Thursday, October 31, 2019

Is the USA Trying to Seek Control on China Research Paper - 1

Is the USA Trying to Seek Control on China - Research Paper Example Barack Obama has recently suggested that they are trying their best to pull out their manufacturing process from China in an attempt to dent their economy. Moving on, in the second statement made in this research paper, it is a known fact that china has been trying to influence markets outside Asia to come and invest in their country. USA has been trying to contain the influx of FDI from their country towards China in order to manage the currency of China. â€Å"US interest in Asia revolves around containing China and the growth of the SCO, and securing under its economic sphere of influence, the most populous region in the world. Asia is home to 4.14 billion people or 59 percent of the world’s population.† USA has been putting its efforts to further exercise control on the military might of the Chinese. The important factor here to note that is the fact that USA wants to build a strong far east base to counter any future attacks by China over the USA, since the Chinese missiles are capable of destroying the majority of the major cities of the USA. Moving onto the fourth point, the USA is seeking China as a major economic threat, which plans to control and maximize the potential available to them in order to take away all the major jobs from the citizens of the USA. The economy of the USA is at a current downfall, while the economy of China is on the rising. One of the primary reasons behind this is the fact that China is deploying majority of its jobs into fields, which are hurting the European, and the American consortium. Moving onto the next important aspect of the attempts made by the USA to curb the growth of China has been the attempts to immobilize the workers of China settled in the USA who are continuously sending in Foreign Direct Investment in their home country of China as a mark of improving the economy of China. It is imperative to understand that Chinese settled in abroad have the highest grossing number of FDI influx to their home country. USA’s retaliation to the same has been its attempts to devalue the currency of China, however, this has been happening at a very subtle pace.

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

FINAL PROJECT MUSIC HISTORY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

FINAL PROJECT MUSIC HISTORY - Essay Example At a tender age of 6, I kept a record and memorized the lyrics of this and other two songs ‘You and Me Against the World’ and ‘Rainbow Connection’ to remind me of the value of hope and that there is always somebody I can count on to cheer me up when situations seemed unfair or depressing. Due to low self-esteem, I had a typical encounter of an unhappy childhood and whenever I heard these songs played, I could readily sense a point of deep connection that often encouraged me to ponder that sad moments are equally essential to life. Such inspiration would then drive me back to delight in playing again and forget what made me previously lose heart in the first place. When I grew to reach my adolescence, despite the prevailing contemporary music of my age, I kept getting engrossed to the old songs which were mostly favorites of my parents. They had a versatile taste of music ranging from the 50s up to the late 70s so at the time, I acquired varied influences among classic, rock n roll, ballad, rhythm and blues, and jazz. Being an adolescent, I realized having to deal with frequent emotional struggles made by confusion, insecurity, and some degree of identity crisis. Because this is such period of impulse and aggression, like the other youth, I desired to explore freedom of self-expression and means to satisfy curiosity on a number of objects. It was as if I always thought with pride that I was right on several respects so though I am a female, back then I possessed a rebellious attitude and wore semi-deviant or thrash outfit which depicted part of my inclination to alternative rock. On different levels, I appreciated sound-tripping to the music of Smashing Pumpkins, Metallica, and Tool which to me are among the reputed bands whose members are downright authentic as quality musicians. In their mainstream hits such as ‘1979’, ‘Cherub Rock’, ‘Sad But True’,

Sunday, October 27, 2019

The London Ambulance Service Computer Information Technology Essay

The London Ambulance Service Computer Information Technology Essay This paper will analyze one of the most prominent computerized system failures in the past 10 years- the failure of the London Ambulance Service Computer Aided Dispatch system-hereafter referred to as LASCAD. Unlike the common one dimensional explanations for system failure that view Information systems as mainly a neutral technical artifact ( Klein and Hirscheim, 1987), this paper will attempt to explore the more multi-faceted nature of systems failure which is closer to the reality that system exist in. This analysis will be anchored in the concepts of holism and emergent properties as described by Francis and Roland Bee (2005), Managing Information and Statistics, 2005, whereby the approach taken to analysis emphasizes the system relationships and processes and results of its interactions. References will be made to existing frameworks used to investigate system failure in particular the Sauer model Sauer (1993). Details of the description of the system and the failure will be dra wn mainly from a paper on Information System failure and risk Assessment by Paul Beynon Davis (Computer studies technical report University of Glamorgan, 1994b).From this investigation existing methods of preventing or solving software systems failure will be explored in the context of the LASCAD system to look into recommendations and lessons learnt to prevent such failures .This will particularly focus on risk handling as proposed by B.W Boehm ( 1991) and the Goal Question Metrics by Solingen and E. Berghout (1999). Summary of the LASCAD System Failure Case Study The LASCAD system was a computer aided ambulance dispatch system established at the head quarters of the London Ambulance Service. According to Page et al (1993), the expected functions of the system are described below: Call taking: Acceptance of calls and incident details Resource Identification: Particularly which ambulance to send to an incident Resource Mobilization: Communicating details of an incident to the appropriate ambulance Resource Management: The positioning of suitably equipped and staffed vehicles to minimize response times Management Information: This involves the collation information to assess performance, resource management and planning. This system was supposed to solve the problems related to manual dispatch systems including time consuming and error prone identification of the precise incident location, paperwork and maintenance of