Comprehensive Examination for Capella Learner Essay

Comprehensive Examination for Capella Learner - Essay Example Kaya (1994) made it clear that in most developing and less developed countries the public libraries are one of the last parts of the infrastructure to be put into place. As a consequence, many developing and less developed countries have a significant gap between the information wants and needs of their mostly poor populations and the information and communications that could potentially be available to them through having more libraries with the latest ICT. The purpose of this paper will be to evaluate how information technology and telecommunications can aid librarianship in developing and less developed countries and help significantly increase the literacy of any given country's population through analyzing one technology installation as it relates to increased literacy. This paper discusses issues that are faced by librarians in developing and less developed countries. An Information and Communications Technology program is suggested to support the librarianship in developing and less developed countries to provide the means for possible improvement of their probable contributions in those countries. This paper considers two key factors as the main ideas. Number one is job satisfaction, which is an extremely important aspect in the structuring of an organization, especially one where motivation is one of its key economic drivers. Number two is libraries that are bundled with the learning environment of society in a developing country. Bearing in mind the relevant fact that in developing and less developed countries human resources is the number one service provider due to lack of technological advances, the issue of job satisfaction for the librarians in those countries becomes crucial to the implementation of positive changes in the socio-cultural context that can help those developing and less developed countries emerge as productive, empowered and proactive communities in the realm of economic and human development. . These significant issues will be discussed and analyzed in some detail. Then the discussion will be followed by the guidelines which should encapsulate the necessary information and communications regarding organizations and associations that can provide support for librarianship in developing and less developed countries aided with the help of the implementation of ICT initiatives that can really enhance the educational experience necessary for those developing and less developed countries to achieve higher degrees of collective welfare. The focus should be placed on the primary factors for funding and finding the proper technologies to support the librarianship in developing and less developed countries in such a synergic way that the learning community can surpass their present level of illiteracy/oral tra ditions, lack of knowledge and poverty through the extremely relevant value of education in all the realms of its implicit and explicit meanings. Without education, it is really impossible to achieve a minimum degree of civilization and development in any country, especially in poverty-stricken countries like the developing and less developed countries. Technology is a powerful means of empowering any

Youth Violence Essay Example for Free

Youth Violence Essay Youth violence in the United States is a major social problem that will inevitably get worse. Criminologists and state authorities are more concerned on the issue of youth violence than adult violence because the crimes involving the youth are becoming more violent and are continuously increasing the number of juvenile offenders (Zimring, 1998, xi). During the mid 1990s, the increasing rate of violence involving the youth alarmed state authorities that committee hearings in the Congress had been scheduled for it. In one of the hearings, Representative Bill McCollum said that â€Å"even though there is a decline in rates of violence, the increasing rate of violent crimes by young offenders are alarming† (cited in Zimring, 1998, xi) In a report published by the Office of the Juvenile Justice and Prevention Program of the U. S. Department of Justice, there are nearly 2. 2 million arrests of persons below 18 years old (Snyder, 2008). This involves theft, arson, robbery, murder, drug abuse, weapons law violation and rape. In this year alone, almost one of very eight crimes recorded in the United States are committed by juvenile offenders (Snyder, 2008). There are also more than 619,453 offenses, of which 181,468 youth offenders arrested, recorded from various schools in the country for a five-year period from 2000 up to 2004 (Noonan Vavra, 2007). Of those recorded, the age brackets of the offenders are: 38. 0 percent 13-15 year olds; 30. 7 percent 16-18 year; 18. 2 percent 19 or older; and 11. 0 percent -10-12 year olds. (Noonan Vavra, 2007). Zimring (1998) believes that the lenient treatment on juvenile delinquents and crimes involving the youth in the 1980s may have been contributed to its increase in the 1990s. (p. 7) There are already numerous studies and researches done to study the reasons behind such antisocial behavior of the youth. Prothrow-Stith Spivak (2004) believes that the cycle of violence usually starts at home (p. 49). Youths who witnessed violence at home when they were still a child, are most likely to commit a criminal offense upon reaching the puberty stage. There are also numerous factors that are most likely related to youth violence, such as: alcohol, binge drinking and drug abuse; media hype and cultural norms that patronize or promote violence in the society; vulnerability of young persons, particularly adolescents; racial discrimination; poverty; and violent or not unfriendly family background (Prothrow-Stith Spivak, 2004, p. 49). Now, the challenge among state authorities is to conduct effective prevention programs on the issue. Counselors and psychiatrists believe that prevention program is more effective than having a stricter juvenile justice system. Prothrow-Stith Spivak (2004) challenge the people concerned in the prevention of youth violence to actually confront the status quo and the whole juvenile justice system (p. 227). Professionals that are usually working with juvenile offenders should be trained on how to understand the illnesses, sufferings and offenses of the offenders rather than just reacting on actual cases. Most programs funded by state agencies available for the youth are usually for the treatment of the problems encountered by them, rather than helping the youth to prevent and handle it. Millions of public funds have been spent on persecuting and incarcerating offenders but minimal funds have been allocated into stopping the current problem of adolescent people getting involved in illicit and violent behaviors (Prothrow-Stith Spivak, 2004, p. 230). Youth violence is undeniably a national issue to that needs to be addressed. The resolution of this issue however is not only an area of concern of state authorities, but also a collective conscious effort of sectors that should be involved such as the family, media, school authorities and even the youth themselves. Only with the proper understanding and analysis on the problem that will ensure the resolution of it. References Noonan, J. J Vavra, M. C. (2007, October) Crime in Schools and Colleges: A Study of Offenders and Arrestees Reported via National Incident-Based Reporting System Data. The Card Report. Prothrow-Stith, D. Spivak, H. R. (2004) Murder Is No Accident: Understanding and Preventing Youth Violence in America. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Snyder, H. N (2008, November). Juvenile Arrests 2006. Juvenile Justice Bulletin. Retrieved March 27, 2009, from http://www. ncjrs. gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/221338. pdf. Zimring, F. E. (1998) American Youth Violence. New York: Oxford University Press.

