Alicia Martinez Murder Essay Example for Free

Alicia Martinez Murder Essay Alicia Martinez murder: Did Edward Romero chop up some body parts in a blender? Denver Westword, Thursday, Mar. 8 2012 Alicia Martinez disappeared on October 24, 2010, and shortly thereafter, Denver Police arrested Edward Romero for first degree murder. According to police Romero allegedly killed Martinez by shooting her twice in the head, then dismembering her body even going so far as to put some small pieces in a blender. Some parts were never found and others missing skin. Martinez was ultimately identified through the use of dental records. Francesca Pagliasotti, Romero’s girlfriend was accused of being an accessory to first-degree murder. Pagliasotti wasnt home when Romero allegedly killed Martinez, but upon her arrival, she found him in the garage, chopping up the girls body. The morning after, Pagliasotti, who has two small children with Romero, got out a mop and a bucket and started cleaning up Martinezs blood. (Roberts, 2012) The actus reus or criminal act of this crime has to be Romero shooting Martinez twice in the head and murdering her. Romero must have had a reason, in his mind, to kill Martinez. Maybe she saw him do something or he sexually assaulted her and didn’t want any witnesses. Either way the act of killing her was the actus reus. After Romero shot her and realized what he had done was not only wrong but could land him in prison for the rest of his life, he had to dispose of the body. No body, no crime. Romero decides the best course of action is to dismember the body in the garage. Not only dismember the body but put some smaller pieces in a blender. Romero had the knowledge that he had committed a crime or mens rea. Romero’s girlfriend Pagliasotta caught him in the act of dismembering a human body in his garage. Clearly what he had done in killing the girl and what he was doing with getting rid of the body was illegal. Yet Pagliasotta did not call the police or run and get help. She instead helps Romero clean up the crime scene and act like nothing happened. Pagliasotta has knowledge or mens rea of the crime. After having knowledge of the crime she did not report the crime to the authorities, this is actus reus or the criminal act. If Romero would have shot the victim and not have known that it would harm her then there would have not been a crime. There has to be the concurrence of actus reus and mens rea together for a crime to occur. The fact that he knew he was hurting Martinez when he shot her is the concurrence and ultimately the crime. Romero’s girlfriend knew that he had committed a crime. She knew that he had killed someone and that he had dismembered a body to try to cover up a crime scene. Pagliasotta knowingly helped him cover up that crime scene without alerting the authorities. This is the concurrence and ultimately her crime. This is why she is accused of accessory to first-degree murder (Roberts, 2012).

Pixel and Edge Based Lluminant Color Estimation

Pixel and Edge Based Lluminant Color Estimation Pixel and Edge Based Lluminant Color Estimation for Image Forgery Detection Shahana N youseph  and Dr.Rajesh Cherian Roy ABSTRACT Digital images are one of the powerful tools for communication. So Image security is a key issue when use digital images. With the development of powerful photo-editing software, such as Adobe Photoshop Light room 4, Apple Aperture 3, Corel PaintShop Pro X5, GIMP 2.8, photo manipulation is becoming more common. In this paper mainly detecting forged peoples in images. The main idea for the detection is, different images are captured under different illuminant condition, when combining these image fragments from different images, it is difficult to match the illumination conditions. This inconsistency of illumination leads to forgery detection. The main contribution of this method of forgery detection is how illuminant color can be used as a clue for forgery detection. The proposed method will be able to detect forgery using Linear SVM classification, with 70%-75% of accuracy. Keywords Pixel based illuminant color estimation; Edge based illuminant color estimation, I. INTRODUCTION Every day, millions of digital documents are produced by a variety of devices. They are distributed by newspapers, magazines, websites and television etc. In all these information channels, images are a powerful way for communication. It is not difficult to use computer graphics and image processing techniques to manipulate or to forge images. Video footage, scanned images, as well as digital and analogue images can be the target for manipulations. From a forensics perspective, several changes in a photograph are widely acceptable for improve the quality of images, e. g. to enhance the contrast, denoise an image, or highlight important regions etc.Forensics Science is a department for criminal investigation in distinct areas such as digital forensics, analogue forensics, multimedia forensics, network forensics etc.Image Forgery is the process of creating doctored/fake images, with the development of advanced image processing software’s such as Adobe Photoshop Light room 4, App le Aperture 3, Corel PaintShop Pro X5, GIMP 2.8 etc forgeries in images is easy process. Image Forgery detection is Active and Passive. Digital watermarking is an example of active. The passive image forgery detection is a blind approach, which means it does not have any prior knowledge of input image. There are various methods used for the checking of authenticity of images. In this paper the method used is based on illumination. When light fall on an object color of the object is reflected, depends on illuminant color/light color. Objects having different color in different illumination condition. So when we forge an image or making composite of various images it is very difficult to maintain the consistency of illumination. Illumination is one of the criteria for forgery detection. Some other criteria’s are used for passive image forgery detection such as, JPEG compression properties, Projective geometry, Chromatic aberration, Color filter array (CFA) and inter pixel corre lation etc. Literature Survey Table1. Illuminant Color Based methods Proposed Method First step is cropping face of the input image. This proposed method is mainly detecting forged peoples in an image. The estimation of the illuminant color is error-prone and it is affected by the materials in the scene, the illuminant color estimates on objects of similar material exhibit a lower relative error.Thus,the illuminant color detection to skin, mainly to faces. Pigmentation is the most obvious difference in skin characteristics. Second step is illuminant colour estimation, explained in next section. Fourth step is generation of illuminant map. Image is segmented with graph cut segmentation. Illuminant color is estimated using static methods on each segmented output with same index number. Based on the estimated illuminant color, apply it for the segments with same index number. The resulting output will be RGB components. This coloured