current vehicle status information. The LASCAD system objective was to automate these manual human intensive tasks by using an events based and ruled based approach and integrating a Geographical Information System (GIS) to provide location details. In this system the callers, incident and patient details would be recorded and transmitted to the dispatchers. Through the use of radio signals and GIS the system is able to determine the ambulance nearest to the patient. After dispatch the ambulance crew was expected to acknowledge the dispatch message and the system would then detect whether the ambulance was headed in the right direction. Finally the system would alert the controller on the ambulances arrival to the scene, hospital and when it becomes free again. Figure1: LASCAD flow chart (Paul Beynon Davis, 1994) This explanation of expectations of the systems functionality is pretty linear and even simplistic but on closer examination one is able to construe the complexities that are involved in delivering such expectations. This will become more apparent in the following section highlighting the system failure and later on the events leading to the failure. Between 26th and 27th October 1992 (Paul Beynon Davis, 1994), the system started to fail. It was reported that as a result of a flood of emergency calls bogged down the system and this resulted in erratic behavior of the system involving calls being wiped off the screen and automatic alerts indicating unacknowledged calls to ambulances. According to the Guardian newspaper, 1992, it was claimed that 20-30 people may have lost their lives due to ambulance delays. Indeed the impact of this failure was tremendous and as expected triggered various responses as to what was the cause of the failure. According to Donaldson and Jenkins (2000) in their paper on System Failures: An Approach to understanding what can go wrong, the causes of system failure are complex and interact with each other and in some cases a single factor may single out the problem while in others a combination of many small and apparently insignificant factors are to blame. This merely says that it is difficult to analyze causes of systems failure which would only be closely understood through multi cause analysis stemming from the soft systems methodology. It also becomes apparent that everything is not always as it seems, a good example is the Arriane V rocket (ESA Press release Nr 33-96-July 1996) which failed courtesy of its navigation software bein g inappropriate for the rockets design. This was not actually a software failure as may have been though in the outset but a problem with the overall incorrect assembly of the rocket. As it were the software performed to its specification. This is akin to expectation failure which Lyytinen and Hirscheim (1987) describe as the inability of an IS system to meet specific stakeholder groups expectations, they signify a gap between an existing situation and a desired situation for members of a particular stakeholder group. This is further enhanced by Donaldson and Jenkins (2000) system failure analysis detailing high public expectancy of computer technology, Fashion/popularity of systems obscuring its basic objectives and the varying stakeholder interests creating different perceptions of the system. Analysis of the LASCAD System failure Following the above outline of the system failure and prelude of expected challenges in analyzing system failure this section will attempt to shed detailed insight into the failure. The analysis will follow Sauerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s model (Sauer, 1993), of investigating system failure which is based on a triangle of dependencies between: Project organization Information system Supporters The multi-faceted nature of systems failure alluded to in the introduction would mean that even this triangle is not a closed system but is affected by other contextual factors of which according to Sauer consists of cognitive limits-(e.g. limits of communication), technical process-( constraints from structured nature of computerized systems or development methodology), environment-(constraints by customers, suppliers, competitors, regulators), Politics, internal project structure and history associated with previous information system projects. Project organization In light of the LASCAD project failure the project organization from inception is very wanting. Firstly following a public inquiry report on the failure (Page et al, 1993), it is claimed that the London Ambulance Service (LAS) management put price before quality and committed to an over ambitious project timetable. This was evidenced by the selection of a supplier who has no experience in building ambulance dispatch systems but had significantly underbid a more established supplier. This was made worse by the management putting the supplier under immense pressure to deliver the system quickly. Secondly the project management team did not follow the PRINCE (Projects in Controlled Environments) project management method prescribed for public sector projects. Thirdly it was found that the system was incomplete and unstable and particularly the emergency backup system was untested. This was further compounded by inconsistent and incomplete user training. Information system In terms of the information system dimension the report of the public inquiry (Page et al, 1993) suggests that the failure was not a result of technical issues since on overall the system did what it was designed to do. It goes further to explain that at the onset the loads on the system were light and the control staff could easily cope with various problems associated with ambulance crews pressing wrong buttons, radio black spots, communication hand-shaking problems etc. When these incidents increased incorrect vehicle location and status information received by the controllers also increased resulting in the failure to cope with the load leading to fewer resources to allocate to incidents and subsequent delays in response times. Supporters/stakeholders As defined by Paul Beynon Davis (1995), supporters/stakeholders defined as people sharing a pool of values that define what the desirable features of an information system and how they should be obtained. The stakeholders have different views and expectations of the system of which such a mismatch in perceptions in this case contributed to the failure. This is depicted below: Figure 2: LASCAD system perceptions rich picture LAS Management: The London Ambulance Service (LAS) management viewed the system as a way to improve service to patients by putting in place mechanisms that would ensure objective and impartial resource mobilization through automation. The LAS management was also influenced by a past experience involving a failed computerized dispatch system project and pressure from organization-wide restructuring that put them under