Info Systems

Part I: True/False evaluation and Multiple-choice questions (0. 5 points/each question) 1. The overarching goal of information security is to ensure data integrity, availability, and confidentiality. 2. Managing security refers to a comprehensive set of activities that develop, implement, direct, and monitor the organization’s security strategy and activities. 3. The most expensive cybercrime are computer viruses. 4. Authentication is a means of providing proof of data transmission or receipt so that the occurrence of a transaction cannot later be refused. . The trend in computer security is toward policy-based management. 6. The core challenge of security management is ___________. a)Finding the right balance between shielding the organization’s main assets from potential harm b)Enabling staff to do their jobs c)Both a) and b) 7. Which of the following hacker tricks involves launching software that monitors all traffic looking for passwords or other valuable informatio n? a)Main-in-the middle b)Denial of service c)Trojan horse d)Network sniffing 8.Defining security policies and then managing and enforcing those policies via security management products and services is known as _______. a)Intrusion-based management b)Policy-based management c)Incident-based management 9. To protect against spoofing, firms need a way to ____________. a)Authenticate the identity of an individual b)Repudiate the identify of an individual c)Dispute the identity of an individual 10. To protect against hacking, companies install ___________ which controls access between networks. a)Virtual private systems b)Encryption c)Firewalls

Last Sacrifice Chapter Seventeen

THE INTERROGATION DIDN'T go so well. Oh, sure, we made plenty of threats and used the stakes as torture devices, but not much came of it. Dimitri was still scary when dealing with Sonya, but after his breakdown with Donovan, he was careful not to fall into that berserk rage again. This was healthier for him in the long run but not so good for scaring up answers out of Sonya. It didn't help matters that we didn't exactly have a concrete question to ask her. We mostly had a series to throw at her. Did she know about another Dragomir? Was she related to the mother? Where were the mother and child? Things also went bad when Sonya realized we needed her too much to kill her, no matter how much silver stake torture we did. We'd been at it for over an hour and were getting exhausted. At least, I was. I leaned against a wall near Sonya, and though I had my stake out and ready, I was relying on the wall a bit more than I liked to admit to keep me upright. None of us had spoken in a while. Even Sonya had given up on her snarling threats. She simply waited and stayed watchful, undoubtedly planning for escape, probably figuring we'd tire before she did. That silence was scarier than all the threats in the world. I was used to Strigoi using words to intimidate me. I'd never expected the power simply being quiet and staring menacingly could have. â€Å"What happened to your head, Rose?' asked Dimitri, suddenly catching a glimpse of it. I'd been tuning out a little and realized he was talking to me. â€Å"Huh?' I brushed aside hair that had been obscuring part of my forehead. My fingers came away sticky with blood, triggering vague memories of crashing into the table. I shrugged, ignoring the dizziness I'd been feeling. â€Å"I'm fine.' Dimitri gave Sydney the quickest of glances. â€Å"Go lay her down and clean it up. Don't let her sleep until we can figure out if it's a concussion.' â€Å"No, I can't,' I argued. â€Å"I can't leave you alone with her †¦' â€Å"I'm fine,' he said. â€Å"Rest up so that you can help me later. You're no good to me if you're just going to fall over.' I still protested, but when Sydney gently took my arm, my stumbling gave me away. She led me to the house's one bedroom, much to my dismay. There was something creepy about knowing I was in a Strigoi's bed–even if it was covered with a blue-and- white floral quilt. â€Å"Man,' I said, lying back against the pillow once Sydney had cleaned my forehead. Despite my earlier denial, it felt great to rest. â€Å"I can't get used to the weirdness of a Strigoi living in a place so †¦ normal. How are you holding up?' â€Å"Better than you guys,' said Sydney. She wrapped her arms around herself and eyed the room uncomfortably. â€Å"Being around Strigoi is starting to make you guys seem not so bad.' â€Å"Well, at least some good's come out of this,' I remarked. Despite her joke, I knew she had to be terrified. I started to close my eyes and was jolted awake when Sydney poked my arm. â€Å"No sleep,' she chastised. â€Å"Stay up and talk to me.' â€Å"It's not a concussion,' I muttered. â€Å"But I suppose we can go over plans to get Sonya to talk.' Sydney sat at the foot of the bed and grimaced. â€Å"No offense? But I don't think she's going to crack.' â€Å"She will once she's gone a few days without blood.' Sydney blanched. â€Å"A few days?' â€Å"Well, whatever it takes to–‘ A spike of emotion flitted through the bond, and I froze. Sydney jumped up, her eyes darting around as though a group of Strigoi might have burst into the room. â€Å"What's wrong?' she exclaimed. â€Å"I have to go to Lissa.' â€Å"You're not supposed to sleep–‘ â€Å"It's not sleeping,' I said bluntly. And with that, I jumped away from Sonya's bedroom and into Lissa's perspective. She was riding in a van with five other people whom I immediately recognized as other royal nominees. It was an eight-person van and also included a guardian driver with another in the passenger seat who was looking back at Lissa and her companions. â€Å"Each of you will be dropped off in a separate location on the outskirts of a forest and given a map and compass. The ultimate goal is for you to reach the destination on the map and wait out the daylight until we come for you.' Lissa and the other nominees exchanged glances and then, almost as one, peered out the van's windows. It was almost noon, and the sunlight was pouring down. â€Å"Waiting out the daylight' was not going to be pleasant but didn't sound impossible. Idly, she scratched at a small bandage on her arm and quickly stopped herself. I read from her thoughts what it was: a tiny, barely noticeable dot tattooed into her skin. It was actually similar to Sydney's: blood and earth, mixed with compulsion. Compulsion might be taboo among Moroi, but this was a special situation. The spell in the tattoo prevented the candidates from revealing the monarch tests to others not involved with the process. This was the first test. â€Å"What kind of terrain are you sending us to?' demanded Marcus Lazar. â€Å"We're not all in the same physical shape. It's not fair when some of us have an advantage.' His eyes were on Lissa as he spoke. â€Å"There is a lot of walking,' said the guardian, face serious. â€Å"But it's nothing that any candidate–of any age–shouldn't be able to handle. And, to be honest, part of the requirements for a king or queen is a certain amount of stamina. Age brings wisdom, but a monarch needs to be healthy. Not an athlete by any means,' added the guardian quickly, seeing Marcus start to open his mouth. â€Å"But it's no good for the Moroi to have a sickly monarch elected who dies within a year. Harsh, but true. And you also need to be able to endure uncomfortable situations. If you can't handle a day in the sun, you can't handle a Council meeting.' I think he intended that as a joke, but it was hard to tell since he didn't smile. â€Å"It's not a race, though. Take your time getting to the end if you need it. Marked along the map are spots where certain items are hidden–items that'll make this more bearable, if you can decipher the clues.' â€Å"Can we use our magic?' asked Ariana Szelsky. She wasn't young either, but she looked tough and ready to accept a challenge of endurance. â€Å"Yes, you can,' said the guardian solemnly. â€Å"Are we in danger out there?' asked another candidate, Ronald Ozera. â€Å"Aside from the sun?' â€Å"That,' said the guardian mysteriously, â€Å"is something you'll need to learn for yourselves. But, if at any time you want out †¦' He produced a bag of cell phones and distributed them. Maps and compasses followed. â€Å"Call the programmed number, and we'll come for you.' Nobody had to ask about the hidden message behind that. Calling the number would get you out of the long day of endurance. It would also mean you'd failed the test and were out of the running for the throne. Lissa glanced at her phone, half-surprised there was even a signal. They'd left Court about an hour ago and were well into the countryside. A line of trees made Lissa think they were nearing their destination. So. A test of physical endurance. It wasn't quite what she'd expected. The trials a monarch went through had long been shrouded in mystery, gaining an almost mystical reputation. This one was pretty practical, and Lissa could understand the reasoning, even if Marcus didn't. It truly wasn't an athletic competition, and the guardian had a point in saying that the future monarch should possess a certain level of fitness. Glancing at the back of her map, which listed the clues, Lissa realized this would also test their reasoning skills. All very basic stuff–but essential to ruling a nation. The van dropped them off one by one at different starting points. With each departing candidate, Lissa's anxiety grew. There's nothing to worry about, she thought. I've just got to sit through a sunny day. She was the next to last person dropped off, with only Ariana remaining behind. Ariana patted Lissa's arm as the van door opened. â€Å"Good luck, dear.' Lissa gave her a quick smile. These tests might all be a ruse on Lissa's part, but Ariana was the real deal, and Lissa prayed the older woman could get through this successfully. Left alone as the van drove away, unease spread through Lissa. The simple endurance test suddenly seemed much more daunting and difficult. She was on her own, something that didn't happen very often. I'd been there for most of her life, and even when I'd left, she'd had friends around her. But now? It was just her, the map, and the cell phone. And the cell phone was her enemy. She walked to the edge of the forest and studied her map. A drawing of a large oak tree marked the beginning, with directions to go northwest. Scanning the trees, Lissa saw three maples, a fir, and–an oak. Heading toward it, she couldn't help a smile. If anyone else had botanical landmarks and didn't know their plants and trees, they could lose candidacy right there. The compass was a classic one. No digital GPS convenience here. Lissa had never used a compass like this, and the protective part of me wished I could jump in and help. I should have known better, though. Lissa was smart and easily figured it out. Heading northwest, she stepped into the woods. While there was no clear path, the forest's floor wasn't too covered with overgrowth or obstacles. The nice part about being in the forest was that the trees blocked out some of the sun. It still wasn't an ideal Moroi condition, but it beat being dropped in a desert. Birds sang, and the scenery was lush and green. Keeping an eye out for the next landmark, Lissa tried to relax and pretend she was simply on a pleasant hike. Yet †¦ it was difficult to do that with so much on her mind. Abe and our other friends were now in charge of working and asking questions about the murder. All of them were asleep right now–it was the middle of the Moroi night–but Lissa didn't know when she'd return and couldn't help resenting this test for taking up her time. No, wasting her time. She'd finally accepted the logic behind her friends' nomination–but she still didn't like it. She wanted to actively help them. Her churning thoughts almost led her right past her next landmark: a tree that had fallen ages ago. Moss covered it, and much of the wood was rotten. A star on the map marked it as a place with a clue. She flipped over the map and read: I grow and I shrink. I run and I crawl. Follow my voice, though I have none at all. I never do leave here, but I travel around– I float through the sky and I creep through the ground. I keep my cache in a vault although I have no wealth, Seek out my decay to safeguard your health. Um. My mind went blank right about then, but Lissa's spun. She read it over and over again, examining the individual words and how each line played off the other. I never do leave here. That was the starting point, she decided. Something permanent. She looked around, considered the trees, then dismissed them. They could always be cut and removed. Careful not to stray too far from the fallen tree, she circled the area searching for more. Everything was theoretically transient. What stayed? Follow my voice. She came to a halt and closed her eyes, absorbing the sounds around her. Mostly birds. The occasional rustle of leaves. And– She opened her eyes and walked briskly to her right. The sound she'd heard grew louder, bubbling and trickling. There. A