What are Fan Behaviors towards Sports Officials at the Middle School Level

What are Fan Behaviors towards Sports Officials at the Middle School Level Abstract The objective of this project was to discuss fan behaviors towards sports officials at middle school level. In order to achieve this objective, qualitative research method was used to collect and to analyze data from different secondary sources. The results of the data analysis and literature review indicate that incidences of misbehavior among middle school students during sports events are on the rise.Advertising We will write a custom proposal sample on What are Fan Behaviors towards Sports Officials at the Middle School Level? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In particular, most students tend to show disrespect to sports officials by harassing them verbally and physically. The main factors that influence students’ behavior during sports events include frustration, high expectation, crowd demographics, performance of sports officials, and socialization. In order to improve middle school students’ behavior tow ards sports officials, parents, and teachers should collaborate and help students to internalize the principles of good sportsmanship. Introduction A sports event refers to â€Å"any interscholastic or intramural athletic activity organized and sponsored by any learning institution, the community, or a business†. Sports events are important because they promote the development of students’ leadership skills and physical wellbeing. Furthermore, they help students to identify their talents in various games such as football and basketball. Consequently, most schools promote sportsmanship among their students. Sportsmanship refers to â€Å"the values of fair play, adherence to the rules of the game, respect for opponents, and acceptance of official and referee judgements†. All stakeholders in sports events are expected to internalize all the values associated with sportsmanship. However, most students at middle school level have failed to uphold the spirit of sports manship. This can be illustrated by the rising number of incidences in which middle school students harass sports officials during or after sports events. A sports official refers to a person who is responsible for enforcing the rules of a game or supervising participants during a sports event. Statement of the Problem In the last two decades, middle school students have increasingly exhibited high levels of cynicism and negativity towards their opponents and sports officials. Deviant behaviors such as verbal abuse and physical harassment have become the norm in most middle school sports events across the country. This trend is explained in part by the fact that students want their teams to win at all costs. However, considering winning as the most important element of interscholastic sports denies students the chance to develop desirable values such as respect for others, self-discipline and responsibility. Poor character development among middle school students has led to an incre ase in the number of complaints by sports officials, especial, referees concerning various forms of harassment. Additionally, the number of referees and other sports officials who are resigning from their duties for fear of being harmed by students is on the rise.Advertising Looking for proposal on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Undoubtedly, sports officials are very important since they determine the success of any sports event. The officials are tasked with the responsibility of making judgements within a very short time in order to regulate players’ actions. In this regard, sports officials are bound to make mistakes, especially, in games such as football that are rule-oriented. Nonetheless, sports officials do not deserve harassment from middle school fans due to the mistakes they make on the playfield. If more sports officials resign from their duties, the quality of sports in most scho ols will significantly decline. It is against this backdrop that this paper seeks to shed light on the behavior of middle school students towards sports officials. Significance of the Project Previous studies have shown that the behavior of middle school students towards sports officials is deteriorating despite the efforts made by parents and teachers to promote good sportsmanship among students. Although the patterns of students’ behavior towards sports officials have been extensively documented, few studies have explained the causes of the observed students’ behaviors. Thus, this project contributes to the existing literature by identifying the behaviors of middle school students towards sports officials and the causes of such behaviors. Understanding students’ behavior towards sports officials has the following benefits. First, understanding the causes of poor sportsmanship among middle school students will help teachers and parents to develop appropriate st rategies to improve students’ behavior. Consequently, sports events will become a source of enjoyable entertainment and an opportunity to nurture the talents of students who intend to pursue careers in sports. Second, the participation of sports officials in sports events will improve if teachers are able to understand students’ behaviors and to take appropriate actions to improve sportsmanship among middle school students. This will boost the development of sports at middle school level. Review of Literature Organized sports events cannot take place without sports officials. However, sports officials’ dropout rate in various sports in the country is alarming. One of the major factors that contribute to the high dropout rate is player and fan abuse. According to Balch and Scott (2007, pp. 3-20), the personality of sports officials is similar to that of the normal population. However, middle school students tend to perceive sports officials as people with very di fferent personalities.Advertising We will write a custom proposal sample on What are Fan Behaviors towards Sports Officials at the Middle School Level? