report helpful in illuminating the retention problem. † a. Which combinations of ethnicity and gender are most vulnerable to becoming college dropouts at City College? Which combinations of ethnicity and gender are least vulnerable to becoming college dropouts? Develop one hypothesis for why certain ethnic/gender groupings tend to drop out. (5 pts). b. Describe the correlation between when someone is admitted to the College and the tendency to drop out? Has this correlation increased, decreased, or stayed the same between 2004 and 2006? Suggest one interpretation of this correlation and its trend. (5 pts). c. City College dropout rates appear to depend in part on where someone originally comes from: the city, the state, or outside the country (which could include both the documented and the undocumented). How does where you come from affect dropout? Develop one hypothesis for why place of origin affects retention. (5 pts). 2. Begin the second paragraph of the paper with this sentence: â€Å"The retention problem may be due in part to the background preparation of students for college. † a. Describe the relationship between retention at City College and scores on pre-admission indices such as high school grades and SAT scores. What do these indices and this relationship suggest is one reason why City College students drop out in such great numbers? (5 pts). b. Describe the relationship between retention at City College and the numbers of courses students take and receive credit for each semester. Why would the number of courses taken affect retention? (5 pts). c. Use the relationships you have described in the second paragraph to develop a hypothesis about the role of background preparation for college in explaining dropout. (5 pts). 3. Begin the third paragraph of the paper with these sentences: â€Å"The retention problem may also be due in part to the reasons students come to study at City College, which has a lower retention and graduation rate than other senior colleges within CUNY. For example, many students come to City College to become engineering or pre-med majors. † a. Describe the relationship between students’ preferences for CUNY colleges and retention. (5 pts). b. How do engineering or pre-med majors fare here compared with other majors at the College? (5 pts). c. Describe how student preferences and area of major might jointly explain low retention at City College (hint: return to your hypothesis about background preparation for college). (5 pts). 4. Begin the fourth paragraph of the paper with these sentences: â€Å"One limitation of the report by The Learning Alliance is in the research strategy they used, which focused on associations between retention rates and a set of academic factors such as demographics and performance. † a. Name three variables not considered in this report that you think would have a strong relationship with retention at City College. For each variable, describe how you would collect the data and what relationship to retention you hypothesize. (6 pts). b. Explain the weakness in the research strategy used by The Learning Alliance. Why is it difficult to explain the high dropout rate at City College when relying exclusively on the relationships among variables (6 pts). c. What alternative research strategy would you recommend that obviates the problems of the one used by The Learning Alliance. Why is your recommended research strategy better? (6 pts). 5. Suppose you hypothesize from The Learning Alliance report that the high dropout rate at City College might be alleviated if at-risk students could be identified early with immediate intervention. Bob agrees to test your hypothesis using the current class of students enrolled in PSY 102. You divide students in the class into two groups: (1) Intervention Group: Sections in which the teaching assistants meet individually each week with any student who misses a class or an assignment; and (2) Baseline Group: Sections in which teaching assistants post grades and absences on Blackboard, but don’t meet specially with at-risk students. Begin the final paragraph of the paper with this sentence: â€Å"I have designed a study to test a hypothesis intended ultimately to improve the retention rate at City College. a. Describe the study, including how and when you plan to measure retention and how you plan to control for any preexisting differences between the groups. (6 pts). b. How can you tell whether any improvement in retention in the Intervention Group is due to at-risk students getting more attention from teaching assistants, developing better college learning skills, or som ething else entirely? How would you control for the different alternative explanations? (7 pts). c. Describe the statistical test you would perform to test the difference in retention between the two groups. What is the numerator of your statistical test? The denominator? (7 pts). d. Create a chart in Excel to show what you expect to find. Label the independent and dependent variables. Paste the chart into your fun paper. Write a concluding statement that summarizes your results from the chart and their implications for students entering City College this year. (7 pts). A tenth of your grade will be based on the following: a. Effective written communication (2 pts) b. Critical thinking and logical reasoning ability (2 pts) c. Ability to formulate questions, hypotheses, and