small creek ran through the woods, hardly noticeable. Indeed, it seemed too tiny for the streambed carved out around it. â€Å"But I bet you grow when it rains,' she murmured, uncaring that she was speaking to a stream. She looked back down at the clue, and I felt her clever mind rapidly piece it all together. The stream was permanent–but traveled. It changed size. It had a voice. It ran in deep parts, crawled when there were obstacles. And when it evaporated, it floated in the air. She frowned, still puzzling the riddle aloud. â€Å"But you don't decay.' Lissa studied the area once more, uneasily thinking decay could apply to any plant life. Her gaze moved past a large maple tree and then jerked back. At its base grew a clump of brown and white mushrooms, several wilting and turning black. She hurried over and knelt down, and that was when she saw it: a small hole dug into the earth nearby. Leaning closer, she saw a flash of color: a purple drawstring bag. Triumphantly, Lissa pulled it out and stood up. The bag was made of canvas and had long strings that would allow it to hang over her shoulder as she walked. She opened the bag and peered inside. There, tucked inside the fluffy and fuzzy lining, was the best thing of all: a bottle of water. Until now, Lissa hadn't realized how hot and dehydrated she'd grown–or how wearying the sun was. The candidates had been told to wear sturdy shoes and practical clothing but hadn't been allowed any other supplies. Finding this bottle was priceless. Sitting on the log, she took a break, careful to conserve her water. While the map indicated a few more clues and â€Å"rewards,' she knew she couldn't necessarily count on any more helpful bags. So, after several minutes' rest, she put away the water and slung the little tote over her shoulder. The map directed her due west, so that was the way she went. The heat beat on her as she continued her walk, forcing her to take a few more (conservative) water breaks. She kept reminding herself it wasn't a race and that she should take it easy. After a few more clues, she discovered the map wasn't quite to scale, so it wasn't always obvious how long each leg of the hike was. Nonetheless, she was delighted to successfully solve each clue, though the rewards became more and more baffling. One of them was a bunch of sticks sitting on a rock, something she would have sworn was a mistake, but someone civilized had clearly tied the bundle together. She added that into her bag, along with a neatly folded green plastic tarp. By now, sweat was pouring off her, and rolling up the sleeves of her button-down cotton shirt did little to help. She took more frequent breaks. Sunburn became a serious concern, so it was a huge relief when her next clue led to a bottle of sunscreen. After a couple hours of battling the intense summer heat, Lissa became so hot and tired that she no longer had the mental energy to be annoyed about missing out on whatever was happening at Court. All that mattered was getting to the end of this test. The map showed two more clues, which she took as a promising sign. She would reach the end soon and then could simply wait for someone to get her. A flash of realization hit her. The tarp. The tarp was a sun block, she decided. She could use it at the end. This cheered her up, as did the next prize: more water and a floppy, wide-brimmed hat that helped keep the sunlight from her face. Unfortunately, after that, what appeared to be a short leg of the trip turned out to be twice as long as she expected. By the time she finally reached the next clue, she was more interested in taking a water break than digging out whatever else the guardians had left her. My heart went out to her. I wished so, so badly that I could help. That was my job, to protect her. She shouldn't be alone. Or should she? Was that also part of the test? In a world where royals were almost always surrounded by guardians, this solitude had to be a total shock. Moroi were hardy and had excellent senses, but they weren't built for extreme heat and challenging terrain. I could have probably jogged the course easily. Admittedly, I wasn't sure I would have had Lissa's deductive skills in figuring out the clues. Lissa's last reward was flint and steel, not that she had any idea what they were. I recognized them instantly as the tools of a fire-making kit but couldn't for the world figure out why she'd need to build a fire on a day like this. With a shrug, she added the items to her bag and kept going. And that's when things started to get cold. Really cold. She didn't entirely process it at first, mainly because the sun was still shining so brilliantly. Her brain said what she felt was impossible, but her goose bumps and chattering teeth said otherwise. She rolled her sleeves back down and quickened her pace, wishing that the sudden cold had at least come with cloud cover. Walking faster and exerting herself more helped heat her body. Until it began to rain. It started off as a mist, then changed to drizzle, and finally turned into a steady curtain of water. Her hair and clothing became soaked, making the cold temperature that much worse. Yet †¦ the sun still shone, its light an annoyance to her sensitive skin but offering no warmth in compensation. Magic, she realized. This weather is magical. It was part of the test. Somehow, Moroi air and water magic users had united to defy the hot, sunny weather. That was why she had a tarp–to block the sun and the rain. She considered getting it out now and wearing it like a cloak but quickly decided to wait until she reached the endpoint. She had no idea how far away that really was, though. Twenty feet? Twenty miles? The chill of the rain crept over her, seeping under her skin. It was miserable. The cell phone in the bag was her ticket out. It was barely late afternoon. She had a long time to wait before this test ended. All she had to do was make one call †¦ one call, and she'd be out of this mess and back to working on what she should be at Court. No. A kernel of determination flared up within her. This challenge was no longer about the Moroi throne or Tatiana's murder. It was a test she would take on for herself. She'd led a soft and sheltered life, letting others protect her. She would endure this on her own–and she would pass. This determination took her to the map's end, a clearing ringed in trees. Two of the trees were small and close enough together that Lissa thought she might be able to drape the tarp into some sort of reasonable shelter. With cold, fumbling fingers, she managed to get it out of the bag and unfold it to its full size–which was fortunately much larger than she'd suspected. Her mood began to lift as she worked with the tarp and figured out how to create a small canopy. She crawled inside once it was complete, glad to be out of the falling rain. But that didn't change the fact that she was wet. Or that the ground was also wet– and muddy. The tarp also didn't protect her against the cold. She felt a flash of bitterness, recalling the guardians saying magic was allowed in this test. She hadn't thought magic would be useful at the time, but now, she could certainly see the perks of being a water user to control the rain and keep it off her. Or, better yet: being a fire user. She wished Christian was with her. She would have welcomed the warmth of both his magic and his embrace. For this kind of situation, spirit seriously sucked–unless, perhaps, she got hypothermia and needed to try to heal herself (which never worked as well as it did on other people). No, she decided. There could be no question: water and fire users had the advantage in this test. That's when it hit her. Fire! Lissa straightened up from where she'd been huddled. She hadn't recognized the iron and flint for what they were, but now, vague recollections of fire-making were coming back to her. She'd never been taught those skills directly but was pretty sure striking the stones together would make a spark–if she only had dry wood. Everything out there was soaked†¦ . Except for the bundle of sticks in her bag. Laughing out loud, she untied the sticks and set them in a place shielded from the rain. After arranging them in what seemed like a campfire-friendly pattern, she tried to figure out what to do with the steel and flint. In movies, she thought she'd seen people just hit them to make sparks fly. So, that's what she did. Nothing happened. She tried three more times, and her earlier excitement gave way to spirit-darkened frustration. I pulled some of that from her, needing her to stay focused. On the fourth try, a spark flew off and faded away–but it was what she needed to understand the principle. Before long she could easily make sparks, but they did nothing when they landed on the wood. Up and down: her mood was a rollercoaster of hope and disappointment. Don't give up, I wanted to say as I drew off more negativity. Don't give up. I also wanted to give her a lesson on kindling, but that was pushing my limits. Watching her, I was beginning to realize how much I underestimated Lissa's intelligence. I knew she was brilliant, but I always imagined her being helpless in these situations. She wasn't. She could reason things out. That tiny spark couldn't penetrate the wood of the sticks. She needed a bigger flame. She needed something the sparks could ignite. But what? Surely nothing in this waterlogged forest. Her eyes fell on the map poking out of her bag. She hesitated only a moment before ripping and shredding the paper into a pile on top of the twigs. Supposedly, she'd reached the end of the hike and didn't need the map. Supposedly. But it was too late now, and Lissa pushed forward with her plan. First, she pulled out some of the bag's fluffy lining, adding the bits of fuzz to the paper. Then she took up the flint and steel again. A spark jumped out and immediately caught a piece of the paper. It flared orange before fading out, leaving a wisp of smoke. She tried again, leaning forward to gently blow on the paper when the spark landed. A tiny flame appeared, caught a neighboring shred, and then faded. Steeling herself up, Lissa tried a final time. â€Å"Come on, come on,' she muttered, as though she might compel a fire into existence. This time, the spark caught and held, turning into a small flame, then a larger flame that soon consumed her kindling. I prayed it would take to the wood, or else she was out of luck. Brighter and larger the flame grew, eating the last of the paper and fuzz †¦ and then spreading along the sticks. Lissa blew softly to keep it going, and before long, the campfire was in full blaze. The fire couldn't change the piercing cold, but as far as she was concerned, she had the warmth of the entire sun in her hands. She smiled, and a sense of pride that she hadn't felt in a while spread within her. Finally able to relax, she glanced out at the rainy forest and caught the faintest flashes of color in the distance. Channeling spirit, she used her magic to intensify her ability to see auras. Sure enough–hidden far, far out among the trees, she could see two auras filled with strong, steady colors. Their owners stood still, staying quiet and covered. Lissa's smile grew. Guardians. Or maybe the air and water users controlling the weather. None of the candidates were alone out here. Ronald Ozera had had no need to worry–but then, he wouldn't know that. Only she did. Maybe spirit wasn't so useless out here after all. The rain began to lighten, and the fire's warmth continued to soothe her. She couldn't read the time from the sky, but somehow, she knew she would have no problem waiting out the day and– â€Å"Rose?' A voice summoned me out of Lissa's wilderness survival. â€Å"Rose, wake up or †¦ whatever.' I blinked, focusing on Sydney's face, which was a few inches from mine. â€Å"What?' I demanded. â€Å"Why are you bothering me?' She flinched and jerked away, momentarily speechless. Pulling away Lissa's darkness while joined with her hadn't affected me at the time, but now, conscious in my own body, I felt anger and irritation flood me. It's not you, it's not Sydney, I told myself. It's spirit. Calm down. I took a deep breath, refusing to let spirit master me. I was stronger than it was. I hoped. As I fought to push those feelings down, I looked around and remembered I was in Sonya Karp's bedroom. All my problems came rushing back. There was a bound Strigoi in the other room, one we were barely keeping constrained and who didn't seem like she would give us answers anytime soon. I looked back at Sydney, who still seemed afraid of me. â€Å"I'm sorry †¦ I didn't mean to snap at you. I was just startled.' She hesitated a few moments and then nodded, accepting my apology. As the fear faded from her face, I could see that something else was bothering her. â€Å"What's wrong?' I asked. As long as we were alive and Sonya was still trapped, things couldn't be that bad, right? Sydney stepped back and crossed her arms. â€Å"Victor Dashkov and his brother are here.'