representation of image with R G B components is termed as Illuminant Map. Fifth step is shape and colour feature extraction. For shape fe ature HOG Edge feature is used. An edge of illuminant map is extracted using various edge detection methods. Histogram of Oriented Gradients of edge points. For colour feature extraction. Colour Moments feature is used. Moments with first and second moments are extracted. Last step is SVM classification. Classify the illumination for each pair of faces in an image as either consistent or inconsistent. Assuming all selected faces are illuminated by the same light source, Train the SVM with two class with one class is for forged image and other for original image.When testing operation performed based on the test feature value image is classify either forged or original. ILLUMINANT COLOR ESTIMATION Pixel Based Illuminant Color Estimation Pixel values of the entire are taken for illuminant color estimation. In this methods focussed on low level features. Such as Grey World, Max-RGB, Shades of grey. Simple and less complex calculation is used for the estimation, with the help of some static variables. So it is also known as static illuminant color estimation. Grey World Hypothesis: In Grey World, Illuminant color is estimated from Average Pixel values of images. Under a neutral light source or white light source, Average reflectance of the entire image is achromatic (Having no colors), if any deviation from this condition is due to color of illumination. This average reflected color will be the color of the light source. Max-RGB Hypothesis: In Max-RGB, illuminant color estimated from maximum response of Red Green Blue (RGB) channel. Maximum response is obtained from perfect reflectance. A surface having perfect reflectance property will respond (reflect) for the full range of light colors it captures, when light incident on it. Then this reflected color is actually the color of light source. Shades of Grey: Grey world and the max-RGB illuminant color estimation in terms of Minkowski norm, is called shades of gray. , If p=1 Grey World Estimation If p=∞ Max-RGB Estimation If p=6 Shades of Grey Estimation Edge Based Illuminant Color Estimation Edge based illuminant color estimation is use low or higher order derivatives. In this methods edges and colors towards illuminant direction. In order to accurately estimate color of light source is use the pixel and edge points that coincide the illuminant direction. Highlights produce such types of points. In edge based estimation contains Grey edge and Weighted Grey edge estimation are used. In Weighted grey edge methods, using some weighting fuction to the edges. For that classifying the edges based on the photometric properties, material edges (e.g. edges between objects and object-background edges), shadow/shading edges (e.g. edges caused by the shape or position of an object with respect to the light source) and specular edges (i.e. highlights).These edges perform better influence on illuminant estimation. In Weighted Grey edge methods computing weighted average of edge points. The iterative weighting scheme is proposed, and by assigning this weighting scheme in to the grey ed ge method, the color of the light source is estimated. Edge based illuminant color estimation mainly contain, †¢ First Order Grey Edge †¢ Second Order Grey Edge †¢ Weighted Grey Edge First Order Grey Edge: The pth Minkowski norm of the first derivative of the reflectance in a scene is estimated. Computed by, Second Order Grey Edge: The pth Minkowski norm of the second derivative of the reflectance in a scene is estimated. Weighted Grey-Edge: Weighted Grey-Edge algorithm is computed by assigning a weighting function to the illuminant estimate. This weighting function is estimated by classifying edges based on the photometric properties and an iterative edge weighting scheme is generated. †¢ Derivative order x: the assumption that the average of the illuminants is achromatic can be extended to the absolute value of the sum of the derivatives of the image. †¢ Minkowski norm p: instead of simply adding intensities or derivatives, respectively, greater robustness can be achieved by computing the p-th Minkowski norm of these values. †¢ Gaussian smoothing ÏÆ': to reduce image noise, one can smooth the image prior to processing with a Gaussian kernel of standard deviation. Specular Edge Weighting scheme: Specular weighting scheme is the ratio of the energy in the specular variant versus the total amount of derivative energy. This ratio translates to the specular edge weighting scheme given by: , where , Results To check the accuracy of forgery detection using SVM classifier with SVM is trained with 50 forged and 50 original images and SVM is tested using total of 50 images where 25 are original and 25 are composite images downloaded from different websites in the Internet.SVM is trained several times for several testing process. First set of forgery detection testing is done with various illuminant estimation methods such as Grey World, MAX-RGB, Shades Of Grey and Grey Edge First and Second Order and weighted grey edge with shape feature and color feature extraction separately. In shape feature called HOG Edge use various edge detection methods such as Canny, Roberts, Prewitt, and Sobel for the comparative study. And finally the combination of color moment and HOG Edge is tested for forgery detection. Confusion matrix is generated accuracy is calculated. Accuracy=TP+TN/(TP+TN+FP+FN) Where, True Positive (TP) input-Forged, Output-Forged True Negative (TN)- input-not forged ,output-not forged False Positive (FP) -input-forged, output-not forged False Negative (FN)-input-not forged, output-forged . Table 2. Estimated Accuracy Of fogery detection with Various Illuminant Color Estimation Methods From the above result, when using all static illuminant color estimation method for forgery detection Weighted grey edge peform well when compare with other methods. Feature extraction used is HOG Edge and Color moments features for shape and color feature extraction. If use one feature extraction method only get 50%-64% of accuracy. If use combined HOG Edge and Color Moments features accuracy is improved to 66%-74%. Conclusions Presented a new method for detecting forged images of people using the illuminant color Estimation. Estimate the illuminant color using Pixel and Edge based Illuminant estimation method, and generation of illuminant map. Canny edge detector are used to obtain edges of illuminant map for the extraction of shape features using HOG Edge descriptor, which is used to get Histogram of oriented Gradients of edge points. For color feature extraction use color moments features. These two features are tested separately with different illuminant estimation method for the comparative study. Combination of these two features is also used for forgery detection for the comparative study.From the result it is clear that combined HOG Edge and color features get more accuracy than method used shape and color features separately.Accuracy is Estimated using SVM