The Benefits and Disadvantages of Online Shopping Essay Example for Free

The Benefits and Disadvantages of Online Shopping EssayMany people enjoy the convenience of snitch online. You quarter buy everything you need without having to reserve the comfort of home. Most grocery and retail origins realise created Web sites that feature their products for sale. But when is online obtain a good deal, and when should it be avoided? Here atomic number 18 almost of the benefits of online shoppingPargonnts of small children whitethorn arise online shopping appealing. The kids lav feel free to run around the house and create havoc without the worry of pettish fellow customers. Even if your children argon well behaved it can still be time consuming getting everyone ready to go to the store. Keeping children out of the store, and redden your spouse, in some cases may prove to be money saving as well. You wont have everyone begging you to buy extra grocery items not on your list. Online shopping can sometimes fetch you a great buy. Some stores will a dvertise particulars which can only be obtained by shopping online. For more expensive items like electronics you can typically expect to find online discounts of $50 or more compared to the price in store. Sometimes you may be able to find coupon codes which can be used atan online store to get a percent off the total amount of purchase. You can shop online on your own time.Most stores are not open 24 hours a day/7 days a week, meaning that if you fatality to shop in their stores, you will have to shop within a limited time frame. However if you decide to skip the visit to the store and shop online you can shop any time of day that you wish. Another benefit of online shopping applies to gifts for people out of state. You can buy gifts online and have them shipped straight to the recipient. By doing this you merely the headache of having to wrap, pack, and ship the gifts out yourself. In some cases, stores will wrap the gift for you as well as include a special message. Sometimes stores will advertise free shipping offers which would submit buying gifts online for out of state families and friends even more beneficial. Taking advantage of these offers means that you wont have to pay to have the item shipped. By avoiding shipping the item yourself, and taking advantage of free shipping offers, you can save money on the purchase of packing supplies. Shopping online makes it easier to find unique and one of a kind gifts that you will not find in your local department stores. at that place are many online store websites dedicated to that special item you are looking for. Websites such as Ebay allow you to bid for or purchase products that are hard to find. Sites like Ebay can also help you to find great deals. Ebay users can bid on items of interest or use the buy it like a shot option. By bidding on items on sites like Ebay you may be able to purchase your desired item at a discounted price. Some sellers on Ebay will even combine shipping or offer free shipp ing of your products, saving you even more. You may be able to purchase items online that are not available or are sold out in stores. If a product you want is not stocked on the store shelves, in that location is a chance that you will be able to purchase it online. Now that you know of the many benefits of online shopping, we will discuss the disadvantages of online shopping Buying groceries online may save you time, but it can prove costly. By shopping online you can miss out on great deals that can be obtained with coupons.Grocery stores that allow you to arrange online will typically charge you a pick up or delivery fee for shopping online as well. You may also find that you have to spend a minimum amount of money in order to have your groceries delivered. One online grocery store that I know of will not deliver unless you order at $150 worth of groceries. Another disadvantage of online grocery shopping is that youwill be unable to pick out the introduce or meat products you rself, which can lead to disappointment. Shopping online can also add on extra cost to your product by having to pay for shipping. If you are buying a product for yourself or as a gift to local friends and family, it may prove to be wiser to make the purchase in store instead to avoid extra cost. When shopping online you have to wait to receive your products, whereas shopping in store means you can get your product in good order away. If the product is an item you are dying to have and cannot be found online for a significantly cheaper price, then you may want to make your purchase in store instead.You wont be able to compare products in person. Sure many online store websites have a feature which allows customer to rate products which may prove to be helpful. However what works for one person doesnt necessarily work for another. Some people who fill out online reviews for products can be fruitless as well to trick customers into purchasing or not purchasing a product. When it com es to comparing products, such as cameras and televisions, its always best to make comparisons in the store. If the store is running a good deal then you can make your purchase in store since you are already there. Returning or exchanging items bought online can be more difficult than making a return or exchange of products youve purchased in a store.Some stores will allow you to make returns and exchanges of products youve bought online through their website, though others may not. Stores that only do business online will require you to repack and ship the item back to them to receive a refund or exchange. Some online stores may not reimburse you the cost of shipping meaning you will have to spend money out of your own pocket fair(a) to make the return. Always read the return policies of the online stores website to know what to expect. When shopping online for a product you should do a price comparison between several online stores to find the best deal. Always make sure to print out a copy of your receipt and/or write down the confirmation number for your purchase.You can also keep a copy of your e-mail receipt for a quick reference. Always read an online stores shipping and return policies to better understand how they work. depend online for codes which can save you money on shipping, fetch you free gifts with purchase, or can discount the price of a product. Always be careful when sharing your credit card information online. Secure websites should display a lock symbol at the bottom of the page. Do any research thatyou can for online stores that are not well known. Shopping online can either cost you extra money or save you money. Make sure to do your homework when considering shopping online to find the best deals.

Interoffice Memo Essay Example for Free

Interoffice Memo EssayYesterday, July 1, 1976, the ruling in the case of Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of atomic number 20 was decided. The Supreme Court of California imposed a legal duty to psychotherapists, enforceable by a civil suit, to warn a person who may become a victim of a violent act by a patient or if the patient threatens to harm themselves. As professionals in the Human overhaul field it is requisite that we adhere to this when a client may threaten to hurt themselves or another person. With this ruling, and before any action is taken, we are reminded of our code of ethics. Human Service Professionals have guidelines in their responsibility to the client. The ruling of this case has affected our ethical decision making, in that, we also ack outrightledge that we need to not only abet our client but also, if threat is made, to assist and protect a potential victim. Once this threat is made, ethically, we have no option but to report it and to not do so, we break our code of ethics and the law. This case has made us aware of the fact that threats can and possibly lead be carried out, therefore, threats should not and will not be taken lightly.Our Code of Ethics has changed slightly since this ruling was imposed and while we still protect our clients confidentiality and privacy, there is now an exception. If it is suspected that danger or harm may occur to theclient or to others as a result of a clients behavior, the homophile service professional acts in an appropriate and professional manner to protect the safety of those individuals. This may involve seeking consultation, supervision, and/or breaking the confidentiality of the relationship. (Woodside and McClam, 2011)ReferencesWoodside, M., McClam, T. (2011). An introduction to serviceman services (7th ed.). Belmont, CABrooks/Cole Cengage Learning.