Essay --

Citizens of the United States are traditionally given unlimited freedom of speech, press, and assembly. These American privileges allow interest groups to express their perspectives by using the media and other sources that are accessible to the public. In definition, an interest group is a group of individuals who organize to influence the government’s programs and policies. The main goal of these groups is to have the government both listen and respond to their interests (Shin 243). Historically interest groups have and continue to play a crucial role in American politics; especially since it is an effective form for citizens to interfere with government decision making. Two current interest groups in the United States are the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda and the National Council of La Raza. These particular interest groups demonstrate how interest groups directly and indirectly influence public opinion and the political process. Interest groups representation is based on attitude and not the United States population geography. I chose to investigate national immigration interest groups that focus on Hispanic individuals that are living in the United States. According to the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA) website, it was established in 1991 as an unbiased association of major Hispanic national organizations that distinguishes Hispanic Leaders all over the nation. Their mission is to unite Latinos around the country and encourage the Hispanic community to become more involved with our country’s affairs. Hispanic leaders of NHLA raise public awareness of major issues affecting the Latino community and the nation as a whole (â€Å"NHLA†). In other words this group centralizes its ideas around Hispanic civil rights a... ...as run on money and unfortunately the less money an interest group has then the less likely it will be addressed to either the public or the government. But since both NHLA and NCLR have multiple members and offices then they get their voices herd. In conclusion, the missions of these two groups clearly want to see the government taking action when it comes to their concerns and they know that by informing the public could possibly help gain more supporters for their issues; more supporters means more successful outcomes for the NHLA and NCLR. I decided to research the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda and the National Council of La Raza because I was interested in learning about interest groups that could possibly influence me and people of my race or ethnicity. I am not part of an interest group but this research has influenced me to want to participate in one.