Importance Of Sound In Movies Film Studies Essay

As we know, the movie sound design is divided into two chief classs. The first is sound effects design, largely non-musicals. The 2nd is movie tonss composing, in other words, the background music that is written specifically along with a movie, largely musicals. Film mark ought to incorporate cue paths. Each path is an single piece, which will typically be a composing from instruments. Nowadays, a turning figure of movie tonss include a mixture of orchestral and electronic instruments. The impression of a point of hearing can hold two significances: 1. A spacial sense: from where do I hear, from what point in the infinite represented on the screen or on the soundtrack? 2. A subjective sense: which character, at a given minute of the narrative, is hearing what I hear? ( Chion, 1994 ) Sound is indexical in our natural manner of listening. Sound conveys clip information more accurately than visuals. When sound occurs, an event of stuff interaction is taking topographic point. Sound fertilises and enhances the ocular landscape, makes us able to do an lineation of information about the beginning every bit good as the cause. In short words, sound reflects the physical world of the scene, immerses the hearer into the universe, which makes the environment comes alive. What is of import to the audience is to cognize what produces the sound and where it comes from. Diegetic sound is sound whose evident beginning is in the space-time continuum of the scene onscreen. Diegetic sound is sound that the movie leads us to believe the characters can hear. ( Chion, 2009 ) For bespeaking the materiality of the sound beginning more accurately, the dimensions and distances more exactly, sound effects design has more to be considered. While some sound effects are recorded while they are produced, most of them are added or created afterwards. Production sociables usually ask that all action cease for a few minutes on each location so that they may enter the uninterrupted background ambient sound in that infinite, such as H2O lapping on shore. Editors will subsequently hold to reinsert atmosphere under duologue and effects created during postproduction for continuity with production sound. Sounds from disparate beginnings must be adjusted with tools like equalizers and filters to fit and flux seamlessly. Choices of features imparted to the sound in echo, tempo, timber, volume, and commixture of sounds with each other may non merely make up one's mind our sense of the physical world of the infinite, but besides suggest a figure of feelings, such as solitariness, joys, paranoia and so on. Echo is an indispensable tool for puting a sound in a infinite to bespeak how far we are from a sound ‘s beginning. You can clear up an component of the secret plan with sound, or you can do things more equivocal, which is frequently what you want to make. In such close-ups of sound we must be careful, nevertheless, to bear in head the specific nature of sound which ne'er permits sound to be isolated from its acoustic environment as a close-up shooting can be isolated from its milieus. Music played in a eating house can non be wholly cut out if a particular close-up of say two people quietly speaking together in a corner is to be shown. The set may non ever be seen in the image, but it will ever be heard. The close-A ­up will incorporate the whole acoustic ambiance of the eating house infinite. Thus we will hear non merely the people speaking, we will besides hear in what relation their speaking is to the sounds all round them. We will be able to put it in its acoustic environment. ( Weis, 1985 ) Sound can rise pragmatism or it can decrease it. Sound can pull attending to a item or draw attending off from it. ( Sider, 2003 ) The mike is non as selective. The sound interior decorators have to extinguish that unintended blare from planetary for audience. The camera shoots straight at a clicking clock, we may hear the ticking. But a few seconds after the character looks off, the ticking will be bit by bit dropped out. â€Å" Origin † is a movie that tells a narrative about origin of thought in dream. The film itself is a head changing insight and an intelligent experience. It implants much secret plan hint utilizing a really good sound design. In fact, it is besides a successful aural origin. This is a traveling through of all the interesting proficient points in this movie. The thing that differs â€Å" Inception † from the other movie is the coincident hierarchy architecture. It is common in this movie that multilayers of sound happen at the same clip in the film. And in different degrees of dream, the audience acquire different gait of sound. You can state person what portion of the universe they are in, depending on what sorts of sound you play. The basic timeline and secret plan are based on dream within a dream. Even if the characters are in dreams, we expect them to follow the Torahs of natural philosophies. The really usage of sound in this movie is that the sound is used for linking the different beds of dreaming. The vocal used for the â€Å" musical countdown † to do the dreaming characters cognizant of the at hand boot is â€Å" Non, Je ne Regrette Rien † by Edith Piaf. There are 3 versions of â€Å" Non, Je ne Regrette Rien † , which are the original, the slowed version and the super-slowed version. When clip is switching between the dreams, the original â€Å" Non, Je ne Regrette Rien † is decelerating down and being cross-faded with Zimmer ‘s mark. When the musical countdown is heard down a degree from its beginning, it ‘s slowed down by 300 % , and when it passes down another degree, it slows by 300 % once more. By decelerating down â€Å" Non, Je ne Regrette Rien † by 300 % , the sound becomes really similar to the slow horns in â€Å" Half Remembered Dream † at the beginning of the movie. When Cobb and Ariadne descend into oblivion, without any earphones on to re-adjust the pacing of the music, that same mark is heard slowed down by 300 % . As Cobb and Ariadne wash up on the shores of Cobb ‘s subconscious, the loudest and most extended horn subdivision of the full soundtrack takes topographic point in the terminal of the mark â€Å" 528491 † . The audience is non the lone portion involved hearing the slowed mark, but so are the characters in the movie. Many different movies have made usage of first individual positions. It is merely like sing life from theA firstA personA point of position ofA Malkovich in the film â€Å" Being John MalkovichA ( 1999 ) † . The first-person aural position has an huge impact on sing movie. The first individual positions will certainly do the audience feel in the characters ‘ manner. The audience hears what precisely the characters hear. Since the characters can hear the music with us, the mark itself is a intimation at what bed of a dream we are sing. Knowing this, it becomes possible to separate between dream and world by simply hearing the music. The fact that score ne'er dips into the slow monotone in the world degree is a reasonably good cogent evidence that the top degree in the film is so world. The better-defined movie sound became in the high frequence scope, the more it induced a rapid perceptual experience of what was onscreen. This movie has a really good dynamic frequence scope. As for low frequence, there is the shaking of the edifice and the boom sound. As for high frequence, there is H2O lapping and the gun shooting recording. Cryptic electronic sound at the beginning implies that it is traveling to be a really unusual movie. The H2O imbrication and moving ridges sound on shore goes from right to go forth harmonizing to the H2O fluxing on screen. It can be a unrecorded record, but more likely is reinserted when station production. â€Å" We Built Our Own World † begins when Cobb is lying on the shore. It provides a strong sense of devastation when Cobb is looking at his kids, which means he is non in the world. The sound of whirling top is much louder than it should be because the film maker wants us to concentrate on the whirling top but non anything else. Then the whirling sound bit by bit fades out after exchanging positions. Recording the background voices in a eating house where Cobb was holding a repast with Saito was a cagey manner of presenting the thought that they were in a really large edifice. We can hear low-frequency noise which sounds like the land that is agitating at the same clip. And so it gets louder and louder. All the above information that sound conveys is a hint that they are really in dreams and lay the basis for the edifice prostration shortly after that. Subsequently the audience can hear the agitating sound of the tabular arraies and the spectacless really clearly. Then the clicking sound of the clock goes faster and faster, which means we are going from dream to world. Without sound, the audience do non even cognize what is traveling on. Sound necessarily carries much utile information in this fall ining scene so. The audience can hear background riot voices when there is merely inside-house shootings taking on, which means these background voices come from the public violence people outside. Then we hear a fake detonation sound which makes us experience we are in the scene. When Cobb is speaking with Mal, we can hear ambience sound of H2O lapping sound once more while we can non see the shore, which means the shore is right beside the edifice. â€Å" One Simple Idea † takes topographic point when Cobb is seeking to steal an thought from Saito in dream. That is evidently a on the job subject that calms the audience down and tells the audience that Cobb is in the procedure of making something of import. Sound interior decorator should enter the edifice fall ining sound or imitate it in post-production in order to immense the audience into a environment ambiance of danger. The background music â€Å" Dream Is Collapsing † is a brilliant piece that we can experience the dream is in the procedure of fall ining. In the gun changeable scene, we can non see the slug or the fire visible radiation but we can hear really loud gunfire so that we know they are firing at each other. When Cobb is falling into H2O, it seems that we can hear what Cobb is hearing. Because Cobb is woolgathering, so really he is in two beds of universe. In the upper bed dream, we here the H2O bubble sound when Cobb is submerging into H2O and H2O is running into his ears, therefore doing a echo. But in the dream within a dream, the H2O is oppressing into the edifice from everyplace, and so we should hear a sound like monolithic H2O bead on the land, which is really similar to waterfall sound. When the scene goes back to submerging Cobb, we hear a pulsation with its frequence acquiring faster and faster, which means he is traversing one dream bed up. We can hear the sound of a traveling train when we see the characters are kiping and woolgathering together, which means in world they are really woolgathering in a moving train. The sound interior decorator absolutely builds up three beds of universe utilizing sound as a hint to the audience, but it is difficult for the audience to detect these small hints. Anyhow the sound hint will go clear when the audience watch the movie a 2nd clip. When the dreaming character listens to the music on earphone, the audiences hear â€Å" Non, Je ne Regrette Rien † as if they are the dreaming character. Again there are two beds of sound at the same clip. In the dream bed, the character can merely hear a extremely filtered version of â€Å" Non, Je ne Regrette Rien † in a low voice as if person is whispering beside the ears. Sound images are frequently used in the movie for the intent of making an ambiance. Merely as the movie can demo ocular landscapes, so it can demo acoustic landscapes. ( Weis, 1985 ) Sound can depict an acoustic infinite. ( Sider, 2003 ) Sometimes sound is simple plenty to state the audience what is go oning, we do non necessitate an excess ocular image demoing the item. When Cobb drags Saito to the land, there is no image demoing Cobb has loaded the gun, but the audience hear a slug loaded sound, which means Cobb is endangering Saito and likely he is traveling to kill Saito if Saito does non state the secret of his company. That same thing happens once more in the scene when Cobb is about to kill himself in dream. When Cobb is playing the whirling top, we hear the familiar â€Å" Old Souls † once more. Every clip when Cobb is non certain if he is in dream, the subject â€Å" Old Souls † will look. It feels like a iteration paradox. We can ne'er do it right ; we can ne'er travel out of the paradox. That is what Zimmer tries to convey to the audience through â€Å" Old Souls † . When Cobb is holding conversation through telephone, we hear Cobb is talking usually, but evidently echo is added to the voices come from the other terminal and these voices are so clear as if we are hearing it from Cobb ‘s first individual position. The sound interior decorator has to do it clear so as the audience will non lose any information or emotion that Cobb receives from the telephone. When they mention Mal in the telephone, the background music all of a sudden changes into a soft and sad piece. That means Mal ‘s dead is truly a incubus for Cobb. He can non halt his eternal grieve about Mal. The mike is placed in two topographic points to enter the address in a large concert room between Cobb and his designer instructor. At first it is a close-up record. When the scene changes into a broad shooting, the audience can hear a distant record version with more reverberations which makes the atmosphere sounds more realistic than earlier. And that genuinely helps force the audience into the universe. During the conversation, the background music â€Å" Old Souls † comes up once more because they are speaking about the thought of planing dream. â€Å" One Simple Idea † is a good pick of background music when Cobb is learning Ariadne how to plan a dream universe like labyrinth. That music merely draws the audience ‘s attending to hard staff they are traveling through but non itself. That is to state, when background music goes off or goes down without any back uping emotion, it leaves the infinite for the audience to remain in the ocular and the profound thought of course. To do the narrative more logical and each secret plan scene connected better, a good, logical and complicated sound design is required. Even if it is in dreams, the