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Most middle school students believe that sports officials lack charisma and are excessively neurotic. This can be illustrated by the fact that any decision made by a referee in a game such as football upsets nearly half the players and viewers. The fans and players who are not able to handle their disappointments often attack referees physically or verbally. However, not every referee is able to handle wild fans and uncooperative players. This partly explains the increase in the rate of sports officials’ dropout in various games. A successful sports official must possess a unique kind of personality. The official has to be levelheaded, confident, and able to handle the pressure from fans. The decisions made in any game or sports event involves s ome form of communication between the sports official and other participants such as coaches and fans. The decision of the official must be based on the interpretation of the rules that govern the sports event that is taking place. However, most contest decisions are followed with ridicule from middle school fans and coaches whose expectations about the outcome of the contest is often very high. According to Wolfson and Neave (2007, pp. 232-247), a good official should be able to ignore the negative feedback from the unsatisfied fans and stay focused on the game. Contrary to this perspective, most officials find it difficult to concentrate on officiating games such as football without worrying about being attacked by fans. Godsdon (2001, p. 89) opine that sports officials can reduce the possibility of being attacked by unruly students if they exercise values such as honesty and objectivity when officiating games. In this regard, sports officials should avoid communicating with fans throughout a sports event in order to prevent any provocation from degenerating into a physical attack. Moreover, every school is expected to provide an administrator to control students during sports events. Crowds of fans that show enduring team involvement consist of both good and bad students. The students who lack good behavior tend to exhibit their character in terms of excessive complaints and confrontations, which are often channeled to sports officials or the opponent teams. Enduring team involvement is not the problem since the degree of association with a particular team does not vary significantly between dysfunctional and well-behaved fans (Kreager, 2007, pp. 705-724). Dysfunctional fans usually take advantage of forums such as radio talk shows and websites to attack sports officials through negative and abusive comments. Although fans are expected to question the decisions made by officials during a game, their actions often contravene the principles of good sportsmans hip. Thus, most officials expect deviant behaviors such as excessive yelling from fans in nearly every game. Given that verbal attacks are expected in every game, what matters is how sports officials deal with them. According to Kellett and Shilbury (2007, pp. 209-229), the level of unruly behavior among fans vary with the type of game or sports event that is taking place.Advertising Looking for proposal on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Middle school students are likely to misbehave in sports events such as basketball, baseball, and football because most of them hold these games in high esteem. In addition, the stakes are usually very high when a game such as football is being played since students often bet with their colleagues on the expected outcome of the game. This leads to the development of the win-at-all-costs attitude among students, which in turn causes misbehavior towards sports officials. The misbehavior of fans in middle schools and other levels of learning have led to adoption of laws that protect sports officials in some states in the United States. The laws often protect registered sports officials from being attacked physically or verbally in the course of performing their duties such as officiating sports events or immediately after officiating the events. The penalties associated with attacking a sports official varies from â€Å"a first-degree misdemeanor to a first-degree felony†. Gener ally, the need to enact laws that protect sports officials arose from a culture that promotes indecent behavior among students and coaches during interscholastic sports events. Most trained officials often turn down the offer to participate in various games if they expect to be assaulted due to trivial reasons such as fans’ dissatisfaction with a contest decision. The stress experienced by sports officials as they officiate various games is mainly explained by the â€Å"fear of failure, fear of physical harm, and time pressure†. These fears arise as students put pressure