immense pressure to succeed Control room staff: The staff in the control room found the system to be too complicated and did not trust the motives behind implementing a computerized system Ambulance staff: The ambulance crews were more comfortable with the radio call systems that they had been used to and did not have confidence in the new system as they did not see the need for it and found it too complicated Union: The staff union found that there were no requisite consultations done before making the decision to acquire the system and as such the already strained relationship between management and staff was worsened. Hardware and software suppliers: The system suppliers were not sure how to implement the system in the first place and this was compounded by tight deadlines from what they thought to be a disorganized client. Related to these perspectives are contextual factors concerning political environment courtesy of the overarching influence of the National Health Service (NHS) on the London Ambulance Service which is the LAS oversight body (Beynon-Davis 1994).The NHS is characterized by the lack of a unitary power structure and is made up of a network of different health organizations. The implication on a new information system is a very careful political balance in the impact the impact the system will have on the relationships in this network (Checkland and Scholes, 1990). As posit by page et al, (1993), the LASCAD project was greatly affected by internal tensions in within the NHS which had commissioned major reforms in the London Ambulance Service including restructuring that resulted in the reduction of middle management from 263 to 53. It is clear that this resulted in strained relationships and an environment of mistrust and obtrusiveness when it came to any changes, which affected the LASCAD project. So far what is clear is the multifaceted nature of the failure that results from various causes of the failure that is common in computerized information systems, which Paul Beynon-Davis describe as web-like in nature. It has been reported that 92% of all system failures involved failures of technical interaction with cognitive /organizational factors (Mackenzie, 1994). This as it were it is essential to trace the true causes of the system failure. One way of doing this is through multi cause diagrams as mentioned in the section above or Petri nets which use state and event oriented graphs. The LASCAD project failure is depicted below using a multi cause diagram to explore the events and states on why the failure occurred: Figure 3: LASCAD system failure multi-cause diagram Ideas, Recommendations and Lessons Learned As expressed above using Sauerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s model (Sauer, 1993) of investigating system failure, the dependencies between the project organization, information system and its supporters have come out very clearly. Using the information system dimension the failure is not attributed to technical issues at all, which goes against common place failure attribution of computerized information systems. This begs the question, what constitutes a system failure? Lyytinen and Hirschein (1987) categorize system failure into four: Correspondence failure: There is a disjoint between the design objectives of the system and what is practically being met by the system. Process failure: This is characterized by runaway projects that either do not provide a workable system or overrun budgets and time. Interaction failure: This focuses on utilization of the system i.e. a highly utilized system is considered a success and one that is hardly used is a failure. Expectation failure: As stated earlier this is the inability of the system to meet a specific stakeholder groupà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s expectations. The LASCAD system falls into this category as it appears it did not meet various stakeholder group expectations. Donaldson and Jenkins (2000) talk about a 3 dimensional picture where a system totally fails, partially fails or temporarily goes down. In the case of LASCAD it is taken as a partial failure resulting from a number of flaws that are rectifiable and as such this is not a total failure. The rectification will mainly involve a reassessment of the entire project taking mainly focusing on the role of risk assessment. Risk is the probability of a negative outcome. Negative outcome is in essence a relative concept as Wilcocks and Margetts (1994) suggest the risk of a negative outcome only becomes a salient problem when the outcome is relevant to stakeholder concerns and interests. Different settings and stakeholders will see different outcomes as salient. The proposed framework to use in risk assessment follows Wilcocks and Margetts (1994) who put across the following categories to be used in analyzing the development, introduction and use of information systems, these are: History: Past experiences with information system development. Outer context: The environment in which the organization is operating e.g. economy, markets, government Inner context: The characteristics of the organization e.g. structure, strategy Content: For example project size and difficulty Processes: For example project management and staffing Outcomes: Planned and anticipated results. The proposed risk assessment framework would be implemented through out the development, introduction and use of information systems. This will be used to complement an overarching software management methodology such as the Goal Question Metrics (GQM) mentioned in the introduction and the Capability Maturity Model which outline good practices in project management to ensure project success. In the context of LASCAD the GQM will particularly address the aforementioned failure characteristics in the analysis section through the following stages in development: Setting specific goals in light of purpose perspective and environment Refine goals into quantifiable easy to understand questions Derive requisite metrics and data to answer the questions There are various methods that can be used in preventing or solving computerized system failure the Capability maturity model and Goal Question Metrics mentioned above are by no means exhaustive nor are they prescriptive. Organizations are different contextually and individual projects also vary in size and complexity and as such would require approaches the methodologies to be customized and scaled for specific organizations and projects. The Capability Maturity model is a prime example that targets improvement in software processes toward a specific target- maturity level that the organization is working toward. On the other hand there is need to put emphasis on risk management outside of the one dimensional technical orientation to encompass the complexities of computerized systems as seen through the lens of Wilcocks and Margetts (1994) risk management