atmosphere sound goes like it is in world. When Cobb is speaking with Ariadne, the voices of the other people around are still available. In order to surprise the audience with a ulterior detonation scene, the interior decorator would instead allow the audience believe this is a world scene at first. So everything sounds every bit normal as day-to-day life at the beginning. In fact few people can detect that the â€Å" Non, Je ne Regrette Rien † is â€Å" melting in † in the detonation scene when the dream is fall ining, which means the earphone on Ariadne ‘s ear is playing to wake her up. A land traveling sound is simulated in the scene that Ariadne is turn uping the land upside down in her dream. Everybody knows there is no manner to enter this sound in existent life, we have to enter the other sound, such as stone traveling on the land, to replace the imagined sound in the scene to do it sounds like what it should be. â€Å" Extremist Impression † is on the manner when Ariadne makes everything working extremist and incredible in her experimental dream. The two bit by bit exchanging chords make us experience the manner like â€Å" How could it be like that? † â€Å" What an astonishing thing! † If the scene has a large alteration, it is a good pattern to infix a background music which is in wholly different manner from the music in the scene before. Actually the â€Å" Mombasa † subject has already begun long before the chasing takes topographic point, but once more it is a bit by bit attenuation in, which means something excited should be merely around the corner. We can hear sound similar to chopper and besides the sound of air current when Mal is sitting on the window. The minute when she jumps out, the background music all of a sudden changes into a sad melody. That seems to state it is non in dream but in world. So it deserves to be a calamity decidedly. And this subject lasts until Cobb ‘s narrative is over. When they are taking action to commandeer the boy of the company ‘s caput, the music becomes really intense from that clip. When Arthur is holding gun fire, we hear the sound from his angel but non enemies ‘ angel because we merely necessitate a first individual record. The sound the enemies are hearing is non that of import to the secret plan. We can detect that whenever the address between the characters is over, the background music will shortly acquire louder. The sound interior decorator does non desire the background music cover our semantic hearing. It is ever a serious concern to enter the sound when several drive autos are firing at each other, because there is frequently fast exchanging shooting. In the movie, the auto braking sound, the gun fire sound, the braking glass sound because of the gun shooting and the H2O lapping sound, every sound mix with each other at precisely the same clip. So post production edit for the recorded sound is evidently needed at this specific minute. Some portion of the sound is reinforced while some is reduced or diminished. It is the manner to choose utile sound information for the audience. When we see a close-up shooting of a glass of H2O is agitating, we get a glass agitating sound. After the shooting switches to people ‘s face, we still acquire that glass agitating sound. This clip we know what it is the glass that is bring forthing the sound. And besides we can judge the shaking strength merely by the geting the volume of the glass agitating sound. When the glass hits the tabular array and interruptions, we hear a sound which is similar to metal tintinnabulation and the ringing supports enduring for a long clip. And that is the clip when Cobb ‘s attending is extracted by his subconscious. That pealing is a hint that he may lose himself in believing about Mal and his kids. He merely can non run off from the thought. The sound interior decorator has to believe of a best manner to present the sound in a practical environment. When the scene is exchanging between two degrees of dream, particularly at the concurrence point, sound effects do non necessary have to finish a sudden alteration. Sometimes for the consideration for continuity the sound from the upper degree will go through on to the following degree. The air current blowing sound and H2O lapping sound from the upper degree go the boom sound causation by the unusual conditions in the following degree. This is a really good illustration of planing sound harmonizing to the demand of secret plan and environment. I have to state that this is truly a really smart sound design. A close-up shooting on Robert Fischer ‘s face with a boom sound above makes the whole scenery more nervous. Robert Fischer decidedly feels dying about being in dream with a unusual go oning boom sound above. The really clear fast take a breathing sound of Robert Fischer besides reveals his anxiousness. We can hear about all the item from Robert Fischer ‘s oral cavity so clear that it sounds like the mike is merely around the oral cavity of Robert Fischer. Thus it has to be a later recorded version of syncing facial look with a close-up recorded sound. The mussy footfalls sound is a good manner to demo a helter-skelter scene, therefore reflects people ‘s tenseness. When Robert Fischer is get awaying with Cobb from the work forces who were sent to kidnap Robert Fischer, the sound of footfall is acquiring louder and quicker. At the best portion of the movie when five degrees of dream are interacting and the shootings maintain exchanging between these five degrees every few seconds, there is no address, merely the sound effects with brilliant background music which sounds like orchestra March. That peculiar background piece makes up the best portion of the movie, stating the audience this should be a dramatic minute that they would ne'er see in any other movie. In a word this piece stirs the emotion to the flood tide of the whole movie. When the characters on the 3rd and 4th degree of the dream put on earphone on the 2nd degree, they hear a deformed version of â€Å" Non, Je ne Regrette Rien † . All the perceptual experience on the upper degree has a contemplation effects on the deeper degree. In here, the music contemplation consequence is distortion music sound. The music at the shore of Cobb ‘s subconscious is a dizzy piece. It makes us do n't cognize where we are. In fact it is the 5th degree of dream. It is besides desolation piece that few people can come in this degree of dream so far. It becomes a strong boot with a long horn when the music â€Å" Non, Je ne Regrette Rien † is on. This clip it is non a deformed version, it is a new recorded slow version of â€Å" Non, Je ne Regrette Rien † . Let us take a expression at the movie score portion of sound design. What can movie mark does to the movie? The obvious first thing to state: It makes you experience a certain manner. It adds emotion, it evokes feelings, and it creates a temper. They can set up the gait of a scene. Directors are invariably inquiring composers to compose a piece of music which will do the scene seem to travel faster, or slower, than it goes. ( Sider, 2003 ) A good movie mark will force the audience into the film ‘s secret plan. It should make the perfect interaction point between audio and visuals. Normally the composer is shown an unpolished â€Å" unsmooth cut † of the movie, and negotiations to the manager about what music manners should be followed. Once a composer has the movie, they will so work on composing the mark. Some composers prefer to work with traditional paper tonss, but if it comes to hit like â€Å" Inception † that contains uneven ambient and electronic noises, it has to be written in a computer-based environment. In some cases, movie composers may be asked by the manager to copy a specific manner. As seen in many movie DVDs, the orchestra performs in forepart of a big screen picturing the film, helping the music director to synchronise the music with the movie. Movies frequently have different subjects for of import characters, events, thoughts or objects. So we divide the whole soundtrack into pieces of tonss. By convention, the movie soundtrack is constructed so as non to pull the audience ‘s attending to itself but to attach to the movie unless it is portion of the secret plan. The manager, composer, and music editor will hold a staining session, running through and holding on where and what sort of music is needed. The composer of the â€Å" Inception † scores is Hans Zimmer, whose music is characterized by high hearable. Because â€Å" Inception † is based on the pattern of come ining dreams and seting an thought in person ‘s caput, the soundtracks to â€Å" Inception † should be designed as dream-like and make a complete sonic universe to plunge the audience into each beds of the dreams. The original soundtrack album is mostly an atmospheric album. The soundtrack has to be composed in ways that are rather unrealistic so that the audience will non detect the background music. Listening to this soundtrack truly steer me to remember most of the chief secret plan, at the same clip music is the perfect incarnation of the movie ‘s subject. It is an aural journey into one ‘s imaginativeness which creates images and narrative lines in my head. It is a soundtrack to the imaginativeness, or possibly, dreams. In sing period, the movie mark will ne'er catch the spotlight of the movie itself, but to assist the audience construct up the bravery of the dream and advance the development of the secret plan. Inception film scores rely more on existent unrecorded instruments instead than digital audio samples. The whole soundtrack is a combination of electronic and classical. Traditional orchestra can be heard here and at that place in each path. Some cues even play with electric guitar, uneven ambient and electronic noises. â€Å" Dream Is Collapsing † is one of the most powerful paths in the mark. It is seen as absolutely rational that all characters in this scene maintain composure and act of course with holding a house prostration. This technique increases the contrast of the characters ‘ rational behavior against the powerful background mark which tells the audience that it deserves to be a nervous scene. â€Å" Dream is Collapsing † is really good done and improbably habit-forming. â€Å" Dream is Collapsing † is the most memorable vocal. â€Å" Extremist Impression † begins with bosom round which makes the audience lulled into a false sense of security. Those low chords that switch up and down earlier lie underneath strings as if a animal is quietly eupneic, or possibly, it implies that it is the dreamer who is take a breathing, and ever with a slowed down version. Recuring figure, musical fragment or sequence of notes that has some particular importance in or is characteristic of a composing â€Å" Extremist Impression † is a path that walks in familiar district in footings of the twine ostinatos. It is a motive which is persistently repeated in the same musical voice. It is a sequence of equal sounds, wherein each note ever has the same weight or emphasis. The perennial thought may be a rhythmic form in itself. Starts off playing the chief motive instead dramatically so dips into some excessively cool for school material before playing around with the small motif some more. The last minutes of the path gets aggressive. â€Å" Old Souls † reflects Mal ‘s dying about life in dreams. It makes the audience puzzled, inquiring if they are populating in dreams. And the vibrating electronic underscoring is used in such a particular manner. It is a long and effectual path that continues the atmospheric feelings of the album. â€Å" Old Souls † is a cue that leads us into the conversation between Cobb and Mal and do every audience puzzled with what they are making and why they are moving like that. Most of the original background cues have something in common, but some of cues have slight differences. â€Å" Mombasa † is the lone percussion in the mark, which has typical spirit from the remainder of the mark. What is happening on screen is a trailing scene which lasts about 4 proceedingss. Thus the attach toing soundtrack should be a really fast ongoing beat in order to arouse audience ‘s emotions. The Hi Octane component provides intense personal experience and delivers a paranoid sense of being chased when Cobb is running to acquire out of the pursuers. It has a reasonably light start, but it shortly explodes into an action cue. â€Å" Dream within a Dream † brings back the motive heard in â€Å" Dream is Collapsing † but adds some excessively cool for school percussion. â€Å" Waiting for a Train † is the longest cue of all, which feels really cryptic and nostalgic when there are excessively many musical elements and emotion altering blended in. Around 3 proceedingss, it changes the feeling wholly and the ambiance becomes a small darker in nature. At around 5:30, it gets more dramatic as there are about merely synths left. In blunt contrast, Edith Piaf is in there at around 7:04. â€Å" Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien † is a authoritative, but it still sounded unusual at that place. The female voice aftermaths up the dreamers. All of these signifier 9 proceedingss and 29 seconds of uninterrupted admirability. Great inspirational tonss and soundtracks should all hold the quality of independency from their intended movie. â€Å" Time † may be one of the most beautiful heroic poem vocals in the soundtrack that can be appreciated independently from â€Å" Inception † . It gives a sense of closing by constructing up an emotional yarn from get downing to stop. There is no uncertainty that â€Å" Time † should be the chief rubric in this original soundtrack album. The piano gets the position feeling sentimental, which brings cryings to the eyes, particularly at the really terminal after the audience has experienced all the dreams in the movie. This is likely the 1 that most people will truly love and listen to a 1000 times without being tired of. What Time did was no pure sensationalism, the destiny of a sense of devastation in which the tune is along with the whirling top, so that we can non separate if it is a dream or non. It is non merely orchestral music, but every signifier of music because you ne'er know when you might necessitate to utilize some electric guitars. Great composers adapt to the narrative and to their manager ‘s vision. It can be said that sound ‘s greatest influence on the movie is manifested at the bosom of the image itself. ( Chion, 1994 )