Classifier.The Combined feature extraction with Weighted grey edge testing process get 74% of accuracy. The proposed method requires only a mini mum amount of human interaction and provides a crisp statement on the authenticity of the image. Additionally, it is a significant advancement in the exploitation of illuminant color as a forensic cue. Prior color-based work either assumes complex user interaction or imposes very limiting assumptions. FUTURE WORK The accuracy of the classification can be improved by using adding more content based features. Use of training based illuminant color estimation also improves accuracy. References [1] Hany Farid ,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬-Image Forgery Detection [A survey]à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬-, IEEE signal processing magazine March- 2009 [2] C. Riess and E. Angelopoulou, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Scene illumination as an indicator of image manipulation,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬- Inf. Hiding, vol. 6387, pp. 66–80, 2010. [3] Gajanan K. Birajdar ,Vijay H. Mankar ,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬-Digital image forgery detection using passiv techniques: A surveyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬-Elsevier 2013 . [4] J. van de Weijer, T. Gevers, and A. Gijsenij, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Edge-based color constancy,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬- IEEE Trans. Image Process., vol. 16, no. 9, pp. 2207–2214, Sep. 2007. [5] M. Johnson and H. Farid, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Exposing digital forgeries by detecting inconsistencies in lighting,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬- in Proc. ACM Workshop on Multimedia and Security, New York, NY, USA, 2005, pp. 1–10. [6] Yingda Lv Xuanjing Shen Haipeng Chen, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢An improved image blind identification based on inconsistency in light source directionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬- in Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010 [7] M. Johnson and H. Farid, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Exposing digital forgeries in complex lighting environments,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬- IEEE Trans. Inf. Forensics Security, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 450–461, Jun. 2007 [8] M. Johnson and H. Farid, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Exposing digital forgeries through specular highlights on the eye,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬- in Proc. Int. Workshop on Inform. Hiding, 2007, pp. 311–325. [9] E. Kee and H. Farid, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Exposing digital forgeries from 3-D lighting environments,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬- in Proc. IEEE Int. Workshop on Inform. Forensics and Security (WIFS), Dec. 2010, pp. 1–6. [10] W. Fan, K. Wang, F. Cayre, and Z. Xiong, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢3D lighting-based image forgery detection using shape-from-shading,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬- in Proc. Eur. Signal Processing Conf. (EUSIPCO), Aug. 2012, pp. 1777– 1781. [11] E. Kee and H. Farid, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Exposing digital forgeries from 3-D lighting environments,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬- in Proc. IEEE Int. Workshop on Inform. Forensics and Security (WIFS), Dec. 2010, pp. 1–6. [12] S. Gholap and P. K. Bora, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Illuminant colour based image forensics,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬- in Proc. IEEE Region 10 Conf., 2008, pp. 1–5. [13] X.Wu and Z. Fang, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Image splicing detection using illuminant color inconsistency,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬- in Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Multimedia Inform. Networking and Security, Nov. 2011, pp. 600– [14] P. Saboia, T. Carvalho, and A. Rocha, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Eye specular highlights telltales for digital forensics: A machine learning approach,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬- in Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Image Processing (ICIP), 2011, pp. 1937– 1940. [15] C. Riess and E. Angelopoulou, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Physics-based illuminant color estimation as an image semantics clue,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬- in Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Image Processing, Nov. 2009, pp. 689–692. [12] S. Gholap and P. K. Bora, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Illuminant colour based image forensics,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬- in Proc. IEEE Region 10 Conf., 2008, pp. 1–5. [16] K. Barnard, V. Cardei, and B. Funt, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢A comparison of computational color constancy algorithms–Part I: Methodology and Experiments With Synthesized Data,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬- IEEE Trans. Image Process., vol. 11, no. 9, pp. 972–983, Sep. 2002. [17] K. Barnard, L. Martin, A. Coath, and B. Funt, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢A comparison of computational color constancy algorithms – Part II: Experiments With Image Data,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬- IEEE Trans. Image Process., vol. 11, no. 9, pp. 985–996, Sep. 2002. [18] A. Gijsenij, T. Gevers, and J. van deWeijer, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Computational color constancy: Survey and experiments,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬- IEEE Trans. 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Classroom Management and Discipline

Classroom Management and Discipline Nowadays, lot of teachers in our country are facing problem in managing their classrooms in schools. Â  Perhaps the single most important aspect of teaching is classroom management. The students are described to be different and some of them tend to act superior to the school management system, even to the teachers. They show less respect to the teachers, refuse to get involve in the learning sessions and even misbehaving in the schools. In order to make sure the learning environment go well, the teachers have to come up with certain guidelines in managing their classrooms. Classroom management is a term used by teachers to describe the process of ensuring that classroom lessons run smoothly despite disruptive behavior by students. The term also implies for the prevention of disruptive behavior. It is possibly the most difficult aspect of teaching for many teachers, indeed for some who experiencing these kind of problems already leave the teaching profession altogether. This problem is not only faced by our local teaches but it is believed to be happening world wide. In the year of 1981, the US National Educational Association reported that 36% of teachers said they would probably not go into teaching if they had to decide again. A major reason was negative student attitudes and discipline.