framework. Conclusion: The LASCAD system is a good example that portrays the reality of the complex and multi-faceted nature of systems failure. The different perspectives of the system and congruent expectations make even the very definition of the failure unclear. This particular case highlighted the political and social causes of the failure, what has been described as contextual factors. References to various frameworks have been made in the analysis of the failure -Lyytinen and Hirscheim (1987), particularly expectation failure and dependencies in the 3 dimensional Sauerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s model (Sauer, 1993). The failure analysis provided the distillation of the system failure characteristics which describe the true causes of the failure. This was done using rich pictures to accommodate varying perceptions and expectations and multi cause diagrams to explore the various causes of the failure. Lessons learnt and future remediation of systems failure is centered on risk management and project methodologies ensuring good practice in the development, introduction and use of information systems. As recommended in this paper these should take into consideration contextual/ organizational issues apart from technical aspects of the system.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby - Nick Carraway, Detached or Dishonest? :: Great Gatsby Essays

The Great Gatsby Nick - Detached or Dishonest? The Great Gatsby is a difficult book to interpret, particularly because of the style in which it is written. Not only must the reader differentiate between the separate views of Nick as the narrator and Nick as the character, but he or she must also take into consideration at what time period, relative to this story, are these views being expressed. After all, Nick the narrator is presently evaluating the manner in which his character behaved the year before, as well as allowing his character to voice his opinion, as his opinion had been during that time frame. We learn to trust Nick as a narrator, because all the pieces of information he gives to us, received through symbolism, imagery, or personal reflection, lead us to make significant decisions regarding the other characters of the novel. His character, on the other hand, cannot be looked upon in the same manner; it can be seen as dishonest and hypocritical, yet it is these negative characteristics that humanize him, allowing rea ders to relate to him as a person. What Nick thinks as the narrator is not always the same as what his character portrays. In just the third paragraph of this book, we learn that Nick is "inclined to reserve all judgments (Page 5)," but that his tolerance, "has a limit (Page 6)." True, his opinions might not be expressed in words, but it is important to realize that those opinions still exist. The narrator's role is to make us aware of Nick's "judgments," for his character neglects to respond to such feelings. Various techniques allow us to draw our own conclusions, the most interesting one being symbolism. The "foul dust" mentioned throughout the novel serves to corrupt everything it encounters. It is this foul dust that represents the lives of Daisy, Tom, and Jordan. After all, they are all immoral characters. A word such as dust successfully gives off a negative ambiance, but for Nick to go the step further and declare such dust to be "foul" truly represents his disapproval of their actions. Thus, without proclaimi ng his opinion in the form of words, Nick presents it openly through symbolism for us to see. However, even though we know that Nick as the narrator, reflecting back on that summer, did not see the three to be honorable people, he still spent a great deal of time with them.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

History of Jazz from 1970-1990 Essay

American jazz has been studied from many perspectives. The musical form itself, its origins and evolution, and the artistes who perform it have become subjects for a large body of scholarly and critical literature. Jazz is one of the oldest types of music, with origin since the 1400s. This essay focuses on jazz from 1970-1990, and on other aspects within the same period. Section I Since 1970, jazz music took a new direction from the previous one, which was characterized by wide experiments using new electric instruments. Major styles that were introduced include jazz fusion, pop fusion and jazz rock. Jazz fusion, can be defined as an art form that can be called jazz as it does not compromise the qualities of melodic, harmonic, rhythmic and formal considerations of the early masters, but seeks to develop them on new directions. (Jazz history timeline) On the other hand, pop fusion, can be defined as a simple dance style, with fewer improvised solos, in form of simple songs, a streamlined version of jazz fusion, which offers much less variety in rhythmic and harmonic structures. Don Ellis was one of the greatest performers of the time. He innovated bands and played the trumpet as well as other electric instruments successfully. Since he was constantly experimenting with different electric instruments, he was able to produce many albums; all completely different from one another. Don’s contribution to music was large. In the late 1960s, he studied Indian rhythms, creating the Hindu Orchestra, comprising of three string bases and three drummers. His band was composed of eight brasses, five woodwinds, and six rhythms were amongst the most successful bands of the period. He was an imaginative jazz lover, and his use of many instruments and electric devices are a testimony that he was a genius. (Jazz history timeline) Maynard Ferguson also played jazz-rock from1970 to 1990. He maintained this style until 1990, when he changed to the bop style. His contributions to famous soundtrack themes are legendary, an example being the main title theme from the T. V series â€Å"Star Trek. † At about the same time, Miles Davis started experimenting with electric instruments; he also played at the CBS studios. Robert Moog invented Moog synthesizer, causing a great sensation in New York. The Moog synthesizer was used in reproduction of music by the great Baroque masters before it was discovered by the jazz movement. One of the reasons why the music changed in the 1970s was because the free jazz movement of the 1960s had encouraged a more daring approach to instrumental innovations. This saw the innovations and experimentations with electric musical instruments in the early 1907s. This period also saw a diversity of opinions created within the jazz ranks, concerning the instruments. (Jazz resources) Electrified instruments offered fuzz phasers for guitars and basses, electric pianos and clavinets, as well as ring modulators and echoplexes for wind instruments. However, jazz musicians that were used to the acoustic instruments rejected these new electrical