on sports officials to take actions that satisfy their needs even though such actions might not be appropriate. Players in various sports events often receive emotional support from their team managers and coaches. They are often trained to cope with failure and to ignore the negative feedback that they may receive from fans. By contrast, sports officials hardly receive any emotional support during spo rts events. The officials are often â€Å"left alone during times of harassment, with no support from fans, coaches, or school administrators†. This leads to isolation during times of stress. As a result, most officials experience high levels of mental and physical tiredness as they perform their duties. Ultimately, most officials terminate their commitment to serve middle school students as referees or umpires. Previous studies indicate that middle school students’ propensity to misbehave during sports events is influenced by personal and environmental factors. Deindividuation is one of the factors that lead to misbehavior towards sports officials. Deindividuation refers to â€Å"immersion to a group to the point that one loses a sense of self-awareness and feels lessened responsibility for one’s actions†. Deindividuation weakens self-control, thereby increasing the ease with which fans are influenced by their surroundings. As a result, spectators may mo b, insult, or threaten sports officials. Most fans take advantage of the anonymity provided by a group setting to misbehave. Personal accountability declines and responsibility diffuses as fans increase their involvement in group activities. Consequently, even the well-behaved fans may be encouraged to imitate bad behaviors such as yelling at officials in order to conform to the groups that they identify with. Disinhibition is a common characteristic of passionate fans of various sports events. Disinhibition is a state in which an individual’s ability to control his or her behavior, emotions, and impulses are greatly reduced. It leads to a situation in which fans are less concerned about the consequences of their behaviors or what others think about them. Disinhibition eliminates the normal constraints on behavior â€Å"such as long-term norms, self-monitoring, and self-awareness†. In this context, fans’ behaviors are mainly influenced by their immediate emotion s rather than rationality and self-control. Consequently, fans may express themselves in a manner that contravenes the principles of good sportsmanship. For example, a very passionate fan may cheer his team by shouting too much or insulting a sports official whose decision he disagrees with. Frustration is a major determinant of students’ participation in violent acts during sports events. Frustration leads to aggression under circumstances in which fans believe that their chance to win in a particular contest was thwarted by a decision made by a sports official. Students can respond to their frustrations by attacking sports officials as a means of compensating for their loss. This perspective is supported by the fact that dysfunctional fans consider their violent behaviors as a product of hard work rather than an intention to hurt sports officials. In particular, violent fans tend to believe that engaging in violent behaviors is an effective means of fighting for a win that they deserve. Frustration increases arousal when students are disappointed with the outcome of a sports event. Moreover, socialization greatly influences students’ behavior towards sports officials. Students who often watch violent movies are likely to engage in violent behaviors during sports events. Moreover, they are likely to use weapons to attack sports officials and their opponents or teammates. Crowd demographic is also a determinant of middle school students’ behavior towards sports officials during and after a sports event. Several studies indicate that male students are more likely to engage in violent behaviors than females students are. Similarly, sports events that involve teams from different schools are usually characterized with violence because stakes are often vary high. Students from each school usually focus on winning at all costs in order to show their superiority. In this case, sports officials can be on the receiving end if they make any mistake that causes one team to lose. Methods and Procedures Qualitative research method was used to collect and to analyze the data used to discuss the behavior of middle school students towards sports officials. Qualitative research method was suitable for this project since it focuses on meanings, perspectives, and understandings. In particular, it focuses on determining the meanings that people attach to their behavior, as well as, how they interpret various situations. Additionally, qualitative research focuses on determining people’s perspectives on various issues in their surroundings. Thus, the qualitative research method facilitated the analysis of the perspectives of various researchers concerning the behavior of middle school students towards sports officials. The data used in this project was collected through a thorough review of the literature on the behavior of middle school students towards sports officials. This involved reading and analyzing the findings of previou s studies and the theories that have been developed to explain fans’ behavior during sports events. Generally, the data was collected from secondary sources