research designs (2 pts) d. Proper use of psychological concepts and theories (2 pts) e. Competence in quantitative reasoning and analysis of research findings (2 pts) †¢ Due by 5:00 pm on MONDAY, OCTOBER 15th. Late papers will not be accepted. †¢ All papers need to be submitted electronically using the Assignment section in Blackboard (click on YOUR SECTION, then click on Course Tools > go to assignments > go to fun papers > click on the link corresponding to Fun Paper #1. Once there, scroll down and where it says â€Å"Attach local file† browse your computer for the finished paper and add it. Then click submit, and you are done). †¢ With the exception of the instructed sentences, the entire paper must be in your own words, in essay format and typewritten (double spaced) using Microsoft Word. †¢ Quoted, paraphrased, or borrowed sentences or phrases are not allowed. DO NOT USE ANY OF THE TEXT FROM THE LEARNING ALLIANCE REPORT, EVEN IN QUOTES. These will be regarded as plagiarism, which will be penalized by a zero on the assignment and a report filed with the Office of the Academic Integrity Official. Plagiarism software will be used to analyze your paper prior to grading. Do not use external references outside of lecture notes, the retention report, and the textbook. †¢ The paper should not exceed 4 pages. [pic] TOWARD UNDERSTANDING PERSISTENCE A Report on Undergraduate Retention at The City College of New York submitted by The Learning Alliance for Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania April 2011 Undergraduate Retention The Issue The City Colleg e of New York (CCNY), concerned about its ability to retain and graduate the students who enter as full-time undergraduates, asked The Learning Alliance to conduct a study of student retention. Just about half of the first-time full-time freshmen leave CCNY before completing a degree, and nearly half of the students who enter as full-time transfer students stop attending before they finish their courses of study. This report examines the factors that contribute to the non-persistence at CCNY. It focuses more specifically on who leaves, when they leave, and what appears to cause them to leave. The Data For the analysis, CCNY provided the records for all 14,428 students who started CCNY as full-time undergraduates in fall 2004 though fall 2009 (Admissions Files). Consisting of data for 9,245 freshmen and 5,183 transfer students, the file includes demographic and admissions information. (See Appendix B for the data elements. ) In addition, CCNY provided academic profiles of all enrolled undergraduates for every semester from fall 2004 through spring 2010 (Academic Files). These files were merged with the Admissions Files so that each entering student has a profile of his or her experience at CCNY. The information in the Academic Files includes grades and credits, among other data. (See Appendix C for data elements. ) A file containing all undergraduates who received bachelor’s degrees from CCNY between spring 2005 and spring 2010 enabled us to flag those who had completed their degrees, and a list of those enrolled in fall 2010 allowed us to flag those who were continuing to pursue a degree. The Analysis The analysis is divided into two parts: freshmen and transfers. For freshmen there is good information about academic preparation, with high school GPA and SAT scores for most incoming students. For transfers there is information about the institutions from which they transferred and the credits1 they carried forward to CCNY. The freshmen analysis comprises matriculating students from fall 2004-2006, while the transfer analysis includes students who entered in fall 2007 as well. In addition to statistical profiles and statistical significance tests of the differences between students who failed to continue or complete their studies and those who did continue or complete their studies, logistic 1As will be discussed later in this report, the transfer credits were not recorded consistently. regression models were built to help quantify the odds of a student with a particular profile failing to be retained. FRESHMEN Highlights †¢Half of all entering freshmen stop attending CCNY. Freshmen who fail to persist tend to do so early: about one-third of the non-persisters are off the rolls in or after the first year, two-thirds of all non-persisters stop attending by the end of the second year. †¢Freshmen who stop attending begin to develop academic problems in the first semester. Those students earn fewer credits on average than persisting students and have significantly lower GPAs on average than those who persist, and particularly those who graduate. The later the admissions phase in which a freshman is admitted, the more likely he or she is to stop attending. †¢Freshmen who chose CCNY as their first choice school are more likely to persist. †¢Freshmen who persist for at least four semesters, but ultimately leave without a degree, attend school part-time in a larger proportion of semesters than do students who continue to persist. †¢Freshmen who select a math-based STEM major (excluding those in the biological sciences) are somewhat more likely to be non-persisters. SAT scores are correlated with academic performance, so it is no surprise that students with lower entering SAT scores, on average, are less likely to persist. †¢Similarly, students