instruments, assuming that their electric effects were an interference with the natural talents that were inherent with acoustic musicians and instruments. Many musicians were lured to cross over and to compete with the jazz-rock performers, who were successful in producing and selling their music to a large number. In the 1980s, the emergence of modern key board technology produced a fragmented style, which had a great appeal on the masses. In many ways, it resembled the swing era in terms of popularity, and shared some of the characteristics. (Timeline of trends in music) Pop-fusion style became popular; it was a simple dance style, with fewer improvised solos, but in simple song form. It was a streamlined version of jazz fusion, as it offered much less variety in rhythmic and harmonic structures. Melodies were simple, and emphasized on repetitive vamps, highly dependent on the effects of the studio. It doesn’t maintain the musical intensity of the early jazz-fusion masters, such as Miles Davis and Chick Corea. However, credible jazz musicians who have continued to cross over and back again, to and from the mainstream tradition continue to play it. Studio technology, which includes overdubbing use of the Musical Instrument Digital Process with synthesizers and programmed samples from drum machines, characterize pop-fusion as in jazz-fusion. Pop-fusion was a synthesized style that is highly simplified musically with expended vamps and limited emphasis on improvisation. Vamps were used with little variation compared to fusion of the 1970s; however, Latin rhythms are a major influence. (Jazz history timeline) There is a major difference between pop-fusion and true jazz-fusion. This can be illustrated by the fact that most musicians who are hired on an individual basis report to the gig. Many times, they meet other musicians with whom they will play with for the first time. Trained jazz musicians know the basis jazz literature repertoire which comes from fake books. With knowledge of tunes, and basic chord interpretations they can play just about anything, and to the average listener, the band will sound like a group that has been together for a long time. However, a standard means of operation for musicians is to often create tunes on the spot through standard progressions, like the blues form, vamps or riffs. Many pop-fusion groups depend on their equipment for musical effects rather than on their own creativity, and thus often sound like simple jam sessions with a repetitive vamp, a standard bridge, and little variation. The harmonic progressions remain basically simple, with statistic melodies. There has not been much room for creativity within the infrastructure of the tune, nor does there appear to be ample opportunity for improvisation. The improvisations, like the vamps, are standard fare with clinched links and bass lines. Jazz fusion, on the other hand, usually presents a much higher standard, with extremely gifted sidemen. In this kind of music there is nowhere to hide. Much planning and rehearsal are usually obvious, because of the musical dimensions of the material. The compositions are generally much more involved, with intricate harmonic schemes, subtle rhythmic changes, and fresh melodies that demand an original and creative approach to improvisation. Section II  In the period between 1970 and 1980, there were changes in the industrial structure, labor power, and indicators of inequality were evident. The counties where the bargaining power of workers vis-a-vis their employers, was greater and counties with more favorable geographic locations in the national political economy did have better social economic conditions. Of the industrial sectors in America, the manufacturing sector experienced the relatively largest growth with the percentage of the employed labor force in this sector, expanding from 14% in 1970 to 16% in 1980. These employees provided sufficient labor to the industries, enabling the sector to improve and produce more goods, not only for sale in the American market, but also in the other markets. Most of the labor came from the poor families. It comprised of freed slaves, Hispanic immigrants, and the low class Americans. Peripheral employment decreased slightly, mainly due to declines in extractive, textiles, and apparel employment. In the late 1970s, there was an improvement in economic inequality, and hence poverty declined from 17% in 1970 to about 13% in 1980. At the same time, there was inequality between the whites, and the blacks. Several Acts had been passed in the 1970s to bring slave trade to an end. The war against slavery was almost over in 1980; blacks were not being discriminated as they were before. In the same period, cities like New York have already started developing. It attracted big crowds in jazz concerts. Hollywood was also catching up, due to the fact that most movie stars resided there and that most movie producers shot their movies in such cities. Kolchin) Although it is not always true, it does not seem reasonable to suppose that governing is easier when a country’s economy is growing in real terms, and its status and power abroad are in ascendant. Both applied in the case of the United States 1942 and 1965. Between 1965 and the 1980s, American International economic and foreign policy influence experienced relative decline. Since the early 1980s, this trend has continued, although there was something of a res pite in the late 1890s. There is no question that the management of the economy and the exercise of military and diplomatic power abroad were more likely to be difficult during periods of relative decline or when there is little consensus on management of the economy or on America’s role abroad. The Vietnam War was the first major demonstration of the limits to American military power, and it effectively broke President Lyndon Johnson, and led another, President Richard Nixon to commit a series of illegal acts, including the secret bombing of Cambodia and the unauthorized surveillance of opponents of the war. At the end of the period (1970-1990), the United States had improved communication and spread of government responsibilities, making the whole society much more centralized. Information started being disseminated by the four major television networks (NBS, CBS, ABC, and Fox), by the news services, and by the syndicated columns of major newspapers and cable TV networks. The introduction of network usage was another step that facilitated nationalization trends. Economically, the society became more centralized, with giant corporations providing the same goods and services uniformly throughout the country. The activities of the government were centralized, and Washington increasingly became the focus of political activity. The state and the local government became more interdependent with the federal government in the same period. This also applied to corporations, small