Definition Of Parental Involvement

Definition Of P bental s chair2.0 Introduction investigate is made in order to inform people with new noesis or disco genuinely. Jancowicz (2000159) knowledge does non exist in a vacuum and you work only has value in relation to other(a)wise peoples work. Thus for a enquiry to be credible, it should be fundinged by other works that progress to spoken ab issue the same topic therein the importance of the literature review which stag (1998) defines as The selection of avail suitable documents (both published and unpublished) on the topic, which contain information, ideas, data and evidence written from a particular standpoint to fulfill certain aims or express certain views on the personality of the topic and how it is to be investigated, and the effective evaluation of these documents in relation to the research being proposed.The ability to carry out a literature review is an important skill for any researcher. It will provide the latter with a context in which to place the research with adore to what has already been researched near the topic whereby the researcher will get an up to date account and disputeion of the research findings slightly the particular topic.2.1 P bental link2.1.1 Definition of Parental InvolvementParental matter is weighd to be an important strategy in the advancement of the quality of rearing. Parental elaborateness as much(prenominal) may be defined in different ways. According to Althoff (2010) agnatic betrothal refers to the amount of intricacy a parent has when it comes to civiliseing and her childs livelihood. (Abdullah, Seedee, Alzaidiyeen, Al-Shabatat, Alzeydeen, Al-Awabdeh, 2011) define agnatic intimacy as the activities occurring between a parent and a child or between a parent and teachers at school that may summate to the childs bringing upal outcomes and development.NCLB (2001) described parental involvement as regular participation of parents, a two-way process, and meaningful communication i nvolving student academic encyclopedism and other school activities including Assisting their childs learning (b) Being actively gnarled in their childs training at school (c) Serving as full partners in their childs education and being included, as appropriate, in close-making and on informatory committees to assist in the education of their child and (d) The carrying out of other activities such as those described in subdivision 1118 of the ESEA Section 9101(32).Liontos (1992) mentions recent beliefs about parents and families that schools should consider when involving themselves in the education to their children 1) All families father strengths, 2) parents sack learn new techniques, 3) parents have important perspectives about their children, 4) nigh parents really care about their children, 5) cultural differences are both valid and valuable, and 6) numerous family forms exist and are legitimate (pp. 30-31).2.1.2 Family InvolvementRegardless of how they are able to demonstrate their investment, the notion that families play a very important role in creating a school that provides a nurturing and safe environment for their children is turn wide accepted (Epstein et al., 1997).Families provide the kind, cultural, and emotional supports that youth need to function well in school. Schools provide opportunities for childrens affirmative interactions with signifi laughingstockt adults and other adolescents to enhance their home experiences and to support their continued development and rivald learning (Comer Haynes, 1991).According to Davies (1991) parental involvement shifts from parent focus to family focus, family to community agencies, school to home/neighborhood setting, eager parents to hard-to lapse families, teachers/administrators agendas to family priorities, and deficit view of urban families to emphasis on inherent strengths of families. He further explains that even though non-traditional families are much more(prenominal) common today than they were in the 1950s, alternative family structures are effective and should be recognised by the school.The paradigm Changing Definitions of Parental involvement according to Davies(1991) is as follows from Parent accent to Family Focus from school to home or neighbourhood setting from eager parents to hard to reach families from teacher/administrator agenda to family priorities from deficit view of urban families to emphasis on inherent strengths of families. Davies (1991) mentioned that non-traditional family units are getting more common, tho the alternative family structures are effective and should be recognised as they do collision in the education and surgical procedure of students.2.1.3 Types of parental involvementFan and Chen (2001) in their meta-analysis open that researchers commonly conceptualised parental involvement as having multiple dimensions. Research conducted over a number of years have proved that there are numerous types of parenting pract ices associated with despotic school-related academic and social competencies. These are (a) parental participation in school-related activities, for instance monitoring homework and attending parent-teacher association meetings (Desimone, 1999 Keith et al., 1993 Steinberg, Lamborn, Dornbusch Darling, 1992) (b) parental encouragement of optimistic school behaviors (Atkinson Forehand, 1979 Barth, 1979 Kelley, 1952 Schumaker, Hovell, Sherman, 1977 Seginer, 1983) and (c) parental expectations for skill and attainment (Ainley, Foreman, Sheret,1991 Fan Chen, 2001 Scott-Jones, 1995 Seginer).Similarly, Epstein (2001) has fantastic six types of parental involvement namely parenting communication volunteering home tutoring involvement in decision-making and, collaboration with the community. Epsteins model presents family, school and community as overlapping spheres of influence, the congruence of which is of considerable importance for the optimal development of children.2.2 The ef fect of parental involvement on childrens achievementsIt is generally believed that the parents do play an important role in the education of their children and there is now an extensive research literature indicating that parental involvement is advantageous for children of all ages (Cox 2005 Desforges and Abouchaar 2003 Eccles and Harold 1993 Epstein 2001). Research has sh profess that one of the roughly promising ways to increase students achievement is to involve their families (Chavkin, 1993 Henderson Berla, 1994). Herbert Walberg (1984) found that family participation in education was twice as predictive of academic learning as family socioeconomic status. Establishing partnerships with families has many benefits for schools and families, but Epstein says, the main reason to create such partnerships is to champion all youngsters succeed in school and in later life (1995, p. 701).When parents participate in their childrens schooling, students may experience more academic an d social success. Epstein (2001) suggests that parents who are informed and involved in their childrens school can positively impact their childs attitude and performance. Drawing a causal link between parental involvement and student achievement is challenging much of the research on parent involvement and student performance is therefore correlational (Scott Stein Thorkildsen, 1999). Although the impact of parental involvement is dependent on a number of contextual variables, there are many advantages attributed to parental involvement.Involvement at home, especially parents discussing school activities and helping children plan their programs, has the strongest impact on academic achievement (Sui-Chu Willms, 1996 VanVoorhis, 2003). Researchers have alike found that parent-child discussion about school helps improve academic achievement and reduce problematic behavior (Epstein Sheldon, 2002 McNeal, 1999 Sheldon Epstein, 2005). McLaughlin and Shields (1986), for example, desc ribe that parents can contribute to improved student achievement through their involvement in (a) the selection of appropriate edition materials, (b) targeting educational services, and (c) the use of particular pedagogical strategies. Clark (1983) found a correlation between achievement in reading and mathematics and the number of books at home.Parent involvement is absolutely essential to student achievement in school and in life say (Campbell Glasgow, 2010). The kindle studies and research indicate that there are indeed positive academic outcomes stemming from parental involvement with benefits beginning in the early childhood throughout adolescence and beyond (Henderson Mapp, 2002 Patrikakou, Weisberg, Redding, Walberg, 2005).Buchmann and Dalton (2002) suggest a possible linkage between differences in institutional contexts of educational system and variation in the effect of parental involvement on childrens educational outcomes while examining variation across 12 countrie s in the effect of mothers and peers attitudes toward academic performance on educational aspiration among middle-school (lower inessential school) students. The comparisons across 12 countries indicate significant variation in the influence of parental attitude on childrens educational aspiration across countries with different structural features of educational system.2.3 Factors bear upon Students Academic AchievementsThe students performance or academic achievement plays an important role in producing the good quality school leavers who will become good manpower for any country.There are actually numerous factors that affect the performance and achievement of students. Parents influence their childrens academic achievement (Spera, 2005). High family socioeconomic status, positive parenting practices, positive aspects of parents personality, and spunky marital quality are associated with school success (Harold, Aitken, Shelton, 2007 Heaven Newbury, 2004 Robertson Reynolds, 2010). Children whose parents who actively promote learning in the home