with lower high school grade point averages are less likely to persist. General Findings Any freshman that matriculated as a full-time student at CCNY in the fall of 2004, 2005, or 2006 is included in this analysis. Students are considered â€Å"Not Enrolled,† that is, non- persisters, if they did not enroll in fall 2010. If they are included in a list of graduates from 2004 through 2010, then they are considered â€Å"Graduated. Everyone else is â€Å"Still Enrolled. † As Figure 1 shows, more than half of all students who enrolled as freshmen in 2004 and 2005, and nearly half of those who entered in 2006 left CCNY before completing their degrees. Because students tend to take more t han four years to complete their programs, the data for the students who entered in 2006 is less complete than the data for 2004 and 2005. It can be expected that a number of those who are still enrolled will be off the rolls before they can graduate. Figure 1. Full-time Freshmen by Status as of Fall 2010 Fall of First Freshman Enrollment | |F2004 |F2005 |F2006 | |Not Enrolled |612 |665 |698 | |Still Enrolled |105 |246 |718 | |Graduated |451 |367 |113 | |Total |1168 |1278 |1529 | |% Non-Persisting |52% |52% |46% | Freshmen who fail to persist tend to leave CCNY early in their academic careers. Among those who leave CCNY, between 8 and 11 percent are gone after just one semester. For example, of the 612 freshmen that entered CCNY in fall 2004, but did not persist, 62 or 10. 1% attended for no more than one semester. At the end of two semesters around one- third of those who ultimately leave are not registered, and after only two years the vast majority—around two-thirds of those who ultimately drop out—are no longer registered. Figure 2. Distribution of Non-Persisting Freshmen by Semesters Attended Before Leaving CCNY Semesters Enrolled Fall of First Freshman Enrollment Cumulative Number No Longer Enrolled | |F2004 |F2005 |F2006 | |1 |62 |55 |77 | |2 |199 |212 |253 | 3 |288 |316 |354 | |4 |406 |439 |484 | |5 or more |612 |665 |698 | Semesters Enrolled Cumulative Percent of All Non-Persisters F2004 F2005 F2006 |1 |10. 1% |8. 3% |11. % | |2 |32. 5% |31. 9% |36. 2% | |3 |47. 1% |47. 5% |50. 7% | |4 |66. 3% |66. 0% |69. 3% | |5 or more |100. 0% |100. 0% |100. 0% | Demographics The demographic profile of freshmen who stop attending reflects the conventional wisdom: men are more likely to be non-persisters than are women, and traditionally underrepresented minorities—black and Hispanic freshmen (who are nevertheless not underrepresented at CCNY)—are more likely to stop attending than are others. The differences between men and women, across ethnic groups, and citizenship, are statistically significant every year. Figure 3A. Percent of Freshmen Who Did Not Persist by Gender Fall of First Freshman Enrollment | |F2004 |F2005 |F2006 | |Gender |Total % Not |Total % Not |Total % Not | | |Freshman Enrolled |Freshman Enrolled |Freshman Enrolled | | |Cohort |Cohort |Cohort | |Female |531 48. % |592 48. 1% |760 43. 7% | |Male |637 55. 9% |686 55. 4% |769 47. 6% | p =

Biography of Queen Min, Korean Empress

Biography of Queen Min, Korean Empress Queen Min (October 19, 1851–October 8, 1895), also known as Empress Myeongseong, was an important figure in Koreas Joseon Dynasty. She was married to Gojong, the first ruler of the Korean Empire. Queen Min was highly involved in her husbands government; she was assassinated in 1895 after the Japanese determined that she was a threat to their control of the Korean Peninsula. Fast Facts: Queen Min Known For: As the wife of Gojong, the Emperor of Korea, Queen Min played a major role in Korean affairs.Also Known As: Empress MyeongseongBorn: October 19, 1851 in Yeoju,  Kingdom of JoseonDied: October 8, 1895 in Seoul, Kingdom of JoseonSpouse: Gojong, Emperor of KoreaChildren: Sunjong Early Life On October 19, 1851, Min Chi-rok and an unnamed wife had a baby girl. The childs given name has not been recorded. As members of the noble Yeoheung Min clan, the family was well-connected with Koreas royal family. Although the little girl was an orphan by the age of 8, she went on to become the first wife of the young King Gojong of the Joseon Dynasty. Koreas child-king Gojong actually served as a figurehead for his father and regent, the Taewongun. It was the Taewongun who selected the Min orphan as the future queen, presumably because she did not have the strong family support that could threaten the ascendancy of his own political allies. Marriage The bride was 16 years old and King Gojong was only 15 when they married in March 1866. A slight and slender girl, the bride could not support the weight of the heavy wig she had to wear at the ceremony, so a special attendant helped hold it in place. The girl, small but clever and independent-minded, became Queen Consort of Korea. Typically, queen consorts concerned themselves with setting fashions for the noble women of the realm, hosting tea parties, and gossiping. Queen Min, however, had no interest in these pastimes. Instead, she read widely about history, science, politics, philosophy, and religion, giving herself the kind of education ordinarily reserved for men. Politics and Family Soon, the Taewongun realized that he had chosen his daughter-in-law unwisely. Her serious program of study concerned him, prompting him to quip, She evidently aspires to be a doctor of