(Wolfgang and Glickman). According to Moskowitz Hayman (1976), once a teacher loses control of their classroom, it becomes increasingly more difficult for them to regain that control. Also, a research from Berliner (1988) and Brophy Good (1986) shows that the time that teacher has to take to correct misbehavior caused by poor classroom management skills results in a lower rate of academic engagement in the classroom. From the students perspective, effective classroom management involves clear communication of behavioral and academic expectations, as well as a cooperative learning environment (Allen 1986). Classroom management is related to issues of motivation, discipline and respect. Many teachers establish rules and procedures at the beginning of the school year in order to control the students. According to Gootman (2008), rules give students concrete direction to ensure that our expectation becomes a reality. They also try to be consistent in enforcing these rules and procedures. Many would also argue for positive consequences when rules are followed, and negative consequences when rules are broken. Sometimes, this application is working in order to manage the classroom effectively but at the same time, failure also happens. Classroom Management and Discipline Classroom management is the reflection of the learning environment of a group of individuals within a classroom setting. A teachers classroom-management system communicates information about the teachers beliefs on content and the learning process. It also represents the kinds of instruction that will take place in a particular classroom. A classroom in which the teacher is completely responsible to guide the students actions by encouraging ands teaching them to be responsible for their own behaviors. The nature of classroom management and classroom instruction is especially easy to be seen and understood from a student perspective. Students have at least two cognitive demands on them at all times: academic task demands which is understanding and working with conten and also social task demands by interacting with others concerning that content. This means that students must try to understand the content and find appropriate and effective ways to participate in order to demonstrate t hat understanding to the teacher and the whole class. The teacher must facilitate the learning of these academic and social tasks. Therefore, the students perspective on the need to be successful, management and instruction cannot be separated. A teacher needs to cater all actions in order to create, implement, and maintain a learning environment within the classroom. Everything a teacher does has implications for classroom management, including creating the setting, decorating the room, arranging the chairs, speaking to children and handling their responses, putting routines in place, developing rules, and communicating those rules to the students. These are all aspects of classroom management: Creating a Learning Environment Creating and implementing a learning environment means careful planning for the start of the school year. The learning environment must be supervised in both physical space and cognitive space. The physical space of the classroom is managed as the teacher prepares the classroom for the students. These questions should be entertained by the teachers Is the space warm and inviting? Does the room arrangement match the teachers philosophy of learning? Do the students have access to necessary materials? Are the distracting features of a room eliminated?. It helps a lot.Teachers must also consider the cognitive space necessary for a learning environment. Effective teachers create and implement classroom management practices that cultivate effective classroom environment for their students. Setting Expectations The establishment of the teachers expectations should be expressed through rules and procedures. Rules indicate the expectations for behavior in the classroom, and procedures have to do with how things get done. Rules can be developed with the students helps in the classroom. The teacher must have the knowledge on which rules and procedures should be used for different environment. It is proven by certain researchers that students who demonstrates high task engagement and academic achievement implement a systematic approach toward classroom management at the beginning of the school year by the teachers. Therefore, one of the critical aspects of managing classrooms effectively, or managing classrooms in ways to enhance student learning, is setting expectations. Motivational Climate An essential part of organizing the classroom is to encourage students to do their best and to be excited about what they are learning. There are two factors that are critical in creating such a motivational climate which are value and effort. To be motivated, students must see the outcomes of the work that they are doing and the work others do. Effort ties the time, energy, and creativity a student uses to develop the the works hold. Teachers also can encourage the students by praising them verbally. It can motivates them to learn more. Maintaining a Learning Environment Classroom management also involves maintaining the learning environment through decision-making concerning students and the classroom. Maintaining a learning environment requires teachers to actively monitor their students. Active monitoring includes watching student behavior closely, correcting inappropriate behavior before its getting worse, dealing consistently with misbehavior, and attending to student learning. In terms of monitoring both student behavior and learning, effective teachers regularly survey their class or group and watch for signs of student confusion or inattention. Maintaining effective management involves keeping an eye out for when students appear to have problems in any field while learning. When Problems Occur Though effective teachers anticipate and monitor students behavior and learning, misbehavior and misunderstanding do occur. When inappropriate behavior occurs, they have to handle it promptly to keep it from continuing and spreading. Depending on the seriousness of the missbehaviors, teachers have to use different techniques to cater them. When students have problem academically, the teachers have to make sure the objectives are clearly given, precise instructions for assignments, and appropriate responds to students questions. In order to create and support a learning-centered environment, students must be very comfortable and feel that their contributions are valued. In addition, students must know how to value the contributions of others, value the diversity within the classroom, and give their best effort because they see it as the right thing to do or something that they want to do. In each classroom there will be a variety of skills, backgrounds, languages, and