more positively lease in relationships outside the home and in learning (Marchant, Paulson, Rothlisberg, 2001), perhaps because these parents help children approach learning environments more positively. The premise that home environment risks, such as negative parenting (Clark, Dogan, Akbar, 2003), a chaotic household (Brown Low, 2008), parents low educational attainment or income level (Davis-Kean, 2005), and single-parent family structure (Zill, 1996), are correlates of poor academic functioning is in addition well supported.According to a report on Monitoring Learning Achievement (1999) the Determinants of childs performance were identified to be as follows Socio-economic status of the childs family had a very strong impact on achievement at school. (b) Parental education level and parents opinion about education were decisive factors affecting performance of the children at school. (c) The child who h ad admission fee to learning through technology and through materials at home was more likely to do better at school. (d) Pupils who had a positive attitude to school and teachers as well as those who used English to communicate performed better on the tests. (e) Children who had more experienced teachers at school and who were more frequently assessed became better learners.2.3.1 Student Demographics and Students AchievementStudents from ethnic minority backgrounds and low income families are more at risk for poor school outcomes and are becoming an increasing share of the student population. Many studies have linked the educational disadvantage of minority students to a combination of out-of-school factors, many of which center on family characteristics, such as poverty and parents education. Linn (2005) says that prior achievement or other relevant characteristics of the student body may help to explain current levels of achievement while (Carlson, 2002 Ponisciak Bryk, 2005) po int out that when large scale assessments are used as the sole measure of accountability, the characteristics of the schools clientele are confounded with change that is directly attributable to the effectiveness of the school producing biased estimates of school effects.Children coming from middle-class family may have a head start given their higher social position and income may lead to better quality ho development, more availability of books and study facilities at home such as their own room, internet access facility as well as the ability to afford private tuition. According to the University of Mauritius study on private tuition (1989), children from better off families civilise more tuition than students from poor families and they tend to perform better.A better measure of a schools effect on student achievement should account for the nature of students in the schools as well as the characteristics of the schools themselves. For example the correlation according to Sirin (2005) between socio-economic status and achievement tends to be approximately 0.30 at the student level. When aggregated to the school level, the correlation between socio-economic and academic achievement is approximately 0.60 (Sirin, 2005), though that correlation has been estimated to be even higher (0.73) in an earlier meta-analysis (White, 1982).2.3.2 School lead and Students AchievementStudies have revealed that strong leaders are critical to successful learning environments (Briggs Wohlstetter, 2003 Hallinger, Bickman, Davis, 1996 Haycock, Jerald, Huang, 2001 Jesse, Davis, Pokorny, 2004 McGee, 2004 Muijs, Harris, Chapman, Stoll, Russ, 2004 Murphy, 2004 Scribner Scribner, 2001 Snipes, 2004 Yau, 2002). There are different characteristics of strong leaders that have been mentioned in the literature Leaders have a clear vision for their schools that is continuously communicated to school staff and parents (Cole-Henderson, 2000 EdSource, 2006 Jesse et al., 2004) they have high expectations for all students (Cole-Henderson, 2000 EdSource, 2006 McGee, 2004 Scribner et al., 2001) and they are able to restate their vision and expectations into concrete goals for teachers by aligning curriculum with state standards and standardized tests (EdSource, 2006 direction Trust, 2003).2.3.3 School Systems and Students AchievementIn many countries, including Mauritius to some extent, school systems are tracked where students are assigned to different school types based on their prior performance. These tracks range from purely academic tracks to vocational tracks and prepare students for different educational and labor commercialize destinations (Marks, Cresswell, Ainley, 2006 Reyes, 2010). In general most standby school systems maintain a distinction between academic and vocational education. The specifics may be different from place to place, but in most countries academic education prepares students for college or for a university whereas vocational educat ion prepares them for immediate entry into the labor market (Shavit, Blossfeld 1993). Schools may be involved in the socio-economic inequalities in education in a number of ways. Wealthy families can afford a superior education for their children by sending them to fee-paying private schools. In countries with tracked school systems, the allocation of students to the more academic school tracks may be biased towards students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds.2.3.5 Parental Involvement and Students AchievementStudies on the influence of parenting on school outcomes have mainly focused on specific parental practices such as involvement in their childs education, mostly in relation to academic achievement and rarely in relation to school dropout (McNeal, 1999 Rumherger, 1995). Studies conducted among specific grades and subject areas support the logical argument that parental involvement can influence students academic achievement regardless of the students age or subject. For ex ample, Stegelin (2003), Wirtz Schumacher (2003), and Hertz-Lazarowitz Horovitz (2002) focused on early childhood education and literacy, noting a link between families who engage in literacy activities at home and their childrens success with reading and writing.Henderson and Berla (1994) say that the most accurate predictor of a students achievement in school is not income or social status but the extent to which that students family is able to create a home environment that encourages learning express high but not unrealistic expectations for their childrens achievement and future careers and become involved in their childrens education at school and in the community.There exists an extensive research literature indicating that Parental Involvement is advantageous for children. This includes home-based Parental involvement such as listening to children read and supervision of homework as well as school-based Parental Involvement such as attending parent education workshops and p arent-teacher meetings. The effectiveness of both home-based and school-based Parental Involvement in facilitating academic achievement has been reported by several reviews and meta-analyses of the literature (Fan and Chen 2001 Henderson and Mapp 2002 Jeynes 2005, 2007 Pomerantz, Moorman, and Litwack 2007).Mariaye (2008) has found that higher levels of education of parents are often related to better provision of financial resources, thus jumper cable to achievement of children.2.4 Barriers to parental involvementThough there is much importance attached to parental involvement it is still being ignored in many schools. Lazar and Slostad (1999) believe that parents are willing to get involved in the education of their children, but the negative perceptions of parents persist because teacher education programs do not educate teachers to work with parents. Foster and Loven (1992) also shared that the major explanation for this, according to researchers, is the fact that very little a ttention is given to preparing teachers to work with parents and other adults (Lazar, 1999, p. 207). According to Lazar and Slostad, (1999) the way parents viewed their roles was shaped by the circumstances and norms of particular cultures and their beliefs about their own effectiveness as teachers or tutors.Epstein (1991) found out that teachers had doubts whether they could do parents to become more involved even though they thought that parental involvement would improve students achievement. Teachers lack the attitudes, knowledge, skills, and strategies needed to collaborate with families leading to a weak school-family partnership (De Acosta, 1996 Epstein Dauber, 1991 Foster Loven, 1992 Greenwood Hickman, 1991 Midkiff Lawler-Prince, 1992 Williams,1992).Major barriers to parental involvement in schools include the school environment, school culture, time constraint, changing demographics and employment patterns, and the lack of teacher conceptualization in involving paren ts in their childrens schooling (New Skills for Schools, 1997 National PTA, 1997).2.5 Overcoming barriers to parental involvementStrategies for overcoming barriers to parental involvement in schools include overcoming time and resource constraints, providing information and training to parents and school staff, restructuring schools to support family involvement, bridging school-family differences, getting external supports for partnerships, meeting families basic needs, providing flexible times and places for parental involvement, and helping staff communication with parents (The U.S. Department of Education, 2004 Family Involvement in Childrens Education October 1997).The various barriers to Parental involvement can be categorised by adapting Epsteins (2001) framework of overlapping spheres of influence focused on the three areas of family, school and community.2.5.1 Parents beliefs about Parental InvolvementParents beliefs about various issues can act as barriers to effective pa rental involvement. Firstly, the way that parents view their role in the education of their children is crucial. Parents who believe that their role is only to get children to school, which then takes over responsibility for their education, will not be willing to be actively involved in any school-based or home-based parental involvement. Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (1997) reported that this attitude is more prevalent in some communities and national cultures than others, but that there is considerable variation within these. For example, Clark (1983), in his research on high achieving students from low-income black families, found that what distinguished the parents of these students from others at the school was that they believed that they should be involved in their childrens education, by both supporting their learning at home and interacting constructively with schools. Clark found that parents of high achieving students had a greater belief than the other parents that they c ould effectively help their children to do better at school.2.5.2 Parents perceptions of invitations for involvementOne other potential barrier to parental involvement is parents perceptions of the level of explicit and implicit invitations for involvement. According to Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (1997) when parents think that Parental Involvement is not treasured by teachers or schools they are less likely to get involved. Thus, parents perceptions of invitations from schools are considered crucial in developing effective parental involvement. Epstein (2001) has found that parents are most effectively involved when teachers actively encourage them to get involved. Eccles and Harold (1993) believe that teachers with positive, facilitating attitudes toward involving parents encourage more parents to become involved and increase the effectiveness of parental involvement. When parents perceive that teachers are not open to involve them, there tends to be a major barrier to parental in volvement. Similarly, when schools are welcoming to parents and make it clear that they value parental involvement, the schools develop more effective parental involvement than schools that do not appear inviting to parents. Secondary schools are often seen by parents as large bureaucratic organisations which are not welcoming to parents, which is considered to be one of the reasons why there is a tendency for higher levels of parental involvement in primary than secondary schools (Eccles and Harold 1993).2.5.3 Parents Level of EducationParents level of education will influence their views on whether they have sufficient skills and knowledge to engage in different aspects of parental involvement (Green et al. 2007). For example, parents who have not completed secondary school themselves may be diffident about helping their children with homework once the latter get to secondary school. Also, parents who do not have a university degree may feel in some ways inferior to teachers who t hey know are better pendent than them and therefore be reluctant to work closely with the teachers.In general, children of parents with higher levels of education perform better, on average, on assessments of student achievement.2.5.4 Parent current life statusFamily circumstances can be major barriers to parental involvement. For example, single parents and those with young families or large families may find it difficult to get involved in education of their children because of their responsibilities. Parents work situations can also be a factor. When parents are unemployed money could be an issue as they may not be able to afford a car or to pay babysitters in order to get to school meetings. For parents with jobs, whether both parents work and the kind of jobs they have may be issues. When both parents work they will have less time to devote for both home-based and school-based parental involvement. Similarly while some jobs render little flexibility for fetching time off for school-based parental involvement, other jobs may leave parents too tired at the end of the day to help children with homework (Catsambis 2001 Green et al. 2007).2.5.5 Class, ethnicity and genderThere exist also barriers regarding to class, ethnicity and gender of parents that account for the difference between rhetoric and reality in parental involvement. Reay (1998) suggests that it is those parents who give cultural capital which matches that generally valued by schools. In contrast, working-class parents, although they possess their own undervalued cultural capital, are aware of the difference between the cultural capital they possess and that of teachers. Reay (1998) concludes that, for working-class families, home-school relationships are about separateness, whereas for middle-class families they are about interconnectedness, and this difference shapes their respective attitudes towards parental involvement.The barriers related to ethnicity and culture also play an important role. According to a report by Koki and Lee (1998) some of the issues involved in parental involvement for parents in New Zealand who have come from the Pacific Islands. They make the point that it is impossible to understand these issues outside of the context of the history of Pacific education and cultural tradition, but the reality is that parental involvement programmes typically pay scant regard to these issues.2.5.6 Learning difficulties and disabilitiesThe performance of at school can be both a barrier or facilitating factor for parental involvement. According to Eccles and Harold (1993) when children are struggling with their school work, due to learning difficulties or disabilities, then parents are generally more inclined to be active in parental involvement activities. Many authorities on special needs education consider that involving parents is an essential aspect of effective education for children with disabilities or learning difficulties (Hornby 1995 Seligman 2000 ). The involvement of parents is required for the process of holding individual education programmes and this facilitates parental involvement for many parents whose children have learning difficulties or disabilities. But this is not always the case as there are many possible areas for disagreement between schools and parents of children with learning difficulties or disabilities, which can then act as barriers to effective parental involvement. For instance, when parents consider that their children can achieve more academically or when teachers want more support from parents in backing up at home what children are working on at school (Seligman 2000).2.6 Strategies to involve parentsTo achieve more parental involvement, the school or teachers can help to dress to parents work schedules, interests, and special abilities to involve them in their childs education2.6.1 ParentingParents can be involved in their childs schooling in many ways. One way teachers can get these parents in volved is by providing them information about parenting practices. Parents with children with behavior problems are interested in learning about specialised reinforcement and discipline techniques that can be applied in their home. Research has shown that students who are disruptive in schools are also disruptive at home (Walker et al., 1995). Teachers can be serviceable by providing suggestions on how to teach specific skills at home. Parents who learn new parenting skills and teach their child at home are making positive contributions to their childs education.2.6.2 chatEncouraging parents to communicate with the school about important information about their child is another way parents can be involved. Darch, Craig, Miao, Yu, Shippen, and Peggy(2004) recommend that teachers ask parents to discuss their childs behaviour at home, his or her attitudes about school and learning, and whether there are home problems impacting the childs behavior at school. It is helpful if teachers ask parents about their expectations about their childs performance.2.6.3 VolunteeringDarch et al.,(2004) also suggest that one role that some parents can play is to provide instructional or anxiety support in the classroom. For example, parents can be tutors for their own child or other students in the classroom. Also, parents can serve by grading papers, participating in field trips, and reading to groups of students. The advantages of including parents in these activities are many. Parents profile in the classroom can be helpful in managing children. Also, if parents can provide instructional support, the improved learning performances of students will have a positive impact on their classroom behavior.2.6.4 InstructionAccording to Darch et al, (2004) parents can also be involved in their childs school program by providing instructional and management support in their homes. Teachers may ask parents to allocate time for their childs homework, provide instructional support for a cademic assignments, and carry out home-based reinforcement programs. For parents to effectively take this role, they must be willing to participate and must have skills to implement home-based programs. However, as Hoover-Demsey and Sandler (1997) point out, many parents do not see the importance of taking an active role in their childs education. Thus, teachers must provide parents with clear guidelines on how they can be helpful at home and, if necessary, information on how to implement instructional and management strategies at home. An advantage of these activities is that the child is provided extra instruction at home that leads to more successful learning and motivation in the classroom.2.6.5 School-Wide InvolvementTeachers can suggest to parents that they be involved in school-wide activities. (Darch et al., 2004). The goal is to link parents to activities beyond their childs classroom parents can be involved in PTA meetings, school-wide parent advisory councils, volunteer to work in the school office, and participate on a school-wide discipline committee. The advantages