businesses and almost all those interests in society affected by federal government spending, regulation and arbitration. Among the Mexican Americans, Mexican folk customs and practices existed both inside and outside of the immigrant families. Traditional folk songs and music from their homeland served as popular forms of entertainment. Family celebrations usually included some form of musical entertainment. Some families afforded to hire a small group of musicians, who played a variety of musical styles, including jazz. Religion played a key role in the life of the Mexican Americans. A majority of the Mexican immigrants were Catholics, but blended specific cultural practices with the traditional catholic beliefs and rituals. At the level of every citizen, the church exerted a tremendous force by shaping every aspect of society from birth to death. Their deep relationships with each other and their deep faith in Catholicism was a way to comfort themselves due to the sufferings most of them faced with the authorities. Family gatherings in the backyard, Neighborhood Park, or at some other location for a celebration usually included story telling. As another immigrant communities, the oral tradition provided immigrants with a connection to their homelands. Their oral literature included Mexican tales called â€Å"cuentos†, legends, and children’s stories. Ghost stories were also popular and included a moral lesson at the end. Escamilla and Kathy) The more time the Mexican Americans spent in the United States, the more they began to make some degree of transition to speak English. For most Mexicans, those who came during the first major wave of immigration, and those who arrived recently, the acquisition of English often originated with the development of code-switching, a process through which a person uses their primary language, in this case, Spanish, with a sprinkling of English words. Mexican immigrants often changed certain English words to â€Å"sound like† a Spanish language version. English words like â€Å"market† and â€Å"sweater† were changed to â€Å"marqueta† and â€Å"suera† respectively. However, the Mexican immigrants from middle or upper class are less likely to use words such as these. In addition, to using an intermingling of Spanish and English and hybrid English-Spanish words, another common practice among Mexican Americans is involves the usage of grammatically incorrect Spanish. Mexican Americans show clear signs of linguistic and cultural assimilation over generations, tough it is gradual. (Mexican American history) Section III In 1970s, there was a major shift in the American societal and cultural values. Despite the great evolutions that were happening to the music, the concert band connection to American history diminished significantly outside of educational settings. Fewer television and broadcasts of concert bands were aired to the point where television broadcasts ceased altogether. Popular stars of the American popular culture had either started dying or losing their popularity, and being replaced by folk artistes, R&B singers, and rock bands. As a musician, my professional life would revolve around efforts to compose songs that would be competitive enough to attract enormous crowds. Making collaborations with famous musicians would also be a good way to market myself. I could also ask good song writers to write good songs, with the aim of attracting huge crowds and making more fans. Since some of the most famous musicians had stopped singing due to old age, the 1970s would have been a great time to make an impression to the jazz lovers. Marketing would also be an important aspect, although the radio and television stations were not be relied upon satisfactorily in the early 70s. However, in the late 1970, an appearance of rock artistes dominated television, radio, record sales, and therefore the American consciousness. American musicians were faced with a new reality. Marketing strategies that promoted these new stars changed too. As people moved from the cities to the suburbs, urban culture, including fine arts events, their venues, and audiences were siphoned away to the suburbs for convenience sake. As a musician, keeping up with the changes in the music industry would have been an important thing to do. I would come up with new and innovative ways to market my self, just as the other musicians. Since most people were moving to the rural areas, holding concerts at places where fans could assemble would be a great way to get attention from the crowds. As this period was characterized with revolutionalising music, it would also have been important to change or to evolve my music, to match the likes of the people at the time. (The history of jazz music) Section IV Through studying the history of jazz, I have learnt that every music genre undergoes evolution.  I’ve learnt that the social history of jazz involves two interrelated, yet analytically separable phenomena. One is the external dynamic, in which the development of jazz has been shaped and even contained by the larger world of entertainment. The tendency toward discrimination in studio hiring practices is an example of containment. In this sense, jazz is music shaped and molded by the mass media, in particular the worlds of radio broadcasting and phonograph record studio. Nowadays, Most Americans first hear something called jazz on a record or over the radio. While it is true that what they hear is probably not ‘pure’ jazz, it is a modified version of the real thing. (History of Jazz) Since the production of records and radio broadcasting is motivated by the desire for profit, the most widely disseminated jazz is closer to ‘easy listening’ and to rock than to modern chamber music. I have also learnt of some of the factors affecting or constraining the development of jazz music, and the musicians who play it, some of them are large scale, global, while others are small scale. Jazz musicians, like everyone else, have to make a living. While they are doing that, they are expected to extend and re-create the form itself. But there is the risk involved in attempting to create art in a popular context, the risk of losing one’s audience if the music goes beyond what the audience understands. This sets up a tension between the acts of performance and act of recreation. This tension is more evident in jazz, because it is the kind of music where creation or composition usually occurs during performance. I love listening to rock music, and through this course, I have learnt that it has gone through several transitions. Some of the styles that were used in the early seventies are being used today. The course has enabled me to notice the similarities in the dancing styles, similar ways of composing and the dressing mode of rockstars of today and those of the past. Nowadays, some rock stars prefer using black and white pictures on their music videos, just as it was in the past, although that was due to the absence of color TVs. Generally, I would say that studying jazz has been an eye-opener; that even when listening to music, I should be keen to notice small details, such as its evolution.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Juvenile Delinquency