levels of cooperation. Teachers need to have experiences and skills to teach diverse classes, along with the administrative support in schools. There are many philosophies and styles of discipline applied by different teachers in the whole wide world. It can be hard to decide what works best for a particular teacher. What works for one teacher may not work for another. The best thing a teacher can do is to pick one that he/she think will be successful and make adjustments later if they face problems. Following are some of the most common discipline methods can be used by teachers in classroom: Assertive Discipline. It was created by Lee Canter. Canter believes that if you catch a student being good by recognizing them when they behave, they will work harder at behaving. He also believes that there should be consistent consequences of breaking the rules that are very clear. During early of the class sessions to begin, the teacher comes up with no more than five rules for the classroom. Each time a rule is broken, a consequence is given. If the misbehavior continues, the consequences get more severe every time. At the same time, students are rewarded for behaving properly. This can range from giving them verbal praises or even things such as sweets or foods. A Primer on Classroom Discipline- An article on this manual has been published by Thomas R. McDaniel. There are eleven techniques that are explained that help you achieve control. The methods are Focusing, Direct Instruction, Monitoring, Modeling, Non-Verbal Cuing, Environmental Control, Low-Profile Intervention, Assertive Discipline, Assertive I-Messages, Humanistic I-Messages, and Positive Discipline. Discipline With Dignity This controversial discipline program, created by Richard L. Curwin and Allen N. Mendler, is based on the premise that students are treated with dignity at all times. It is created to build self-esteem and encourage responsible behavior. Typically a contract is created by both the student and the teacher. The contract includes prevention, action dimension, and resolution. The teachers rules must make sense and be fair. At the same time, prevention is also done by the teachers with preplanning to eliminate possible areas of problems. Most important thing is to make sure students are aware of what is expected from them. The action consists of record keeping and classroom management. Finally the resolution component for the teachers is dealing with the continual rule breaker in the classrooms. But, teachers have to remember that discipline should not interfere with motivation and therefore, the students should be taught responsibility rather than being obedience for their own actions in the classrooms. There are some dicline with this method. It is believed that teacher is ought to protect student dignity and the fact there is no punishment. Students frequently select their own consequences rather than the teachers who decide. Teacher responses to severe discipline problems is unusual. Many believe that this should be the last resort for teachers to be used in classrooms when others have failed. Reality Therapy (RT)- This program was created by William Glasser. The emphasis of this program is to help students connect behavior with consequence. This is done with class meetings, clear rules, and contracts. This also includes Positive Approach to Discipline (PAD), which is based on Reality Therapy. Conclusion In conclusion, sometimes even teachers can actually make the problems occur in classrooms become worse, not the students. Therefore, it is important to consider some of the basic mistakes commonly made when implementing classroom behavior management strategies. For example, a common mistake made by teachers is to define the problem behavior by how it looks without considering its function. Interventions are more likely to be effective when they individually commit one of the problem behavior. Two students with similar looking misbehavior may require entirely different intervention strategies if the behaviors are serving different functions. Another common mistake is for the teacher to become deeply frustrated and feeling negative when an approach is not working towards the students. The teacher may raise his or her voice or increase the level of punishment in an effort to make the approach work. This type of interaction may impair the teacher-student relationship. Instead of allowing this to happen, it is often better to simply try a new approach. To avoid this, teachers should have an effective communication with the students. Communication is the key point here and with good approach and mentality, the students problem behaviors can be catered. By times, the classroom environment can be improved all together, for both teachers and students.

The Iliad of Homer :: essays research papers

Emotions in the Iliad, Emotions today The 'Iliad'; by Homer is a book that deals with many emotional issues. I am going to talk about a few emotional parts of the Iliad and compare them to the emotional life of today. I have chosen a section of the book and will talk about the emotions that come up there. The section that I have chosen to talk about is in book 18 when Achilles is very angry and very sad about Patroclus death. After that he wants revenge by killing hector.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First off, Achilles talks about how sad he is about the death of Patroclus. Achilles groaned and answered, 'Mother, Olympian Zeus has indeed vouchsafed me the fulfillment of my prayer, but what pleasure is it to me, seeing that my dear comrade Patroclus has fallen—he whom I valued more than all others, and loved as dearly as my own life? Here, Achilles talks about how much he loved Patroclus almost more than he loved himself. By what he is saying there, you can see that he is very sad, but that he will not just sit there, that something needs to be done. I think that in modern time, emotions haven't really changed. They are something that everyone has and I don't really think that they change from time to time. I still think that people still care about each other very much. Love is still very felt today. It I felt in the same way it always was. I think that when one that was close to you dies, you will have some sort of devastation. I think that one could be as devastated as Achilles was when Patroclus died, but I would think that it would be very rare. I would say that love is just as common today as it was back in that time. After that part, Achilles shows vengeance when he talks about how he wants to kill Hector. 'I will not live nor go about mankind unless Hector fall by my spear, and thus pay me for having slain Patroclus, son of Mencetius.'; There he is talking about how mad he is that Hector killed Patroclus. He is so mad that he wants to kill Hector for it. You see that it is a crazy plan because even his own mother says that he will die if he ends up succeeding with his plan. 'Thetis wept and answered, Then my son, is your end near at hand—for your own death awaits you full soon after that of Hector.