of linking parents into school wide activities are obvious. The presence of parents throughout the school is related to higher levels of student achievement and decreases school-wide disruptive behaviors. Parents involved with school-wide activities become more supportive of teachers and school policy.2.7 How do schools involve parents?According to Hanke (2006) lack of parental involvement is due to lack of helpful information to parents. Emails, phone, letters, newsletters and personal contacts can be made by schools to reach out to parents. If schools communicate with parents regularly and consistently using the various means, the gap between school and parental involvement will be reduced.Based on the recent report on the Commonwealth congregation on education (2012) the technology is available for ICT to be the foundation for change in education provisioning from the classroom to the ministerial committee room from the way teachers relate to their students, to the increasing of parental involvement in schools. Students expectations and achievement will increase if involvement are identified by Epstein and associate (1997) parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, and collaborating with the community.Reenay and Vivian (2007) have explained that even though the invention of new technologies has made it easier for schools to reach out to parents (through emails, cell phones and internet websites), the use of traditional methods in communication has been found to be an effective way for schools to communicate with parents, but this has been limited in use b

Effectiveness of International Institutions for Human Rights

Effectiveness of world-wide Institutions for valet de chambre RightsHosea LuyHow effective are external institutions in protecting human beings rights?International institutions face many a(prenominal) problems in their effort to protect and promote human rights. They are t herefore only moderately effective in their testimonial of human rights. Although these institutions face limitations to their success, their work and achievements retain been crucial to the proficiency and promotion of human rights world-wide. It is also important to note that until 1945, human rights was generally considered to be a matter within the exclusive national soereignty of states (Cassel, 2001, p. 134). Consequently international human rights institutions are still young and rapidly growing so we cannot fully analyse their effectiveness. This essay will search the role and effectiveness of international human rights integrity through the join Nations, nongovernmental organisations namely Amn esty International and the impact of state sovereignty.It is difficult to pin-point evidence that at unrivalled time accompaniments the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of international institutions. This is because international institutions work in tandem with other mechanisms to protect human rights, and only together are they winning (Cassel, 2001, p. 123). These mechanisms include the human rights consciousness of the public, nongovernmental organisations and domestic human rights institutions all of which influence each other.This essay will focus on the protection of civil and governmental rights excluding a major category of human rights, economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights. Progress in these areas has been limited when examined in the context of all those in get hold of of food, medicine, living accommodations and other ESC rights. International human rights activists see how little impact they buzz off in taking on matters of purely distributive justice (Rot h, 2004, p. 72), and this is combined with the need for a huge amount of material resources to protect and promote ESC rights (Cassel, 2001, p. 124).The United Nations (UN) is the top global institution and is unrivalled in its capability to reach forth or into virtually every society, and to establish universally applicable norms (Gaer, 1995, p. 393). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR) is the primary piece of international human rights law and has been subscribe and ratified by many countries. Any nation state that has signed and ratified the UNDHR is obligated tomake laws that protect and promote human rights for all its citizenssupport non-government organisations that carry out programs to help people who are victims of human rights abuses (Human Rights Organisations and Institutions, 2000, para. 12).However there is no legal obligation exists to force signatories to introduce domestic law to follow the standards set by the UNDHR (Steinerte Wallace, 2009, p. 9) . This is combined with the sometimes illegitimate excuses of national security and sovereignty that have often been used to conceal, excuse or cut human rights abuses (Human Rights Organisations and Institutions, 2000, para. 6). International human rights law has quite short history and has since its inception been useful for the protection of human rights (Cassel, 2001, p. 134). It has been most effective through its confirmatory impacts, setting global standards for nations to follow. This has then influenced action on the domestic level in important areas such as politics, the media and the public consciousness (Cassel, 2001, p. 122). The UNs work out mechanisms to put through human rights also have a beneficial impact although this is much more limited (Haynes, Hough, Malik, Pettiford, 2011, p. 452). These mechanisms, such as the Human Rights Committee designated to enforce the standards documented in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, investigate hu man rights abuses, communicate with governments for emergencies and publicly present their findings and proposals (Gaer, 1995, p. 393). In 2006, a reinvigorated body, the Human Rights Council (HRC), was created to replace the poor performing UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) (Haynes, et al., 2011, p. 452). It is hoped that the HRC may be able to advance human rights in the future with some(prenominal) changes, such as meeting three times a year whereas the UNCHR only met once a year (Haynes, et al., 2011, p. 452). The UN performed a significant role in coordinating an international effort to closing the human rights abuses arising from the policy of apartheid in South Africa. Evidence arouses that economic pressures and sanctions during the 1980s, played a crucial role to end the discriminatory regime (Grundy, 1991, p. 85). Nelson Mandela confirmed the large role of the UN in ending the apartheid regime when he addressed the UN General Assembly in 1994.We stand here today t o salute the United Nations Organization and its Member States, both singly and collectively, for joining forces with the masses of our people in a common struggle that has brought close to our emancipation and pushed back the frontiers of racism. (Reddy, n.d.)International law and the treaties established through the UN should be recognised as a useful tool for the protection of human rights, and one which promises to be more useful in the future (Cassel, 2001, p. 135).Nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) are widely understood to be influential players in the field of international relations. They cooperate on a close level with departments of the UN, providing information on human rights situations, giving advice to commissions and committees to set agendas and policy as well as working together with running(a) agencies to carry out missions (Martens, 2004, p. 1051). Importantly, NGOs seek to be independent of governments and groups attempting to obtain political power (Wiseberg , 1992, p. 372). The primary goals of NGOs include monitoring and reporting on the human rights throw out of nation states, especially violations and building pressure on abusers of human rights (Gaer, 1995, p. 394). Amnesty International is one of the largest human rights NGOs (Human Rights Organisations and Institutions, 2000, para. 15). The creation of the first mechanism that had the ability to reappearance international action in emergencies was a result of detailed NGO reports of human rights violations. The Working Group on Forced or Involuntary Disappearances seek to respond to reports in Argentina of the kidnapping and torture of people under the rule of military death chair Jorge Rafael Videla (Gaer, 1995, p. 392). Following a research mission in 1976, Amnesty International produced a detailed report explaining the existence of detention without judicial order and torture as well as a heel of those who had disappeared (Gaer, 1995, p. 392). According to Mariela Belski the Director of Amnesty International in Argentina, Argentina led the way in the prosecution of those responsible for the torture, killing and disappearance of thousands of people during the many military governments across Latin America (Argentina Death of agent military leader who did not escape justice, 2013, para. 2). Amnesty international and other Human rights NGOs have acted as the driving force behind the vast majority of progress in the human rights field by the UN (Gaer, 1995, p. 389). They should be considered as crucial elements for the publicity of human rights and they will increase their effectiveness as they grow in the future.A major setback to the effectiveness of international institutions seeking to advance human rights is that national sovereignty overrules international treaties (Human Rights Organisations and Institutions, 2000, para. 10). The concept of sovereignty was first formally adopted in the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 (Haynes, et al., 2011, p. 29). Westphalia gave state uncontested rule over their nations and legally prevented international interference in a countrys domestic, religious affairs (McCormick, 2012, p. 1). Sovereignty is also stated in the Charter of the United Nations in Article 2-4, barring any attacks on the territorial