Social & Community Development Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Social & Community Development Research - Essay Example The option of having alternative education programs for prospective delinquent children is something I admire. It was no difficult task choosing my area of research seeing that it has been aptly covered by Cox among other researchers. The research by this particular writer is a bonus for me as it provides a foundation stone for my future research interests. Perhaps the reason for my personal interest in this research area is because I lost an elder brother to jail for delinquency; something that could have been prevented early enough. While searching for this journal, I first developed a search strategy that was very useful in identifying this research. To start with, I first defined the topic that I wanted to cover, or rather my research interest. As stated earlier, my interest in research is in child delinquency. A practical solution to child delinquency is the establishment of alternative schools. In so doing, I came up with the keywords ‘child delinquency’ and ‘alternative schools’. To make my search more wide and varied, I included the keyword ‘assess*’. The asterisk at the end of the word assess was intentional to make the search pick up variations such as ‘assessed’ and ‘assessment’. Since the three concepts, assess, child delinquency and alternative schools are related I used the conjunction ‘and’ between them to ensure the search gave results that had all the three concepts. The work of Cox particularly interested me because of the number of reviews that it had attracted (Conley, 2002, pp. 142). Moreover, the researcher has been involved in other remarkable researches. In particular, his assessment of delinquency related outcomes of alternative education programs stood out because it covered the same field that I was venturing in. The fact that Cox has published those many times (Korn, 1991, pp. 75) makes him an ideal reference point in doing my future research. The main

Popular Music Since The 1950s As The Exploitation Of Black Music By Essay

Popular Music Since The 1950s As The Exploitation Of Black Music By White Artists And Corporations - Essay Example A number of scholars propose the idea that African-American culture and music were effective expression forms and social inclusion means. Although they originate from the folk music of the African-American slaves, â€Å"the root cause of transnational black identity† (Gilroy The Black Atlantic 1992, p.60), it served as an effective instrument for cultural and social inclusion throughout the 20th century. The introduction of blues, jazz and other black music genres provided blacks a strong impact over American culture and a distinguishing place in a society that was fundamentally closed to black people well into the 20th century (Chiriguayo 2002), (Dwight 1995). In the study The Spirituals and the Blues the African-American scholar James H. Cone (1991, p. 130) argued that â€Å"whatever form black music takes, it is always an expression of black life in America and what the people must do to survive with a measure of dignity in a society which seems bent on destroying their ri ght to be human beings†. The book Blues People is the first real try to place major black music genres as blues and jazz within the setting of Afro-American social history, it illuminates the impact of blacks on American history and culture. Terry Jones (2005) asserts that the blues is a musical opera about life and times of Black America. The blues is the story of Black America in worldly musical form. However, Harrison (1997, p. 18) insisted that â€Å"blues was always a multi-racial music.... The Wikipedia encyclopedia, defines that the term exploitation may carry two distinct meanings: (1) the act of utilizing something for any purpose. In this case, exploit is a synonym for use; (2) the act of utilizing something in an unjust or cruel manner for one's own advantage. Most often, the word exploitation is used to refer to economic exploitation - the act of using another person's labor without offering them an adequate compensation. The Marxist theory is primarily concerned with the exploitation of a whole segment or class of society by another. From this point of view the black music is exploited by whites. Article of Phil Rubio 'Crossover Dreams' (1993) provides a curious vision of the confrontation between black art forms and white performers. In many cases white musicians are motivated by envy or admiration for the emulated black performers. And we see the utilization of African-American culture by whites to find the spirit and humanity, they feel they've lost. It is known that the end of a constant source of interchange and friction should not be seen as the start as 'whites have been playing black music for decades' (Davis 1995, p.84). We are not to locate the first white blues performer. The phenomenon of numerous white musicians taking up the black music is a fairly modern spectacle, beginning in the late 1950s and the early 1960s. One of the first objections to this phenomenon was made by Charles Radcliffe in the UK publication Anarchy (1965). Of course, many people did not consider singing in a black vocal style to be part of blues performance, moreover many feel that whites who have uneasy destiny, for example Hank Williams, sing in their own suffering manner, a distinctively non-black style. We can agree that

Are Traffic Cameras an Invasion of Privacy Essay

Are Traffic Cameras an Invasion of Privacy - Essay Example Discussion Usually, the traffic cameras can detect an over-speeding car, thereby, enabling the government to take immediate action. For example, in Arizona, the traffic cameras led to the arrest of many law breakers, with 650, 000 tickets given to them, leading to a fine of $37 million imposed for the offence (Morse, 2010). Actually, it is not convincing to argue that the traffic cameras invade the people’s privacy if they commit traffic offences persistently. There are many road accidents resulting from reckless driving such as over-speeding, overlapping among other traffic offences (Friedman, 2007). Therefore, all measures to curb the incidences should not be treated as an infringement of one’s privacy. As a result of limited number of police officers to apprehend the offenders, there is need for technological application that could be used in tracking the offenders on a 24hours basis (Washington Post, 2002). This enhances the vigilance along the major highways in the country and boost the safety both drivers and pedestrians. On the question of privacy, many judges and people agree that there should not be any issue of privacy in a public place (Hankin, 2008). Indeed, the people should not raise privacy concerns when they are out of their homes or in a private office. According to Morse, there are places to be considered as private, including the toilet, bathroom, a person’s own compound, private telephone, personal computer, gym, and a private office (Morse, 2011). For that matter, all actions outside those private domains can be subjected to private scrutiny. In addition, he acknowledges that no law prohibits a driver being observed while on the road (Morse, 2011). Similarly, recording an offence that a driver has committed along the highway does not breach the local and international law. Furthermore, driving is strictly regulated for safety purposes (Morse, 2011). Therefore, those who complain of interference with their privacy misint erpret the Fourth Amendment of the US constitution. The Amendments stress on the need for home safety, thereby, indicating that a doubtless technology can threaten personal privacy and home safety (Morse, 2011). However, this provision should not be misused and taken as a defense for committing crime in the public sphere. When one over-speeds and overlaps on the highway, he/she has to bear the responsibility for the crime, without pointing an accusing finger at the police or the application of technology (Washington Post, 2002). Ideally, the perception that one is being watched might result to decency in public. The person becomes assured that once the camera has captured his/her bad behavior in public, it would not be easy to escape justice (Soda Head News, 2011). For example, if one’s private car was captured overlapping on the road and he/she was in the car, there would be no defense for the crime when mentioned before the law court. Truly, this seems to be a better soluti on to reduce and subsequently eradicate highway crime and improve on the overall safety of all road users. Fundamentally, installing traffic cameras on public places for surveillance is not a crime and does not infringe on the privacy of a person (Friedman, 2007). For example, if