A Visual Art Creation Essay

â€Å"Adrift† is the title I would like to give to the painting I would make. The painting will feature a sailboat several miles from the seashore and seagulls flying across the sky. To create the painting, I will be needing oil paint, a canvass, paintbrushes with varieties of thickness and sizes, a canvass stand and linseed oil. There are several skills that I need to use. These skills include the abilities to create shadows and to make proper color combinations. The duration of the painting process will take about two weeks. This timeframe shall cover the basic oil painting procedures such as letting the oil paint on canvass dry before painting another layer for the visual objects. It shall also cover the time needed to make certain adjustments or amendments to the painting with regard to its colors and shadows. A majority of the lines that shall be used will include fine curved lines. These lines shall make up most of the sea waves, the sailboat and the seagulls. Due to the nature of the subject of the painting, the predominant shape will be triangles, particularly as regards the sailboat and the sea waves. Also, the main color of the painting shall be blue. Different hues, values and intensities of the color blue shall be used on the sea and the waves, the seagulls, the sky as well as parts of the sailboat. The image of the distant shorelines shall also be shades of blue. As regards form, the painting shall feature organic forms such as the form of the waves. Needless to say, the painting shall also include geometrical forms particularly the triangle with regard to the sailboat. The texture of the subjects of the painting shall simulate the smooth gliding of the waves as well as the hardness of the sailboat clashing with the waves. As far as the principle of unity is concerned, the painting shall be made complete by placing the sailboat in the middle of the canvass while the sea waves shall comprise the lower half of the painting. The distant shorelines shall be a little above the middle horizontal section of the canvass. Apparently, emphasis shall be given to the sailboat as well as the sea waves. The sailboat shall be situation at the center of the canvass. Less emphasis shall be given to the fading distant shorelines. The sailboat shall be larger in proportion as compared to the shorelines so that the effect of distance can be created. That is, the sailboat shall be made to appear closer to the viewer’s perspective and the opposite shall be of the shorelines. As regards pattern, the sea waves shall be painted in such a way that they reveal several patterns that differ in terms of movement and direction. Waves proximate to the sailboat shall be in an upward direction to emphasize their collision while waves distant to the sailboat shall be in a seemingly consistent horizontal flow in order to emphasize the lack of external disturbance from other objects. To achieve balance, the horizon line shall be positioned right across the middle line of the canvass. Also, the sailboat shall be painted at the center of the canvass so that it does not alter the weighting of the objects in the painting. Seagulls flying in the light blue sky shall provide a counterbalancing effect to the movement of the sea waves in the lower half of the canvass. After the painting is done, it should look like this: the predominantly white sailboat is at the center, the sea gulls are flying in the morning sky, the sea waves are moving peacefully in the distance while those close to the sailboat are moving more forcefully, and the horizon line equally divides the upper and lower portion of the canvass. The colors shall be composed of the different hues, intensities and tones of blue. The shadow of the sailboat shall reflect on the sea while the distant shorelines shall appear like a faint sheet of bluish cloth spread from left to right of the painting.