A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams Essay -- A Streetcar Na

Street Car Named Desire A Streetcar Named Desire, written by Tennessee Williams in 1947, has been called the best play ever written by an American. The geological setting of the play, New Orleans, creates a remarkably blended mood of decadence, nostalgia, and sensuality. The plot of the play comes about through the conflict between a man and his sister-in-law who comes to live at his house with he and his wife. Stanley Kowalski immediately captures the attention of the audience through Williams' excellent portrayal of the intensely strong willed character. The portrayal of Stanley Kowalski plays a major role in the success of the play. Williams forms Stanley into an extremely masculine character who will always have his way or no way at all and makes his opinions very clear to those around him. This profound masculinity places Stanley in direct opposition to Blanche DuBois. "The high-minded yet oddly fragile Blanche takes an immediate dislike to the loutish, working-class Stanley, while Stanley immediately recognizes Blanche for what she has become: a woman who finds consolation in indiscriminate sex and alcohol." (Authors & Artists, 165). This clashing forms the conflict which eventually roots itself deeply into the plot of the play. Stanley represents the symbol of the New South. Stanley's aggressiveness leads to his ease in taking total control over a situation. This characteristic also allows Stanley to completely secure the respect of all the men who associate with him, however, his aggression also shines a light upon a very destr uctive side of his character. In many ways, Stanley's brutality leads to the major conflict between Blanche and himself. "And look at yourself! Take a look at that worn out Mardi Gras outfit, rented for fifty cents from some rag picker! And with that crazy crown on! What queen do you think you are?" (Williams, 127). Stanley becomes very blunt in his contempt and aggression towards Blanche. Another view into the excessive aggression of Stanley appears in the third scene. In this scene, Williams provides a look at a very negative side of Stanley. Stanley physically assaults his wife, Stella, after she returns to the house during his poker game. "How anyone could find Stella Kowalski's comatose endurance of Stanley healthy or whole-hearted is, indeed, a subject for wonder." (Drama Criticism, 401). Stanley also shows his vi... ...own here. Stella, Stella!" (Williams, 59). Stanley also appears to fight Blanche for the purpose of saving his life with the woman he loves. "When Blanche threatens Stanley's marriage by cajoling her sister to abandon her husband, Stanley brandishes Blanche's weaknesses for all to see in an effort to preserve his home and family." (Authors & Artists, 165-66). These characteristics show the loving and caring side of Stanley as well as offering a contrasting view to his dark, brutal side. Tennessee Williams creates a brilliant play in A Streetcar Named Desire, featuring an amazing and complex character in Stanley Kowalski. The reader must constantly reevaluate the character of Stanley Kowalski as he presents many questions to the reader throughout the play. During the play, as the conflict develops between Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski, the audience must constantly consider which character portrays the villain and which portrays the victim. "Ultimately, however, Stanley prevails. He has gotten rid of Blanche, who has lost everything, and as we see in the closing lines of the play, he is able to soothe Stella's grief, and their life goes on." (Masterplots, 6316).

The Increasing demand on the UK’s construction industry

Britain's construction activities have risen considerably over the last decade and according to industry forecasts, the next five years will see more large projects commencing and highlighting once again the need for skilled labour in the UK. The government already has many construction plans underway which all lead to an 11% predicted increase (Olympic shortfall 18/11/07) in construction output between now and 2011. Some of the major projects that contribute to the rising demands include a surge in schools construction, increased spending on transport and projects for the London Olympics. The government has invested in a reported à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½4.7bn (Financial Times Limited 2007 17/11/07) to rebiuld or renew every secondary school in the country. This is a massive project and dwarfs the construction of the London olympics in comparison. ConstructionSkills is one of a series of employer-led sector skills bodies established by government to help produce enough skilled workers to meet the high demand. ConstructionSkills says that employment in the industry will need to rise by almost a sixth to 2.8m by 2011, compared with 2.4m in 2005 and 87,600 new recruits will be needed by the industry â€Å"each year between 2007 and 2011 in order to meet demand†.(ConstructionSkills 2007) Infrustructure activity is also increasing with construction underway for the redevelopment of King's Cross and Crossrail and the expansion and refurbishment of the Birmingham New Street and Nottingham railway stations. Other infrastructure developments include work on the Manchester Metro Link, the M6 toll road, the M25. Also the Scottish Executive's (Financial Times Limited 2007 17/11/07) planned à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½3bn capital investment programme in strategic road and rail projects and expansion of ports at Harwich, Felixstowe and Great Yarmouth. Aside from all these major developments, there is still as high demand as ever for more residential housing. It is reported (UK home supply way below demand 17/11/07) that Britain is now so short of new houses that an extra 39,000 need to be built each year just to keep up with the UK's population growth. The huge shortage of skilled labour in the UK is undoubtedly a major factor and could undermine the success of the 2012 Olympics in London. Reports made through the Research by the sector skills councils has revealed the Olympics needs around 13,000 construction workers and 1,500 electricians and plumbers a year between now and 2012 (Olympic shortfall 18/11/07). The new Heathrow terminal 5 is another project that highlights the severe skills shortage in the construction sector. The new T5 is estimated to cost à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½4bn and is one of Europe's biggest projects at the moment. Terminal 5 will have roads and rail links built for it and will have over a hundred aircraft stands as well as the tallest control tower in the country. All these projects are desperately in need of skilled labour and huge investments are being made by the government and big companies to provide training schemes for people to help overcome these demands. The construction of the Heathrow terminal 5 has influenced BAA, the company that manages Heathrow to collaborate with the learning and Skills Council (LSC) to set up the Heathrow Construction Centre to train young people in carpentry, joinery and bricklaying. Many young people are now applying to the training centre with the influence of high salary opportunities being advertised for a wide range of jobs. David Boyer, a representative of LSC says â€Å"the key is finding something that they want to do and that employers will pay for†¦and construction fits the bill perfectly.