Were the Anti-Federalists correct Was the 1787 Constitution a betrayal Essay

Were the Anti-Federalists correct Was the 1787 Constitution a betrayal of the American Revolution - Essay Example According to the events that led to the formation of the new constitution, it is only right to note that the new Constitution was a step forward in strengthening the revolution. The main aim of the revolution was to achieve independence from the British, but it did not mean that United States of America could not form its own government or manage itself. The new constitution is a representation of the strength of the revolution, by recognising its weaknesses and strengthening them to form a national government, and not a betrayal to what the people of the United States fought against. This essay will describe how the new constitution was a means to strengthening the American Revolution. 1780s is referred to as the critical period. It is during this period that American Revolution faced intense challenges. America already had a Constitution (the Articles of Confederation) which helped the government win the revolutionary war, establish a territorial governance system in the Northwest Territories, resolve conflicting state land claims, and negotiate the 1783 treaty of Paris.[This is a brief description of the benefits of the previous constitution. what was this?] Under this Constitution however, the confederation Congress was unable to protect the nation’s commerce, could not pay the interest owed on national debt, and had no power to fight economic depression. America, after achieving its independence, was in chaos. It had a national debt which it was unable to pay because of lack of congressional powers to raise the money. Congress could ask states to contribute revenue, but could not force them to do so. America needed a sure way of getting revenue to pay i ts debts and govern the nation well. It experienced inflation which was as a result of a move to clear the national debt. Instead of collecting revenue through taxation, state and national governments printed money. Taxing the people was not an option at the time. This is

A personal evaluation of knowledge and its practical application borne Essay

A personal evaluation of knowledge and its practical application borne of this insight - Essay Example Not everyone in the organisation maintains the same cultural characteristics or sustains the same learning styles, which can conflict the process of effective knowledge transfer and knowledge sense-making. Having identified the role of the self in knowledge management, this paper describes personal understandings of the self gleaned through the curriculum and attempts to apply these lessons, using theories of knowledge management as a template, to my personal role as a future KM facilitator, manager or human resource practitioner. Understanding of the intrinsic self The knowledge management process begins with effective communications processes. Knowledge, whether tacit or explicit, cannot be productively categorised, shared or transformed into practical and useful information without finding some variety of shared meaning within the communities of practice model. Knowledge is neither created, transformed or disseminated within a proverbial vacuum, meaning that knowledge management p ractices will not be successful without direct interaction with diverse organisational actors. This fact requires development of a knowledge culture in which a set of shared meanings or symbols is present throughout the organisational structure, something that can be significantly conflicted by differing cultural values, unique learning styles with individuals, or patterns of ethnocentrism, a type of cultural conflict, that conflicts decoding of knowledge communications. Stover (2004) supports the importance of engagement with others in the organisation to facilitate knowledge transfer, iterating that knowledge conversion can only occur through direct interaction with others. Hence, I learned the importance about understanding my own, inherent learning styles and how this impacts personality, worldview, willingness to engage with others socially and interpersonally, and even how the decoding process in communications would occur. Having completed Kolb’s Learning Styles Invent ory, I discovered that I maintain intrinsic characteristics that are aligned with the Converger. The Converger profile is largely unemotional, maintains narrow interests, and appreciates active experimentation to make the abstract into concrete understandings through practical application of deductive reasoning (Smith 2001). The Converger is, inherently, less interested in abstractions that occur during the socialisation process, thus there is less emphasis on people and more on the scientific approach to problem-solving by legitimately applying theory to experience to make evaluations. The Converger would theoretically be the least social profile among Kolb’s four learning styles. Now, it has been established that effective knowledge management requires interventions with other organisational actors in order to make knowledge transfer productive and relevant to the organisation and its strategic objectives. However, having learned that I maintain much more pragmatic and sens ible characteristics (far and above a social leaning), I realised that knowledge management could be conflicted by having an in-borne preference for self-motivated experimentation whilst others in the organisation might fit Diverger profiles that are more concerned with embracing culture and the social condition.

Country with High Mortality Rates- Angola Term Paper

Country with High Mortality Rates- Angola - Term Paper Example Location/geography It has an area of 481,321 square miles making it the twenty-third largest country in the world. It lies between latitudes 4 degrees and 18 degrees south and longitudes 12 degrees and 24 degrees east (Staeger, 2012). It gets bordered by Democratic Republic of Congo on the North, Zambia on the east and to the south is Namibia. The country’s west coast lies on the Atlantic Ocean and capital and largest city is Luanda. The country has experienced an intense civil war which lasted for close to 40 years. The country’s official language is Portuguese but it has various recognized national languages; Kikongo, Chokwe, Umbundu, Ganguela and Kwanyama (Staeger, 2012). Population Population in Angola gets estimated to be around 18,056,072 as of July 2012 (Staeger, 2012). 37% of the population consists of the Ovimbundu tribe, 25% the Ambundu, 13% bakongo and 32% the other ethnic groups including Asians and Europeans (Staeger, 2012). As at the end of 2007, Angola ha d an estimated population of 12,100 refugees and in 2008 it is estimated 400,000 had moved to Angola as migrant workers from Congo (Staeger, 2012). Statistics also shows that there are 30,000 Portuguese and more than 259,000 Chinese people in Angola. The fertility rate of Angola according to the 2012 estimates is 5.5 making it the eleventh highest in the world. The Angolan population grows by 2.2% annually as there are 44.5 births and 24.8 deaths in every one thousand citizens (Staeger, 2012). The infant mortality rate is 184 deaths in every one thousand live births and their life expectancy is 37.63 years (Staeger, 2012). Government Angola’s government is based on the constitution that got amended and passed in 2010 (Staeger, 2012). They have the executive branch which gets headed by the president who serves as both the head of state and the government. The president is the commander in chief of the armed forces. One gets to become the president only if he or she receives th e majority votes in the national assembly and they are allowed to serve for a maximum of two five year terms. The country has a unicameral National Assembly which has two hundred and twenty elected members (Staeger, 2012). The country is administratively divided into eighteen provinces each headed by a governor who in turn answer to the president. The National assembly is responsible for making and amending the constitution. The country enjoys a nominally multi party democracy after intense civil war between individual leaders who wanted to have absolute power. The executive is made up of the president and a council of ministers since the position of the prime minister was abolished (Staeger, 2012). The council of ministers entails all ministers and assistant ministers who regulate policy issues. Their constitution has broad outlines which define the government structure and also protect the rights of the citizens and at the same time it outlines the duties of the citizens (Staeger, 2012). Their legal system is mainly based on the Portuguese and customary law making it to be fragmented and weak. The Supreme Court acts as the appellate tribunal. The country has no court with judicial review powers despite the statutory authorization by the constitution. Economy The countries financial operation and system gets regulated by the National Bank of Angola. The country is rich in diamonds, gold, copper, oil and wildlife which significantly boost the economy of the country (Staeger, 2012).

Price Elasticity Essay Example for Free

Price Elasticity Essay Using the calculation of: price elasticity of demand= (percentage change in quantity)/(percentage change in price) When the percentage change in the quantity that is demanded is greater than the percentage change in the price, the resulting absolute value of the calculation will be greater than 1. The first two products, Barnes and Noble books and Coca-Cola, will therefore have an elastic demand classification. When the percentage change in the quantity that is demanded is less than the percentage change in the price, the resulting absolute value of the calculation will be less than 1. The last three products of Cigarettes, Beer, and Gasoline; will therefore have an inelastic demand classification. (R. Glen Hubbard, 2012) Explain the implications of those classifications on tax revenue collections when the per-unit tax increases as opposed to decreases. When the products are inelastic, an increase in price from the higher duty will lead to a small decrease in demand which is not enough to offset the higher tax that is raised on each unit. Basically, tax revenue collections will therefore rise. The tax revenue collections will fall when that price decreases. They move in the same direction. When the products are elastic, an increase in price from the higher duty would lead to a fall in tax revenue collections. Alternately, when the price decreases, it would lead to a rise in the tax revenue collections. The relationship here is an inverse one. (R. Glen Hubbard, 2012) Using those classifications, make some assumptions regarding tax incidence. For instance, will buyers or sellers pay a larger portion of the tax per unit? Explain. If the product is price inelastic to the consumer (if price rose, a small demand loss would be accounted for by the extra revenue), the seller is able to pass the entire or most of the burden of the tax on to the buyer. The tax incidence here falls on the buyer. If the seller is unable to raise prices because the product is price elastic (if prices rose, more demand would be lost than extra revenue gained), the seller then has to bear the burden of the tax or face decreased revenues. The tax incidence here falls to the seller. In this scenario, the burden would likely continue to flow further back to the factors of production. (Wikipedia, 2013) Conclude, based on the elasticity classifications, their effect on tax revenue and tax incidence, and which goods the government would prefer to tax. The government would prefer to tax products that are usually inelastic. The reason for this is that the quantity demanded of inelastic goods is proportionally smaller than the increase or decrease in the change in price†¦they are less responsive. Therefore the government will place taxes on these goods and they will acquire higher tax revenues. The seller basically does not care that much as they simply place most of the burden of these taxes onto the buyer. Bibliography R. Glen Hubbard, A. P. (2012). Microeconomics, 3rd edition. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall. Wikipedia. (2013, April 6). Tax Incidence. Retrieved 9 21, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_incidence