letters; look out for her. Before long, Queen Min and her father-in-law would be sworn enemies. The Taewongun moved to weaken the queens power at court by giving his son a royal consort, who soon bore King Gojong a son of his own. Queen Min proved unable to have a child until she was 20 years old, five years after the marriage. That child, a son, tragically died three days after he was born. The queen and the shamans (mudang) she called in to consult blamed the Taewongun for the babys death. They claimed that he had poisoned the boy with a ginseng emetic treatment. From that moment on, Queen Min vowed to avenge her childs death. Family Feud Queen Min began by appointing members of the Min clan to a number of high court offices. The queen also enlisted the support of her weak-willed husband, who was legally an adult by this time but still allowed his father to rule the country. She also won over the kings younger brother (whom the Taewongun called the dolt). Most significantly, she had King Gojong appoint a Confucian scholar named Cho Ik-Hyon to the court; the highly influential Cho declared that the king should rule in his own name, even going so far as to declare that the Taewongun was without virtue. In response, the Taewongun sent assassins to kill Cho, who fled into exile. However, Chos words bolstered the 22-year-old kings position sufficiently so that on November 5, 1873, King Gojong announced that henceforth he would rule in his own right. That same afternoon, somebody- likely Queen Min- had the Taewonguns entrance to the palace bricked shut. The following week, a mysterious explosion and fire rocked the queens sleeping chamber, but the queen and her attendants were not hurt. A few days later, an anonymous parcel delivered to the queens cousin exploded, killing him and his mother. Queen Min was certain that the Taewongun was behind this attack, but she could not prove it. Trouble With Japan Within a year of King Gojongs accession to the throne, representatives of Meiji Japan appeared in Seoul to demand that the Koreans pay tribute. Korea had long been a tributary of Qing China (as had Japan, off and on), but considered itself of equal rank with Japan, so the king contemptuously rejected their demand. The Koreans mocked the Japanese emissaries for wearing western-style clothing, saying they were no longer even true Japanese, and then deported them. Japan would not be so lightly put off, however. In 1874, the Japanese returned once more. Although Queen Min urged her husband to reject them again, the king decided to sign a trade treaty with the Meiji Emperors representatives in order to avoid trouble. With this foothold in place, Japan then sailed a gunship called Unyo into the restricted area around the southern island of Ganghwa, prompting the Korean shore defenses to open fire. Using the Unyo incident as a pretext, Japan sent a fleet of six naval vessels into Korean waters. Under the threat of force, Gojong once again folded; Queen Min was unable to prevent his capitulation. The kings representatives signed the Ganghwa Treaty, which was modeled on the Kanagawa Treaty that the United States had imposed on Japan following Commodore Matthew Perrys 1854 arrival in Tokyo Bay. (Meiji Japan was an astonishingly quick study on the subject of imperial domination.) Under the terms of the Ganghwa Treaty, Japan got access to five Korean ports and all Korean waters, special trading status, and extraterritorial rights for Japanese citizens in Korea. This meant that Japanese accused of crimes in Korea could only be tried under Japanese law- they were immune to local laws. The Koreans gained absolutely nothing from this treaty, which signaled the beginning of the end of Korean independence. Despite Queen Mins best efforts, the Japanese would dominate Korea until 1945. Imo Incident In the period after the Ganghwa incident, Queen Min spearheaded a reorganization and modernization of Koreas military. She also reached out to China, Russia, and the other western powers in hopes of playing them off against the Japanese in order to protect Korean sovereignty. Although the other major powers were happy to sign unequal trade treaties with Korea, none would commit to defending the Hermit Kingdom from Japanese expansionism. In 1882, Queen Min faced a rebellion by old-guard military officers who felt threatened by her reforms and by the opening of Korea to foreign powers. Known as the Imo Incident, the uprising temporarily ousted Gojong and Min from the palace, returning the Taewongun to power. Dozens of Queen Mins relatives and supporters were executed, and foreign representatives were expelled from the capital. King Gojongs ambassadors to China appealed for assistance, and 4,500 Chinese troops then marched into Seoul and arrested the Taewongun. They transported him to Beijing to be tried for treason; Queen Min and King Gojong returned to the Gyeongbukgung Palace and reversed all of the Taewonguns orders. Unbeknownst to Queen Min, the Japanese ambassadors in Seoul strong-armed Gojong into signing the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1882. Korea agreed to pay restitution for the Japanese lives and property lost in the Imo Incident, and also to allow Japanese troops into Seoul so they could guard the Japanese Embassy. Alarmed by this new imposition, Queen Min once again reached out to Qin China, granting them trading