† (David Bower 2007) CSV, the UK's largest volunteering and training charity is another organisation that has many Construction Training Centres around the country. Its main aim is to take on young people from the age of 16 and train them up in a construction field that interests them. The Training Centre on Hornsey Road is CSV Springboard Islington Trust's training facility and is helping to meet the demand from employer training needs arising as a result of the Kings Cross re-generation programme or the Olympics. The Islington training centre has three sectors in the area and alone provides learning for over 600 students (Sky-high salaries for airport construction workers 18/11/07). The main issue with the construction industry in the UK at the moment is that activity continues to rise at a rapid pace and with all the training schemes at the minute, not enough skilled craftsman and professional workman are coming out of it to keep up with the demand. There is a reported large number of craftsmen in the UK that don't have the qualifications that are required to work on the Olympic sites etc. Organisations such as Summit Skills are committed to helping provide the necessary qualifications to people with the skills but who have not finished an NVQ level 3 for instance. Students doing a construction course at schools or colleges will commonly do a full NVQ which includes gaining technical certificates and national vocational qualifications. Some of the courses involve training on-site to acquire the appropriate qualifications. The government has also addressed the issue for the need of more skilled labour by introducing new courses at schools and colleges. In 2008, a new diploma in construction and the built environment will be introduced. However many specialist diplomas and GCSE's will not be available until 2013. The other opportunities that are given to young people to work in construction are through the apprenticeship or scholarship schemes. Such schemes are usually offered directly from companies. It's often the best route for young people who do not have the appropriate background. The apprenticeship programme was introduced to the UK in 1994 (as modern apprenticeships). Apprenticeships give the student the opportunity to study at college to receive the required qualifications and do work based on the site on a part time basis. Apprentices earn while being in education and for most young people it is a very attractive prospect. It also gives a higher rate of employment for those that do it as the companies, for the majority of the time offer the person a full time job after they have completed their apprenticeship. But in the last couple of years, the numbers of apprenticeships have reduced as the interest for them has increased. With over 50,000 applications for 10,000 places (Olympic s hortfall 18/11/07), the traditional apprenticeship route cannot meet growing demand. However, to help overcome this problem, there are many colleges today that are involved with big construction companies making it easier for students to find the apprenticeship that interest them. In apprenticeships, the students are usually required to stay in education until they achieve a full NVQ before they are offered a full time job but a scholarship on the other hand requires the student to attend university either part time or full time in order to gain higher qualifications such as a degree to make them eligible for high skilled work afterwards. Scholarships are also offered usually directly from a company and offers to support the student financially by paying the tuition fees to the university and the company will often offer a the student work placement between their time at university to give them the required experience in the job. Although there is many efforts being done to overcome the shortage of skilled labour in the UK, it is still evident that yet more needs to be done to reduce the gap between the demand for skilled labour and the amount of trained personnel coming up every year. In the next five years, there is going to be an increase in activity for the UK construction industry and it is estimated that 87,600 new recruits (Financial Times Limited 2007 17/11/07) will be needed by the industry every year to cope with the work needed. I believe that in order to tackle this problem for the shortage of skilled labour in the UK, more efforts must be made concentrating on the source of the problem, the training of personal to meet the levels required by the industry. It is a fact that yet not enough programmes are being opened to help encourage young people to look for a career in construction and to educate and train them to the required levels. At the moment, the government is concentrating on opening new training centres in London because of the increasing work being made by the construction of the East London Olympic sites. However, training centres should be opened in more cities around the UK in the next few years to help train up as many people in as short time as possible to help overcome the shortage of required labour. I think that more training programmes should be done on development sites such as the Heathrow construction centres helping to train young people. I believe that such programmes help to train and educate a person on the job and give them the required skills in a short period of time. Other steps that can be taken is to introduce more specialized construction courses at schools and colleges to help encourage young people to choose a career in the construction field. At the moment, a successful example is the Construction and Built Environment Diploma which around 4000 people take every year (Construction Digital 17/11/07) Another step that can be taken is to encourage more construction companies to introduce more apprenticeships and scholarships to young people. This will attract more people to join the construction industry and will produce more high skilled labour to meet demands of the modern day. If the UK construction industry remains to be in the situation it is now with a huge shortage of skilled labour then the only solution left will be to bring in even more migrant workers from east European countries, such as Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania, to fill gaps on building sites. This will in effect reduce the building standards and safety on the site just so companies can give out low wages and save costs. In reality, this is very likey to happen but the government will only apply it in a worst case scenerio to overcome the problem. Although it might not be possible to finish all these huge projects in the UK without aquiring the help from migrant workers, we could however train as many people as we can so that less workers from abroad are needed, making the UK construction industry stronger and more successful.