Incredible Years Series theoretical based intervention programme

Incredible Years Series theoretical based intervention programme A promising intervention programme should be theoretical and evidence-based. The Incredible Years programme, a well-designed and comprehensive intervention package, has strong theoretical grounds (Webster-Stratton et al., 2001). It was originally invented to treat early onset conduct problems among young children (Webster-Stratton, 2000), then was revised to prevent conduct problems by promoting social competence universally (Webster-Stratton, Reid Stoolmiller, 2008). Children who display high rates of anti-social behavior or aggression are at risk of developing conduct problems (Webster-Stratton Reid, 2009b). It is found that these children experience more peer rejection and non-supportive comments from teachers (Carr, Taylor Robinson, 1991; Webster-Stratton Reid, 2002), and as a result, they dislike going to school and may display more negative emotions and behaviors (Birch Ladd, 1997). This is a vicious cycle which The Incredible Years Series are aiming to bring it to an end. The Incredible Years programme is not only targeting on children, but also the factors that contribute to the cause of such conduct problems. Webster-Stratton (2005) suggested that a disorganized home environment, ineffective parenting and teachers lack of instrumental classroom management skills were all provocative. Although it is believed that parental influence on childrens social development is the most prominent (Webster-Stratton et al., 2001), past research showed that parent training might not be effective enough, as the children only made short-term improvement at home, but not at school (Gresham, 1998; Taylor Biglan, 1998). Therefore, a multi-faceted intervention project that includes trainings for parents, teachers and children is designed (Webster-Stratton, Reid Hammond, 2004). The Incredible Years Series was compared and evaluated against single or paired training programmes; longitudinal results indicated that the childrens improvement in the integrated training serie s were longer-lasting and could sustain beyond the training setting (Webster-Stratton Hammond, 1997; Webster-Stratton, Reid Hammond, 2001; Webster-Stratton, Reid Stoolmiller, 2008). The Incredible Years Series that address multi-levelled risk factors are strongly supported by a number of theories. In the following, I shall briefly introduce the underlying theories, following by an extensive discussion on how these theoretical underpinnings are applied to the training programmes and the method of delivery. Theoretical underpinnings Behaviorism According to the theory of operant conditioning, human beings behavior is contingent upon the consequences (Butterworth Harris, 1994). Behavior is likely to be reproduced if reinforcement follows (Baer, Wolf Risely, 1968). The presentation of reinforcement not only serves the informative function to indicate the appropriateness of certain actions (Bandura, 1977), but also serves the motivational functioning that increases the probability of future production (Bolles, 1979). Childrens development is closely linked to their experiences of reinforcement. It was found that children whose parents who did not reinforce their social skills were weaker in establishing friendly relationships (Patterson Dishion, 1985). In classroom setting, appropriate use of praise and reward improves childrens classroom behavior (Pfiffner, Rosen, OLeary, 1985) and a consistent punishment system is also effective in reducing undesirable behaviors (Pfiffner OLeary, 1987). The behavioral approach explains aggression as a result of external reinforcement. Bandura (1973) proposes that by acting aggressively, some children may gain approval, power, or enhancement in self-image that reinforces them to continue. Social learning theory In agreement with the behaviorists, social learning theorists also believe in the importance of environmental stimuli (e.g. reinforcement), but it is proposed that personal determinants cannot be ignored (Bandura, 1977). Human behaviors are seen as an outcome of the reciprocal interactions between the persons and their surroundings (Webster-Stratton Reid, 2009b). Bandura (1977) believes that learning can occur without personally experiencing the action and its consequences. He suggests that most children learn to use aggression through modeling. The sources can be very diverse, ranging from the mass media, peers in schools, to parents aggressive punishment. It was discovered that children with parents who had bad marital relationship had higher probability of developing conduct disorders (Webster-Stratton, 1996). The social learning theory provides a justified reason: when parents are openly criticizing each other, displaying hostility, or producing aggressive behaviors, children observe and learn to use these coercive tactics to solve conflicts (Patterson, Reid, Jones Conger, 1975). Bandura (1989) also proposed the idea of self-efficacy. It is defined as the personal evaluation of ones ability to accomplish a certain task (Harter, 1993, Kanfer Zeiss, 1983). It is believed that human beings have an innate tendency to strive for social self-efficacy with the parents, and would be discouraged if not successful (Heydenberk Heydenberk, 2007). Perceived self-efficacy influences peoples actions and beliefs, and also ones persistence in difficult times (Bandura Adams, 1977). For people who have high self-efficacy in social aspects, they expect success in forming and maintaining positive relationship with the others. For people who have low social self-efficacy, they might have experienced failures in interpersonal aspects before (Webster-Stratton Lindsay, 1999). They judge themselves as socially incompetent and put less effort in forming social relationships. Self-efficacy stems from successful experiences, vicarious learning and verbal persuasion (Bandura Adams, 1977). Ones own expectation of the probability to get contingent reinforcement (Kanfer Zeiss, 1983) and also the significant others expectations is crucial for the development of self-efficacy (Cooley, 1902). Children understand what their parents or teachers are expecting from them through verbal or non-verbal means (Webster-Stratton, 2006). If they then act according to what others expect from them, they will be contingent to the others expectations, it is called the self-filling prophecy (e.g. (Lee Bishop, 2008; Strassberg, 1995). The lower the teachers expectations on their students, the less motivation the students have (e.g. Chung Westwood, 2001; Jussim, 1989; Wigfield Harold, 1992). But it is hopeful that children can benefit a lot too when the teachers increase their support and expectations on them (Webster-Stratton, Reid Hammond, 2004). Theory of the coercive process The coercive hypothesis generated by Patterson (1982) can be regarded as an extension and integration of behaviorism and social learning theory. It starts with a social interactional perspective and considers childrens aggressive behavior as a product of repeated coercive interactions between a dyad that are created and maintained by the positive and negative reinforcement (Mesman, et al., 2008). Both members of the dyad should be responsible for the undesirable outcome (Webster-Stratton, 2000). The coercive model sees the importance of parents and teachers interactions with the children. Continuous negative reinforcement and modeling escalates both the childrens and the parents/ teachers coercive attitudes and behaviors (Patterson, Reid, Jones Conger, 1975). A reinforcement trap occurs when one member of the conflicting pair gives up during the coercive interaction (Webster-Stratton, 2005). From the viewpoint of the member who insists, this can be seen as a negative reinforcement and would encourage him/her to use such coercive tactics again (Webster-Stratton Hancock, 1998). The other member also learns by observation and modelling to escalate their aversive behaviors to avoid further failures. So, the intensity of aggression increases and accumulates after every conflict (Patterson Dishion, 1985). And children may generalize such pattern of conflict managements to other contexts. Parents fall into the reinforcement trap because of their non-contingent parenting skills and ineffective disciplinary strategies to deal with coercive behaviors (Patterson Dishion, 1985). To decrease aggression, one must change the coercive process by stopping the negative reinforcement. Parents and teachers can be taught using more effective and positive discipline methods and no longer triggers childrens aggressive behaviors, and change theirs by modeling. Attachment theory Bowlbys (1997) attachment theory emphasizes the importance of a positive parent-child relationship. It is found that children who have a loving and trusting relationship with a major caregiver are more socially competent (Lee, 1990), while children who experience hostile contacts from parents lack emotional regulatory and conflict-management strategies (Webster-Stratton, 2005). By using the strange situation, four types of attachment styles can be identified, namely secure, insecure-avoidant, insecure-ambivalent and insecure-disorganized (Van Ijzendoorn, Bakermans-Kranenburg Sagi-Schwartz, 2006). The attachment pattern highly affects how one thinks and feels (Cummings-Robeau, Lopez Rice, 2009) and has enormous influence on interpersonal functioning (Collins, 1996). Insecure attachment may develop when the parents are being inconsistent, rejecting and insensitive to childrens needs (Webster-Stratton Reid, 2009b). Children with this type of attachment may have higher level of aggression and greater difficulty expressing their feelings and trusting the others (Fagot, 1997). In contrast, securely attached children possess greater social skills (e.g. Schneider, Atkinson Tardif, 2001; Weinfield, Scoufe, Egeland Carlson, 1999) and feel safe to explore the world as they trust their parents (Juffer, Bakermans-Kranenburg van IJzendoorn, 2008b). better social co mpetence (e.g. Schneider, Atkinson Tardif, 2001; Weinfield, Scoufe, Egeland Carlson, 1999). As the kind of attachment formed is closely linked to the parenting skills and parental sensitivity (Bakermans-Kranenburg et al., 2008), Incredible Years aims to improve those elements so as to alter the attachment pattern. Moreover, the attachment theory can also be applied to the teacher-child relationship, as children also have a lot of contact with teachers (Birch Ladd, 1997). The Incredible Years Programme Based on the above theories, Webster-Stratton (1981) developed three interlocking programmes, targeting at the parents, teachers and children to promote social competence. Parent training The parent series is the most important one (Webster-Stratton et al., 2001), with four sub-sections designed for promoting different skills and accommodating children of different age groups. One of the heaviest elements in this series is the training of parenting skills. In line with the underlying behavioral theory, parents are taught the effective use of reinforcement and punishment. In order to encourage childrens exhibition of prosocial behaviors, parents make good use of reinforcers. They are guided to create a hierarchy of reinforcement that is tailor-made for their own children. Examples of powerful reinforcers are social rewards like attention, smiles and hug and social activities like going to beach together (Neville, Beak King, 1995). The way parents administer the reinforcements is very crucial they have to make sure that the reward is immediate and contingent to specific favorable behaviors; and also, children should receive the rewards together with labeled praise. Moreover, parents are reminded that materialistic rewards like money and toys may apparently seem to be incredible reinforcers, but their effectiveness may not be very long-lasting. This kind of tangible rewards is better used at times when children achieve a particular goal that is clearly defined beforehand (Webster-Stratton Herbert, 1994). Conversely, to reduce childrens aversive behaviors, parents are trained to use a wide range of methods depending on the intensity and type of misbehaviors. Examples are removing existing reinforcements like ignoring and timeout, and rewarding alternative positive behaviors (Neville, Beak King, 1995). Parents are taught not to argue and shout with the children during conflicts, as those naggings are also reinforcing, as they are parental attention. Yet, using ignoring is not easy, as parents have to be consistent and determined to neglect the child until the unwanted behavior vanishes (Webster-Stratton, 2006). Or else, parents would have been fallen into the reinforcement trap, as suggested by Pattersons (1982) coercive model. Timeout is another good strategy if used probably as it gives both the parents and the children a cooling period. Children are kept isolated for a while, and are deprived of any possible reinforcement, including parents attention (Webster-Stratton Herbert, 199 4). Using these methods can reduce childrens coerciveness, model children the peaceful way of managing conflicts and still to remain a trusting parent-child relationship. No matter it is the administration of rewards or punishments, one rule that parents must follow is to be consistent. Previous research