such as academic textbooks, peer reviewed journals, and reports of previous studies. The advantages of using secondary sources of data include the following. First, secondary sources of data on students’ behavior during sports events are readily available through various platforms such as online libraries and e-books. This reduced the time required to collect and to analyze the data needed to complete the project. Second, secondary sources of data present the views of different researchers and scholars. Thus, it was easy to understand students’ behavior and to analyze the factors that influence it in an objective manner. Despite these benefits, some secondary sources of data are likely to have unreliable information. Consequently, only academic textbooks and peer reviewed journals were used to ensure that th e conclusions of the project are based on reliable information. Hermeneutic analysis was used to analyze the data collected for the project. Hermeneutic analysis involves gaining an â€Å"in-depth understanding of the meanings of human practices, culture, works of art and text†. In this project, data analysis involved reviewing and interpreting existing literature on middle school students’ behavior towards sports officials. The interpretations were used to make conclusions about the project’s topic. Conclusion Results and Analysis The literature reviewed indicates that cases of misbehavior towards sports officials are on the rise in middle schools. This has led to adoption of laws that protect sports officials from harassment as they perform their duties. Students usually respond to the decisions made by sports officials through deviant behaviors such as verbal and physical harassment. The main factors that determine students’ behavior during sports even ts include frustration, crowd demographics, the performance of sports officials, and students’ socialization. The misbehavior of middle school students during sports events can be explained by three theories namely, the social learning theory, instinct theory, and frustration-aggression hypothesis. According to the social learning theory, an individual acquires a new behavior by watching and imitating others. In this context, well-behaved students can gradually learn bad behaviors from their colleagues and begin to practice them. Thus, students’ behavior towards sports officials illustrates what they learn from their colleagues and the society in general. According to the instinct theory, aggression is an inborn drive. In particular, aggression is an intrinsic drive that can be discharged or fulfilled. This suggests that students can use sports events to discharge pent-up aggression. For example, the celebrations that follow a win in a particular game can help in reduc ing stress and aggression among students. By contrast, a sports event can increase aggression if students fail to achieve their objectives or goals. This leads to deviant behaviors such as harassing sports officials. The frustration-aggression hypothesis posits that frustration only prepares an individual for an aggressive reaction. Thus, an individual may or may not express aggression when frustrated. This perspective is illustrated by the fact that responsible students often avoid engaging in deviant behaviors during sports events even if they are frustrated. However, an increase in frustration is likely to result into expression of aggression. Discussion and Reflection Sports events play a key role in the development process of students at the middle school level. Teachers and parents value good sportsmanship and expect students to engage actively in sports events. Unfortunately, the level of sportsmanship among students in middle schools is deteriorating. This failure can be att ributed to the permissiveness of the society and school administrators towards aggression in sports events. Parents and teachers alike engage in deviant behaviors during sports events within and outside schools, thereby setting bad precedence for students. Students, on the other hand, have over time developed the culture of winning at all costs, which leads to misbehavior during sports events. Therefore, parents and teachers must collaborate to help students to internalize the principles of sportsmanship. Parents must help their children to understand that losing in a sports event is not the end of everything. They should encourage their children to learn to cope with failure and appreciate the contributions of sports officials in every game. Teachers and school administrators should focus on promoting discipline among students. Moreover, they should establish a conflict resolution mechanism to address any disagreements that may arise between sports officials and students in order t o avoid violence. Students are also expected to act responsibly and to respect sports officials in order to benefit from sports events. References Atkinson, M., Young, K. (2008). Deviance and social control in sports. New York, New York: John Wiley and Sons. Balch, C., Scott, D. (2007). Contrary to popular belief, refs are people too! Personality and perception of officials. Journal of Sport Behavior 30(1), 3-20. Banning, S., Wells, S., Baker, L. (2009). Parents behaving badly? The relationship between the sportsmanship behavior of adults and athletes in youth basketball games. Journal of Sport Behavior 32(1), 3-18. Coakley, J. (2011). What counts as positive development? Journal of Sport and Social issues, 35(3), 306-324. Courtney, J., Wann, D. (2010). The relationship between sport fan dysfunction and bullying behaviors. North American Journal of Psychology, 12(1), 1-20. Godsdon, S. (2001). Psychology and sport. London, England: Butterworth-Heinneman. Jamieson, L., Orr, T. (2 012). Sport and violence. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons. Jarvis, M. (2006). Sport Psychology: A students handbook. New York, NY: Routledge. Kellett, P., Shilbury, D. (2007). Umpire participation: Is abuse really the issue? Sport Management Review 10(3), 209-229. Kreager, D. (2007). Unnecessary roughness? School sports, peer networks, and male adolescent violence. American Sociological Review, 72(5), 705-724. Lewis, J. (2007). Sports fan violence in North America. New York, NY: Rowman and Littlefield. Light, D., Lavoi, N., Power, C. (2005). The sport behavior of youth, parents, and coaches: The good, the bad, and the ugly. Journal of Research in Character Education, 3(1), 43-59. Nixon, H. (1997). Gender, sport, and aggressive behavior outside sport. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 21(4), 379-391. Oproiu, I. (2012). A study on the relationship between sports and aggression. Sport Science Review, 22(2), 33-48. Stornes, T. (2001). Sportspersonship in elite sports: On the effec ts of personal and environmental factors on the display of sportspersonship among elite male handball players. European Physical Education Review 7(1), 283-304. Thornton, P., Champion, W., Ruddell, L. (2011). Sports ethics for sports management professionals. London, England: Butterworth-Heinneman. Tracy, S. (2012). Qualitative research methods. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Wakefield, S., Wann, D. (2006). An examination of dysfunctional sport fans: Method of classification and relationships with problem behaviors. Journal of Leisure Research 38(2), 168-186. Wingate, B. (2008). Violence at sports events. London, England: Sage. Wolfson, S., Neave, N. (2007). Coping under pressure: Cognitive strategies for maintaining confidence among soccer referees. Journal of Sport Behavior 30(2), 232-247. Young, K. (2012). Sport, Violence and Society. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Building Design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Building Design - Essay Example Rondeau et al. suggests this formula for computing payback period as: (2006, p. 145). For example, an individual decides to purchase a condominium unit in Central London as an investment for  £245,000. He further invests around  £25,000 to furnish the unit and make it easily leasable. Thus his total investment is  £270,000. He then is able to rent it out for  £1,900 while spending about  £100 in maintenance, thus is able to generate a net profit of  £1,800 a month. Using the above formula, it will take a 12  ½ years for the owner to recover the condominium’s purchase price through the net profit of the lease. Rate of return is a financial measure of the profitability of an investment or a project. It is â€Å"what you get, minus what you started out with, expressed as a percentage of what you started with† (Getlner, et al., 2007, p. 176). Using the above example in the payback period concept, let us examine the rate of return of the condominium unit investment as several periods of time. At 12  ½ years, the owner would have made  £270,000 of rental profits, equal to the initial investment on the unit. Therefore, the rate of return on the 12.5th year would have been 0%. However if he waited 2  ½ more years to assess his investment, he would realize a 20% rate of return or  £54,000. There are two types of returns, one that is time-based, called periodic returns and one that is dollar-weighted (or in this case, pounds-weighted) called internal rate of return (Getlner, et al., 2007, p. 174). Internal rate of return, commonly referred to as IRR is applicable to real estate investments because it can compute investment performance over long periods of time which is the usual case in owning a property. One need not know the yearly value of the asset, the important information is the value of the capital investment at

Video Game Violence Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Video Game Violence - Research Paper Example On the other hand, some video games may have potential benefits to children. The games’ realistic and stimulating character has made it extremely acceptable and trendy to the younger generation. Statistics show that almost 80% of American children, ages 7 to 17 years old, play an average of 8 hours daily. While some games available in the market are suitably wholesome, beneficial and educational for children; some games, particularly those with ultra violent content could be destructive and inappropriate. The intensification of electronic play together with the escalating incidences of youth crimes has led to massive government and police investigations and legislative schemes worldwide (â€Å"School Age: Video Game Addiction†). Majority of conducted studies have been centered on the negative correlation between electronic games and aggressive behavior among the youth; and assessment of strategies aimed at reduction of risks to minors. However, minimal studies have been carried out to prove some probabilities of constructive influences on children’s development (Salonius-Pasternak and Gelfond 6). Despite numerous researches on the impact of