integrity or political independence of any country and Article 2-7 which limits intervention (McCormick, 2012, p. 1). from each one signatory to a global treaty has an obligation to and is responsible and for enacting the international human rights standards in their states domestic law (Steinerte Wallace, 2009, p. 12). Often perpetration to UN treaties leads to an improved respect for human rights. This is mainly true in countries with representativeally accountable governments or strong civil society (Neumayer, 2005, p. 930). Although a strong democratic state does not always lead to compliance. Many states, including those that have strong liberal-democratic values continue to use their sovereignty to shirk international law. According to the president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Gillian Trigg, Australias government has breached international law by placing asylum seeker children in detention. As a matter of very net international law children should not be detained for anything more than what is absolutely necessary for health checks and security checks. (Children in detention Is Australia breaching international law? 2014) Recent studies suggest that human rights laws have the least effect on nations that need it most, countries with oppressive governments without internal advocates for reform (Hafner-Burton Tsutsui, 2007, p. 408). Taking into account cases where international law has been disregarded, we should not be pessimistic about the ratification of human rights treaties by nations including those ruled by repressive governments. This should raise hopes for future progress. The main factors preventing state commitments to international in stitutions are not the poor and ineffective design of these institutions but the failure of governments to commit themselves to the treaties they have signed (Moravcsik, 1995, p. 181).Much progress has made by international human rights institutions in their short history and they should be commended for that fact. However many barriers still exist that prevent human rights being upheld across all states. The main of which is state sovereignty. Nations may choose to sign international treaties but compliance to these documents and effecting changes in domestic law is not a legal obligation. As a result, it could be argued that international institutions have been weak in their promotion and protection of human rights. Instead we should understand to see these institutions as growing establishments that are still in their babyhood having remarkable achievements in a short amount of time. Institutions, in particular the United Nations and NGOs have a crucial role to play in the advanc ement of human rights and the full effectiveness of their operations is still to be seen.Reference ListCassel, D. (2001). Does international human rights law make a difference? dinero Journal of International Law, 2(1), 121-135. Retrieved from http//search.proquest.com/docview/237215195?accountid=10344Gaer, F. D. (1995). Reality Check Human Rights Nongovernmental Organisations Confront Governments at the United Nations. Third World Quarterly, 16(3), 389. Retrieved from http//www.jstor.org/stable/3992883Grundy, Kenneth W., 1991. South Africa Domestic Crisis and Global Challenge. Boulder, atomic number 27 Westview Press.Hafner-Burton, E. M., Tsutsui, K. (2007). Justice Lost The Failure of International Human Rights Law To Matter Where Needed Most. Journal of Peace Research, 44(4), 407-425. DOI 10.1177/0022343307078942Haynes, J., Hough, P., Malik, S., Pettiford, L. (2011). World Politics. London Pearson Education Limited.Martens, K. (2004). An judgment of Amnesty Internationals Work at the United Nations Established Areas of Activities and Shifting Priorities Since the 1990s. Human Rights Quarterly, 26(4), 1050-1070. DOI 10.1353/hrq.2004.0052McCormick, C. (2012, September). UNHRC The Debate over Sovereignty and Human Rights Lecture Notes. Retrieved from http//modelun.ucsd.edu/TopicSynopsis/TritonMUN UNHRC Tibet 9-24-2012.pdf.Moravcsik, A. (1995). Explaining International Human Rights Regimes spacious Theory and Western Europe. European Journal of International Relations, 1(2), 157-189. DOI 10.1177/1354066195001002002Neumayer, E. (2005). Do international human rights treaties improve respect for human rights? Journal of Conflict Resolution, 49(6), 925-953. Retrieved from http//eprints.lse.ac.uk/612/Reddy, E. S. (n.d.). Nelson Mandela International Day, July 18, For Freedom, Justice and Democracy. In UN.org. Retrieved from http//www.un.org/en/events/mandeladay/apartheid.shtmlRoth, K. (2004). Defending Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Practical Issues Fa ced by an International Human Rights Organization. Human Rights Quarterly, 26(1), 63-73. DOI 10.1353/hrq.2004.0010Steinerte, E., Wallace, R.M.M. (2009). United Nations protection of human rights. London University of London PressWiseberg, L.S. (1992). Human rights non-governmental organizations, in R Claude B Weston, Human Rights in the World Community, Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania PressWotipka, C., Tsutsui, K. (2008). Global Human Rights and State Sovereignty State Ratification of International Human Rights Treaties, 19652001. Sociological Forum, 23(4), 724-754. doi10.1111/j.1573-7861.2008.00092.x(2000). Human Rights Organisations and Institutions. In Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved from http//www.abc.net.au/civics/rights/organ.htm(2013). Argentina Death of former military leader who did not escape justice. In Amnesty International. Retrieved from http//www.amnesty.org/en/ countersign/argentina-death-former-military-leader-who-did-not-escape-justice-201 3-05-17(2014). Children in detention Is Australia breaching international law? In ABC News. Retrieved from http//www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-31/children-in-detention-is-australia-breaching-international-law/53440221

General Happiness Equation Using Econometric Models Of Panel Data Methods Philosophy Essay

General Happiness Equation Using Econometric Models Of Panel Data Methods Philosophy EssayThis study presents a general satisfaction equation employ econometric homunculuss of panel entropy modes. The instance tries to observe and estimate the relationship between income and happiness subsequently controlling for other factors. With progress methods, we also test for the presence of temper bias and whether it correlates with income. Finally, we provide some analysis of our idea ensues and briefly discuss alternative approaches in the writings.Introduction existential research on human happiness bring forth only recently in the last few decades received serious attention from two economists and non-economists. The wish of national-level representative ken data and the difficulty to apply econometric techniques were the stumbling blocks for further research in the past. With the establishments of national socio-economic panel surveys as well as technological advancem ents that gave birth to neat econometric softwargon packages, the books experienced a surge in the amount of research as well as the popularity force to these works. Things began to look brighter and brighter, and as a result came the birth of a new field imposeed happiness economics.What happiness economists typically try to do is to estimate what they call happiness equations. Using econometric techniques, they could test for a causal link between income and happiness. After controlling for other factors that hatful cause happiness (eg. education, married status, disability, unemployment etc.), early work which used simple cross sectional methods suggest a positive and statistically significant correlation. To run Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regressions on cross sectional data sounds decent, but is in actual fact highly inadequate. What if happiness is also caused by another factor that is unobservable in the data, such as personality? Could it be that atomic number 53s happ iness strongly depends on who he is as a person? On face grade, it seems plausible or at least interesting to suggest that peoples capacity to be happy vary from individual to individual. Perhaps some people are born extraverted and optimistic, and as a result tend to be happier than others even if they have less(prenominal) income than them. gum olibanum simple OLS will suffer from an omitted changeable bias problem, which causes bingle or more of its classical assumptions to be violated and hence estimates to be biased.To solve this problem of unobserved heterogeneity bias, we can use panel data and propose a unconquerable operations model. We can run a pooled OLS regression on panel data, but it would soundless be susceptible to the omitted variable bias problem. Firstly, we can think of the personality variable as a measure-constant effect. By exploiting the nature of panel data, which follows the same individual all over clock, we can remove this unobserved epoch- constant effect by doing some transformation on the data. The simplest way is to perform low gear-differencing. Namely, we take observations on an individual for two time periods and we calculate the differences. Then we run an OLS regression on these transformed values. In effect, we have removed all unobserved time-constant variables not only limited to personality. Maybe an individuals thumbprints or desoxyribonucleic acid may be correlated with happiness, we do not k right away for sure. But the elegance of first-differencing makes it sure that we remove all nuisance unobserved time-constant variables that disturb our uncreated goal. Through transforming the data in such a way that we are now dealing with relative rather than unassailable values, we have also apologize the problem of heterogeneous scaling in inwrought responses. Every individual have their own perception on the happiness score. A score of 7 may be others score of 6, and so