studies show that unpredictable parenting style seriously affects the parent-child bonding and makes children feel insecure and frustrated (Lee, 1990). To manage discipline, both reinforcements and punishments may be needed (Pfiffner OLeary, 1987). The latter one should be used as last resort (Neville, Beak King, 1995), as punishments may trigger childrens anger, create tension and model unwanted, aggressive behaviors to them. Moreover, punishing for a bad behavior does not give children ideas what an appropriate behavior is. To prevent using punishments, one of the best ways is to set limits. Parents can set clear, realistic and positive goals with the children (Webster-Stratton, 2005). With limit setting, coercive process of aggression can be prevented, and childrens experience of reaching goals or keeping within the limits reinforces them, and enhances their social self-efficacy (Webser-Stratton Reid, 2007). According to the expectancy theory, when children recognize that parents have high but reasonable expectations on them, their self-confidence is enhanced and self-fulfilling prophecy predicts that they will try hard to act accordingly. To enhance childrens self-esteem, the support from parents is essential (Harter, 1993). According to Bandura (1977), ones self-efficacy can be improved by verbal persuasion. Parents should view their children in a positive way, accept their weakness and encourage them to think positively about themselves (Webster-Stratton, 2006). For elder kids, parents can try to involve them more in family meetings, limit settings, or any other activities can require collaborative decisions (Coopersmith, 1967), so that children have more opportunities to express themselves and they might feel confident as becoming a contributor in the family (Webster-Stratton, 2000). The ADVANCE parent training programme focuses on the parents interpersonal skills. It is found that parents who have poor communicate skills and anger management strategies are more likely to have children who suffer from conduct problem (Webster-Stratton Reid, 2009b). This is due to the fact children can observe and may have modeled their parents behaviors (Webster-Stratton, 1996). In this training series, parents are empowered to act as a good role-model of their children. And by modeling, parents can foster social skills and desirable learning habits to them (Webster-Stratton, 2005). Teacher training The teacher training series focuses on skills and tactics to manage a large of children (Webster-Stratton et al., 2001), mainly by using reinforcement, managing misbehavior, fostering a warm and safe environment, building positive relationships, teaching social and problem-solving skills (Webster-Stratton, 2004). Although the target is different, the major concepts used in the teacher training are similar to that of the parent one (Webser-Stratton Reid, 2007). To promote positive behaviors, reward again is very important. Besides praising children specifically and enthusiastically, teachers, persons that are familiar with childrens learning progress, should praise children for their improvement instead of the scores they achieve. A consistent rewarding system can enhance childrens self-efficacy and social competence (Webser-Stratton Reid, 2007). Another special component of the teacher training series is the effort of teachers to collaborate with the childrens family (Webster-Stratton, 1999). It is desirable for teachers to visit their students family, so that they can better understand the students home environment and background, and thus to be more sensitive in catering the students special needs. It is equally valuable for parents to visit their childrens schools. Teachers in the Incredible Years programme are equipped with techniques to communicate and cooperate effectively with the parents (Webser-Stratton Reid, 2007). Children Training The children training series emphasizes enhancing childrens emotional literacy, social skills, conflict management and problem-solving skills (Webster-Stratton, 2004). Emotional literacy is the ability to recognize, understand, handle and appropriately express emotions (Sharp, 2001: 1). This is one of the most fundamental communication skills that children acquire in the Incredible Years student series. Children with conduct problems usually have worse emotional literacy and ability to identity and understand facial cues (Webster-Stratton Reid, 2003). The ability to convey emotional messages are closely linked to ones emotional and social health (Morrison and Matthews, 2006; Nyland, 1999). It was found that enriching emotional literacy can lead to a reduction and delinquency and aggression (Carnwell Baker, 2007); and children with higher emotional literacy have comparatively better social outcomes like having more friends (Hubbard Coie, 1994; Miller et al., 2005). Olson (1992) explained that for children who were not equipped with enough vocabularies to communicate their emotions, it was likely for them to use their bodies to express themselves. This is often quite undesirable, as for example, if the child was angry at the moment, and because he did not know how to verbalize it, he transformed his anger to physical responses and hit his classmates. Research evidence did show that the lack of emotional vocabulary and emotion understanding were correlated with aggressive behaviors (Bohnert, Crnic Lim, 2003) and ineffective conflict management (Heydenberk Heydenberk, 2005). After building up a list of emotional vocabularies and learning the usage of strategic communications skills like I messages (e.g. I want toà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, I feelà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, I hopeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, etc.), children displays significantly less anti-social behaviors (Heydenberk Heydenberk, 2007). It is easier for them to regulate their emotions (Webster-Stratton Reid, 2 009) Methods of Delivery In the Incredible Years Programme, most of the sessions involve group discussion and practice, while one-fourth of them are administered through videotape modelling (Webster-Stratton and Herbert, 1994). Group Discussion One of the goals of the Incredible Years is to provide a cost-effective intervention program. This is achieved through the use of group-based delivery (Webster-Stratton, 2000). There are around 12 to 14 participants per group, with one group leader to assist in administrative issues and encourage discussions. Besides the economical value, the group setting allows parents or teachers to share and normalizes their experiences (Webster-Stratton, 1981), to provide support for each other, and to facilitate modeling (Webster-Stratton, 2004). When parents or teachers know that there are so many other people that are encountering the same difficulties as they do, they feel more relieved and confident with their parenting or teaching skills. Video Modelling and live modeling Video Modelling is a cost-effective training method that has been extensively used in the programme (Brestan Eyberg, 1998). This method is based on Banduras (1989) theory of observational learning. It was proposed that participants would model the positive behaviors by observing the interactions shown in the videotapes (Webster-Stratton, 2005). The study done by Singer and Singer (1983) showed that children who watched a television programs that promote prosocial behaviors really exhibited significantly greater desirable behaviors upon watching. Parents are mainly shown about parent-child interactions at home during dinner, play, etc.; teachers are shown the teacher-child interactions in classroom during circle, work time and play, etc. (Webser-Stratton Reid, 2007). Some of scenes are positive, while some are negative, so the adults understand there is no perfect teaching or parenting (Juffer, Bakermans-Kranenburg van IJzendoorn, 2008a), and this may raise their self-efficacy. Seeing the adult-child relationships give them an idea how to increases childrens prosocial behaviors and reduces aggressive or aversive behaviors (Webster-Stratton, 2004). Previous research, in line with the hypothesis, indicated that children video which showed some positive peer interactions were effective in enhancing childrens politeness and friendliness and in decreasing childrens noncompliant and negative behaviors (Webster-Stratton, 1982). Unlike, one-to-one interventions, video modeling makes it possible to show different kinds of people interacting in different contexts, which creates greater generalization and participants may find it easier to apply the skills learnt in daily lives (Webster-Stratton, 2000). There are some important points to note when using modeling. First, video-makers have to ensure that the participants have affirmative feelings about the model, and they can identify with the model to some extent. One way to achieve this is to explicitly tell the participants that those models are not actors, but real parents like them. Secondly, the video must have scenes showing the model getting reward upon doing some favorable (Webster-Stratton, 1981). For example, the childrens cooperation is a kind of intangible reinforcement for the adults. Thirdly, group leaders should ensure that participants are paying attention, and not being disturbed by some external distracters. Lastly, there should be chance for the participants to practice the new skills and gain the reward as shown. In the Children Training Series, the leader and a puppet named Wally act as a live model (Webster-Stratton, 2000). The group leader uses the puppet to role-play and model a positive interpersonal interaction, so that children can learn the appropriate behaviors through vicarious experience (Webster-Stratton Reid, 2009). Behavioral research (Homework and practice) Homework and exercises are given to participants to try out the newly learnt skills and to apply the knowledge to real life context (Webster-Stratton Reid, 2007; Webster-Stratton Reid, 2009). The role-playing exercises allow participants to understand the concepts and skill more thoroughly and clearly (Webster-Stratton, 2000). And through this, they know how it feels to use appropriate strategies in interactions. Experiences of success is very important for participants to be motivated in using such skills and real achievements can boost their self-esteem (Emler, 2001). Child-directed play Child-directed play is a useful tool in enhancing attachment and positive relationship between adults and children (Axline, 1969; Webster-Stratton Reid, 2009). This kind of play can also enhance childrens social competence and self-efficacy (Lee, 1990). There are a number of techniques that aid child-directed play. First, the adults should give minimal comments, not to judge or question during the play. Adults reinforce and encourage the childrens effort, concentration, creativity and all the other positive behaviors. This can help promoting the childrens perceived competence and self-worth (Webster-Stratton Reid, 2009). Second, adults try to follow the childrens thoughts and allow children to have independent thinking (Webster-Stratton, 2006). There are six different child-directed play skills that can help teaching children academic and social skills, and building a positive adult-child relationship (Webster-Stratton Reid, 2009). First, the adults use descriptive commenting to show that they are paying attention to the children, and at the same time, to teach children important vocabularies. The joint attention reinforces children to continue playing. Second, adults can use academic coaching to teach children academic skills like counting and names of objects. Third, when children are encountered with challenges in the play, adults try to promote persistence in playing (Schunk, 1981). As suggested by Bandura (1989), the longer one stays in the difficult problems, the stronger confidence one has about his abilities. Adults use persistence coaching to encourage children by commenting on their cognitive condition. Being praised and knowing oneself as persisting, children feel reinforced and contented. Fourth, emotion coachi ng can be used to teach children feeling words. The last two are one-on-one and peer social coaching that allow children to practice playing with children, so that they can model the interaction techniques and experience real success (Webster-Stratton Reid, 2009). Conclusion The Incredible Years Series is a theoretical-based intervention programme that is found to be effective in treating or preventing childrens conduct problems in many previous research studies (e.g. Webster-Stratton, 1994; Webster-Stratton et al., 2001; Webster-Stratton Reid, 2009; Webster-Stratton, Reid Stoolmiller, 2008). A lot of developmental or educational psychologists from different countries have been trying to revise and adopt the programme to their culture, reflecting the effectiveness and popularity of the programme. All the three training modules (parents, teachers and children) place great emphasis in promoting childrens positive behaviors by reinforcement, reducing misbehaviors using sensible skills and learning effective social skills through observational learning. Overall, this is a well-planned intervention programme and it is hopeful that Incredible Years can really helping creating incredible lives for the next generation.