access to ports still closed to Japan, and requesting that Chinese and German officers head her modernizing army. She also sent a fact-finding mission to the United States, headed by Min Yeong-ik of her Yeoheung Min clan. The mission even dined with American President Chester A. Arthur. Tonghak Rebellion In 1894, Korean peasants and village officials rose up against the Joseon government because of the crushing tax burdens imposed upon them. Like the Boxer Rebellion, which was beginning to brew in Qing China, the Tonghak or Eastern Learning movement in Korea was anti-foreigner. One popular slogan was Drive out the Japanese dwarfs and the Western barbarians. As the rebels took provincial towns and capitals  and marched toward Seoul, Queen Min urged her husband to ask Beijing for aid. China responded on June 6, 1894, by sending in almost 2,500 soldiers to reinforce Seouls defenses. Japan expressed its outrage (real or feigned) at this land-grab by China  and sent 4,500 troops to Incheon, over the protests of Queen Min and King Gojong. Although the Tonghak Rebellion was over within a week, Japan and China did not withdraw their forces. As the two Asian powers troops stared one another down and the Korean royals called for both sides to withdraw, British-sponsored negotiations failed. On July 23, 1894, Japanese troops marched into Seoul and captured King Gojong and Queen Min. On August 1, China and Japan declared war on one another, fighting for control of Korea. Sino-Japanese War Although Qing China deployed 630,000 troops to Korea in the Sino-Japanese War, as opposed to just 240,000 Japanese, the modern Meiji army and navy quickly crushed the Chinese forces. On April 17, 1895, China signed the humiliating Treaty of Shimonoseki, which recognized that Korea was no longer a tributary state of the Qing empire. It also granted the Liaodong Peninsula, Taiwan, and the Penghu Islands to Japan, and agreed to pay a war indemnity of 200 million silver taels to the Meiji government. As many as 100,000 of Koreas peasants had risen up late in 1894 to attack the Japanese as well, but they were slaughtered. Internationally, Korea was no longer a vassal state of the failing Qing; its ancient enemy, Japan, was now fully in charge. Queen Min was devastated. Appeal to Russia Japan quickly wrote a new constitution for Korea  and stocked its parliament with pro-Japanese Koreans. A large number of Japanese troops remained stationed indefinitely in Korea. Desperate for an ally to help unlock Japans stranglehold on her country, Queen Min turned to the other emerging power in the Far East- Russia. She met with Russian emissaries, invited Russian students and engineers to Seoul, and did her best to stoke Russian concerns about the rising Japanese power. Japans agents and officials in Seoul, well aware of Queen Mins appeals to Russia, countered by approaching her old nemesis and father-in-law, the Taewongun. Although he hated the Japanese, the Taewongun detested Queen Min even more  and agreed to help them get rid of her once and for all. Assassination In the fall of 1895, Japanese ambassador to Korea Miura Goro formulated a plan to assassinate Queen Min, a plan that he named Operation Fox Hunt. Early in the morning of October 8, 1895, a group of 50 Japanese and Korean assassins launched their assault on Gyeongbokgung Palace. They seized King Gojong but did not harm him. Then they attacked the queen consorts sleeping quarters, dragging her out along with three or four of her attendants. The assassins questioned the women to make sure that they had Queen Min, then slashed them with swords before stripping and raping them. The Japanese displayed the queens dead body to several other foreigners in the area- including the Russians  so they knew their ally was dead- and then carried her body to the forest outside the palace walls. There, the assassins doused Queen Mins body with kerosene and burned it, scattering her ashes. Legacy In the aftermath of Queen Mins murder, Japan denied involvement while also pushing King Gojong to posthumously strip her of her royal rank. For once, he refused to bow to their pressure. An international outcry about Japans killing of a foreign sovereign forced the Meiji government to stage show-trials, but only minor participants were convicted. Ambassador Miura Goro was acquitted for a lack of evidence. In 1897, Gojong ordered a careful search of the woods where his queens body had been burned, which turned up a single finger bone. He organized an elaborate funeral for this relic of his wife, featuring 5,000 soldiers, thousands of lanterns and scrolls enumerating Queen Mins virtues, and giant wooden horses to transport her in the afterlife. The queen consort also received the posthumous title of Empress Myeongseong. In the following years, Japan would defeat Russia in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) and formally annex the Korean Peninsula in 1910, ending the Joseon dynastys rule. Korea would remain under Japans control until the Japanese defeat in World War II. Sources Bong Lee. The Unfinished War: Korea. New York: Algora Publishing, 2003.Kim Chun-Gil. The History of Korea. ABC-CLIO, 2005Palais, James B. Politics and Policy in Traditional Korea. Harvard University Press, 1975.Seth, Michael J. A History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present. Rowman Littlefield, 2010.