on. This would make interpersonal (cross-sectional) comparisons meaningless, and is part of the reason why in the past empirical work on this literature have been viewed with scepticism by many economists. By reasonably assuming that a persons metric or perception is time-invariant, this issue is dealt with in a determined effects model. on that point are other advanced transformation techniques that uses data on multiple time periods. One technique performs a time-demeaning transformation on the data. Again, all unobserved time-constant variables will be eliminated. But for details presented later, OLS regression on these transformed values provides more efficient estimators than on the first-differenced values for our purposes. Estimators that result from this method are called fixed effects (FE) estimators. While the fixed effects model allows for arbitrary correlation between the explanatory variables and the unobserved time-constant effect, a hit-or-miss effects model explicitly assumes that there is no such correlation. Estimation on this model is typically done by transforming the data utilize a method of quasi-demeaning, and then a Generalised Least Squares (GLS) regression is run on the transformed values. The resulting estimators are called random effects (RE) estimators. How these techniques are performed as well as the intuition behind them is explained with technical detail in Section 3.Why we may want to use a random effects model over a fixed effects model is because we may believe that personality has no effect on any of the in helpless variables, including income. If this is true, then using FE estimators will result in relatively inefficient estimates than RE estimators. But intuitively, personality is likely to be correlated with the ability to make money, and thus income. Studies have shown that happy people tend to earn more in general (eg. see Lyubomirsky et al. 2005). If this were true, simple pooled OLS methods will predate to inaccurate estimates where the effect o f income on happiness will be overstated or biased upwards. The fixed effects model allows for this correlation, and is thus more widely accepted in the literature to fit the data better.Lastly, can we test for this assumption? Is the unobserved time-constant variable correlated with any of the explanatory variables? Which model fits the data better? We can do what is called a Hausman test, which tests for statistically significant differences in the coefficients on the time-varying explanatory variables between fixed effects and random effects. The intuition and decision rule on which model to accept will be described in detail later. For comparison, we present the results for pooled OLS, FE and RE estimations together.Although this approach is one of the most popular one in the literature when it comes to estimating happiness equations, there are other alternatives ways. Powdthavee (2009)s work was quite similar to this study, but in leaveition he used a method of instrumental va riables (IV) which involved using another variable to instrument for income. Happiness equations may suffer from the problem of simultaneity, whereby the causal link between happiness and income runs both ways. To address this, he used data on the proportion of household members whose payslip has been shown to the interviewer as the instrument for income. He reasoned that household income is bound to be careful more accurately with a higher proportion of household members showing their payslip. With this direct correlation, as well as reasonably assuming that this proportion has shrimpy correlation with happiness, it would allow for an estimation based on an exogenous income effect. Besides his work, other work (eg. Frijters et al. 2004, Gardner Oswald 2007) has move to address the endogeneity effect more directly using polar types of exogeneous income effects.Another line of thinking interprets the happiness scores as ordinal rather than cardinal. Here, simple OLS estimation w ould be inadequate. One solution to this would be to use ordered latent response models. Winkelmann (2004) was one example of this in which he performed an ordered probit regression with multiple random effects on subjective well-being data in Germany. To date, there is no statistical software package that could machine a fixed effects ordered probit regression. An alternative to this would be to convert the happiness scoring scale into a (0,1) dummy, thereby roughly cutting the sample into half, and then estimate by conditional logit regression, as attempted by Winkelmann Winkelmann (1998) and later Powdthavee (2009). However, their work combined with Ferrer-i-Carbonell Frijters (2004) seems to suggest that it makes no difference qualitatively whether to assume cardinality or ordinality on the happiness scores.There is no one perfect model that can address all the problems. We believe that the FE RE approach, not only simple, is also elegant and easier to understand. Coefficien t estimates can be understand easily and the approach also addresses the most important of problems in the estimation, especially that of unobserved heterogeneity bias. Although bias in happiness equations come from many different sources, it is our belief that this source is one of the major ones and is easily removed using simple techniques.DataWe use data from the British Household Panel thought (BHPS), a widely used data source for empirical studies in the UK. The BHPS surveys a nationally representative sample of the UK population aged 16 and above. The survey interviews both individual respondents and households as a whole every year in waves since 1991. To date has been 18 waves in total. Survey questions are comprehensive and they implicate income, marital status, employment status, health, opinions on social attitudes and so on. The data set is also an unbalanced panel there is entry into and exit from the panel. Data can be restrained through the UK Data Archive websit e.Our dependent variable, happiness, uses data on the question of individual life satisfaction. From Wave 6 onwards, the survey included a question which asks respondents to rate how satisfied they are with their lives from a rating of 1 (very dissatisfied) to 7 (very satisfied). This question is strategically located at the end of the survey after respondents had been asked about their household and individual responses in order to avoid any framing effects of a particular event dominating responses to the LS question. For ease of representation, we now refer to happiness as life satisfaction (LS).For income, we use data on the total household net income, deflated by consumer price force and equivalised using the Modified-OECD par scale. The initial value is worked out through responses in the Household Finance section which includes question on sources and amount of incomes received in a year. Inflation would seriously distort our estimation and so is accounted for. Equivalisati on involves dividing the total household net income by a value worked out according to an equivalence scale. For example, a household with two adults would have their total household income divided by 1.5. The more adults are there in the household, the higher this value would be. Children would add relatively less to the value than adults. This method would provide an equivalent household income variable, which would account for the fact that different household sizes enjoy different steps of living on the same level of income per household member. Due to economies of scale in consumption, a household with three adults would typically have needs more than triple than that of a single member household. Equivalisation would make comparisons between households a lot fairer or more accurate. Lastly, we use the log form.We use data on the years 2002-2006 (Waves 12-16). There are in total unconfirmed respondents with unconfirmed observations that have nonmissing information on LS. Descr iptive statistics are provided in the Appendix section.Econometric MethodWe de dismantle as our dependent variable. We have explanatory (binary and non-binary) variables which includes income, employment status, marital status and so on. There are respondents , where . A simple pooled cross-section model would look like(1)where the first subscript denotes the cross-sectional units, the second denotes the time period and the third denotes the explanatory variables.As mentioned earlier, this simple model does not address the issue of unobserved heterogeneity bias. To see why, we can view the unobserved variables affecting the dependent variable, or the error, as consisting of two parts a time-constant (the heterogeneity bias) and time-varying component.