violent electronic games on children, there appears to be as much perplexity as ever. Why do video games increase violence and aggression among the youth? How do these games affect children’s behavior? Why do those children already exposed to violence in society choose games of aggression? We may or may not find convincing answers to link video games with violent behavior. Psychoanalysts, educators, scientists, computer technologists, parents and even commoners may give different opinions and through them, we will be able to understand the reasons behind their arguments. This article will analyze the different viewpoints of different observers. Potential benefits and negative impacts will be presented, as well as this author’s personal analysis on the issue: Evidences of exhibited aggressiv e behavior in children and the growing incidence of crimes committed by young gamers are linked with over-exposure to video games; however, the probabilities of video games’ positive influences should not be ignored. Evidences of exhibited aggressive behavior in children and the growing incidence of crimes committed by young gamers are linked with over-exposure to video games; however, the probabilities of video games’ positive influences should not be ignored. In the seventies, modernization and technological innovations introduced electronic game play to society, particularly targeting the interest of the younger generation. Since then, video game play became a major part of children’s daily activities. In the 1980s, classrooms were equipped with computers and later, computers were recognized as providers of knowledge. Studies showed that educational software and games can undeniably have numerous beneficial effects on children’s academic performance (K ent). The beneficial effects electronic play has on children should not be discounted. Video games are educators. The interactive nature of this electronic media can be highly motivational; children become enthusiastically connected; they learn through repetition; and are rewarded for skillful

The Blind Side Essay Example for Free

The Blind Side Essay Belonging is a sense of enlightenment felt when an individual gains an understanding of themselves in relation to others and society. Once the characters belong to their family and to themselves, belonging to society and the rest of the world becomes easy. â€Å"Looking for Alibrandi† by Marlina Marchetta and the film â€Å"The Blind Side† directed by John Lee Hancock, both show how each character gains an understanding of themselves and their family therefore leading to them to belong to society. Throughout the novel, Josie’s perceptions of herself and Nonna’s relationship undergo a significant transformation. Initially, Josie does not feel she belongs to her Nonna because of the limitations she places on her. It is only at the end of the novel that Josie learns the true heart-ache and suffering her Nonna went through for her mother. Marchetta uses the intimate feel of a diary to relate to the story of the three women bound by strong ties of family. It shows how each of the women belongs to each other and it also shows the barriers to their relationships. Linear Structure gives the book a strong sense of continuity and ensures a steady pace of the story line. At the beginning of the novel Josie says â€Å"She drives me crazy. Sometimes I have to grit my teeth sometimes to control myself†, showing that she does not feel she belongs to her Nonna. Towards the end she states â€Å"I cried because I was loved by two of the strongest women I would ever meet in my lifetime†. The discovery that she does truly belong to her Nonna encourages Josie to be her own person and to live her life emancipated from any rigid stereotypes that are barriers to belonging. Once she belongs to her Nonna, she then realises she belongs to herself, making belonging to society easier. Cultural identity is a very strong factor in Josie’s life. At first it is a barrier to her belonging to society and she rails against it as being old-fashioned and sexist. She realises towards the end of the book that her culture has made her who she is and what she is capable of becoming. Throughout the novel her references to her culture are often sarcastic or mocking. Josie asserts light heartedly that without the Italian tendency for being chatty and loud â€Å"Telecom would go broke†. Marchetta uses humour to show how Josie speaks with the voice of today’s youth and she speaks of issues that are contemporary and with which readers can relate to. Initially, at school especially, she feels victimised by her race and doesn’t belong. She is bitter and resentful to those not like her and often resorts to physical abuse in response to ‘wog’ insults. â€Å"Simply because like religion, culture is nailed into you so deep you can’t escape it†. This conveys that even though sometimes Josie wishes she wasn’t Italian that makes her who she is. After she learns to accept that towards the end of the novel, she starts to belong to herself and to her culture and then making it easier to belong to her school. At first Josie does not feel as if she belongs to her family, however she comes to a realisation that her culture isn’t a barrier to her belonging; she can then belong to herself and to society. Just like Josie, Michael Oher realises that his race isn’t a barrier to belonging to his family, he belongs to himself and he becomes accepted in society.