Public Drinking and Violence: Not Just an Alcohol Problem Essay

The research article was published in Journal of Drug issue 22 in 1992. The research was conducted using a qualitative approach that uses words as the output and input of the research rather than focusing on numbers (Adlers and Clark, 2008). The writer also agrees with the notion that qualitative data have the ability to produce theories that accurately describe real-world issues and processes than do quantitative (Gary Fine and Kimberly Elsbacht, 2000). The researchers suggest that alcohol drinking is very much a part of the Australian culture, a routine activity for Australians. Research by Cohen and Felson (1975) linking routine daily activities with predatory crimes is made reference to by the researches. From this, the researchers state that assaults and homicides frequently involve alcohol in the offenders, victims or both. It is also noted that the researchers pointed to the issue that Australia was facing a hike in violence and made a statement that it was becoming a more violent and lawless country during that period of time. The question that the article wants to address, though, is not the established presence of alcohol intoxication in violent crime cases, but, rather, the researchers want to look into the environment that created the issue. By conducting observational research into pubs and clubs in Sydney, the study attempted to systematically examine the link between aspects of the environment of public drinking and the occurrence of violence. The research aimed to transcend the narrow debate on the effect of ethanol (the substance), by focusing on the total environment of drinking and its regulation (or lack of it) by management, police and public officials. The researchers established a theoretical framework by presenting several past research reports. In a study of serious assault in New South Wales by Robb (1988), the finding stated that 40% of them were nominated by police officers as involving alcohol. Moreover, assaults that come to police attention and are recorded by them frequently occur after midnight around pub closing times, and at least 20% take place in or around licensed premises. The researchers also mentioned a Sydney hospital survey claiming that in a year, many thousands of people, mostly young men, are injured sometimes quite seriously) as a result of assaults occurring in or around licensed premises (Cuthberth, 1990). The article presented a theory by McGregor suggesting that it is quite possible, for example, that male attitudes which legitimize the physical maltreatment of women, or environmental factors like crowding, discomfort, and aggressive bouncers in pubs and clubs, are the real cause of much alcohol related violence (McGregor, 1990). The researchers argued that the regulatory system was dragged down by the notion of the deserved misfortune of victims of pub violence and that this belief is partly responsible for the historic failure in Australia to recognize violence occurrence in, or around, licensed premises as a major societal problem, which has led to the lackluster of legislation and police regulation. This, in the end, has resulted in helping the entrenchment of negative environmental factors, making some establishments into something they dubbed and many more establishments violent on a less predictable basis. The researchers also cited two studies, one conducted in New Zealand and another in Vancouver as influential to their own work. The first study was conducted by Graves, Graves and Semu and Sam (1981) using records kept by security officers employed in twelve pubs in Auckland to examine the frequency and seriousness of pub violence there. The study found that Polynesian patrons drink more and are involved in more violence than European patrons. This was attributed to the former’s preference for drinking longer in larger groups and their tendency to be engaged in group activities rather than individual ones by the study. Thus, the study highlights the importance of patron mix, group sizes, and time spent drinking as variables. The second study by Graham et al (1980) was cited as especially valuable to the researchers as their research’s guide. The study was conducted in Vancouver and found several variables as being positively connected to the aggression; they include percentage of drunken patrons, percentage of American Indians, poor ventilation, the amount of sexual body contact, lack of cleanliness and hostile environment. The authors of the study stressed their view of the environment as an ecological system and implied that the overall effect of this ecology has more impact than the sum of the effects of individual variables. The researchers used the Vancouver study as their starting point for their own study. They used a qualitative method by relying more on unstructured observations on licensed premises, as these are the places where alcohol related aggression most likely will occur. To a lesser degree, they also used semi-structured interviews with some officials and security industry personnel for their study. The study aims to contrast between premises known to have many violence occurrences with the ones noted for their lack of them. Using this design, they hoped to explore the possible drinking settings that were associated with violence by observing any occurrence of violence, however small. The researchers identified 4 premises known for regular violence occurrences and 2 premises known for the lack of them on the basis of first-hand knowledge, police information and exploratory visits. Two observers visited those premises at least 5 times, each observation visit about 2 to 6 hours in duration. It is to be noted that the researchers sent an observation team to another 16 sites, at least once, making a total of 55 visits to 23 sites at 17 establishments. They stated that the total observation times they completed were 300 hours. In the results report, they observed 32 total assaults involving physical violence, excluding 9 rough ejections which were borderline assaults. The results amount to about 11 occurrences per one hundred hours of observation. This is much more than the 7. 4% showed in the Vancouver study. It is to be noted, though, that the researchers oversampled the violent premises and conducted many of the samplings late at night when violence was more likely to occur. Further result comparisons with the Vancouver study show that while the Vancouver study didn’t report any and serious physical injuries, the Sydney study claimed four and several occurrences were rated as physical by their observers. The results presented very interesting variables as the cause of violence occurrences. Presence of big males groups often spell trouble, while single males, groups of mixed males and females, and couples are less likely to be involved in a fight. The researchers also suggested that the boredom factor is one of the key variables in the cause of physical violence occurrence. Premises with entertainment like TVs, game machines and stage entertainment creates comfort levels that appease the patrons’ boredom level which resulted in less violence occurrence. The researchers also suggest that in live bands quality of music matters very much, and that small crowds of patrons entertained with bad quality music will more likely cause trouble than large crowds entertained by good quality music. It is to be noted that, despite all myths, rough pubs with rowdy crowds are not necessarily violent. The results also stressed high levels of drunkenness as a major issue in pubs, especially those caused by management styles encouraging such behaviour, along with the pubs’ staff behaviour, especially with the bouncers. Summarizing the results, the researchers attributed violence occurrences to interactions of several key variables. Some of them are groups of male strangers, high boredom, low comfort, high drunkenness and aggressive bouncers. The researchers pointed out that the NSW legislation bodies did not pay enough attention to the issue, and that there are major flaws in the NSW Liquor Act. They concluded that better regulation and legislation can help solve the problem. They cited Sherman et al (1989) suggesting that it is easier and more desirable to regulate the routine activities of the premises rather than trying to regulate the routine activities of the patrons. Jumping forward to the present day, the NSW Liquor Act 2007 addresses many points being brought up by this study. This includes the need and the enforcement of RSA certification to work in any premises that serve alcohol, fines to servers serving alcohol to intoxicated patrons, setting up 50 meters perimeter from the premises for ejected patrons, and mandating premises to provide free water and also to serve warm meals to help patrons deal with alcohol intoxication. Examining the Sydney study and its comparison with the Vancouver study, it might help for future studies to set up a standard for what constitute a brawl and serious physical injuries. Different observers will have different standards for these issues which might cause discrepancies, especially when studies are being compared with one another.