The Inventors Behind the Creation of Television

The Inventors Behind the Creation of Television Television wasnt invented by a single person. The efforts of many people working over the years, together and separately, contributed to the evolution of the technology. At the dawn of television history, two competing experimental approaches  led to the breakthroughs that eventually made the technology possible.  Early inventors attempted to build either a mechanical television based on Paul Nipkows rotating disks or an electronic television using a  cathode ray tube  developed independently in 1907 by English inventor A.A. Campbell-Swinton and Russian scientist Boris Rosing. Because electronic television systems worked better, they eventually replaced mechanical systems. Here is an overview of the major names and milestones behind one of the most important inventions of the 20th century. Mechanical Television Pioneers German inventor  Paul Gottlieb Nipkow developed a rotating disc technology in 1884 called the Nipkow disk to transmit pictures over wires. Nipkow is credited with  discovering televisions scanning principle, in which the light intensities of small portions of an image are successively analyzed and transmitted. In the 1920s, John Logie Baird patented the idea of using arrays of transparent rods to transmit images for television. Bairds 30-line images were the first demonstrations of television by reflected light rather than back-lit silhouettes.  Baird based his technology on Nipkows scanning disc idea and other developments in electronics. Charles Francis Jenkins invented a mechanical television system called Radiovision and claimed to have transmitted the earliest moving silhouette images on June 14, 1923. His company also  opened the first television broadcasting station in the U.S., named W3XK. Electronic Television Pioneers German scientist  Karl Ferdinand Braun entered history books by inventing the cathode ray tube (CRT) in 1897. This picture tube, which for years was the only device that could create the images viewers saw, was the basis for the advent of electronic television. In 1927, American Philo Taylor Farnsworth  became  the first inventor to transmit a television image- a dollar sign- comprising 60 horizontal lines. Farnsworth also developed the dissector tube, the basis of all current electronic televisions. Russian inventor  Vladimir Kosma Zworykin invented an improved cathode ray tube called the kinescope in 1929. Zworykin was one of the first to demonstrate a system with all the features that would come to make up televisions. Additional Television Components In 1947 Louis W. Parker invented the Intercarrier Sound System to synchronize television sound. His invention is used in all television receivers in the world. In June 1956  the TV remote controller first entered the American home. The first TV remote control, called Lazy Bones, was developed in 1950 by Zenith Electronics Corp., then known as Zenith Radio Corp. Marvin Middlemark invented rabbit ears, the once-ubiquitous V-shaped TV antennae, in 1953. His other inventions included a water-powered potato peeler and a rejuvenating tennis ball machine. Plasma TV display panels use small cells containing electrically charged ionized gases to generate high-quality imagery. The first prototype for a plasma display monitor was invented in 1964 by Donald Bitzer, Gene Slottow, and Robert Willson. Other Television Advances In 1925, Russian TV pioneer Zworykin filed a patent disclosure for an all-electronic color television system. Following authorization by the FCC, a color television system began commercial broadcasting on Dec. 17, 1953, based on a system invented by RCA. TV closed captions are hidden in the television video signal, invisible without a decoder. They were first demonstrated in 1972 and debuted the following year on the Public Broadcasting Service. Television content for the World Wide Web was rolled out in 1995. Historys first TV series made available on the Internet was  the public access program Rox.

Law of Tort. Majrowski v Guys and St. Thomas NHS Trust. Rylands v Coursework

Law of Tort. Majrowski v Guys and St. Thomas NHS Trust. Rylands v Fletcher - Coursework Example Therefore Ben is at liberty to pursue a claim against X Ltd. in tort for Amir’s harassment provided he can substantiate the requisite elements constituting harassment. The fact that Ben complained to management in the past and after the incident in which he was locked in a store closet will not exempt X Ltd. from liability under the principle of vicarious liability. Despite a formal warning, the harassment continued. The fact is, an employer can be vicariously liable even if the employer is not aware of the harassment leading to psychiatric injury. Since Ben can substantiate harassment for which the employer is vicarious liable under the House of Lords’ interpretation of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 , Ben will have to prove that the harassment took place in the course of employment. An employer can only be held vicariously liable for the conduct of an employee during the course of employment. In this regard, the Salmond test is instructive. The Salmond test provides that: An employer will be liable not only for a wrongful act of an employee that he has authorized, but also for a wrongful and unauthorised mode of doing some act authorised by the master. 