(2)Thus if we regress by simple pooled OLS, we obtain(3)Here one of the key assumptions for OLS estimation to be unbiased has been violated, since the error term is correlated with .The above model is called a fixed effects model. The v ariable captures all unobserved, time-constant factors that affect . In our analysis, personality falls under this variable. is the idiosyncratic error that represents other unobserved factors that change over time and affect . The simplest method to eliminate is as follows. First, we write the equation for two years asBy subtracting the equation on the first period from the second, we obtain(4)where denotes the change from to . In effect, we have transformed the model in such a way that we are only dealing with relative rather than absolute values. This technique is called first-differencing. We can then proceed to estimate the equation at (4) via OLS. Essentially, the error term here is no longer correlated with , as the time-constant effect has been differenced away or minused out of the equation. However this is only the case if and only if the unappeasable exogeneity assumption holds. This assumption requires that the idiosyncratic error at each time, is uncorrelated with the explanatory variables in every time period. If this holds, then OLS estimation will be unbiased.A more popular transformation technique in the literature is the time-demeaning method. Again, we begin from equation (3), and using (2) we rewrite it as(5)Then we perform the following transformation. First, we average (5) over time, giving(6)where and so on. Next, we subtract (6) from (5) for every time period, givingor(7)where is the time-demeaned value of LS, and so on. Essentially again, has disappeared from the equation. With these new, transformed values, we can then use standard OLS estimation. Conditions for unbiasedness remain the same as in the first-differencing method, including the strict exogeneity assumption. As mentioned earlier, the resulting estimators are called FE estimators.In our analysis, we decided to use FE over first-differencing. It is important to state why we do this. The reasoning is as follows. When , their estimation is fundamentally the same. When , both estimations are still unbiased (and in fact consistent), but they differ in terms of relative efficiency. The crucial point to note here is the degree of concomitant correlation between the idiosyncratic errors, . When there is no serial correlation, FE is more efficient than first-differencing. We have confidence that we have included sufficient controls for other factors in our happiness equation, so that whatever that is left in the error term should be minimal and serially uncorrelated. In addition, FE is safer in the sense that if the strict exogeneity assumption is somehow violated, the bias tends to zero at the rate whereas the bias in first-differencing does not depend on T. With multiple time periods, FE can exploit this fact and be better than first-differencing. Another reason why FE is more popular is that it is easier to implement in standard statistical software packages, and is even more so when we have an unbalanced panel. With multiple time periods, the first-diffe rencing transformation requires more computation and is less elegant overall than FE.As mentioned earlier, if is uncorrelated with each explanatory variable in every time period, the transformation in FE will lead to inefficient estimators. We can use a random effects model to address this. We begin from (5), writing it as(8)with an intercept explicitly included. This is so that, without sacking of generality, we can make the assumption that has zero mean. The other fundamental assumption is that is uncorrelated with each explanatory variable at every time period, or(9)With (9), the equation at (8) is called a random effects model. If the assumption at (9) holds, even simple cross section OLS estimation will provide us with consistent results. With multiple time periods, pooled OLS can be even better and also still achieve consistency. However, because is in the composite error from (2), then the are serially correlated across time. The correlation between two time periods will be( 10)where and . This correlation can be quite substantial, and thus causes standard errors in pooled OLS estimation to be incorrect.To solve this problem, we can use the method of Generalized Least Squares (GLS). First, we transform the data in a way that eliminates serial correlation in the errors. We define a constant as.(11)Then in a similar way to the FE transformation, we quasi-demean the data for each variable,or,(12)where is the quasi-demeaned value of LS, and so on. takes a value between zero and one. As mentioned earlier, estimations on these values produce RE estimators. This transformation basically subtracts a fraction of the time average. That fraction, from (11), depends on , and . We can see here that FE and pooled OLS are in fact a special cases of RE in FE, and in pooled OLS, . In a way, measures how much of the unobserved effect is kept in the error term. Now that the errors are serially uncorrelated, we can proceed by feasible GLS estimation. This will buy the far m us consistent estimators with large N and fixed T, which is suitable for our data set.To summarize, if we believe that personality is an unobserved heterogeneous factor affecting LS then pooled OLS will give us biased estimators. To address this issue, we can use a fixed effects or random effects model. In the former case, we favour the FE transformation over first-differencing. The choice between FE and RE depends on whether this factor is also correlated with one of our explanatory variables. We think that personality may be correlated with income. If so, then we use the transformation in FE to completely remove it. If this factor is uncorrelated with all explanatory variables at all time periods, then we do a transformation in RE to partially remove it as a complete removal will lead to inefficient estimates. In this scenario, RE is still better or more efficient than pooled OLS because of the serial correlation problem.An additional characteristic that RE has over FE is that RE allows for time-constant explanatory variables in the regression equation. Remember in FE that every variable is time-demeaned so variables like gender (does not vary) as well as age (varies very little) will not provide us with useful information. In RE, these variables are only quasi-demeaned, so we can still include these variables in our estimation.Estimation ResultsWe produce results for estimation by pooled OLS, FE and RE. Besides our key explanatory income variable, other control variables are included in the regression. They are gender, age, marital status,

Tendon from Different Anatomical Positions Essay -- Anatomy, Tissues

Structure of a tendon is made up of collagenous create from raw materials, a fibrous protein constituted as a large portion of the complete matrix of bone and cartilage (Nordin & Frankel, 2001). Also termed extracellular matrix (ECM) consisting of few cells, 20% of cellular material is occupied as total thread volume, whilst 80% accounts for extracellular matrix (approximately 70% wet and 30% solids) (Nordin & Frankel, 2001). Contained within these solids is a ground like substance with minor components of elastin. Due to the dense interrelation tissue of collagen it is able to sustain stability over which the mechanics of the musculoskeletal system requires. This may be in the form of fibril, whereby, collagen molecules ( emblem 1 collagen) are synthesized and secreted by fibroblasts (France , 2010). Procollagen is organise and further condensed to tropocollagen as the basic building block of collagen (France , 2010).Across the parallel network leading to the development of fib ril cross-links are formed within collagen type 1. The cross-links allow tissues to withstand strength and function under mechanical dialect (Fratzl, 2008). The solids within the extracellular contain ground like substance proteoglycans (PG). PG molecules binds extracellular water of the tendons, ensuring the matrix is a hydrated-gel like material (Nordin & Frankel, 2001). Thereby the substance acts as an adhesive between microfibrils in bundles stabilizing collagenous tissue forming connective tissue fascicles (appendix, figure 1). The functionality of tendons can be expressed by its materialization primarily to transmit force from muscle to bone. During any form of movements the tendons encounter forces such as longitudinal, transversal and rotational (Kannus, 200... ...llagen tissue cross-links across maturation revealing the number of cross-links decreased with growth. This suggests that a state of maturation cross-links are stabilsed to a non-reducible form (Robins et al, 1973).When stress is placed on tendons tissue must adapt to stiffen and strengthen in response to the physical demands placed on them. Physical training during preposterous forces has been found to increase tensile strength of the tendons (Woo et al, 1981). Long periods of inactivity can disrupt the parallel structure of collagen fibers in the tendons, decrease water content, although increase collagen cross-linking (Loitz et al, 1989). The collagen perturbation increases although reports suggest the amount of tendon components and overall mass is unchanged. Ultimately immobilization decreases tendon stiffness, failure load and strength (Matsumoto et al, 2003).

African American Family Structure Essay -- Culture Cultural Educationa

African American Family Structure Effects of African American Family Structure on School Attitudes and Performance In todays world, there is such a big emphasis on education and its importance. And there should be an emphasis. Unfortunately, not everyone has the same military position about receiving a good education. This article attempts to discuss the attitudes of African Americans towards education when a stable family structure is absent. Given, not all homes are the Cleaver family, still if a person really wants an education, they should try to concentrate on just that-their education. Parents have a huge responsibility in that if they have children in a single-parent home, the parents attitude must be encouraging for the child. If the parents have a bad attitude or let their ... African American Family Structure Essay -- farming Cultural EducationaAfrican American Family Structure Effects of African American Family Structure on School Attitudes and Performan ce In todays world, there is such a big emphasis on education and its importance. And there should be an emphasis. Unfortunately, not everyone has the same attitude about receiving a good education. This article attempts to discuss the attitudes of African Americans towards education when a stable family structure is absent. Given, not all homes are the Cleaver family, but if a person really wants an education, they should try to concentrate on just that-their education. Parents have a huge responsibility in that if they have children in a single-parent home, the parents attitude must be encouraging for the child. If the parents have a bad attitude or let their ...