Juvenile Delinquency 1 Juvenile Delinquency: Features, Causes and Solutions Shen Cheng Class: 110 Teacher: Stephanie February 29, 2012 Juvenile Delinquency 2 Outline I. Introduction Thesis statement: Nowadays, there is no denying that Juvenile Delinquency has become one of the hottest social issues. The features, causes, and solutions of Juvenile Delinquency will be discussed about in this research. II. The features of Juvenile Delinquency A. The average age of juveniles who commit crimes tends to be lower B. Knowledge level of the juvenile offenders is low C. Juvenile offenders get involved in sinister gangs and tend to be in groups.D. Juvenile delinquency is prone to be more violent. E. Criminal means of juvenile offenders are more mature. F. Juvenile delinquency is occasional and at random III. The causes of Juvenile Delinquency A. Social factors. B. Family factors C. School factors D. Individual factors IV. The solutions to Juvenile Delinquency A. Prevention from individual B. Pr evention from family C. Prevention from school Juvenile Delinquency 3 D. Prevention from society E. Prevention from justice V. Conclusion Juvenile Delinquency 4 Abstract With the development of economics and the improvement of society, the rate of juvenile delinquency is at a high level.Juvenile delinquency has already been a very hot social issue nowadays. The causes of juvenile delinquency have been summarized in this research, such as personal? family? school and society factors; what features juvenile delinquency have and how we can control the delinquency effectively so that the youths can grow up healthily have also been discussed in this research. Keywords: juvenile delinquency, causes, features, control. Juvenile Delinquency 5 Juvenile Delinquency In recent years, juvenile delinquency has been a prominent social issue and attracted the attention of the whole society at the same time.Experts, scholars and volunteers who are enthusiastic about the prevention of juvenile delinq uency have come up with a lot of insightful ideas about how to control juvenile crimes. However, it’s still not that effective to decrease the high rate of juvenile delinquents. According to statistics, not only did the number of juvenile delinquency increase, but also the types of juvenile delinquency have become varied. Juvenile delinquency occupies the highest proportion of all crimes. It accounts for more than 70% of the total.The percentage of juvenile (under 15 years old) committing crimes accounts for more than 70% of the juvenile criminal cases (Bang. 2004). Today, the juvenile crime has been regarded as the world's third largest public nuisance. Juvenile delinquency not only endangers public security, but also affects a country's stability. Therefore, how to prevent and control juvenile delinquency effectively has become an essential task of the whole human society. To solve this problem, we must know about the characteristics and causes of juvenile delinquency so th at we can find appropriate methods to solve this problem effectively.The features of Juvenile Delinquency 1. The average age of juveniles who commit crimes tends to be lower. A few years ago, the average age of juveniles committing crime was still older than 17, but now the average age is only about 15. 7 years (Gao. 2010). Juvenile Delinquency 6 2. The education level of the juvenile offenders is low Most juvenile offenders have a low education level and some of them are even illiterate. Lack of education makes them have wrong values and attitude towards life, which causes them to commit crime at last. Lack of education is a major feature of juvenile delinquency. . Juvenile offenders get involved in sinister gangs and tend to be in groups. On the one hand, young people are short of adequate physical strength, intelligence, courage and experience. That’s why committing crimes individually is often difficult to succeed.They are more likely to commit crimes together with other members. On the other hand, young people are much eager to get what they can’t have both in schools and families. Then some idle people take advantage of them and divide them into small groups which usually form the predecessor of criminal gangs (Abruzzese. 1997). . Juvenile delinquency is prone to be more violent. According to statistics, property crime is the main type of juvenile delinquency. The top five crimes are: robbery, rape, theft, intentional injury causing death, and murder. The young offenders nowadays use more cruel criminal means to achieve their objectives than before (McNeece. & Roberts. 1997)5. Criminal means of juvenile offenders are more mature. Modus operandi of juvenile offenders inclines towards being more â€Å"mature. † Juvenile crimes in the past were mostly along with less criminal circumstances than Juvenile Delinquency 7 oday. In recent years, young offenders would prefer rigorous plans and clear division of who does what in their crimina l behaviors. Today, young offenders seem to have a clear understanding of what they are doing, and some are even experienced in committing crimes (Li. 2007). 6. Juvenile delinquency is occasional and at random As young people are immature in both mental and physical growth, it’s common to see that they have frequent emotional fluctuations. Failing to understand things right and objectively and strong desires to monopolize make them easy to go on extreme ways.They would take some crazy actions on the spur of the moment which may harm other innocent people badly. The causes 1. Social factors. The social reality scenes are corrupting young people’s innocent hearts. Juveniles can’t live without a colorful world which also is full of various temptations. It’s inevitable that disharmonious and evil phenomena exist along with the rapid development of economics and spiritual civilization. First, numerous students graduated from colleges can’t find a job, w hich made bad impacts on young people’s motivation to study, even worse they may be against or give up learning.High unemployment rate causes that a lot of adolescents to have nothing to do. Going on in this way, these young dawdlers would have tendency to commit crimes. Second, films, televisions and the internet can spread unhealthy things, like violence, Juvenile Delinquency 8 obscenity and so forth. For example, there was a kidnapping case which happened five years ago, the criminal suspect Zhenghong Lin(20 years old) and Cai Jiang(19 years old) watched a famous Hong Kong drama â€Å"You can’t be an abscond forever† and then imitated the way how to kidnap in the drama.They abducted their friend’s father Mr Wu , a mine owner , for RMB 60,0000 (Yu. 2010). Third, the obvious wealth gap and the wrong value â€Å"money is supreme† actually influence youths. Fourth, theft? robbery? pornography? gambling? fighting and other criminal cases which happen in our community have also influenced juveniles directly. 