5 It can be inferred that since Ben complained in the past and Amir’s harassment only intensified, X Ltd. authorized the harassment and therefore Ben will be able to meet the definition of the Salmond test. As Lord Millett stated, the Salmond test would act as a guide for applying the law to different facts and circumstances.6 Vicarious liability under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 broadens the Salmond test in that the employee need only be acting during work hours and in the workplace.7 Moreover, it was established in Jones v Tower Boot Co. Ltd., that the Salmond Test may not be applicable in cases of harassment. The Salmond test may only be applicable in cases where an employee’s tortious conduct is directed toward a third party. However, when the employee’s conduct is d irected toward another employee, the employer will not escape liability. In this regard, the phrase â€Å"in the course of employment† will be interpreted liberally.8 In the final analysis, the test to be applied in establishing vicarious liability, is whether or not the behaviour complained of was such that it had an impact on the victim’s ability to perform his duties. Essentially, what this means is that once the harassment occurs during working hours and more especially in the workplace, the employer will be liable.9 In any event, there is no doubt that the bullying and/or harassment committed by Amir, did have an impact on Ben’s ability to work. He took three weeks off work and upon his return was subjected to further bullying which rendered Ben unable to return to work. Therefore in all the circumstances, Ben has a claim against his employer, X Ltd. for harassment at work under the principles of vicarious liability. B. Amir Section 1 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 provides for a new head of civil/tort claims in respect of harassment. Civil/tortious liability will arise when a person embarks upon a â€Å"course of conduct† that â€Å"amounts to harassment of another†. Although harassment is not defined by the 1997 Act, the House of Lords ruled that harassment would include causing anxiety or distress†. In fact, Section 3 of the 1997 Act permits the recovery of damages in respect of anxiety and distress resulting from harassment. Moreover Section 7 (2) provides that harassment includes â€Å"alarming the person or causing the person distress†. Section 7(2) would certainly include the silent telephone calls as well as the false report that Ben’s wife was in the emergency room of the hospital. On the facts of the case for discussion, Ben has certainly suffered what can be described as anxiety or distres

Transition From in Rem to in Personam Dimensions of Property Essay

Transition From in Rem to in Personam Dimensions of Property - Essay Example This paper is the best analysis of the most important theoretical concepts, developed by great economist and lawyers during last centuries, regarding the definition of a property. From the concept of right in rem, property rights impose a duty and attach to anyone, thus, providing a sense of security to a person who introduces improvement to the resources In the desire of the economists and economically oriented lawyers to define property in the context of the economic system, they drifted away from the in rem concept of property. They sought to determine property relationships in an economic perspective using some variables. This evolved property as a right to a thing to a mere collection of rights and privileges which are easily distributable, categorizing it as rights in personam. For the realists, the move to dethrone the concept of property as a natural right is politically motivated. Since property is a mere collection of interests, which social convention determines, the state may intervene, regulate and redistribute property. The state may vary list of interests for the general welfare, thereby allowing greater state intervention on economy and reducing the constitutional rights guaranteed to property owners Although law and economics movement was skeptical towards state intervention, its economic scholars embraced the legal realists conception of bundle-of-rights. To them, property is a listing by the state of permitted uses of a limited resource - the hyper-realist conception of property attributed to Ronald Coase. His 1960 article, The Problem of Social Cost, becomes the groundwork for later theorists on this subject. Three schools of thought followed Coase’s view of property as a collection of use rights.

The extracts from The Power and the Glory and The Pilgrims Progress Essay Example for Free

The extracts from The Power and the Glory and The Pilgrims Progress Essay Discuss the extracts from The Power and the Glory and The Pilgrims Progress The extract from The Power and the Glory is about the priests last night in prison before his execution. Greene writes about how the priest felt like he had accomplished nothing during his life and feels that through death he will still be a nobody. The extract from The Pilgrims Progress is about the end to Christians journey to heaven. When he gets to the gates Christian and his fellow pilgrim were surrounded by heavenly hosts and accepted into the Kingdom of God for eternity. Greene shows the dark and gloomy side to the life of a priest who has no self worth or any belief in his own spirituality. The priest believes in salvation by works, and he does not think he has done anything in the way of good works to earn his salvation. His dream of becoming a saint is not going to happen as he believes that eternal hell is being prepared for him, rather than eternal life in heaven. The priest is a Catholic priest and they believe that they have to earn their salvation, where as in The Pilgrims Progress Christian receives his salvation right at the begging of the book, at the cross. Then from that point he just has to hold onto it by making right choices and battling through everything the devil throws at him. This is a totally different way of seeing things, and also can have two very different results. Greene has written a very deep piece, there is so many religious thoughts and beliefs, so many feelings of grief, and loss, and total failure. He presents a broken man, who knows all to well his sins, I have been drunk I dont know how many times; there isnt a duty I havent neglected; I have been guilty of pride, lack of charity. He also remembers how people had died for him, and he feels guilty that God hadnt thought fit to send them a saint. The way in which Green has expressed the priest feelings is not just through his words, he does it by describing what is happening elsewhere, he sets the scene totally, and it always intensifies the feelings of the priest. He looked through the bars at the hot moony square. He could see police asleep in their hammocks There was an odd silence everywhere, even in the other cells; it was as if the whole world had tactfully turned away to avoid seeing him die. This extract from Graham Greenes The Power and the Glory is very much in context with the rest of the book, the negativity of the priest and his utter