Speaker identification and verification over short distance telephone l

SPEAKER IDENTIFICATION AND VERIFICATION OVER SHORT DISTANCE TELEPHONE LINES USING ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS Ganesh K Venayagamoorthy, Narend Sunderpersadh, and Theophilus N Andrew gkumar@ieee.org sundern@telkom.co.za theo@wpo.mlsultan.ac.za Electronic Engineering Department, M L Sultan Technikon, P O Box 1334, Durban, South Africa. ABSTRACT Crime and corruption have become rampant today in our society and countless money is lost each year due to white collar crime, fraud, and embezzlement. This paper presents a technique of an ongoing work to combat white-collar crime in telephone transactions by identifying and verifying speakers using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). Results are presented to show the potential of this technique. 1. INTRODUCTION Several countries today are facing rampant crime and corruption. Countless money is lost each year due to white collar crime, fraud, and embezzlement. In today’s complex economic times, businesses and individuals are both falling victims to these devastating crimes. Employees embezzle funds or steal goods from their employers, then disappear or hide behind legal issues. Individuals can easily become helpless victims of identity theft, stock schemes and other scams that rob them of their money White collar crime occurs in the gray area where the criminal law ends and civil law begins. Victims of white collar crimes are faced with navigating a daunting legal maze in order to effect some sort of resolution or recovery. Law enforcement is often too focused on combating â€Å"street crime† or does not have the expertise to investigate and prosecute sophisticated fraudulent acts. Even if criminal prosecution is pursued, a criminal conviction does not mean that the victims of fraud are able to recover their losses. They have to rely on th criminal courts awarding restitution after the conviction and by then the perpetrator has disposed of or hidde most of the assets available for recovery. From the civil law perspective, resolution and recovery can just be a difficult as pursuing criminal prosecution. Perpetrators of white collar crime are often difficult to locate and served with civil process. Once the perpetrators have been located and served, proof must be provided that the fraudulent act occurred and recovery/damages are needed. This usually takes a lengthy legal fight, which often can cost the victim more money than t... ...phone speech†, IEEE Signal Processing Letters, vol. 2 no. 3 March 1995, pp. 46 - 48. [2] J.M.Naik, L.P.Netsch, G.R.Doddington, â€Å"Speaker verification over long distance telephone lines†, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP), 23-26 May 1989, pp. 524 - 527. [3] A.L.Mcilraith, H.C.Card, â€Å"Birdsong Recognition Using Backpropagation and Multivariate Statistics†, Proceedings of IEEE Trans on Signal Processing, vol. 45, no. 11, November 1997. [4] G.K.Venayagamoorthy, V.Moonasar, K.Sandrasegaran, â€Å"Voice Recognition Using Neural Networks†, Proceedings of IEEE South African Symposium on Communications and Signal Processing (COMSIG 98), 7-8 September 1998, pp. 29 - 32. [5] V.Moonasar, G.K.Venayagamoorthy, â€Å"Speaker identification using a combination of different parameters as feature inputs to an artificial neural network classifier†, accepted for publication in the Proceedings of IEEE Africon 99 conference, Cape Town, 29 September – 2 October 99. [6] H.Demuth, M.Beale, MATLAB Neural Network Toolbox User’s Guide, The Maths Works Inc., 1996. [7] T.Kohonen, Self-organizing and associate memory Spring Verlag, Berlin, third edition, 1989.