2. Family factors. Undesirable family education and indifferent family environment can result in irreversible harm to juveniles. The family is the first class of young people; parents are the first teachers. A proper family education is extremely important for youths to grow healthily.Incorrect home education will cause serious psychological blocks to adolescents and then they will finally form a wrong view of life. First, parental discord, divorce, frequent quarrels, offensive words and destructive behavior will lead to mental harm to juveniles; second, family’s financial problems will limit the child’s pocket money and also make him feel inferior in front of other children who have wealthy families. Hence, some children will get what they want in an extreme way, like stealing and mugging. Third, the methods of parental education are violent and crude.Some parents either scold or beat their children when they make mistakes indeliberately or they fail exams. This heavy stress will definitely cause mental Juvenile Delinquency 9 problems to those immature adolescents; fourth, some parents’ behaviors are out of order, like fooling around, gambling and excessive drinking, which will affect the juveniles’ world view badly; fifth, some parents spoil children and ignore the ideological and moral education, which will make these spoiled young people hard to accept by the society and eventually do something wrongful.If one person grows up in those inappropriate environments, his loneliness, low self-esteem, resentment and arrogance can easily be exploited by bad guys and he will commit crimes eventually. 3. School factors On the one hand, some middle and high schools are not capable of offering overall education. Those schools pay too much attention on academic records so that they ignore legal and mental education to juveniles, especially in some remote rural places. On the other ha nd, some irresponsible teachers who have low qualities often insult students and abuse corporal punishment.These extremely excessive actions will hurt innocent juveniles seriously since they are not mature enough to react and protect themselves correctly. These reasons also contribute to increasing delinquency rate because of youths’ resentment to school, even the society (Galaway. 1995) 4. Individual factors Young people are at the immature stage, both physically and mentally. Their ability to distinguish between right and wrong is not good enough and self-control is weak. Besides, they are also not capable of avoiding external temptations.What’s more, juveniles behave impulsively and have strong ability to imitate. Juvenile Delinquency 10 That’s why youths will be easily tempted to commit the crime. The solutions to Juvenile Delinquency In order to prevent and control juvenile delinquency validly, the society, families and schools should take the responsibilit y and find efficient measures to help the young generation grow healthily. 1. Prevention from individual Even though young people are mentally and physically immature, they still have to handle problems and distinguish what is right or wrong.Families and school teachers should train them to comply with the law and ethics, establish a correct outlook on life, enhance the ability to protect themselves and resist the temptation of criminal behaviors consciously. 2. Prevention from family The family is the cornerstone to control juvenile delinquency, which plays an absolutely significant role in the entire education system. Adolescents’ parents should take the initiative to absorb all kinds of knowledge first, such as legal knowledge, moral knowledge and things about how to educate children well.Only keep this way can parents be qualified to guide and influence their children properly. What’s more, parents neither have to spoil their children nor push so much pressure to a dolescents. Instead, parents should also pay attention on children’s moral education, not just on the academic achievements. 3. Prevention from school Juvenile Delinquency 11 It’s impossible for youngsters to grow healthily without school. More legal education should be provided by school. The youngsters must be taught to communicate with parents and teachers when facing unlawful attacks.Necessary skills to avoid dangers are also essential. In addition, teachers have to respect juveniles, care about them and give assistance when they need. Scolding and corporal punishment must be forbidden at school. 4. Prevention from society Building a favorable social environment for young people to grow healthily is one of the most important tasks in our society. Government shoulders the responsibility to create more job opportunities for youths, reduce the unemployment rate of young people and minimize the effects of eroticism and violence on youngsters.Besides, media should promo te more affirmative things, because positive publicity is helpful for juveniles to establish positive life attitudes (Gao. 2010). 5. Prevention from justice Improvement of legislation is a critical method to prevent juvenile delinquency. The government should consummate the legal system to protect young people’s rights and make all people realize that there would be a serious consequence if someone wanted to hurt the youths or tempted them to go the wrong ways (Kang. 2008). Conclusion Consequently, young people are the future of a nation. Whether they can grow healthily matters most to a nation’s destiny.After analyzing the features and causes of Juvenile Delinquency 12 juvenile delinquency, we find that it’s an arduous and pressing work to control juvenile delinquency effectively. Hence, we should gather all useful methods which come from family, school and society to create an ideal environment for youths to grow healthily and keep away from committing crimes. Juvenile Delinquency 13 References Abruzzese, G. (1997). Juvenile Crime: Approaching the Millennium. Journal of Delinquency now, 1 (5):23-25 Bang, H. (2004). Criminal Psychology. Beijing: Science Press Galaway, B. , et al. (1995).Specialized foster family care for delinquent youth. Federal Probation 59 (30): 19-27. Gao, L. (2010). How to build defense system of Juvenile Delinquency. Beijing: Modern Communication. Kang,S. (2008). Ten Years’ Research of Juvenile Delinquency. Chongqing: Chongqing Publishers. Li, S. (2007). Analysis of Juvenile Delinquency’s Causes and Characteristics. Beijing: Peking University Publishers. McNeece, C. , & Roberts, A. (1997). Policy & Practice in the Justice System. Chicago, IL: Nelson-Hall Publishers. Yu, X. (2010). How to suppress factor of unhealthy culture’s effects to Juvenile. Beijing: RUC Publishers. .