hopelessness follows him throughout the story and ends here with his death. The feeling of regret and of failure are two things that come up time and time again through out the book, and Greene continuously brings up many Catholic beliefs and torments. Hr brings to people attention the pressures that the Catholic people have on them to do as much good in their life as possible so as to earn themselves their salvation. Its all about good deeds, and duty. For the priest, all he wants is to be a saint, to be accepted into eternity by the saint already there. He wants to be someone that people could be proud of, to die for a worthy cause, and to know that his death was not the end. That people would not cringe at his name and comment about his drinking, but to recognise that he stayed when others run, he did not give in like Padre Jose, but stayed true to his people. He wants to be worthy of his death. Bunyan has written this ending in a positive way. Which a contrast to the ending in The Power and the Glory which is negative. Christian has finally reached the end of his story, the gates of the city of Heaven. Bunyan is very descriptive about who meets Christian at the gates, Trumpeters, clothed in white and shining Rayment Christian gives his certificate, which he received back at the beginning of his journey, to the people at the Gate. Christian and his fellow pilgrim both enter into the gates, and as they do they are transfigured, and they had Raiment put on that shone like Gold. Then they were given harps, and crowns and the bells of the City started to chime. Bunyan describes the City shone like the sun, the streets also were paved with Gold, and in them walked many men, with Crowns on their heads, Psalms in their hands, and golden Harps to sing praises with. This is the classic description of what heaven will look like. Bunyan also goes on in this extract to talk about Ignorance, who gets turned away from the Gate as he has no certificate with him because he did not start the path from the beginning and did not see the need to. This touches on such a huge reality, Bunyan has picked up on a matter that many people who think they are set for eternal life in heaven will in fact not be ushered in, but left outside. The language in Bunyan has changed a lot over the years since it was written, as he uses words and spellings that have changed and that are no longer used. Also he even uses two different spellings himself of the same word, Rayment and Raiment pronounced the same, but spelt differently, this shows how unstable the spelling was back when Bunyan wrote this book. Compassed is another word not used too often in the English language these days, we tend to say surrounded. Astwere is a spelling that is no longer used, it has no become, as it were, or as it was. Bunyan also uses odd Graphology, as he capitalises words that should not for any particular reason be capitalised, for exapmple, Brother, Gates, Bells. Dream These are words that I think he wanted to put emphasis on, these where things he wanted people to remember, although apart from that they seem rather random. This extract is in context with the rest of the book. Bunyans language and random capitalisation happens throughout the previous pages of the book as much as it does in the two that the extract is from. The way it has been written is the same as how the rest of the book has been written, the meanings the story line, it all leads up to this one all important ending. The final part of Christians story. This is the aim to which every Christian is longing to get, and Bunyan has written it in such a way that would encourage many more Christians to carry on along their walk with God and reach that final heavenly goal. Which is what I think Bunyan wanted to do with this book.

Samuel Seabury :: essays research papers

Born in Groton, Conn., Samuel Seabury was the son of the Reverend Samuel Seabury Sr. His Father was a pioneer of New England Anglicanism who followed the example of Samuel Johnson. Samuel Jr.,broke away from the Congregationalists and pursued Anglican ordination. He graduated from Yale in 1744 and received his B.A in 1748. He married Abigail Mumford and went abroad in 1784 to obtain consecration as an Anglican Priest. On December 23, 1753, Samuel Seabury was ordained a deacon and two days later a priest of the Anglican Church. He was licensed by the church to preach in New Jersey. He preached in various places, but none suited his fancy. A preacher in Westchester was charged with drunkenness and sexual assault, which opened up the preaching position. Samuel filled the position and preached in an uneventful ministry. He also ran a school in Westchester. As the tensions between Britain and the colonies grew stronger, Samuel stayed loyal to the crown. He viewed the American government as very primitive and dependent on the British government. When talk of the First Continental Congress arose, he began to voice his opinion. He tried to stop the election of the delegates by writing various pamphlets. His attempt proved futile and the delegates were elected and met together on that fateful day in Philadelphia when a new nation was envisioned. Now Samuel began to take more courageous steps in preventing the breaking away of the colonies. He wrote â€Å"Westchester Farmer† ,a compilation of five essays reasoning why the colonies should stay with the English. The five essays were Free Thoughts on the Proceedings of the Congress, The Congress Canvassed, Free Thoughts in the Full Vindication of the Congress, A View of Controversy, The Republican Dissected. Some of the writings were directed towards New Yorkers and local farmers. He beg ged the New York legislature to reject the laws of the â€Å"enthusiastic republicans† and was quoted as saying, †The Congress is in the power of a faction using a mob to carry out its purposes†. The other writings were a rebuttal or defense to Alexander Hamilton’s attack. Hamilton was a student at the time when the pamphlets came out and he wrote The Farmer Refuted, a pamphlet opposing Seabury’s loyalist views. The news spread like wild fire and four of the pamphlets were printed in newspapers across the colonies. Samuel was branded a loyalist right away and this unintentionally made him some enemies.