Psychology and Sensation Seeker

Take a look at the material on sensation seeking on page 286 (Ch. 11). Do you consider yourself a sensation seeker? Why or why not? What are the advantages and disadvantages of your level of sensation seeking? I am not a sensation seeker because I prefer peace and happiness. I am the type of person that likes to see the same people and have a routine to follow which I feel comfortable in. The advantages of my level of sensation seeking are that I am more likely to find peace and happiness compared to someone who has a higher level of sensation seeking.The disadvantages might be people calling me boring and not having as much fun as I should be having. How would you rate your own achievement motivation? Why? In what ways is this an advantage to you? In what ways is it a disadvantage? I would rate my own achievement motivation very high. I say this because I fit all of the descriptions mentioned in the book and I enjoy excelling in the things I do. When I have an easy task in front of me I find it boring but when I have a difficult task I tend to feel worried because I might do poorly.This is an advantage because I know it pushes me to do better in all of the things I do in my life. It is a disadvantage because my self-esteem can be lowered when I don’t do well on something and it might also affect those around me. What did you learn about yourself from reading about the trait theories of personality? I learned that I have the following traits: Openness, Conscientiousness and Agreeableness. I am opened to new ideas, self-disciplined, sociable, talkative and affectionate.I am a weird mix because I am opened to new ideas but I tend to like routines and being comfortable with my surroundings. At the same time I am sociable, talkative and affectionate which is kind of weird. To better explain I am a junior accountant at a commercial real estate company who sits in a cubicle all day but I am very outgoing and talkative like a salesperson. I always get complimen ts from people for being so outgoing while being an accountant which is a weird thing. What did you learn about yourself from reading the other theories of personality? List and explain at least three things. ) I now know I am aware of my actions which is something I never really thought about before. I also learned that I am a person who enjoys doing things for the thrill that comes from doing things instead of doing things for the outcome. I also learned that I am self-disciplined which is something I never paid attention to before either. These are great things I learned about myself from reading the theories of personality which I would of never thought of before.How will you use this material on personality to improve your relationships (personal and/or professional)? I will use this information in order to better understand myself and other in both my personal and professional life. I know no two people are alike and now I can manage to speak to them and treat them based on th eir personality so they feel comfortable. I will also use this material to better understand myself and my way of thinking in order to excel at the things I do.

Cultural Imperialism And The United States - 1475 Words

During my time in Guatemala, I believe that the social issues I came in the most contact with were hegemony and cultural imperialism, or in other words, the influence the United States has over Guatemala. No matter where I was, whether it be the streets of the small town of San Miguel or the larger, more developed city of Guatemala City, I could not help but notice how much of an impact the United States has. Throughout the course of a month we learned a lot about the root causes of poverty- America as a hegemon- through both readings and discussion. The footprint the U.S. has left in Guatemala was apparent not only while reading and learning about the history of Latin America, but while visiting the country itself. In addition, we had the†¦show more content†¦As you walk or drive through Guatemala, you are sure to see countless billboards, much like in the U.S. Being from the U.S., this seems completely normal. The signs even looked very similar. When I took a closer look a t the signs, I noticed why they looked so similar. There were American models on the signs. In particular, I noticed a blonde-haired woman on the front of a billboard advertising shampoo. I also noticed American women on billboards advertising jeans and beer. When looking into bars I saw calendars with American women as well. It was impossible not to notice the influence that the U.S. had not only on methods of advertising, but also on the images used. In addition to noticing the U.S. hegemon while on the streets of Guatemala, I also noticed it while living with the people. While staying with host families, we were given the opportunity to take in an entirely different culture- or so we thought. Even though living amongst Guatemalans was a very new experience, it was also very evident that the U.S. had impacted the traditional Guatemalan way of life. The first thing that I noticed while living with my host family was the way they dressed. My host parents wore what can be considered as â€Å"traditional† clothing. They had not let any outside influence impact their decision in clothing. However, my host siblings we not mirroring their parents. My host siblings ranged from fourteen years old to about thirty years old. They wore much more casualShow MoreRelatedThe World War II And The Middle East1332 Words   |  6 Pages20th centuries, imperialism served a mode of global exploration and expansion of economic, political and religious influence. Glory was at stake; the opportunity to expound upon their influence on the balance of power galvanized most of Europe to explore and colonize Central Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. In the period of European imperialism, imperialism served as conveyer of status and power in world affairs; the more imperialist territory, a more powerful nation state. 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