Planning for the Future Essay

Hopes and Dreams A. Even if you have not done much research on the topic what are your hopes and dreams for your employment future? â€Å"What do you want to be when you grow up? † -When I grow up I want to be an ultrasound technician. I’m very interested in the female body and reproductive system. I also love babies so it was keep me interested in my studies. I want to be able to help women out with the beautiful experience of birth and child development. B. What do you want your life to look like in 10 years? In 10 years I want to be a successful ultrasound technician. I will also make my own schedule so I can spend time with my amazing future family. I want to be living by the beach with my husband, Jason Zeigler, and my two children, Carson and Brayden. I will be in the upper-class and have a river house. We will have two dogs, Jackson and Parker. C. What do you want your life look like in 5 years? -In 5 years I will be in college. Hopefully University of Riverside after I get my general education done at Chaffey. I will also be moved in and engaged to Jason Zeigler. That will be the biggest turning point of my life in my own personal opinion mainly because I will be focusing on my major and my career, which will in turn determine the rest of my life. Either successful or a failure. D. What are you doing now that will affect the rest of your life? -Things that I am doing now that will affect the rest of my life is graduating high school, going to college, and working and becoming independent. Graduating is a huge step in life. It’s the start of the rest of our lives. There’s no more messing around anymore. We are growing up and now we must be independent and do things on our own. Going to college is another big step in what is going to affect the rest of my life. There is no more free education. Especially when your parents are making you pay for it by yourself like I am. At least I have a very good, well-paying job, In N Out. In N Out has really taught me how to be responsible with my money. It has made me realize how fast your money can disappear. It has also broken me out of my shell. In N Out has taught me how to deal with angry customers and how to talk to anyone. These are some very important traits I feel that I will need for the rest of my life. Step 2: Evaluate your Current Job A. What are the tasks that you are performing in your current job that will transfer to future jobs and your career? * The tasks that I am performing in my current job that will help me transfer to future jobs and my career is dealing with agitated people, working at a fast pace, being able to talk to anyone, and being able to do what people tell me quickly and efficiently. Dealing with angry and/or agitated customers is probably the hardest part of the job. Not only is it awkward, but it is also very agitating for you. I normally want to just scream in their face that it’s not my fault but I always keep my cool. Working at a fast pace without stressing is also a very good skill to have. You have to be able to work very fast at In N Out. We are constantly busy and having to please hundreds of customers a day. B. What are the possibilities for advancement at this current job, and what are the skills you could still learn at this job? * In N Out runs off of a level system. A level 1 cleans the dining room. A level 2 takes orders and can work the back pay window. A level 3 can take orders outside with something we call a hand held, and can also hand out food for the drive through. A level 4 works fries. A level 5 dresses, puts the condiments, on the burger. A level 6 actually cooks the burgers. Lastly, a level 7 is a manager’s assistant. They help run the shift when the manager isn’t around. Then after all those are the managers. Each separate store has 4 different mangers. They move up as well. They all start out as 4th managers and then move up to a 1st manager, which is a â€Å"store manager†. After that they can move up to district managers and then a regional manager. I am currently a level 3 but I am hopefully getting my level 4 soon. I’ve been working and learning fries. In N Out is definitely my fall back if the ultrasound technician fails. Step 3: Interests A. What do you like to do? * I love to hang out with friends, my boyfriend, go out to eat, and sleep. I can hang out with my friend and Jason for days. Probably like every other teenager but that’s when I have the most fun. Going out to eat is my favorite thing to do. I don’t really care if it’s bad for you. I love food. Sleeping is what I do in my free time. I am constantly tired so I love sleep when I actually have the time to do so. B. What is the best experience you have ever had? The best experience I’ve ever had was probably my senior prom. Basically it was the best night of my life. It was amazing. From getting ready, to pictures, to dinner, to the bus, to the dance, to the bus again, and then Kyle Wades spa. I got to get ready with my best friends and my boyfriend’s mom paid for me to get my makeup done. I love that woman. The pictures were great with m y boyfriend and best friends. We got some really cute ones. Dinner was delicious at chilis. The bus was the best part in addition to the actual dance. We had a stripper pole and all the guys got on it. This is the irst dance I’ve been to that the teachers didn’t care how we danced. By the time we got off the dance floor everyone was dripping sweat. My legs were sore for 3 days after. After that we hopped back on the bus, made a quick stop to In N Out and then chilled in Kyle’s spa. Jason and I had to sleep in my truck that night but we woke up early and went to Denny’s for breakfast. C. What makes you the happiest? * My boyfriend and friends are definitely my top priority at this point. They have made me who I am today. D. What makes you feel most satisfied? * Making everyone around me happy and accomplishing a new goal. E. When have you felt the most rewarded? * When I reached my level 3 and got my raise because I earned it all on my own with no one else’s help. Step 4: Aptitudes A. What are you good at? * I am very good at following orders. When someone tells me to do something I will get it done right away and get it done very well. B. 1. After the first set of questions, what are the top 10 careers that come up? * 1. Choreographer / Dance Instructor * 2. Correctional Officer * 3. Director of Photography * 4. Director * 5. Athletic Trainer * 6. Security Guard * 7. Vending Machine Servicer * 8. Kinesiologist * 9. Auto Detailer 10. Stock Clerk 2. How do you feel about these careers? I don’t this a lot of these careers suit me at all. 3. What are the results now, how did they change? 1. Bailiff 2. Artist 3. Special Effects Technician 4. Computer Network Specialist 5. Stuntperson 6. Director of Photography 7. Cardiologist 8. Doctor 9. Anesthesiologist 10. Nurse Practitioner 4. Did your t op 3 interests appear? What are they and why do they interest you? My top 3 interest groups did not appear at all. Ultrasound technician, Crime Scene investigator, or working in advertisement. They all seem like jobs you can’t get bored of.